2023-01-04 16:49:11“Wh-what?” Crying, breathing heavily, face contorted in internal agony, Kazumi slowly opens her eyes.
“I’ll… buy you a cola.” Kazuko can’t believe she said something so stupid. She almost shrinks as she repeats herself.
"..."
"..."
“Ku…” In spite of the situation, Kazumi somehow finds it in herself to laugh. “A cola? That’s your plan? That’s your plan to stop me from killing myself?”
“It was all I could think of at the moment...”
“A cola? Really? Like someone like me deserves something like a cola. Even after killing someone, you’d still buy me a cola?”
“I rarely ever get to drink one...”
“I think I’m going to need more than a cola.” Kazumi slowly lowers the gun, and sits down at the edge of the roof. Her dead eyes are fixed at her feet. The situation has been defused. For now.
“How do you feel?”
“Jesus Christ, how do you think I feel?”“Like shit?”
“Yeah.”“It really do be like that sometimes.” Kazuko carefully walks towards Kazumi and sits down next to her.
Kazumi leans forwards and rests her elbows on her knees. “You don’t look too much better.”
“Oh this?” Kazuko raises her cast and winces from the pain. “It’s really nothing.”
“Uh-huh, right.” She doesn’t hide the disbelief in her voice. ”Bullies at school?”
“Not really… I just couldn’t pay Girls Won’t Cry their fee for the month.”“Ah. That’s a pickle.” Kazumi passes the gun between her hands. “Do you have any friends who can lend you money?”
“No. I… don’t have any friends.”“Really?”
“I did a bad thing.” Kazuko’s eyes are fixed on the ground.“It can’t be that bad.”
“I used to steal money from my classmates.”
“Oh… that’s pretty bad.”
“I couldn’t make ends meet at home. Which is… something considering I live in a cardboard box in the park. If I didn’t get the money somehow, I would have starved to death.”“That… also sounds pretty bad.” “I felt it back then. Real hunger, I mean. It hurt so much I started hallucinating. I just… couldn’t take it any more. I wasn’t old enough to apply for a part time job at the time, so…” She turns her palms upwards. “I had to steal.”“I see.” Kazumi nods in understanding. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s okay.” Kazuko shakes her head, as if shedding all the horrible memories. “What was school like for you? Before all this, I mean.”“What was school like?” She adjusts her glasses. “Normal, I guess. I had friends but like… I didn’t know them and they didn’t know me. Not in the way that real friends do.”
“Why’d you stick around?”“I dunno. It seems silly to say but I really don’t know.”“I see.”
Kazuko looks over the ledge at the blockade. Seems like things down there are escalating. Someone important-looking steps out of a luxury sports car. Haru saunters over to her before pointing up at the roof, at them. Kazuko can barely make out her face, but she gets the feeling that she can see her just fine.
“I’m a dead girl walking, aren’t I?”
“Maybe… maybe.” Kazuko stops looking at the blockade. That’s a problem for later. “They might let you go.”
“You really think so? Even after all this?” She gestures at the dead body.“They’re used to both seeing and being worse, I think.”
“Heh. You make a good point.” Kazumi gets up from her seat on the ledge and starts pacing to and fro. “Say, what’s your name? I gave you mine, but you never gave me yours.”
“It’s Kazuko Kuzue.”
“Kazuko… Kazuko and Kazumi, like two peas in a pod we are.” She nods to herself. “Hey, Kazuko?”“Yeah?”
“Did you mean what you said earlier? About buying me a cola? In spite of everything I’ve done?”“Yeah. Though I only have enough allowance for one.”
“I suppose we’d have to share it.” “I suppose we would.”Kazuko smiles to herself. Though, the smile quickly falls from her face when the door to the roof slams open. Kazuko jolts to her feet, as though there’s anywhere for her to run. From the open door comes out Haru and a lanky girl with green eyes. They take strides towards Kazumi.“I see that you’ve already simplified the hostage problem for us.” Haru gestures at the dead body.
Kazumi looks away. A mistake.
“This isn’t personal.”
“What–?” Without another word, Haru plunges her ax into Kazumi’s stomach. There’s the horrible sound of meat being torn apart. Blood spills from her mouth and onto Haru’s hand. She callously wipes it off on the still-clean part of Kazumi’s shirt.Kazuko loses control over her body. All that she is is a consciousness seeing through the girl named Kazuko’s eyes. She sees herself running. Running towards Kazumi. Running towards her only friend. She doesn’t know what she’s going to do, all that she knows is that she’s running. Then she trips. Not on thin air, but on someone else’s foot. She hits the ground hard. Someone pins her against the ground. In between her fading consciousness, she sees that it’s the lanky girl.
Kazuko struggles and writhes against her restraints but it’s no use. She feels like a worm floundering on its hook. She looks up just in time to see Haru push Kazumi over the roof’s edge. If the blood loss didn’t kill her, the fall surely will. There’s a sickening crunch as bones meet concrete.
It feels so sterile. Kazumi’s dead. Kazumi, who had a heartbeat, who had a family, who had warm blood, who was no different from Kazuko, who was Kazuko’s first friend, and now there's nothing. Just warm blood and a pile of broken bones.
“I-I’LL KILL YOU!” Kazuko screams out at Haru and the lanky girl. “I SWEAR I’LL KILL ALL OF YOU GIRLS WON’T CRY FUCKS–!”
With Kazuko’s mouth still open, Haru promptly shoves her shoe into it. She makes a point of slowly pressing down, grinding Kazuko’s jaw against the concrete roof. The pain should be unimaginable, but the burning rage inside of Kazuko hurts even more. Her one friend. Her only friend, gone, just like that.
“Sorry, girl.” She’s already forgotten her name. “I told you I was in a bad mood.”
“MMMPH– MMMMMPH–!”
Haru sighs. “You just don’t get it, do you? On the bottom of the food chain is grass. Right above that are things that eat grass. Right above that are people who can’t use magic. And above that, are people who can use magic like me. Right now, you can’t do shit.”
Kazuko finally runs out of strength to struggle, but her gaze still continues to burn as she stares into Haru’s eyes.“If you’ve got a problem, get stronger, learn to use magic, and sign onto Barrakuda. They’ll teach you how to fight. You can take your revenge then… if you don’t get killed first, of course.” Haru takes her shoe out of Kazuko’s mouth, leans down, and gives Kazuko a pat on the shoulder. In return, Kazuko spits on Haru’s shoe.
“...hmph. You just don’t know when to quit, do ya?!” Haru kicks Kazuko’s head. Not enough to kill her, but enough to make her brain hit her skull and it’s lights out for Kazuko. She spirals into a nightmare. An endless nightmare ruled by the laws of the jungle.
Endlessly getting stronger, stepping on others, getting stronger, crushing others, getting stronger, killing others, getting stronger, all for the sake of exacting her revenge. No, it’s not about revenge, it’s about teaching those Girls’ Won’t Cry fucks that their actions have consequences. And it’s about damn time they finally caught up.
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Corpse March Chapter 50 Bites The Dust
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Corpse March Chapter 51 Utopia - Ascent
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Corpse March Chapter 53 Thunderstruck
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Corpse March Chapter 54 Heavy Assault Angel
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“STELLAR!” Gleam’s the first to engage. It’s only natural that the one with mastery over ‘light’ that she’s able to move the fastest. In a fraction of a second, a dozen cuts. In a full second, a hundred cuts. Jessica splays her wings and raises them in a kind of shell around herself to block Gleam’s relentless attacks. The shrill sound of metal grinding against metal fills both of their ears.While Jessica and Gleam are engaged, Tsuki and Tsumugi begin their approach towards each other. Using massive amounts of built up steam to propel herself, Tsuki bounds across the landscape, accelerating with every step she takes. “Gharab” Tsumugi sheds her old wing, summons a new one and begins to match Tsuki’s speed. The two start to circle each other. “Hahaha! You’re faster than I remember, Tsumugi!” “So are you, Tsuki.” Gleam’s voice cuts through their battle. “HURRY!” A powerful magic inflicts an equally intense drain on the user. Gleam’s fast, but she’s not fast forever. Tsumugi’s on a c
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“Please, help yourself to some tea.” Nanashi gestures at the chair across from her for Haru to sit down. It hasn’t been that long since they’ve last met but already, she’s made a little home for herself in Takakumo. It’s surprising how much laboratory apparatus she’s managed to cram into such a tiny space. Arcane sigils, test tubes, and strange machines clutter the room in an organizational system that Haru could never decipher even if she had a lifetime to try. And in the center, is a simple table and two stools set up. “No thank you, I have a temperature-sensitive tongue. It burns when I eat even slightly warm food.” “Ah well, that’s a pity.” Nanashi takes the teacup away. It looks comically tiny in her armored grasp. “So, what business do you have with me?” “I believe your terms with Tsumugi stipulated that only half of the Papilio in Takakumo return to their Think-Tanks, correct?” “Yes, that is true.” “By any chance, would you ever consider capturing Takakumo for yourself and
Chapter 69 Cask
“Long time no see, Tot.” “It’s literally been a single day.” Kazuko walks along the pristine battlefield and comes to a stop exactly ten paces away from where Haru’s standing. “What do you want?” Haru adjusts her stance, placing herself between Kazuko and the unconscious Tsumugi. “I’ve come to talk.”“That’s it?” “Yep. I realized that after all this time, we never got a chance to properly talk to each other.” “I suppose you’re right.” “I must thank you, Tot.” Kazuko plants her rapier on the ground. “I think you’ve helped me to realize something about myself.” “And what is that?” “That you and I are the same. We’re two sides of the same coin, you and I. We can claim to be soldiers or heroes or avenging angels all we want, but in the end, we both kill.” “You’ve come all this way just to tell me that?” “Not quite. I’ve decided that I won’t tolerate any more excuses. From you or from myself. Regardless of whether we chose our lives or our lives chose us, we’re both killers. Jud
Chapter 68 Stellar Stellar
A gargantuan scythe blade the size of a mountain manifests from the tip of Tsumugi’s staff while Gleam blazes pure white, light magic seeping out of her very being. With a ponderous sweep of her arm, Tsumugi brings the scythe down, its tip aimed right for the crowd. The Deathless start to disperse but there’s not enough time. Someone trips. She closes her eyes to brace for impact but the impact never comes. Instead, there’s a brutal grinding sound. Opening her eyes, instead of seeing the tip of the scythe bearing down on her, she sees Gleam’s back as she clashes against Tsumugi’s scythe. “RUN!” The girl scrambles to her feet and runs away. Now all Gleam has to worry about is the mountain of cursed energy bearing down on her. “GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!!!” Gleam lets out an unearthly cry as she wills herself to go faster, to break through Tsumugi’s attack, to turn the tides of this battle. “STELLAR!” The speed of light isn’t fast enough to move the scythe more than a few inches.
Chapter 67 Motteke! Sailor Fuku!
They come bursting out from the trees. Large metal transports with segmented armor that makes them resemble pillbugs. A far cry from the train-like things the Monarchs used all those years ago. They speed across the landscape, skimming across the flora of these lands. One transport in particular rushes ahead of the others, setting an example that the other transports follow. Atop its roof, stands a green-haired girl shredding her guitar. Heavy rock music, amplified by her sound sorcery, blasts outwards. It’s so loud that the ground almost seems to vibrate as they approach. But they find nothing. No patrols. No Deathless anywhere. It reeks of a trap. Tsumugi sticks her head out of the transport she’s in to yell at Haru.“Stick to the plan!” Haru nods and swaps tracks to the one corresponding to the signal for ‘Stick to the Plan’. The transition is nearly seamless. One by one, the transports climb the walls protecting Takakumo like it’s nothing. In the distance, they see it, Takakumo
Chapter 66 Aloha
“It seems we’re not welcome here anymore. You’ve been exiled.” Haru relays Gleam’s speech to Tsumugi. “What do we do?” Florence asks. “Nothing has changed. Let’s keep moving.” Haru waves her hand out the car window at the other Elites to follow close behind. They comply, mostly out of fear. They know that their duty is to Lady Kentomi first, Takakumo second, and Haru third, but the thought of going against Haru is just too much. The streets are empty, nearly everyone’s attending Gleam’s speech. What few people are left behind smile and wave at them as they pass, blissfully unaware of what Tsumugi’s become. They know not what she knows. “Where are we going exactly?” “To the forest on the edge of Takakumo’s borders. I’ve arranged for a meeting there.” Ah, to where it all began. The memories of a month or two ago come flooding back to Haru. It felt like a lifetime ago they were on that train and came crashing into Takakumo, completely unwelcome. “This is nostalgic.” Haru rests he
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Letters make words, words make sentences, sentences make paragraphs, paragraphs fill pages, and pages fill up the tome. Number 3344 works dutifully, slowly but surely working through the book she’s been tasked to fill up. That is the purpose of the Papilio after all, to lend their minds as processors to the great Monarchian supercomputer complex, Nivosus. It is a purpose shared by the uncountable Papilio filling up this facility. They do not know better. None of them do. So they toil away, their minds working to the bone in the computational visual matrix.Every paragraph, every sentence, every letter is another crumb of data in the great compendium that the Monarchs seek to fill with all knowledge in existence. Years pass in the blink of an eye for the Papilio. Seasons pass them by without being noticed. They all keep their eyes downwards, scribing everything being fed to them. Number 3344 is no different. Just another drop in the ocean. Just another body being kept in a tube. Then
Chapter 64 Preparations
As soon as the door closes behind her, Tsumugi immediately breaks down into tears as everything she’s done and everything that happened to her comes crashing down in a terrible wave. She starts to run, as though she might be able to outrun her guilt. “What have I done?!”She keeps running. Further and further away from Gleam. Further and further away from the best friend that she threw away. Further and further away from any chance of going back. More than once, she considers turning around and apologizing, telling Gleam that she was foolish, begging for her forgiveness. But no matter how much she wants to, she knows she can’t. Tsuki believed in Tsumugi to be able to turn her own dream into a reality. This is the only way. Her dream was always incompatible with Gleam’s. From the very beginning, she knew that. It’s only natural that they would both eventually come into conflict with one another. But even then, her heart aches so much she fears it might shrivel up and die. She slowly
Chapter 63 Preparations
As soon as the door closes behind her, Tsumugi immediately breaks down into tears as everything she’s done and everything that happened to her comes crashing down in a terrible wave. She starts to run, as though she might be able to outrun her guilt. “What have I done?!”She keeps running. Further and further away from Gleam. Further and further away from the best friend that she threw away. Further and further away from any chance of going back. More than once, she considers turning around and apologizing, telling Gleam that she was foolish, begging for her forgiveness. But no matter how much she wants to, she knows she can’t. Tsuki believed in Tsumugi to be able to turn her own dream into a reality. This is the only way. Her dream was always incompatible with Gleam’s. From the very beginning, she knew that. It’s only natural that they would both eventually come into conflict with one another. But even then, her heart aches so much she fears it might shrivel up and die. She slowly
Chapter 62 Bad to Worse
“Kikimi faltered.” Kazuko takes a deep breath just to check if her lung is still punctured. Surprisingly enough, it seems that the damage Tsuki dealt her just a few hours ago has already healed. Usually, it takes a few more hours.“That’s fine. She’s more useful to us dead.” Florence stares out the window at the full moon hanging in the sky. “Now that she’s out of the picture, Gleam’s a legitimate threat to both Tsumugi and Tomoe. But now that they’ve already severed their alliance, it’s going to be that much more difficult to stop her.” “Yeah, whatever. I don’t care about any of that stuff.” Kazuko slowly lifts herself off the chair she was sitting in. “You’re on your own from now on.” “Wait, hold on, what happened to owing me your life?” “A life for a life. My debt has been paid in full.” Florence saved her, and she killed Kikimi. Fair’s fair.“How do I know you won’t just rat me out?” “You don’t. But you don’t have any other choice.” Florence looks on as Kazuko slings her cape
