Part 37: Sissel

: ...!





(Music: TRAUMA)

: I think I finally remember.





: Huh? Oh, a kitten...shoo! You might get hurt.





: I had lost everything -- my life, my memory...my body wouldn't move anymore, but I still managed to reach out a "hand" to him.



: With no recollection of who I was...I lived as a cat with you for a while.





: There was somebody I just had to go see...just one more time...I took control of my body, and hurried to her house.



: I had just missed her as she left this world...she left me a note that said, "I'm coming to you, Yomiel."



(Music: Informing About the Parting)

: His fiancee. He told me about it once, but I didn't understand what it was.





: As time passed, my powers gradually changed. At first, I could only manipulate small creatures and objects. But then, after a while, I could manipulate people. That's when the darkness inside me deepened, and I started to get a little twisted. I wanted "light"...distorted, artificial "light"...

(Music: Intermission ~The Deepening of the "Night")



: ...I would see that light. Or, at least, that's what I tried to believe.





: The black cat...
: I was possessing Sissel then. It wouldn't look very much like a murder if the corpse got up and walked away, after all.
: So you borrowed the body of your old friend.
: Sissel was inside that bag I was carrying tonight. I had no intention of leaving my friend behind in this country when I left. But then...when I went to possess his body...I realized something horrible.
: What was that?
: Sissel, there inside the bag...was dead.
: What?!
: I wasn't able to control her completely. The first bullet didn't hit anything. Or so I thought.
: But it did hit something, didn't it...?







: And that's when I got the powers of the dead -- my "ghost tricks." I think I understand it now. Why I was the only one who couldn't get his memory back...



: It was the only corpse I could see at the time, after all. But, as it turns out, it wasn't the only dead body...



: Now that I think about it, do you remember what you said? That you knew all along about me saving Lynne tonight? If you knew, why didn't you try to stop me?
: It's simple. Because I couldn't even if I wanted to.
: Huh? Why not?
: Remember the thing about individual differences in the powers we get? I can control all kinds of things -- from the living to the dead...but, even so...there are some things you can do that I can't.
: ...! You mean...?!
: I can't rewind time, let alone change the fate of a death. If I could do those things...I would've saved your life.

(Music: Informing About the Parting)

: ...!
: Not only that...but I never would've just let my fiancee stay dead like that.
: B-but you're here ten years in the past now...!
: That's thanks to your powers. I just tagged along with you.



: ...now the starting point of this entire tragedy has changed dramatically, altering fate...
: ......
: The fate of your death...the kitten Sissel's fate...and I can just bet you the fate of the woman you love has changed, too.
: Yes...I believe you're right.





(Music: The World of the Dead)



: ...it looks like your plan for revenge ended in failure.
: ......Yes...and I'm glad, too.
: ...?



: I think I kind of understand now...what you've been feeling these ten years.



: That's when my revenge was over. She saved me from the darkness.
: Well, I guess it's time we got back. A new "ten years later" was just born.
: Right...we should get back to our "new present"...
: I can't wait to see Miss Lynne and Miss Kamila again!
: (So these past ten years will now all vanish...)
: Well, not completely...
: ...!
: The memories of all of us here will remain. Including the memory of what I did, my crime...
: That's the way this "game of the dead" works, eh...?
: And no matter what the reason, there's no denying the fact that I took Lynne hostage and tried to point a gun at her. I have no intention of running away from that, either -- the most inexcusable crime in my "new life".



: Yes?
: When we go back, our fates will no longer be interconnected. It will be like we never met...so, before that happens, I just wanted to say one thing. Tonight, I stole your life away with my own hands. I'm...truly sorry.
: ......that's already a thing of the lost past. Our fates have changed now...right, Yomiel?
: ......thank you, Sissel.
: I'm so very glad I met you.
: Me too, Yomiel.
: Sissel? Are we...ever going to see each other again...? I couldn't stand it if we weren't!
: Don't worry, Missile. I bet we'll see each other again someday. Ten years from now, our paths are sure to cross. We'll just have to wait until then.
: Sissel...I'll...I'll never forget you!
: (I'll never forget you either, valiant little doggie...)
: Well, it looks like you come to live with me now. So let's be getting home, little black cat.
: "Home", huh? That sounds good, Detective Jowd.









(Yes, the clock's spinning in the background like that through this whole conversation.)



(Music: Ray ~ A Beam of Light)

: Oh! It's you!
: Yes, it is I, Ray, in case you have forgotten again...thanks to you, everything has turned out as I had hoped. I am really grateful to you, Sissel. Thank you.
: ......but don't forget. I was only on a journey to find my own lost memory.
: Yes, yes, I know that. I know all about you.
: Can I ask you a question, Ray? I want to know...who exactly are you?
: ......fair enough. I will tell you. Let me tell you about another version of tonight's events. You changed the fates of many people tonight. The first of which was hers...



(Music: AWAKENING)

: ...her fate would have been to die in that lonely spot in the outskirts of town. If that had occured, what do you suppose would have happened? Let me tell you a story...the story of a little creature. After they stole her life that night, they broke into her apartment.



: They stole the wooden box from the ceiling hiding space and left. And in the process...



: However...the little fellow's spirit lived on. He desperately reached out his paw towards his mistress...and that's when a miracle occured.



: He didn't really understand it himself. Not yet, anyway. But, with all you know now, I bet YOU understand it, do you not?
: ...hey, wait a minute!



: He died inside the "aura" of that strange energy. But, unfortunately, with his meager powers...he was unable to save his little mistress. There just wasn't anything he could do with only the power to swap objects.
: (He needed the power to manipulate objects to save the little lady...)
: The little fellow chased after the men, but there still wasn't anything he could do.



: And then...he went back. He went back to the world of ten years before -- to the moment of the man in red's death.
: What?!



: He decided to wait it out. He decided to wait until that night came again. And that's the other version of the story this night. A story that has taken these ten years to be retold.
: ......so that was you, huh?



: That's right.