Sense of Life
Carnelia Rhys.
The eldest daughter of the Rhys family.
NOA's foremost funeral director, and the guardian of every cemetery under her watch.
My... sister.
To me as a child, she was perfection itself.
Until the day I found her hanging.
C-Carnelia?
What are you doing right now?
Ah. My little sister.
What brings you here at this hour?
I thought today was the day you carved your very first gravestone.
Y-yeah... it was.
But Apocalypse said the stone shipment got delayed, so...
W-wait! That's not important!
What are you doing?!
Could you lower your voice a little, Bell?
I can hear you perfectly well without the shouting.
And as for your question... Mm, how should I put this?
Yes.
I was checking whether I'm truly alive.
What...? I don't...
Instead of answering, she gave me a soft, innocent smile.
The pure, unadorned smile I always loved.
And then she kicked the chair away.
NO!
I shouted and lunged toward her.
I lifted the chair, climbed onto it, and held her body with everything I had.
But with my small, child's strength, I couldn't support her weight.
Her breath cut off—she convulsed... then slowly went still.
Even then, I couldn't give up.
Clinging to her body, I kept crying for help.
In that empty estate where no one could hear me.
For more than three hours.
Fighting the fight for my sister's life, I managed to loosen the rope around her neck and laid her on the floor.
But I already knew.
The Rhys family trains in hexomancy from childhood, so we grew up handling countless dead bodies.
And my sister's flesh felt no different.
She was dead.
Completely, irrevocably.
That was the first time I witnessed her die.
...*Cough!*
C-Carnelia?
B-but how...? You weren't breathing at all...
No, never mind that!
Carnelia! It's me! Bell!
Please—open your eyes!
And suddenly, she opened them.
Everything I had ever learned screamed that this was impossible...
But in my panic, I couldn't think.
Fear, anger, relief—all tangled together—left me speechless as she smiled at me.
The same pure, unadorned smile she wore before kicking the chair.
My... It seems I've failed again.
How troublesome.
W-what...?
What are you talking about?
Failed...?
Why would you do something like this?!
Just why...?
...You're mistaken, Bell.
I wasn't trying to die.
It was quite the opposite.
I only wanted to [see that I was alive].
Subject: [Confidential] Aganon Incident Field Analysis Report
Sender: Orbital Search Team 3
A large-scale, unidentified curse phenomenon has been confirmed at the Aganon ruins.
I always keep my promises.
[Hubble]