As much as she tries to rouse his body with her tiny hands, Obana-chan doesn’t budge.
Even as her fallen tears wet the edge of his nose, Obana-chan doesn’t budge.
As the warmth that must remain in his body seems to grow cold in her hands, what sort of change could that be bringing over her?
Tsudzura: …………
The sound of her sobs dies off, and the charming face she once moved round and round with boundless energy, freezes into the stiff, cold expression of a Noh mask.
Nozomi: Fufufu!——
Ringing from directly behind, a stifled giggle tickles my ear.
As I sit, collapsed in place, Nozomi-chan’s hand mounts my shoulder.
Just as I become aware of the weight of her hand there, her face thrusts forward from above my shoulder, and peeks into mine.
Our eyes have met.
Eyes that shine as wet and red as a lake of blood reflect my face, and the light of the moon.
Within my eyes reflected there, I can see hers… and in hers, yet again——
Caught in the gap between two adjacent mirrors, my consciousness is bound fast.
Nozomi: Ufufu! we’ve been putting this off for a while now…
Her faintly chilled, thin fingers, slip from my shoulder to my neck, and part away the hairs pasted there with sweat.
Nozomi: Care if we start now?
Tsudzura-chan’s body, now stiff and unmoving, is within Nozomi-chan’s sights no longer.
Whatever interest she has to give is now directed only at sucking my blood.
Of course, that’s as natural as anything. She’s an oni who appeared with her sights on my blood, in the first place.
Kei: Hah!…… S-!… Sto-……
A sigh encroaches upon my exposed neck.
My body tries to cringe at the shiver running the length of my back, yet fails to move with even a twitch.
My will to resist, unable to escape from an endless labyrinth, remains unable to reach my body.
Rather, with excessive ease, my body succumbs to the bindings of the red string.
Kei: Ich!
A sharp pain follows the unusual sensation, of soft lips and cold teeth pressing against me at the same time.
Kei: Tsah!…… hah……
The bite wound is hot.
With each beat drummed by my heart, the heat in my body falls out in that direction, dashing away to escape.
Nozomi: Mn!…… Nkh……
With each sound from her throat, Nozomi-chan drinks that warmth dry.
As a dull ache accompanies it with each passing beat, it helps that I can think of her tongue as soothing the pain as she laps it up, but it still terrifies me, regardless.
That feeling, as if all the warmth inside me is being stolen away—— the feeling of my body grow cold…
Nozomi: Mmn!……
Am I going to be made a cold thing that says nothing, in the same way Obana-chan was?
If so——
As she remains now, an empty shell showing no reaction to anything, will Tsudzura-chan cry for me if it comes to that?
If so, I think that might make me a little happier.
I’m falling…
My consciousness… is falling into a dark place…
Ahh, but——
Before that, I want to apologize, at least…
Tsudzura-chan, I’m so sorry…
I’m sure it’s my fault… that Obana-chan is dead.
He stood against them, even though his power had been sealed, trying to save my life.
And even though I said something so conceited, that “you shouldn’t be alone,” here I am, about to go and leave you alone.
Ahh, I really can’t do anything right——
That’s why, Tsudzura-chan, it’s okay if you don’t cry for me, if you can just——
—while my blood is being sucked away like this——
I’m falling…
My consciousness is falling down, into some dark place.
I don’t think I can think of anything else…
Even my thoughts are being swallowed away into the darkness.
Swallowed away, I disappear.
◇Servant of the Snake God – 蛇の神の使い – Red Ending