The snowball sailed across the frozen river, like a brilliant white dandelion shimmering in the sunset.
It drifted lightly across the frozen river.
And landed in Turing’s hand.
This time, unlike before, the snowball Merka threw didn’t shatter on the ice. It landed right in front of Turing.
Turing watched the white puff of snow fall from the sky—from the afterglow of the setting sun, breaking through the deepening border of twilight and dropping into her field of vision.
It landed in Turing’s hand.
Turing caught the snowball, lost in thought.
She raised it against the fading light of dusk and studied it closely.
Suddenly, the thing seemed strangely familiar.
Its round shape looked a lot like a backdrop.
A lot like the backdrop Merka had once pushed into her hands in the city of Lachésis, when they were hiding in a trash can to evade her mother’s search.
Turing froze for a moment.
Suddenly, she couldn’t remember when she and her mother had become so bitterly at odds.
Wasn’t the reason actually very simple?
【Just because I’m a boy?】
【So some people are born carrying original sin…】
【And have to spend their whole lives atoning for it?】
The sunset shone through the velvet-soft snowball and fell across Turing’s cheek.
Turing’s mind grew unusually calm.
The tangled, unbreakable past… It was like a knight who’d arrived without warning. The memories clamored, spurring their horses onward as they stormed through Turing’s inner world.
Turing sank into memories that rose and fell like the tide.
Across the frozen river, the boy seized the chance while Turing was lost in thought and pulled a cold piece of metal from inside his coat.
It was a handgun.
A modern invention steeped in the stench of killing… the purest expression of primal malice.
The boy raised the handgun, tapped the safety with his thumb, slowly aimed it at Turing, and pulled the trigger.
“Turing!”
The boy shouted her name, calling out to her with deep affection.
“The world has kissed you with pain.”
“…But I selfishly still hope you’ll answer with a song.”
The boy finished speaking.
The bullet left the barrel.
Sparks flew.
A brilliant crimson flower of blood bloomed across Turing’s chest.
Turing collapsed.
She fell onto the snowy slope bathed in sunset.
The slope, golden-orange and bright, was stained black by Turing’s blood, thick as oil.
The streaks of blood spreading across the slope looked just like the branches of a poplar, straining to grow beneath a boulder pressing down on it.
But that poplar had clearly died.
It had fought with everything it had, struggling to grow.
And still, it had died.
All that remained was its dead, sturdy trunk—a testament to the fact that it had once lived.
“You’ve done more than enough, Turing.”
“I’m proud of you… I really am.”
“You passed every trial…”
“You have courage, wisdom, and the resolve to face death without flinching.”
“But… don’t go any farther.”
“Stop trying to atone for anyone.”
“This cruel world will face the consequences of its own actions.”
“It doesn’t need anyone to atone for it, and it doesn’t deserve that from you.”
As he spoke, the boy slowly stepped onto the frozen river and paced toward Turing.
His steps were light as an auspicious cloud, as a crane.
“Turing, don’t go any farther.”
“Die here.”
“You can’t bear the pain of the road ahead.”
The boy crossed the frozen river, came to Turing, and crouched beside her. He spoke softly.
He gazed tenderly at Turing as her strength ebbed and her pupils slowly lost focus. He gently stroked the hair beside her face, as if petting a small animal.
“It’s time to rest… You really need to rest.”
“Don’t feel regret… my dear.”
“The only one to blame is this world.”
“It chose a boy who should never have had to bear any of this…”
“Don’t you think?”
Turing stared at the boy in shock, trying to say something.
But her terrible injuries had taken away her strength to open her mouth.
【A… a boy?】
【What boy? What are you talking about?】
【How could I be a boy…?】
Turing’s consciousness slowly faded into silence.
But in those final moments, she saw the boy’s lowered face clearly.
It was Merka.
The lover, closest friend, and husband she’d cherished above all.
【No… Not you. How could it be you?!】
【The one secret I least wanted anyone to know… The one person I least wanted to deceive…】
【The one person I…】
【Ugh.】
The pain in her chest knocked Turing unconscious.
She turned her head to the side in agony and never woke again.
