A+A-Chapter 7
EPISODE 7『BEHIND THE HAPPINESS』Translator: Norva
Editor: Norva
The night of the day Yuma went off.
After supper, children who took a bath parted in the bedroom which was divided by their s.e.x and asleep in the futon.
There was also Mich.e.l.le in the bedroom for girls.
「Nn……」(Mich.e.l.le )
Suddenly Mich.e.l.le woke up with a thirst.
The outside is still dark, and the breathing of children who went to sleep is heard from surroundings.
Mich.e.l.le quietly left the room while thinking that she got up at a strange time.
There was no light, and the corridor was silent.
There is no one who is awake because it has been in the curfew period.
She was a bit scared of the quietness far from the usual lively orphanage.
(But……Sheena will laugh at me if I’m scared)
If Sheena can see her now, she will definitely be teased by her. Because I decided that I grow up back at noon, so, I cannot be frightened forever at night.
Exhaling “Fun” with her nose, Mich.e.l.le descended down with a dignified gait before she drank water to moistened her throat.
It was time after she done with her business and was going about to return back to the way where she came from
「――!」(Mich.e.l.le)
She heard Lily and George ‘s voice came from afar.
It is not audible well, but they seem to be in a fl.u.s.tered state.
「……What’s going on?」(Mich.e.l.le)
Something might have happened to them. Now that Sheena has gone, I must support Lily on my own.
「……Yosh」(Mich.e.l.le)
After a moment of hesitation, Mich.e.l.le, who worried about them decided to go to the source of the voice.
Moving in the direction of the voice, a big door came into view.
It is a room that is strictly said not to enter by Lily.
「……?」(Mich.e.l.le)
The door which does not always open was opened a bit for some reason.
Now it is possible for her to go through the door.
Whether to obey the order and return or go ahead entering the room.
After troubled by such decision, Mich.e.l.le decided to go ahead stepping inside the room.
She worried if something happens to Lily.
……in addition, she was curious about what happened inside.
Mich.e.l.le sneakily stepped inside after she opens the door silently. There is no light on the inside, and it is dim. With the light of magic that she learn from her Onee-chan, Mich.e.l.le is slowly moving forward.
There was a staircase after advancing a bit further from the entrance.
The bottom of the stair was covered by the darkness that makes it impossible to know what’s there.
Mich.e.l.le body trembled suddenly at the sight of the end of the stairs that looks like an opened mouth of a monster.
Timidly, Mich.e.l.le descends the stairs.
「Lily ……George ……?」(Mich.e.l.le)
Even though she tried to call out, her voice is still inaudible to be heard.
However, the sound that something “Guw.a.n.guwan” moves could be heard from a distance.
「……!」(Mich.e.l.le)
Mich.e.l.le breathed a lot after finished going down the long stairs.
What was ahead is a rather broad corridor.
There are several branches, and she can see various rooms.
The light installed on the ceiling was illuminating the bas.e.m.e.nt.
(There seems to be another house in the bas.e.m.e.nt)
She reaches for one of several doors and tries to open it, but it locked and cannot open at all.
There’s no sound could be heard from inside albeit she put her ears on it.
「……Mu」(Mich.e.l.le)
Mich.e.l.le goes forward looking for an open room. At this time, her curiosity as under
ground exploration had already won over her initial purpose.
She walks around the bas.e.m.e.nt that like a secret base while *GyoroGyoro* looking around.
She wondering is the corridors frequently cleaned because there is almost no dust and it is clean. Even though it is a night there is a light and her eyes are *ChikaChika* flickering.
「…………?」(Mich.e.l.le)
She heard a voice small from far away after she walked for a while.
After she advancing ahead, the surrounding ambience was a little different from the earlier and there was a door made of iron, and there’s light are leaking from the gap of that door.
There seemed to be someone inside as she heard a mumble and a small voice.
「George……?」(Mich.e.l.le)
At the time when Mich.e.l.le thought she was looking for George’s. She was having the guilt feeling for entering the room which is said to be off limits will rise up.
Mich.e.l.le fearfully approached the iron door and looked into the inside while trying to not to make a noise.
「……!?」(Mich.e.l.le)
The moment she opened the door, the stench that she could not describe by words was drifting from inside.
Awfully smelly as if the room isn’t being cleaned at all.
Mich.e.l.le thought that it was a smell like a fish caught by her father a long ago.
There were apparatus she never seen visible from the door.
Some something like particularly big chair line up.
(Is it……laboratory)
She has heard the stories that they used to be alchemists of a long time ago. Perhaps the room is the room where they carrying out their experiment.
Interested in what experiments they were doing, Mich.e.l.le opened the door further.
(……Eh?)
There is some unknown person sat down on the chair which lines up in the room.
That person was blindfolded with a cloth and gagged in the mouth.
Both arms and legs were tied up in a chair and could not move.
Is it George?
「……! ……!」
A m.u.f.fled voice could be heard whether he was shouting something under the gag.
The chair is shaking and rattling as that person was desperately scratching to untie hands and feet which is tied up.
「――Nnfufuu」
「……!?」
At that time, Mich.e.l.le could hear the laughter of the man who seemed to be happy from her blind spot.
The wet sound that mixed with the feeling of physiological disgust.
It’s not George’s voice, either.
Mich.e.l.le was about to scream when she opened the door and saw the owner of the voice.
「Haa……Haa……」
There was a naked man, fattening like a pig monster.
He is breathing roughly while his whole body *TerraTerra* shines in sweat and the surplus fat from his entire body is shaking with every his breath.
Only his hairstyle was beautifully arranged and it was unnecessarily unpleasant to see.
(What……that……)
This smell that drifts from a little while ago seems to be coming from the man.
Mich.e.l.le body had frozen by such disgusting hideous being.
「Ohー, it’s so cute, nfuー,nfuー」
By looking at it properly, the man was mounting something. She unable to comprehend what he was doing, but his sweaty body was *NichoNicho* rubbing on that something.
(What is he doing………?)
Then, she opens the door a little bit and peeks into what the man is doing.
Her breath was stopped after having seen it.
「Ah……eh……?」(Mich.e.l.le)
The thing which was under the man is.
It was impossible, but Mich.e.l.le knew what was underneath it.
The creamy hair which length was around the shoulders with the cat ear with the same as its hair.
It was her best friend who was leaving the orphanage with joy after finally could meet up her family.
「Sheena……chan……?」(Mich.e.l.le)
It’s impossible.
Though she tried to deny it, the cat with the trait of warcat under the man was Sheena regardless of how it looked.
She has not worn any clothes and was lying down in a naked state.
Some pitiful bruises could be seen on her skin that indicate that she was being hit.
She was thin as if it had not been eating for days and she had lost her consciousness.
(Why……? Why did……?)
Sheena was taken by Lily two days ago and she should have gone out of the orphanage.
Why are you in this place?
Who is that disgusting man straddling Sheena?
「Nfu, you got so thin, such pitiful. Are you cold? Then, I’ll warm you up」
In a sticky tone, a man calls out to Sheena.
He pressed his greasy body against Sheena while having some sickening broad grin.
「……! ……!」
The chair in the back made a conspicuously loud rattlings noise.
As the man on the chair is rampaging.
「…………」
Then a pig-like man is stopping his unpleasant movement and looked toward the chair.
「SHUT UP!! I’M BUZY GETTING ALONG WITH THIS GIRL NOW!!」
「…………!」
「NnaaaAAAaAA!! Though I have said its noisy!」
While the man who lost his temper shouting while trembling.
The man getting up vigorously and walks to the chair with his trembling fat.
「As for the one who does not listen to me, TAKE THIS!!」
Beyond the cord that stretches out of the chair, there is something like a colourless big stone.
The man touched it and chanted some spell.
――Right after that.
「NnnnnNNNnn――――!」
The man on the chair jumped up.
Like a fish washed ash.o.r.e on the land, he runs rampage in a tied state.
Meanwhile, the scream m.u.f.fled from under the gag echoes.
「……!」
The change appeared dramatically.
The body of men gradually becomes thinner and thinner.
As if the moisture of the whole body slipped out, his skin changed colour to a deathly pale.
Blindfolds and gags fell to the ground as the body became thin.
「GaGaGaGaBaBaBa」
The man was screaming with his eyes wide open while vomiting foam from his mouth.
For an excessive scene, Mich.e.l.le cannot even make a voice.
Several minutes later, the vigour of the man who rushes wildly while discharging faeces and urine becomes gradually weak.
And the man ceased to breathe in a state like a skinny mummy.
The hollowed eyes and the wide open mouth tell the magnitude of the pain the man received.
The colourless stone at the tip of the cord is red like blood before one is aware. It was a horrible red as if he had sucked the man’s blood.
「Sheena-chan! Now there’s n.o.body gonna disturb us!」
The man joyfully called out to Sheena who slept on a floor whether he felt nothing having seen such scene.
「Nfuー, the sleeping face is so cute」
The man brought her face closer to Sheena and licked her cheek with his tongue.
「Nn, Fuhyuu! Delicious! Nn, tasty!」
Understanding of Mich.e.l.le is unable to catch up with such excessive scene.
She has no idea what’s going on.
「NnNnu」
Whether his excitement reached the climax, the man leaned back while *BikuBiku* trembling.
Hence, the smell of the room increases even more.
「Fuu. Nn, then Sheena-chan. You need to sit in that chair again, cuz I will suck up your magical powers little by little, kay」
After breathing out, the man lifts Sheena and drags her toward the chair.
The weekend Sheena is being dragged away with no resistance.
「Sheena cries are not cute unlike the one before.
Ahaa, for such cute girl, turn skinny and dying is really irresistible……」
I must help her.
Such a thought appears on the head of Mich.e.l.le.
However, her body did not move at all.
On the contrary, she clattering trembling and seemed to collapse at any moment.
At that time.
*Kii* as the iron door made a sound.
「Who’s there!」
「Hii」(Mich.e.l.le)
A man looks back toward at the spot.
As their eyes meet with each other.
「Who are you……? You’re not mama!」
「Hi, AAaaaaaaaaAH!!」(Mich.e.l.le)
In the next moment, Mich.e.l.le ran away.
She turns her back to the room and runs mindlessly.
All the thoughts that there was in a head are painted over into fear and it was messed up.
(I have to run away, I have to run away, I have to run away, I have to get away!)
Run,
Run,
Run,
Run.
She just keeps running even when she almost tripping.
Then a man’s voice rang from behind her. He might go out if because the door was left open.
(I need to hide……)
I tried to enter a room nearby but it’s locked.
Neither the next nor the next can be opened.
In search of the door which opens while crying, the sixth door finally opened.
While she was about to rush inside with her full speed,
「Ugh……」(Mich.e.l.le)
Mich.e.l.le’s movement ceased due to an unimaginable foul odour.
Odour which is not comparable to the room before.
Mich.e.l.le noticed that it was the stench of death.
Dead bodies were piled up.
Like a man seated in a chair, every single one of them was left skin and bones.
That smell belongs to those corpses.
「A……aah」(Mich.e.l.le)
Neither an adult nor a child nor a man nor the woman matters.
Dozens of corpses are stacking one after another.
「…………Eh?」(Mich.e.l.le)
One of the corpses in it caught her eye.
Either it was relatively new, there’s a dead body of a little boy at the top of the mountain of a corpse. She familiar with those yellow hair and long dried ears.
He was the elven boy who left the orphanage this morning.
「Yuma……kun?」(Mich.e.l.le)
Mich.e.l.le finally noticed at the moment when she said it.
She realized it.
――At those several mountains of corpses, there was the remembrance of what she knew.
Children who left the orphanage when their family was found.
「Ubuf……」(Mich.e.l.le)
Mich.e.l.le edges back unsteadily as she vomited on the floor.
The door of the room is closed with a dry sound.
「You seem to have seen it」
Mich.e.l.le looks back to her back nimbly after hearing an abrupt voice. There, George and Lily who looked sorrowful stood there.
「Why did you break our instruction? Didn’t I told you that you must enter?」
「A-ah. Yu, Yuma-kun, Yuma-kun are! Not only that, other kids too! E-everyone is dead, in that room……!」(Mich.e.l.le)
Two people look awfully calm though they appeal by incoherent words.
「Ah, I know about it」
「So, what’s wrong with that?」
To such calmness, Mich.e.l.le felt her body getting cold rapidly.
「Good grief……dear, you’re quite clumsy. Of all thing, to enters at such time」(Lily)
「Did you forget to seal it?」(Lily)
「Dear, please be careful in the future. Because of that, the child from back then have entered too」(Lily)
(What on earth are they saying……?)
「It is regrettable, Mich.e.l.le」(George)
「Yes, that right」(Lily)
As both of them look at her.
As usual, they have their gentle smile as always.
However, the eyes aren’t the one suitable for a human, it was inhuman.
「What are you talking about……!? B-besides that, Sheena-chan is! A-attacked by a monster!」(Mich.e.l.le)
With a *Bikuri* twitch, both of them stopped their movement.
「……monster?」(George)
「Y-yeah! It’s a pig! The pig monster――」(Mich.e.l.le)
In that instant, Mich.e.l.le sight turned red.
She falls on the floor vigorously and with her back banged on the ground. It was about several seconds later that she noticed that she was. .h.i.t.
「YOU b.a.s.t.a.r.d!! Do not call our son a MONSTER!!」(George)
「Do does not make fun of Da-chan, you FUGLY!!」(Lily)
George screamed with his face turned red while Lily raises a high-pitched shriek.
「With the position of mere livestock! I will squeeze out every bit of your magical powers right now and kill you!」(George)
Mich.e.l.le was able to understand anything anymore.
To the extent where the information unable to enter her brain anymore.
She starts to run away from that place due to her survival instinct has kicked in.
From behind, she could hear their screams. Mich.e.l.le keeps running without looking back.
“Bogo* as a strange sound echoed.
The floor of the pa.s.sage in front greatly swells just after that.
「What the……」(Mich.e.l.le)
It gradually became bigger and eventually became a human figure of about three meters tall.
It is an “Earth Golem” that its whole body was comprised of the materials of the floor.
Towards a frozen Mich.e.l.le, the earth golem shook its arm greatly.
「Ah――」(Mich.e.l.le)
The arm of the earth golem which was about a torso of an adult was swung down. The arms are approaching rapidly as it trying to crush Mich.e.l.le.
Mich.e.l.le crouching her body instantly from the fear of death as she unable to do anything.
「Help me……」(Mich.e.l.le)
What she utters in her despair.
Just before her death.
Michel was able to mutter those word after squeeze it out on her last moments from about being crushed by an arm of earth golem――――
「――――Ah, just leave it to me」
――There was someone who has responded to such muttering.
To that sound that shakes the bas.e.m.e.nt, Mich.e.l.le opens her closed eyes.
The arm of the earth golem which was supposed to crush Mich.e.l.le was falling on the ground.
What first came into her eyes was a grey hair.
A tall man who wore a simple looking cloth on his body.
An unknown man that standing before Mich.e.l.le to protect her from an earth golem.
「……W-who……?」(Mich.e.l.le)
That man slowly turns around.
While looking at Mich.e.l.le, the man said with a slightly troubled look.
「――Amatsu, it seems」