The priceless silk dress was instantly soaked through by the sewage on the ground, stained with filth that was hard to wash away, just like the sins of the world finally clinging to this saint who had not been tainted by dust.
"...Big sister?"
The blind girl was stunned on the spot.
Her small hand hung awkwardly in mid-air, grasping at the air in confusion.
This isn't right.
Why...
Why would it be me who receives an apology?
According to the past, shouldn't she be pushed away in disgust, or hear a few condescending curses?
At the very least, it should be the sound of footsteps hurrying away after dropping a coin.
And this big sister seems to be trembling while holding her?
"Um... if I get your clothes dirty... will you get scolded by your mom?"
The blind girl said cautiously.
"Wuu... I'm sorry... I didn't know anything... I really... didn't know anything..."
The Seitenshi's voice was completely choked up, even becoming slightly off-key due to the intense emotional fluctuation.
The composed, elegant, and infectious voice she used during her daily television speeches was now reduced to a broken, tearful tone.
Thus.
When the Seitenshi's voice was no longer filtered through a microphone, and reached her ears from such close proximity.
The blind girl's ears, which had been tilted to the side, couldn't help but twitch.
This voice...
So familiar.
Really so familiar.
It was just like the voice that often came from the neatly arranged televisions she passed by every day in the appliance store window.
The voice of the big sister who always said "We must build a beautiful future" and "We must let everyone live happily."
The voice that, although it sounded warm, felt very far away, so far that it felt like it belonged to another world.
"You are... that person from the TV..."
The blind girl opened her mouth, subconsciously wanting to say that name.
A name that even a child like her living in the slums was familiar with.
But the words reached her lips, and she swallowed them back down.
After all.
How could it be?
How could such a big shot, a big sister living in that place that looked like heaven, appear in a place full of garbage and stench, and be holding a child like her, who was like a rat, and crying?
This must be a hallucination caused by being faint from hunger.
After all, yesterday she had only managed to eat half a piece of moldy bread.
The blind girl thought so, letting out a soft sigh.
Even though she couldn't see, she could feel the overwhelming sadness of the older sister holding her, almost spilling out.
And so.
The blind girl, instead, seemed to become the little adult who needed to take care of the grown-up.
She extended her dirty little hand, hesitated in the air for a long time, and only after confirming she wouldn't be hit, did she gently place it on the Seitenshi's incredibly soft silver hair.
She patted it clumsily.
"Don't be afraid..."
"Although I don't know what you did wrong, big sister..."
"But... as long as you can still feel pain, it means you're not broken yet, right?"
"Like me... my eyes hurt so much at first, so much I couldn't sleep, so much I wanted to bang my head against the wall."
"But now it doesn't hurt anymore."
The blind girl showed a heartbreakingly bright smile.
"No... this cannot be gotten used to."
"This is absolutely not something one should get used to!"
"If even this hellish life has to be endured by you... then what right do we have to call ourselves human?!"
If even the most basic right to survival cannot be guaranteed, if even mothers harming their children can become the norm, then what can the New Gastrea Law protect?
A mere scrap of paper, not even as real as the broken begging bowl in this child's hand.
The heavy hammer of reality completely shattered the Seitenshi's illusions at this moment.
She once thought that by standing high and proclaiming love and peace, light could penetrate the abyss.
But now she understood.
Light cannot reach the abyss, unless someone is willing to jump in and ignite themselves.
Just as the Seitenshi's heart was in turmoil.
A figure approached.
The blind girl, who was still clumsily comforting the Seitenshi, also froze.
Because in her vision, which was originally just a void of darkness, a light suddenly appeared.
It wasn't ordinary light.
Instead, it was an extremely warm and gentle golden light, as if it could penetrate all obstacles and directly shine into the depths of the soul.
It was warm and cozy.
It was like the midday sun she occasionally basked in during the coldest winter, even infinitely warmer than that.
And that light seemed to have a life of its own, outlining a blurry human silhouette in her dark world.
"Is it an angel?"
The blind girl looked up blankly, her bandaged eyes directed towards the source of the light.
"So... am I already dead?"
The blind girl murmured to herself.
After all, if she wasn't dead and going to heaven, how could she be seeing this scene?
What else could it be but the legendary angel coming to guide departed souls?
Hearing this innocent guess, Heimer's face showed a helpless expression.
"An angel?"
"Why do the children of this world always like to compare me to an angel?"
Of course.
Complaints aside.
Heimer didn't dwell on it too much.
He lightly tapped the void with his fingertip.
A wisp of pale golden divine power overflowed from his fingertip, slowly flying into the blind girl's old, bandaged eye sockets like golden threads.
The next second.
"Buzz—"
A ripple spread through the air.
The solidified and deformed metal blocks that had been infused into the girl's eye sockets instantly dissipated under the cleansing of this wisp of divine power.
Necrotic nerves began to regenerate, and atrophied tissues became plump again.
"Whoosh—"
A gentle breeze swept by.
The bandages wrapped around the blind girl fell off on their own, slowly drifting into the distance.
The blind girl blinked, somewhat bewildered.
Her long eyelashes trembled, and then, she slowly opened her eyes.
"I... I can see..."
The blind girl held out her hands, looking at her dirty palms with some disbelief.
She really could see!
Immediately after.
She looked up, and her gaze first fell upon the older sister in the luxurious dress, tightly hugging her, her face streaked with tears.
Her silver short hair was shimmering, so beautiful it seemed unreal.
...
"Holy... Seitenshi!"
Seeing this, the blind girl was dumbfounded, softly uttering the name.
For a blind girl who had just regained her sight, to recognize her identity at a glance.
The Seitenshi was extremely surprised, even forgetting to cry for a moment.
After all.
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