――An oppressive silence had fallen over the refuge shelter.
There was the occasional faint sound of sobbing and someone nervously tapping their fingers on the floor.
Listening to that unsettling backdrop in that stillness, the girl hugged up her knees, feeling the coldness of the wall against her back.
It was a little girl with golden hair.
Resting her chin on her small, pale kneecaps, the girl gently wrapped her arm around the little bundle at her side.
Leaning against the girl’s left shoulder, with his head buried between his chest and legs, was an even younger boy―― the girl’s younger brother. He had been crying vehemently until now, but, apparently tired from the sobbing, had now fallen asleep.
Wet teartracks still lined his cheeks, and the corners of his eyes were red from crying. The girl wanted to softly stroke his hair, but hesitated, afraid that it might wake him.
If he could sleep, then it’d be better if he kept on sleeping.
While listening to her younger brother quietly snoring, she hoped that he might at least find some rest in his dreams. Because the reality outside those dreams would be far too harsh for her little brother to bear.
Though the same applied to his older sister, thinking this of him.
――It had been several hours since the announcement that the Control Tower to the Great Water Gates of Priestella had been taken.
That morning, the girl was out in the city plaza with her little brother when they heard the broadcast. She couldn’t believe her ears when she heard those words, full of hate and malice. Worrying for her parents as she listened to that unacceptable ultimatum, the girl took her frightened little brother by the hand and ran to the shelter with the adults around her.
――If an unexpected situation occurs, quickly retreat into the shelters.
That was the emergency response procedure broadcasted from the City Hall every morning.
Honestly, the girl didn’t remember paying much attention to the morning broadcasts aside from the Bard’s songs. But those words nevertheless remained at the back of her mind such that she immediately remembered them when the emergency arose.
However, neither the girl nor the surrounding adults seemed to have any idea about what to do once they were inside the refuge shelter.
――Witch Cult. Control Tower. Great Water Gates. Demands.
That vile woman’s ear-piercing voice showered abuse upon the frightened people.
Every one of her deranged, senseless words filled the girl and the adults’ minds with dread.
Trapped in this dark shelter, they knew nothing of what was happening outside. It was only natural that as time passed with no improvement in sight, panic began to take hold.
First, the voices of mutual encouragement weakened, then gradually, anxiety and frustration festered in the silence. By the time anyone noticed it, displeasure had have become apparent on the faces of everyone around them, and the atmosphere had been infested with pent-up discontent and hostile gazes.
Once it begins, there’s no stopping it.
Staring at each other, shouting at each other. At worst, people begin trading punches.
Even in this shelter, this atmosphere was looming, ready to explode at the slightest touch.
[Boy: aa――――h]
Yet the perilous air on the brink of drawing blood was shattered by the girl’s crying little brother.
It appears that, even with the violent urge boiling inside them, the adults still had enough decency not to attack in front of a little golden-haired child crying for help.
The sound of a child crying is powerful, in a way.
She had always thought that her little brother’s crying was noisy. But, realizing what it had accomplished just now, the girl hugged her brother from behind and wept a little.
With this alone, violence had been averted inside shelter.
But everyone knew that it was only a temporary calm resting upon a precarious equilibrium.
Next time, it would certainly not be something a child’s cry could stop.
Knowing this, the people in the shelter, who should be tied by their shared fates, began to keep their distance from each other, not only verbally, but with their gazes and their breaths.
As if to avoid being influenced by other people’s consciousnesses, they shut out everything from the external world. Who knows what might draw someone else’s attention, incite their anger, and end up pulling the trigger?
So whether it was for themselves, or for everyone else, they held their breaths with rigid faces as they waited for time to pass. “Something will change if you just wait for it”, they left themselves to that fleeting hope.
[Girl: ――――a]
Suddenly, the girl lifted her face with a quiet moan.
While silently yearning for a change to come, she caught the subtle shift in the atmosphere.
Spurred to the same reaction, the people around her also turned their heads, perhaps for the first time in hours. This is because everyone living in this city knew that the faint tremble in the air―― was an indication that a broadcast was coming.
In that world of silence, it almost sounded like someone nearby sighing. That precursor to the broadcast sent a sense of physical revulsion throughout her body.
The change they were hoping for should have been something positive. But a broadcast only brings the Witch Cult’s malice.
What kind of impossible demand would that shrill voice impose next?
But here, the girl’s pessimistic prediction was betrayed.
{――Uhhh… so um… can everyone hear me properly? Mic-test mic-test, one-two one-two}
Instead, the voice she heard was that of a youth who sounded somewhat confused.
Unlike any other broadcast before this, the youth’s voice was lacking confidence. It wasn’t the charismatic voice of the man she had grown used to hearing every morning. But a young voice she had never heard before.
The girl’s eyes grew round. The surrounding adults also traded gazes of doubt, unsure of what was going on.
Such sentiments would not reach the person behind the broadcasting device. Nevertheless, after doing a few more checks to make sure that the broadcast going through, the youth cleared his throat. And,
{Sounds like you guys can hear me, that’s a huge relief. So, first of all, sorry for doing a broadcast all of a sudden. I probably scared you, huh. Considering the circumstances, most of you must be on edge about what I’m going to say. But don’t worry. This isn’t the Witch Cult broadcasting to you now. Please know that first}
[…….It’s not, the Witch Cult?]
Apparently not used to talking through the device, the volume of the youth’s voice fluctuated up and down.
But, since the listeneners were so overwhelmed by the content of his words, no one bothered to remark on it. Looking up overhead to where the voice seemed to be falling from, the darkened expressions on the people’s faces began to shift. It was the sensation of having sighted the first glimmer of hope.
Someone quietly muttered,
[Then, that means…… we’re saved?]
Those words encompassed the hopes of everyone inside the shelter.
That’s it. Isn’t it? If someone who’s not the Witch Cult is speaking through the broadcasting device, that can only mean that they’ve recaptured the City Hall. If someone managed to drive the Witch Cult out of the City Hall, then maybe the Witch Cultists in the Control Tower and all over the city are also――
[The Witch Cultists… are all driven out……?]
{Next, I have to apologize for getting everyone’s hopes up, because the threat of the Witch Cult hasn’t gone away yet. We were able to retake the City Hall, but they’re still holed up in the Control Tower. Those guys’ demands, and the danger of the city sinking beneath the water are still in play. Please understand that as well}
[――――]
Yet, this fleeting hope wasn’t crushed by anyone else, but by the youth behind the broadcasting device himself.
It was almost as if the youth had read the minds of everyone inside the shelter. But isn’t it far too cruel to extinguish their fledgling hopes this way?
Someone who had unwittingly stood up with expectation in their eyes sat down again.
Nobody can blame that someone for feeling discouraged, being told that their hope of being relived from their fears was misplaced. Instead, the fierce point of everyone’s anger turned to the youth making the broadcast.
{I’m sorry}
However, the youth had apparently foreseen that the crowd’s anger would fall on him.
{Where are you listening to this broadcast right now? Maybe you’re in one of the refuge shelters, and I’m sure there are those who didn’t manage to escape into the refuge shelters as well. Everyone must be filled with anxiety, right? I can understand what it’s like to be afraid and wanting to curl up into a ball. And I guess you’re all thinking “Who is this random guy toying with everyone’s hopes at a time like this?”}
[――――]
{I’m… just a nobody. Like everyone else, I’m just being tossed around by fate, getting crushed under the unreasonable circumstances, and so scared that my legs can’t stop shaking. That kind of guy. Even the job of doing this broadcast… I only accepted it after making a huge fuss. And I still think that the burden is too heavy for me. Honestly, there are others who are more qualified to talk to everyone like this. I’m sure there are}
The youth’s voice was trembling, as if speaking straight from the people’s terrified and cowering hearts.
And then, what followed was simply the honest thoughts of a youth doubting his own value.
The attitude of the listeners had gone beyond surprise and disappointment, until all that was left was uncertainty.
Right now, when what everyone yearned for was hope, why did they put this youth in front of the broadcasting device?
Even the youth himself said that there were more qualified people.
But why did they send him?
{But here I am, talking to everyone. So many people greater than I am told me that I should do it. That it won’t be totally pointless. But, can you hear me trembling? Speaking in front of people isn’t my strong suit. I’m not good with words, and I don’t have the charisma to lead anyone. I’m weak, helpless, and even here, in such an important position, I can’t help but want to run away……}
The tone of his voice gradually fell, as if dragging the listeners’ hearts into the abyss.
That weak, faltering voice sounded like it was creaking through a chest shrunken by anxiety, only to tangle up at his stomach. If the youth behind that voice was within arm’s reach, she would’ve liked to plug his mouth to shut him up.
[Boy: Big sister……]
Before she knew it, her younger brother was awake.
Hearing that call, the girl hugged her little brother’s ears as if to keep that wimp’s voice from sneaking in and infecting him with it’s cowardice.
But, as the price for protecting her little brother, that voice continued to strike upon the girl’s eardrums, drawing her into its weakness.
Still, the youth’s voice went on,
{I don’t know what I can do… what I really want is just to plug my ears, hold my head, hide in a corner by myself and wait for someone else to fix everything for me……}
[Girl: ――no…]
Squeezing her eyes shut, the girl shook her head as if rejecting that sense of helplessness and despair.
I know. I know even if you don’t remind me.
What the youth was saying was nothing less than the inner thoughts of every person cowering under the Witch Cult’s threat.
It was the weakness eating away at the girl’s heart.
It was the cowardice rooted in the depths of the adults’ minds.
It was the unbearable dread tormenting her little brother’s soul.
Surely, it was something nobody could do anything about.
And to have to face that unreasonable reality in spite of this――
{――But, since I can’t run away, I’ll fight. That’s just the kind of guy I am}
Saying this, the youth’s voice was clearly shaking.
[Girl: ……huh?]
Not sure if she had misheard it, the girl opened her eyes and looked around her.
The owner of the voice wasn’t there. But all around, she could see astounded faces just like her own.
The voice paused for a moment, as if choosing his next words.
And,
{Let me ask you again. Everyone listening to this voice, where are you now? Have you escaped into a refuge shelter? Are you hiding inside your house? Are you trembling alone? Are you with someone? Are you with the person most important to you? Or, even if you’re next to an unfamiliar face, is it a face that you have grown to know over the past few hours?}
[――――]
{It’s a pretty arbitrary request, and it may be difficult, but please don’t be alone. When a person is alone, they’ll just start coming up with lame ideas. I know that from experience. Trust me. So please don’t be alone. Stay with someone. And――}
Inhaling, with only a slight hesitation,
{And if you can, look at the face of the person who’s with you}
――An oppressive silence had fallen over the refuge shelter.
There was the occasional faint sound of sobbing and someone nervously tapping their fingers on the floor.
Listening to that unsettling backdrop in that stillness, the girl hugged up her knees, feeling the coldness of the wall against her back.
It was a little girl with golden hair.
Resting her chin on her small, pale kneecaps, the girl gently wrapped her arm around the little bundle at her side.
Leaning against the girl’s left shoulder, with his head buried between his chest and legs, was an even younger boy―― the girl’s younger brother. He had been crying vehemently until now, but, apparently tired from the sobbing, had now fallen asleep.
Wet teartracks still lined his cheeks, and the corners of his eyes were red from crying. The girl wanted to softly stroke his hair, but hesitated, afraid that it might wake him.
If he could sleep, then it’d be better if he kept on sleeping.
While listening to her younger brother quietly snoring, she hoped that he might at least find some rest in his dreams. Because the reality outside those dreams would be far too harsh for her little brother to bear.
Though the same applied to his older sister, thinking this of him.
――It had been several hours since the announcement that the Control Tower to the Great Water Gates of Priestella had been taken.
That morning, the girl was out in the city plaza with her little brother when they heard the broadcast. She couldn’t believe her ears when she heard those words, full of hate and malice. Worrying for her parents as she listened to that unacceptable ultimatum, the girl took her frightened little brother by the hand and ran to the shelter with the adults around her.
――If an unexpected situation occurs, quickly retreat into the shelters.
That was the emergency response procedure broadcasted from the City Hall every morning.
Honestly, the girl didn’t remember paying much attention to the morning broadcasts aside from the Bard’s songs. But those words nevertheless remained at the back of her mind such that she immediately remembered them when the emergency arose.
However, neither the girl nor the surrounding adults seemed to have any idea about what to do once they were inside the refuge shelter.
――Witch Cult. Control Tower. Great Water Gates. Demands.
That vile woman’s ear-piercing voice showered abuse upon the frightened people.
Every one of her deranged, senseless words filled the girl and the adults’ minds with dread.
Trapped in this dark shelter, they knew nothing of what was happening outside. It was only natural that as time passed with no improvement in sight, panic began to take hold.
First, the voices of mutual encouragement weakened, then gradually, anxiety and frustration festered in the silence. By the time anyone noticed it, displeasure had have become apparent on the faces of everyone around them, and the atmosphere had been infested with pent-up discontent and hostile gazes.
Once it begins, there’s no stopping it.
Staring at each other, shouting at each other. At worst, people begin trading punches.
Even in this shelter, this atmosphere was looming, ready to explode at the slightest touch.
[Boy: aa――――h]
Yet the perilous air on the brink of drawing blood was shattered by the girl’s crying little brother.
It appears that, even with the violent urge boiling inside them, the adults still had enough decency not to attack in front of a little golden-haired child crying for help.
The sound of a child crying is powerful, in a way.
She had always thought that her little brother’s crying was noisy. But, realizing what it had accomplished just now, the girl hugged her brother from behind and wept a little.
With this alone, violence had been averted inside shelter.
But everyone knew that it was only a temporary calm resting upon a precarious equilibrium.
Next time, it would certainly not be something a child’s cry could stop.
Knowing this, the people in the shelter, who should be tied by their shared fates, began to keep their distance from each other, not only verbally, but with their gazes and their breaths.
As if to avoid being influenced by other people’s consciousnesses, they shut out everything from the external world. Who knows what might draw someone else’s attention, incite their anger, and end up pulling the trigger?
So whether it was for themselves, or for everyone else, they held their breaths with rigid faces as they waited for time to pass. “Something will change if you just wait for it”, they left themselves to that fleeting hope.
[Girl: ――――a]
Suddenly, the girl lifted her face with a quiet moan.
While silently yearning for a change to come, she caught the subtle shift in the atmosphere.
Spurred to the same reaction, the people around her also turned their heads, perhaps for the first time in hours. This is because everyone living in this city knew that the faint tremble in the air―― was an indication that a broadcast was coming.
In that world of silence, it almost sounded like someone nearby sighing. That precursor to the broadcast sent a sense of physical revulsion throughout her body.
The change they were hoping for should have been something positive. But a broadcast only brings the Witch Cult’s malice.
What kind of impossible demand would that shrill voice impose next?
But here, the girl’s pessimistic prediction was betrayed.
{――Uhhh… so um… can everyone hear me properly? Mic-test mic-test, one-two one-two}
Instead, the voice she heard was that of a youth who sounded somewhat confused.
Unlike any other broadcast before this, the youth’s voice was lacking confidence. It wasn’t the charismatic voice of the man she had grown used to hearing every morning. But a young voice she had never heard before.
The girl’s eyes grew round. The surrounding adults also traded gazes of doubt, unsure of what was going on.
Such sentiments would not reach the person behind the broadcasting device. Nevertheless, after doing a few more checks to make sure that the broadcast going through, the youth cleared his throat. And,
{Sounds like you guys can hear me, that’s a huge relief. So, first of all, sorry for doing a broadcast all of a sudden. I probably scared you, huh. Considering the circumstances, most of you must be on edge about what I’m going to say. But don’t worry. This isn’t the Witch Cult broadcasting to you now. Please know that first}
[…….It’s not, the Witch Cult?]
Apparently not used to talking through the device, the volume of the youth’s voice fluctuated up and down.
But, since the listeneners were so overwhelmed by the content of his words, no one bothered to remark on it. Looking up overhead to where the voice seemed to be falling from, the darkened expressions on the people’s faces began to shift. It was the sensation of having sighted the first glimmer of hope.
Someone quietly muttered,
[Then, that means…… we’re saved?]
Those words encompassed the hopes of everyone inside the shelter.
That’s it. Isn’t it? If someone who’s not the Witch Cult is speaking through the broadcasting device, that can only mean that they’ve recaptured the City Hall. If someone managed to drive the Witch Cult out of the City Hall, then maybe the Witch Cultists in the Control Tower and all over the city are also――
[The Witch Cultists… are all driven out……?]
{Next, I have to apologize for getting everyone’s hopes up, because the threat of the Witch Cult hasn’t gone away yet. We were able to retake the City Hall, but they’re still holed up in the Control Tower. Those guys’ demands, and the danger of the city sinking beneath the water are still in play. Please understand that as well}
[――――]
Yet, this fleeting hope wasn’t crushed by anyone else, but by the youth behind the broadcasting device himself.
It was almost as if the youth had read the minds of everyone inside the shelter. But isn’t it far too cruel to extinguish their fledgling hopes this way?
Someone who had unwittingly stood up with expectation in their eyes sat down again.
Nobody can blame that someone for feeling discouraged, being told that their hope of being relived from their fears was misplaced. Instead, the fierce point of everyone’s anger turned to the youth making the broadcast.
{I’m sorry}
However, the youth had apparently foreseen that the crowd’s anger would fall on him.
{Where are you listening to this broadcast right now? Maybe you’re in one of the refuge shelters, and I’m sure there are those who didn’t manage to escape into the refuge shelters as well. Everyone must be filled with anxiety, right? I can understand what it’s like to be afraid and wanting to curl up into a ball. And I guess you’re all thinking “Who is this random guy toying with everyone’s hopes at a time like this?”}
[――――]
{I’m… just a nobody. Like everyone else, I’m just being tossed around by fate, getting crushed under the unreasonable circumstances, and so scared that my legs can’t stop shaking. That kind of guy. Even the job of doing this broadcast… I only accepted it after making a huge fuss. And I still think that the burden is too heavy for me. Honestly, there are others who are more qualified to talk to everyone like this. I’m sure there are}
The youth’s voice was trembling, as if speaking straight from the people’s terrified and cowering hearts.
And then, what followed was simply the honest thoughts of a youth doubting his own value.
The attitude of the listeners had gone beyond surprise and disappointment, until all that was left was uncertainty.
Right now, when what everyone yearned for was hope, why did they put this youth in front of the broadcasting device?
Even the youth himself said that there were more qualified people.
But why did they send him?
{But here I am, talking to everyone. So many people greater than I am told me that I should do it. That it won’t be totally pointless. But, can you hear me trembling? Speaking in front of people isn’t my strong suit. I’m not good with words, and I don’t have the charisma to lead anyone. I’m weak, helpless, and even here, in such an important position, I can’t help but want to run away……}
The tone of his voice gradually fell, as if dragging the listeners’ hearts into the abyss.
That weak, faltering voice sounded like it was creaking through a chest shrunken by anxiety, only to tangle up at his stomach. If the youth behind that voice was within arm’s reach, she would’ve liked to plug his mouth to shut him up.
[Boy: Big sister……]
Before she knew it, her younger brother was awake.
Hearing that call, the girl hugged her little brother’s ears as if to keep that wimp’s voice from sneaking in and infecting him with it’s cowardice.
But, as the price for protecting her little brother, that voice continued to strike upon the girl’s eardrums, drawing her into its weakness.
Still, the youth’s voice went on,
{I don’t know what I can do… what I really want is just to plug my ears, hold my head, hide in a corner by myself and wait for someone else to fix everything for me……}
[Girl: ――no…]
Squeezing her eyes shut, the girl shook her head as if rejecting that sense of helplessness and despair.
I know. I know even if you don’t remind me.
What the youth was saying was nothing less than the inner thoughts of every person cowering under the Witch Cult’s threat.
It was the weakness eating away at the girl’s heart.
It was the cowardice rooted in the depths of the adults’ minds.
It was the unbearable dread tormenting her little brother’s soul.
Surely, it was something nobody could do anything about.
And to have to face that unreasonable reality in spite of this――
{――But, since I can’t run away, I’ll fight. That’s just the kind of guy I am}
Saying this, the youth’s voice was clearly shaking.
[Girl: ……huh?]
Not sure if she had misheard it, the girl opened her eyes and looked around her.
The owner of the voice wasn’t there. But all around, she could see astounded faces just like her own.
The voice paused for a moment, as if choosing his next words.
And,
{Let me ask you again. Everyone listening to this voice, where are you now? Have you escaped into a refuge shelter? Are you hiding inside your house? Are you trembling alone? Are you with someone? Are you with the person most important to you? Or, even if you’re next to an unfamiliar face, is it a face that you have grown to know over the past few hours?}
[――――]
{It’s a pretty arbitrary request, and it may be difficult, but please don’t be alone. When a person is alone, they’ll just start coming up with lame ideas. I know that from experience. Trust me. So please don’t be alone. Stay with someone. And――}
Inhaling, with only a slight hesitation,
{And if you can, look at the face of the person who’s with you}
