CH 52

It seemed like it would be an act of suicide to try and return while it was this quiet, and so the two of them decided to stay with Grudo and try to remain hidden. However, all of a sudden, one of the gazers turned to look at Maki and Chiharu.

Chiharu wanted to believe it was just her imagination, but it looked as if the gazer’s eye had lit up with happiness. After all, hadn’t Kaider said that you must never look a gazer in the eye? Maki and Chiharu held onto Grudo and tried to look away.

However, more and more gazers started to look. After a while, the soldiers noticed this change, and their heads turned to search for whatever it was that had got the gazers’ attention.

“What? What is happening?”

“I don’t know.”

Kaider and Nyran said to each other. They could not take their eyes off of the monsters, and so they did not know that Maki and Chiharu were there.

“Maki. Chiharu. Why are they here!”

Aeris’s voice suddenly boomed.

“What? Maki? Chiharu?”

“Shouldn’t they be at the health resort!”

“Norfe!”

“No, Kaider. Don’t look behind you. The frontline will crumble!”

“Tsk!”

However, it was already happening. The monsters seemed to all be looking towards Maki and Chiharu, and the soldiers were all starting to look as well.

“This is bad!”

Just as Nyran muttered this, the monsters started to move towards Maki and Chiharu all at once. They pushed away any soldiers that were in their path.

Maki and Chiharu watched this unfold as if they were watching a movie. There was a cluster of eyes above their heads. And in front, there were large, four-legged monsters. They came near Maki and Chiharu but were then still and quiet. Eventually, there were so many that they could see nothing else.

“What…this…”

Grudo muttered. The monsters did not attack. They just stood quietly near Maki and Chiharu.

“I bet you would be shaking your tail if you had one.”

Maki said to one four-legged monster that was close to her. To her, it looked like it was shaking an invisible tail.

“Maki, that’s not some cute and fluffy animal. It’s like that because of the miasma.”

“I know, but…”

The thing that was black and seemed to fade into the air was very thick miasma.

Their foreheads were throbbing so hard that it hurt.

“But, it seems like it wants to be petted.”

“Maki, what are you saying! It will suck the life out of you and weaken you!”

“Grudo. I know that, but…”

Still, there was something about the monsters that moved Maki and Chiharu. Their hands stretched out.

A gazer descended in front of Chiharu. And she raised her head. It brought its head under her hand as if it was a cat who wanted affection. Without thinking, Chiharu spread out both arms and moved towards it.

“Chiharu!”

Clink.

A magic stone fell to the ground.

“What the…the gazer disappeared…”

Chiharu’s arms were still stretched out as she stood there stunned.

Then the next gazer came in. They also came to Maki as if waiting in line. Their invisible tails wagging.

“Don’t do it.”

Chiharu said in a shaking voice.

You were born as monsters. Why do you want to disappear?”

“Chiharu? What are you saying?”

Grudo asked her. You could not hear the monsters. There was no way to know what they were feeling.

However, the monsters shook when Chiharu talked. It was as if they were happy.

“Hey, are those big eyes not for seeing the outside world? You have bodies that offer freedom of movement instead of just floating around as miasma. But you disappear without seeing anything.”

Maki also spoke.

“Are those legs not for stepping on the earth and traveling far?”

It’s fine. The monsters seemed to say as they shook. We saw enough. And then they disappeared into the air, leaving only a magic stone. They would return to the shadow world and then come here again.

Why? Grudo wondered. He had been feeling something for a while now. But he shouldn’t. Were these the emotions of the monsters? Grudo looked at his hand that supported the backs of Maki and Chiharu. The Saintesses. It was coming through them.

If our lives are to fade away again, it should be by your hands, beloved children.

Chiharu and Maki could not stop crying. These were the monsters that Kaider, Nyran, and Grudo claimed were dangerous. These sweet, precious creatures. The monsters were asking to be erased and returned to magic stones.

Maki looked at Chiharu. Her face was a mess. Chiharu wiped her face with her sleeve.

“You don’t look so good either, Maki.”

Maki wiped her own face.

“Yes.”

“Can you do it?”

“I think we have no choice.”

Both of them removed the handkerchiefs from their foreheads and took off the wigs. Their hair spread out around their faces.

“Hah, that feels better.”

“It really does.”

Their foreheads had throbbed painfully ever since they came to this area.

“Grudo, hold me up.”

“What are you going to do!?”

“We have no choice. They want us to do it. These adorable creatures.”

“Maki, Chiharu…”

Grudo called their names and pleaded. The two of them stretched out their arms. It was as if they were hugging someone.

Grudo’s hands were at their backs, and he could feel the shock every time a monster vanished. Maki and Chiharu looked at each one before touching it. The monsters shrank as if time were going backward. Then they vanished, leaving a magic stone. Let’s meet again. Maki said. Goodbye. Said Chiharu.

Clink. Clank. The stones fell to the ground along with the sounds of something else falling. It was the magic stones of the Saintesses that fell from Maki and Chiharu’s foreheads. How many had fallen already? It wasn’t just one a day now, but Maki and Chiharu were making a stone every few minutes, and the burden was great.

Still, Grudo could do nothing but support their backs.