Chapter 5「Those Who Were Not Chosen」
The silhouette of the fog-shrouded royal capital beyond the window was beginning to be edged in a pale blue light that carried a bone-chilling cold.
Dawn was breaking.
Perhaps because the inside of my lungs had been filled all night with the moldy smell of old books and thick ink‚ the morning air I inhaled burned my throat like a razor.
「……Haha‚ what a terrible face.」
When I peered into the small hand mirror on the desk‚ what was reflected there was the ruined form of the 'Noble Observer.'
Bloodshot eyes‚ pale cheeks‚ a face drained of color like a ghost sleeping at the bottom of a thousand-year glacier.
……I see.
So this is the fate of a human who tried to defile the 'official history' in a single night.
I stared at the palms of both hands resting on my lap.
From the fingertips to under the nails‚ stubborn black ink was caked on.
No amount of soap would ever get it off.
There lay the proof of the invader who had continued to weave curses to erode the kingdom's system and rewrite the official history.
On the desk lay several sheets of parchment‚ the成果 of the night's battle.
They were not filled with neat writing‚ but crammed with distorted formulas and geometric patterns designed to strike at the 'fatal bugs' hidden in the kingdom's magic system.
While protagonists like Kyle slept soundly beneath the dazzling light called justice‚ the pen tip of a background character poured a lethal dose of poison into the underside of the world. My cracked lips naturally curled upward at that immoral pleasure.
「……Now then. Where to hide the poison.」
I stood up‚ making the chair creak‚ and headed toward the largest and most boring bookshelf in the deepest part of the room.
I ran my fingertip along the spines and selected one thick volume.
『Official History of the Kingdom of Lumiere: The Luminous Path from Founding to the Present』
When I had once immersed myself in reading this‚ it had seemed nothing more than a boring heroic tale.
But now it was different.
「The underside of a shining history is the perfect place to hide garbage. After all‚ those knightly gentlemen would never open a hell full of nothing but letters in their entire lifetime.」
I slipped the freshly completed 'blueprint of rebellion' into the narrow gap behind the cover.
Planting the deadly poison meant to destroy the world on the underside of sacred history.
At that ironic composition‚ a pitch-black pulse throbbed deep in my chest.
I returned the book to its original position and deliberately gazed at my ink-stained fingertips.
Sasha's burns‚ Elina's screams‚ and this black stain.
The solidarity of the 'background' characters had surely begun to cry out in the depths of this quiet tower‚ unknown to anyone.
From now on‚ the usual morning would arrive.
The knight beloved by the overly dazzling sun would come to take her away‚ knowing nothing.
I would look down upon the ridiculous figure of that protagonist (Kyle) from the best seat (here).
Amid fatigue that clouded my consciousness‚ my vision was clearer and colder than ever before.
With the magical noise called color stripped away‚ the distorted framework composing this world became transparently visible‚ as if I could reach out and touch it.
By the time this page is opened again‚
this country's 'correct answer' will probably be stained a little black as well.
The blue silence that painted over thought was torn apart by violent golden light.
The morning sunlight streaming through the window was no longer a blessing.
It mercilessly burned the retinas that had been staring into the darkness all night.
Yet the more my physical vision whited out‚ the more ironically clear the 'system' framework composing this world became.
Suddenly‚ footsteps echoed from downstairs as a fatal dissonance.
「Loui-kun! It's morning— Are you alive?」
Without even leaving the echo of a knock‚ the one who had already stepped into the center of the room was a girl who personified a spring storm.
Elina‚ standing with dazzling light on her back‚ was not the tragic shrine maiden I had hallucinated last night.
With a faint sweat on the tip of her nose‚ she wore her usual carefree smile that somehow felt like a 'badly made lie.'
「……Your voice is too loud. Is destroying eardrums first thing in the morning a sacred duty programmed into the oracle's shrine maiden?」
「Ahaha‚ you seem as energetic as ever. Look! Just as promised‚ I packed only the sweetest parts today.」
From the basket she placed with a thud on the desk rose a sweet aroma so thick it nearly paralyzed my lungs.
At Elina's urging‚ I picked up a golden fragment.
The pitch-black ink on my unwashed fingertips mixed stickily with the golden honey.
The deadly poison was already beginning to erode the pure white domain of 'life' she brought.
Feeling a dim pleasure at that grotesque contrast‚ I brought it to my mouth.
In an instant‚ a shock like my brain had been grabbed directly ran through me.
「……!?」
Sweet.
The complete opposite of the dry‚ gray‚ sand-like tastelessness I had tasted before—an overwhelming violence of 'life.'
「……Was it not good?」
「……No. It's so sweet my brain is about to short-circuit. Are you planning to paint over your remaining time with sugar and escape from reality?」
The fatigue from staying up all night and the drug-like sugar slammed my cracked reason into an overclocked state of awakening.
My nearly short-circuited intellect mercilessly exposed her clumsy lie.
「Escape? I just wanted you to smile‚ that's all.」
She leaned over the desk and smiled as if peering in.
But deep in her eyes‚ for a moment‚ 'fear' shone through the morning light.
There was the figure of a single timid girl who feared drowning in this place‚ in this warmth‚ more than anyone.
「I'm satisfied. Because right now‚ you're here eating cake next to me.」
The girl's slender fingertips lovingly stroked the empty confectionery box.
The existence of the 'blueprint of rebellion' hidden on the underside of the 'official history' grew heavier in my mind.
If she sought salvation by sinking into this sweetness‚
I would mix the worst 'poison' that would rot the kingdom's system into the bottom of that sweetness‚ in a lethal dose.
I sensed heavy footsteps approaching again from the bottom of the stairs.
Footsteps coming to correct the secret error (time).
The facts uncovered by last night's analysis were clear.
What he was risking his life to protect was neither peace nor justice.
It was nothing more than bloody routine work to maintain this distorted program.
He was no longer a dazzling protagonist.
He was the presence of a pitiful and ridiculous 'enforcer' who blindly believed in the mad official history and continued to operate without knowing anything.
The sound of military boots echoing from downstairs was a countdown physically shaving away the time of our secret 'sweet complicity.'
I burned the side profile of Elina standing by the window into my retinas so as not to miss it.
Her white skin‚ translucent in the morning sunlight‚ looked far too fragile—like a sacrificial offering waiting to be crushed by the sturdy gears of this country's 'system.'
「……Loui-kun. Don't make such a scary face. I went to the trouble of making the sweets extra sweet.」
「Don't make me laugh. Isn't this sweetness the result of a desperate defense mechanism born from fearing drowning in reality (here)?」
I took one step closer.
「Do you know the true identity of the 'peace' you are risking your life to protect? It is nothing more than a gigantic clockwork life-support device maintained by meticulously calculated mana distribution and 'parts' that are discarded every few decades.」
「……Parts. You mean me‚ right?」
She lowered her gaze.
Her slender fingertips aimlessly stirred the particles of light that had accumulated on the windowsill.
「Everyone says 'congratulations' to me. 'You were chosen‚ that's amazing.' But... I've never chosen anything even once.」
A voice squeezed out from the back of her throat.
The mask of the innocent shrine maiden finally cracked from the scream coming from within.
「I wasn't chosen. I was simply placed there. Thrown into a massive flow I can't resist‚ without knowing how to fight back.」
「I know. That's why I decided to smash that ridiculous 'hourglass' from the inside.」
Her face rose in surprise.
「Smash it...? There's no way you can do something like—」
「I can. The collection in this tower taught me the 'vulnerabilities (bugs)' in the kingdom's magic system. The logic binding you is nothing more than an outdated program that can be rewritten with a single pen.」
This was not clumsy consolation.
It was the cold declaration of victory from an 'invader' who had finished his analysis overnight.
While the protagonists bathed in the blessing of the dazzling sun without a shred of doubt‚ the residents of the background had grasped all the muddy circuit diagrams on the underside of this world.
「……Loui-kun‚ you're really strange. Before‚ you tried so hard not to get involved.」
「I quit being an observer. Because merely recording couldn't stop the coldness of those fingertips.」
Outside the window‚ the morning mist cleared‚ and the royal capital began to reveal its massive form. Imagining the coldhearted mana paths running beneath the beautiful streets‚ I sneered.
「I've already finished writing the poison to defile this country's official history. All that's left is to wait for it to take effect.」
Confusion and‚ even more so‚ the color of deep 'salvation' mixed in Elina's eyes.
The air flowing between the two of us was no longer that of 'observer and specimen.' It had decisively transformed into that of accomplices who peered together into the same abyss against the massive enemy called fate.
The footsteps were almost upon us.
The sound of iron rang out‚ pressing against my eardrums with physical mass. The regular rhythm ascending the spiral staircase mercilessly marked the time limit.
「……Elina. May I for a moment?」
This was not accidental contact like before.
With clear intent‚ I reached out my right hand and enclosed her slender wrist—gripping the windowsill—so she could not escape.
「……Loui-kun?」
Blue eyes trembling with surprise.
I sealed the reflexive pull with the obsession that had transformed from 'observer' to 'invader.'
The moment our fingertips touched‚ a heat like a bolt through the brain shot through me.
The pitch-black ink stain violated her translucent white skin.
This ugly stain that would surely remain faintly on her wrist was the 'mark of complicity' dragging the pure white shrine maiden down.
That all-too-cruel contrast painted a single completed act of immorality in the violent morning light.
「……It's a medical examination. I'll measure directly how much longer a defective system like you can keep ticking...」
While spitting out words like an excuse‚ I pressed the pad of my thumb against the inside of her wrist‚ onto the 'pulse of life' jumping beneath the thin skin.
——Fast.
Thump‚ thump. The shrine maiden's heartbeat‚ which should have been disciplined‚ beat wildly and frantically beneath my fingertips like a small bird that had lost its escape.
What flowed from her wrist was not mere body heat.
From the skin warmed by the morning air rose that sweet scent carrying the acidity of lemon‚ along with faint moisture.
My reason felt a burning sensation at the scent that pierced my nostrils.
The footsteps of 'justice' approaching beyond the door were steadily closing the distance.
Yet the more that dazzling enforcer drew near‚ the more the immoral thirst to defile the girl before me blazed up from the pit of my stomach.
「……Loui-kun's hand... it's really... cold‚ but... hot.」
「……Stay quiet. Noise is mixing in.」
At close range. A single bead of sweat running down her nape reflected the sunlight like a pearl and flowed through my vision in slow motion.
I parsed and swallowed the premonition of 'death' lurking behind that pulse and the tenacity of 'life' struggling to reject it‚ with the tips of my nerves.
The illusion that her soft skin was absorbing the deadly poison from my fingertips. The overwhelming heat called 'another person‚' which I had only touched in fantasies before‚ now flowed directly into my heart through my arm.
Her moist eyes wandered like a lost child. Her defenseless lips trembled as they tried to call my name—.
I brought my face close to her ear and whispered low‚ as if pouring in poison.
「……You can rest easy. The 'poison' that will rot the sacred chains binding you is already set in the depths of this tower. The sweetest... and worst poison to take you away.」
Body heat pressed close. Mingling breaths.
When I put more strength into the fingers gripping her wrist‚ Elina let out a small‚ breath-like voice and buried her face in my chest.
The violent heartbeat transmitted through my chest plate was no longer the symbol called 'shrine maiden.'
It was the raw heat itself of a single girl struggling against fate.
Right outside the heavy door‚ the unpleasant sound of perfectly polished military boots stopped.
「Elina! I've come to pick you up. …Oh‚ are you still studying?」
The voice running up the stairs pierced through like a cloudless blue sky.
An merciless pure white trying to forcibly purify the secret 'poison' that had accumulated in this tower.
I quietly pushed back her slender shoulders‚ which had been buried in my chest‚ and slowly released my fingers from her wrist.
The place I had touched rapidly cooled. Yet the residual echo of her pulse and the heat of her moist skin still clung to my fingertips.
I gripped my right hand—mixed with black ink and her life—tightly‚ without bothering to hide it.
「……Looks like your escort has arrived. The overly dazzling knight who will return you to the original system.」
「……Loui-kun‚ your wording...」
She steadied her disordered breathing‚ quickly fixed her disheveled shrine maiden outfit‚ and put back on the usual mask of the 'innocent shrine maiden.'
However‚ deep in the eyes directed at me‚ the moist light of the 'accomplice' from moments before still remained.
The door opened‚ and as expected‚ Kyle appeared‚ carrying a blinding white light that robbed one of any escape.
「Loui‚ thank you again today for diligently instructing Elina. Having a serious student like you by her side makes me proud too.」
He flashed a dazzling smile and patted my shoulder in a friendly manner.
Before‚ that excessive purity would have burned my self-consciousness and made me writhe in卑屈 jealousy.
But now it was different. Even the weight of the hand on my shoulder felt to me now like nothing more than 'meaningless vibrations (errors) emitted by the system.'
（……How ridiculous.）
I looked down at Kyle's face‚ overflowing with a sense of justice‚ no longer as an observer but with the eyes of an 'invader' striking at the system's bugs.
This man did not know.
That the peace he thought he was protecting was a distorted system that existed by shaving away the life of the girl beside him.
Nor did he know that the 'poison' rotting that system to its core was already pulsing on the underside of the 'official history' they worshipped.
「……It's nothing worthy of thanks. I was simply analyzing a little the 'underside' that you all never try to look at.」
「Haha‚ you always use such difficult words. But that inquisitive spirit is exactly what suits the master of this tower.」
I brushed off the sarcasm like a puppy's playful nip.
That unconscious superiority had once been the greatest wall that drove me to despair‚ but now it had changed into pity for the 'ridiculous cog' dancing on the stage without knowing anything.
「Come on‚ let's go‚ Elina. Lady Elise is waiting too.」
「Yeah. …See you‚ Loui-kun. Tomorrow again.」
Pulled by Kyle‚ she turned her back.
Just as she was leaving‚ she looked back once and threw a wordless gaze.
It was a plea that said 'I'm waiting' and a scream that said 'help me.'
The heavy door closed‚ and silence returned to the tower.
Alone‚ I sat down at the round table where deep shadows fell‚ as if escaping the morning light.
What Kyle had taken away was nothing more than an empty symbol called 'shrine maiden' that he believed in.
Her heat and screams still remained surely on these fingertips and in the depths of this tower.
「……Recording is over. From now on‚ I will rewrite this country's story (system).」
I quietly stood up and walked toward the back of the bookshelf. I ran my fingertip along the thick spine of the 'official history.'
On its underside‚ the beautiful logic of destruction that would defile the kingdom's justice and take her away from this cage was surely pulsing.
In the morning light that burned away thought‚ a bold—or perhaps the most malicious—smile that I would show no one floated on my lips.
【Chapter 05 Those Who Were Not Chosen — End】
|