Apparently something's happened outside.

　An old white hospital. In her bed in a private room, isolated from the rest of the hospital, Mirele Noah sensed it quite naturally.

　There was only one small window facing the courtyard, and the sun was shining quietly into the minimally furnished room.
　Millere's hospital room is a space where time seems to have stopped. Because it is so far away from the other rooms, there is no sound, and there have been times when she has felt so lonely that she has almost lost her mind.

　For a girl like her, change is always welcome, no matter what.

　Originally, only a minimal number of doctors and nurses visited Millere's hospital room, but the number of visits has decreased.
　The quality of the food, which had been served twice a day, decreased, the frequency of their visits decreased, the dark circles under her eyes became darker, and eventually she began to smell blood.

　The doctor said nothing. Mireille also said nothing.
　The hospital room was completely cut off from the outside world. No information comes in, and Millere doesn't ask for it.

　Their visit to Millere's room is just a job.
　Perhaps it was not so good for the doctors and for Millere himself that the country where he grew up was a developed country and could afford not to leave helpless sick people to die.
　No, maybe there was a reason why he didn't abandon the helpless Mirele, but that is not known to Mirele.

　At first, she had tried to talk to him.
　But when she saw the doctor's face tense up at the mere sight of Millere's gaze, she could no longer say anything.



　The change was happening slowly but steadily.
　I was curious about what had happened, but I couldn't confirm it. Of course, there was no point in checking.

　Mireille would die. One year, two years, three years, I don't know, but for sure.

　Something bad has happened in the outside world, that's for sure.
　The rare family visits are gone. The mages and priests who used to come once every six months to check on me stopped coming. The disappearance of a mage or priest is always a bad omen.

　The doctor would not feel good if he was confirmed by a half-dead person out of curiosity.

　The sun is setting through the small window.

　There is no clock in Mireille's hospital room. The movement of the sun is the only way to tell time.

　It was almost time for dinner. She did not feel hungry. Such a function has already been lost to Mireille.
　But if she didn't eat, her body would die. Death is already inevitable, but I don't have the courage to kill myself.




　I have been in bed for two years. Before I knew it, my body, which at first moved as I thought, had deteriorated to the point where I could not live without assistance.
　She can still barely get up, but in the near future, she won't be able to do even that, she will become a living doll.

　There was no one to cheer up Millere.

　No--Mirele's illness would never be cured. That's what we were told from the beginning.
　So, from the time she could still walk, she was confined to an isolated room. From the very beginning, doctors, nurses, and practitioners of the almost nonexistent healing magic, all who came to see her had given up on the possibility of a cure, as if they wanted her to die.

　A disease that would never heal. A fate of inescapable despair that forces even a girl just over ten to confront reality.

　People call it a curse that the servants of God have no words of comfort.

　At first, I couldn't believe my circumstances. Then I cursed what I'd become. But now I accept it.

　Night is coming. No light is given, and even if it were, there's nothing you can do.
　The sun is setting completely. But it's a full moon today, and the strong moonlight makes it easy to see.

　Dinner never came. I was not sleepy. I sit up and look at the window.
　Could it be that I couldn't even afford to deliver food to Mireille anymore?　Then so be it.

　A dull ache inside her body, Mireille sighed.
　The pain, the source of which is unknown, is getting stronger little by little. It must be the footsteps of death.


　Something is happening. I wish there was a war and everything would die.



　Just as I was vaguely thinking about this, I heard footsteps outside my room.
　It was much later than usual, was it dinner?　For that matter, there was no sound of casters carrying the food.

　The door was unlocked from the outside, and the door was released with a bang. I was too lazy to move my heavy body, but I struggled to look at it.
　In walked a doctor in a worn white coat and a man wearing a white shirt.




"Mireille, you have a visitor.

"......!


　It was the best-dressed young man Mireille had ever met.

　He wore a jet-black velvety cloak and shiny polished leather shoes. Pure white hair that reflected the moonlight well. He wore a sword at his waist, and although Millere had never seen him before, he wondered if this was how a nobleman was supposed to look.

　While Millere was stunned, the doctor turned his shining eyes to her and said.
　Pupils dilated. Eyes shining brightly like those of a beast. I've never seen eyes like these before, not even when I was still healthy and the doctor didn't know what I was sick with.

"Mireille, this is the best news I've had in a long time. You're being released from the hospital today.



"Yeah, ......?　What are you talking about-- who is he?

　There's no way he's being discharged. Mirele has an incurable disease.
　The mortality rate is 100 percent. Doctors, mages, and priests gave up before they could try to cure him.

　In the first place, if by some miracle she were to be released from the hospital, why would it be done at this time of night?

　The doctor nodded plausibly, and continued.

Oh, I'm late in introducing you. This man is a doctor. He came all the way from far away for you.

　It was so bizarre. In the dark, without a light, he introduced the visitor.
　There was certainly an unusual glint in his eyes. Without thinking, I asked him back.

"What are you, a doctor?

　The man, a doctor who has been taking care of me since I was admitted to the hospital room, though we are not close, blinks at me.
　His eyebrows furrowed quizzically for a moment, then quickly returned to normal.

It's a ............ trivial matter.

"What is your name ............?

It's .................. trivial. The important thing is that this man is going to save you.

　It was obviously unnatural, but there was a note of conviction in his voice.

　That's insane. ............

　The doctor looked unhappy, as if his favor had been disrespected. The young man standing next to him did not change his expression even though he heard the conversation between Millere and the doctor.

　He was probably a few years older than Millere, too young to be a skilled doctor, but it was neither his elegant clothes nor his age that made Millere gasp in shock.


　It was not her elegant clothes or her age that took her breath away.
　Why hadn't the doctor noticed? Why had he come to Millere's room at this time of night, without any light?



　The young man in front of him was clearly dead.
　The presence of death on his body was the same kind of death that Mireille was familiar with, but much more intense.



　Not human.





"Are you ............ death?

　It was what Millere feared, but longed for.
　It is the very end that Millere had imagined.

　It was not a question he intended to ask.
　The doctor's eyes rolled back in his head at the sound of the voice that came out naturally.

What?　What are you doing, you idiot?

Yes, you are. Yeah, you can leave now. Thank you for your help.

　The young man readily acknowledged and motioned to the doctor next to him to leave.
　The man's eyes twisted into a puzzled expression, but he quickly nodded as if to convince himself and walked out of the room.


　Silence returns to the hospital room. I couldn't say anything.
　The young man approached, but Millere's body had long since stopped working properly.

　It has existed since time immemorial and the cause is unknown. A disease that kills the soul.


　--By the Dead Souls Disease.



　The young man's movements were slow in spite of the ridiculous feeling of death.
　My head is not working properly. I didn't think this would happen until yesterday.


　The young man looked at Millere as if he were inspecting him.
　My heart is beating hard as if in defiance. In the midst of his jumbled thoughts, he managed to speak up.



"Why ............ are you moving?



　I'm not sure what to make of it, but I think it's a good idea.



"Because you want to ...... move?