From the moment I first met those beautiful eyes reminiscent of a lush forest, containing my face.
Cradled in my mother’s arms, a newborn baby tightly grasped my finger with a tiny, delicate hand, and at that moment, she gently smiled at me.
“She’s your little sister, Remi. You should greet her?”
“…..My, little sister.”
I instinctively felt it.
My life.
Everything about me.
─Tap.
“──I’ll give her a name.”
“…Huh?”
I realized it began to revolve around this child.
I opened my mouth.
The name that popped into my head was that of the protagonist from my favorite fairytale, brave and clever.
With just a slight alteration, I instantly named my sister.
“I hope it’s Aris.”
And the moment I said that name, I felt connected to this child.
A pleasant sense of bond seemed to color my entire being.
“Hello, Aris.”
“──, ─?”
─Chuckle.
I gently pinched Aris’s chubby cheeks with my other hand.
As my finger touched her snow-white cheek, I saw it sink in.
The touch felt like poking a cloud, and from my chest, something unknown welled up.
Dozens of words representing happiness, joy, emotion, and goodness filled my mind.
My, sister.
My very own, lovely sister.
In a world that seemed so lifeless, a star had risen.
I felt as elated as if I was flying in the sky.
Every day was a continuation of happy days.
Even just gazing at each other and smiling was enjoyable.
Time, flowing without knowing my wish to stay there just a bit longer, felt so regrettable and cruel.
Yeah.
It was an incredibly happy time.
“──Princess Anna might kill Princess Aris!”
That voice, until it was heard.
By the time I arrived there, it was already too late.
At the edge of a cliff, Aris was slowly stepping back, clutching the protruding blade piercing through her body.
Her clothes, pure white until this morning, were stained red with blood, and inexplicably, bright red blood kept seeping from her lips as she stared at me with vacant eyes.
Before her stood the perpetrator who probably did this to Aris.
Anna Akaia stood there with a blank, dazed expression.
Judgment was swift.
Identify─!
“────Aris!!!!”
I dashed forward with all my might.
Muscles in my legs seemed to melt away, and it felt like my lungs were tearing, but I pushed my body past its limits and moved my feet like a madwoman.
I tossed aside my cumbersome outerwear and edge.
Ignoring the voice calling for me from behind and passing by that repugnant figure who seemed clueless about what was happening, I kept running forward.
I ran and ran.
“Ah───”
Slowly, Aris was collapsing backward.
At the spot she was falling toward, a deep cliff and icy rapids awaited.
Not even a healthy adult could survive that fierce current once swept away.
What would happen if a little child couldn’t even stabilize her own body fell in? It was all too obvious.
Yeah.
At this rate, Aris would certainly ──die.
That’s not allowed.
I could never permit such a thing.
“───Aaahh!!!”
I hurried to reach her at my maximum speed, stretched out my hand toward Aris───
─Tap.
“No──!!”
“……….”
───Naturally, my hand did not reach her.
If only I had tried a little harder, I could have reached her, just a hand’s distance away.
Because of a slight delay caused by my failure to hone my abilities more regularly,
My hand sliced through empty space where nothing existed.
Unable to hold on to anything to stabilize herself, Aris slowly fell down the deep cliff.
Thump, along with a few rocks that tumbled down with her.
Aris fell alone into the dangerous rapids swirling below the cliff───
───What does it mean to fall?
“──!”
I didn’t stop.
Before thinking, my body moved.
If I had thought long and hard before acting, I probably would have ended up making the same decision as now.
This was a matter so obvious to me that it didn’t even require a moment’s hesitation.
Aris is falling.
So what must I do?
─Thud!
“──Aris!!”
“…..?!”
I jumped off the cliff toward the falling Aris.
I could feel her eyes, unfocused and shaking as they locked onto me in shock, as I leaped from the cliff, following her down.
My little sister, even her surprised expression seemed cute, and I stretched out my hands to her with a bright face.
The hand that couldn’t catch her before, the hand I had to hold onto now.
“I won’t let go this time─!!”
“…..!!”
Thud──!
This time, I managed to grasp that hand properly.
There was no regret.
There couldn’t be.
So.
Me and Aris fell below the cliff,
“──Remi Unnie is a fool.”
“Hehe. But, I couldn’t help it.”
“…Really, a fool.”
We looked at each other and laughed heartily.
Splash─!
The cold water rushed over us.
The cold water of midwinter felt like it was slicing through my skin.
With Aris, who was unconscious on my back, I crawled up the riverbank filled with sharp stones and pebbles, relying on the weak moonlight.
My body, battered from crashing into rocks and branches at high speed, felt like a miracle to be alive, but I thought of my sister’s face behind me and shook off the drowsiness by biting my tongue.
I have to find someone quickly.
I must save Aris.
“…….!!”
I kept moving my arms.
But, of course, it wasn’t long before I hit my limit.
“………”
Thud, before I knew it, my arms stopped moving.
Perhaps due to losing all my body heat, even the breaths I struggled to take couldn’t produce a white mist anymore.
Every time I tried to move my hands with all my might, they only scraped the sand beneath me.
My whole body felt as heavy as if it were tied down by lead, and my eyelids were stubbornly falling like someone who hadn’t slept for days.
A candle placed before the wind.
A life ready to extinguish at any moment.
─Tap.
“….Child?”
So, being able to notice that change could be considered luck, perhaps.
The barely opened eyes, previously so close to closing forever, had just a sliver of light passing through.
In that gaze, I suddenly saw a shadow cast over me.
The wind that had been blowing fiercely until just now stopped, as if someone blocked it.
Who… has come?
─Swoosh.
“…….Ah?”
“………..”
I raised my head.
And there, casting a shadow against the moonlight, stood a black figure looking down at me.
A person, perhaps?
An illusion, maybe?
I quickly reached my hand out.
─Identify!
“Please…save my sister…”
“………”
“Please, my sister….”
It felt like a lie that I could quickly grab the leg of the one standing in front of me, when just before I thought I didn’t have the strength to lift my fingertips.
Upon feeling my touch, the owner of that leg flinched.
Seeing that lively reaction brought me some relief; it seemed it wasn’t an illusion.
Trying to shake my hand off, she pulled her leg back, but I held on tightly to her ankle with all the strength I had left.
I couldn’t let go of this lifeline.
I had to save Aris.
“I, I can die, if only you save her… please…!”
“……Huh.”
I heard a deep sigh in my ear.
Struggling to raise my head, I finally saw the crimson glare glaring at me.
Her eyes, like they were made of clotted blood, were bright red.
The pupils were slit wide, like those of a beast.
Those chilling eyes coldly looked down at me, sprawled out like an insect gripping her ankle.
Instinctively, fear was born.
Can we call those eyes the eyes of a person?
They seemed like the eyes of a monster from a story.
“Ah──”
The monster opened her mouth.
“──Did you see my eyes?”
“…..Ah.”
My whole body stiffened.
I was as immobile as a frog caught in a snake’s gaze; I couldn’t move.
My instincts screamed for me to run away from this unknown presence.
That was my nemesis, a monster disguised as a human.
─Squeeze!
“Please, save my… sister…!”
“………”
But I didn’t release my grip on her.
Not only because I had no strength to flee, but also for the main reason that she was the only being who had the power to save Aris.
Whether a monster or a devil, I didn’t care.
If only she could save Aris, I’d give her my soul.
“…….”
The red eyes twitched slightly at my plea.
─Squeeze!
“………”
“Cough, cough! W-What!?!”
The shadow that had silently watched me in the dark reached out a hand.
With fingers free of scars reflecting in the moonlight, those five fingers slowly descended and began to firmly grip my neck.
I realized that I had no strength left to resist or object, and my head was slammed onto the ground, realizing that this figure intended to reap my life.
With an impossible grip unlike anything human, I figured this being wasn’t a person, and I felt a slight relief.
She was a devil, not a person, after all.
But─── perhaps that was actually fortunate.
Monsters and devils that appear in tales typically provide wishes in exchange for a favor.
Now that she was taking my life,
I hoped she would please save Aris.
…If she didn’t help Aris, I’ll curse her.
All day and all night, I would curse her by her side.
“……Ah─, ah──.”
Crack crack──!
The fierce grip did not falter, and as I was deprived of breath, my vision began to be consumed by darkness from the edges.
The pain throughout my body faded away.
The weight of Aris on my back couldn’t be felt anymore.
“Ah, Ri──”
Still, I didn’t let go of her ankle.
“Will I die like this?
But as long as Aris can survive, my sacrifice won’t have been in vain.
….
Well, it’s a bit disappointing, too.
I wish I could see Aris’s smiling face just once more before I go.
My, sister.
My, beloved sister──
“──Aris.”
“……!”
With that final word, I fully closed my eyes.
The sleep I had been postponing came pouring down the moment I shut my eyes.
“….What on earth should I do?”
The monster released its grip from my neck.
Before her lay two lives, lying unconscious while ready to extinguish like candles at any moment.
A small sigh echoed through the quiet winter forest.
The bright red eyes glanced briefly at the two lives.
A moment later, a flock of black crows ascended into the sky.
Where two girls and one monster had once stood, not a single drop of blood remained.
What may await them ahead is unknown.
But one thing is sure: Remi Akaia’s love for her sister moved the heart of the monster.
*
Love requires no reason.
Love simply comes as an unexpected arrival, existing by my side.
Her love for her sister, and her sister’s love for her, were just so.
“There’s no need for reasons in love.”
That’s why stories about someone loving another are never boring, no matter how many times they are read.
Remi Route.
Elega (哀歌): A song lamenting a person’s death.
*
