"Is this yours?" the same voice said to me.
As expected, I was back in the girl's bathroom, facing my sister holding a peony hairpin.
I stood still, trembling from head to toe, while my hands covered the scream.
Tears ran down my face as I was overwhelmed with fear.
"Hey, are you ignoring me?" my sister said, frowning at me.
What do I do?
What do I do?
Should I tell her about it? But that didn't seem to work.
Then maybe I should just take her out with me.
I slowly removed my hands from my mouth and grabbed my sister's hand.
I didn't want to stay here anymore and attempted to drag her out of the bathroom.
Of course, she removed her arm from my hand and gave me a deadly glare.
"You... you don't understand there's—" I was interrupted by a slap on the cheek.
I already expected this to happen after the last time, so I opted for trying to grab her arm again after she hit me.
"Are you crazy? Don't touch me," she said after removing her arm once again.
I reached out to grab it, and another slap landed on my face.
This time it was harder, and I staggered back.
But I didn't give up and charged in again.
This time my sister snapped and started to beat me up.
From repeatedly slapping me to kicking my limp body on the ground.
Yet I still tried to grab her leg and drag her out.
"This crazy bitch," she cursed at me.
Me... crazy?
No, no, it's this whole situation that's crazy.
Why... why can't you just follow me?
And even now, why am I too weak to make you follow me?
It's not like you'll actually appreciate it if I saved you, or if I was right.
So why am I trying so hard?
It's because I know that I can't leave you here alone.
No... more accurately, I don't want to leave this bathroom alone.
It's too scary.
There must be a lot of crazy students outside the bathroom.
And I'll die if I go by myself.
Plus, I would probably be killed by my parents if they find out I'm still alive and you're not.
Honestly, it's funny that I'm resisting death after telling myself it was so peaceful.
But is it death I fear, or the thought of waking up in this stupid bathroom again?
My thoughts were interrupted with the feeling of drowning.
My sister had dumped the dirty mop water on me.
And once again, someone slipped outside the bathroom.
Then doesn't that mean that the crazy student is about to burst out of the toilet?
I have to get up.
My body started to move, and I slowly staggered up from the floor, dripping.
My sister seemed to have calmed down a bit and was recording me.
My mind was entirely focused on the occupied stall.
Should I lock it?
It might seem like my imagination, but I can hear the person dragging their feet on the ground.
There was knocking on the walls from body contact that put the image of someone standing up from the toilet in my head.
But this someone was awkward and stiff, so there was this interaction with the wall.
I should probably lock it.
I finally dragged my feet to the stall, but it was suddenly opened and I was attacked.
I died.
...
"Is this yours?" My sister's voice resonated in the bathroom.
Ahh.
Ahhhhhhhh.
I screamed.
My sister glared at me and told me to shut up.
I was too shaken up and in fear to respond to her.
I just stood there facing the occupied stall, screaming with my hands over my ears.
Suddenly my hair was yanked and my cheeks started to sting.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry." I didn't know who I was apologizing to, but it just came out, accompanied by my choked sobs.
My sister beat me up until we were attacked and I died.
....
"Is this yours?" my sister's voice.
At this point, I wasn't in the right state of mind.
No, it was more like I wasn't in any state of mind except crippling fear.
My eyes tore away from the stall to the door behind my sister.
I trembled and unsteadily walked to the door.
My sister yanked my hair as I passed by her and dragged me to the floor.
It seems my not responding to her question pissed her off, and she beat me up.
I curled into a ball on the ground, apologizing.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I just kept repeating those words over and over again until I was drenched in water and attacked.
.....
"Is this yours?"
Once again I tried to get through the door.
I ran for the door and actually made it out, but my sister dragged me back inside.
She was pissed I made a scene.
Once again I was beaten up.
...
"Is this yours?"
I ran for the door, but I was beaten up.
I died.
....
"Is this yours?"
I begged my sister with tears in my eyes and on my knees like a dog.
I kowtowed hard on the ground.
My sister laughed at me and teased me.
But it took too much time.
The stall door opened and I died.
.....
"Is this yours?"
I opted for another way out and chose the window.
I landed on the ground outside the window, and I was attacked.
I died with my eyes facing upward.
And my sister staring down at me, laughing.
...
"Is this yours?"
AHHHHHHHH.
I screamed loudly.
I didn't register anything except fear.
Fear because I knew I wouldn't be able to escape.
Then I registered pain.
Pain from my sister beating me up.
Then I died.
That was peaceful.
Then I was afraid.
Afraid because I knew what the next words I would hear would be.
....
"Is this yours?"
Is this yours, I thought.
I completely collapsed at this point and just curled into a ball on the ground, mumbling apologies.
My sister dumped water on me to get my attention.
I continued shivering on the floor in fright.
The stall door opened.
I was attacked.
I died.
.....
And so the cycle kept repeating itself over and over again.
I begged for help one of those cycles.
I screamed one of those cycles.
Now I'm just afraid.
I don't have any other feeling except fear.
I was afraid of pain, so I couldn't even try to kill myself.
I just curled into a ball, having a fear seizure.
Not once did she ever think of fighting back.
Not once did her mind turn to standing up to her sister.
Not once did her mind go to resisting the monster.
No, every part of her broken, jumbled consciousness was fear.
She had believed that she had been living in a constant state of weakness all her life.
But this is the first time that she truly felt it in her soul.
I am weak.
Utterly and hopelessly so.
I'm not strong or brave or kind.
I despise the people who bully me and myself for not saying anything.
But still, I continue to apologize to them without ever thinking of retaliation.
Do you understand the feeling of being angry, but you're not strong enough to even imagine in the dark corner of your heart that you would fight back?
To know that even when you're angry, you would still bow your head in sincerity and apologize for them doing wrong to you?
It does sound easy in those books for the weak, bullied student to stand up for themself.
Or for them to gain newfound courage by dying.
Or for them to want to get revenge.
Revenge.
No, I want peace... I want to be left alone.
I don't want to do this anymore.
Someone... anyone, please save me.
Someone please end my suffering.
He he.
Ha ha.
Do you want it to end?
Then accept me and let's destroy this wretched world together.
Let's rain destruction upon our enemies and turn the sea into blood.
Let's end it all.
Ha ha.
Huh?
I was too broken up with fear to completely understand the ramblings.
But the important thing was that it said that it could end it.
Then is it finally coming to an end?
Will I have peace?
Yes.
Yes, I agree.
Please end this.
I said with all my heart and soul.
Nothing happened, and I was attacked once again.
I died.
But this time it was different.
Longer than usual.
This time there was more pain.
My whole body was being ripped apart.
My head was pounding and I was bleeding from every hole possible.
But I was happy.
Ah, it's finally different.
After this much pain, I should finally be dead.
My consciousness blurred, and I passed out.
Time passes by.
And the cat made out of black shadow stood in the bloody bathroom.
It walked to the girl on the floor and touched her hands.
Then it melted into the darkness.
The shadows in the hallway rippled as it moved forward.
Mori Aoi trembled and stood up from a pool of her blood in the girl's bathroom.
Her eyes, which were originally bloodshot, turned a red that was bloody and deep.
Her mouth stretched wide at both sides until she was smiling her biggest smile.
He he.
Ha ha ha ha ha.
She burst into maniacal laughter that was eerie and jarring.
Especially coming from a female covered in blood, alone in the bathroom.
Then she abruptly stopped, her eyes rolled backwards, and she passed out.
End of Weakness Arc