The Last Memory of a Human
The rain poured down in torrents. Thick droplets filled every corner of the world, obscuring so much. The noise. The blood. And the tears, too.
My lady, why do you weep so when you could simply shake it all off in this rain?
Sorry? What a truly amusing thing to say. Thanks to you, I was happy. Without you, I would still be burying my head in the gutter, living a life worse than a beast. Because of you, I was finally able to become human. Having learned what it means to live as a person, isn't that an undeserved blessing for someone like me?
Ah. Now that you mention it, there was a time like that. But coming from someone who never paid off her overdue debts, it doesn't carry much weight…
Our first meeting was a bad connection. The second was inevitable. The third was fate. A pathetic wretch like me dared to admire you. You, who were so upright. You, who shone so brightly. I, of all people. I wanted to follow you. I wanted to be with you. The path you walked. The places you looked toward. And at the end of that dazzling journey…
But now it's all meaningless talk. There are still so many good people by your side. I will gladly become a stepping stone for you, so please—
And smile for me. Don't cry like that. I'll go with a smile too.
All in all, it's been a rather satisfying day. Yes, even I have to admit I was quite competent today. So for once, smiling doesn't feel too disgraceful. I hope the smile I've managed after so many years doesn't look too ridiculous.
I'm sorry, but I can't hear you anymore. I want to decipher the shape of those moving lips, but my vision is growing blurrier by the second. The appointed end must be drawing near.
Aah. If I had to die someday, I once wished it would be on a bright spring day, buried in a field of green grass beneath fluttering flower petals. That's how I wanted to meet my end.
Yet here I am, beneath a sky heavy with dark clouds, amid scattering raindrops. Using a spreading pool of ice-cold crimson blood as my bed.
Even so, this fullness in my heart… it must be thanks to you.
My lady, I make a wish. And I swear it. I am now setting out toward the unknown. Since death is something no one can know, I depart to explore that unknowable realm from which I can never return.
But… if the afterlife is granted to me, if the distant laws of the underworld permit it… in my next life, I want to live solely for you. I pray that this overflowing heart of mine will be preserved for all eternity.
That was how the story ended.
A memory from over two thousand years ago, from my final days as a human before I became a vampire.
Like the faint, lingering scent of a happy childhood memory, that recollection faded away, leaving only its afterglow.
Now it visits me every night like a happy dream turned nightmare.
But then.
Why, in this incomprehensible game, are you appearing before me?