Sen Getsusa's mind went blank.
When many emotions as complex as the deep sea press against the chest, and that sadness, helplessness, and pain all intertwine together, at the moment they rush into the mind, a person has no emotions at all.
Just like the ending page of the diary, it was a blank.
Sen Getsusa took a few deep breaths, carefully closed it, and put it into her bag.
At the base of the magnificent first-floor staircase, a slender figure slowly descended from the second floor.
Turning the corner, she wrinkled her small nose and sniffed.
The same musty smell was wafting out from a crack in the corner. She lightly scored the wall with her fingernail, cutting through the paper to reveal a small hidden door.
Sen Getsusa pushed it open, suppressing her anger. She took off the leather cord from her wrist, tied her hair into a ponytail, and then hunched over to walk down.
Step by step down the stairs, it seemed the Master had requested an Underground Room when this Western-style house was first built.
The further down she went, the more stale the air became, even reminding Sen Getsusa of the smell of some kind of animal carcass.
The cold stone walls pressed against her palms. There were no lights; she could only vaguely see the path beneath her feet using the flashlight on the back of her phone. Some stone walls had traces of flowing water. In this long, downward passage, there were only the sounds of footsteps and dripping water.
At the end of the passage was a locked door.
The brass lock wasn't actually locked; it was just inserted into the door's latch from the outside. It couldn't be pushed open from the inside, but from the outside, no key was needed—the lock could simply be pulled out.
Sen Getsusa pulled the door open with a creak.
A musty smell rushed toward her.
The Underground Room wasn't large, designed in a Japanese style like many households.
Maps, several ukiyo-e prints, and large floor-standing landscape watercolors hung on the surrounding walls. Judging by the tatami mats on the floor, this place had been in use for a long time.
Sen Getsusa hesitated for a moment before stepping onto them directly with her shoes on.
Finally, in the center of the room.
There was a waist-high, rusted iron cage.
Yuno Gasai was sitting inside on her knees.
Her shoulders were slumped, and her hair was stained with red blood, sticking to her face and arms. Yuno Gasai closed her eyes quietly, her head resting against the side of the cage.
She seemed to be sleeping very deeply; even the sound of Sen Getsusa walking in failed to wake her.
Sen Getsusa walked quietly all the way and stood before the iron cage, looking at the unconscious Yuno Gasai with a complex expression.
What would this girl, who was once so full of innocent dreams, be dreaming about at this moment?
She crouched down, bringing her gaze level with the girl, and then tapped on the iron cage with her finger.
In an instant, a faint vibration traveled through the rusted iron to the other side—the sleeping girl jerked awake as if struck by something!
"I'm sorry!" she cried out, looking around in terror. "I'm sorry! I fell asleep!"
The panicked girl heard no scolding. A few seconds later, a slender figure stood right in front of her.
She turned her head and realized the figure before her seemed to be someone she knew from memory. Yuno Gasai squinted her eyes to focus and finally saw clearly.
She didn't speak, only bit her bloodless lips. Then, she forcefully used her blood-stained fingers to grab the iron mesh near the floor and... crawled toward Sen Getsusa, bit by bit.
"You're here!"
Yuno Gasai curled the corners of her mouth. She tried to haphazardly wipe the blood and dirt off her face with the back of her hand, only to find it getting dirtier. In the end, she just made a show of tidying her hair.
She looked at Sen Getsusa and said, "Don't be afraid."
The blood and dirt on the girl's face gave her a filthy appearance, yet they couldn't hide her expression.
She looked at Sen Getsusa outside the cage with a burning gaze, resilient like a wild flower on a cliff, filled with a primal longing for life.
In Sen Getsusa's eyes, the girl simply melted away quietly.
Then, she transformed into a wildfire on the wasteland, burning across the vast and magnificent plain—desperate, self-destructive, caring nothing for her past life or the Afterlife.
Sen Getsusa opened her mouth, but in the end, no words of comfort came out.
She stood up, gripped the lock of the iron cage, and said to Yuno Gasai, "Be careful."
As she spoke, Yuno Gasai's eyes crinkled. She giggled and reached out her right hand, covering only her right ear. Sen Getsusa nodded, and with a forceful yank, she pulled the lock.
Crack!
The lock was torn off. Sen Getsusa pulled the iron cage open, leaned inside, supported Yuno Gasai's back and the crooks of her knees, and slowly carried her out of the cage.
Yuno Gasai wrapped her arms around Sen Getsusa's neck, pressing her face against her ear and sniffing intently.
On this girl with slightly curly hair, there was a gentle scent of sun-drenched vegetation.
"It really is an entrance just like in a manga," she said.
Sen Getsusa: "You're not surprised at all?"
Yuno Gasai giggled. "Besides Father and Mother, only Tsukisa could find the Underground Room. Those two aren't home today."
"Still, I didn't expect Tsukisa to actually come. I'm so happy! Heehee... I thought I was going to die."
"I'll take you to the hospital first, then I'll call the police." Without consulting Yuno Gasai, Sen Getsusa carried her and walked straight toward the door.
"I couldn't tell, but Tsukisa is really strong. I'm a girl too, but I don't have this much strength." Yuno Gasai said something completely irrelevant, then reached out and placed her hand on Sen Getsusa's cheek.
"Thank you, Tsukisa. And thank little Nanami. But, I'm homeless now."
"Are you really thanking Nanami?" Sen Getsusa remembered from the diary that Yuno didn't seem to care for that girl.
Yuno Gasai realized. "Oh, right. Since Tsukisa found this place, it means you've seen my diary. Well, I don't hate her that much; at least she's Tsukisa's friend. I'll just barely tolerate her."
Sen Getsusa didn't speak, looking at the girl in her arms with a frown.
"No flower arrangement teacher, no sewing classes, no need to play the piano every day—"
As if she weren't the one injured, Yuno Gasai explained each point to Sen Getsusa, counting on her fingers as if those broken nails and scarred hands didn't belong to her.
"I don't have to do any of those anymore."
"That's enough, Yuno." Sen Getsusa's tone held no pity; she was simply stating a fact.
"You're saved, Yuno Gasai. The things you don't want to do won't happen anymore. No one will prick you with needles, and you won't be given to strange men. You're saved, Yuno Gasai. From now on, you belong to yourself."
The girl listened quietly to Sen Getsusa's words.
Sen Getsusa's shoulder suddenly became wet, and a suppressed, faint sobbing sound reached her ears.
Sen Getsusa wanted to turn her head, but she was pushed away by a pair of scarred hands. "Don't look."
Yuno Gasai raised her voice in dissatisfaction. "Sha-chan is a girl too, right? Don't you know people look their ugliest when they cry? Honestly."
Sen Getsusa carefully recalled the past times she had spent with Yuno Gasai, only to realize that in her memory, Yuno was always a girl with a bright smile, who spoke gently and softly.
But today, it was as if she had unfastened some invisible chain, finally discarding her broken shell and emerging as a different version of herself.
A flower blooming in rotten black water.
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