“After that, the little girl struck her very last match, lit the bomb, and with a BOOM, flames shot into the sky, the city crumbled, and everyone finally got to see their grandma.”
Kyoumi wiggled her fingertip dramatically, drawing the story to a close as she and Yoshino sat side by side on the shrine steps.
“KAAAA—! That’s not the original! I want the original! Where did the bomb even come from?! No matter how you slice it, that ending is totally Miss Kyoumi’s twisted hobby, right?!”
Yoshinon flailed her tiny stubby arms, hammering Kyoumi’s arm in protest.
Unexpectedly, it wasn’t just Yoshino who had been completely absorbed; even Yoshinon seemed to have taken an interest in fairy tales.
“Meh~ That’s the ending I like,” the girl casually parried Yoshinon’s painless attacks.
“The original version… The little girl really couldn’t stand the cold anymore, so she lit all the remaining matches at once. In the glow of the flames, her grandmother, who had already passed away, came and took her to heaven.”
“…What kind of place… is heaven?”
“Who knows? It’s a place living people can’t reach, at least.”
Yoshino didn’t look very happy; that was only natural.
Any child forced to listen to one tragedy after another would feel the same.
“Soul? Consciousness? I have no idea if she really reached that world without cold, without hunger, without being bullied, and with family by her side. All I know is that the next morning, people found her frozen corpse and guessed she’d just wanted to warm herself up a little. That’s it.”
“…Such a sad story…”
“Yep. That’s why I prefer the version where she sends the entire city to the sky with her. Even if all you have is one match, with a little clever management, cause some chaos in town, loot a bit while you’re at it, and that girl could have started a whole new life on her own.”
“…Miss Kyoumi…”
Surprisingly, Yoshinon hadn’t interrupted even once until now; probably because she wanted the shy Yoshino, who rarely got to talk with anyone else, to enjoy the moment a little longer.
“I’m listening.”
Kyoumi answered gently and waited for the girl to continue.
“…Is snow… something people hate?”
“Why do you ask?”
“…If it hadn’t snowed… maybe she wouldn’t have had to go out to sell matches… maybe she could have stayed home…”
“That child’s father was the kind of person who’d send his daughter out in just a pair of slippers to sell matches. He’d have found another way to squeeze money out of her, whether it was scamming or begging.”
“The boys who stole her shoes for fun, and the indifference of every passer-by who didn’t even spare her a glance; those were what really killed her. As long as those things didn’t change, snow or no snow, a girl who didn’t resist wouldn’t have had a good ending.”
“On the contrary, in that extreme cold, the body’s senses grow numb, and sometimes people feel a warmth that soothes the spirit. Maybe in her final moments, she really did pass away immersed in happiness.”
“That’s a really cruel summary, Miss Kyoumi~ I was actually looking forward to the story when you started, but it’s nothing but tragedies! Are these really the fairy tales you were talking about?”
“Fairy tales were never meant to be bedtime stories for children in the first place. They’re the result of humans mocking each other across different eras.”
“The little mermaid who turned into sea foam, the grandmother swallowed whole by the wolf, the queen who danced to death in red-hot iron shoes, and now this little girl who froze on the street; whenever someone lives happily ever after, someone else has to pay the price.”
“Uwaa~ Miss Kyoumi’s topics are so heavy~”
“Don’t you have anything more cheerful? Something suitable for a cute and gentle child like Yoshino—”
Normally, anyone stabbed by that many emotional knives would tell the storyteller to shut up, yet neither Yoshino nor Yoshinon showed much aversion; almost as if they had never had anyone tell them stories before.
“…Mm…”
I see… so they have a certain tolerance for stories like these…
“Of course I do, but it feels a little weird if I’m the only one talking, doesn’t it? How about Yoshino tries this time?”
After seeming to think for a moment, Kyoumi turned her gaze, reached out, and lightly stroked the rabbit-ear part of the girl’s Divine Raiment.
“…E-eh… I… don’t know how to tell stories…”
“Exactly! It feels like Miss Kyoumi is just bullying Yoshino!”
“I’m not asking Yoshino to tell a story~”
“There’s just something I’m curious about and want to ask her. How should I put it…”
She tilted her head slightly, searching for the right words.
“…like gathering intelligence?”
“Hmm~ That sounds super spy-like! I bet Miss Kyoumi is going to ask something weird like ‘How does Yoshino feel when you hug her~?’
Wow, holding it in until now; what a terrifying spirit~”
“…It’s not time to ask that yet.”
Without denying she might ask it someday, the girl looked into Yoshino’s slightly confused eyes.
“Yoshino, do you know a way to appear in this world like today without triggering that explosion?”
“…Eh… that…”
It was a reasonable question, yet the girl’s eyes widened, a lost expression on her face.
“I… don’t know…”
“If I had to say! Yoshino just kinda thought ‘I wanna go play somewhere with no people,’ and then whoosh~ she appeared! Even I can’t explain the details~”
Yoshinon spread her little hands in supplementation.
“…I see… that’s too bad. From what I know, if you have the desire to come here and a rough idea of where you want to go, you should be able to manifest. But if it causes an explosion or a crater, the Self-Defense Forces, or rather, the robot army, will come after you, and then we couldn’t relax like this~”
She shared what little she knew with Yoshino. It couldn’t be helped that she didn’t learn anything new about silent manifestation. Besides…
“Are Yoshino and Yoshinon always together?”
“Oh my? Jealous of me?”
The puppet’s sharp voice didn’t bother the girl in the slightest; Kyoumi’s gaze remained fixed on Yoshino’s face.
“…Yes… ever since I first woke up… Yoshinon has always been by my side…”
The sincerity of her words could be read directly from her expression.
“…Is that so. Then was coming to this city just a coincidence?”
“…Eh?”
The girl let out a bewildered sound, as if she didn’t understand why Kyoumi would ask that, but before she could say anything more, Yoshino’s body vanished from Kyoumi’s sight.
“…She went back… and at the worst possible timing…”
Her fingertips brushed the step where the girl had been sitting; there was still a faint warmth lingering.
As the spirit of ice and snow disappeared, the rain-heavy clouds scattered, and sunlight poured down from the sky, shining on Kyoumi who was now alone.
【At this moment, Kyoumi makes an Inspiration check with a value of 100】
【D100 = 9 (Success)】
After spending time with the girl, the fragments of information wove together in the girl’s mind, threads of clues stretching from the still-warm step toward the sky.
“…You really gave me quite the surprise, Yoshino…”
Withdrawing her fingertips, Kyoumi used the step to stand up, then took a step into the tenth square of the hopscotch grid.
“There are still a few things that bother me, but I pretty much have it figured out.”
“…Looks like that guy isn’t hiding very deep after all.”
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