Chapter41 “Deep Breath Recipe (Oxygen Concentrator Repair)”
“Good moooorning! The Water Tribe’s Highland Base No. 1 is open for business today too‚ full of energy!”
I spread both arms wide as if they might tear off right next to the rusty stake I had forcefully driven in last night — our “border line.”
What tickled my nose was the endlessly cruel scent of rain and the slightly pungent smell of pale static electricity that the magnetic engine had been spewing out all night.
My marshmallow-like left arm was still being “hugged” by my right hand‚ and the AC adapter on my right leg greeted me with a sharp burst of pain‚ as if saying‚ ‘I’m in perfect condition and squeezing tight today too!’
But that was fine.
We were now inside the “home” that we had hacked and repaired with our own hands. The long-awaited “Festival Soup” was also about to be served by Rin-chan with her special repair!
“Alrighty‚ time for the awakening ‘Nagisa-style Luck-bringing Floor Dance’! Here we gooo!”
With my right foot still bare after giving my shoes to the raft‚ I stepped onto the asphalt unprotected. Just as I tried to forcefully overwrite the intense pain with energy and take a light step—
“…Gh… heh…!?”
My vision was suddenly painted over with pure white electronic noise.
The air I had inhaled deeply into my lungs simply passed coldly through the back of my throat‚ as if it were saying‚ ‘Sorry‚ customer‚ but we are currently out of oxygen stock for today.’
No matter how much I gasped like a goldfish‚ only a bone-chilling emptiness spread deep inside my chest.
“Huh…? Did someone poke a hole in my ‘lung capacity tank’ during the night…?”
My knees began to buckle‚ and black sparks flickered at the edge of my vision.
Even so‚ I was the “anchor” of this individual. I clenched my teeth and poured in enough force to nearly crush them‚ trying to plant my right foot firmly. However‚ my brain’s main system issued a merciless forced shutdown warning.
Due to the system’s “initialization‚” I helplessly dropped to my knees into a creepy puddle of muddy water seeping out from a crack in the asphalt.
“Nagisa…!?”
A terribly hoarse‚ sharp voice rang out from behind me.
Rin-chan‚ shaking her black jacket with its missing sleeve‚ rushed over. Her steps weren’t her usual perfect ones either. Breathing heavily with her shoulders‚ she dropped to her knees on the wet asphalt and forcefully caught me in her arms.
Her white shoulders‚ which had been managing the heat of this “home” without a wink of sleep since last night‚ were radiating an abnormal heat that felt like it would burn anyone who touched them‚ rising and falling wildly.
“…Nagisa‚ get a hold of yourself… Damn‚ my own heartbeat… is starting to go out of control too. Haru‚ hurry with the atmospheric composition analysis! This is not a simple issue like hyperventilation syndrome…!”
“No… the air… won’t give me a refill…”
I clung to Rin-chan’s hot arms and desperately searched for “life” stock.
But no matter how much I breathed in‚ the depths of my lungs felt scorching and painful‚ as if they were burning empty.
At that moment‚ an unacceptable “sound” came from the transport sled at the center of the base.
—Kyuu‚ kyuuuu…
It was the IV tube “exoskeleton (splint)” attached to Momiji-chan’s chest.
The repair part that was supposed to assist her breathing was letting out a painful creaking sound like a flute being strangled.
“…Hh… haa… ah…”
On the sled‚ Momiji-chan’s complexion was changing from a translucent white — cruelly contrasting her burning red hair — into an eerie purple (cyanosis).
The magnetic engine‚ which synchronized with her heartbeat as its system clock‚ began erratically scattering pale blue sparks as if resonating with her lungs’ screams.
“…Oxygen concentration at 16.8%. It has completely dropped below the survival threshold for an individual… However—”
Haru-kun‚ who was crouching beside the sled‚ slammed open a brand-new page of the waterproof notebook ‘Day 4’ onto the muddy floor.
His ash-silver curly hair was wildly standing on end like silver flames‚ swept up by the raging magnetic torrent.
“The system’s ‘initialization (purge)’ is accelerating‚ and the world has forcibly redefined our new home into an ‘oxygen-free zone’… We will accept this fatal environmental error as the very first line of Day 4…”
“Oxygen-free… zone? Wait a second‚ Mr. World… Are you planning to delete even the stock of the most important ‘air’ before filling our stomachs…?”
My vision grew hazy‚ and even the intense heat rising from Rin-chan’s shoulders now seemed like a distant illusion.
An invisible‚ transparent grim reaper was slowly but surely trying to swallow the “home” we had just defined.
“…Haru-kun‚ does that mean… the air in the home we worked so hard to build is going to be completely deleted…?”
While desperately trying to soothe my own lungs‚ which were about to bid an eternal “goodnight” at the bottom of the muddy water‚ I peered at Haru-kun’s waterproof notebook. The numbers dancing on the page were nothing more than ominous symbols to me. However‚ the side profile of the boy who coldly “accepted” even this cruel death countdown without missing a single character told me the desperate severity of the situation more vividly and cruelly than an empty soup pot ever could.
“…That’s right. The system’s initialization cycle is forcibly replacing the oxygen molecules at these coordinates with nitrogen and other noble gases… The countdown to biological death… until acceptance… remains… gh… ugh…”
Haru-kun’s words cut off as he crouched down and violently clutched his chest. His ash-silver hair swayed weakly‚ as if foretelling a system shutdown due to oxygen deprivation.
“…Don’t mess with me. In the ‘territory’ that I defined‚ I will not allow even a single character of arbitrary rule overwriting.”
From behind‚ a voice rang out like a cold blade or the absolute declaration of a ruler.
When I turned around‚ Rin-chan was standing resolutely in front of the huge silver box we had incorporated yesterday as a weight for the protective fence.
It was an old commercial refrigerator that had probably once been cooling sweet juices and dreams in a park shop.
Rin-chan sharply pierced through Momiji‚ whose face was turning purple as she breathed heavily‚ and Haru’s pale face supporting her‚ seeing through everything in a single glance‚ then turned back toward the refrigerator.
“…I’ll steal the heart. If I hack the airtightness and compression capability of this compressor‚ I should be able to forcibly concentrate and extract only the oxygen Momiji needs from the thinned air.”
Rin-chan pulled a heavy pair of pliers from her tool bag and mercilessly drove them into the rear panel of the refrigerator. With a loud crack.
The sound of destruction echoed dully in the thin atmosphere missing its oxygen‚ and Momiji-chan’s vital monitor emitted a death-rattle-like warning sound.
“…Rin-san‚ are you serious? Driving this compressor requires a steady electromotive force and precise synchronization with the intake cycle. Under the current magnetic anomaly‚ the probability of the motor burning out is 95%—”
“…Probability is nothing more than an uncertain variable that I should rewrite. As long as this IV tube bypass line extending from the raft’s main engine (engine) is directly connected to my system… I will forcefully fill in the missing resources with my logic and Nagisa’s ‘heat.’”
Rin-chan forcefully pulled the makeshift power line she had laid from the raft to land and smirked boldly.
“Alright! In that case‚ let’s begin the ‘resurrection surgery’ on this old man refrigerator! It’s okay‚ Grandpa. We’ll repair you into the best ‘magic lungs’!”
Still crawling in the muddy water‚ I roughly dragged my numb left arm with my right hand as if it were someone else’s luggage‚ using the intense pain in my right leg as an “ignition plug (kindling)” to propel myself forward‚ and crawled toward the side of the refrigerator.
Rin-chan pulled out the compressor’s wiring like entrails‚ while Haru-kun‚ ignoring how the ‘Day 4’ letters were blurring in the muddy water‚ began engraving the rhythm for drive synchronization with his dying breaths into the tip of his pencil.
Inside the sanctuary (shelter) that was suffocating and on the verge of death.
The rebellion to create a new “breath” for us individuals from zero had now let out its first cry.
“Hyau!? I-it’s coooold! A ‘Hell’s Ice Cream Shop’ has randomly opened in the new home we worked so hard to build!!”
Still sprawled in the muddy water‚ I reflexively twisted my body desperately‚ using my pain-stricken right foot as an axis and splashing mud everywhere.
The moment Rin-chan tried to pry open the exposed internal piping with the pliers‚ a “PSHUUUUUU!” burst of white smoke erupted from the connection.
It wasn’t warm steam.
It was the grim reaper’s breath — a ferocious refrigerant gas that robbed the surrounding heat completely.
The iron piping turned pure white with frost the instant it was touched and froze with eerie cracking sounds.
“…The deteriorated refrigerant leaked… The corrosion on the piping is worse than expected. At this rate‚ my fingertips will suffer frostbite and shut down before I can weld the bypass line…”
Rin-chan frowned in annoyance and violently shook her fingertips as she tried to connect the wiring to the piping that had turned into blades of ice.
Even now‚ residual heat from the magnetic engine rose from her body like a heat haze. However‚ this extreme cold violence was trying to devour even that heat in an instant.
“Rin-chan‚ no! Your beautiful fingers will freeze like sashimi garnish! …Oh‚ right. This is exactly when my ‘Marshmallow’ comes in handy!”
Still lying face-down in the cold muddy puddle‚ I forcefully pulled my numb left arm — heavy like someone else’s forgotten belongings despite being my own body — toward me with my right hand.
“Nagisa!? What are you—”
“Just trust me! This arm of mine is now the world’s most luxurious ‘living insulation material’! Since I can’t feel anything‚ it doesn’t feel cold at all!”
I forcefully pressed my left arm‚ which had lost all sensation‚ against the connection of the piping frozen pure white.
The sleeve of my pink parka instantly turned white with frost.
Deep beneath the skin‚ my cells were probably screaming “Help meee!” but not even a millimeter of ‘pain’ reached my brain.
There was only the strange feedback (log) of a heavy‚ cold flesh cushion forcefully blocking the ferocious cold air leak.
“…You idiot… But there’s no other choice right now. I’ll repair it in this instant.”
From behind‚ Rin-chan slid in and pressed closely against my back.
In the narrow space behind the refrigerator‚ we were so close that our breaths mingled.
Her hot arms‚ which controlled her dominance‚ wrapped around my chest and reached forward.
“Hyan… ah…”
Rin-chan’s shoulder overlapped perfectly with the nape of my neck.
The heat that had warmed me when we built this ‘home’ last night was now completely different.
It was a maddening amount of heat‚ like an engine on the verge of overheating after forcefully pulling the 140 kg us out of the muddy swamp.
On the other hand‚ what my left arm was desperately holding down was an extremely low-temperature metal tube that could freeze the world.
The abnormal temperature difference clashed violently at my border line‚ messily scrambling the graph of my heartbeat.
“…Don’t move. Your marshmallow… is too soft… and lets heat escape defenselessly…”
Rin-chan forcefully pressed the electrode (bypass line) insulated with the IV tube from the raft into the slight gap in the piping right beside my left arm so it wouldn’t escape.
The scent of sweat and iron came from her fingertips.
And her heated arms pressed down on my senseless skin gently yet fiercely‚ dominantly‚ as if cherishing it.
Using my ‘Marshmallow’ as a flesh shield‚ Rin-chan forcibly performed magnetic arc welding (induction heating).
Intense pale blue sparks burst from the wiring joint‚ burning my retinas with a crackling sound.
The absolute zero cold eating away at my left arm‚ and the life-burning heat pouring in from my back.
Every time Rin-chan’s desperate breath touched my ear‚ the circuits deep in my chest short-circuited violently‚ exceeding survival limits like an overcharged battery.
“…Momiji-san’s blood oxygen level is in the red zone. Remaining time‚ 15 seconds! However… we accept the critical temperature rise at the piping joint!”
Haru-kun’s voice‚ crouched on the muddy floor‚ cut through the heated silence like a merciless second hand.
We were now trying to melt together into one “individual‚” with the frozen iron lungs between us.
“…It’s here! Old man refrigerator‚ your first wake-up shot! It’s time to wake up!!”
Beneath my arm‚ the iron mass jumped with a “THUMP!” like a heartbeat.
The electromotive force from the magnetic engine that Rin-chan had directly connected forcefully jolted the compressor’s old coils out of their coma.
GATAGATAGATAGATA!!
But the vibration was not the rhythm we had hoped for.
It was an irregular‚ writhing beat that scattered pale blue sparks on the asphalt‚ on the verge of falling apart and saying “goodbye.”
“…The pressure is insufficient. The cylinder’s reciprocating cycle is being repelled by the world’s magnetic pulse…!”
While holding down the exposed wiring with her fingertips‚ Rin-chan bared her teeth like a beast aiming at its prey.
Her slender arms were shaking pure white‚ refusing to lose to the machine’s violent trembling.
“At this rate‚ the motor will burn out before concentration (repair) even begins… Haru‚ hurry with the synchronization calculations! Pull the rules over to our side!”
“I’m trying! But the external negative pressure pulses are too irregular — I can’t find a fixed clock! Remaining time‚ eight seconds… gh… ugh!”
Haru-kun slammed the waterproof notebook onto his muddy knee and ran the pencil across it so hard it nearly broke in this desperate countdown.
His ash-silver hair stood on end from the inescapable static electricity‚ sharp like a silver needle mountain.
Still in my low‚ crawling posture‚ I slammed my numb left arm onto the head of the compressor with a “thud” — desperately trying to restrain the wild horse.
But it wasn’t enough. With only my body weight as the unreliable mass (resource)‚ I couldn’t completely overpower this “world’s harassment.”
(…Oh‚ right. I still have one more ultimate ‘anchor’ left.)
I forcefully pressed my mud- and filth-covered bare right foot onto the iron base of the violently vibrating machine.
—BIKIII!
“…Gh… Fguuuuuuh!!”
An overwhelming pain as if my nerve circuits were being directly burned with a blowtorch.
The physical shock driven in from the laceration on the sole of my foot struck the nerve spikes in my thigh‚ which had been stretched to the limit by the AC adapter tourniquet‚ and erupted as electrical noise like all the cables in my body were being forcibly torn apart.
But that extraordinary error signal (pain) was accepted as the strongest “synchronization password” for redefining the outline of us as one individual.
My fading consciousness in the thin air was sharpened like a diamond — hard and coldly — by that pain.
“…Nagisa-san!? That leg — the tourniquet has reached its limit—”
“Just do the calculations‚ Haru-kun! Before my ‘anchor of intense pain’ comes off… hurry up and find the password to bug the world!!”
As if in response to my shout.
Momiji-chan‚ who was on the verge of suffocation on the sled‚ faintly trembled her lips dyed an eerie purple and quietly tapped the splint on her chest with her slender fingertips with a “…ton.”
“…Ha… ru… san. Use… my heartbeat (sound)…”
“…Accepted! Setting Momiji-san’s vitals as the crystal oscillator (system clock)! I will directly link the piston’s reciprocating speed and magnetic cycle to her heartbeat (beat)!”
Haru-kun’s fingertips raced furiously across the notebook page as if snapping it.
Rin-chan forcefully slammed the wiring extending from Momiji-chan’s monitor into the circuit of the roaring compressor‚ scattering pale blue sparks.
“…The ‘breathing (rules)’ of this miniature garden — I will dominate them!!”
At that moment.
The scattered breaths of the three of us‚ Momiji-chan’s life pulse‚ and the machine’s roar overlapped into a single line of light.
SHUGOOOOOOOO…!!
The wildly rampaging vibration transformed‚ as if by magic‚ into a regular “individual’s breath.”
High-pressure air compressed to the extreme blew out from the compressor’s exhaust tube. It was a slightly sweet‚ clean wind that carried certain life‚ similar to the one I smelled during the “baking soda repair.”
“…Compression rate has broken through the critical point. Oxygen partial pressure rapidly rising to 120 hectopascals. Redefinition of the atmosphere completed…”
With a trembling hand‚ Haru-kun forcefully carved the first stroke (answer) into the mud-stained ‘Day 4’ page as if stabbing it.
“…Day 4‚ first definition accepted. We have now… hacked the world’s air.”
“Shugoooooo… Puhaaa!”
Right before my eyes‚ a soft‚ gentle color like pale pink blush applied by a magic brush slowly returned to Momiji-chan’s porcelain-white cheeks.
Every time the freshly repaired “concentrated oxygen” flowed into her lungs from the tip of the makeshift IV tube‚ the exoskeleton (splint) on her chest let out a “…kyuu” sound — not the death rattle from before‚ but something like a satisfied sigh.
“…Ah… ah…”
Momiji-chan slowly lifted her eyelids as if checking a nearly lost treasure.
Her sunset-like red hair swayed in the faint wind blown out by the compressor.
“…Delicious… The air tastes… like a spring parfait…”
“Parfait!? Momiji-chan just said parfait!? Yaaay! My ‘stomach-rumbling alert’ has finally broken its limit and I’m even starting to hear hallucinations!!”
I tried to snap my right fingers — but they slipped from the moisture and missed‚ though I shouted anyway‚ not caring about that at all.
I tightly hugged my numb left arm (marshmallow) with my right arm‚ and while protecting my pain-stricken right leg‚ I shook my shoulders widely to express my joy with my whole body.
“Extra-large oxygen refills are free! How about a deep breath assortment for dessert!?”
“…Noisy. Your voice alone is going to thin out the precious oxygen concentration.”
Right beside me‚ Rin-chan sat down as if checking the engine’s exhaust heat and the compressor’s vibration.
However‚ in the eyes glaring at me‚ there burned a quiet pride as a ruler who had subdued even one physical law with her own logic.
“…Hmph. In the rules I rewrote‚ the error called suffocation does not exist… Kneel‚ world.”
Rin-chan smiled boldly and gently rested her forehead against mine with a light *clunk*.
The violently intense heat of life flowed into me. It slowly‚ gently‚ and lovingly melted away the coldness of the refrigerant gas that had been eating at my marshmallow arm just moments ago.
“…Recording completed. Day 4‚ 06:12. Redefinition of breathing.”
A little distance away‚ Haru-kun‚ who had been crouching‚ added the final powerful stroke to the mud-stained waterproof notebook.
The blue light of the barrier and the orange heat of the engine mixed in his ash-silver curly hair‚ beautifully and vividly outlining the border of the new world.
“We have now completely ‘repaired’ statistical death… This is the first breath of our new ‘home.’”
Haru-kun hugged the notebook to his chest and nodded quietly but with a definite sense of victory.
Outside the border line (wire)‚ the western ‘black wall’ continued to wriggle eerily as always‚ and the cold rain kept pouring down mercilessly.
But inside this curtain of pale blue static electricity alone‚ it was filled with the sweet air and body heat that we had created with our own hands‚ using pain as the password.
Me‚ Rin-chan‚ Haru-kun‚ and Momiji-chan.
The heartbeats of the four of us overlapped with the rhythm of a single compressor.
By forcefully rewriting the predetermined equation called despair‚ our ‘festival’ began to move again anew from this one deep breath.
“…Alright! Since the breathing repair was a huge success too‚ it’s finally time for the real parfait… I mean‚ the ‘warm Festival Soup’ we promised yesterday‚ right‚ Rin-chan!”
“…It looks like not even the highest-pressure compressor could ever fill that black hole you call a stomach.”
Momiji-chan’s bell-like laughter overlapped with Rin-chan’s sigh‚ which sounded exasperated yet somehow affectionate.
Our unstoppable footsteps continued to carve themselves deeply and strongly into the muddy ground of this highland.
Chapter 41 End
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