Aochi
“…There are ladders you can’t take down?”
Oomi’s voice was tinged with regret, and I couldn’t help feeling sorry for him.It wasn’t like he knew—how could he?
“There are. That ladder is one of them.”
The Harvester fell silent for a while after saying that.It was rare for him to hesitate.He looked genuinely conflicted, bathed in the soft afternoon light pouring through the window—like a figure from a painting.
No one urged him on. We just waited for what he’d say next.
Then, staring into the sunlight, he muttered:
“This will be the last time I see this in this world.”
“What do you mean?”
Oze asked calmly, his voice steady.
“Exactly what it sounds like.I wasn’t planning to say this, but…Today is the last day for all of you.”
It was surprising—but somehow, not unexpected.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.I didn’t have a reaction, or even a question.Somewhere deep down, this place had always felt like a boundary… between the living and the dead.
“What, no reaction? I’m being generous, telling you this.”
“We’re probably dying somewhere in the real world, right?That’s why we’re able to see people like her or Mamoru again—those we lost, those we longed to see.”
Oze had been thinking the same thing.What happened to us?Maybe it was an accident… a disaster while we were at work.Maybe the three of us are lying side by side in some ICU right now.
The Harvester, looking a little let down by our lack of surprise, gently corrected us.
“You’ve got it wrong. This is the real world.You’re not the ones dying—the world itself is.”
“…What?”
That one hit.All of us cried out in shock.
“Uruuu—!”
Ululu clung to my arm.Even the blood-soaked woman, whose face had been completely devoid of emotion, suddenly looked up.
“Surprised?You knew, didn’t you?With all the signs around you, the stench of the end hanging over the world—there’s no way you didn’t notice.It was everywhere—right near you, and in far-off places too.”
The Harvester’s voice stayed calm, but his expression… it was full of sympathy.The smell of the end, huh?Now that he mentioned it, yeah.It had been everywhere lately—so much that I’d gone numb to it.
“When exactly will it end?” Oze asked, still sounding like his usual self—though I knew he was shaken.Ululu’s grip on my arm tightened.
“Tomorrow morning.Right now, countless ships are ferrying dull, unaware people like you toward the end.”
“But you said we were headed for our town.”
Oomi spoke up quietly.
“You are.Not just you.Right now, everyone—everyone in the world—is returning to their hometowns.”
“…Everyone?”
“Everyone goes home in the end.”
So that’s why all three of us—locals from the same town—ended up on this ship.Not a coincidence.
But—
“Didn’t you also say you couldn’t save everyone?”
“That’s right.I wish I could bring everyone along…But I can’t.I have to choose—who to take to the next world.”