Mururunsoft
Online/Offline Compatible Roguelike MO Action + Online Versus Action.
Kai's Memory
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The Phantom of the War Princess - Chapter 1
I desperately chased after my big sister as she strode deeper and deeper down the damp animal trail, where layers of rotting leaves had piled thick over the ground.
Her long pink hair curled slightly at the ends, swaying softly each time she walked. Among all the children at the facility, that hair stood out strangely.
"Let's go back already."
I said that, but my sister did not turn around.
"Something about this way is bugging me."
With those words, she continued farther into the dim forest.
Until a little while ago, I could still hear the other children making noise somewhere in the distance. Now, even the sound of the wind had almost vanished.
Suddenly, my sister stopped.
"...Hey, look at this."
I stopped too.
Beyond the gaps between the trees, something was glowing faintly purple.
* * *
I came to that facility when there was still a little snow left on the ground.
I do not remember the details of why I ended up there. The adults had talked about many things, but it was all too difficult for me, and at some point I stopped listening. All I understood was that I could not go back to the place I had been before, and before I knew it, I was here.
The facility was an old building near the mountains. The walls were stained in places, and the floors creaked when you walked down the hallways. The old heaters made strange noises, and on rainy days, a damp smell drifted from somewhere inside.
There were more children than I had expected. Some were younger than me, while others were older boys and girls. Everyone talked, played, fought, and then went back to normal as though that was how things were supposed to be.
I was not very good at joining them.
It was not that I liked being alone. I just did not know how to enter their circles. When someone laughed, I tried laughing too. When everyone was quiet, I stayed quiet as well. If I did that, I was rarely scolded.
After lunch one day, while everyone was making noise in the dining hall, I stepped out into the hallway alone.
Outside the window, tree branches rustled as they swayed in the wind. Maybe because the facility was so close to the mountains, opening the window always let in the strong smell of soil and grass.
At the end of the hallway was the director's office.
Past that were an old bathroom and washroom. The younger children were told not to make noise in front of the director's office. Nobody yelled at us for it, but everyone became a little quieter whenever they passed that place.
I also walked quietly without really thinking about it.
After finishing in the bathroom and heading back, the director's office door opened just as I passed by, and my big sister came out.
Her long pink hair seemed to glow faintly beneath the white fluorescent lights.
"Oh, there you are."
When she saw me, she smiled a little.
"You said you lost your scissors before, right? Well, since I had the chance, here. You can have this."
She slipped a hand into the pocket of her skirt.
What she pulled out was a small pair of scissors, about the same size as the ones I had lost before. The handles were pink, and there was even a little decoration shaped like black bat wings attached to them.
"What do you think? Cute, right? I dressed them up a little."
I thanked her and accepted the scissors.
The design was kind of strange, but my sister had given them to me, so I decided not to lose them this time. I put the scissors into my own pocket.
All the children in the facility seemed to have someone they were close to.
The kids who liked running around were always making noise with the same kind of kids, and people often gathered around the older boy who was good at card games.
I was bad at stepping into those groups on my own.
If someone talked to me, I could talk normally. But entering a group by myself was hard. I never knew what I was supposed to say.
My sister, though, was a little different.
Whenever she found me alone, she would suddenly say, "Come on," and take me somewhere.
Sometimes it was the hill behind the facility. Sometimes an abandoned storage shed. Sometimes the old vending machine behind the building. I never really understood whether those places had any meaning.
Even so, walking around with her felt strangely easy.
* * *
That day was the facility's field trip.
The sky had been pale and cloudy since morning, and white mist clung to the mountains.
In front of the facility, the voices of small children spread noisily through the air. Some were showing each other the snacks inside their backpacks, while others swung bug nets around and got scolded by the teachers.
I stood a little distance away, fiddling with my small water bottle.
"Make proper lines and don't wander off!"
A teacher shouted from the front.
"Do not go deep into the mountains! Do not go anywhere on your own! Understand?"
The children's answers only lined up about halfway.
Apparently, our destination was a clearing in the mountains a short distance from the facility. A teacher said it used to be something like a campsite, though now it was barely used.
I searched for pink hair among the line of children and found my sister a little way ahead. She had the look of someone barely listening to the teacher at all, gazing vaguely toward the forest.
Eventually we set off, and the children began walking in a long line down the narrow mountain path.
The mountain air was damp, and every step brought up the smell of soil. Pale light filtering through the trees scattered across the fallen leaves in mottled patches.
For a while, everything was noisy.
Someone tripped. Someone laughed. Up ahead, the teacher kept shouting, "Don't push!"
But at some point, my sister gradually drifted toward the edge of the line.
I followed her with my eyes.
She stopped and stared into the depths of the forest.
"...Hey."
She beckoned to me quietly.
I looked around. Everyone was facing forward as they walked, and nobody seemed to be paying attention to us.
When I went over to my sister, her thin finger pointed deeper into the forest.
"Doesn't something over there seem weird?"
I looked where she was pointing.
Only the space beyond the gaps in the trees seemed strangely dark.
At first I thought it might just be because of the cloudy sky, but it felt different from that.
My sister smiled, looking almost amused.
"Let's go check it out for a little bit."
* * *
I desperately chased after my big sister as she strode deeper and deeper down the damp animal trail, where layers of rotting leaves had piled thick over the ground.
"Let's go back already."
I said that, but my sister did not turn around.
"Something about this way is bugging me."
With those words, she continued farther into the dim forest.
Until a little while ago, I could still hear the other children making noise somewhere in the distance. Now, even the sound of the wind had almost vanished.
Suddenly, my sister stopped.
"...Hey, look over there."
I stopped too.
Beyond the gaps between the trees, something was glowing faintly purple.
It looked like misty light, as if a vague hole had opened deep in the forest.
The closer we approached, the thinner the sounds around us became. There were no insects, no leaves rustling in the wind. Only our own footsteps echoed softly against the damp ground.
My sister walked toward the light as though something were pulling her in.
"...What is this?"
Her voice did not sound frightened. It sounded more like she had found something rare and fascinating.
Seen up close, the center of the purple light looked as though the air itself were wavering. It rippled like the surface of water, and beyond it I could vaguely see colors different from the forest on our side.
I suddenly became afraid.
"Let's go back after all."
As I said that, I grabbed my sister's sleeve.
She turned back slightly and smiled as if troubled.
"But this is definitely strange, right?"
Saying that, she looked at the purple light again. She remained silent for a while, as though hesitating, but in the end, she gently reached out her hand.
"You go back."
The instant her fingertip touched the light, the purple distortion expanded violently.
"Eh-"
My sister's body was suddenly pulled forward.
Her pink hair floated softly upward, and in the next instant, she vanished completely as the light swallowed her whole.
I froze in place.
My mind went completely blank. I could not understand what had happened. All I knew was that my sister, who had been standing right there moments earlier, had disappeared.
"...Sister?"
There was no answer.
Only the purple light continued swaying silently.
I was scared.
I thought maybe I should go call a teacher. But while I did that, it felt like my sister might go somewhere even farther away.
After hesitating for a while, I slowly approached the purple light.
Standing in front of it, I felt something like a soft breeze brush against my cheek.
I swallowed quietly, then stepped forward.
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The Phantom of the War Princess - Chapter 2
The moment I passed through the purple light, I instinctively put my hands against the ground.
The air was different.
It was damp, yet the scent of the forest was faint. Instead, a sweet, flower-like fragrance drifted through it. The back of my head felt slightly fuzzy, and my body felt strangely light.
"Whoa..."
My sister let out a small voice. I raised my head too.
The forest spread out before us looked similar to the one we had just been in, and yet everything was different. The trees carried a bluish-purple hue, and tiny lights floated softly between the gaps in their branches. The grass and flowers were strangely large, and blossoms in shapes I had never seen before glowed faintly in the dark forest.
Somewhere far away, I could hear a sound like flowing water. The wind brushed gently across my skin. It did not feel cold, yet somehow I could not sense its temperature.
"...Where are we?"
I whispered.
My sister did not answer. Instead, her eyes were shining as she looked around.
Was she not scared?
I searched for the purple light that would take us back to the mountain we had just left. But when I turned around, there was nothing there anymore.
A sudden chill sank into my chest.
"Hey, what if we can't go back..."
"We'll be fine."
My sister said it casually.
"Probably."
That did not sound fine at all.
Anxious, I followed after her.
After we had walked through the bluish-purple forest for a while, I suddenly heard grass rustling nearby.
The next instant, a small shadow burst out from the bushes.
"Mnyaaaah!"
It was a brown cat.
But not an ordinary cat. Four transparent wings grew from its back.
The cat tumbled toward us as if falling through the air, then hid behind us.
"H-help me!"
Immediately afterward, a long, black shadow emerged from deeper in the forest.
It was a tall man. Horribly thin. Blackened skin clung tightly to his bones, and his face was covered by an eerie white mask that reminded me of a skull. In his long, narrow arms, he held a large spear.
From deep in his throat came a strange, clicking cry.
My body froze.
That thing was not human. I knew it the instant I saw him.
My sister's expression changed.
"...A demon."
Her quiet voice was lower than before.
Dragging the spear slightly behind him, the man stepped closer. The winged cat hiding behind us trembled with a tiny squeak.
"Cover your ears."
My sister stepped forward.
Bang!
A dry gunshot rang through the forest, and the man's shoulder burst apart. His long, thin body staggered violently.
I caught my breath.
Before I realized it, my sister was holding a black handgun in her right hand.
She pulled the trigger again.
Short, sharp cracks echoed one after another, punching holes through the man's body. Even so, the demon did not fall.
With an ear-piercing screech, he raised his spear overhead.
"Ah-"
I instinctively stepped backward, but my sister moved closer instead, pressing the muzzle directly against the demon's white mask and firing.
The long, thin body slowly collapsed backward, and for a moment, the forest fell silent.
Only my own heartbeat sounded unbearably loud.
"A-are you okay...?"
The winged cat timidly peeked out.
My sister was still scanning the area, refusing to let her guard down.
"...Probably. But-"
She stopped speaking.
From somewhere deeper in the forest, another cry echoed.
Kikik.
Kikikik.
There was more than one.
The darkness between the trees swayed unnaturally. Through the gaps, I could see several more long, thin shadows.
My sister clicked her tongue softly. Still holding the handgun in her right hand, she used her left to push me behind her.
"Stay back."
Immediately after she said that, two demons burst out of the forest.
Long arms. White masks. Spears dragging across the ground.
Kikii!
My sister fired without hesitation.
Dry gunshots cracked in rapid succession, blowing apart one demon's head. But the other did not stop. It charged forward with its spear raised.
"F-Flamma!"
The winged cat behind us thrust out both hands with tears in its eyes.
A small fireball flew forward.
It struck the demon's shoulder and burst with a soft pop.
It was not very powerful, but for that one instant, the demon stopped moving.
My sister did not miss the opening.
She stepped in close and shot through the demon's chest.
Kikik.
Another cry sounded.
Watching white masks appear one after another, I realized that I was the only one doing nothing.
My sister was fighting. Even the winged cat was producing fire while trembling in fear. I alone was standing behind them, just watching.
Something twisted unpleasantly in my chest.
That was when it happened.
Behind my sister, from the shadow of a tree, another demon appeared without a sound. The dull gleam of its spear tip thrust toward her back.
"Look out-!"
As I shouted, I had already thrust out my right hand.
The shape that rose in my mind was the black handgun I had been watching over and over.
Something flowed into my hand.
By the time I realized what had happened, I was holding something like a small gray handgun.
Its shape was warped and incomplete, missing pieces here and there. It looked almost like a plastic toy.
Even so, I pulled the trigger desperately.
A small pop sounded.
The bullet struck the demon's arm. The spear's path shifted slightly.
At the same moment my sister turned around, a real gunshot rang out, and the demon's white mask shattered.
After watching the demon collapse, I breathed heavily and stared at my right hand.
The gray handgun had disappeared before I noticed.
"...What was that?"
My sister asked.
But I did not know either.
Then, from farther away, different footsteps approached. This time, they were not like the demons from before.
"Gunshots! This way!"
"Hey! Is someone fighting over there?"
The first to push through the bushes was a small creature that looked like a mole. It was even shorter than me, yet it held a large golden gun in both hands.
Behind it, a lightly dressed woman leapt out. She was about the height of a middle schooler, but her figure looked far more mature.
The two of them stopped when they saw the fallen demons.
"...What the hell happened here?"
The mole-like creature muttered in a low voice like an old man.
At that moment, the winged cat flew out crying.
"Waaaaah! That was so scary!"
"Whoa there!?"
The cat clung tightly to the mole man.
"These people saved me! They defeated the demons!"
Supporting the clinging cat with one hand, the mole man looked around at the collapsed demons and shrugged.
"...I mean, they defeated too many."
The lightly dressed woman looked at us and frowned slightly.
"Wait. These kids... are humans?"
She sounded a little surprised.
My sister did not answer. Keeping the black handgun raised, she stepped slightly in front of me.
"...What are you?"
The woman shrugged as if troubled.
"I should be the one asking questions here. Or what? Do you want to fight?"
Without warning, the woman raised her fists into a fighting stance and began stepping lightly.
"Hey, hold on. Don't try to fight people for no reason. Anyway, they saved our cat, right? First, we should thank them."
The mole man admonished the woman, then continued speaking in a calm voice.
"From the looks of it, you're children who wandered in from another world. Rare, but it does happen from time to time."
"...Welcome to the Fairy Realm, humans."
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To be continued...
Most Memorable Story
Total Votes 14
Ai
4
Taka
3
Kai
2
Maya
2
Shin
1
Ritsu
1
Saki
1
Ryu
0
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This page is updated irregularly.
Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution of this work’s text or images is prohibited.
Author: Akiyoshi Hanaoka
© Musurunsoft – PSI Masquerade DW Project
Author: Akiyoshi Hanaoka
© Musurunsoft – PSI Masquerade DW Project
The English version uses AI-generated translation.