Skuld/Memories

## Chapter 1

I used to have two older sisters—Urd and Belldandy.

Urd was clever, and Belldandy was fashionable...I looked up to them.

One day, my family brought me along to a remote village. There, I met three wonderful girls.

My heart skipped a beat when I heard that I'd be staying for a few years to study medicine.

It was the same excitement I felt whenever I discovered new herbs.

I had found new friends...no, new sisters.

I'm younger than Urd and Belldandy, but I'm older than these girls.

In other words, I'm their big sister.

## Chapter 2

Time passed, and the day I had to leave the village finally came.

The girls smiled through their tears as they saw me off.

I had to attend school, but I promised to come back when there was a holiday.

But one day, everything changed...and I could no longer keep that promise...

My sisters died. I lost them in an accident...

Instantly, my bright world was enveloped in dark clouds.

The first one to crack was Mother.

It happened one day,

when she started calling me...Urd.

## Chapter 3

Mother became delusional...

She had illusions that Urd was younger, and Belldandy was still in her womb...

Time had returned to before I...before Skuld was born...

Mother continued to call me Urd, and Father, unable to take any more, got up and left.

I was the only one left to take care of my mother.

But instead, I escaped to school and buried myself in reserach.

Being away from home, I could finally be *me* again...

My heart felt so free.

I even made a friend. She wasn't the nicest person...but she made school fun.

But I knew...

If I went back home, I would once again stop being me...

## Chapter 4

I came home to hear laughter coming from inside.

Mother's...laughing?

While I was away, Mother's health had improved. Some man I didn't know had been taking care of her.

She still thought I was Urd, and was convinced that Belldandy was lost in a miscarriage...

But without warning, she said to me, "Let's go our separate ways. Live your life as you like."

Up until now, I believed I had been supporting Mother in my own way.s

Everything I ever did for her... It all meant...nothing...

In the end, she never again saw me as Skuld.

This "Skuld" person...

I wonder if she really exists...

## Chapter 5

Urd, Belldandy, Skuld.

The three of us were sisters.

But then they died, Mother lost her mind, and my life faded away from me.

"Live your life as you like..."

It was all a ruse to get rid of me. I not only lost my name, but my home, too.

No... I never had either of them to begin with.

I only existed in the shadow of my sisters, and never once had a place I could be me.

Who the heck...am I...?

I might as well not even be alive.

I have no evidence that shows who, or *what* I am.

So I'm sure that can only mean one thing—"Skuld" doesn't exist.

## Chapter 6

Skuld waits at death's door.

Only her consciousness remains intact...barely keeping her alive.

So then, why...? Why am I still not dead?

Disappear already... I'm begging you...

Just...disappear...

"Skuld..."

I heard someone's voice. It called me..."Skuld."

I remembered my past... I remembered my three younger sisters.

This memory of them, lovingly calling me their big sister Skuld...

It belongs to me, and only me.

A person can be free because they have a home. Without a home, they'll just end up in loneliness.

I found it—a place where I can be me.

At long last...I can truly be free.