Chapter 10.1: "The Lingering Chill of White and the Analyst's Dumpster Diving"
「……It's cold.」
The window is closed.
Not only that‚ the magical thermal barrier spell is supposed to be functioning perfectly.
And yet‚ it's as if an ice razor is tracing my spine‚
and the bone-deep chill won't stop.
I pulled the pocket-watch-style control device at my waist closer with trembling fingertips.
When I opened the lid‚ blood-red digital numbers flickered mercilessly.
『87 days 12 hours 00 minutes』
「……So this is the price of sprinting through at the fastest speed.」
My muttered words scattered as white‚ frozen breath.
When I lowered my gaze‚ the fingertips of my right hand had already abandoned human skin tone‚
dyed completely into a transparent‚ ice-sculpture-like "white."
The afterchill of the "White Singularity" that burned Iris's life as fuel.
It was trying to drag my very magic circuits into absolute-zero silence.
"Aria! You're making that ghost-like face again and just glaring at the clock!"
From behind‚ a loud‚ unreserved angry voice and
an overwhelmingly violent "miso" aroma invaded the room.
Before I could even turn around‚ Rinne slammed the insulated thermos onto my desk with a thud.
"Rinne‚ it's right before the strategy meeting. You don't have to be so noisy——"
"I will be noisy!
Have you looked in a mirror to see what color you are right now!?
Here‚ take off your jacket!"
"Take it off… right here?"
"Just do it! Stay still!"
Rinne ignored my confusion
and skillfully stripped off my uniform jacket.
Then‚ without hesitation‚ she rolled up the hem of my shirt
and slipped her small but feverishly warm palm
directly onto my ice-cold back.
"……!? Rinne‚ what are you…"
"…So cold. What is this? It's like touching ice."
Her hand traced up and down along my spine.
The warm human body heat that had slipped under my shirt.
Her heat pressed close and her slightly roughened breaths stroked my neck.
The clumsy scent of soap mixed with the "everyday" smell Rinne had brought in‚
forcefully dragging my frozen brain back to "muddy reality."
"…Rinne‚ that's enough. I'm starting to warm up a little."
My voice came out flat‚ lacking any emotional inflection——so flat it surprised even me.
But Rinne's face flushed red as she gripped my arm and wouldn't let go.
If anything‚ she pressed even more strength into the palm on my back.
I could feel her small body trembling faintly.
"It's not enough…!"
"Rinne?"
"…Yesterday underground‚ when I saw your fingers turning pure white and transparent‚
I was really scared.
So… just for now‚ let my temperature confirm
that you're still here in this world."
The desperate‚ clumsy‚ steady heartbeat transmitted from her palm.
It was an imperfect "living anchor" that couldn't be found anywhere in Solan's perfect magical theory‚
but right now‚ it was absolutely necessary for me.
"Oh my‚ exchanging 'illogical heat' right from the morning?
What a passionate treatment."
While pushing up her silver-rimmed glasses with a fingertip‚
Kotone entered while deploying a hologram monitor.
Her eyes glanced once at my white fingertips‚
then immediately returned to the rows of analysis data.
"…Kotone. It's a misunderstanding.
This is just physical body-temperature replenishment——"
Kotone stopped my words——which tried to state only the facts without emotion——with her hand.
"I don't think that level of closeness is necessary for taking temperature… but whatever.
Aria‚ that 'white' of yours.
The computer is screaming.
Are you ready to go search for the answer that lies 'outside'
Solan's theory?"
Kotone's finger pointed at the deepest darkness beneath the academy——
the map of the "Disposal Area (Dumpster)."
The farther we descended the hidden staircase‚
the more stagnant the air became‚ and the lead-like weight of "magical remnants" began to press on our lungs.
What stung my nose was the cold‚ damp ozone smell and
the gritty sensation of licking iron.
This was the "world's dumpster‚" severed from the brilliance of the academy where theoretical magic reigned.
"…What a horrible color.
It's like walking inside a witch's cauldron."
Kotone‚ leading the way‚ pushed up her silver-rimmed glasses with her middle finger.
Her fingers operated dozens of hologram monitors floating in the air
at the speed of typing on a keyboard.
"Kotone‚ was that a joke? Or analysis results?"
Rinne‚ hugging the insulated thermos behind me‚ hunched her shoulders uneasily.
"Both.
Because Solan discarded the magical circuits in this area as 'errors‚'
they've turned reddish-black and are leaking pulsing (noise).
…Aria‚ how's the sensitivity of those fingers of yours?"
Prompted by Kotone‚ I peeked my right hand out from my uniform sleeve.
Fingertips "white" like they had been locked in a winter ice cave.
They absorbed the stagnant remnants around us
and were eerily transparent.
"…Not bad.
There's so much noise that the holes in the 'score' are clearly visible."
My voice had lost temperature to a surprising degree‚
taking on a cold‚ mechanical ring.
My fingertips began to tap "ton‚ ton" rhythmically in the air on their own.
"Aria-dono‚ please don't overdo it!
From here on‚ my bell's sound will become a sonar in the darkness‚
bouncing out the noise that blocks Aria-dono's ears!"
Liam stepped forward‚ holding his massive 'Bell Shield.'
When he poured magic into the 'Bell Heart (Core)' at the shield's center‚
GOOOOOOONG…!
The heavy sound spread as if tracing the shape of space‚
physically pushing back the gray mist blocking our path.
"Yeah!
Leave the cleaning to my muscles… no‚ to my soul (muscle)!"
Cross drew his silver claymore and grinned fearlessly.
"Cross‚ I told you earlier that you can't cut remnants with muscles‚ right?"
"I'm not cutting——I'm making them understand!
Whether it's remnants or ancient circuits‚
there's no logic that can defy my muscles (muscle)!!"
Cross's greatsword forcibly smashed a section of the reddish-black flickering ancient magic circuit.
At that moment‚ the discarded autonomous defense golem
crawled out from the pile of rubble with clattering dissonance.
"Gi gi… Intruders… Judgment… Error… Reject…"
"Here it comes!
Aria‚ lock the waveform pattern!"
Kotone shouted.
I swept my white fingertips like a baton.
No chant‚ multi-deployment.
The chaotic trajectories of the magic bullets fired by the golem
appeared in my vision as golden scores.
"…Period 3.5.
Liam‚ reverse the phase of the impact from the two o'clock direction
with the shield's 'echo' and cancel it out."
"Understood!
Deploying the 'Tuning Wall' to silence the dissonance!!"
The shockwave released from Liam's shield
rejected all of the golem's magic bullets in mid-air‚ turning them into particles of light.
"Cross‚ the spell joint at eight o'clock is bugging out.
Smash it physically."
"I've been waiting!!
Soul (Soul) Burst!!"
The conducting (baton) was so precise it was mechanical‚ without a shred of heat.
Kotone's fingers‚ which had been playing the keyboard in the air‚
paused for a moment as if hesitating.
"…Too efficient.
An icy ensemble that surpasses even my computer (logic)."
Behind her silver-rimmed glasses‚
she murmured‚ mixing intellectual curiosity with quiet concern as a friend.
The next instant‚ Cross's greatsword pulverized the golem's core with physical mass.
In the exploding iron scraps‚
for a single moment‚ I thought I heard Iris's golden whisper——"powan"——in my mind.
"…If it's an unanalyzable error‚
I'll just force it into place with my rhythm (ton ton)."
Every time I spoke‚
it felt like the back of my throat was freezing white.
I clenched my white fingers
and looked inside myself.
The impatience I should have felt facing a strong enemy before‚
the relief of defeating it——
none of it rose in my heart now‚ not even a speck.
I only felt the "white" cold air that had crawled up to my wrist
mercilessly stealing even the afterglow of victory.
"…Let's go. It's further ahead."
Leaving the golem turned to scrap iron behind‚
we advanced deeper——into the deepest part of the dumpster‚
where silence piled up like mud.
"…This is it.
The heart of the old-style magic testing ground (Proving Ground)
that Solan calculated as 'no value in saving' and terminated."
Kotone stopped in front of a massive circular protective door.
The door was layered with multiple sealing spells‚
but every one of them had been "severed" by Solan's cold hand
and left carelessly abandoned.
From the severed ends of the remaining circuits‚
reddish-black magic sparks crackled and scattered in dissonance.
"Kotone‚ can you open this?
It looks more like it's broken——or rather‚ rotting…"
Rinne hugged the now-empty insulated thermos uneasily.
"If I decode it properly‚ it would take a week.
…But I'm an analyst.
I don't care about the 'beauty' of the system.
I'll just extract the practical benefit of 'opening' it."
Kotone pushed up her silver-rimmed glasses with her fingertip‚
then took several small transmitters from the pocket of her lab coat
and stabbed them one after another into the spell joints on the door.
"I'll deliberately sacrifice my logic.
Aria‚ pour your 'ton ton' directly into this circuit.
Force your rhythm (rhythm) into sync with the intentional bug
that will break the calculations."
"…Understood.
Use my circuits as an 'expansion part' for your calculations."
I nodded briefly and placed my ice-cold white fingertips against the door's spell.
(ton ton‚ ton ton‚ ton…)
My heartbeat overlapped and melted into the high-speed calculation noise Kotone was producing.
The circuit——
KIIIIIIIIIIN!
Let out an ear-splitting scream‚
and the monitors deployed around her were painted over with red warning lights.
『ERROR: SURVIVAL RATE 0.03%』
"0.03%….
Same as yesterday underground——more than enough probability!
Aria‚ now!
Paint over this system's 'despair' with your rhythm!!"
Kotone's heated scream.
However‚ my thoughts were terrifyingly cold.
The 'white' that had eroded up to my wrist had stolen every ounce of elation from me.
"…Reject (Error).
My rhythm will overwrite your silence."
The moment I quietly swept my white fingertips——
The massive protective door burst open from the inside with a death-rattle sound.
In the swirling blast and ozone smell‚
what sat in the center of the room was
a small stone mass emitting a dull amber heat.
——Ancient heart fragment (catalyst).
"…Found it.
This is the anchor that will hold Iris in place."
Just as I mechanically reached out‚
DOOOOOOOOOOON…!!
The entire testing ground floor shook with a violence far beyond anything before‚
and a massive defense mechanism descended from the ceiling like a puppet with its strings cut.
"Confirming synchronization with external frequency… Undefined rhythm….
Judgment: Contaminating noise.
——Reject (Error)."
"Aria-dono‚ the catalyst!
I will defend this place to the death with my shield!!"
Liam slammed his shield into the ground‚
bouncing away the approaching defense chains with physical shockwaves.
On his profile was the same unwavering resolve
as the day he sealed the prayers of the village lost to silence into the 'Bell Heart (Core)' along with his shield‚
vowing never to let sound die again.
"In this place that the Solan President discarded as 'garbage'…
We will never let our sound fall silent again!!"
"My muscles (my soul) won't wilt either
until I take this souvenir home!
Aria‚ grab that thing quick!!"
Cross's greatsword
caught the ancient golem's arm with physical mass‚
scattering sparks.
Amid the companions' roars flying back and forth‚
Rinne grabbed both my shoulders from behind with all her strength and pushed me forward.
"Aria‚ hurry!!
Until you grab it‚
I'll keep pushing from behind with this 'heat'!!"
It was Rinne.
The muddy‚ hot‚ clumsy body heat transmitted through my shirt.
The old me would have felt my chest tremble at this warmth.
But in my heart now‚
not even gratitude's elation rose.
I simply used that heat
as the coldly optimal solution for survival.
Pushed by the five-times-miso heat on my back‚
I leaped over the rubble and reached my white fingers toward the amber light.
The moment my ice-cold fingertips touched it‚
the pocket watch at my waist burned fiercely.
(…Can you hear it‚ Iris?
This is the muddy 'practical benefit' to hold you in place.)
The instant my fingertips touched the amber crystal——the 'ancient heart fragment'——
the world's "sound" suddenly vanished.
The explosions‚ the roars my companions were desperately making behind me——all of it.
It was as if a massive circuit had shorted out;
my perception was thrown into pure white blankness.
The world hadn't lost sound.
It was the sensation of the "living" elements necessary for survival
being shaved away from inside me like thin ice cracking.
(…Ah‚ it's quiet.
…Nothing… I can't hear anything…)
My vision reached the extreme state of the "White Singularity."
The fingertips of my right hand had already lost all blood color from the nail tips to the wrist‚
dyed completely into transparent 'white' that rejected life activity.
Absolute-zero cold rushed from my fingertips to my brain‚
freezing and peeling away the colors called emotions
from my consciousness like cold ash scattering.
Theory‚ equations‚ probability.
My existence was being optimized into nothing more than a "magic calculation machine."
The cruelest‚ fastest calculation (score)
fired by burning Iris's remaining life‚
using her "golden reverberation" as fuel.
『…Aria.
…Ton ton‚ please?
…Powan.』
The whisper I once heard by the sea echoed in my mind.
It was merely the resonance of a "wish"
that did not exist in the perfect theory left by Mother Reina.
Golden particles lit a faint warmth
in my circuits frozen pure white.
"Aria!
Come back!!"
From beyond reality‚
violent 'heat' embraced me.
It was Rinne.
She was gripping the tattered cuffs of my sleeves with both hands with all her might.
Rinne's small‚ warm fingers dug hard into my frozen-white arm‚
pouring her desperate body heat directly into me.
What stung my nose was
the thick‚ muddy scent of five-times-miso soup——
utterly out of place in this abyss.
The "mass of everyday life"
that forcibly painted over the 0.03% survival probability despair
which magic theory (logic) could never measure.
That heat was the only 'living anchor (chain)'
that kept me from falling into the abyss and tied me to the real world.
"…Rinne‚ huh."
A faint color returned to my ice-cold eyes.
At the edge of my vision.
Liam's massive back‚ forcibly holding back the ancient defense mechanism while scattering fierce sparks‚
and Cross's afterimage swinging his claymore with a low-bass roar——
restarted in "reality" like slow motion.
Even while I was silent in the abyss‚
they hadn't retreated a single step‚
continuing to protect me and Iris's hope.
The 'ancient heart fragment' I held in my hand
began to emit amber afterheat in response to my white fingertips.
Just as Kotone had said.
This wasn't burning Iris's life——
it was shouldering my overload…
A muddy fragment of salvation
that only we had scavenged from the dumpster.
The instant the catalyst was pulled from its pedestal‚ the abnormal pulsation filling the testing ground suddenly ceased.
At the same time‚ the massive defense mechanism closing in on Liam and the others
lost its power source and collapsed with a clatter‚ returning to complete silence.
What awaited us when we returned aboveground
was the cold dawn air and
the merciless second hand of the remaining-life counter‚ as always.
Behind the lens‚ the blood-colored digital numbers
flickered cruelly.
『87 days 09 hours 42 minutes』
"…Even further beyond the price of sprinting at the fastest speed‚ huh."
The few hours underground
had once again steadily shaved away Iris's time.
The finger that the theoretical magic prodigy——praised as such——had used
to wish to save her
was mercilessly burning away her tomorrow.
I gripped the amber-glowing 'ancient heart fragment' tightly
with the white fingertips of my right hand.
The absolute-zero cold air crawling up from my fingertips
was barely pushed back to the temperature of the real world
by this small stone's "afterheat."
Kotone's analysis had been correct.
This catalyst was shouldering my overload
and stopping me at the water's edge from becoming a "machine."
"…Haa."
I exhaled the stagnant ozone smell that had accumulated in my lungs
and sat down on the muddy academy lawn.
"Aria-dono! I'm glad you're safe.
With this catalyst‚ we can stabilize Aria-dono's 'rhythm (ton ton)' even more in the next battle!"
Liam readjusted his massive shield on his back
and looked at me with honest eyes.
His shield——which had sworn to believe in my sound against Solan's silence——
was now the only metronome protecting me from silence.
"…Yeah.
Liam‚ your 'bell sound' kept my sanity anchored. Thank you."
"Aria! Isn't your gratitude toward my muscles lacking!?
Look‚ this impact has given me an unprecedented pump!!"
Cross laughed‚ flexing his soot-covered arm muscles.
"Cross….
That pose has absolutely no meaning in magical theory….
But… thank you."
"Haha! Meaningless is my soul (color)!!"
"Here‚ good work.
…Before it cools‚ drink this soup properly this time."
The insulated thermos Rinne held out.
When I opened the lid‚ the violent saltiness and
her clumsy kindness
knocked awake my exhausted cells one by one.
"…Salty. But it brings me back to life."
"Of course!
So you won't fly off into the sky (magic abyss) forever‚
I'll chain you to the ground for life with this 'five-times-miso'!"
Rinne
BAM!
slapped my back without holding back.
That physical pain
forcefully restarted my frozen nerves.
While wiping her soot-covered silver-rimmed glasses‚
Kotone checked my fingertips on the analysis monitor.
"…I'm surprised.
This catalyst isn't just suppressing the 'whitening' of your fingertips.
It's physically lowering and stabilizing the very combustion efficiency of Iris-san's life.
This stone that Solan discarded as noise (outside calculation)
is a wedge to inject an imperfect bug
into the absolute value called 'lifespan' defined by theory."
The corners of Kotone's mouth rose slightly‚
carrying the pride of an analyst.
"Aria… Even with this catalyst‚
the survival probability has only risen from 0.03% to 0.04%.
But that is the world's only proof
that we succeeded in holding her fading reverberation in place
with our 'rhythm.'"
"…That's more than enough significant difference. Every time my hand freezes white‚ one more of her tomorrows is protected.
What greater 'practical benefit' could there be?"
I stared at my eerily transparent fingertips.
My 'white' quietly deepening its silence as it absorbed the amber heat.
In inverse proportion to that coldness‚ the rising morning sun
burned the academy buildings red.
From a distant classroom window‚ I sensed a girl with jade-green eyes looking down at us.
I hadn't seen her figure directly.
Yet my tuned senses told me
that the dissonance tormenting her had faintly calmed.
I was certain that the 'blue blood' running through that girl's neck
was‚ at this very moment‚ drawing closer to the color of transparent sin
because of the life I had shaved from Iris.
I must advance by the amount I stole.
Is this 0.01% significant difference a 'bridge' leading to the future?
Or is it merely a cruel 'suspended sentence'?
Even I do not possess the equation to derive that answer right now.
But——our imperfect ensemble is not over yet.
The next stage is the Academy Tournament.
The battlefield of theory where Solan's 'perfect silence' awaits.
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