言霊の継承

I get the feeling an answer was given, to the trembling of my lips.

Maybe------ I'm just hearing things.

An illusion born of my wish to have her answer with the usual smile.

After all, I'm already------

The sunrise is still so far off, yet my vision brightens in a thin white.

Just as I think it might be my mother, welcoming me to Heaven... it's a very pretty image, but it reminds me of something much closer to home...

The sensation of the world growing white before my eyes... feels a lot like the dizziness I feel after overstaying in a hot bath.

Amused by my own carefree attitude, I let out a powerless giggle.

In this case, my mother's welcome should be a lot closer to it than a little dizziness.

Look, I'm not only hearing things, but seeing them too.

The reason Tsudzura-chan looks the same as I remember... is probably because my memory's filling in the unclear gaps.

As I'm jostled a little strongly, the white haze clears for only a moment.

Or maybe... Tsudzura-chan really is as she was...

Wringing out all the energy I've left, I give my eyes a few good blinks.

And then, as I direct my senses to my bitten wound------

The pain tears through the misty haze, and my sight and senses grow clearer.

As I reach up to pet Tsudzura-chan's head, now bereft of her fox ears, maybe it's because my hand is cool as can be from the loss of blood------

---but it feels very warm.

This couldn't be a illusion.

She really has returned to the perfectly human Tsudzura-chan.

That's why... feeling such a great sense of relief------

---with a dozing, hazy feeling------

---I'm pulled into the depths of sleep.

It's okay.

Being pulled into this white darkness... isn't the sensation of returning to nothingness, but the familiar presence of sleep.

When I wake up, I'll be happy as ever.

In the midst of that sleep, I think to myself...

...that the fluffiness of the hair on Tsudzura-chan's head, might be a little similar to the feel of touching Obana-chan's------

---Such a thought runs through my idle mind.