Chapter 15: “The Last Ember of the World Her Name”
“Ta-da! Rin-chan‚ look‚ look! It’s the greatest discovery of the century!”
I kicked the waterlogged cardboard box with force‚ and lifted the “soot-stained box” that had crawled out of it high into the air.
It must have been a shiny wood-grain pattern once‚ but now it was a full course of mud and mold‚ completely turned into a “cursed treasure chest: moisture type.”
“...What’s that creepy lump? Did you pick up trash again?”
Rin-chan glanced over at me with a lazy look while rummaging through the flooded shelf.
Her eyes clearly said‚ “Again‚ really?”
“It’s not trash! This is a vacuum tube radio—a ‘chunk of romance’!
With this‚ we should be able to hear music from people having a party somewhere‚ or info about delicious parfaits!”
(*Parfaits don’t exist in this world. From Nagisa’s mind.)
I rubbed the box with my sleeve.
It wouldn’t shine no matter how much I polished‚ but the huge dial and mysterious glass tubes appeared.
“...Vacuum tubes? Antique. The probability that the circuits are still alive… judging by my intuition‚ it’s lower than the current rate of water rise.”
Rin-chan analyzed my “treasure” with the cold eyes typical of a technician.
(But‚ Rin-chan… it’s not about probability…!)
Deep in my chest‚ the memory of “that voice” from yesterday still lingered.
A faint‚ breath-like voice mixed with noise that I had heard through the radio.
(That… I knew someone was alive…
…but it wasn’t the sound of everyday life.)
I wanted to hear sounds from a more normal world.
Music‚ someone’s laughter‚ advertisements for parfaits (which don’t exist).
Sounds that are like “proof the world is still going on.”
“Anyway‚ let’s take it home?
I want to hear more human-like sounds‚ not just the static of the radio…
At this rate‚ the loneliness damage is slowly eating away at me.”
(*Loneliness damage is continuous damage. From Nagisa’s mind.)
Rin-chan let out a short sigh at my (fake) crying plea.
“...Fine. We’ll just look inside. I’m not saying I can fix it.”
Yes!
In my mind‚ Rin-chan’s “I’m not saying I can fix it” translates to:
= “I will definitely fix it.”
(Rin-chan language is at peak performance today!)
In the abandoned building where the rain echoed quietly‚
I hugged the soot-stained radio and felt a small warmth in my chest.
Our temporary base was an abandoned office where the sound of dripping rain served as background music.
Droplets falling from the ceiling landed in a bucket on the floor with a rhythmic “plop‚ plop.”
(I wish this sound could have a brighter rhythm… like “plop☆”… oh well…)
Rin-chan removed the back cover of the radio and began delicate surgery with thin tweezers.
I peeked at her face from beside her.
The depth of the wrinkles between her brows seemed to indicate the current “survival difficulty.”
“...Terrible. The capacitors are blown‚ the wiring’s all shredded. But…”
Rin-chan carefully pulled out the small glass tube—vacuum tube—stuck inside‚ like handling a fragile object.
“...Miraculously‚ this one’s still alive. The heater isn’t broken.”
“Amazing! See‚ Rin-chan‚ this radio also wants to ‘live’!”
(A living radio… this could be a picture book…)
I clapped cheerfully‚ but Rin-chan’s expression didn’t brighten.
She replaced the vacuum tube and lightly turned the dial to tune the frequency.
At that moment—
The speaker emitted a noise like an “angry cat.”
“...T-the noise is terrible. This doesn’t match the previous records…?”
Rin-chan frowned and reached for the monitoring device‚ suspecting an “external issue” rather than an internal one.
(Ah‚ this is “serious Rin-chan” mode…!)
“...What? You found the parfait location?”
“...No way.
The frequency distortion is abnormal. The atmospheric magnetic field is disrupted…?
Or… the city’s sinking speed has accelerated by 0.4% compared to my calculations. Beyond the margin of error.”
Rin-chan stared at the inorganic numbers on the screen and shivered slightly.
(0.4%…? That would be great if it were a parfait increase… but the sinking speed… not great at all…)
I didn’t fully understand the numbers.
But the chill from Rin-chan’s fear pierced through me.
“The numbers are just a bit smeared from the rain!
More importantly‚ if this box starts making sound‚ that fear will disappear!”
(*No basis. But confidence 100%*)
I tried to encourage Rin-chan’s trembling fingers by doing what I could.
“If Rin-chan handles the inside‚ I’ll handle the outside!
I’ll make a special antenna that can even catch signals from the edge of the universe!”
(*Can’t actually reach the edge of the universe. From Nagisa’s mind*)
I grabbed a broken umbrella frame and some copper wire lying around.
The sound of the rain seemed to warn me‚ “Don’t…” but—
(I have no choice!)
“All right‚ let’s go! Beginning construction of my ‘Nagisa-style Super Electromagnetic Sky-Catch Antenna’!”
I used an overturned office chair leg as the base and arranged the bent umbrella ribs radially.
As the rain pattered quietly “plop… plop…‚” only my excitement remained unusually high.
(Making an antenna in this silence feels almost like a ritual…)
“...It doesn’t look like an antenna‚ more like an awkward giant spider.”
“Rude! Each of these ‘spider legs’ is a secret net to gently catch lost signals!”
(Can spider-san catch signals…? Yes! Probably!)
I wrapped copper wire around the umbrella ribs and attached crumpled aluminum foil at the tips.
It looked like an exploded trash can‚ beyond avant-garde art‚ but—
(My intuition says… this will work!)
I dragged the completed “giant spider antenna” to the window.
Cold rain blew through the broken window‚ forming thin streams of water on the floor.
(Signals‚ it should be easier for you to reach here… right…?)
“Rin-chan‚ we’re ready here! Give me the connecting cord!”
Rin-chan finished soldering inside the radio and tightened the last screw.
Her profile looked serious‚ like the only person functioning normally in the rainy world.
“...Don’t get your hopes up. The lengths and angles of the umbrella ribs are inconsistent.
Impedance matching won’t work. There’s no guarantee the transmitter is even alive.”
“It’s fine! If we have the ‘heart to connect‚’ the signals will understand the situation!”
(Signals‚ read the room…! Understand the atmosphere…!)
I connected the cord Rin-chan handed me to my masterpiece antenna.
“...Turning on power. Heater will take time to warm up.”
Rin-chan clicked the dial.
A small orange light gently glowed inside the vacuum tube.
In the freezing abandoned office‚ it looked like “the last ember of the world.”
(Wow… it’s alive…! Radio-san‚ you’re alive…!)
“...Z…zzz…zzz…”
The speaker overflowed with static like a sandstorm.
I held my breath and strained to listen through the noise.
(Please… let me hear something…! Music‚ a voice‚ a parfait ad…!)
The rain and noise mixed‚ and for a moment‚ the world seemed frozen.
Rin-chan and I.
Our gaze focused entirely on the soot-stained radio.
“...Still no good. Just noise.”
Rin-chan was about to turn the dial back—at that moment.
“…Z…can you hear…?”
“—!”
I instinctively pressed my face to the speaker.
Beyond the static‚ I could definitely hear a voice—someone speaking.
(I-it came…! Signals‚ you read the atmosphere…!)
“…This is… observation point… sector… 14… Please respond…”
“Rin-chan! I can hear it! Someone’s talking!”
I jumped with joy.
But Rin-chan was the opposite.
She listened to fragments from the radio—water level data‚ coordinates‚ numbers that seemed like observations—
and frantically wrote them down‚ her face draining of color.
(Huh… why do you look like “the world is ending”…?)
“Nagisa‚ this isn’t the time to be happy…”
Rin-chan’s voice sharpened.
“This broadcast isn’t an automated archive.
…it’s being sent in real-time.”
“Real-time…? Then that person is alive‚ right? Amazing—”
“No!”
Rin-chan interrupted with a trembling voice.
“The coordinates this person is giving… this place will be fully submerged within three hours.
…It’s not my calculation error.
The world’s ‘end clock’ has suddenly sped up!”
My chest shrank as if gripped by a cold hand.
“No… we finally heard a voice‚ so why say something so scary…”
(Because… even just a ‘human voice’ made me so happy…
but why does that voice bring a ‘countdown to death’…?)
I clung to the “human presence” coming from the radio.
But Rin-chan read the “death notice” hidden within that presence precisely through the numbers.
My “excitement‚”
Rin-chan’s “terror.”
With one radio between us‚
our emotions clashed head-on.
(We’re connected… I’m happy… so why does it hurt so much…?)
The fear we learned outweighed the joy for now.
“…Z…zzz…t…”
The voice on the other side of the radio distorted.
(No… don’t cut out…!)
Immediately after—
“…cough… cough…!”
Breaking through the noise‚
a violent‚ desperate cough rang out.
It wasn’t a machine sound.
It wasn’t recorded.
It was the pain of “someone alive.”
(Someone… is suffering…!)
A chill colder than the rain ran down my spine.
“…cough! cough cough…!”
The speaker echoed with coughs that clawed at my chest.
It was entirely different from mechanical noise‚ a raw sound of “pain.”
“…Wh-who…?”
The noise thinned for a moment as if responding to my question.
“…If… anyone… is there… run…
That place… can’t… hold anymore…”
It was a girl’s voice.
Weak‚ yet somehow clear‚
like it came from the depths of the rainy world—a strange‚ ethereal voice.
Immediately after—
Faintly mixed into the noise:
“…Mo…mi…”
(…Huh? Just now… “mo”…?)
My chest trembled.
The small signature I had once found in the corner of a sketchbook—
the letters “Momiji”—floated into my mind.
“Momiji…?”
Before I knew it‚ the name slipped from my mouth.
“…I… have been… watching… all this time…
Z…zzz…”
The sound cut off abruptly.
The aluminum foil on the antenna fluttered in the wind‚
rustling as if saying‚ “It won’t reach anymore.”
“…Nagisa. Did you hear that?”
Rin-chan turned off the radio with trembling fingers.
Rain and silence returned to the room.But this quiet was different from before.
Something had been decisively broken‚
and after it started moving—
the silence of “irrevocable time.”
“…Momiji-chan sounded like she was in pain.”
I noticed my hands had gone cold.
There was no information about parfaits anywhere.
But—
(I got the name…)
In this wide‚ rainy world‚
the name of someone who is “watching us.”
“…Let’s go‚ Nagisa. If we stay here‚ we’ll sink just as the numbers say.”
Rin-chan packed the radio into her backpack‚
and stood up‚ stepping on the wet floor.
Our adventure‚
now swallowed by waves of information‚
headed further inward—
To somewhere where “Momiji” is—
progressing onward.
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