Tsukino lay motionless on the ground, her body battered and bruised, as if it had been put through a meat grinder. However, the physical pain was nothing compared to the stinging ache in her heart, which felt like a small needle poking her repeatedly.
'I killed them... all to save myself. '
Overwhelmed by shame, tears welled up in her eyes as she struggled to come to terms with her actions. She sat up, tears streaming down her face, and gazed at the blood-soaked stage. Her armor was covered in blood, and the sight made her stomach churn.
She sniffled, her eyes fixed on Mikino, who seemed nonchalant about the carnage.
'How can you kill someone with a smile on your face?'
More tears swelling up in her eyes. She sobbed, "But I'm no better... I killed someone with my own fists."
Tsukino hugged her knees, pressing her head between them, and wept. Shoji's gentle hand caressed her hair as he whispered,
"There's no need to feel guilty, Joshiki-chan. We killed them because we wanted to live. We're better than those biased Tama-Artists who killed us without evidence."
Tsukino's sobs subsided, and Shoji enveloped her in a warm hug:
"I killed them to be with you."
Tsukino looked up, her eyes searching for answers as she asked, her voice barely a whisper, "But how can you be with someone as ugly as me?"
Shoji smiled wistfully. "I'm also an ugly person, but I've decided to follow someone even uglier. That way, I'll feel less ugly."
Tsukino's gaze followed Shoji's to Lucy, who was disposing of the corpses. Shoji continued, "He's ugly, but also kind of cool. According to that woman who killed us, he wants to kill his father, someone stronger than her. Just like how he spent countless hours training to kill that Tama-Artist, he will train even more to reach that goal."
Tsukino nodded, recalling the first time they met Lucy. He had shown a darker side, but as they fought alongside him, he began to focus on his own growth. It was as if he had discovered a purpose that drove him to keep pushing forward.
Tsukino's mood lightened slightly, but the memory of Shinji flashed in her mind, and she sighed, a hint of smile on her face.
"Lucy isn't that bad."
Shoji nodded in understanding:
"Those who offered their lives earlier to him knew it was better to die at the hands of someone who doesn't value their life, rather than someone they trusted. As the saying goes, a blade from an enemy hurts, but a blade from a friend hurts even more."
Tsukino's face lit up with a smile as she gazed at Shoji, and her worries seemed to dissipate. She savored the moment, taking in the sight of the handsome man before her.
However, the tranquility was short-lived. The sunlight suddenly vanished as Lucy discarded the last corpse from the stage. The darkness was absolute, but Tsukino and Shoji found comfort in each other's embrace.
A strained, choking voice echoed through the darkness:
"PROVE YOUR COURAGE!"
A haunting voice, akin to a scream of someone being whipped trailed, reciting a tale:
"There was once a miller who had a beautiful daughter. When she grew up, he became anxious that she should be well married and taken care of. So, he thought, 'If a decent sort of man comes and asks her in marriage, I will give her to him.' Soon after, a suitor came forward who seemed very well-to-do. As the miller knew nothing to his disadvantage, he promised him his daughter."
However, when his daughter went to the groom's house on a particular day, she returned the next day shaken by fear and locked herself in her room, requesting to only go out on the day of her wedding. When the wedding day came, the friends and neighbors assembled, the miller having invited them at his daughter's request. She also appeared, and when they were all seated at the table, each one had to tell a story.
But the bride sat still, saying nothing, till the bridegroom said to her, "Now, sweetheart, do you know no story? Tell us something."
The voice was replaced by a sinking feminine voice from the bride:
"I will tell you my dream. I was going alone through a wood and came to a house in which there was no living soul. By the wall was a bird in a cage, who cried, 'Turn back, turn back, thou pretty bride. Within this house, thou must not bide, for here do evil things betide.'"
The daughter took a sip of water and continued: (1)
"I went through all the rooms, and they were all empty. At last, I went down into the cellar, and there sat an old woman, nodding her head hastily as saliva dripped from the ends of her lips. I asked her if my bridegroom lived in that house, and she answered, 'Ah, poor child, you have come into a place of cutthroats; your bridegroom does live here, but he will kill you and cut you in pieces, and then cook and eat you.'"
The daughter's body shuddered, her lips trembling: (2)
"The old woman hid me behind a great cask, and no sooner had she done so than the robbers came home, dragging with them a young woman. They gave her wine to drink thrice – white, red, and yellow. Then they killed her, and cut her in pieces."
The daughter's voice dropped to a whisper:
"And one of the robbers saw five gold rings on the fingers of the young woman, and as it was difficult to get them off, he took an axe and chopped off the fingers, which jumped upwards and then fell behind the great cask onto my lap. And here are the fingers with the rings!"
The voice faded, the darkness was replaced by the bright lights of the theater stage. However, the scene had changed. Two additional figures stood on the stage:
a cadaverous woman in a ragged wedding dress, with a face suffering from third-degree burns with nothing on it. Her skin showed signs of malnutrition, and her hand gripped five index fingers, dripping an ocean of blood onto the ground, which didn't fit their size.
The one facing her was even more terrifying; he wore a nicely tailored black suit, but the structure of his arms was that of four joints, and a group of skinny, decayed arms grew from the place where his fingers were supposed to be. He had an axe lodged in the center of his head, and his facial features were very delightful – if you removed the fact that his mouth had switched places with his eyes.
Before the five humans on the stage could react, another beam of light shone on the judges' panel. The clown clashed its razor-sharp teeth, making a dull metallic sound:
"Throw the groom off the stage; save the five fingers! If one of you dies, you all die!"
A joyous commentator chimed in, "The second presentation of today's show has arrived!"
The audience applauded, and the five mortals' complexions turned pale. The rocking chairs, once thought harmless, now moved to and fro like someone was sitting on them, clapping their hands.