Mistaken for a Masked Munchkin

Alice's Nightmare (5)

A memory from long ago.

A basement where not even a sliver of light reached.

Pressed against cold iron bars, Alice was crying as quietly as she could.

"Sniff, hic..."

Covered in wounds.

Fat tears rolled down hollow cheeks.

She didn't even know why.

"Ngh, hh..."

So why did everything inside her feel so wrong today.

"Alice."

She was stifling her sobs when, out of nowhere, a presence drifted in from behind her.

A gentle hand, stroking her hair.

She raised her head. A girl who looked exactly like her was standing there.

"S-sis..."

Alice's lips trembled, caught.

Her sister crouched down without a word, unbothered. Reached out quietly. Wiped the mess from her face.

Dark stains bloomed into the white sleeve.

"Look at you, ruining that pretty face."

Teasing.

She didn't ask Alice anything.

Not why she had been crying.

Not why she wore that expression.

Not why she had been hurting herself.

"Alice."

There was no need to ask.

Her sister's own state wasn't much different. Wounds all over, a clean white robe, surgical scars running up one arm.

Wrecked.

They were the same, the two of them.

Only one thing set them apart.

"You held on again today. Well done. My little sister."

"S-sis... stop rubbing my cheek, it stings..."

"Oh, sorry. That's where you're hurt, isn't it. Does it hurt a lot?"

"Mm... I'm, I'm fine."

Her sister never cried.

Not once, in all the time Alice had known her.

She didn't cry. She just smiled, always warm and easy.

"Oh good! Nothing too deep."

A basement without a single ray of light.

Cold iron bars.

Even in that kind of place, her sister's smile found a way to shine.

So Alice leaned on her. Often, and without a second thought.

"Sniff, sis..."

"Goodness, our crybaby Alice! Do you love your sister that much?"

She'd only opened her arms a little, tentative, but her sister caught it and pulled her in tight.

In that embrace, even if only for a moment, she could forget the hell they were in.

Crybaby.

Fair enough, maybe.

That was the right age for it, after all.

The age to whine, to cling, to ask.

"Sis, sis..."

"There you go. Good girl. My Alice."

In hindsight, her sister could never have been a crybaby for anyone.

She'd become the one who held others together far too soon.

Alice had always been a burden to her.

"I'm scared..."

She was scared.

She didn't want to hurt anymore.

She wanted out of this place.

But in front of those bars, Alice was nothing. Utterly helpless.

No power. Nothing she could do.

"Ngh, hic..."

"It's okay. Everything is going to be okay."

Maybe that was why Alice cried so easily.

Crying was free. No price to pay.

The one thing she could do without anyone taking anything from her.

"Come on, breathe. Breathe with me."

"Hh, hh..."

Every day a cycle of breaking, being trampled, falling into despair.

A life too brutal for young girls to carry.

And so the thought came, sometimes.

Why does everything have to be this way.

Why do only I, only we, have to live like this.

The longer you lived, the more it fell apart. The harder you struggled, the deeper you sank.

"Sis..."

Was any of it worth anything.

If that was all life was, was there any reason to keep going.

Just the tail end of a thought. A fringe of optimism. Guilt, maybe.

Could something that small really change the world. Change a person.

"Who knows? I don't."

"......"

"Just. Just believe."

Because that's what gives you the strength to make it through today.

A small, soft smile.

A girl who looked exactly like Alice.

And yet different, in so many ways.

"So..."

Believe.

"You will find happiness. I know you will."

A hand, held tight.

Alice couldn't shake it loose.

All she could do was nod, again and again, without understanding a word of it.

"There's our good little sister. Always so obedient."

"Mmm... sis, my cheek hurts..."

Someday.

Even that cursed life would let some light in.

***

A consciousness that had briefly drifted away.

Like a life flashing before her eyes.

Her sister. Those old days they'd shared. They passed through Alice's mind and were gone.

"......"

She raised her head, and her entire vision filled with armored red.

A crimson knight towered over her.

Easily ten meters tall.

Tentacles writhed behind the visor, staring down at her.

"Ah..."

Just that.

She couldn't bring herself to move a single finger. The pressure bearing down on her body wouldn't allow it.

<.···smal elttil luftip tahw ,hA>

The calamity moved.

A sword raised nearly to the ceiling.

Concentrated dark-red energy warped the air around it.

Going to die.

Her legs finally started moving, too late. Her body wouldn't listen.

Running from this distance was impossible.

Shhk-!

A slash came down at her head.

Alice squeezed her eyes shut.

But it never reached her.

"Miss Alice!"

Someone threw themselves in front of her.

A platinum spear swept wide, scattering starlight in every direction.

Kihano-Style Spear Sorcery, Secret Art

-Night Sky-

Brilliant light.

The technique crashed head-on into the red knight's blow.

Boom-!

An explosion like the world being turned inside out.

Gold hair and black hair whipped in the rolling shockwave.

Then someone snatched Alice up and started running.

"Run!"

"L-Lady Kihano?!"

Ranne.

Alice snapped back to herself and broke into a sprint through the forest.

Mutant corpses everywhere. Rotting undergrowth in every direction.

Less a forest than somewhere you'd call hell.

"Miss Alice! Are you injured?!"

"I-I'm fine! But you stepped in to protect me, you..."

Ranne was running ahead of her.

She was a wreck.

Her right arm shredded, her forehead split open and bleeding, her breathing ragged in a way that wasn't right, cold sweat pouring off her in sheets.

One look was enough.

"Hah, hah..."

She could have just dodged. Instead she'd stepped in to shield Alice, taken that monstrous blow head-on.

That she was still on her feet at all was remarkable.

Second seat in Class A-and all that.

"Cough...!"

But.

That was all.

<.gnik sseldog eht fo stnavrEs>

She had hit her limit.

Nothing left to fight with.

If she'd been in one piece, she might have managed hit-and-run, bought a few more minutes.

<.dog eht erofeb pihsrow dna esiR>

<.efil lla nopu htaed swotseB eH roF>

But she was already in pieces.

A broken body had nothing left to give.

All that was left was running side by side, buying a handful of seconds.

Her legs buckled.

"Ugh, hff..."

"Lady Kihano! The blood, it won't stop...!"

Alice had gone white. She rushed to support her.

Their pace dropped.

Behind them, the red knight was coming.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Heavy footsteps filled her ears.

The ground shuddered like something had cracked open beneath it.

It didn't seem to feel any urgency. Just walking. But each stride was so long that even at that pace, it would close the gap in moments.

"......"

A decision had to be made.

Ranne snapped her eyes open.

She shook off Alice's arm.

Shk.

"L-Lady Kihano...?"

Alice stood there, frozen.

Ranne picked up her spear and looked back the way they had come.

"Hah, hah... go on ahead. I'll buy us a little time."

"W-what?! What are you saying?! There's no way you can fight that...!"

"At this rate, we both get caught. Someone has to stay."

"You can barely stand! Even if you stay, it won't, it won't change anything!"

"Go."

Stubborn. Immovable.

She'd already made her peace with it.

"This barrier... it's not just us trapped inside. There are other groups caught up in it too. Find them and regroup. Until the professors arrive, you should be able to hold on somehow."

"But what about you?!"

"I'm already done for! There's no way for both of us to escape. In a situation like this, the injured one stays behind. That's the right call. And that thing, even Sir Viktor couldn't react to it in time. This is not something at our level!"

Exhausted, battered, and still shouting clearly.

Ranne drew a breath and gripped her spear.

Faint starlight drifted around her.

"Go! I'll last maybe a few minutes at best."

"Ugh, ngh..."

Alice's eyes burned.

How can she just...

Step. Step.

Her eyes stayed on Ranne's back as she walked away.

As if sacrifice were only natural, the girl had chosen it without hesitation.

Spear tip raised, she called out with everything in her voice.

"Come, then, knight of wicked force!"

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