Kumiko ran, her face grimaced from sobbing. She
covered her eyes with both hands but the feel of the grass crunching beneath her
feet reminded of her of the green haired heads she was stepping on. Eventually
she collided with what seemed to be some sort of giant shrub. It whispered to
her.

uguuu nyo uwaaaa unyuu wan wan waiiiii

"Ahhh! Death-san! What are those awful sounds?
It sounds like babytalk!"
"Oh, you never had a cute catchphrase did you? Just as well, that's all
anyone remembers of them now."

waha gao peko peko arf
nyuuu desu nanooo

She dared open one eye, very slowly, trembling all the way. She could barely
make sense of the image. Girls as young as toddlers but no older than herself,
hanging off branches in the shrub. The nearest one to her was hanging upside
down.

"Haiii~! OK-desu! Haiii~! OK-desu! Haiii~! OK-desu!"

Even her facial expressions travelled the same endless
loop, ending in a blushing, closed-eye smile. Her eyes were so impossibly big
it occured to Kumiko there
might be no room left in her head for brains.

The thought made her retch. She could feel vomit rising.

She scrambled over to a nearby stream and leaned out over the water. Her eyes buldged and she swung her head away just in time to vomit
back on the bank. On her hands and knees, she panted, her breath hot with sick.

The current was rapid. The water was girls. Kumiko
thought she heard sounds like a toilet flushing as the tangled wet mess of arms
and legs crashed against the shore and disappeared in the white water flowing
downstream. She also heard other sounds. Their screams, their voices.

And these, these were the worst.

"Onii-chan!"
"Onii-chan, help me!"
"Nii-san!"
"Onii-chan tasukete!"
"Save me, onii-chan!"

She let her head fall to the ground, crying dry tears and vomiting air. She was
spent, totally defeated. There were thousands of them. Millions of them. All
fading away, disappearing as she thought about it.

"You can't do it, Kumiko. You can't remember
them faster than the otaku can forget them."
"Why are there so many?!"
"When all you do is dream, you go through a lot of dreams."
"I hate them! I HATE THEM!"

Death said nothing. There was nothing to say.

After a while her breathing slowed again and she stood up. Watching the endless
stream of girls.

"Onii-chan!"
"Help me, onii-chan!"
"Nii-chama!"
"Tasukete! Tasukete onii-chan!

"It's so unfair ..." she began.
Death remained silent.
"I understand now, it's so unfair ... for you to remember just me. While
everyone else has to die."
"What?"
"Forget me."

Fresh tears on her face, she leapt into the stream and was immediately swept
away in the current.