Chapter 24 "Salty Rain and Serina's Tears"
――バリッ。
The sound of Shio crushing a potato chip with his molars echoed across the amber lakeshore.
A dry‚ high-frequency sound. That alone was the decisive trigger.
The moment that sound dissolved into the world‚ the system patch of the "Perfect Messiah" that had been covering his field of vision literally shattered into pieces.
「……っ、あ……？」
What struck his brain directly was the intense scent of "salt."
That was the "key." The lid on the sealed trauma was pried open‚ and the concept of "ground" silently peeled away from beneath his feet.
『??《Fatal Error》。 Undefined foreign interference detected. ……Lord Rui! The mental optimization patch is experiencing abnormal internal load―― collapsing (crash)――』
Ciel's scream-like warning log dyed the void and his retinas bright red.
But even that system voice was drowned out by the heavy‚ cold sound of bubbling water.
The scent of salt was merely the trigger. What dragged him down to hell was that orange sea.
Into the back of his throat. Into the folds of his alveoli. Viscous‚ salty mud water was forcibly poured in.
「……が、はっ……！ げほっ、あ、あぁ……ッ！」
He collapsed onto the wafer pavement‚ clawing at his throat in search of oxygen. No matter how much he breathed in‚ only cold seawater entered his lungs.
His vision shook violently. Before his eyes‚ the boy wearing a deep hood―― Shio―― simply looked down at him with those cold sanpaku eyes as he drowned.
『??《Emergency Warning》。 Heart rate exceeding 220……！ Respiratory convulsions confirmed. No good‚ Lord Rui! Don't get dragged back into that day's sea――！』
Ciel‚ more panicked than ever‚ desperately ran calculations to keep his consciousness connected to the system side. But the processing couldn't keep up at all.
The "anesthetic of oblivion‚" woven from hundreds of billions of intricate codes‚ burned away like scraps of paper in the face of the irrational "terror" that had taken his life in the beginning.
――ピィィィッ！ 『Error: Memory Patch [Sea] → OVERRIDE (fatal collapse)』
"Hey‚ Rui! You're not breathing……っ！"
Beside him‚ Serina shook his shoulders violently in a half-crazed state.
「……や、だ……。息、が……っ。……う、み……」
"The sea? What are you talking about‚ Rui! There's no water here!? Why―― why do you look like you're drowning!?"
Her "cognitive dissonance" in the face of an incomprehensible situation unconsciously became divinity‚ twisting the world into unease. The pleasant fizzing sound of carbonation from the amber cider lake suddenly vanished unnaturally.
「……No‚ salt‚ water……っ」
"What do you mean by salt!? I don't understand―― I don't get what you mean!"
Along with her pained voice‚ the vanilla scent drifting from her silver hair enveloped the area.
It felt terribly unpleasant.
Every time the sweet scent reached him‚ the weight of that sea's "honey mud water" flashed back‚ causing his stomach to convulse violently.
Tears and snot spilled down messily.
The "Messiah‚" who until a moment ago had a marble-cold perfect smile affixed to his face‚ had been dragged back into being just a powerless boy who drowned in his previous life‚ all because of the memory pried open by a single potato chip.
In the midst of convulsions that felt like his chest was being violently clawed at‚ a silver glint moved at the edge of his vision.
"…Don't bully my Rui!"
Serina‚ who normally only showed interest in sweet snacks‚ shouted in an unusually high and sharp voice. Her wet blue eyes stared straight at the boy standing a short distance away―― Shio.
But her anger did not last long.
In her emotional repertoire‚ complex mechanisms like "guilt" or "remorse" for reflecting on her own actions were not implemented in the first place. She simply could not understand the sight of him suffering before her. The panic with nowhere to go spilled out as large teardrops.
"Why do you make that face……? I don't understand what it means……っ"
The moment that single drop hit the wafer pavement and burst――
――ゴロゴロ、ピシャァァン！
The world physically screamed.
The sky of the amber-glowing cider lake rapidly darkened as if ink had been spilled into it. The sweet vanilla wind that had clung to his skin suddenly stopped‚ replaced by a raw‚ heavy gust carrying the scent of the sea.
"Wh-why‚ why is this happening……っ！？ The magical sugar code is being forcibly overwritten (override) by an undefined error (salt content)……！？ It's a severance of the world's rationality!"
Behind them‚ Nagi‚ the kingdom's top archivist‚ screamed while clutching a crumpled parchment. She had completely lost strength in her legs on the wet ground‚ her jade eyes wide with madness. Her knowledge (logic) understood the end of this miniature garden more accurately than anyone.
「……あ、あ……あぁ……っ」
A scream that wasn't even a voice leaked from his throat.
Rain began to fall from the sky.
The droplet that hit his cheek slowly flowed toward his mouth. The taste he felt on the tip of his tongue was not sweet syrup.
It was salty.
It was the taste of death from that day―― 'real seawater'―― which absolutely should not exist in this overly sweet miniature garden.
ざぁぁぁぁっ、と。
Serina's sorrow directly interfered with the world‚ pouring down as a violent salty downpour.
「……っ！？」
The pastel-colored world beaten by seawater began to collapse with an eerie sound. The cotton candy trees surrounding them dissolved in the salt water‚ turning into "splat" black sludge. The beautiful amber lake surface became turbid‚ and the pleasant fizzing carbonation sound was overwritten by a hideous bubbling like mud water boiling.
Sweet salvation was being rewritten into raw decay.
Serina herself was unaware of how cruelly this rain she caused was gouging the world―― and his trauma. The concept of "regret" was not implemented in her dictionary right now. She could only panic from the incomprehensible sorrow and sob.
＊＊＊
"…Hey hey. No way. That idiot started destroying the world herself."
In the pouring salty rain‚ I looked down at the decaying lakeshore without caring that my parka was getting wet. I didn't need an umbrella. The coldness of this salty rain was the only reality where I could "breathe."
On my shoulder‚ Nigari let out a dry laugh.
"Heh. That's what I told you‚ Shio. The people in this world don't know 'bitterness.' That's why they can only cry."
"…Bitterness‚ you say?"
"Yeah. Reflection‚ regret‚ guilt. The bitterly sour emotions that humans need to become adults―― that god deleted them all from the world."
Nigari's reptile-like eyes coldly overlooked the situation.
"That's why she's summoning the sea (hell) with nothing but sorrow‚ without even realizing she's gouging Rui's old wounds to the fullest. ……It's fucking disgusting."
Unconsciously‚ I clenched my molars. The taste of blood seeping into my mouth further accelerated my irritation.
"…Tch. After having that much of his insides scraped away…… Hey Rui‚ why the hell are you still trying to smile……！"
On the other side of the downpour.
Despite being deathly pale and hyperventilating‚ the guy desperately reached out a trembling hand‚ trying to embrace the sobbing Serina's shoulder. Not only that. He forcibly lifted the convulsing cheek muscles trembling with fear‚ struggling in the mud water to create his 'usual perfect smile' to reassure her.
That insane behavior of trying to protect that silent god even while drowning in irrational terror was unbearably unpleasant.
I roughly pulled out an old black notebook from my wet pocket. Flipping through the pages‚ I forcefully ran a rounded pencil lead across it.
"…Another one. His original is being pointlessly shaved away again."
'Record: Salty rain falls from the idiot god's tears.'
I scribbled it in rough handwriting and shoved the wet notebook back into my pocket.
Whatever you sell off‚ however the lies of this world are exposed. I'll record it all―― until the very end.
Cold. And terribly salty.
The "Messiah's smile" he desperately tried to affix was mercilessly washed away in an instant by the pouring salt water.
The water droplet that entered his mouth from the edge of his lips was the most lethal poison in this sweet world.
「……が、はっ。……やめ、ろ……っ。息、が……っ」
His trachea convulsed‚ and gastric fluid surged up. Every time he swallowed a single droplet‚ the "weight of the mud water" from when his lungs were crushed in the sea of his previous life flashed back with vivid sensation.
『??《Emergency Warning》。 Respiratory system error has reached fatal levels. Serious threat to the survival center detected. Lord Rui‚ recommend blocking visual information! This is just "salty water"! Please recognize (define) it as a mere physical phenomenon different from that day's sea!』
The system‚ exceeding its processing limits‚ painted all of his retinas with red error logs. But even those inorganic announcements were drowned out by the "bubbling" water sound swirling deep in his ears.
"Why won't it heal!? What should I do‚ I don't know……っ！"
In the merciless downpour‚ Serina clung to his shoulder and pressed her trembling hands against his chest. From her palms‚ a faintly warm light imbued with divinity overflowed. It was a miracle light full of mercy that should instantly heal any fatal wound.
「……No‚ Serina…… That will only make the sea……っ」
"Why!? Should I release even more light!?"
「……っ、stop…… I can't breathe……」
The stronger the light became‚ the thicker and more ominous black the dark clouds covering the sky turned.
ザァァァァァッ！ The rain intensified with tyrannical force.
"Lord Rui……っ！ I will perfectly 'clean' that unsanitary filth (water) for you!"
Cutting through the violent downpour and stepping forward was Flare‚ her perfectly tailored maid uniform soaked. Her amber eyes burned with anger at the raw-smelling rain as she thrust her slender palm into the void.
What drove her was the residual heat of a 220-degree toaster rewritten by Ciel into a "household appliance"――.
"――『Internal temperature‚ maximum output (Toast Burst)』ッ！"
The heat wave that was originally meant to deliciously toast bread radiated out around him. However‚ the god's bug (salty rain) brought down by the miracle light was not data so mild that it could be evaporated by a mere cooking appliance's heat.
ジュゥゥゥゥッ！ ごぼ、ボボボボボッ！
"が……っ、は、げほっ……あぁァッ！？"
It was the worst chemical reaction.
The high heat Flare released did not erase the rain; instead‚ it "boiled down" the pouring salt water into a thicker‚ rawer sea smell. The lethal stench of oxidized oil and salt condensed to its limit. It came as the worst heat wave‚ directly scorching his trachea and alveoli.
"Wha……！？ My firepower…… failed to clean (delete)……？"
Flare let out a flustered voice upon realizing her optimal solution had decisively worsened the situation. The wafer pavement at her feet turned into black turbid sludge‚ sinking his knees into a bottomless depth.
＊＊＊
"…Hey hey. Calling the sea with healing magic‚ what the hell."
While watching the increasingly blackening devastation from a distance‚ I narrowed my cold sanpaku eyes. I pinched a potato chip from a silver package and tossed it into my mouth.
――パリリッ。
A junky crushing sound rang out‚ mixing with the sound of the salty rain.
"It's like flooring the accelerator in a car with broken brakes. Look‚ that flower garden is covered in sludge. Plus that toaster is boiling the sea even more."
On my shoulder‚ Nigari narrowed his reptile eyes while deploying a salt barrier that repelled the rain.
"…It's a parade of self-destruction. If this continues‚ she'll cry herself out and drown the whole world."
I clicked my tongue lightly while rolling the salt from the chips on my tongue.
In the distance‚ Rui continued convulsing from hyperventilation while sunk up to his knees in black sludge. Serina kept blindly emitting light while panicking with "Why‚ why!" Every time she cried‚ the sea rose‚ and the sweet miniature garden was swallowed by the salty mud water of reality.
(……Hey Rui. How long are you planning to silently drown?)
The old notebook in my pocket grew heavy as it absorbed rainwater.
I continued sending a gaze filled with irritation and faint expectation toward the "fake Messiah" trembling in the mud water.
＊＊＊
"Rui‚ please‚ don't die……っ！ What should I do‚ I don't know!"
In the pouring salty rain‚ Serina collapsed crying against his chest.
The hallucination of seawater entering his lungs violently convulsed his stomach. ??But he couldn't leave this clumsy god‚ who was destroying the world for his sake while sobbing‚ crying any longer.
(……Scary. Can't breathe. ……But her crying hurts even more.)
He desperately lifted his trembling hand from hyperventilation and strongly hugged back her slender‚ soaked back.
「……っ、Serina……」
From her pressed chest came the cold‚ heavy feel of the blazer soaked with rain‚ the soft heartbeat pushed through the see-through blouse‚ and a body heat so hot it felt like it would burn him.
Her fast‚ painful heartbeat. The wet silver hair clinging to his neck. The vanilla fragrance trying to forcibly overwrite the raw smell of seawater.
The cruel contrast of terror and warmth fiercely scorched his brain nerves‚ which had been on the verge of short-circuiting. On his retinas‚ Ciel was frantically flashing bright red error logs.
『??《Emergency Warning》。 Mental contamination level has exceeded the limit. ……No good‚ Lord Rui! Any further forced magical convergence will cause complete burnout (short) of the brain nerves！』
Forcing down the hallucinated salt water surging in his convulsing throat‚ he shook his frozen vocal cords.
"…Don't cry‚ Serina. ……I won't go anywhere."
"Rui……？"
"It's not scary. ……It's just a passing shower. ……I'll stop it soon."
A kind yet cruel lie spat out while hiding his twitching cheeks.
The moment his mad devotion slightly overpowered the trauma. Ignoring Ciel's restraint‚ he forcibly converged magic power into his right eye.
(……Do it‚ Ciel. The strongest umbrella to repel this salty rain. ……I'll pay the price.)
『《……Rejected》っ！ Please‚ any further selling off of the original will cause fatal system collapse……っ！』
Unable to maintain her administrator facade‚ Ciel's voice leaked painful noise.
(Just do it already！)
The system yielded to his unreasonable command with a high-load warning sound like a sob.
『……Price reservation confirmed. Target: Delete the [high school homeroom teacher's name] from the previous life. ……Delete‚ starting――』
At that moment. Only the "name" of that familiar middle-aged man who had handed him a piece of paper in the career guidance room was cleanly erased from his mind.
The face came to mind. The voice could be recalled. When he tried to call out "Teacher"―― the tip of his tongue swung into emptiness.
No matter how much he rummaged through the memory drawer‚ the word to recognize him would never touch his fingertips again.
"――『Infinite Seal・Candy Conversion (Sweets Seal)』"
From his body‚ a dense 'chocolate death stench' that scorched the soul violently sprayed out. Bluish-white light radiated from his raised right palm――
At the end of that light‚ only Serina was reflected in the center of his consciousness.
The light eventually formed a huge 'stained-glass-like candy craft umbrella' that covered not only him and Serina‚ but also Nagi and the others who were immobilized in the mud water.
――バチバチッ！
The salty rain was repelled by the candy craft‚ creating a quiet space cut off from the raw reality.
"…Ah. The rain…… stopped…？"
Serina lifted her tear-stained face and looked up at the candy craft umbrella.
Hiding it from her sight‚ he quietly tucked his right hand‚ which was convulsing from the shock of trauma and memory loss‚ behind his own back.
The stained-glass-like glowing candy craft umbrella completely repelled the salty rain above their heads.
As her sorrow eased‚ the dark clouds interfering with the world rapidly cracked‚ and bright early summer sunlight began to pour through. The half-melted cotton candy trees also bathed in the light and repaired themselves with cracking sounds.
"…Thank goodness. Rui‚ does it not hurt anymore? Your face looks a little better."
She pulled away from his chest and gave him an innocently relieved smile.
On his retinas‚ Ciel continued flowing the ruthless log 'Target: 【high school homeroom teacher's name】 deletion completed.' But his brain‚ short-circuited into a mess by the fear of drowning‚ quietly processed it as the "fair price for her smile."
"Yeah‚ I'm fine. It was just a passing shower. ……Look‚ your clothes are wet. Let's go back to the inn before you catch a cold."
He quietly lowered the right hand he had kept behind his back to hide the convulsions and urged her with a perfect prince-like smile.
He didn't know how long this 'lie' he had built by shaving away his own life could continue deceiving her.
A short distance away at the site of the collapse‚ there was a shadow watching the entire sequence with cold sanpaku eyes.
＊＊＊
"…Tch. He's insane. That guy carved out his own brains to make an umbrella."
I crushed the empty potato chip bag and spat out in disgust.
In that downpour of salty rain‚ Rui had been trembling violently from his drowning trauma. I thought he would be crushed as is and crawl out to this reality (here)‚ but instead―― he sold off even more of his insides and held out an "umbrella" for that idiot god.
"…What the hell. After having that much of his original (insides) scraped away‚ why can you still smile? Why don't you resist?"
The vector of anger smoldering inside me clearly changed shape.
At first‚ it was hatred toward Serina‚ who had sweetly rewritten death. But now it was different. It was intense irritation and frustration toward the "fake Messiah" optimized by the system‚ floating an empty smile.
On my shoulder‚ Nigari‚ covered in salt crystals‚ snorted in exasperation.
"Well‚ that's the fate of the clown who ended up bearing the only sacrifice in a world that doesn't know 'bitterness.' ……What now‚ Shio? Open another bag?"
"…No. That's enough for today. Even if I scatter more salt‚ he'll just shave himself and cover it up."
I took out the black notebook from my wet pocket again and deeply stabbed the rounded pencil lead into the margin of the page.
'Addendum. He sold off another piece of his original (insides) and smiled again.'
I scribbled it so thickly that the paper nearly tore from the pressure‚ then slammed the notebook shut and shoved it into my pocket.
"…Let's go‚ Nigari. How far will he throw away his insides to maintain this overly sweet hell. ……I'll watch it from the best seat until the very end."
I turned my back and walked away from the "world's greatest liars" laughing under the candy craft umbrella.
At my feet‚ the dry wafer crumbled with a rustling inorganic sound.
While confirming the hard feel of the black notebook in my pocket‚ I deeply inhaled the salty sea breeze smell clinging to my nasal cavity into the depths of my lungs.
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Chapter 14 "Salty Rain and Serina's Tears" Completed
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