Part 142
Another post that I really recommend the music for, it really adds to the touching scenes.
Akiha and Kohaku-san both turn.
But, it's hopeless. They'll never make it.
The black shape isn't going for Akiha.
SHIKI lunges not at Akiha, but at Kohaku-san who stands next to her.
---He knows.
Just like how I am able to move right now because of Hisui's power,
he knows that Akiha's overwhelming power is possible through Kohaku-san's help.
"Kohaku.........!"
Akiha's voice cannot stop it.
"Hee--eeeeeee!"
SHIKI raises his voice, and with his arm thrusting like a spear, aims for Kohaku's face.
The sound of pierced flesh.
Splat! The sound of blood spurting forth.
Kohaku-san's face is splattered, with the redness, of, Akiha's blood.
"...... Akiha-sama......?"
"Aa----"
The sound of coughing.
Akiha tries to speak, but blood is the only thing that pours from her mouth.
That means,
the majority of her blood vessels have been destroyed, and all she can do is regurgitate blood.
"--------"
I can't speak.
My mind is empty.
That is,
the same as SHIKI, who has just impaled Akiha.
That is a really disturbing mental image 
"AAAAAa, AA, AAAAAAAAAA!"
SHIKI shakes his arm desperately.
"AAA, Aki, Akiha, Akiha is, Akiha?"
SHIKI suddenly stops moving.
SHIKI stares at Akiha's blood-drenched body, then looks at his blood-soaked arm--then bolts down the hallway as if running from something.
His footsteps lead upstairs.
SHIKI has run to the rooftop.
----But that,
I don't care about that.
"Akiha......... Akiha----!"
Still unable to think, I run to her.
Kohaku-san is still standing in a daze, her amber eyes nothing more than jewels devoid of emotion.
----I
crouch down next to Akiha's body.
Music: play track 7
No matter how many times I've hoped she dies, this is still sad 
"Akiha--Akiha!"
These are the only words that I can think of.
Akiha----with her calm, gentle eyes, looks up at me.
"...... Nii-san...... why, are you, here......?"
She coughs.
More blood trickles from her mouth.
"--------!"
...... I can see them.
The lines of death on her body are spreading across her body with gruesome speed.
This is... fatal.
The fact that she's still alive must simply be due to her unnatural Tohno blood.
It doesn't do anything.
As if trying to hold off my weeping emotions, I push against it.
---All I can do is push.
"Hey...... answer me."
In a daze.
Akiha says this to me like she does not see me pushing against her wound.
"Nii-san, why, are, you here? I'm curious, so I can't rest until I know. Things I don't understand, they make me angry--you know that, right?"
"-------"
"Oh yeah, that's right," I nod.
I hold back my tears.
I answer as best as I can.
"Ah, I see----this isn't like me at all. I didn't... even... think of that at all..."
Akiha sounds satisfied.
Good god 
She doesn't even seem to be in pain.
Only, her body warmth starts to disappear.
Like pure white ice melting under the sun.
Does she understand what is happening, or maybe it is because she does understand---she speaks normally as if we were talking during breakfast.
"Hey, did you hear about what we were talking about?"
"---Yeah, sorry, but I heard."
"O, oh. You know now. ...... I'm such an idiot, letting you hear it, the person I didn't want to let hear the most."
"Don't speak......! It's okay, so relax. Please......... please."
I roll up my shirt and tie it around her body.
I know it's useless.
But, if I don't do anything, I don't think I can stay sane.
With her trembling lips,
Akiha says those words clearly.
The blood doesn't stop.
I'll go crazy at this rate.
I'm... not going to cry... ----I really am an idiot.
Her lips shape those words.
She should have said it.
She should have voiced it.
But Akiha, did not do so.
"...... Akiha?"
There is no reply.
What I am holding right now is not breathing.
"Hey!"
There is no response.
What I am holding is what used to be Tohno Akiha.
"Say something!"
There will never be an answer.
What I am holding has closed her eyes calmly----
Not... going to... Music: stop
"...... Shiki-sama, please---"
Hisui places her hand on mine.
"----Ah..."
Without even realizing it, I was making her body dirty.
I---like an idiot, I made her body dirty.
"----"
Quietly, I place her on the floor.
----The school building is horribly quiet.
Hisui and I are wordlessly frozen.
Only---only Kohaku-san seems to have regained the power to move.
----SHI, KI.
Those words catapult my consciousness back.
"Nee-san, don't say that now---"
"No---Kohaku-san is right."
I stand up.
It's a good thing---it really is a good thing I brought my knife.
Never before has killing SHIKI been so utterly satisfying. 
"P...... please stop, Shiki-sama......! You, you don't have to do such a dangerous thing. SHIKI will not last long with that wound anyways."
"...... No. Akiha went that far since she could not let SHIKI, the killer, be alive any longer.
For Akiha's sake, I can't leave him be."
I say this as I push her away.
That's a lie.
More than that just cause----
"I have to settle this with him here and now."
----I hate him.
To put it simply, I just want to kill him.
I remove my glasses.
I look at his "death".
*pant*---*pant*---*pant*---!
Crouching, SHIKI is biting his own arms.
There--exists no trace of sanity.
Perhaps what happened caused him to go insane.
".................."
That pisses me off.
I---I am not able to lose my sanity for Akiha's sake.
Underneath the moonlight.
Even though I've known him for so long, I take my first step towards the enemy I just met tonight.
"SHIKI---Akiha is dead."
"Ah-----"
SHIKI looks at me with bloodshot eyes.
His face is half gone, but he still isn't dead.
The powers of those of Tohno blood---Shiki's power is "immortality".
That must mean it is harder for him to die, more likely for him to live on.
"Ha..."
That's funny.
For me, that means nothing.
SHIKI screams around while staggering around. I---
"What---are you..."
---I don't get it.
"Just shut up!
Just leave me alone--don't look inside me, don't use my dreams.........!!
You, you, you, you're always watching me, that's why I'm so full of uneasiness!"
SHIKI claws at his head.
SHIKI is screaming like a child.
"...... Hmph. Same goes for you."
I raise my knife.
I never thought to understand him in the first place.
I---I came here for a deathmatch.
"Fine, let's fight to the death! All those who get in my way are my enemy. I'll kill you all. You, you, Akiha, Kohaku! Just like that old man who wanted to lock me up till I died, I'll kill you all......!"
SHIKI screams like a raving lunatic.
His figure really is ugly.
"HA, HAHA, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
And then.
SHIKI attacks me head on.
Music: stop
SHIKI's death looked like an iron shaft was sticking out of his head.
"See. That's what I meant by ugly."
"Ha......... haha, ha."
SHIKI just laughs.
There, no intelligence exists.
"AHA, HAHAHA, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Laughing, and dying.
His arms leaning on me fall to the ground.
SHIKI dies.
Before he does, he looks up at me, curiously.
"Who--are you?"
"What are you saying? I'm the Tohno Shiki you were always targeting."
"Ah, I see. You're Shiki."
SHIKI collapses to the ground.
"What's this? ----You look nothing... like what I heard."
SHIKI collapses and his body disperses into the wind.
Music: play track 9
------It's over.
With this, it's over.
But, I don't feel anything.
I won't feel those splitting headaches, I can return to life as normal--but I don't feel happy.
What I've lost, is far greater.
----But, what is over?
"----Why?"
I feel dizzy.
SHIKI's last words won't fade away.
Something did end.
But I don't know what ended, or in the beginning, what I was trying to end.
The next week passed like it was just a dream.
Just like SHIKI's dead body, Akiha's remains dissolved into nothingness.
The whole affair did not leak out to the public and was taken care of by the people of the Tohno family.
I stayed in the mansion, becoming the successor to the Tohno household in Akiha's place.
For now, it is just in name, but I guess it's not something that can be determined easily.
Since SHIKI died, my body returned to health and I'm allowed to lead a normal life.
As for everything else, only a little has changed since before.
My happy school life without Akiha.
My life at the mansion with Hisui and Kohaku-san.
I, Tohno Shiki, think the whole incident that occurred after I came to the mansion ended.
However.
There is still a matter that I have to take care of.
Music: stop
SHIKI had a grudge against Makihisa.
SHIKI had a grudge against the old man because he was going to be locked away his entire life, even though my old man wanted to return SHIKI to the mansion as early as possible.
SHIKI thought of me as the target of revenge, but he never showed up in front of me and he did not even know what I looked like.
And one more thing.
That one dream, where SHIKI was violating that one doll-like girl.
That... is probably----.
...oh god... 
Music: play track 8
I nod.
She smiles cheerfully at me.
"You realized it, didn't you, Shiki-san?"
I nod.
Her smile does not fade.
Always...... her smile does not go away no matter what happens.
Come to think of it, the expressionless Hisui actually showed a lot of different feelings.
From the outside, she appeared to be a heartless doll, but her heart was not a doll's.
"Yes."
"And you lied to SHIKI, and made him attack innocent people."
"Yes."
"When we were small, the one watching us from a distance wasn't Hisui, it was you, Kohaku."
"Yes."
SWEET MOTHER OF GOD "Back then, you intentionally distracted Akiha!"
"Yes."
"And then you suggested that I kill SHIKI!"
"Yes."
"...... All of it, all of it is how you planned it out, Kohaku......?"
Still smiling, she nods.
"That's right. All of it was something I wished would happen, Shiki-san."
Still, she smiles.
I feel a chill and unknowingly take a step back.
"Why---why, did you do these things?"
"Oh my. You know already. There are only one or two reasons why I would do all of this."
"...... Revenge..."
"Ah, I think that's it. For the sake of revenge, I decided that every one of the Tohnos should die."
"Revenge...... Is it because like me, you had your parents killed by Tohno Makihisa?"
"Oh, don't be silly. Hisui-chan and I were orphans. We don't even know what our parents looked like."
"So why!?"
"Who knows. I don't even remember how I felt back then. All I know is the reason."
"Reason? What reason?"
"Let's see... such as getting abused by Makihisa-sama?
That is the reason why Hisui-chan and I were adopted in the first place. In order to stay human, he needed our abilities as Synchronizers.
Shiki-san, you've done it with Hisui-chan, right? It is said that sexual intercourse is the best way to share energy."
"------"
I--knew that already.
Then that means--in other words--
"Makihisa-sama was really pushed to his limits. I think he was too desperate to consider my age.
I was chosen first for a simple reason. He probably thought that since I wasn't talkative and was quiet, I wouldn't resist like the energetic Hisui-chan would have."
Even now, her smile, does not fade.
"Makihisa-sama wasn't really a bad person. Only sometimes, he would turn violent because of his Tohno blood.
So, for those times, he had me ready in his room, and he let those feelings out on me.
I guess it is called sexual abuse. But I don't really remember much of it. It was just like a daily routine for him to want me, so if I tried to remember something like that, my brain would explode, wouldn't it?"
"Every day, he got a little worse. But that couldn't really be helped.
I was merely a child, so my abilities as a Synchronizer weren't fully developed. That's why he needed Hisui-chan's help too.
But, since I was the older sister, I just thought I shouldn't allow her to cry."
"So, I took in everything Makihisa-sama wanted to do. I asked him not to touch Hisui-chan because I would take everything myself.
He was probably ashamed and agreed to my request. He probably also thought it was better that as few people knew about this secret as possible."
"That's how I came to stay in Makihisa-sama's room, our relationship a secret from everyone else.
During that time, I was able to think about things a little bit, I think. I always thought about how to get away, how to run away with Hisui-chan.
But I didn't know where to go, and the more I submitted my body to Makihisa-sama, the more I broke down. Eventually, I got tired of thinking and I realized that if I didn't think, it wouldn't hurt."
This is the most fucked up ending ever. 
"Shiki-san, I wanted Hisui-chan to stay clean. For her sake, I could endure any kind of abuse.
But, it was so hard. Not Makihisa-sama's abuse. I couldn't understand you, and that made me scared."
"Scared...... of me?"
"Yes. The way you played innocently was like a different world to me. I looked out the window to see all of you play when Makihisa-sama wasn't looking."
"I didn't understand any of that. I didn't understand why you did those pointless things. It was strange for me to think so since it was just another world and I couldn't be involved in it.
I wasn't jealous of you, and I didn't hate the Tohno children.
All I did was stare at all of you, while having this unknown feeling.
But, I was afraid that feeling would turn me back into a human."
"And two years later, you were killed by SHIKI-sama.
You probably don't remember it, but SHIKI-sama was trying to kill Akiha-sama.
But you suddenly came, and you shielded Akiha-sama.
You weren't related to her, and you had everything stolen from you by the Tohno family, but you still died protecting her."
"At that time, I was watching Akiha-sama, who was holding onto your dead body painfully but happily.
Oh, maybe I made up my mind back then. That it would suit Akiha-sama for her to die just like you did."
"Wha----!"
"Wait, Shiki-san. If you want to know the reason, you have to be patient."
"........."
I stop my rush towards her.
"Days later, you were brought back to the mansion and you were going to be adopted by the Arimas.
That was really a secret, but I overheard it from Makihisa-sama. That's how I knew you would be leaving.
I didn't have time to tell Akiha-sama or Hisui-chan.
When I thought that I couldn't see that boy again, without even getting to talk to him----my legs strangely moved, and I ran down the hallway and found him, but I couldn't think of anything to say. So I gave him my ribbon, the only thing that I owned."
So that dream was real.
It wasn't that I wanted to abuse Hisui or Kohaku-san.
That--was in reality.
SHIKI... did that to her----
"After gaining some freedom from Makihisa-sama, I became a little happy.
But, it was the same. SHIKI-sama was just like his father and only used me to let out his feelings."
The hardest thing for me was to find a reason to move. A doll can't move by itself. Without a spring or strings, it can't act like a human.
So, once I found a reason, everything became simple.
All I needed to do was to place mistrust between them by making SHIKI-sama reject Makihisa-sama.
SHIKI-sama said that he wanted to drink blood, so I gave him mine and told him that he wasn't a bad person and I kept him the way he was."
"When SHIKI-sama became sick, I took care to make special medicine for him.
Oh, it's the same as the one I gave you. You know those morning glories in the garden behind the mansion? They are called Chosen morning glories and have three kinds of mental effects.
In simple terms, it's a drug that makes people hallucinate.
Once they are unconscious, they listen to what I tell them, and when they wake up, they don't remember a thing. Quite convenient, don't you think?
Because I was educated to become Makihisa-sama's personal doctor, I know a lot about these sorts of things."
Alright, this goes beyond creepy. This is fucking frightening
...... I thought that I wouldn't be free until SHIKI-sama killed Makihisa-sama, but I was freed four years earlier, actually.
From then on, I became a normal servant and traded places with Hisui, who became silent.
Oh, but don't worry since I was the one who took care of SHIKI-sama and Makihisa-sama. Hisui-chan was always clean of everything."
Smiling, she ends her story.
"..............."
I don't know what to say.
Even if Tohno Makihisa was the main cause,
the one who wished it to turn out this way, and made it turn out this way is this girl before me.
"But still--"
...... That is unforgivable.
"There wasn't anything I ever wished from my heart. But it's strange. Everyone seriously accepts what I say.
Just the words of a ten-year-old child can manipulate their feelings. Aren't coincidences scary?"
Kohaku giggles.
A ten-year-old psychotic, manipulative, murdering child... who is that way due to severe sexual, psychological, and physical abuse... gahhhh "--Are you satisfied, Kohaku?"
"I don't know. I'm merely a doll that doesn't feel happiness or sadness."
I thought she'd say that.
...... Before me is a human that is a doll.
A girl whose emotions were exhausted so long ago. Nothing remains.
Telling herself that she is a doll that doesn't feel any pain. More than half of her really believes it.
That's why injuries don't hurt her.
SHIKI and Akiha died, but she doesn't feel happy or sad.
She is just,
an empty shell manipulated by strings.
That face is far scarier than it has any right to be "But----"
"Eh?"
"But, there was just one strange thing."
Really just a little bit.
She said that as her eyes trailed off into the distance.
"Akiha-sama protected me in the end. I knew there was a fifty-fifty chance she would do that. I stayed close to her for that reason.
Revealing Makihisa-sama's abuse and devotedly helping Akiha-sama who was slowly turning nonhuman.
---Yes that's right. Really, I knew she would die protecting me."
That smile.
Even though she is smiling, she looks really sad, as if she's--
"But----I was really surprised at the time. Why is she protecting me? Why is she protecting me, risking her life?"
---She looks like she might burst into tears.
"I still don't actually understand if I was actually happy or sad when Akiha-sama died.
But when I wake up in the morning, I take tea to her room even though I know she is gone.
Isn't this strange? Even though there's no one in that room anymore."
Music: stop
"Wha--why.........!?"
I hold her in my arms.
Fresh blood blossoms from her chest like a flower.
Her smile still does not fade.
----On the contrary,
it seems indescribably pitiful.
"Hang in there...! Why, why did you do that...!"
"Because revenge was the only thing I could do----I can only disappear when it's all over. I tried to find new springs, but I could never find one, and time ran out."
She smiles.
That... for no reason at all----
"What the hell is that? What are you saying...!"
I look at the wound like I did to Akiha.
---She won't make it.
It has pierced her heart.
"........."
Why?
There was no reason---I just can't bear the sadness.
...oh christ
She speaks lightly.
"That's why I asked you to return it when we met again.
But you didn't keep your promise, Shiki-san."
Just when you think it can't possibly get any more sad, IT KEEPS GOING ...
"But--that..."
I was mistaken, and thought it was Hisui's----
"I made a little bet with myself.
That if that boy noticed that I switched places with Hisui-chan----then I would quit everything."
"Wha---what is that? Are you trying to make me responsible for it at the end...!"
As I shout, my hand desperately tries to stop her bleeding.
But, death truly is miserable.
Ruthless, and accurate, without even a delay or the failure of a single second.
The clock of her life counts down to zero.
"---Well excuse me! Damn it! I know it's your fault, damn it, so why do I----"
That's right---
"Kohaku, I still don't want you to die, damn it......!"
Tears flow down.
She smiles again.
"Shiki-san, you are too kind. But please don't worry about it. I'm just a doll, so I don't feel pain or fear."
"That again---why do you---"
"But it is much easier this way. Being a human, everything is painful and it hurts too much. But no one saved me, I couldn't escape."
She exhales slightly.
She closes her eyes and remembers.
"I just remembered something.
...... It was when I was a child.
I was scared and hurt, but more scared of dying.
Tohno Makihisa was huge, like a demon out of a story book.
The mansion was too big, like a haunted house.
Every day was cold, and it was my daily routine to cry and scream.
But if I raised my voice, it got worse, so I had to endure it all."
With her eyes still closed, she remembers the childhood filled only with pain.
"I don't like pain.
That's why I thought it would be better to become a doll."
"Ko...... haku?"
"And gradually, my body stopped generating a pulse.
Blood vessels turned into tubes one by one.
Blood vanished like vapor.
My heart, everything, just crafted parts.
If I did that, there would be no more pain, right?"
Kohaku still keeps her eyes closed.
---No, that is wrong.
I grasp her hand, and shake my head in refusal.
"No...! Kohaku, you are human. You can't be a doll...! Kohaku, you're alive, you're a living human being...! As proof, you are bleeding red blood right now!"
"Ah, that's right."
She laughs again.
"...... Right? You're a normal girl who liked Akiha, was always worried about Hisui, and laughed when we talked about stupid things.
So----"
Even if she wished it and caused the deaths of Akiha and SHIKI...
"--Kohaku, there was no reason for you to die."
Increasing my grip, I say these words from the bottom of my heart.
I... I promised I wouldn't... aaaaahhhhh 
...... Her closed eyes open.
At the very end.
She looks at the deep, distant blue sky.
"I see---I guess it was only an illusion after all."
She coughs up blood.
----It hurts.
She whispers softly.
Music: play track 2
"Yeah. Don't strain yourself either, Hisui."
Taking my bag from Hisui, I turn my back to the mansion.
The road is long, as if it goes on forever.
The gently sloping road, and the blue sky that might suck me in.
I see an illusion.
The road, like a ladder, heading to the sky, trying to reach the clear, blue sky.
---I see that, and for no reason.
I remember that sorrowful affair.
"--------Hisui."
"Yes. What is it, Shiki-sama?"
"...... Mm, tomorrow is the start of winter break, right? I'll come straight home, so how about we go to town? I have something I want to talk about, too."
"Huh--? To town?"
"Yeah. Once it is winter vacation, let's take a trip somewhere. ...... Well, I don't know where yet, so I was thinking of letting you decide."
"----No, if I get to be with you, it would make me very happy. I--will look forward to it."
"I see. Then, I'll be back before noon. Please be waiting in some regular clothes. Then we'll figure out what to do...... and maybe a terrible guy might come along too, but we'll deal with it then if it happens."
Both Akiha and Kohaku had to die, but at least Shiki will get his threesome with Arihiko at last 
Hisui tilts her head questioningly, but agrees.
...... When I go to school, I will end up asking for suggestions from Arihiko, but considering him, he will want to come along.
---Well, that's that.
I can ask his sister to come along too and going with a lot of people might not be bad either.
...and Shiki's obsession with sisters continues 
Music: play track 8
The only one left in the mansion is me.
Nee-san and Akiha-sama are no longer here. And it seems that no new servants or masters will be coming.
His sister left him this mansion and some money.
Since the money that is used to maintain this place will be paid by the members of the branched Tohno family, it seems we will not have to leave here anytime soon.
---Once vacation starts, do you want to take a trip?
I decided to nod to those words.
...... Ever since that day, I forbade myself from leaving this mansion.
Ever since I found out Makihisa-sama was using Nee-san like that in my place, I hated going outside.
Isn't it natural? Nee-san did that so I would stay clean.
So, I had to stay clean, no matter what.
I would not let any male touch me. I would never touch the fingers of the gender that used my sister like that.
Oh... so that's... oh god... I thought it would be better if I was just like a machine.
If I went outside, I would get dirty, so it would be better if I stayed inside.
If I locked myself away in the sterile mansion, I would never become dirty.
Because Nee-san protected me.
I thought the only thing I could do was become like a doll, staying pretty forever.
"...... But, I will end that, will I not?
I am thinking of going outside, Nee-san."
A wind blows.
The hair ribbon that was in my hand flies off.
It is white.
It was a lone memory that a girl gave to him a long time ago.
Music: play track 7
Goddammit, and I was just starting to feel better, too In my hand, I hold a promise.
That awaited promise of the girl who gave that ribbon still lives inside of me.
So---just that ribbon, at least.
I think it tried to return to the place the girl dreamed of.
"--------"
Promises are fulfilled.
If he thought I was that girl, then I will have to fulfill her dream.
Like how I love him.
That girl had to have always loved him too.
Come to think of it, we really were sisters alike each other.
Nee-san and I traded places, but Nee-san really did a perfect job of acting out my part.
That carefree smile.
Those straightforward emotions.
And that fleeting experience of love with him, those were all real.
I don't think I can do it right away, but I can do it gradually.
Maybe I won't be able to behave exactly as I was back then, but with all my strength----I must fulfill her dream, as I am right now.
After the boy left, Nee-san acted like me because she wanted to do that.
...... Her dream was always to be Hisui and to love Tohno Shiki.
So I will grant her dream.
For the sake of my childhood dream, and for Nee-san's dream, I will always---always be by his side.
I'm such a pansy. No matter how many times I see it, this ending still gets me to tear up a little "Ah------"
I hear noisy voices in the distance.
...... It seems like he has returned, but it is noisy.
...... He is not alone, but it looks like he brought some friends.
--A voice calls my name.
Checking myself in the reflection off a window, I hurry to the entrance.
---The sky, the infinite deep, blue, sky.
Hisui greets the long-awaited boy, takes delight in such normal things, and returns a smile.
That is something that will continue tirelessly, day after day.
The long-awaited peaceful world.
I have been waiting for it for so, so long.
Oh god I love this game so much Music: stop
Music: play track 9
You have reached Hisui's True Ending. Well done.
Each heroine (with one exception) has two different kinds of endings.
A True Ending and a Good Ending.
After reaching one of the endings, please go back a little and readvance through the story.
A different event should await you.
