「お嬢！小お嬢！良かった、無事に終わったんだな！」

　再び地下にテレポートしたエルザ達に、メイド達は喝采を上げた。

「御無事で何よりですわ。お嬢様は殺しても死なない方ですが、小お嬢様に万一の事があったらと思うと、胸が張り裂けそうな思いでした」

「お姉ちゃんも居たし、多少はね？あ、コルさんこれ、ありがとう。弾は一発しか使ってないから」

「まあまあまあ、一撃でお仕留めになられたのですね。思い付きだったとはいえ、射撃訓練がこのような形で小お嬢様のお役に立とうとは、私も鼻が高うございます。此度の事は、このコルめの誇りとなりましょう」

「フ…わたしも少し、考えさせられた。誰かの役に立つ使われ方をするというのも、これはこれで悪くないものだな」

　恭しくギガントを受け取るコルの横で、ニヒルに笑うロリントの頭を調子に乗るなと小突いたピンクちゃんは、ランの後ろに入る人影を見て、目をぱちくりさせる。

「それは良いとして～…小お嬢様のそっくりちゃん、増えてマセん？」

　言った途端に同時に視線を向けてくる、ランを除くエトランゼ・コピー達。ランに似た顔が四つも並ぶ光景に、ちょっぴり圧倒されるピンクちゃんだった。

「全員、私なんだよ。ねぇ、皆私なんだし、五つ子って事にできない？」

「構わんぞ～、どんとこいじゃ♪」

「お、お嬢様、どこを見て仰ってるんですかぁ！！」

「ピンク、何か羽織るものを持ってきてあげなさい…このままじゃキュイが恥ずか死するわ」

　泥だらけでしゃがみ込む全裸のキュイを様々な角度から観察しつつ、ニヤけた顔で応えるエルザだったが、あと少しでデリケートな部分が見えそうというところで、ふと真剣な面持ちになる。

「待てよ。よく考えたら、ランとこの子達はそっくりではあるが、外見年齢がまるきり違うではないか。五つ子って無理ないか…？」

「当事者同士は良いのかもしれないが、下の姉妹って事にしておいた方が、まだ説得力があるな。それ以前の問題として、義理の妹を引き取りました、最近になって実は五つ子だったとか下に四つ子がいたって事が判明したので残りの全員も引き取りました、って…こんな不自然な家族の増え方、世間を納得させるのは難しいと思うぞ？予め言っておくが、玉竜殿とかの間にできた子供、ってのは、説得力どころか話にすらならないからな、小お嬢」

　ミフィにも言われ、なんとなく自分でもそう思っていたし最終手段として考えもしたのもあって、ランは喉の奥でうぐぐと唸った。

「…そ、そこは、ほら…シュトラヘルツの財力で？」

「お気持ちはお察し致しマスが、世間に対する印象ばかりはどうにもなりマセんね～。お金でも解決できない事は星の数ほどあるんデスよ、小お嬢さヴァップぇ！痛いよキュイちゃん、良い事言ってる途中なのに…」

　適当に研究スタッフから剥ぎ取った白衣をキュイに羽織らせ、ドサクサ紛れに胸を触って顎に頭突きを喰らったピンクちゃんにまで諭されてしまい、それでも食い下がろうとするランを止めたのは、エトランゼ・コピーだった。

『気持ちは嬉しいけれど…私達の事は気にしないで。目的が達成できて、もう未練は無いから』

「…！待って、どういう事？それって、成仏するって事なの！？やっと解放されたのに…それに、普通の幽霊じゃない私達がまともな成仏なんて、できるの…？」

　否定を欲してエルザを振り返るが、頼りの姉は困った顔をするだけで答えてはくれず、愕然とする。流石の伝説とされているネクロマンサーも、霊の複製など思いも寄らなかった研究内容である為、肯定にせよ否定にせよ、答える事ができないのだ。

『落ち着いて。消えて無くなるって事じゃないわ…本当は、そうなるのを待つつもりでいたけれど、今は違う』

「…え？」

『それぞれの感情に分けられて、ひとつの感情に縛られるようにされた”私達”は、そうなるように仕向けた元凶を探り出して復讐するという目的を持つ事で、負の感情を…自分達の存在を保ち続けていた。だから復讐心が満たされた後は、復讐を目的にして保っていた負の感情も晴れて…負の感情そのものの”私達”は、いつか消えて無くなると思っていたの。それが成仏なのか、ただ消えるだけなのかは判らなかったけれど、不自然に生み出された”私達”は、不自然なまま存在しない方が良い、そう思っていた。でも、あなたに会って解ったわ、復讐が終わった後にも”私達だからできる事”があったのよ』

　最後、そう言われて言葉に詰まるランの手を、エトランゼ・コピーは両手で包み込んだ。

『そんな顔をしないで、消える訳じゃないって言ったでしょう？”私達”は、これからのあなたの為に、あなたと一つになる。それだけよ』

　ランとエトランゼ・コピーの手に、三人のコピー達の手が重ねられ、少しずつその姿が、輪郭がぼやけ、ランの中に溶けていく。まるでランの中に、自分達の力を注ぎ込むように。

『エトランゼの腰骨を抜き取られた状態でコピーされた私達は、その部分の霊体が欠けている。あなたと”私達”がひとつになる事で、”私達”があなたの欠けた部分を補うの』

「お嬢、で、できるのか、そんな事！？」

「…結論から言えば、可能じゃ。霊魂の欠損を、似たような霊質を持つ霊魂の欠片と練り合わせ、修復する方法がある。ただしその場合、修復材として後から持ってきた霊魂の影響で、元の霊魂は修復前後で多少変質してしまう…儂がランの霊体の欠損をこの方法で治さなかった理由はここにある。しかし、これが完全に一致した同一、同質の霊魂であるならば、不純物の一切無い、元通りの霊魂に戻せるという事じゃ」

　そんなやり取りの間にも、ぼやけたコピー達の姿は段々と混ざり合い、ランに重なり始めていた。

「でも、そんな事をしたら…消えるのと同じじゃない！」

『それは違うわ。”私達”はあなたと一つになって、これからもあなたであり続けるあなたの中で、あなたという”私”になる。あなたも”私達”も元々一つの”私”よ、”私達”は消えない、あなたの中に戻るだけ。あなたは”私達”の可能性なのよ、”ラン”。あの日、あなたに希望を託したように、”私達”の分の未来もあなたに託したい』

　そして…ランとエトランゼ・コピー達は光の粒子となって混ざり合い、膨らんでいく。

『それでも気に病むというのなら、こう考えて？自分が無くしてしまった”私達”という欠片を、取り戻したんだ、って…』

　一瞬の煌めきを合図に光が収まっていき、後に残ったランは、ただ。

　目を閉じて、そっと。

　胸に手を当てて、確かに頷いた。

「…ラン…？」

「大丈夫。”私達”の心、伝わったから」

　エルザが恐る恐る声を掛けると、ランはほんの少し潤んだ瞳を開く。そこに悲しみを堪えている様子はない。

「”私達”が居なくなっちゃうのは悲しいと思っていたけど…そうじゃなかった。これで良かったんだ、って。ただ消えて無くなるよりも素敵な事をしたんだ、って、私も、”私達”も、そう思ってる」

「…ああ、そうじゃな。とても素敵な事じゃ！」

　頭を撫でられ、額にキスをされる。いつもなら、こんな事をされれば邪険に振り払っている所だが、なんだか今日はそれが野暮な気がして、されるがままにされてみた。

　恥ずかしくてこそばゆいけれど、とても嬉しい。そう思う。

「小お嬢様がそう仰るのでしたら、あの子達も悲壮な覚悟でこうした訳ではなかった、という事ですね」

「ああ、これがあの子達にとっての最良の結果だったんだ、と信じよう。で、さ、小お嬢。どうなんだ、その…腰は？」

　そう言われ、腰をぺしぺし叩くミフィに倣ってランも腰に手を当ててみた。

　これまで自分で触ってみても手応えらしい手応えが返ってこなかった自分の腰が、確かな感触を伴って手応えを返してくる。下に手をずらしてみれば、確かな太腿の感触が。試しに自分の手を太腿に挟んでみると、これまた確かに挟みこめていた。

「ある…触れる、触ってる感覚がある！私、ちゃんとした体になってる！！」

「そうか！めでたい事じゃ！」

　興奮して自分の太腿を撫で回し、喜びついでに尻に伸びてきたエルザの手は叩き落とした。手を押さえていじけるエルザは無視している辺り、流石に調子に乗るのは許さず、そこまでされるがままにされるつもりはないらしい。

「いや～、良かったなぁ！これで晴れて五体満足って訳だ、二人とも」

「うん、これもあの”私達”のおか…え、二人？」

　他に誰かいるのか、と探そうとして、後ろを振り返ったランが見たものは。

　怨霊だった頃の幼い頃の自分…ではなく。

「しかし何だなぁ、こうして見ると小お嬢、随分成長してたんだなぁ」

「下のお毛毛が無いのは、今までその部分が無かったからデス？」

「…スース―する」

　今の自分とそっくりそのままの、一糸纏わぬすっぽんぽんの自分。

「キャ―――ッ！ちょ、なに、どうなってるのこれ、や、見ないでっ、隠して―――！！」

　手足をバタつかせて必死に隠そうとするも、当の本人が棒立ちな為に諸々丸見えである。

「うん？どうなってるんだい、急に真っ暗になったんだけれど」

「おぬしは見るな！」

　気付いたと同時にエルザがリュートにブラインドネスをかけた為、その姿を見る事ができる場所に居る唯一の男性に見られる事は免れた。

「何がどうなってるの！？」

「ええと…”私達”があなたと一つになって欠けた霊体を補おうとした時、あなたの中に眠る大きな力みたいなのがあったわ。その力は、混ざり合った”私達”同様、欠けた霊体を不完全にだけれど補完していて、形になっていない状態だった」

「そ、それで…？」

「それが何なのか解らないまま”私達”が霊体を補おうとした瞬間、その力が活性化して、混ざり合った”私達”から一人分の霊力だけを取り込んで、残った”私達”の代わりに霊体を補ってしまったの。それであなたを形作る分が足りたらしくて、残りの”私達”は気が付いたらあなたからはみ出して、私になっていたのよ」

「…あ。力って、まさか…」

　ランには彼女の言う力に思い当たりがあった。間違いなく、西の三大妖天の一人、浅葱時雨から受け継いだ、聖幽天の力であろう。未だ覚醒に至っていないとはいえ、こんな形で関わってこようとは。

「…い、今の私と瓜二つになっているのは、何故…？」

「一度とはいえ、あなたと一つになったでしょう？そこから改めて分けられた影響だと思うの。私は、”私達”の中で最も長く”私”でいられた憎悪の私をベースに、あなたの記憶と感情を分け与えられてほぼ同一の存在として物理的に別人になった…そうね、本当の意味での、もう一人のあなた、ってところかしら。大きく違うのは、あなたの中にあった大きな力が、私には無いって事ね」

「どういつ…の、べつ、じん…」

　かくーん、とランの顎が落ちた。

「それにしても凄いなあ、これが成長した私かぁ、胸がおっきくなってるよ…あ、うわぁ、なにこの記憶、結構過激な事してたのね。これで胸が大きくなったのかしら…ひゃ、今までずっと子供でいたから、この記憶、ちょっと刺激が強い…」

「やめて思い出さないで、あといい加減隠してぇ―――！！！」

　しげしげと自分の体を見下ろしていたかと思えば、分け与えられたというランの記憶を思い出し赤面する瓜二つの自分に、負けないくらい顔を赤くしたランの絶叫が響き渡る。

「普通こういうのって感動的に終わるんじゃないの！？なんでこうなっちゃうのー！？」

「ははは、朝日をバックに帰路に着くのが美しい終わり方なのじゃろうが、生憎まだ深夜じゃしのう。ま、定石外して賑やかに終わるってのも、儂ららしくて良いではないか」

　朗らかに言い放つエルザに、我慢の限界に達したランがとうとう暴れ出した。

「らし過ぎてヤダ―――！！もー！もぉぉー！！！」

「あんまりもーもー言ってると牛になっちゃうよ、ラン」

「あなたは早く何か着てよっ！恥ずかしくて死んじゃいそうだよぉ―――！！」

「とっくにゴーストだけれどね？」

「バカ―――！！」

　終わらないランの叫びが、暖かな笑いに包まれていく。

　こうして、悪夢めいた激動の二日間と共に、事件は幕を閉じたのである。

　後日。

　エトランゼ・シュトゥーリアの眠る墓に、二つの花束が置かれていた。

　かつて怨霊となり、今はもう怨念を晴らして成仏した彼女には、その花束に込められた想いは届くまい。

『ごめんなさい』

『ありがとう』

　しかし猛烈な日差しの中で、花弁を優しく揺らすささやかな風が、彼女の想いを代弁しているかのようであった。

『幸せになって』

　…と。

"Mistress! Little Mistress! Thank goodness, your safe and it's over!"
The maids cheered as Elza teleported all of them back underground.
"The best thing is you're safe. The mistress wouldn't die even if she was killed, but my heart was thumping against my chest when I thought that, against all odds, something might happen to the little mistress."
"Onee-chan was there too, so there was nothing to worry about? Ah, Col-san, here, thank you. I only had to use one shot."
"Oh my, you were able to kill him with one shot. I'm quite proud, having the idea for shooting practice, and for it to be useful to the little mistress like this. Now I, Col, shall be able to boast about this."
"Hmph... I've given it some thought too. About how to be useful to someone. This isn't too bad."
Col carefully took back the Gigant. Next to her, Lolint was smiling nihilistically. As Pink-chan gave her a poke in the face as a warning not to get full of herself, she saw, behind Ran, figures entering, and blinked her eyes in surprise.
"That's great, but~ ...Hasn't the number of little mistress look-alikes increased?"
As she said it, the Etranger copies, except for Ran, turned to look at her. With 4 faces just like Ran, Pink-chan felt a little overwhelmed.
"They're all me. And since they're all me, it's like having quintuplets, right?"
"I don't mind~ C'mere.♪"
"M, Mistress, where are you looking!!"
"Pink, bring something for her to wear... Or else Cuey's going to die from embarrassment."
Cuey was crouching down, covered in mud and naked. Elza was looking at her from various angles with a grin on her face. But after look at her delicate parts for a bit, her expression suddenly turned serious.
"Wait. Now that I think about it, Ran and the others are identical, but their outward age are completely different. They can't really be called quintuplets...?"
"I'm not sure if they're all ok with it, or if they should be all younger sisters, but it makes some sense. You adopted a sister, and then recently, it was determined that she was actually quintuplets and there were 4 more younger girls, so you adopted all of them, wait... wouldn't society have a difficult time accepting the strange increase in family like that? I'm just going to say this, but if you say they are the children between you and Tamaryuu-dono, that won't be convincing or even possible, little mistress."
As Mifi said that, even Ran felt the it was true, and started thinking about a last resort, as an ugh crept up her throat.
"...T, then, how about... the Schtlehertz fortune?"
"I sympathize with you, but just the impression it will leave on society alone is too much~. There's billions of things money can't fix, little mistrevappe! That hurt, Cuey-chan, and just when I was saying something good too..."
Dressing Cuey in a lab coat that she took off a random researcher, Pink used it as an opportunity to touch her chest, and got a headbutt in the jaw. With even Pink-chan chiding her, Ran was still going to persevere, until she was stopped by the Etranger copies.
'I'm happy you feel that way, but... don't worry about us. Our goal was accomplished, and we have no regrets.'
"...! Wait, what are you saying? Do you mean you're going to Heaven!? Even though you've finally been released... And, can non-normal ghosts like us even go to Heaven...?"
Looking for a denial, she turned towards Elza, but her reliable older sister only had a worried look on her face and didn't reply, surprising her. Even as a legendary necromancer, creating spirits wasn't a research topic she would even think of, so she couldn't give an answer either confirming nor denying it.
'Calm down. We're not going to disappear... Actually, we had been planning on doing that, but not now.'
"...Eh?"
'Our various emotions had been split up, but one emotion bound 'us' together. We had a goal of revenge against the ones behind it by exposing them, so we preserved our negative emotions... our existences. And once our vengeful minds were satisfied, the negative emotions preserving our goal of revenge would be dispelled... And 'we', who are essentially negative emotions, would eventually disappear. I don't know if we would go to Heaven or simply disappear, but we thought that 'we', who were unnaturally created, should cease our unnatural existence. But, we met you and knew, that after our revenge was over, there would still be 'something that we can do'.'
Hearing that, Ran was at a loss for words. The Etranger copy grasped her hand with both hands.
'Don't make that expression, I said we aren't going to disappear? 'We', for your future sake, will become one with you. That's all.'
The three copies put their hands on top of Ran and the Etranger copy's hands, and gradually, their outlines blurred, and they melted into Ran. It was like they were pouring their power into Ran.
'We, who were copied and extracted from Etranger's pelvis, had that part of our ghostly bodies missing. By becoming one with you, 'we' can make up for your missing part.'
"Mistress, t, they, can do that!?"
"In theory, it's possible. Damage to the soul can be melded and repaired with a broken soul that has similar spiritual properties. However, in those cases, the repair materials will have an influence on the soul afterwards, and the original soul will change slightly... That's why I didn't use that method to heal Ran's spiritual body. However, if it's something that's exactly the same, that has the same spiritual properties, then there's no impurities, so it's possible the soul would remain the same."
As that discussion took place, the forms of the blurred copies slowly became more mixed in, and started overlapping with Ran.
"But, if that happens... that's the same as disappearing!"
'It's not. 'We' will become one with you, and as long as you exist, we will exist inside of you, the you that is 'me'. Both you and 'us' were originally one 'me'. 'We' won't disappear, we are just returning to within you. You are 'our' potential, 'Ran'. That day, when we entrusted you with hope, we also wanted to entrust you with 'our' future too.'
And then... Ran and the Etranger copies turned into specks of light, intertwined together, and expanded.
'But if you're worried, think of it like this? You are taking back 'us', your missing parts...'
There was a momentary flash of light, and afterwards, Ran was left.
Eyes closed, softly.
Put her hand to her chest and nodded.

"...Ran...?"
"I'm okay. I know it in 'our' hearts."
In response to Elza's voice tinged with uncertainty, Ran opened her teary eyes. There wasn't any trace of sadness in them.
"I thought that I would be sad that 'we' aren't here anymore, but... that's not the case. I'm glad it was like this. Instead of just disappearing, something wonderful happened. That's what I, and 'we', think."
"...Ah, I see. It's quite wonderful!"
Patting her head, she kissed her cheek. Normally, is she did that, she would meanly push her away, but today Ran thought it wouldn't be right to do that, and just let it be done to her.
She was embarrassed, but very happy, she thought.
"If the little mistress says so, then it wasn't a grim resolution for them either."
"Ah, then I'll believe that this is the best result for them. So, then, little mistress. How is, your... crotch?"
Saying that, Mifi softly tapped her crotch. Ran followed suit, placing her own hand on her crotch.
Before, whenever she tried touching herself there, though it seemed like she should feel something, she never felt anything. But now, there was a definite feeling there. She moved her hand lower, and there was the definite feeling of her thigh. She tried putting her own hand between her thighs, and she was able to do that.
"It's there... I can touch it, I can feel the touch! My body's real there!!"
"Oh! Congratulations!"
Excited, she felt around her thighs, and then knocked away Elza's hand which was reaching out towards her butt unconsciously in congratulations. With her hand pushed out of the way, Elza was being ignored, and she was not allowed to get caught up in the moment, even though she wasn't planning on doing the same thing that she had been doing before.
"Well~ That's great! So now your bodies are all fine, both of you."
"Yep, this is all thanks to 'us'... eh, both?"
Looking around to see if there was someone else there, Ran spun around and saw.
It wasn't... a younger version of herself from when she was a vengeful spirit.
"But hmm, looking at her, little mistress, she's quite grown up."
"She doesn't have any hair down there, is that because that part's been missing up until now?"

"...It's breezy."
It was herself, looking just as she is now, totally and completely naked.
"Kyaaa! Wa, wha, how did this happen, n, don't look, cover up---!!"
Even though she was desperately trying to use her arms to cover her up, the person herself just stood there with quite a lot exposed.
"Yeah? What happened, everything suddenly went black."
"Don't you look!"
At the same as she realized it, Elza cast Blindness on Ryuuto, thus preventing the only male in the area who could see her from doing so.
"What's going on!?"
"Ummm... When 'we' were becoming one with you and about to mend your damaged spiritual body, there was this huge power sleeping inside of you. That power was like 'us' blended together, and while it couldn't completely fix it, it supplemented it, but it couldn't give it form."
"A, and then...?"
"'We' didn't know what was happening, but the moment we tried to mend your spiritual body, that power activated, and it took away one person's worth of spiritual power away from 'us' blended together, and, instead of the remaining us doing it, it mended your spiritual body. That seemed to be enough for you to take form, and before 'we' knew it, 'we' had been expelled from you, and became me."
"...Ah. That power, it couldn't be..."
Ran had an idea what that power she mentioned was. It definitely was the power of one of the 3 Western Heavenly Youkai, inherited from Asagi Shigure, the Heavenly Holy Ghost. It hadn't really awakened, but it seems like it influenced things like this.
"...Why, are you exactly like my current self...?"
"If I had to say, it's because I became one with you? So I think it influenced me when I became separated again from you. Using me, who had been the hatred that was 'me' the longest out of 'us', as a base, we became an existence who was given your memories and feelings, but is physically a different person... Yes, in a true sense, I am another you. The biggest difference is that you have a big power inside of you, and I don't."
"An identical... different, person..."
Ran's jaw dropped open with a thunk.
"But still, they're great, this is me grown up, my chest is bigger... Ah, whoa, what's with this memory, you were acting quite extreme. Is that why my chest got bigger... Hya, I've been a child all this time, so this memory is pretty arousing..."
"Stop, don't remember it, and just cover yourself---!!!"
Realizing she was staring at her own body, with her identical copy blushing due to recalling Ran's memories that she was given, Ran blushed as if to outdo her copy, and her shout echoed.
"Shouldn't this sort of thing normally end with some emotional finish!? Why did it turn out like this!?"
"Hahaha, it would be a beautiful ending with morning sun at your back, but unfortunately it's still night. Ah, even this sort of non-standard hectic ending is nice and fits us."
Elza said brightly. Ran's patience had finally ran out.
"It's too much like you, nooo--!!! Ahh-! Ahhhh-!!!!"
"If you keep bleeting like that, you'll turn into a sheep, Ran."
"Hurry up and put something on! I'm going to die from embarrassment---!!"
"But you're already a ghost?"
"Idiot---!!"
Ran's endless screaming was outshone by her warm smile.
And so, the 2 nightmarish, turbulent days, along with the incident, came to a close.

A few days later.
At the grave where Etranger Shutulia lay, there were two bouquets of flowers.
She had become a vengeful spirit, and now that grudge had been dispelled and she had ascended to Heaven. The feelings contained in those bouquets would probably never reach her.
'I'm sorry'
'Thank you'
However, in the intense sunlight, the slight breeze gently rustled the petals, as if to indicate her feelings.
'Be happy'
...It said.