Evil Black Maria - Chapter 95. Mourned Past And Sins Committed

Even though the sharp blade had slashed my throat, I felt no pain.

Surprisingly, I felt nothing.

____I’m sinking.

My consciousness was shattered.

The scenery in my eyes darkened instantly.

The noise passed right by my ears continuously.

I knew I was going to die.

This is how I’m going to die, I thought, with a mind filled with mud.

Soon I’ll be there.

Into the mud at the bottom of my consciousness, where memories and thoughts that have sunk and forgotten are buried.

Then ______ I remembered.

I’m not from this world.

I am a foreigner, born and raised in a completely different world.

I, Izuru Mukoda, had a younger brother who was a year younger than me.

His name was Shizuru Mukoda. He could do anything, and I was proud of him.

But that’s why I _________ killed Shizu-chan.

As siblings, the people around us always compared the two of us.

It was even more so when we had similar looks as if we were twins

And I was inferior to Shizu-chan in every way.

It’s not that I was incompetent.

In fact, I think I was more capable than most people.

But Shizu-chan was always better than me.

Every time someone around me told me that, I gradually felt more and more hurt.

At some point, I began to hate Shizu-chan as much as I hated everyone else.

I knew in my mind that Shizu-chan had done nothing wrong.

I also understood that there was no malice in the eyes of those around us who were comparing us.

But I just couldn’t stand it.

I was trying so hard, but no one saw my efforts.

It was so easy for Shizu-chan to walk right past me.

I don’t really remember the original reason for my decision.

It was probably something really trivial.

I pushed Shizu-chan off a hill near our house.

After I pushed him off, I realized how stupid I had been.

I told my parents everything else and called the police and ambulance.

But strangely enough, no matter where we looked, we could not find Shizu-chan, and the search was eventually terminated.

It was much later that I learned the legend of the mysterious deity hidden in that high hill.

I heard from a classmate who loved the occult that Shizu-chan had been dragged into another world.

Not a day had passed since I pushed my brother off the cliff that I hadn’t felt remorse.

I asked an acquaintance’s relative to tattoo Shizu’s distinctive teardrop-like black marks on my face.

I wanted to bring myself closer to Shizu-chan, even if only a little.

It’s really selfish of me, but I couldn’t bear the loneliness of losing my beloved brother.

That’s why I decided to become Shizu-chan myself, since I looked like him.

There was no way I could do that, but I knew I had to try and act like him.

But imitation is merely imitation.

I spent the days after Shizu-chan disappeared from my life, more keenly aware than anyone else that I was merely imitating him.

I didn’t have the ability, talent, or even the strength of will that he had, and I couldn’t be him.

I felt it painfully every day, grinding and wearing away my spirit.

The breaking point came in three years.

I threw myself down from the same hill from which I had pushed Shizu-chan, on the same day at the same time.

But I didn’t die. I just couldn’t die.

I was supposed to have fallen off the cliff, but before I knew it, I was falling in the darkness.

I kept falling for a long time, so long that I thought I would keep falling forever.

As the cold wind of the fall chilled my body, I somehow saw starlight from the depths of the darkness.

That’s when I finally noticed it.

That I was not falling through the darkness, but being pulled up from it.

That I was going up, not down.

[Well, that’s interesting. We didn’t expect two people to come up this high in a few short years]

The stars were getting bigger and bigger, and I could not count them all.

In the midst of all of them, a yellow star was shining brightly, and it spoke to me.

[This is the Chasm. A place that connects worlds.]

[A boundary that can never be crossed without a combination of good luck, bad luck, and coincidence.]

[And if you are favoured by any of us, the Eight Pillars, you will have the opportunity to cross the Line of Resurrection.]

[Well, it’s rare for people to get here in the first place, and not many are chosen, either.]

It was a high-pitched voice that seemed to echo directly in my head.

At the very least, it was not a voice that a human being could produce.

[……Hmm. Yes, in that regard, you’ve passed the test. It’s a good way to kill boredom.]

[What do you say, girl? Would you like to borrow my lightning?]

[The last boy was snatched away by the goddess. I was feeling a little bad about it.]

[The price is your memories. In order to give you the power you could never have, I have to remove some of the contents that fill your vessel.]

[What? If you pray hard enough to get it back, one day you’ll remember.]

[Or do you want to wander forever in the chasm, as most of the visitors to this place do?]

I couldn’t understand half of what the voice was saying, but I found myself nodding my head.

Soon after, the yellow star turned into a shooting star and entered me.

–This is how I crossed the world.

And I met everyone in Fafnir.

I remembered everything.

I remembered that this young man crying in front of me was my brother.

But it was too late.

I couldn’t move, I couldn’t speak, and I couldn’t even apologize to Shizu-chan.

“I’m sorry.”

One of the scalpels stabbed into my neck was pulled straight out.

Blood spurted out of my neck as the plug was removed from the wound.

“At least, I hope you find peace.”

The last bit of consciousness I had left faded into the distance.

I don’t think I’ll ever wake up again.

But this is my punishment.

It’s my punishment for trying to kill Shizu-chan that day.

So don’t cry.

I’m the one who needs to apologize.

He is a member of the assassin group Black Maria.

Shizu-chan’s words and actions, as well as the expression on his face, are all different from those of the past.

I wondered how he had spent the last seven years of his life in this foreign world.

It was not hard to imagine.

–It’s my fault. I broke Shizu-chan.

If I hadn’t done what I did, I’m sure we would still be able to live together as siblings.

I was a fool who threw away the happiness I had in my hands.

As such, I deserve an ending that leaves me with regrets.

Farewell. I’m truly sorry.

An inaudible whisper escaped from her blood gushing throat.

I drifted into an eternal sleep.