—Even now, she deeply recalled the feelings she had at the time.
Familiar sights had flames all around them; people she knew had turned into
silent corpses.
A world coming to an end. A closed world. A thankless world.
A world that was harsh, senseless, and brought nothing but pain.
Even so, she reached out with her hand, moved her fingers, quivered her lips,
and pleaded.
After all, while it was a world beyond saving, it was still the only one she had.
It was a world that always had its back turned to her, locked away before her
eyes, a world she could gaze into only from afar.
She wanted to abruptly tear down that wall; squint at the broad, dazzling
world before her; and carve into her unopened eyes the color of sunbaked skin,
the color and smell of burned meat, the color of the beautiful "horns" that
danced in the sky— Here was the world about to end, and what was she
thinking about?
For even then, she could still remember the feelings she had at the time—
Thereafter, she devoted each and every day to expunging her guilt over those
feelings above all else.