[Don't Want to Grow Up]
The moment Shu saw those four neatly written words, he suddenly felt the world around him shatter.
The entire world instantly broke apart like a mirror struck by a heavy blow. These shattered fragments rushed towards him, passing through his body before he could even react.
---||---
["Mommy! Mommy!"
A small figure knelt amidst the charred ruins. The flames in the snowy plains were so glaring. Looking down, it was like a few drops of dark ink had fallen onto a vast white paper.
There was no beauty in this picture, just as there was no beauty in the little girl's words.
"Mommy, wake up! Mommy!!" The little girl, voice hoarse, lay on top of the fallen woman. The lower half of the woman's body was buried in the rubble, dark blood mingling with the upturned black earth, indistinguishable.
The radio nearby crackled with an intermittent weather forecast:
"Today... heavy snow... bombers... will not take off..."
"..."
"The weather forecast lied..."]
---||---
["Thank goodness... you're okay... Thank goodness... There's another child here!! Someone, quick!!" On the brutal battlefield, the middle-aged man, dressed only in a white lab coat, looked so plain, so kind.
He helped the little purple-haired girl up from the ground, only then noticing the woman buried beneath the rubble.
"Mommy! Save Mommy!!" The girl's face was covered in dark mud and glaring blood.
The middle-aged man tried to move the rubble pinning the woman, but he couldn't. He could only shout at the top of his lungs for his other companions.
"Whooosh—"
The low drone of an airplane passing overhead sounded. The middle-aged man's eyes widened in anger. He grabbed the stunned little purple-haired girl beside him and threw himself over both the woman and the child.
The violent explosion overturned not just the world, but also humanity.
The little girl, ears ringing, watched as several young men rushed over, lifted the mangled middle-aged man onto a stretcher, while two other youths began clearing the rubble pinning the woman.
Another young man pulled out a fluttering flag, holding it open with both hands in front of his chest, facing the bomber that was about to begin its second dive from the sky.
"We are Future City experimental personnel! Any further attack will be considered a declaration of war against Future City! Repeat! We are Future City experimental personnel! Any further attack will be considered a declaration of war against Future City!!"
The young man roared with all his might. While everyone else was bent over, busy, only he, holding the flag, stood ramrod straight, his arms wide open, making no attempt to protect himself.
An experimenter noticed the girl huddled in a corner. She rushed over, her hands trembling, but gently stroked Sirin's head.
"It's okay... It's okay..." Her voice was even softer than the girl's, so soft it was drowned out by the roar of the departing plane.
"Mommy... and Uncle... Can they still wake up?" The purple-haired girl only wanted the answer to this question.
The researcher paused, then spoke a little louder.
"Yes! Everyone in Future City will definitely be able to wake your mommy up!"
"..."
"The big sister from Future City lied..."]
---||---
["Sirin!" A red-haired girl enthusiastically hugged Sirin's neck from behind. "What are you looking at!"
"Agatha... don't... Sirin just finished..." A thin girl with bandages and dark circles under her eyes whispered from the side.
"Ah?" The girl named Agatha recoiled as if electrocuted. "Sorry, sorry!"
"Hmph~" A girl with grey hair and green highlights waved her hand elegantly. "Only a fool like Agatha would be so reckless."
"I'm sorry" The red-haired girl gently held the little purple-haired girl's shoulders, her voice coaxing. "Forgive me, okay"
The purple-haired girl smiled resignedly, then tilted her chin up. "Fine, I'll reluctantly forgive you this time."
"Hehe, Sirin is the best to me!"
"No, I'm not!"
"Let me see..." The red-haired girl leaned over the storybook in the little purple-haired girl's hands. "Is this Homu?! I love Homu the most too! Which one is this?"
"Miss Sirin's book is Homu Brave Fights the Evil Dragon..."
"Ooh... I haven't heard of it... Is it newly published?"
"Hmph, this book is a hundred years old. Even I am seeing it for the first time."
"Wow! Really?! Can I see it? Can I, can I?! Please~~"
"Ahem... Then... I'll let you have a look☆!"
"Thank you so much! Sirin, when we get better, I'll definitely take you to see the flowers in my hometown! The flowers blooming under the blue sky are so pretty!"
"Tch, what's so great about mere flowers... Sirin, come see the sea near my house first. I'll show you super big whales!"
"A... Aurora wants... wants to take Miss Sirin to... to see Homu... Homu Land... it's full of Homus..."
"Really?" the little purple-haired girl asked in surprise, then quickly stifled a cough. "Ahem, it's not that I want to see it! I'm just curious."
"Re... Really... All the Homus... are there... just like... this Great Homu Kingdom..."
"Then what about Homu Brave?"
"Seems... not..."
"We'll know if we go see, right?"
"Then it's a promise. Just so you know, seeing the sea has to be second."
"Then seeing flowers is third!!"
The three girls, all around the same age as the little purple-haired girl, made this promise right in front of her. The little purple-haired girl stared blankly at the three before her, then suddenly, she laughed.
"Alright, I permit it☆!"
"Yay!!"
"..."
"They lied... They're all liars..."]
---||---
["Cough, cough..." Old John, bald, coughed, his trembling hand picking up a sealed test tube. Inside was a pale pink substance, so faint it was almost invisible.
This thing was called "Blood Agate." It was the problem the entire Babylon had faced for these fourteen years, and also the potent poison that afflicted most of the ten thousand people Babylon had taken in.
Children, youths, middle-aged... Children who had lost their parents, parents who had lost their children... Countless people carried this poison, taken in while waiting for death, to participate in unraveling this grand "death banquet."
In 2009, the last poisoned patient could no longer participate in experiments and was put into hibernation, awaiting a future answer.
But if no one continued to participate in the experiments, then the future answer would never arrive.
So, the researchers voluntarily accepted the virus, becoming the next test subjects.
Not a single person left at that moment. Starting from the grassroots level, from the status of experimental assistants, they leaped to become the experimented upon.
Accepting "Blood Agate," participating in experiments, entering hibernation...
This cycle repeated every day, reaching its conclusion every day.
Fewer and fewer people...
Yesterday, it was his old, old friend who was once a Holy Hand... Today, was it finally his turn?
Old John smiled, full of nostalgia, then looked at Sirin before him.
"Sirin, I'm sorry. This last set of experimental data can only be me... Sorry... for not being able to accompany you to the end..."
"Sorry..."
"It's okay..." The eighteen-year-old purple-haired young woman looked up, her face expressionless.
"Being lied to... I'm already used to it..."
"Is that so..." Old John removed the stopper from the test tube. His skin began to rapidly turn red.
But there was a smile on his face.
"Sirin, congratulations on growing up..."
"..."
"...Adults... are all liars..."]