Chapter 25: “The Weight That Fishes Up the Future”
“Awaaa…! Look‚ Yorin-chan‚ Haru-kun is about to get another serving from the mud marshmallow!!”
Supporting myself with crutches‚ I clung to the edge of the swamp and shouted in a half-tearful voice.
Beyond the fog‚ inside a brownish‚ sludgy mass—
The boy we had just rescued moments ago‚ Haru-kun‚ was sinking again up to his neck.
(Wait… hold on…
Was that rescue earlier the tutorial…?
Does the real story start now…?)
“…If you have the leisure to compare it to a marshmallow‚ support that steel beam over there. The mud is sucking things in faster than expected.”
“Huh‚ I have to hold this!? W-wait a second‚ my right leg—!”
I tucked the crutches under my arm‚
gritted my teeth as the pain made my vision flash white‚
and pressed down on the steel beam as if leaning my whole body against it.
(Oww…!
But if I let go here‚ Haru-kun will sink…!
Pain can be paid later…!)
“…Um‚ it’s pointless‚ you two.”
An unbelievably calm voice came from the mud.
It was Haru-kun. Even though he was sinking‚ his voice was clear and composed.
“If you compare my body weight with the viscous resistance of this mud‚ pulling me up by human strength is impossible. The probability of rescue is approaching—”
“Haru-kun! This isn’t a math test right now!!
We’re here‚ so that ghost called ‘probability’ has gone somewhere else!”
“…A ghost? I don’t understand. You can’t fill physical limits with emotion.”
“You can! My excitement index has already broken the limit and is flowing backward right now!”
“…An index flowing backward…? Shouldn’t you worry about the blood vessels in your brain?”
(This kid… he’s sinking and still his comeback accuracy is ridiculously high…
He’s the same kind of ‘embodiment of logic’ as Rin-chan…)
Even while we talked‚ the mud was slowly creeping up‚ trying to swallow the line of Haru-kun’s jaw.
“…Nagisa‚ the discussion is over. We’ll deploy the tools. We’ll trick gravity.”
Rin-chan arranged the rusty pieces of metal she had gathered on the ground.
Pulleys‚ wire‚ steel beams‚ bolts… all of them were scrap covered in mud and rain.
But—
In Rin-chan’s eyes‚ there wasn’t even a single letter of the word “impossible” that Haru-kun spoke of.
(Rin-chan…
She isn’t looking for the “probability of saving him‚” she’s searching for “the way to save him”…
I’ll stand beside her… too…!)
“Rin-chan‚ are those… the elevator pulleys you picked up from that abandoned building earlier?”
I peered at the three round wheels Rin-chan had placed on the mud.
In the whiteness of the fog‚ only the metal rings glowed dully.
“…Yes. I’ll combine these with load-bearing wire.
Nagisa‚ pick up the U-bolt lying there.”
“Okaaay! But these are just wheels‚ right?
Can we really pull Haru-kun up with these?”
“…They’re not just wheels. Three movable pulleys combined—a ‘triple pulley.’
The theoretical load drops to one third with this.”
“One third…?
So that means it’s like having three of me worth of power!?”
“…If there were three of you‚ it would be too noisy to work.
Listen carefully. We convert force into distance. The pulling distance becomes three times longer‚ but the weight becomes about thirty percent.”
“Wow… Rin-chan‚ that explanation just now sounded totally like a wizard!
But don’t we need something to anchor it?”
“…That broken crane pillar over there is for that.
We’ll fix the main pulley there.
Nagisa‚ take the end of the wire and climb up to that chunk of concrete.”
“Climb…!? Me…?”
My right leg throbbed in protest.
But I tucked the crutch under my arm
and crawled up the slope of rubble.
(…My leg is so heavy…!
But if I stop here‚ Haru-kun will stop too.
…I can’t stop yet!)
In the mud‚ Haru-kun was still watching us with the same cool eyes.
“…A triple pulley system‚ huh.
Physically correct‚ certainly‚ but the anchor strength isn’t sufficient.
Without a ‘fixed weight’ on the pulling side‚ the entire pulley will simply be dragged into the mud.”
“A fixed weight…?
Ah‚ I see! That means we’d lose to the mud when we pull!?”
“…Nagisa‚ Haru’s point is correct.
But there is a solution.”
Rin-chan wrapped the end of the wire around my waist—
as tightly and mercilessly as possible.
“…Huh? What are you going to do by tying it to my waist?”
“…Nagisa.
Your body weight is about to become the most valuable ‘asset’ in this world.”
“An asset!? I finally turned into an asset!?
That makes me kind of happy but also kind of frustrated!!”
“Stop complaining. You are the ‘fixed weight.’
As long as you don’t move‚ the pulley won’t sink.”
“Don’t move…!?
Rin-chan‚ my right leg looks like it’s about to submit a ‘resignation letter’ any second…!”
“…Resignation denied.
Nagisa‚ brace yourself there.
If you hold‚ we can pull Haru up.”
Rin-chan’s voice was calm‚ but somewhere within it trembled.
The sight of “someone sinking” in the fog brought back memories too cruel for her.
(Rin-chan…
You’re scared‚ aren’t you? But this time it’s my turn to support you…)
I gripped the wire wrapped around my waist‚
suppressed the pain in my right leg‚ and leaned my body against the concrete block.
“…Alright. We’ll assemble the triple pulley.
We’ll use gravity in reverse.”
Rin-chan knelt in the mud
and carefully assembled the pulley shafts.
In the fog‚ the small sound of metal touching metal echoed.
Our “rescue mission”
was finally beginning in earnest.
“Rin-chan… wait‚ the way you use the ‘weight’…
Don’t tell me I’m the one who jumps!?”
The moment I shouted from the top of the rubble‚ the wire around my waist creaked tight.
It connected to Haru-kun in the mud.
“…That’s right. You jump down the opposite side of that rubble.
We convert your falling energy into the force to pull Haru up.”
“Jump down… so if I do a bungee jump‚
Haru-kun will pop right out!”
“…It won’t be that simple‚ but it’s several times more reliable than pulling his arms by hand.
Listen‚ Nagisa. Your role is to fall according to gravity.”
“Got it!
My body weight exists exactly for times like this!
I’m glad I ordered the large pasta yesterday!”
“…Nagisa‚ don’t move. I’ll adjust the wire position.”
Rin-chan gently lifted the wire around my waist
and adjusted the angle so it wouldn’t interfere with the tourniquet on my right leg.
Then she tore the sleeve from her work clothes
and wedged a thick piece of cloth between the wire and my waist.
“This will disperse the impact… We can’t shift the tourniquet.”
“Rin-chan… you’re even thinking about details like that…”
“Of course. If any more of your blood flows‚ a triple pulley won’t matter.”
Her voice was calm‚ yet trembling somewhere.
(Rin-chan… you’re afraid.
Of someone sinking… and of my blood not stopping…
When I disappeared back then… it’s still in your heart…)
I stood at the edge of the rubble.
My right leg throbbed sharply and my vision flashed white for a moment.
(…Pain is proof that I can still move.
For every bit of this pain‚ I’ll push Haru-kun toward the sky…!)
Below me was brown mud.
Within it‚ Haru-kun looked up at me in surprise.
“…Wait.
Using your own body as a weight is incredibly inefficient…!
If the wire snaps or my body doesn’t come free‚
you’ll just be slammed into the ground!”
The calmness from before had vanished‚ urgency mixing into his voice.
“We can think about efficiency later while eating ice cream!
Haru-kun‚ keep your eyes open!
I’ll take you to the other side of that ‘less than one percent!’”
“…Nagisa‚ no countdown. Go.”
Rin-chan released the wire stopper.
In that instant—
my body was thrown into the air.
“Here we gooooo!!”
Gravity dragged me down‚ trying to smash me into the ground.
At the same time‚ the wire at my waist snapped tight‚
stopping my body with tremendous force.
“Ggh… uuuugh!!”
A sharp pain shot through my right leg and tears welled up.
But I could clearly feel my weight traveling through the pulley
to Haru-kun in the mud.
(Go…!
My body weight‚ now’s your time to shine…!
Pull Haru-kun… up…!)
“Gu… ah… aaah!”
From the mud came Haru-kun’s strained—yet unmistakably living—voice.
Still hanging in the air‚ I gripped the wire desperately.
Just a few centimeters to the ground.
My weight was ripping Haru-kun’s body free from the mud’s curse through the triple pulley.
(Go…! Just for now‚ my weight is hero-class!)
“…I’m… rising… why…”
Haru-kun’s body lifted by millimeters—truly just the thickness of a sheet of paper at a time.
“…Why… would you go that far…?
…I’m not even worth saving…”
“Worth or not… I don’t understand stuff like that…!”
My feet kicked the air.
The wire dug into my waist.
The wound in my right leg screamed.
But—
Compared to that moment when my sketchbook slipped from my hands in the raging current‚
that feeling of emptiness in my hands—
this pain was lighter than candy wrapping paper.
“…I couldn’t protect a precious memory.
So this time—I decided I’ll never let go!”
It didn’t matter if my voice trembled.
It didn’t matter if tears blurred my vision.
So it would reach Haru-kun—and Rin-chan who was supporting me—I shouted.
“If Haru-kun is alive there‚ then that’s the right answer!
The ‘probability’ is something we’re creating right now!”
“…Creating… a new one…?”
In the mud‚ Haru-kun’s eyes wavered slightly.
Deep inside them‚ a small—truly tiny—light flickered on.
(That’s right… look‚ Haru-kun…
We don’t make the future with ‘calculations‚’ but with ‘actions’…)
My weight became the final push.
Gwap—.
With a dull sound like the mud exhaling air‚
Haru-kun’s body finally came free up to his waist.
For just that moment in the fog‚ it felt like the world grew brighter.
“…Alright‚ he’s out! Nagisa‚ maintain that!”
Rin-chan grabbed Haru-kun under the arms‚ covered in mud‚ and pulled with all her strength.
I finally touched the ground and loosened the wire around my waist.
My whole body hurt like crazy. My right leg throbbed like it was staging a protest demonstration.
But—
Ahead of me was Haru-kun‚ lying on the ground‚ covered in mud yet safe.
“Haa… haa… did I… survive…?”
Haru-kun stared blankly up at the white foggy sky.
The feeling of still being alive hadn’t caught up with him yet.
“You survived! Look—my DIY‚ Rin-chan’s engineering‚ and my body weight win!”
Laughing‚
I tapped my crutches and approached Haru-kun with clumsy steps.
Even if my right leg screamed‚ my feelings ran at full speed toward him.
But Rin-chan‚ who had pulled Haru-kun out‚ didn’t look relieved at all.
“…What’s wrong‚ Rin-chan? Haru-kun got out‚ didn’t he?”
“…No‚ not yet. …Nagisa‚ look at Haru’s right leg.”
Where Rin-chan pointed—
there was a “reality” far beyond what I imagined.
Haru-kun’s body had indeed come out of the mud.
But only his right foot‚ from the ankle down‚ was firmly trapped by some huge ‘thing’ beneath the mud.
“…A rock? No… this is debris from a building’s structural frame.”
As Rin-chan brushed away the mud‚ a twisted mass of rebar and concrete appeared.
Like a giant vise‚ it clamped down on Haru-kun’s leg.
“…That’s why I said it. …The probability of rescue… is low.”
Haru-kun gave a weak smile.
Rather than resignation‚ it looked like confirmation that “his calculations had been correct.”
(Haru-kun… don’t make that face…
We worked so hard to pull you up this far…!)
Just then—
the mud at our feet made a small *plop* sound.
The water level was slowly rising.
Perhaps water from a collapsed building somewhere beyond the fog was flowing in.
At this rate‚ the mud would swallow Haru-kun again before his leg came free.
“Rin-chan… this…”
“…Yeah. We’re out of time.
Next we deal with the ‘trapped leg.’
Nagisa‚ get ready—”
Rin-chan’s voice was calm‚ but deep inside it carried a trace of urgency.
Our battle of “salvation”
had only just begun.
|