Grimgal of Ashes and Illusion - Volume 17 - Chapter 4

4. The Many Aspects of Love

When they came to the end of the entrance hall, there was a door made of some material that wasn’t quite metal or wood. It was more than three meters high, and about equally wide, so it was almost square but not completely; the upper corners were rounded. It was recessed into the wall, and looked like it ought to open, but the question was how. There were no handles or anything of the sort. Just a depression in the shape of five overlapping circles in the center.

There was more than just the one door, by the way. There were two identical doors, ten meters apart. Shinohara stood in front of the one on the left, while Kimura was in front of the one on the right.

“We’re going to demonstrate the primary gimmick of the Graveyard for you now,” Shinohara said, placing his right hand on a depression in the door.

“We call this synchronized unlocking,” he explained. “Kimura.”

“Oh-hoh!” Kimura pressed his right hand into the depression on the door. “Take a gander.”

“What’s a gander?” Yume whispered in Ranta’s ear.

“Don’t ask me!” Ranta cocked his head to the side. “But, no, seriously? Where is this goose I’m supposed to take?”

“It means look at this,” Setora said coldly, and Ranta awkwardly cleared his throat.

“Y-Yeah? I knew that. I mean, duh. Everyone knows that. And this is me we’re talking about, okay?”

“Yeah, sure you did,” Kuzaku said with a snicker.

“What was that, you asshole?”

Haruhiro could have ignored Ranta as he went off at Kuzaku, but it was painful to watch. He was about to stop him when something happened with the doors.

“Oh...!” Haruhiro’s eyes went wide. He’d expected the doors to open, but not like this.

There were furrows cut into each of the two doors, but Haruhiro had assumed it was just a design flourish of some sort. He’d been wrong. The doors were made up of many parts, and those furrows had been seams. With heavy noises, the parts recessed further and further, changing positions as they did.

The two doors folded into the walls as they opened, leaving a hole that the group could pass through.

“Fwooo.” Yume’s eyes were like saucers. “It’s sure got a pecooler way of openin’, huh, Merry-chan?”

“...Yes.” Merry looked at Yume, then smiled slightly. “It does. But I believe the word you were looking for was peculiar.”

“Nwoo. It is? Percruler, huh?”

“Yume, you got it wrong again. Just saying.”

“Oh, shove off. Your whole existence is wrong, y’know that, Ranta?”

“My existence is the most right thing ever! ...Wait, no, maybe not. That doesn’t sound that cool. Maybe my existence is evil? Downright evil. Hrmm. Yeah, that sounds more awesome.”

Either way, you’re still not cool.

It wasn’t just Haruhiro, everyone there was probably thinking that, but no one was going to say so. Giving Ranta attention just made things worse. It was best to ignore him.

“At last.”

Kimura turned around, his glasses flashing like always. It had gotten to the point where, even when that happened, Haruhiro never thought anything more of it than, Oh, they flashed.

“Now then...!”

Just after Haruhiro thought that, Kimura’s glasses flashed repeatedly. Seriously, though, how the hell does he do that? Was finally giving in to curiosity a loss for Haruhiro? Was this even a matter of winning or losing? Yeah, no, it wasn’t. But he couldn’t help but feel defeated.

“I believe I will explain it once more, just in case. Vo-hoh! I, Kimura, Orion’s humble fount of wisdom, will!”

There probably weren’t that many people who went around calling themselves a fount of wisdom. Well, having self-confidence wasn’t a bad thing, and Kimura was apparently supposed to be quite intelligent. Before the operation began, he had gone over what Orion knew about the Graveyard. His explanations had been well-organized and easy to understand. And this time too, his report was concise and to the point. It was readily apparent how smart he was. But he was still a freaking weirdo.

The key to the graveyard was, as Shinohara and Kimura had just demonstrated, synchronized unlocking.

There were two paths leading past the entrance hall. Door A and door B. These were the two Shinohara and Kimura had opened. The doors inside the Graveyard opened when the depression that looked like five overlapping circles was pressed. However, it wasn’t possible to open just door A or door B. They could only be unlocked when the depressions on two matching doors were pressed in sync, causing both to open together.

It must have been a real headache figuring out how this system, or rule, or mechanic, or gimmick, or whatever one wanted to call it, functioned. Orion had done it. Haruhiro was genuinely impressed by that, though being the kind of person he was, he had to wonder why they would go so far.

Whatever their reasons, thanks to Orion, they knew how to progress through the Graveyard.

If there was a branch in the path, they couldn’t choose just one, they had to proceed down both. There were doors down each. They’d have to press the depressions in both of the paired doors. Then the way would open.

When they entered the Graveyard through the foothill entrance, they started out in the entrance hall.

There were two doors in the entrance hall: door A and door B. When these were unlocked in sync, two paths appeared.

We’ll call these routes A and B.

Route A was connected to a room that Orion had named “the dining hall.” There were two more doors there. One led to the kitchen and the other to the chapel. There was another door in each. By unlocking those doors in sync, they were able to reach a room called the inner courtyard. The inner courtyard was the end of route A.

Route B led into the great hall, which then branched into the audience chamber and the dressing room. If the doors in those rooms were unlocked in sync, they led to the master bedroom. Route B ended with the master bedroom.

Finally, if the doors in the inner courtyard and the master bedroom were unlocked in sync, the burial chamber lay beyond. But as for the full structure of the burial chamber, that remained a mystery. Based on the wall art here, Shinohara seemed certain that the king who did not sleep even in death, the Lich King, was there. However, Orion had yet to make it that far.

Also, if they entered the Graveyard from the castle entrance on top of Mount Grief, they would start in a complex room they called the treasury. The treasury was labyrinthine, and the need to defeat enemies as they went made progressing through it a grueling task. Orion had not succeeded in fighting their way through the treasury, but they had managed to completely map it out and had reached the conclusion that the treasury should have been connected to the burial chamber.

Either way, if things were as Shinohara anticipated, the enemies in the Graveyard were being produced by the Lich King. If they made the king who did not sleep even in death rest in peace, the Graveyard would just be an ordinary graveyard. Passing through the treasury would be a simple matter.

On that note, their platoon split into two groups here.

Route A would be taken by Haruhiro’s party and the Tokkis, with Kimura from Orion as their guide. Thirteen people in total.

Route B would be taken by Team Renji and the rest of the members of Orion led by Shinohara. There were thirteen in this group too.

“Well, until we meet again,” Shinohara said with a smile directed at Haruhiro and the others.

Renji was looking at them too. Well, not so much “them” as Haruhiro specifically. He wasn’t just looking, though. There was meaning in that glance. Haruhiro understood it. Nobody but him did.

Haruhiro didn’t nod. He just looked back at Renji. It seemed that was enough for him to get the message.

It was like their hearts were connected. Kind of a weird feeling. Sure, they had both enlisted at the same time, but Haruhiro didn’t remember that. The gap in their skills was plain for anyone to see. A man Haruhiro had no right to consider an equal had said he’d be relying on him.

It just doesn’t feel right. I don’t know how to describe it. Like an itch I can’t scratch, maybe? It feels weird, that’s all I can say. Renji, you sure you’re not making a mistake? This is me we’re talking about, you know? You don’t have me confused for someone else, do you? I’m more than half convinced you do.

“Shall we get going too? Zu-foh...!”

Haruhiro and the others followed Kimura through door A. Kimura, Kuzaku, Setora, Tokimune, and Kikkawa were carrying lanterns, so it was reasonably bright. The stone corridor connecting the entrance hall to the dining hall was about the same width as the door, so it was three meters across. Something was carved into the rock wall. Not text or symbols, but pictures.

“In our investigation, we found that they’re all pictures of giants and beasts native to the Quickwind Plains, gu-feh...!”

“Food, huh?” Tada said to himself.

What did that mean?

Nobody poked fun at it.

Nobody knows how to react to that, Tada-san.

“By the way, um...” Haruhiro hesitantly addressed the tall woman who had been walking right next to him for a while now. “...Mi-Mimori-san.”

“Mimorin.”

“...Come again?”

“Call me Mimorin.”

“Ohh... Erm...”

“You called me Mimorin before.”

“Before I lost my memory, you mean?”

“Yeah.” Mimorin nodded vigorously. “So call me Mimorin.”

“...I see.”

Was that how it was? He hadn’t known. He had a feeling he didn’t want to know either. But, well, if that’s what he’d called her, so be it. He might not remember it, but he’d still gone and done it. Okay, maybe saying he’d “gone and done it” was being overly dramatic. The point was, Haruhiro had been referring to Mimori as Mimorin.

Why’d you go and do something like that, past me?

“Uh, er, Mimo...rin.”

Mimori—no, Mimorin suddenly came to a stop.

She covered her face with both hands, looking downwards.

“...Huh?”

Haruhiro had just done as she asked. That was all... Right?

“Is something...wrong?”

“I was able to get you to call me Mimorin again.” Mimorin’s shoulders were quivering. “My heart feels so full.”

“...Nngh.” Kikkawa sniffed. “I mean, hey. Let’s be honest here. We figured you guys were goners, you know? I’ll be blunt. There was, like, no way you survived. We didn’t have proof, but all the rumors we heard more or less confirmed it. Mimori, she took it real hard. Mm-hm. Mm-hm. Of course she would. But she still said she believed! That Haruhiro’s out there, alive, and she’ll see him again! Seeing her like that, man, I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house. I cried too. Only a little, though! It was like, ‘so this is pure love?!’ Still, I thought Mimori-san was being too devoted to you. Seriously, once she sets her mind on something, she won’t back down on it one jot. Not Mimori-san.”

“Hey, Parupiiirooo!” Anna-san walked up and grabbed Haruhiro by the front of his shirt. “I make something clear, yeah? I tell her lot of times, yeah. Even if she lucky, and you still alive, she need to move on. Mimorin not have time for balding ass like you. I say, Time is money. Waste of time. Hurry up, hurry up, move on to next guy, yeah? But, Mimorin, she refuse. No matter how. Like it the one thing she no can do, yeah? Why she insist on loser like you? Why she say she never forget you? Because she love you, okay? Fuck you!”

Anna-san was tearing up as she flipped him off. What had gotten into her?

No one dared to tease her about it. Least of all Haruhiro.

He was just in awe. Anna-san really cared about Mimorin, both as a comrade and as a friend. That really came across. Haruhiro was overwhelmed by the power of her emotions.

“Uh...” Kuzaku started to say something. But, in the end, the words never came out.

Haruhiro didn’t know what he was supposed to say either.

What am I supposed to do about this? If there’s a right answer, somebody please tell me.

“Well, gosh!” the masked dread knight said with a short snicker. “Isn’t that just lovely? Someone like her falling passionately in love with an aimless moron like you is the kind of thing that comes around once in a lifetime, if that. Just be grateful and accept it.”

“He’s not a moron.” Mimorin glared at Ranta. “Haruhiro is not a moron. He’s not aimless either. Not at all.”

“...S-Sorry.” Ranta ducked his head and apologized in a small voice.

Wow, you’re pathetic, was something Haruhiro didn’t think this time. Mimorin had this unique intensity to her, even if it wasn’t to the same degree as Renji, or at least not in the same way as him.

“All right.” Tada put his hand on Anna-san’s arm. He was incredibly gentle about it too. “Leave it at that, Anna-san.”

“Murgh...”

It was clear that she didn’t really want to, but Anna-san let go of Haruhiro’s shirt.

Incidentally, Tada’s warhammer was on his shoulder, ready for him to bring it down on someone at any moment. On top of that, Haruhiro could sense what he could only conclude was bloodlust leaking from his every pore.

“Haruhiro.”

“...Yes?”

“I don’t know what happened to you guys. I don’t care if you lost your memories, or whatever.”

“Yeah... I guess not. That’s kind of our problem.”

“But.”

“...But?”

“Our Mimori was hurt bad. Who hurt her? You did.”

“Huh? I...did?”

“Who else? If you hurt Mimori any more, I won’t let you get away with it. I’ll kill you.”

“...You just came right out and said that, huh?”

“I’ll kill you.”

“Twice, at that...”

“No!”

It happened so suddenly Haruhiro doubted his eyes.

Did Mimorin punch Tada?

She did.

“Gwagh...!”

Tada toppled to the ground.

He wasn’t moving.

No, wait, he slowly sat up. His glasses were out of place, and there was blood on his lip.

“Ptooey...” Tada spat something out. There was a cracking sound as whatever it was struck the floor.

It looked like a tooth. Did it get knocked out? Was that a molar?

Tada adjusted the position of his glasses with his left hand.

Oh, man. The guy’s smiling.

“...That was a good punch, Mimori.”

“Because you said you’d kill Haruhiro.”

“No matter what you say, I’ll kill Haruhiro.”

“No!”

Mimori came at Tada with—what was it this time? A kick? Oh, crap. That looked dangerous. She was going to kick him in the jaw. Haruhiro instinctively grabbed Mimori from behind and stopped her.

“S-Stop, okay?! Will you cut it out?!”

“Mimori!” Tada stood up fiercely. “If Haruhiro keeps toying with you, I am going to kill him!”

“I said no!”

“Uh, I’m not toying with her, though?! I just traveled around and then ended up losing my memories, okay?!”

Tada cocked his head to the said.

“...Was that what happened?”

“Yes!”

“Okay then.”

Tada shrugged.

“The point is, I’m telling you not to hurt Mimori anymore.”

“...I’m telling you, I don’t have the slightest desire to hurt her, okay?”

“In that case!” Anna-san got up close and personal with him, spittle flying as she spoke. “You hurry up and accept Mimorin’s love, yeah!”

Mimorin brought her face close to his.

“Accept it. Please.”

“I...dunno what to say to that...”

“Wow, you’re popular...” Kuzaku crossed his arms.

I don’t know if you’re impressed or what, but put yourself in my shoes for a second, would you?

“Man, you’re super popular, Haruhiro. I mean, I can see why, but still.”

“Geh! I can’t!” Ranta spat angrily. But... “Arghhh! Bleh! Bleh!” He had to take his mask off before he hocked a loogie.

Whoa, man, keep your phlegm to yourself.

“Oh, to be young again!” Tokimune’s smile was so refreshing it seemed out of place. No, more like it didn’t even belong in this world. His teeth were way too white. How did he get them so pearly?

“Hmm, hold on?” Kikkawa interjected. “Haruhiro, you don’t have a girlfriend? Like, in your party? A little love in the workplace? I mean, that’s a thing that happens, right?”

“...What about you?”

“Oh, us? We’re like a family, y’know? No, wait, we are a family! Like, Tokimune’s the daddy, Anna-san’s the mommy, Tadacchi’s the big brother, Mimori-san’s the big sister, I’m the youngest child, and Inui’s our pet dog or something.”

“Heh...”

The look on Inui’s face could only be described as evil. At first it seemed like he was offended at being likened to a pet dog, but apparently not.

“Woof...” he barked. It was in a quiet voice, though.

“So? Do you? Do you?” Kikkawa ignored it and kept going. Actually, it wasn’t just Kikkawa, nobody was going to comment on Inui’s woof. It felt like he was already lower than a pet dog.

“What’s the lowdown on the love situation in your party? How about it? Is there at least a little something going on? I’m leaning toward yes. There’s gotta be, right? Like, with Merry, maybe?”

“Huh...?” Haruhiro glanced in Merry’s direction despite himself.

Merry, perhaps by sheer coincidence, was looking at Haruhiro too.

The result was that they ended up staring into each other’s eyes.

Then, instantly, they both looked down at the ground.

“Oh, what’s this now?” Kikkawa wrapped an arm around Haruhiro’s shoulder. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What? What was that? You’ve got me thinking maybe, just maybe... Haruhiro, are you and Merry, like, going steady?”

“N-No. W-We’re not. N-Nothing like that...”

“Come on, man.”

Ranta was crouching sullenly. He pushed his mask up and looked up at Haruhiro. What was that suspicious look for? Who did he think he was?

“I know all sorts of stuff happened and I left the party. But up until that point, nothing like that had happened, okay? Once I was gone? Well, who knows? You could have forgotten all about it.”

“I forgot it...?”

“Merry’d remember, wouldn’t she? Even if you forgot, she’d still remember, assuming she was involved. That’s entirely possible, right?”

“Ohh!” Kuzaku slammed his fists together.

This isn’t an “Ohh!” moment, man.

“Mmmngh...?” Yume poked Merry in the shoulder. “Merry-chan, huh? Were you goin’ out with Haru-kun?”

“Huh? G-Go...? Going...o-out? Huh? No! We...!”

Merry? Merry-san? You’re suddenly turning into a nervous wreck? What? What happened?

Hold on, maybe, just maybe...did something happen?

Naturally, Haruhiro had no idea. He couldn’t possibly. No matter what had happened between them, Haruhiro didn’t remember it. Suppose, for a moment, something did happen. Haruhiro would have forgotten it. But Merry would still remember. Well, Haruhiro couldn’t help that he’d forgotten. He’d been forced to. That being the case, couldn’t she just tell him about it casually?

Yeah, no, it probably wasn’t that easy.

He had a feeling it would be pretty hard. Just a vague one, though.

Something happened...?

But was it okay for Haruhiro to ask Merry about it himself? If there wasn’t actually anything between them, then asking on the assumption that there might have been was embarrassing. Even if there had been something, asking her about it when he himself didn’t remember seemed kind of—no, really insensitive. He felt like it would be a pretty awful thing to do.

“People...!”

Suddenly, Kimura yelled at them.

“Do you think you could leave it at that? This is the Graveyard!”

He slammed his mace against the ground. Wait, he could use that thing for something other than swinging up into his enemies’ crotches? Yeah, of course he could.

But it looked like Kimura hadn’t swung his mace out of irritation or anger.

“The hell is that?!” Ranta’s eyes bugged out. When Kimura’s mace struck the ground at his feet, they didn’t hear the sound of the stone floor shattering. Why not?

Because what Kimura had struck was not the floor.

What was that thing? Pitch black, like a shadow, but different. That was no shadow. It was reasonably thin, but still had some thickness to it. Maybe ten centimeters wide, and who knew how long. Fifty, maybe sixty centimeters? It was a very thin, pitch black snake. When that enemy had slithered up to Kimura, he’d immediately struck a powerful blow against it with his mace.

“Is that what they call a shadow?” Setora said quietly to herself. It had been in the explanation before they’d entered the Graveyard. There were a variety of enemies here that would try to drive out invaders. Shadows were one of them. They moved along the floor and walls and had very little offensive power but would wrap around an intruder to hold them in place. Sometimes they acted in groups.

“The Graveyard! Guh-hoh...!” Kimura started laughing. “Wo hoh! Nuh buh huh! This is the Graveyard, yes! Weh hah weh hah weh ha! I’d ask you to be more alert! Wa heeeah!”

He laughed like an idiot while slamming the walls and floor with his mace. Shadows. It was shadows. Shadows all over. But there was no reason to laugh like that, was there? For now, at least, Kimura seemed a whole lot scarier than any shadow.

“It’s snake-slaying time!” Tokimune swung his longsword with a flourish and slashed a shadow on the floor.

“Hmph...” Tada spun around once, using the momentum to smash the wall. “I’ll demolish them...!”

“Whoa...!” Kuzaku said in awe before noticing a shadow wrapping itself around his ankle, and shaking it off with a cry of surprise.

“Don’t let your guard down, idiot!” Ranta shouted as he slashed that shadow with his katana.

“There’re tons of ’em, huh!”

Yume used a large knife to cut up the shadows. Setora stabbed one after another with her spear. Merry crushed a few more with her battle staff.

Haruhiro couldn’t just stand still either. He went to draw his dagger, but someone nearby moved forward before he could. Who? Mimorin.

Mimorin pulled out two longswords, slashing three or four shadows with such vigor that they went flying.

“It’s okay.”

“...How so?”

“I’ll protect you, Haruhiro.”

I’m grateful, but I can protect myself, you know...?

Actually, am I even grateful? Maybe not?

Before he had the chance to express an opinion, Mimorin rapidly took out the shadows one after another.

“Haruhiro!”

“...Yes?”

“I love you!”

Is that a fact?

Well, be that as it may, Haruhiro would just do what he ought to be doing. Or so he thought, but his body wouldn’t listen. He felt weak and couldn’t think straight.

What do I do?