CHAPTER 226: COLLAPSE

"Are you ready, Shizune? I’m going to open the door, and that might hurt your eyes," Maya says as she holds my wheelchair in front of a door. I take a deep breath, ready for the eye pain.

"Maya, why don’t I have any glasses?" I ask, deducing that glasses could help me.

"But you do, they were in your room drawer...you just don’t remember, but I have an extra pair here," she says, pulling out a pair of dark sunglasses.

"They were custom-made, they’ll obscure most of the strong colors and make them more manageable, along with the medication, it should be bearable," she tells me as she hands me the glasses, which I quickly put on.

The colors are really well obscured now, the white has become gray, and other colors are muted, which truly helps my eyes.

"Alright, let’s go out," she says, opening the door. Immediately, a strange cacophony of colors hits me, but the glasses really help, though the colors are so blurred and strangely blended that everything in the distance is a colored blur.

’That’s...a forest.’ The garden looks beautiful, and I see an elegant wall surrounding the mansion, but beyond the gate, the colors are so jumbled that I only see brown and green.

It’s like painting a leaf half brown and half green, which is a mess, something that would confuse me against a Yandere again.

"The air...it smells bad..." I say, sensing a scent similar to burnt tires, flowers, and sugar.

"Hmm...is it really that bad?" she asks, and I shake my head. It’s bad, but better than seeing the colors so vividly.

"Okay...let’s keep going then," she says, moving the wheelchair forward as I look around.

’Well-enclosed...and quiet...’ I’m definitely isolated, which doesn’t please me much, as I’ve been isolated from society in various lives lately.

"Hey, Maya, can you only go out with me? How about we go to the city together?" I ask, interested in seeing other people.

"I’m sorry, Shizune, but I can’t. I have no way of knowing if you’ll have an episode, get sick, or need to be bedridden, so I can only take care of all your needs within the mansion," she denies, making me sigh.

"Okay," I say simply as we follow the walkway, the unpleasant smell of burning not exactly what I’d consider good for my day.

’How can I explore the mansion?’ With the difficulty in moving quickly, exploring the mansion or running seems challenging, but I decide to think about that later while I try to memorize the layout of the mansion.

...

...

...

"Yui, I’ve come to see you," I say, arriving at Yui’s room.

"Who?" I hear her voice from inside the room.

"It’s me, Nyzzoraleth," I announce, letting her know who I am. My little avatar is helping Shizune collect items to assist her, while I’ve decided to come and see Yui, as I’m worried about her.

My power has increased by 1% since this whole chaos started, and 1% considering the influence I have is a lot just 0.5% already poses significant risks to the balance, so 1% is more than dangerous.

"Do you need something, Nyzz?" She speaks, and I notice her voice sounds tired.

’This...’ It seems bad, much worse than I thought. Seeing Yui tired is like seeing the sun stop shining.

"Can I come in, Yui?" I speak with urgency, already grasping the doorknob.

"..."

"You can..." She seems to hesitate before saying I can enter, and I quickly open the door, seeing what appears to be quite disturbing.

"Your hair...it’s turning yellow," I can’t even disguise my words, Yui normally has vibrant green colors in her hair, eyes, and clothes, which literally represents her existence. She should never start losing that green color in this way.

It’s like a leaf torn from a tree, slowly dying and turning yellow until it turns brown and dies completely.

"Ah, yes...my hair, don’t mind that..." She looks at me with deep dark circles under her eyes, another strange sign, considering we don’t need sleep.

"Yui...you’re dying," I say urgently, approaching the desk.

"No...I’m...I’m fine, just a little tired..." She speaks, while my anger grows.

’THAT BITCH NYARLISSE!’ It’s all her fault, her starting to persecute Shizune is the cause of this existential imbalance, and at this rate, we’ll all die if Yui dies.

"Yui, listen carefully! You’re dying, and you’ll take everyone with you." Forget hell, heaven, or anything else if Yui dies, nothing else can continue to exist beyond complete emptiness. Even souls will disappear, everything will disappear, since Yui is fundamental to the existence of everything, more important than even death itself.

"I-I’m not dying, I’m serious, I’m just a little tired. I ended up fighting with Sayuri and kicking her out of here, and the work just keeps piling up," she says, unaware of the absurdity of what she just declared.

"Tired? TIRED!? Yui, do you have any idea what it means to be tired?" We only feel tired if we ourselves want to appear that way. The fact that she feels tiredness without it being her choice says a lot about her condition.

"Have you looked in the mirror?" Her eyes are also yellowing, and seem even more yellow than her hair, like a leaf that’s already halfway through its journey to end everything.

’At this rate, everything will end...I need to stop this somehow.’ It’s a shame that I, the representative of chaos, have to save a life. If the order was alive, she would know how to deal with this.

"Yui, do you want my help to resolve the work?" I do something I never expected to do in existence help life with her work.

"...Help? You...would do that for me?"

"Of course, I know how important you are. It’s better if you rest..." I seriously think about how much I’d love to erase Shizune. At this point, she’s gone from being a fun anomaly to a dangerous one.

It’s not Shizune’s fault, at this point it’s Sayuri’s fault and the damn stupid curse.

"Maybe..." She murmurs a maybe, while I think of a possible solution. It’s not the best solution, but it would solve all our problems.

"Hey, Yui...you don’t really believe you’re okay, do you?" I ask, as she lets out a tired sigh, opening the front of her clothes.

"...This..." A crack, terribly large, practically covers her entire chest, going all the way to her abdomen.

Unlike many concepts that can lose their physical bodies and continue to exist, life is not like that. Humans have always represented life in various ways, sometimes as the planet they live on, sometimes as a world tree, and others.

And there’s one thing they got right life has always had a body. This body serves as a counter that indicates when life begins, grows, and ends. In other words, if Yui loses her physical body, it literally means permanent death.

And as soon as she dies, everything that exists will also start to be erased, so I have to prevent her from dying.

"Yui, I might have a solution to this problem. Do you trust me?" I say, as she looks at me with a glimmer of hope.

"You do?"

"Yes, I do, but for that, you’ll have to...meet with that anomaly, Shizune, again. I wanted to keep it a secret because it was fun, but now things have gotten serious."

"I know about Shizune and I’ve been trying to help her to conquer you, you know? I thought that if Shizune conquered you, it would cause pain to Sayuri and Nyarlisse, so I was trying to help her."

"But that’s until I see how you are. This requires an urgent change of plans."

"You’ve always been quite chaotic, that’s so like you..." She speaks with a broken smile.

"Yes...so I have a plan that can help both Shizune and everyone else...but...you might not be doing too well after it."

I say as she looks at the papers on the desk and then back at me.

"This...will help Shizune, and everyone else, and solve the chaotic problems my sister created?"

"Absolutely, it will...however, you...won’t end up too well in the end, but don’t worry, I’m not planning to turn you into a stone that serves as a pillar for existence," I say jokingly.

"If you’ve told me about Shizune...this plan has to do with her and this so-called meeting to conquer me, right?" She asks with a weak voice.

"Yes, well, not exactly, but it can be done when you two have your meeting and are together," I say, having the most chaotic, insane, and unpredictable of plans.

A plan that will make me one of the most hated existences by all, a plan that will leave Sayuri and Nyarlisse completely powerless in the situation.

"I...accept to do whatever is necessary so as not to be a burden," she speaks, even though she knows what I’m going to do could be very bad for her.

"You know, I’ve always liked how you put others first, it helps me ask for favors like these without having to explain the plan." She’s not going to like what I’m going to do.

"I...feel like I won’t like hearing what you’ll do, so let’s leave it at that..." She speaks, and I nod in agreement.

"I’ll help you with your work while my avatar helps Shizune. Get ready, this will be done soon."

I say as she nods her head.

’I hope this idea works.’ If it does, Shizune’s curse will no longer be a problem, the balance will be restored, and in the end, even Nyarlisse won’t be able to do anything to Shizune.