Crackâ!
The smell of something burning grazed the tip of my nose.
This placeâwho could say what it originally looked like?
Everything had burned and burned again, so the original appearance had long been lost.
It was impossible to imagine what it had once been.
All that remained was a world of blackened ash and embers still smoldering.
âWhat a mess.â
I let out a brief chuckle as I looked around.
It wasnât somewhere else; this was the inside of my own heart.
The fact that the world looked like thisâ
It meant that my insides were as charred and rotten as this place.
âPathetic.â
So much for all my resolve to live properly.
This is what Iâd become.
I lowered my gaze.
Beneath this burning world, there was a barely preserved space.
A child sat there, trembling as they desperately held back the encroaching flames.
Small, fragile, and utterly terrified.
[Sniff... sniff...]
Damn it.
This memory was truly a cursed one.
âHey.â
[Sniff... huh?]
At my call, the child lifted their head.
They had slit eyes and a face that, even for a child, looked unnervingly fierce.
âLook at that face.â
With a face like that, theyâd be called ferocious their whole life.
âSigh...â
I let out a deep sigh as I stared at the child.
âWhatâs with that pitiful look?â
[Please... save me... Save me!]
The child reached out to me,
their small hand clutching the hem of my pants.
[Please, please save me!]
â...â
[I want to see my mom... please...]
Their voice was earnest.
A small but clear cry from someone desperately clinging to life.
When was it?
âWhen did I ever sound like that?â
I tried to recall, but... there was nothing.
âNothing.â
Not once.
Not a single time.
After my mother disappeared, I had never cried out like that.
So then...
âAre you going to just sit here crying endlessly?â
[Sniff... sniff...]
âShut up.â
[...!]
The child immediately stopped crying at my words.
âDonât cry. Shut up. Itâs annoying.â
[Sniffle... sniff...]
âIf you cry now, youâll lose. Your life is already screwed.â