Chapter 8 - The Devil of Greed Part 1

The steel tower that had crumbled and collapsed on its side was large enough to reach the wall on the other side of the sea.

Because of this, the tower had made a hall in the wall, and water and debris were now flowing out of it.

Like going on a water slide, Mizuki and Yua drifted toward the hole as well.

Their handcuffs had stretched and put some distance between them.

“We’re saved…”

Relieved, Yua sighed.

However, her knees were too weak for her to stand up.

“Yua, thank you… For trusting me.”

Mizuki lent her a hand.

Both were soaking wet with drenched hair and clothes.

“Me too, thank you.”

Yua took Mizuki’s hand with a grin.

Standing up slowly, the two of them wore relieved expressions.

However, Mizuki suddenly averted his eyes.

His cheeks turned red and he avoided meeting Yua’s eyes.

(I wonder what happened.)

Yua thought, but since the notepad was wet, she couldn't use it so communicating with Mizuki became hard. She didn’t know how to ask him.

“Hehe.”

Without thinking, Yua laughed.

Then, standing in front of Mizuki on purpose and grinning, she looked into his eyes.

“Wh…at?”

Yua enjoyed seeing Mizuki’s shy look.

After growing impatient, Mizuki asked, but it was meaningless since he couldn’t hear.

“Let’s hurry… And leave. Snakey might come.”

Mizuki said while looking at the area they were in before where Snakey was holding the tower and fainted.

“I got it.”

Yua smiled temptingly and walked by Mizuki’s side.

***

The sun from Snakey’s area didn’t reach them here.

Because of the darkness in the crumbling townscape, they relied on the light from the flashlights to follow the road.

It wasn’t like they wouldn’t be able to see without the flashlights, but it was easier to find their way with them.

As they walked, they eventually saw a light in the distance.

Although it wasn’t bright enough to be a sun, it gave them hope.

The two of them walked toward it.

Mizuki was barefoot, while Yua was wearing tights.

Because neither of them wore shoes, walking was painful.

They were cold from being wet and hungry, too.

“Stars?”

A place that had light was evidently different from the rest of the crumbling townscape.

There was no end to the stars scattered in the sky and there were a lot of different things.

From large things like houses, factories, playgrounds, ships, airplanes, and cars, to smaller things like desks, chairs, food, clothes, clocks, and paintings.

Everything was things humans used and was neither dirty nor overgrown with moss.

It was like each thing was gathered here and made clean.

They were all lined up neatly.

“I need a break.”

Yua took Mizuki’s hand and entered a building looking like a department store.

It was big enough to have an underground department store as well.

Strangely enough, the inside of the store was maintained, too.

It was like someone was living here.

“It’s like another world. It’s too clean it’s weird.”

Yua thought it was weird, she took a notepad from the stationary part of the store.

She also replaced their shoulder bag with a new one and filled up on canned food.

Then, she went to the part with clothes and stayed there.

Mizuki received a note from Yua with the writing, “I’m going to change clothes.”

Then, they both turned their backs on each other and changed into new clothing.

While they did, Mizuki received another note.

“You can look now”, it said, and Mizuki slowly turned around.

Yua was still in the middle of changing her clothes.

Without wearing clothes, she grinned at him in underwear.

She held a note saying “Mizuki, you pervert” in her right hand.

Mizuki turned beet red and looked forward in a hurry.

“I-I’m sorry.”

“Hehe.”

Yua laughed at him and, seemingly satisfied, put on her new clothing.

Mizuki had changed into a shirt, grey hoodie, and sneakers.

Yua now wore a black sailor uniform and boots.

“Should we eat?”

Yua pulled out canned food and chocolate from her bag and shared it with Mizuki.

Although they didn’t speak, the distance between them seemed to be shorter since their first meeting.

Maybe because they had overcome difficulties together.

“Hm?”

Mizuki saw something big moving in the corner of his eye.

He was sure something moving quickly like a cockroach had run off in the rows of clothing.

“Is there something here?”

“Huh?”

“I’ll go have a look.”

Mizuki placed the canned food he was eating on his chair and went into the back of the rows of clothing cautiously.

However, he found nothing.

“It was only my imagination.”

Mizuki sighed and slowly looked back in Yua’s direction.

“Mizuki! Above!”

He knew that she was shouting.

However, he didn’t know about what.

Despite that, seeing Yua’s panicked expression, he immediately sensed that he was in danger.

Becoming panicked, he looked back and saw a spider the size of a dog hanging from the ceiling.

“W-what… Is this… Thing…”

Mizuki couldn’t move.

The spider was way too big and its legs weren’t that of a spider.

Its legs were human hands and it stared at him with six eyes.

“Urrah!!!”

The spider cried out as drool dripped down from its mouth.

Then, befitting a monster, it headed for Mizuki on its hands.