Chapter 40 "High Ground Base's Protective Fence (Boundary Line Repair)"
"...Hey‚ look‚ Rin-chan. Over there‚ the 'chocolate chip cookie fragment' that the world left as its last uneaten bite is floating...!"
Gurururururuuu...!
The stomach rumble that had exceeded its limits echoed with the sound of a grand protest march on the raft. The emergency biscuit stockpile had long since run out‚ and my brain‚ in a state of starvation‚ was forcibly rewriting all information in my field of vision to the highest priority task: "hunger."
I narrowed my eyes at the bow of the raft "Deluxe Mudwater Float‚" feeling the heavy throbbing of the magnetic engine against my back.
The eerie pulsation of the "black wall" towering in the western sky continued to unleash magnetic storms‚ trying to erase us from this world. But right now‚ we had become one complete structure that converted that malice into heater warmth and kept Momiji-chan's body temperature safe.
What I was pointing at—a small hill awkwardly jutting out from the tea-brown sea surface.
The ruins of what was once called "High Ground Park‚" perhaps. The mud-soaked‚ blackened asphalt cliffs and the remains of street trees that had been uprooted yet desperately stretched their branches. This was the last remnant of land in this sinking world—the only one still stubbornly refusing the system's "initialization."
"...What looks like chocolate chips to you is just chunks of peeled-off asphalt. Don't let your hunger lower the accuracy of your perception. A glitch in your visual cortex could be fatal."
Rin-chan‚ gripping the rudder‚ shook her mud-streaked profile proudly and laughed with arrogant fearlessness.
The white skin peeking from her jacket's missing sleeve was illuminated by the engine's pale blue sparks‚ overpowering even the moonlight above. She looked like a ruler carving out an unknown sea route no one had ever known.
"...I cross-referenced the data I've accumulated with this engine's thrust equation. The ground strength at those coordinates is completely repelling the system's 'initialization.' ...It is acceptable as a temporary base."
In the corner of the raft‚ Haru-kun spread out his waterproof notebook while keeping his broken right leg at an unnatural angle. His ash-silver messy hair danced in the small whirlwind from the magnetic engine‚ and in his eyes lurked the quiet madness unique to someone who stared at a future he had personally made certain—far beyond mere probability.
"...That is currently the only correct answer for us to define 'home' after crossing Day 3. ...I accept it."
"Finally... Nagisa‚ Rin‚ Haru-san... We've made it back onto 'soil' again..."
On the transport sled‚ Momiji-chan let her chest exoskeleton creak with a "...kyuu" filled with relief. Thanks to the heat generated by our rebellion‚ a definite flush of life—a faint cherry-blossom pink—colored her cheeks.
The plastic bottle fenders made a dull "mugyu‚ pekon!" sound as they touched the black asphalt embankment.
"All right! Water folk‚ it's time for our temporary 'walk time'!"
I lovingly cradled my immobile left arm with my right hand and forcefully planted my right foot—where the AC adapter bit into the flesh—on the edge of the raft. The bare‚ mud-caked sole of my shoeless foot felt the hard‚ cold‚ yet unshakable texture of the asphalt.
—CRACK!
"...Guh‚ uuuu...! It's like a full course of sword mountains straight from the freezer...!"
The intense pain shooting through my skull nearly buckled my knees. But I clenched my back teeth‚ forced down the trembling in my right foot‚ and showed that I could 'stand on my own' on this land.
...I was no longer just baggage waiting to be protected by someone else. This uneven individual was now an unshakable weight—an anchor—nailed to the new ground.
"...Well done‚ Nagisa. I'll repair that 'point (anchor)' you drove in and turn it into a 'line (boundary)' right now."
From behind‚ Rin-chan stepped down powerfully right beside me.
In her hand was the makeshift winch system linking the raft's support poles to Momiji-chan's sled. It was Haru-kun's perfectly calculated 'force hack' with the minimum torque needed to safely haul Momiji-chan ashore.
It wasn't like being carried under the arm and cared for. Now we stood shoulder to shoulder‚ facing this unknown land together. From her body pressed close‚ the fierce residual heat from when she had built that insane magnetic engine flowed directly into me along with her heartbeat.
The raw scent of life mixed with sweat and sea breeze. My heart-rate sensor blared an alarm at the "abnormal rise in excitement index" from the sway of her black hair brushing my nose.
The merciless hardness of the asphalt under my soles and the scorching heat from her right beside me. The extreme temperature difference sparked bright flashes of joy in my chest like a short circuit‚ as if I'd found a new place to belong.
"Th-thanks... Rin-chan‚ you're going full throttle on the engine again today..."
"...Shut up. It's only going according to plan because you held your ground alone. I was saved by that... 'marshmallow stubbornness' of yours."
Her words were as curt as ever. But the profile of her face as she looked forward beside me was filled with the most reliable‚ unyielding will to carve out our new 'home' together.
The repair of our new "boundary line‚" now free of the mud‚ was about to begin right here.
"...Mmmph. Hey‚ Rin-chan. Up close‚ this black asphalt looks less like chocolate chips and more like 'a giant piece of over-burnt toast.' And instead of butter‚ it's slathered thick with mud water—the worst breakfast menu ever..."
I looked out over the "last piece of land" where I'd disembarked from the raft‚ syncing the body heat coming from Rin-chan's slender yet scorching-hot arm directly into 'propulsion energy' to move myself forward.
The place that seemed to have once been a park. A crushed bench half-buried in mud‚ a broken streetlamp lying limply as if saying "my shift's over."
"...For toast‚ the hardness and friction coefficient are way too high. Nagisa‚ your right foot's skin will immediately exceed its acceptable limit. Stop replacing reality with sweet fantasy just because you're starving."
Rin-chan stood shoulder to shoulder with me and‚ with her other hand‚ pulled a single rusted iron pipe from the raft.
White steam like heat haze rose from her bare shoulder in the cold air—the residual heat from controlling the engine earlier. That sharp warmth gently brushed my cheek.
"Rin-san‚ Nagisa-san... Time spent on meaningless sentiment is statistically zero. The system's 'initialization' has already begun concentrating stress on this high ground's slope too. We must secure this raft to the 'ground' within fourteen minutes or the next magnetic cycle will slam us back into the sea."
From the corner of the raft‚ Haru-kun crouched as if handling a fragile object while holding his waterproof notebook and coldly declared it. His ash-silver messy hair crackled with static from the lingering magnetic anomaly‚ standing on end like an antenna pointing to the truth.
"I-I get it‚ Haru-kun! All right‚ activating the Water Folk's first Boundary Line Repair Operation!!"
I matched steps with Rin-chan‚ firmly planting my aching bare feet as I marched straight toward the crack in the concrete.
Every time the AC adapter tourniquet on my right foot bit into the flesh‚ a piercing beat of pain shot through my skull. But right now‚ that was the strongest survival sensor teaching me the "taste of being alive."
"...Nagisa. Right there. Use that fissure as the fulcrum."
Rin-chan knelt in front of me and drove the tip of the iron pipe into the deep crack in the asphalt.
The supple‚ ferocious lines of muscle on the hand gripping the heavy wrench (standing in for a hammer) stood out vividly in the pale blue sparks.
"What should I do!?"
"Brace the base of the pipe. Concentrate the torque from my strike into a single point. ...Absolutely do not let it shift even one millimeter."
"Roger that! I'll let my 'marshmallow arms' be accepted as the world's strongest shock-absorbing damper!"
I crawled on the ground‚ forcibly dragged my numb left arm with my right hand‚ and wrapped it tightly around the base of the iron pipe.
I wedged the thick meat cushion into the gap between the pipe and the asphalt like a wedge. I could feel the ferocious body heat radiating from Rin-chan's knee at point-blank range flowing straight into my frozen heart.
"...Rin-san‚ the magnetic pulse cycle is destabilizing. ...However‚ Momiji-san's heartbeat is stitching that noise into a steady 17.4-hertz rhythm. ...Here it is—the phases are overlapping!"
Leaning out from the raft's edge‚ Haru-kun's voice cut through the eerie engine roar as he guarded the transport sled despite the pain twisting his face from his broken leg. Glaring alternately at Momiji-chan's monitor and the writhing "black wall" in the western sky‚ he was the sole commander converting the magnetic anomaly's 'bug' into the 'force' of the stake we were driving in.
"...Here we go. ...Haru‚ sync the impact count!"
"...Roger. Magnetic cycle reversal in... three‚ two‚ one... Now!!"
The instant Haru-kun's shout burst out‚ Rin-chan swung the heavy wrench down with all her might‚ as if shattering the laws of nature.
—GIIIIIIIN!!
The hard impact split my eardrums. Passing through my left arm as a thick cushion‚ the tremendous vibration roughly shook every bone in my body. If my nerves hadn't been dead‚ I would have sworn my arm bones had shattered into powder from the maddening friction and shaking.
"...Haa! ...Not enough. The sink isn't deep enough yet. Don't end it with this level of resistance!"
Rin-chan swung the next blow while letting out a rough breath.
The raw scent of life—sweat and rain—rose from her body. The heat with nowhere to escape from our pressed-together boundary line scorched the side of my neck sharply like a shorted wire.
"Rin-chan... you're so hot! My excitement index right now could overwrite even the magnetic engine's output and become a new spark plug...!"
"...Shut up‚ Nagisa. ...Don't let it shift even one millimeter...!"
Rin-chan's eyes gleamed with a cold‚ sharp light amid the pale blue sparks from the magnetic engine.
Her strike‚ poured with her entire body and soul‚ was supported by my left arm as a "living base‚" driving the iron pipe into the abyss of the asphalt with perfect precision.
"...Fixation confirmed. First anchor‚ expected torque cleared. ...Accepted. Finish the remaining three as fast as possible."
The sound of Haru-kun firmly checking off his waterproof notebook rang out like a quiet victory fanfare.
The single rusted stake we had cooperatively driven into this despairing ground was no longer mere scrap iron. Even if the world bared its fangs to "erase" us‚ it was the first point of our rebellious boundary line—defined by our own will that we "exist" here.
"...Phew. Hey‚ Rin-chan. With just these four stakes‚ can we really hold our 'Deluxe Mudwater Float' in place? It feels like sticking toothpicks into a giant birthday cake—I'm a little worried..."
I looked back uneasily at the last rusted iron pipe glistening wet from the cold rain.
The four anchors that Rin-chan had literally driven in with squared shoulders‚ ferocious speed‚ and overwhelming power were the "rebellious wedges" we had hammered into this unreasonable world. Yet the tea-brown sea behind us still licked greedily at the raft's hem with "chapun‚ chapun" sounds like a hungry beast.
"...Any more torque distribution is impossible with our current materials. This is the maximum answer possible right now against the uncertain variable called this 'ground.' If you're worried‚ keep pressing it down with that arm of yours forever."
The moment Rin-chan stood up‚ she released my arm.
Suddenly deprived of the heat source‚ the cold night wind slipped through my side without hesitation as if saying "excuse me." I hurriedly hugged my numb left arm—which still held her residual heat at its core—tightly with my right hand.
"Rin-san‚ Nagisa-san. Simply fixing the raft is an incomplete boundary line repair. The system's 'initialization' is trying to strip away the soil from this hill's slope too. ...We need a physical 'fence.' A strong outer wall to define this as our temporary 'home.'"
Haru-kun‚ who had crawled up from the raft onto land‚ crouched and raised the waterproof notebook labeled 'Day 3' high.
The raindrops clinging to his ash-silver messy hair sparkled silver in sync with the sharp light in his eyes that saw through truth.
"A fence? ...Hey‚ Haru-kun. Does that mean we're going to dismantle our 'floating parlor ship' and prop it up on this beat-up hill!?"
"...We'll keep disassembly to a minimum. The raft's spare frames and the 'treasures (junk)' Nagisa-san has collected so far... We'll link them to these four stakes as base points and build a 'protective fence' to block magnetic anomaly drift. Please accept."
"...Fine. Haru‚ cut wires out of the raft. Nagisa‚ take the support poles from that steel rack over there... Wait‚ Nagisa. What happened to that foot?"
Rin-chan's voice suddenly dropped low‚ losing all warmth.
Her piercing gaze was fixed on—my right foot.
The AC adapter tourniquet binding my thigh was securely sealing the artery with no slack. The bleeding wasn't from there. It was from my defenseless bare foot‚ which had given up its shoe barrier to the raft's fender.
The merciless friction of the black asphalt had torn the skin‚ and with every step I took‚ "proof of life"—a mix of mud and fresh blood—was being cruelly stamped onto the cold ground.
"...Oh‚ this? I've been feeling like the soles of my feet are tingling with 'super-spicy wasabi flavor' for a while now. Ahaha‚ the ground sure is welcoming me a bit too much..."
"...Is this a laughing matter? It's unpleasant. I told you that if that missing 'mass (anchor)' of yours gets damaged any further‚ my calculations will go haywire."
Rin-chan quietly knelt in front of me. Her eyes held a fierce will that allowed no spoiling.
"...Nagisa. Sit. ...Do not move without my permission."
"B-but we have to build the fence. I can't be the only one resting..."
"...Shut up. Obey the 'rules' known as physical laws. Forcing damaged parts into overuse deviates from basic repair principles. Right now‚ you just need to 'exist' there."
With an unquestionable grip‚ Rin-chan pulled my slender waist closer and sat me on the thick concrete base of a broken streetlamp lying in the nearby mud.
Right after that.
"...Hyah!? ...R-Rin-chan...?"
Rin-chan gently wrapped my numb left arm—the heavy‚ ice-cold 'marshmallow arm'—with her heated hands‚ as if cherishing it or binding it.
In the pouring cold rain‚ that spot alone was abnormally hot.
The fierce heat rising from her flowed straight through my supposedly dead arm all the way to the depths of my heart.
"...Nagisa. This arm of yours... is even colder than before. Is the Joule heat circulation insufficient?"
Rin-chan slowly massaged my upper arm‚ tracing it with her fingertips.
My nerves were supposed to be dead.
Yet every time her hot fingers slid over my skin‚ it was like high-voltage current was forcibly pumped into my frozen neural circuits‚ blasting away all error warnings and causing fierce short circuits deep in my chest.
"Ah... uu... Rin-chan's hands... are really hot..."
"...You're the one who's too cold. I won't allow any more defects (errors) in the world I defined. ...For now‚ I'll bypass the residual heat from my engine... straight to you..."
Rin-chan lowered her face deeply.
Raindrops dripping from her black bangs fell onto my collarbone and slid down my heated skin.
Our pressed-together boundary line.
The body heat with nowhere to escape from there heated my left arm like an overcharged battery‚ short-circuiting it beyond its limits—hot and almost painfully.
"...Rin-san. Nagisa-san. ...Complementing each other's resources is logical‚ but the time spent showing it off is statistically a minus."
Haru-kun's voice‚ unusually carrying a faint thorn‚ cut through the sound of rain.
He dragged a heavy wire out of the raft and carried it toward the first anchor we had driven in.
Behind him‚ on the winch-raised transport sled‚ Momiji-chan watched our clumsy exchange with an all-encompassing‚ loving gaze while wrapped in the afterglow of Joule heat.
"...Momiji-san's vitals are predicting the magnetic cycle reversal. Seven minutes left. We must stretch this wire across the four stakes and the raft's frame before then‚ or our 'definition' will collapse. ...Nagisa-san‚ please keep the wire tension steady with that 'warmed arm.' Accepted."
"Roger...! Right now I feel like I can become the world's strongest 'living spring'!"
I pressed the left arm that Rin-chan had heated to its limit firmly against the bundle of cold wires‚ hiding my flushed face.
There was still no sensation. Yet the "Rin-chan's heat" clinging deep in my skin strongly and surely fastened me as an indispensable part of this individual.
The birth cry of our new "home" was repainting the boundary line in the cold rain.
"...Mmmph...! Hey‚ Rin-chan‚ this wire is thrashing around inside my arm like a fish going 'I wanna escape!' and jumping all over...!"
I pressed the left arm that Rin-chan had warmed to its limit with all my strength against the bundle of wires and leaned my entire weight on the steel rack's support pole.
The arm that was supposed to have no sensation. Yet the "heat" from Rin-chan's touch just moments ago remained vividly imprinted there like the residual heat of the magnetic engine. I hugged my own left arm tightly with my right hand so as not to let even a single bit of that heat escape‚ and forcibly pinned down the thrashing metal lines.
"...What’s thrashing isn’t the wire. The system’s 'initialization' is simply rejecting this 'boundary line' we’re trying to define as an inappropriate bug. ...But it’s futile resistance. I will rewrite the rules of this world this very instant."
Rin-chan roughly twisted the wire’s end with pliers and guided it toward the anchor while scattering sparks. In her eyes burned the cold‚ arrogant light unique to one who monopolized the world’s order.
"Rin-san‚ Nagisa-san! The ground’s resonance frequency is reversing! In forty seconds the system’s 'deletion' will scan this slope...! Hurry and close the boundary!"
Haru-kun shoved the waterproof notebook 'Day 3' into the mud-stained pocket of his parka‚ threw himself over the transport sled to hide Momiji-chan‚ and shouted. His ash-silver messy hair whipped wildly in the magnetic storm like silver flames.
"...No need to tell me. Nagisa‚ we’re closing the barrier. Bite the wire onto the last anchor. ...The tension will jump—do not move there at all. Even if you die‚ maintain that 'mass.'"
Rin-chan knelt powerfully right in front of me.
Her long black hair‚ whipped by the raging wind‚ sharply traced my cheek.
Right beside my right foot—still bare‚ stepping on the asphalt with blood flowing from the torn skin—she roughly yet precisely wrapped the wire’s end around the already-driven fourth stake.
"I’ll let my right foot be accepted as the world’s strongest 'access code' right now!"
I planted my right foot—AC adapter still biting into the flesh—with every ounce of my mass and resolve‚ stomping down hard on the base of the stake.
The tremendous pain shot all the way to my skull. But I was certain that torrent of pain was the surest living wedge to "repair (fix)" the four of us onto this merciless ground.
"...Five‚ four... three‚ two‚ one... Deletion incoming!!"
Haru-kun’s scream announcing the world’s end‚ perfectly synchronized with Rin-chan’s arrogant‚ fearless roar.
"...Kneel before the 'rules' known as physical laws. ...This is the new 'route (correct answer)' we rewrote!!"
In the tiniest gap of a comma before the system’s deletion wave could sweep the slope clean—
The heavy wrench smashed the wire fastener like a counter‚ and the hard metallic sound sharply tore through the heavy pre-dawn darkness.
—GIIIIIIIN!!
In that instant‚ the square wire boundary line stretched around us emitted a flash so intense it instantly erased even the light from the raft’s magnetic engine. The four lines‚ charged with pale blue static‚ snapped taut all at once.
It was the rebellious shelter that turned the magnetic malice trying to erase us into our own power and defined a sanctuary for just the four of us.
"...Warm... This is our... 'home'..."
Inside the barrier‚ on the winch-raised sled. Momiji-chan‚ illuminated by the pale blue barrier light‚ let tears spill one after another in relief that her prayer had become reality and smiled quietly.
"...Fixation confirmed. The 'boundary line' we laid has completely deviated from the system’s monitoring definition. ...Accepted with 100% accuracy!"
Haru-kun’s voice rang out‚ trembling yet full of pride.
I finally released the left arm that had been supporting the wire and‚ drawn in‚ pressed my face against Rin-chan’s sweat-dampened shoulder as she caught her breath.
We had repaired yet another bug called the world’s malice—into a "place" just for the four of us.
"...Mmmph. Hey‚ Rin-chan. Look‚ look at that rusted stake we drove in... It’s glistening wet from the rain and looks just like 'premium black candy'—it seems delicious..."
I plopped down heavily on the black asphalt‚ gazing at the pale blue static-charged wires encircling our home.
My bare soles without any shoe barrier transmitted‚ along with the cold concrete’s rejection‚ the definite vibration of the "ground" we had forcibly rewritten.
"...Don’t confuse sugar with iron oxide. Your brain’s inventory should be thoroughly formatted once‚ Nagisa."
Rin-chan cut off thrust to the engine’s screw‚ switched to pure 'heat source (idling) mode‚' and walked over from the raft "Deluxe Mudwater Float." Her profile was filled with the ruler’s pride of having twisted a single physical law with her own logic.
"Rin-san‚ Nagisa-san... Recording complete."
Haru-kun quietly traced the page labeled 'Day 3' in the waterproof notebook spread across his knees with mud-stained fingertips. He shook the raindrops from his ash-silver messy hair with a "brrr" like a dog‚ then read aloud the new truth (log) he had just written while still crouched.
"...Record‚ Day 3‚ 22:41. Establishment of provisional 'residency rights' at the high ground base. ...Constructed a physical 'rejection (delete guard)' against the system’s initialization process. ...Accepted as our correct answer (history) with 100% accuracy."
"Accepted... I’m so happy... Nagisa‚ Rin‚ Haru-san... We’ve made it back inside the 'boundary line' again..."
On the sled‚ Momiji-chan let her chest exoskeleton creak with a "...kyuu" of comfort.
She leaned out from the sled‚ her slender fingertips trembling as she lovingly stroked the black asphalt ground as if handling something fragile.
"...The smell of soil. How nostalgic... Even if the world tries to erase it‚ we’ve obtained a 'place' like this again..."
"That’s right‚ Momiji-chan! This isn’t just some 'shelter' anymore! It’s the four of us’s deluxe deluxe 'home'!!"
I gazed at the rain-smoked night horizon.
In the western sky‚ the eerily pulsating 'black wall' still loomed‚ monitoring this world’s bugs. But now we had "heat" we could create even without fire. We had "legs" that could hack even physical laws and advance. And we had "history" that could accept and record any despair.
"...Heh. Home‚ huh... Not a bad ring to it. Though it’s a bit too narrow for my domain."
Rin-chan plopped down beside me and casually rested her head on my shoulder with a "thunk."
From that tiny point of contact where our shoulders touched‚ her raw—and overwhelmingly powerful—body heat flowed directly.
That warmth pleasantly drove my heart-rate sensor into "excitement index overflow."
"...But Rin-chan‚ there’s still one really serious error left."
"...What is it? Wire tension? Or the ground’s resonance frequency?"
"Nope! My 'stomach repair operation' has been blaring the 'out of stock' warning at full volume for a while now! I got so caught up making the boundary line that I forgot the main dish!!"
When I shouted‚ Haru-kun let out a deep‚ exasperated sigh‚ Momiji-chan laughed like the tinkling of bells‚ and Rin-chan—grinned with the smile of one who ruled everything.
"...Understood. The old-era rule called fire is dead‚ but we have magnetism (hack). The electro-thermal conversion efficiency is the worst‚ but maintaining one individual’s vitals takes priority. ...As a special treat‚ I’ll repair a festival soup.
Everyone‚ gather at the center (stove) of this 'home.' I will not permit anyone to drop out from hunger without my permission."
The last remnant of land floating in the tea-brown sea.
The four of us as "individuals" began our life brightly on the other side of those rusted stakes and wires.
Turning the world’s malice into gasoline.
Our unstoppable festival footprints would be carved deep and strong from here into tomorrow’s unknown territory.
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