Even though her intestines had stopped functioning several days earlier, Makoto had realised going to the toilet wasn't useless. On the contrary! The powerfully corrosive enzymes of her digestive tube had valiantly eaten their way through its wall and quickly liquefied her organs. It was better expelling their remains through the orifice that was naturally there rather than through her wound or let the gases from the rotting burst her abdomen somehow, or keeping all this pestilence inside, which was unthinkable. Anyway, she doubted her sphincter's ability to contain the flow.
She took all her time doing that while her friends banged at the door, begging her to come out. Ignoring them, that was the best thing to do. The flushed away at least a litre of liquids, clots, pieces of flesh and the first boldest worms to reach the inside of her body. She then jumped into the shower, washed as well as she could, then drank half a bottle of alcohol and rubbed a powerfully scented cleaning product onto all of her skin, it wasn't supposed to be overly corrosive but she wouldn't really know before the next day.
When she came out of the bathroom, after a treatment that would have killed her if it hadn't been too late for that, the bangs on the door continued. The girls outside renounced while she was inspecting her body, removing any insect, even the smallest ones and the ones looking dead. Then she laid down, applied some oil into her eyes, the water evaporating too fast, and stared at the roof for an undetermined time.
She didn't move a muscle. Not to answer her communicator who rang many times, not to close the window when it rained, not when the sun set, bringing in the cold of autumn nights, not when it rose, not to dissipate the cloud of flies buzzing around her, excited by her smell and the heat of the afternoon, not even when one landed on her eye, laying its eggs on it. The larvaes would soon have pierced it and by the time they would be large enough to be picked up, they would have got to her brain and began digging tunnels into it.
If she was lucky, once the inside of her skull eaten clean by these repulsive insects, she wouldn't be conscious anymore, wouldn't think. If she wasn't lucky, it would change strictly nothing. That's what she thought. Her brain-cells were all dead a long while ago anyway, her mind alone moved her limbs, trapped by this energy she came to hate in an increasingly hideous body.
It would have been easy not to move, to simply wait for the eternity to pass, she didn't feel bored. If only she didn't think all the time, having to live her death forever wouldn't be that bad. But she was just so damn conscious, day after day, if only she could sleep, and that forever. If only Usagi could accept this, she was dead and she couldn't change that. She still hadn't moved when the sun rose one more time.

Wednesday, school day. Not for Usagi though. Her patience had reached its limit abruptly, without warning, at some point of her morning way to school. She took a different path all naturally, and it headed to her friend's apartment. She would be there, she knew. Too sick to get out, too stubborn to get treated. She knocked anyway.
No answer. The words of Monday still rang in her head. Blames, insults, like in her nightmares, And this silence… no, that was only in her dream, where she still heard the silence of her heartbeats, but she couldn't remember well, right? That couldn't be reality.
Ami had explained her as stupid as it could be, Makoto had the right to refuse treatment. But Usagi didn't care of the law, her heart told her otherwise. The would knock her out if it was the only way, she would make her accept the help she needed!
She expected having to discuss with a closed door, but she had all she needed with her: "Moon Crystal Power Make Up!" Once transformed, she threw her tiara to the wooden panel that was her adversary. It went through in a rain of shards and the upper hinge broke. She passed the hand through the opening and undid the lock. The door was still blocked and the tiara was caught the other side. No problem, the upper half of the door only held by a third of the wood, she took out her sceptre and used it in a way Luna would have never approved of: as a hammer.
After a few blows of the object, which had the weight of gold after all, the wood gave way and a push allowed to pass. So that's why she couldn't open the door; many pieces of furniture had been pushed against it, including a chair who, nailed in place, knocked into the wall at any attempt of opening, it had only gave way because of the weakness of the gypsum. She headed toward the room but didn't have to come in.
Makoto came out, her entangled hair like locks of iron wool falling into her face, her bent posture expressing more hatred than weakness. Her sunken eyes were half hidden in a sinister shadow, her thin lips seemed tightened with anger, her meagre hands looking like claws, reaching slightly forward as if repressing the need to strangle someone. A wrinkled bath-gown added to her neglected look. Her entire body was an image of hate.
Despite that, she welcomed the visitor: "I knew you would eventually come in, Usagi. Strangely I'm not surprised you came alone. So go ahead, make yourself at home!
- Makoto! You know exactly why I came.
- Believe me, having to go to the doctor is one of the worst things that could happen to me.
- I believe you, then. But if you know so well what is bad, what would be good?
- That nothing of that had happened. Otherwise, that you keep your damned energy away from my body.
– Out of the question. You could die.
- I think… it's time to show you something."
Makoto walked a few steps back into the room. Everything there was wet with dew and if all the apartment was cold, the room was freezing from the wind engulfing itself through the window, flapping the curtains. Dust was accumulating on the furniture, and the weakest plants were shrivelling under the effect of cold and thirst. That neglect was all but her kind. The air stank a mix of rotting, alcohol, soap and some other chemicals.
"It's freezing here! You should shut this window… no, let me do it.
- No. No thanks Usagi. I can't stand the smell, leave it open.
- You'll make yourself sick!
- You don't want to understand, do you?"
She had looked toward the bottom wall since her return into the room, without turning around to speak to Moon, and still with her back to her, she detached her bathrobe. Finally turning toward her, she let down her only clothing, and let her friend all her time to look at her, keeping her head down and her eyes closed, ashamed to reveal a secret she didn't want to know herself.
Moon expected it to be ugly. What she had previously seen was, after all. But it was worst than the worst she could have imagined. She felt her stomach convulse, as much of pity than disgust. The most visible, what was striking, was her death wound on her chest, an horrible slit between two ribs that could be seen through it, the flesh around it shrunk, dry.
It was the most obvious, but there was more. The blood trapped by clotting in her capillaries had lost its burgundy colour, everywhere it hadn't been pressed out the skin when it was still fluid, it coloured it an unhealthy greenish yellow. The rest was a bloodless white, with abnormal pink lesions here and there.
Small enough perforations accompanied unthinkable holes under it, enormous pieces of the muscles underneath missing. Each wound was infested with flies and their thousands of voracious larvaes, which had undoubtedly caused it. It was these repulsive white worms who had enlarged the hole on her chest and she saw, one rib below, the first holes announcing they had begun emptying her ribcage.
Moon turned around and began running for the bathroom, but managed to control her nausea and came back.
"Do you understand, now, why I want this to end?
- Makoto, you should have told me! I'm sorry!
- It's not your fault. Now that you know everything, you will let me go and you'll have done nothing wrong.
- No! It's entirely my fault, I've left you die once, I won't do it again!
- It's the only good thing to do! Would you want to live like this?
- No, but it's still better than death.
- It IS death! I am dead, are you blind? You can't continue keeping me in this stinky cadaver! If you are my friend…
- Mako-chan! I can't let a friend die! Never!
- How long do you intend to torture me in the name of friendship? I'm tired, I just want you to let me sleep, can you understand?
- I'll never let a friend die.
- So it's simple! she abruptly shouted. I'm not your friend! I hate you! Won't you let me rest in peace?
- Mako… please…
- If I have to kill you to be free, I'll do it. Release me! RELEASE ME!
- Mako…
- There's no Mako, only your enemy! Let me die!"
Makoto threw herself on her but Moon avoided her and had enough wisdom to run. She jumped through the broken door and didn't look back before the first flight of steps, sighting the naked woman in the door shaking her fist and smiting her, using blasphemes she didn't even knew all. While she ran from floor to floor, she heard her insults turn into cries, then she was finally out of the block. She hid in the shadow of a hedge and cried.

Chapter 9