NOVEL NEXT 0-01: The Price of a Mistake
READ THIS SO YOU DON’T END UP CONFUSED:This is still the same web novel previously translated. The only difference is that this translation is following the AUTHOR’S order, while the previous translators followed the CHRONOLOGICAL order. The numbers just represent the actual chronology. So if you wanted to read according to chronology, you would read all the 00-XX first, then the 01-XX, then the 02-XX… etc.
What the previous translators did was to translate 00-XX first, then 01-XX, and then 02-XX. But that’s not how the author wrote it. If you’re still confused, this is the same thing as Haruhi where the episodes were broadcasted out of order.
–––––That day… I made a mistake I could never take back.
A rumbling, blazing flame…
Did it crumble because it was burned by it?
Or did it burn because it crumbled?
Houses made of wood fell apart at the fire’s caress.
In here, men neither moved nor spoke.
In here was only the sound of fire burning men.
Though sometimes, the sound of a burnt house collapsing would be mixed in.
Either way, this place no longer resembled a village.
The people living here were now nothing but lumps of black mass.
If not that, then cut body parts rolling around…
Guts and blood were splattered everywhere; who they belonged to was already impossible to answer.
They dyed the land in their color, leaving a tale that spoke of the slaughter and destruction that befell this land.
Who knew?
That this small village that was peaceful just an hour ago…
Who knew?
That a boy’s petty choice would turn this village into the very picture of hell…
Who knew?
That the only survivor would be the same boy who destroyed everything…
“U, Uwa, Uu… Sorry… I’m Sorry.”
A black-haired youth cried as he embraced a woman’s body that had lost its left arm.
The black clothes over the beautiful blonde were tattered and dyed in blood.
Life was still in her eyes. But after losing more than half her blood, she no longer had the strength to move.
Aside from her missing arm, deep cuts also littered her body; her situation was undoubtedly grim.
If anything, her still being alive was the stranger fact.
“…A man… shouldn’t cry so much…”
“Ah, Isis! You’re awake!?”
Though her body was in that state, she remained firm, and she even smiled.
She brought her remaining right hand up to flick her finger at the boy’s forehead. But it was too weak; the boy’s tears kept flowing.
This woman could no longer be saved. No matter what he did, it was already too late.
Whether he accepted that or not, he knew. He was the cause, after all.
“You idiot… Why did save me!? It was my fault! I killed everyone!”
“Shin, what are you saying?”
“Jake, Lili, Katta, even Law! Even Selene! I killed everyone! And you too, Isis… I also killed you.”
Though her breath remained she could no longer be saved.
She didn’t have even a sliver of life left.
And the one who did this was none other than himself.
“N-No… This happened because of my blunder.”
Yet her face remained aloof as she weakly laughed.
The boy couldn’t understand.
She should hate him. She should curse him. She should detest him.
She should even kill him.
“Don’t fuck with me! What’s the point in saving me!? After doing this, after killing everyone… What am I supposed to do from now on!? I wanted to save someone even if it was just you, Isis! And yet!”
When he made that mistake, she was still unharmed.
That’s why he thought, he should at least save her.
“Ha… To think a cry baby would worry for me… No wonder I’m in this mess.”
Why? He asked her. But as usual, she didn’t answer.
She only quietly waited for her end.
“Isis…!? A, Ahh, Isis, your body… It’s!?”
He couldn’t help but almost yell at what was happening before him; he tried to stop it.
One moment her body was covered in light, then gradually, that light scattered.
“…So I didn’t have it after all.”
“N-No way… Did you just cut your soul? Why… Why, Isis!? If you do something like that, then even if you’re saved, you’ll still end up like this!”
“…”
The price for saving the boy was literally her everything.
Her life, her body, everything would be consumed.
Questions came one after another, but the woman only quietly looked up to the boy.
That swollen, crying face of his was haggard to the bones. He looked no different from a dead man.
Even until now, the pangs of guilt buried into him.
And it would come out of his mouth, saying, “Why did you save me?”
“Good grief… And here I thought… I could finally get a proper conversation… but you’re still as much a wimp as ever…”
“S-Shut up!! Aren’t you also still the same optimistic violent sister!?”
Amidst his cries, he angrily yelled back. Seeing that, the girl happily smiled.
The manner of talking might seem boorish, but to her, nothing could make her happier.
“Ha ha, it’s my principle never to throw away… a friend like you who talks back to me like that.”
“I-I¬sis… I… I’m!”
“T…hat’s…why… I wish you could… protect this…don’t…give it…to anyone…”
Using the last of her strength, she tore away the pendant on her chest.
And then she handed it to him, a dazzling silver pendant shaped after the crescent moon, although now, it was drenched in blood.
“This…isn’t…a keepsake… it’s… something important, so… pro…tec…t… it.”
“Eh, a-ahh, w-wait! Wait, Isis! I still have something to say. I still have a lot of things I need to tell you!”
Although he gripped the pendant, although she was nearer him than ever, her existence continued to flicker.
The hand that should have been there, the same right hand that had just handed that pendant, was no more.
Even the lower half that should’ve been there, though it no longer functioned, turned into light and vanished.
The weight in his hand lessened to less than half. He knew just how much of her had already vanished.
“So long… as you… understand… then… that’s… fine…”
“Fine? Nothing’s fine! Stop it! Don’t disappear!”
Only her body above her chest remained, everything else was already gone.
But even that minute weight he held in one arm gradually disappeared.
“Heh… it’s strange… isn’t it…”
“No, no… Wait… Wait, I said!”
But no matter how much he yelled, her body still vanished. The weight in his arms was no more.
Only that out of place smile of hers still remained.
“…Ahh…You’re a brat, but… these’re still a man’s arm, so… at least… do it romantically––––––“
“Isi––––––!?”
Though he knew it was pointless, he still tried to grab the scattering light.
He grabbed and grabbed, but even if he were to cut the air, there was no longer anything in those arms of his.
Only the violent sense of loss attacking him remained.
And…
“–––––––––––––––––––––!!!!”
A wail too solemn for words that pierced the heavens.