When the Lies Shatter
Thud! A gunshot rang out, and the clown-masked figure clutched her chest before collapsing. The recoil that numbed my arm, the deafening blast that rang in my ears, the acrid smell of gunpowder filling my nose—I felt my mind going blank from it all.
"..."
"Counselor, are you all right...? Was the sound too loud?"
"Y-yeah..."
I wished she would comfort me a little more. Hearing her gentle voice made the unpleasant sense of wrongness, the dizziness, and the headache all fade away.
"They must have heard the gunshot. People will be coming soon."
"Mm..."
"Then this is goodbye... I'm so sad."
"Me too... I'm sad."
Goodbye...? Was I really going to part with her? I didn't want to... So why was she trying to leave me?
"What's in your hands?"
"Well... a pistol... and the ring that promised our love..."
"Really...?"
"Ah..."
At her question, I blankly looked down at my hands, but there was nothing there. Only my empty, clean hands remained in my field of vision.
"...I don't want you to break."
'Please don't blame yourself.'
I stared at her as she spoke those incomprehensible words. Though she had looked emaciated before, her complexion now seemed healthy. The ring that had shone on her ring finger was gone as well, as if it had been nothing more than a casually told lie. Everything had vanished. The lavender dress, the lavender eyes, and even her deep silver hair were slowly being dyed by the color of that lie... and I found myself nodding obediently.
"..."
"But... they're taking their time."
I had fired a gun for the first time. Yet there had never been a pistol to begin with. I loved her. But who was she, really? She called me Counselor. But why couldn't I answer the clown's question about who I was?
"It's all right. You held up well, Counselor. After a good sleep, you'll forget everything."
'You won't feel confused or hurt anymore.'
"But... I have to save you..."
"It's fine... You did your best, Counselor."
"Then... I'll rest for a bit."
Thud. I dropped to my knees on the spot, feeling my head naturally lower in my lowered field of vision. My broken thoughts, unable to endure the contradiction, circled in place to verify the broken chain of cause and effect, overloading. If I just slept for a moment like she said... everything would be all right. Clinging to that vague hope, I was about to surrender to the artificial sleep that had come to cool my overheated mind when—
"Tsk. Humans... they die most often from curiosity and lies."
"..?"
"If you fall asleep like that, you'll die."
The tongue-clicking voice right by my ear made me barely stop my head from dropping completely. Despite how young the voice sounded, its rather sharp tone piqued my curiosity. If I slept... I'd die? Why? But she had clearly said...
"...?"
When I turned my head, a pure-white girl stood there, her eye level perfectly matching mine as I knelt. A plain white dress. White hair. White eyebrows. White skin. And those chilling white eyes staring at me. I could easily tell that this being standing before me was the younger sister the black-haired girl had been looking for. Though the atmosphere from her expression and gaze was completely different, their faces were identical, like twins. Besides, with both sisters walking around with long hair like this...
"Why aren't people coming... and only this little white kid showed up?"
Even after seeing the suddenly appeared white girl, the one I loved showed no surprise at all as she approached and muttered as if finding it strange. But "kid"... that word seemed dangerous.
"Ha."
And just as I feared, the girl gave a cold sneer.
"Not coming? Even the team leader they trusted has collapsed, so they're running here as fast as they can."
"?"
"But since I'm here, they simply can't reach this place."
Unable to understand that absurd statement, the lavender-eyed girl tilted her head and blinked several times. This time, the white girl asked,
"By the way... did you just call me a 'kid'?"
"No, I never said that..."
"You did."
Bang! Crunch...! The most horrifying sound I had ever heard in my short life was the sound of the fragile bones of the girl whose face had been grabbed by the white girl's short arm, lifted high, and slammed face-first into the floor.
"..You... why doesn't it work on you?"
Yet even with her nose crushed and blood flowing, she didn't let out a single pained groan and calmly raised her head to look at the white girl.
"Ah... you're an exception too?"
"Hmph."
After snorting at the girl who had fallen and could no longer move, the white girl walked toward the entrance, dragging her long white hair with her foot instead of her hand, and lightly kicked the team leader's head.
"Joker, you get up too."
Doing that to someone who had been shot... But why had the team leader been shot in the first place? There hadn't been any gun.
"Nngh..."
"?!"
Contrary to my expectation that she must have died, the team leader, who had been lying as if dead, stirred and sat up at that rude wake-up call. She got up...? Seeing her, who had been shot, get up perfectly fine brought me some relief, but at the same time, fear of the scolding that would follow flooded in. Just like she said... I had done something I would regret. Wait, I was afraid of being scolded...? The one regretting was me... So did I shoot the gun? Why would I?
"It still hurts... I'm not as sturdy as Observer-nim, after all."
"Anyway, don't get the wrong idea. The only reason I helped you was because my stupid older sister got directly involved in this future twice."
"Yes, yes... Thank you very much. But aren't you going to run away? It seems like they've already arrived."
"What?"
Thud thud thud thud...! Whoosh!
"Little sister~! I knew you'd be here!"
"Ugh?!"
"Everyone's gathered here? What, what?"
"I was wondering why you were squirming while lying down. That arrogant Joker..."
The white-haired girl glared at the team leader with a very displeased expression, but she didn't care. The black-haired girl who had rushed out from the darkness in the corner of the isolation room, not through the open door, tightly hugged her and rubbed their soft cheeks together, expressing her affection. It was a bright and noisy voice that only added to the confusion in the midst of my already confused state.
"My little sister~ Do you know how much I looked for you?"
"Sister... get off me a little."
"Ehh~ No...! If I let go, you'll run away again!"
Unlike how she had casually slammed the taller woman to the ground earlier, the white girl who was quietly accepting the affectionate assault didn't seem entirely displeased.
"I won't run away... so let go."
"Uuu~ Still no!"
"Ah, why are you like this..."
"Because doing this feels so good~ Hehe."
The white-haired girl, who had made a pouty face while avoiding the black-haired girl's gaze, seemed to have completely given up resisting. Ah, come to think of it, what about her? The one I loved... No, even if it wasn't for that reason, she had been slammed to the floor so hard, so I was worried.
"Ah... I'm fine. I was just lying down because I was a little tired."
When I turned my gaze to the other side, my eyes met hers as she had just raised her head to look this way. I reached out with my already weak hand and wiped the bloodstains flowing down her face.
"But... the sound..."
I had clearly heard the sound of bones breaking...
"..I'm really fine."
"Mm."
At her seemingly nonchalant expression and the two consecutive reassurances, I finally nodded, when—throb...! A headache that flipped my mind inside out once more rushed in, and tears streamed down from the pure pain I was experiencing for the first time.
"Ah... ah...?"
On the other hand, she got up perfectly fine. Her crushed nose bridge and the bright red bloodstains that had been flowing down... were nowhere to be seen. Of course, there was no red color on my fingertips where her blood should have been.
...This won't do. My head couldn't take it anymore.
"Thank you."
Along with those words, her bright smile... was my last memory.
*
The clown-masked figure who got up as if nothing had happened despite being shot. The black and white girls whose long white and black hair, stretching about ten meters, had somehow become twisted together like a pretzel. The Counselor who had chosen the most convenient option of losing consciousness and collapsing, and the beautiful woman in the lavender dress who was silently watching them with her lips pressed together.
Setting aside for now the battle between the one pouring out affection and the one enduring it, the management team leader wearing the unpleasant clown mask slowly approached the standing woman and her collapsed subordinate. Though she was rubbing the area where she had been shot as if it still hurt, trying to evoke sympathy from the other party... the Counselor had already collapsed, and the lavender eyes of the woman watching them alone held no emotion whatsoever. As if she had never tried to leave this place... she simply stood quietly in place, looking at the clown mask. That calm appearance was even more displeasing because she had already regained her body and color. If she had taken even one step outside the door, she would have put a bullet in each of those unpleasant eyes, but according to containment protocols, she couldn't lay a hand on a containment subject who had given up on escape and resistance. But that was that, and displeasure was displeasure. And the management team leader didn't bother hiding that feeling.
"You really sucked him dry, didn't you."
"..."
"How should I deal with this idiot... and that bitch?"