The girl, who had been sleeping like a corpse, slowly lifted her eyelids.
Hwaak—
She squinted at the overwhelming brightness that stung her eyes, but it was only for a moment.
“Ah….”
It was the sky.
Not the pitch-black darkness of hell, but a bright blue sky.
I can see…
“Ahh….”
But I don’t have eyes.
This shouldn’t be visible.
In the breeze, she could see trees swaying and casting shadows.
There were sparrows flying around, chirping merrily.
And she could see a pristine white hand wiping away tears that kept falling like droplets.
Then she remembered—the girl he could only trust had died.
He had killed her.
“Mia. Se Mia.”
(TN: Now we switch the pronoun)
Murmuring softly, he called out the girl’s name.
Like his vision returning, words stumbled out, a little clumsy but intact.
It was always that fine, delicate voice he could do nothing but listen to.
It seemed this wasn’t just a dream after all.
Her wish for him to take over her body… that was the reality.
Sniff, more tears spilled out.
“Sniff—”
He tried hard to hold back, but he couldn’t stop the tears that flowed out freely.
It was like the time he had sacrificed his eyes as the price for a wish, with blood streaming down from the hollow sockets.
This pain….
This feeling of his heart being wrung…
What had he lost as the price of that wish?
Had Mia sacrificed herself because he thought he wanted to live?
The boy had given up resisting.
He had learned that loss was something humans couldn’t fight against.
All this pain was merely the price he had to pay for his sins.
Just like his parents, who had died protecting him.
And Mia, who had met her end by being entangled with him.
Everything was his fault.
That’s how he had been taught.
To never forget all his sins and to live repenting for them.
So he had been trying to repent as much as possible while alive, wanting to find his parents and die.
—“Don’t die. Don’t give up. This body is mine, so don’t use it recklessly. Clench your teeth and take care of it. Treat it as if it’s your own.”
Mia’s wish and whispers echoed ceaselessly in his ears.
At this rate, he couldn’t even die if he wanted to.
But…
“What should I do now?”
The boy was just dazed.
Was it because he had shed enough tears to soak his sleeves?
Or had some problem occurred when he entered Mia’s body?
No matter how much he thought, he couldn’t come up with a suitable answer.
The only thing he was certain of was…
“Yeah. If I don’t die, Mia stays alive.”
If he made an effort to live, it should be fine.
So, he just flopped down in place.
He decided to collect his emotions until his thoughts were sorted out.
With his arms and legs intact, just lying down made him feel a bit relaxed.
The cozy feeling was nice.
“I wish Mia were here too… Hehe….”
He chuckled awkwardly at the sensation of grass and the tickling of ants crawling on his fingertips.
Ants.
Even this little creature was bustling around, trying to survive.
What should I do moving forward?
Sounds of fluttering came from nearby.
A sparrow landed on the girl’s arm, pecking at an ant to eat.
Glurk, gulp.
It took a bite.
“Aha.”
Life truly is futile.
No matter what I try to survive, it’s ultimately powerless before a greater existence.
Well, that’s how it was.
After his parents passed away, he had been sent to a relative’s home.
Then he was handed off to a rural church.
Until he ended up in the underground of an organization, the girl’s will had very little influence.
It must be the way of nature.
“But I can’t just die like this.”
Should I eat that sparrow too?
The girl stared intently at the sparrow.
(TN: Now we switch the pronoun again)
The sparrow, meeting her bright yellow gaze, tilted its head and chirped.
“…Are you mimicking me?”
It turned its head left and right at her subtle gestures.
“Gasp! You can’t understand what I’m saying, right?”
Startled, when she trembled her shoulders, the sparrow too shook its body and chirped away.
Chirp—
“Hmm. Still, I can’t bring myself to kill you.”
Perhaps it was the sparrow’s response that felt like an answer.
The girl shook off her ill intentions.
Instead, she carefully reached out, picking up an ant that was crawling on the ground and held it out to the sparrow.
Chirp—
The little sparrow stretched out its beak, quickly snatching up the ant one after another.
As it seemed to relax, it gradually approached the girl perched on her shoulder.
With its stomach presumably full, it chirped—its voice even louder than before, drawing the attention of other sparrows sitting on a nearby branch as they flitted down to sit on her arm.
The first sparrow, about the size of a fist.
Since it seemed like a father sparrow… let’s call it Ah Cham.
The second sparrow, slightly smaller, must be the mother sparrow.
So let’s call it Um Cham.
Finally, the tiny sparrow, now stuffed after gobbling up the last ant.
Let’s call the little sparrow “Sae Cham.”
“Do you guys have wishes too?”
At the girl’s question, the three sparrows tilted their heads simultaneously, almost as if in agreement.
“Phew, there’s no way you comprehend what I’m saying, right? Are you bringing any other friends along?”
There were still many other sparrows up in the tree.
Was there really this many sparrows in our country?
But the little ones seemed to be enjoying some kind of spectacle, fixated on one direction.
“Is there food over there or something?”
Perhaps it was the sunflower field she’d only heard about.
Maybe there was a village where happy people lived.
After all, everyone she’d seen underground had gone back feeling joyful.
Would those who never came underground be even happier?
Yet that thought was fleeting.
Bang—!
“Kyah!”
A loud crash resonated through the air like thunder.
Startled, the girl shot up, and the sparrows that had been perched on her arm, along with those in the tree, took off into the sky all at once.
“Ah….”
What on earth was that sound?
This was supposed to be an opportunity to make friends with animals.
The girl raised a hand towards the void, staring in confusion, but the sparrows did not return.
Instead, unfamiliar voices echoed ominously.
“You little bastards! I won’t go back until I catch every last one of you for skewers! How dare you try to steal from me!”
“Ugh!”
A voice filled with rage.
It sounded a lot like the voice of her aunt, who would scold her whenever she was no help.
The girl felt her body begin to tremble uncontrollably.
It wasn’t just her aunt’s voice.
—”You little beast that ate my parents! Don’t you feel sorry for your dead parents? What have you done to enjoy three meals a day?!”
Her uncle.
—”It’s all because of the original sin that you caused! Repent!”
The preacher.
—”Damn it! This is not the time for mistakes! You want to repent? You wanted to make others happy, you little brat!”
The administrator.
Whenever those voices were heard, it was accompanied by some form of violence.
“Wh-what should I do?”
I can’t die!
With the ongoing gunshots, screams, and curses, the girl could only flinch her shoulders helplessly.
Run? Where should I run to?
Even if I do run, it wouldn’t matter.
If I get caught while fleeing, it would only mean a harsher punishment.
Her eyes darted around.
Her heart raced madly, and she felt nauseous.
Somehow, her scalp felt prickly.
Chirp—!
“Huh?”
It wasn’t a false perception!
To her surprise, the three sparrows had returned, tugging at her hair.
“Are you trying to tell me to go this way?”
Chirp—!
Her blue hair was pulled taut like a fishing line.
“Got it!”
Seeing the sparrows flapping their wings anxiously, the girl began to run after them.
Bang—!
“Gotcha! The ex top marksman isn’t going anywhere!”
A voice from behind cackled.
Along with the sound of something bursting, she could tell that little lives were leaving this world without needing to see it firsthand.
Regret, resentment, sorrow about life….
She could feel so many emotions.
It was a horrifying massacre.
If she had just stopped and used her powers now, she could have stopped that person.
Chirp—!
Ah Cham, Um Cham, and Sae Cham urged her on.
And remembering Mia’s plea to take care of herself, she couldn’t bear to stop.
She tripped over a branch.
Slipped on leaves and tumbled around.
Until the sounds of “Bang! Bang! Bang!” faded away.
Gasp, gasp, wheeze….
Hiding behind a tree, she took deep, rough breaths.
Her whole body was covered in blood and bruises, feeling horrific pain.
What on earth was that person so angry about?
Were all the people living above ground not happy?
“Seriously, I should have wished for that person….”
Just then, as the girl instinctively mumbled.
“Ah! Hey! You crazy bastard! What have you done to my body?!”
She clearly had her mouth shut and was trying to catch her breath when a voice she recognized too well rang out.
“Mia?”
That was Mia’s voice, wasn’t it?
“Where are you?”
Desperately turning her head, wishing to find her, all she saw was the sparrow family.
“Huh! You’re not telling me you’re Mia?!”
Kuh-POW! The girl suddenly came to an astounding realization!
Oh! This little sparrow was Mia’s reincarnation!
“Mia! I’m so glad you’re alive!”
She was so overwhelmed with emotion that the tears which had just stopped came rushing back.
The girl carefully lifted Ah Cham from her shoulder, gently stroking its head.
The soft touch made the sparrow nod, its black eyes half-closing in bliss.
Seems like it feels good.
“…Are you out of your mind? How could you mistake that little bird for me?!”
“Wait, wasn’t it supposed to be like that?”
As the girl tilted her head to the left, Ah Cham mirrored her movement.
Hmm.
No matter how she looked at it, this little one didn’t seem like an ordinary animal.
Come to think of it, if it had been Mia’s personality, she probably wouldn’t have followed orders this well.
Realizing the truth, the girl scratched her head, letting out a silly laugh.
Her scalp still tingled from how hard the sparrow had pulled her hair.
“Ha, forget it. What can I expect from a fool who couldn’t even finish elementary school? So, what on earth were you thinking, rolling around like that? Were you planning to commit suicide or something?”
A familiar voice slipped out of her mouth without her intention.
This was not the voice echoing in her head but a clear, certain tone.
It felt… strange, but not unpleasant.
“Mia… this is my mouth, you know?”
“It’s also my mouth! So, what on earth happened?!”
Mia was alive within her body.
The boy had taken over her body, but her consciousness was still intact.
A sense of late regret washed over her.
After all, she had run all the way here and was now covered in scratches.
She knew very well that skin was important for women.
“I’m sorry… There was a weird person, and I had to run away…”
At her prompt apology, Mia simply snorted, “Hmph,” as if dismissing it.
If she wasn’t trying to kill herself, then there was no issue.
“Hmph, this is hardly a wound.”
And just like that, the injuries began to disappear.
Swoosh— A green aura enveloped her, erasing scratches and bruises, and restoring her fair skin.
Not just her limbs.
She had felt a sharp pain in her stomach from smashing into a rock when she fell.
She lifted her shirt only to find her abdomen flawless, with no excess flesh in sight.
Is this… the ability of the awakened Mia?
“Mia, you’re incredible…!”
Just as she was about to raise her voice in admiration.
“You crazy bastard! Why are you looking at someone else’s belly? Are you a pervert?!”
Her arms moved automatically, and she hurriedly pulled down her top, which had risen to her chest.
And thus began a flood of nagging.
“Don’t do anything weird with my body while I’m watching you.”
“Something weird?”
“If you get hurt again, I won’t stay quiet.”
“…Again?”
“And… ah, there’s no time. The most important thing is don’t skip meals. Food! Absolutely! Get it! Eat! Got it?”
It was a voice so lovely that one would think it must belong to an angel, yet it was nagging to the point of pain in her ears.
But it seemed that Mia’s consciousness wasn’t fully present.
“Mia? Mia?”
Just like when she had appeared out of nowhere, she vanished without any forewarning.
Feeling as though she was possessed by a ghost.
Still, her injuries were gone, and there was no pain.
This can’t be a dream… right?
If Mia was alive, then he too had to do his best to keep her promise.
“You all… will stay with me, right…?”
The girl cautiously placed Sae Cham on her hand and rubbed her cheek against it.
Chirp—!
Sae Cham flinched and twisted its head, but didn’t flee.
What a clever little one.
The girl jumped up and looked around.
She had been told to find something to eat, right?
But since she didn’t know what to eat, let’s start by searching the area.
Down below, food was always provided for her.
Could those mushrooms over there be edible?
Deep in thought, the girl slowly reached out.
They looked white and clean, and they were big enough that they probably wouldn’t cause any harm.
Thud—
As soon as she touched it with her fingertip, she felt its soft texture.
It was quite bouncy and seemed kind of cute as it jiggled every time she touched it.
So, it should be alright to eat.
Snip.
The girl picked a large mushroom.
Chirp! Caw!
The sparrow family, perhaps hungry from flying so hard, kept pecking at the girl’s hand, trying to snatch away the mushroom.
“Not happening. I need to eat too.”
As the girl pushed the sparrows away, she sniffed the mushroom.
It smelled of dirt.
Was there anywhere to wash it?
She looked around but saw no water.
“Hmm… I’ve eaten dirt before, so it should be fine.”
Wiping it roughly on her shirt, the surface turned out to be a surprising shade of white and looked quite appetizing.
“Ahhh—”
Chomp. She took a big bite.
The umbrella-shaped cap came clean off.
As she chewed, the bouncy texture and bitter taste were fantastic.
Swallowing, it was surprisingly edible.
The dirt didn’t even leave a gritty texture.
So she started nibbling on the stem as well.
Chirp chirp chirp—! Caw—!
Were they upset that she was eating alone? The sparrow family were hopping up and down, pecking at her.
“Just wait! I’ll finish this and then take care of you too.”
Of course, one mushroom wouldn’t be enough.
Mia had emphasized several times that she should eat well.
She needed to eat at least enough to fill her stomach.
The girl busily began picking and eating white mushrooms, completely oblivious to the setting sun.
“…Huh?”
It was in the dark of night that she felt something was off.
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