On this particular day, Mizutani Natsuki slept unusually deeply, and for once she fell into a dream.
Perhaps… it could even be called a sweet dream? Truly unbelievable. She had almost convinced herself that the ability to weave pleasant dreams had long abandoned her.
Once, her sleep was always engulfed by viscous darkness and malevolence, replaying over and over the sufferings of her waking life and anxieties about the future. Yet staying awake only added burden to her exhausted body and mind, leaving her to humbly pray every night before closing her eyes—Please, let tonight be dreamless. Please, let me wake up and find everything as usual, untouched, nothing happened.
The sky in her dream flowed with brilliant colors, a vivid spill of paint from an overturned palette. Suddenly, a rabbit dressed in a luxurious velvet tuxedo, topped with a gentleman's silk hat, deftly emerged from a nearby tree hollow. It wore a delicate golden monocle, clutching a glittering golden pocket watch in its paw. With refined grace, it bowed and invited her to journey through the forest.
Following this peculiar guide, they traversed a fantastical woodland woven of light and shadow, finally arriving at a small cottage built entirely of fruits and pastries—the roof shingles of chocolate, walls of honey wafers, windowpanes of clear candy glass framed by black-and-white chocolate bars. Sugar crystals sparkled brightly, as if a fairy tale had truly stepped into her dream.
Mr. Rabbit then hosted a grand, joyous banquet on a grassy field near the candy house, as lush and soft as green velvet, expressly to welcome her arrival.
The participants at the banquet were extraordinary and wondrous: tiny fairies with wings of transparent candy flakes, scattering sparkling stardust as they danced; talkative gingerbread men exuding a rich cinnamon fragrance; a booted cat dressed like a knight with feathered hat and rapier; a teddy bear molded entirely from warm beeswax, wearing an honest, gentle smile; and a small turquoise bird perched upon a chocolate tree branch, singing brightly and clear as flowing water…
Unlike the icy, suffocating malice of reality that threatened to crush her entire world, the inhabitants of this place poured forth sincere, unconditional kindness toward her.
They quickly became her friends, clustering around her, celebrating her presence, and eagerly guiding her to meet the true owner of this candy house.
Mizutani Natsuki expected the owner to be a wizard, perhaps a witch—even if it were a witch, she imagined she'd surely be kind, skirts dusted with sugar, to have created such a fantastical place.
But she guessed wrong.
The candy house's owner was not an elderly, grey-haired witch, but rather a petite, lovely girl about the same age as herself.
The girl had silver-white twin braids, silky and lustrous, eyes of pale violet so striking they resembled amethysts. She wore a black hat adorned with a large purple bow, paired with a black dress trimmed elegantly in blue silk lace. Black gloves and shoes completed her meticulously charming ensemble, radiating both elegance and playful cuteness.
"Greetings, splendid one, weary one! Welcome to my home! Let's play together! Once we've grown tired, we'll have tea parties, reading books while savoring macarons. It would be wonderful if you enjoyed yourself!"
It was a dream so beautiful as to be nearly extravagant, so beautiful that Mizutani Natsuki, for the first time in her life, clearly glimpsed what true "happiness" should look like. Before now, she'd never imagined that a soul could feel so light, as though lifted by clouds, wrapped in candy, and kissed by starlight—that happiness was not an abstract, unreachable notion, but rather something warm and tangible, held tightly in one's hand, expressed through carefree laughter and playful banter among friends.
So wonderful, Mizutani Natsuki never wished to wake.
Yet, a dream was ultimately just a dream, shattered once awakened, rendered meaningless against the cruel, heavy reality.
"Good night, may your dreams be as sweet as berries. Next time you wake up, be sure to find happiness."
The parting words of the girl in the black dress still echoed in her ears. But Mizutani Natsuki knew she might never return to that candy house, nor host another tea party with the friends she'd newly met in her dream.
In this despairing world, where surviving another day was already considered fortunate, a monster like her had no right to seek such sweetness, such happiness.
When the dream ended, she must again desperately fight just to live.
It was a hopeless world, devoid of a future, destruction always looming just around the corner. Everyone struggled with everything they had just to live—not because they held hope for the future, but simply because they feared death.
It was said, over a decade ago, people commonly believed in a notion that after death, one's soul would be guided by God to either heaven or hell, according to their actions in life. People restrained themselves and avoided crimes, hoping their souls would ascend to heaven upon death.
Yet now, in this futureless world, hardly anyone believed that anymore. If there truly were a God, why would he allow the world to become like this? If there truly were a hell, could it possibly be more horrifying than this reality?
...
"Catch that monster!"
A scream, like a wail, erupted behind Mizutani Natsuki. She could only flee without looking back, gripping a supermarket basket full of food, as though some dreadful beast chased her.
Yet those were no beasts at all, merely ordinary people, men, women, old, and young. Their only commonality was the twisted hatred born from absolute terror reflected in their eyes, staining them blood-red.
Finally, the girl was caught. Several robust adults roughly, brutally shoved her to the ground and pinned her there, as if the one beneath them was not a girl under ten years old, but a man-eating beast.
The vegetables and fruits spilled from the basket. Mizutani Natsuki watched helplessly as these critically important foods were trampled by the advancing crowd, simply because she might have touched them. They feared contamination from some dangerous virus or filth.
This was reality—utterly opposed to the dream of the candy house.
"Let me go!"
Mizutani Natsuki's face pressed against the ground, distorting her delicate features. Rain had recently fallen, leaving the pavement muddy. But the girl's clothes were already filthy, castoffs from the garbage. More dirt hardly made any difference.
Not a single person showed sympathy; only overwhelming malice remained.
"Thief! You garbage of the Tokyo Area!"
"Good job! Damned Gastrea!"
"Stop your screaming, murderer!"
"It's your kind, the red-eyed freaks, who killed my family! How dare you live!"
"Red-eyed demon, die!"
"Monster, die!"
Their words stabbed deeply into Mizutani Natsuki's heart, tearing away great chunks of flesh.
"I'm not a monster!" Mizutani Natsuki forced these words through clenched teeth, her voice trembling with intense emotion. Her deep crimson eyes carried a broken stubbornness. "And I'm no thief! I paid! I left the money there before leaving!"
Each of the girl's words struck like stones on icy ground, releasing pent-up grievances and anger.
Yet her retort sparked even fiercer hostility, sharpening their fingers into colder, crueler blades.
"The monster dares to argue back!"
"This monster is dangerous! Someone kill her!"
"A monster paying? Even if she did, it was stolen money!"
Those adults restraining her grew agitated, tightening their grip until Mizutani Natsuki's bones audibly strained, sounding as if they might snap at any moment.
"What's happening here!"
At this moment, two patrolling policemen noticed the commotion and approached, sharply reprimanding the crowd.
As the officers approached, the noise subsided. Yet the blood drained from Mizutani Natsuki's face, leaving it pale as paper—not relief at rescue, but deeper despair, as though freed from one hell only to plunge into another, even colder and more hopeless.
The policeman wearing glasses cast a dispassionate glance at the silent crowd and the red-eyed girl pressed harshly into the ground, uttered an indifferent "Ah," as though instantly grasping the entire "truth."
His burly partner didn't even bother to inquire, forcing Mizutani Natsuki upright and cuffing her.
The bespectacled officer mechanically dispersed the crowd, offering perfunctory thanks for their "cooperation," and together the pair escorted the silent girl into their police car.
Yet the patrol car didn't head toward police headquarters. The bespectacled officer drove, eventually stopping before an abandoned, half-finished building.
In this era where humanity teetered on the brink of extinction, and civilization's order barely held together, abandoned, half-finished buildings like this one were commonplace. It wasn't only because manpower had become humanity's most precious resource; it was also because the remaining human population—less than one-tenth of what it once was—simply had no need for so many structures.
From the moment the cold handcuffs clicked around her wrists, a thick anxiety surged forth like a suffocating black tide, and when the police car deviated from its normal route, finally stopping before this towering, skeletal ruin of a building, Mizutani Natsuki's terror escalated to its peak, almost crushing her heart entirely.
Inside, the building was untouched by light, the air heavy with decay, so dark and oppressive it felt like stepping into a haunted house. Though, if evil spirits truly lurked here, that might've actually been preferable for Mizutani Natsuki. Because, standing before her now, pistols raised, were two police officers even worse than ghosts.
"Let's test it out. See how many shots it takes to kill this disgusting monster."
"But don't shoot her head. She'll die instantly if you do."
The black barrels of their guns and the twisted, maximum malice radiating from these two men sent chills crawling through Mizutani Natsuki's entire body.
I'm going to die… the girl deeply realized.
These officers must've done something like this before; there was no chance they would allow her to survive.
Because she had "red eyes."
Because she was one of the "Cursed Children."
Because monster's blood, despised and reviled, flowed within her.
Because of these red eyes, she had become an orphan. Later, when she was adopted, it was only because her foster parents wanted the monthly welfare payments issued for raising Cursed Children.
Though the ruler of the Tokyo Area had surely enacted that policy out of kindness, parents who held no love could never become good parents. Their only requirement for Mizutani Natsuki had been that she continued breathing. Often they withheld food, often they beat her.
Her foster parents had a daughter, about the same age. When the little girl heard she now had a sister, she'd been delighted, even gifting Natsuki a slightly worn storybook—this was the only gift she had ever received in her life.
Yet, upon learning about this, her foster parents flew into a rage. Mizutani Natsuki was brutally beaten, and afterward, she never saw that "sister" again.
Eventually, one day, Mizutani Natsuki could no longer endure and fled from that house, desperately struggling to survive, staking her very life on it.
…When Mizutani Natsuki regained awareness, she realized her body lay like a broken rag doll in a corner. Her stomach, chest, limbs… everywhere screamed with intense pain. She clearly felt warm liquid surging from inside, soaking her clothing, spreading into a thick, scarlet stain beneath her. The air reeked heavily of blood.
Bullets had pierced through her flesh, the impact slamming her harshly against the wall. Her body had slid helplessly downward, dragging a shocking, winding trail of crimson blood down the mottled wall behind her.
"Damn it, she's still alive?!"
The muscular officer cursed angrily, while his partner reminded him impatiently: "We can't waste more bullets. Just shoot her head."
"Tch! Too good for this monster…"
Thus, the muscular officer lifted his gun, aiming directly at Mizutani Natsuki's head.
Cursed Children possessed incredibly resilient vitality—but their head remained their fatal weakness.
Mizutani Natsuki's vision darkened; her consciousness gradually faded.
When the gunshot sounded, her life would end.
What a short and utterly awful life… She couldn't help but mock herself coldly from within her heart.
Yet, even in this short, utterly awful life, Mizutani Natsuki had experienced happiness exactly twice:
Once, when she received that storybook from her "sister."
Once more, in the dream she had last night—that beautiful, dazzling, fairy-tale-like dream.
They say after death, souls either ascend to heaven or fall into hell.
For Mizutani Natsuki… she only wished that after dying, her soul could travel back to that candy house, where she would stay forever with her friends, playing, having tea parties, and eating macarons together.
Yet, while she thought these things, the gunshot signaling her death never arrived.
Because at the very moment those two policemen pulled the triggers aimed at Mizutani Natsuki, they realized what they held were not pistols—but candy.
Before they could grasp what was happening, they raised their heads to see a monster smiling brightly at them.
The monster had only a head and neck, drawn crudely as if it'd stepped straight from a cartoon animation. Its face resembled a round, white cookie; on its nose sat a tiny red flower. Its ears looked like wings—one red, one blue.
The monster opened its mouth wide, revealing perfectly neat, snow-white teeth, and under the gradually horrified gazes of the two officers, swallowed both their heads in a single bite.
Mizutani Natsuki didn't witness any of this.
She merely sensed someone approaching, emanating a comforting aura that irresistibly drew her near.
Driven by sheer survival instinct, Mizutani Natsuki's lips moved weakly on their own:
"..."
"Of course, I'll save you," Nursery Rhyme's eyes curved gently like crescent moons, and she wore a pure, radiant smile without a trace of shadow, almost sacred in its innocence. "After all, I am a 'hero to children,' you know."
---
[Nursery Rhyme]
Class: Caster
Level: 90
Personal Skills:
Self-Modification A
Tommy Thumb's Secret Picture Book A
Meanwhile… A
Class Skills:
Territory Creation A
Parameters:
STR E
END E
AGI C
MANA A
LUCK B
NP C++
Noble Phantasm:
Nursery Rhyme: A Tale Just For Someone (C)
The Queen's Glass Game: Perpetual Engine - Maiden Empire (C)
T/N: sorry if theres uhhh mistranslations in this arc... i dont know much about black bullet and i was hit hard by demotivation in translating heroic spirit during this arc (dont worry we are past the arc in patreon)
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
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