Have a Good Day, Everyone

"Aurine."

Your older sister's name. Your fraternal twin.

"Twin sisters, born and raised in the slums, were rescued by the Saintess who had come to bring relief to the poor."

By chance, the older sister resembled the Saintess. Even their names were the same.

"The twins grew up strong and healthy beneath the Saintess. Once grown, the older sister worked actively as the Saintess's body double."

The younger... well. She was simply there.

"Unfortunately, Ilshikgyo carried out a terror attack. Countless people were kidnapped. During the attack the older sister was crushed beneath a building and died, and the younger sister watched it happen."

The sister she loved had saved her, and in the saving had ceased to be her sister at all. The shock was past all measure.

"Stop... stop it..."

"The Vatican flew into a rage and dispatched a rescue team at once."

The rescue succeeded. They saved the people. All but one.

"The clash between the rescue team and Ilshikgyo left a tremendous wake. Even the younger sister, who had been in a comparatively safe place, was wounded and lost consciousness."

By chance, in a place where no one would ever find her.

"Ilshikgyo had already offered up many innocent people in human sacrifice, and the rescue team, judging the younger sister to be one of them, withdrew at once."

A little more care, and they would have found her. But the weather happened to be foul, the situation desperate, and it simply could not be done.

"There, the younger sister woke."

Woke to the knowledge that she was dying where no one was.

"An ordinary person, struck again and again by shocks no ordinary person could bear, grew unstable."

Her only family was dead, and she herself was not safe. Give a mind like that the slightest spark, and isn't it the perfect moment for a delusion?

"By chance, on a television whose power had not been cut, the Vatican announced the results of the rescue."

The announcer's face was unusually grim.

Except, of course, that one person had been left behind.

"Afterward, the Saintess gave a speech."

No. Not the Saintess. The older sister, one supposes.

"All through the speech, the younger sister fell into the delusion that her sister had not saved her."

She believed a Vatican sword, fallen by chance nearby, had cut her.

"And once she had believed it, her mind spread its wings of fancy all on its own."

Ah. My sister abandoned me.

Ah. The Vatican I thought so devout was a house of lies.

Ah. I am not needed.

"That was when the Eclipse God reached out his hand to you."

A betrayal without end, and a rage with nowhere to go.

Emotions the Eclipse God loves.

For an ordinary girl, the sort you might find anywhere, to take that help and become a false saintess was the work of an instant.

"A fraudulent, delusional, clown of a saintess, that is."

Miss Aurone.

Do you understand a little better now?

"No... no... I couldn't have..."

The saintess clutched her head, saliva spilling from her mouth, and shook.

"My sister... she didn't die... Our sister lived..."

The sister she hated and the sister she loved.

The sister who held her hand when she was frightened, who put something—anything—into her mouth when she was hungry...

She can't have died.

Our sister is right over there... wearing the mask of that wicked Vatican Saintess.

And if she isn't—then I—what in the world did I do all of that for?

Killing people who had done nothing. Torturing the living. Offering up adults, children, and the old alike to the Eclipse God. Killing even the subordinates and the comrades who followed me and loved me. I forced my way, step by wretched step, all the way here. And all of it... all of it happened because of a single delusion of mine?

How can a person do that?

Hahaha... Memories can't be rewritten, can they? It can't be a lie...

"Love and faith make a person strong. They can also destroy one."

A dull, heavy weight settled onto her shoulder.

The saintess—no, Aurone—flinched, her whole body trembling.

"A man I know loved his daughter so much that he walked a road from which there is no turning back. He sold his soul to a demon and became a wraith."

Fortunately, that man still has a chance to undo it.

"A tiger I know loved a young girl so dearly that he took Heaven's sin upon his own back. Across hundreds of years he forgot himself."

Now he lives happily with that girl.

"A tree I know loved eating so much that it made a nuisance of itself ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in every conceivable way. It did not even know what it was doing."

A phantom thief who happened by gave it a thorough hiding. Whether it has any manners now, I couldn't say.

"And."

A girl I know...

"...fled a reality she could not bear to accept, and became a clown."

She bathes in a tub of blood, is held aloft by madmen upon a throne of bone, and lives by giving herself over to an evil god.

Turning false memories over and over, swearing an absurd revenge.

"Please stop... I'm begging you..."

Aurone pleaded with the being before her eyes.

She flattened herself to the ground, licked his feet, and begged.

"D-don't take me there. Please let me live..."

Hic. Hic.

She was afraid that it was true.

If that was truly reality, this fragile mind would not hold.

"Wouldn't that be rude to your sister?"

The phantom thief changed his mask. This one was a little special. It had the feel of human skin.

"Eeeeeeek! S-Sister...!"

Aurone flung tears in every direction. Her beloved sister was there.

"Miss Aurone. Say it to this face."

I don't want to go back to reality. I want to stay inside a false memory and keep killing people.

"Hic! Hic! Sister! No! It isn't like that!"

"What isn't?"

The voice thinned. The pitch rose, and the tone went soft as cloth.

She frowned.

"Didn't I tell you not to be so careless? I told you to live with your head on straight. What is this supposed to be?"

"Huh?"

Aurine sighed as if her heart hurt.

She looked at her fallen sister's knee and bit her finger.

"Agh. Look at the blood. Are you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all right?"

"Huh...? Y-yeah?"

Aurone looked around.

Cold marble made itself known from her hips downward. People with Bibles clasped to their chests wandered past. Overhead a light fixture dangled, and a nun was watering a potted plant.

This was the Vatican.

Hahaha!

Hey! Over there!

Out in the courtyard, children ran and shouted in delight. A child struck by a ball huffed and spun his fists in furious circles.

"Ah! Those brats are at it again. You kids! Will you hold still?!"

A vein stood out on Aurine's forehead.

"Sister?"

"What... are you crying?"

Drip. Drip.

"Hic! Huuuh! Sister, you're alive! You're alive!"

"Did it hurt that much? Why are you crying."

She felt a hand stroking her hair. A sister with hardly any years between them at all, and still she had missed that sturdy, warm heart.

"I won't—I won't lose you again..."

"Aigoo. I don't know what's gotten into you."

Aurine let out a small laugh. Her little sister was being playful today, of all days.

"Where would I even go? Stop talking nonsense and stand up. Let's go to the infirmary."

"Okay..."

Aurine hoisted her one and only little sister onto her back, careful that the knee jutting out at her side would not hurt.

"How old are you, and still a baby. How do you plan to live without me?"

"I can't. Let's live beside each other our whole lives."

"That's enough of that. I like men. Don't say things that would give the Lord a fright."

A brilliant scent of grass tickled her nose. Black hair fluttered in a cool wind, and people bustled about in a pleasant disorder.

"We're here. Can you walk?"

"Yeah."

Looking at her family, Aurone made a vow.

She would face reality with her head held high. She would not lose anyone again.

"Teacher, are you there?"

Her beloved sister opened the door.

"You've come."

And waiting there...

...was her despair.

"Ah......?"

The infirmary was gone.

The brilliant sunlight and the fluttering butterflies vanished.

Her vision was shoved wide open.

A ceiling came into being, and her feet rose into the air. Walls stood up like the ribs of a fan, and between them countless chairs were set in place. People filled every seat.

"Give it back..."

Even if it was a lie, give it back.

Let me see my sister again...

"Keuk!"

She could not withstand the shock, and she fell.

"What is this...?"

All at once an alien feeling on her body drew her eyes that way.

The first thought, the instant she saw it, was that it was ridiculous.

Baggy sleeves hung slack, and with every movement an uncomfortable cloth brushed her skin. The costume was gaudy with every color there was, and when she rolled her eyes upward, several bells dangled and chimed from one side of her head. The toes of her shoes curled up, and a ball as red as a tomato was fitted over her nose.

"This... is..."

Aurone had become a clown.

The clown laughed, empty.

This is a dream. This can't be. It can't be real...

"Running away again?"

The phantom thief whispered to the clown.

"That, too, is a fine method, I suppose. O clown, sunk in a world of your own."

The phantom thief gave the clown the words she most wanted to hear.

"My little sister. You'll play the clown for your big sister, won't you?"

"......Heh."

"Good girl. You only have to stay on the stage a little while."

Then it would all be over.

The clown nodded hard enough to raise a wind.

"Go on."

"My beloved little sister."

The clown gave up on thinking.

There were people over there, waiting for her.

She performed—riding a unicycle, juggling. The laughter of the crowd never broke, and the place was full of happiness.

The phantom thief turned his back on the stage.

Fireworks burst across the stage, pop after pop. In the dark, the clown showed off her tricks.

Within all of it, only one person ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was watching the clown.

She will not be lonely.

The phantom thief took hold of the door.

It is time to close the house.

Well, then...

Creeeeak...

Thud.