Epilogue - Morality of the Weak

War’s agents entered the scene with full Hazmat suits. I explained the situation to them, and they relayed it to War through a walkie-talkie.

“War-sama wants to lock her up. She’s too dangerous.”

“Right.” I couldn’t think of an argument against that.

I helped them put a straitjacket on Pestilence. She had entered a daze, sniffling from time to time. No struggle or resistance. Not even when I put a gas mask over her face.

We underwent a strict cleansing protocol after exiting the building to ensure all pathogens were eliminated. Any of those mutated diseases could wreak havoc on the city.

After the repeated washing and drying process, War’s lackeys transported the restrained Pestilence in an armored truck, while Raven’s still unconscious body was sent to the closest hospital. Of course, War didn’t forget to nip the magical artifacts away first.

Over the next few days, the dead were collected from the building, and a large-scale disinfection took place at the data center. The official explanation was that a gas leak had caused a small magical accident.

During her hospital stay, Raven typed up a follow-up article about the Robin Hood and uploaded it to her website. She talked about how E.T. killed the investors, and how much the Nohato Disaster mattered. Her words were more balanced, more critical of E.T. as a person, and she even admitted to her misjudgments.

“I can’t believe you actually published it,” I said.

“I need to write that to move on completely. And I think my follow-up piece will be about an exclusive medical center that uses magical items to heal the rich. Do you know where I can find one?”

“Oh, definitely.”

But before she could investigate further, she had to be allowed to leave the hospital first, since she was still under observation. Apparently, War ordered it. That asshole. Literally posting guards in front of Raven’s room. She wasn’t even let out to attend Hideka’s funeral, so she asked me to go for her.

“I’ll take a nap now. Please help me pay respects.”

She took Hideka’s death better than I had expected. Only a silent tear and a frown. No dramatic outbursts. No long-winded rants. She lay down on the pillow. “Hey, Yonna. Did we do the right thing?”

“What else could we have done?”

“I don’t. I just feel… weird.” At times like this, I wished quasi-omniscience would give me the correct answer.

“At least I don’t regret it. Do you?”

“Well, I don’t either. I don’t…” She closed her eyes. It took her five minutes to fall asleep.

The city went back to its usual routine. Not a hint of the biological attacks that had almost happened. The cars kept roaming, and pedestrians kept strolling along. I glided above those mundane images until I reached the funeral home.

Not many people attended the ceremony. Half of the guests only came because of Hideka’s sister. I stared at Hideka’s portrait on the altar, wondering how she would feel if she saw her own funeral, seeing that her mother and sister had swollen eyes from bawling too much.

I could only speculate about what her reaction might be.

This event had barely left an impression on my memory. Guess after seeing so many funerals, they all looked the same, like the monotonous days at the hospital.

A few days after the funeral, Raven was finally discharged from the hospital. We returned to the empty house. War had covered up the deaths of the residents, blaming them on gas poisoning. He seemed to use gas as an excuse a lot. Just saying.

He didn’t fix the front door for us, so Raven just waltzed right in. The living room still kept the mess from the Famine fight; remains of dead flies were scattered about. Raven had to clean all these up herself. The space of the room already felt bigger than I remembered, too much for one person to live in.

I hadn’t forgotten my promise to Pestilence. One that I had muttered in her ear before War’s agents dragged her away. One day, I would show her a reason to care about the fleeting moments. And maybe we could find solace even among the deaths we couldn’t avoid. Every night, I still heard them, but lately, I could look at them directly without fear in my eyes.