The Let's Play Archive

Tsukihime

by Seorin

Part 135

The soundtrack adds a LOT of mood to various scenes and is used excellently for how simplistic it is. I highly recommend listening to it with the musical cues, if not just playing the game yourself.

Music: play track 1

It's been several mornings.
Time-wise, it is only the next morning from last night, but for me, having alternated between being asleep and being awake, time and day is of no concern.

"Excuse me, Shiki-sama."
I hear a voice, and Hisui enters the room.

"Good morning. I have brought you something to drink."
".................."
I don't even have the energy to say thank you.
I can only stare longingly at what Hisui brought me.

"Shiki-sama, can you drink it by yourself? If you can not move freely yet, I can help you."
She leans over to me to check my condition.
Helping me to drink, she says, but she won't even touch my body.
More importantly, I can't allow her to get close to me.

Well, yeah. It's pretty difficult to masturbate when you can barely even move your arms. It's bound to get troublesome after awhile.

"...... I can drink water by myself. Please just leave the glass over there."

"Yes, as you wish."

Hisui places the glass down and waits by the wall.
I manage to move my arm, and place my lips on the cup.
The cold water is tasteless, just like air.
The burning in me cannot be soothed by just this water, and my thirst cannot be quenched by such a thing.

Hisui stares at me silently from the wall.

...... What is this?
Not being able to move for only three days, and I already feel jealous of Hisui.
Being able to move freely like that, not having to feel this pain, I start to get a little annoyed.

"Hisui."
"Yes, what is it, Shiki-sama?"
"If you have finished your task, please leave. I can't relax with people around me like this."

"---But Shiki-sama, in that case..."
"I told you if I need anything, I'll call for you. ...... Don't make me say the same thing over and over again. Talking makes me pretty tired."

"...... As you wish. I will return in a while, so please do not strain yourself."



Music: stop

Music: play track 9

I gasp for air.
It appears I fell asleep at some point.
That person is still in that basement, continuing to kill his body.
"Damn...... it."
I strike the wall with my fist.
How long do I have to stand this pain?
Or will this pain continue forever until I do something to him personally?

"Just what in the world do I have to do---!"
I strike the wall again.

...... Huh?

"...... My body, it's moving."
I lift my upper body from bed.
The motion which took me about an hour to do before seems so natural now---no, like it always has been---and I may even be healed.



Music: stop

Music: play track 1

"------Sssttt!"
...... I guess it was a dream.
Using all of my power, I lift my upper body.
My arm is still attached to my body.
I don't have any feeling, not even pain.
It appears I'm not broken yet.

"Shiki-sama, may I please enter?"
...... Hisui's voice.
I guess it's time for her to check up on me again.
"...... Yeah, come in."

"Excuse me."

"Shiki-sama, please lie down. The doctor has told you not to sit up."
"Well, I can't be sleeping all day. And even if you call him a doctor, I don't have any appreciation if he can't help me at all."

Hisui lowers her shoulders silently with an apologetic look.

...... I feel annoyed.
If she acts like that I'll just get more miserable, why can't she understand that, this woman--.

"--Stop it. If you keep showing such a pitying face, I'll just feel worse."

"---I am very sorry, Shiki-sama."
"...... If you have something to do, hurry up and do it. I can't do anything, so it should be easy for you to change the sheets or my IV."
"...... Yes, as you wish."

Hisui wordlessly changes my IV bag.
Taking care of the sweat and blood-stained sheets along with my pajamas is apparently Kohaku-san's job.

Does my body hurt?
Can she---someone not me, understand the pain I'm going through?
I'm about to go insane from the constant sensation of my body being stabbed, and I can't even move while all this is happening. She looks at me like that and asks me if my body hurts---

"---Who knows. I don't know. I've just become numb all over."
"............ Ye......... s."
Hisui's voice is shaking more and more.
"It feels like my body is being burned by an invisible fire. I'm dying bit by bit from my fingers onward."
"............"

Hisui stays there in pained silence.

......
.........
............
............... And then,

"---Shiki-sama, I..."
Hisui's voice is no longer shaking.
Calm, as always, uninflected voice.
"I cannot stand seeing you like this any longer."
Hisui says all of this,
but her expressionless face seems like she doesn't care about me.

---My heart starts to race.

"Shiki-sama, I..."
"Shut up......! Don't look at me with that face!"
This anger is totally unexpected.
I can't stand her expressionless face, so I take the IV bag and throw it at her.
Splat!

The red stain splashes all over Hisui.
But her expression does not change.

"---Shiki-sama, please do not strain yourself."
That way of talking. That expressionless, voice.
"...... Shut up! This is my body, I can do what I want with it......!"
Her unchanging expression. It gets more and more on my nerves.
"That's it. Hisui, this has nothing to do with you. Of course you don't feel pain or anything like that!"

"Shiki-sama---please, calm down."
Her expression still does not change. No matter what I say to her, she receives it quietly.

---That only makes me even angrier.

"Yeah, of course. Compared to you, I can never be that calm. Because as hurt as I am, you don't even raise an eyebrow, and you just calmly observe me---!"
"Shiki-sama, please do not push yourself. If you yell like that, your body may get worse."
"Why...... you......! That's enough, get out of here! I'm sick and tired of looking at you, you're worthless......!"
"---As you wish. Please excuse me, Shiki-sama."

Music: stop



"Damn... what am I doing?"
It's not like I'll get better if I take it out on Hisui.
No, not just that, but I---

"-----Gah."
...... There really is something wrong with me.
Not only did I take it out on her like that, but when she was close, I was lusting for her.
If seeing her skin so close and smelling her light fragrance makes me want all of her, I'm no different than him.

Yes, shame on you for sexually desiring a woman! What would Arihiko say!?

I slam my head against the wall.
The voice stops.
...... But, as a price, my consciousness fades.
"............"
Then, I dream of the basement again.

Music: stop

Music: play track 8

"Of course. ...... After what I said, it's only natural not to come back."
...... Hisui won't come again.
Just thinking that, I start to feel my spirit drift far away, but I understand that it's to both of our benefits.

If by some chance, she does come again,
all I will do is take it out on her again, and I don't deserve her kindness.

"I have brought you something to drink, do you care for it?"
"--------"
Hisui really is expressionless.
But, I can still see her fingertips shaking.
"...... Hisui."
...... Why? After all those terrible things I said, why is she still taking care of me?

"...... It's okay, Hisui. You don't have to force yourself; if you don't wish to be near me, it's fine."
"Shiki-sama, I am not forcing myself. Rather, please do not force yourself, Shiki-sama."
Hisui's emotionless voice.
Her shaking fingers.
...... I finally realize it.
It isn't that her voice is emotionless; it's that she's killing the emotion in her voice.

"...... Please excuse me."
Saying that with a restrained voice, she lifts my body.
"Eh---Hisui?"

"Please, drink slowly."
With one hand supporting my back, she brings the glass to my mouth.

Until now, Hisui never touched me no matter what.

"............"
Gulping down a few mouthfuls, I shake my head.

Hisui puts the glass to the side.
Then she puts her hand on my forehead.

----Thump.
My heart starts to pound heavily in a totally different way then other times.

"Hisui---is this, alright?"
Hisui lifts her hand.

"...... There does not, seem to be a fever."
Hisui murmurs this.
I didn't even think so. All of my pain seems to fade away with just that---

This path cannot make up its mind.

Hisui's cheeks turn slightly red, and with a smile, she places her hand on my forehead.

"...... That's strange...... Why do I feel nostalgic, all of a sudden......"
I feel relaxed.
My consciousness starts to become at ease.
...... Yeah, come to think of it, I felt like this when Hisui took care of me like this before.

"...... Thank you...... and sorry, Hisui."

My consciousness sinks into oblivion.
For a brief period of time.
For the first time in days, I slip into a peaceful sleep without any pain or suffering.

Music: stop

Music: play track 1

"Ouu---"
My headache does not stop.
My body does not move.
Maybe it's not just pain being transmitted when that guy hurts his own body.

"Ah---ha,a,haa............!"

I cough uncontrollably.
Ever since he started stabbing himself in the throat with a knife, I haven't been able to breathe properly.

"Ahh...... gghaa...... ah...... ggggg."

*wheeze* *wheeze*

My hoarse voice echoes through the night.
I can't even perform a simple task like breathing normally unless I concentrate.

"...... Is this...... the end?"

This body was supposed to have died eight years ago.
It's not that I never thought I would end up like this.

"Ha......... haha, ha."
But maybe this is for the best.
I've always watched him kill people in my dreams.
But, maybe "he" never existed in the first place---maybe it was me all along.

...... I remember Yumizuka's words.

She said that I was a true killer.
Back then, all I could do was deny it, but now---I don't even have the power to do so.

"............ Ah!"
The headache that feels like my skull is cracking.
It's like the sound of the killer's personality devouring my soul.

...... The forgotten memory of that incident.
My figure coated in blood.

Then maybe, my dreams of killing people might be forgotten memories surfacing once again.

"---Gah......! Ah, auuuu......!"
Pain floods my consciousness.
I can hear a voice that tells me to kill something, anything.

...... Ah, but it's alright.
Even if I am a killer, I couldn't possibly kill anyone the way I am now.
Just like he said, I'm locked up in here, not even being able to take a step outside by myself----

Music: stop