Chapter 44.2 "The Skeleton of the Floating House (The Baton of Inheritance and the 50-Minute Expedition)"
The sound of acid vanished from the sky‚ and the world rapidly deepened into an inorganic silence.
The vividly colored cocoon (dome) that we had painted with our body heat began to sway eerily‚ repelling the brownish mud. It was right after the peace called "land" had been rewritten into liquid‚ and the house had been redefined as a ship.
「……Nfuー. It floated…… We finally said goodbye to the ground and became the topping on a mud-water parfait……」
While hugging the sensation-less marshmallow left arm‚ I swallowed my breath at this bizarre 'floating sensation.' What touched the soles of my bare feet‚ now without shoes‚ was no longer the feel of the earth. It was the cold iron frame of the raft. And the lukewarm sensation of the 'mud stomach' that crawled up and tried to greedily suck us in.
「……It's still too early to celebrate. In 18 minutes the foothold will completely disappear‚ and in 50 minutes the 'Tongue of Deletion (acid rain)' will rain down from overhead again.」
Rin-chan gripped the engine's rudder tightly‚ her sleeveless shoulders heaving violently as she shouted. The red marks from the tow rope were illuminated by the pale blue static electricity‚ pulsing a deep black.
「Haru. The 'white flag' you found 1.2 kilometers ahead…… Is that the next coordinate we should 'accept' in this sea of mud?」
Through a gap in the dome. Haru-kun‚ flipping his mud-covered parka‚ was glaring at the outside world in a crouched detective-like posture.
「……Yes. That's not a surrender flag…… It's a resource left behind by people who tried to observe the world until the very end—the traces of a lost civilization.」
At those words‚ Momiji-chan on the transport sled made her chest exoskeleton (splint) creak faintly with a「……Kyuu.」 She lifted her porcelain-white face‚ letting her sunset-red hair sway in the damp wind.
「……That place looks a little like where I was……」
In her eyes‚ the memory of her former lonely observer flickered faintly yet sharply.
Haru-kun hugged the waterproof notebook to his chest and tried to stand up quietly. But his fractured right ankle let out a merciless scream‚ forcing him back down onto his knee.
「No way! Haru-kun‚ your foot! If you walk around the Marshmallow Country in that condition‚ you'll be turned into seconds in an instant!」
「……That's exactly why‚ Nagisa-san.」
Haru-kun lifted his mud-covered face and looked straight at me. It wasn't the inorganic eyes of the former statistician. There was a quiet passion dwelling in them—one that sought to record our footsteps as history.
「From here on‚ in the work of completely fusing the raft and the dome‚ I‚ who can't walk properly‚ will be a fatal dead weight (debuff).…… In that case‚ using my free resources‚ someone needs to go pick up the proof that someone lived there……」
「……Haru……」
「……Not probability numbers (logs)‚ but human proof.…… Please let me go. I will definitely come back.」
The boy who had been ruled by statistics and probability had discovered for himself an irrationality called "promise" through his own will.
18 minutes remained until the foothold completely disappeared. 50 minutes until the rain of death resumed from the sky.
We were about to accept (accept) a desperate expedition to receive the baton from the sinking civilization—right here and now.
Faster than accepting Haru-kun's resolve‚ Rin-chan silently kicked open the heavy tool bag.
「……Nfuー. Rin-chan‚ that way you handle your tools…… It's just like a craftsman modifying a parfait container to make the world's fastest delivery machine!」
At the asphalt boundary where the muddy water was slowly crawling up‚ I was pressing my immobile left arm (marshmallow) forcefully against the joint between the support pillar and the raft. While fulfilling my role as a fixing jig (anchor)‚ I burned the scene into my retinas.
At the edge of the dome illuminated by the vividly colored walls. Rin-chan forcibly dragged the 'steel cradle (sled)' that had once saved us from the sea of mud toward the base of the support pillar I was clinging to.
「……Being compared to a craftsman is mortifying‚ but I guarantee the precision of the delivery.…… Haru‚ fix that spot. I'll bypass the surplus pulses from the magnetic engine to this 'keel'.」
Rin-chan roared‚ her exposed shoulders—sleeves torn off—shaking violently. The marks from the tow rope‚ pulsing deep black‚ were illuminated by pale blue static sparks‚ burning eerily yet more proudly than anyone else. She snatched the IV tube's insulation wire extending from the raft and forcefully fused (hacked) it onto the copper wire coil spread across the bottom of the sled.
「……Roger.…… Converting Momiji-san's heartbeat into a 12.8 hertz 'propulsion frequency.'…… Redefining the repulsive force from the induced current into gliding energy on the mud.」
At the edge of the sled‚ Haru-kun—protecting his immobile right ankle with the hem of his mud-covered parka—ran his pen across the waterproof notebook without hesitation.
「……Nagisa-san‚ please hold down the contact point of this coil with your right hand.…… Just for 10 seconds.」
「Roger that! I'll let my 'God's Right Hand' be accepted as the ultimate repair part right now!」
While guarding the dome's frame with my left arm‚ I dropped to my knees on the melting asphalt. Ignoring the freezing muddy water touching my fingertips‚ I firmly pressed down on the heart of the sled at my feet with my only free right hand. A spike of intense pain shot from the AC adapter biting into my thigh straight through my brain. But that very pain was the 'synchronization signal (access code)' connecting the four of us.
Crackle!!
Right near my fingertips‚ the pale blue static electricity stolen from the world's malice burst vividly. The smell piercing my nose was the only 'living scent' in this world—the mix of burnt plastic and mud.
「……Good.…… Connection complete.」
Rin-chan firmly locked the sled's lever with her trembling hands.
The ugly‚ mud-covered sled was no longer just a transport tool. It had been repaired into 'legs' for the recorders of history‚ to go pick up the baton left by past humanity.
「……Haru. I won't allow you to sink.…… Go.」
Rin-chan secured Haru-kun's body tightly to the sled's seat with duct tape and spare wire. Her hands were utterly cold and precise‚ yet gentle as if handling something fragile.
Haru-kun pushed the waterproof notebook deep into his parka's chest pocket‚ protecting it carefully.
「……Not a log of numbers‚ but the proof that someone lived there.…… I will definitely accept (accept) it into this notebook.」
Not as a statistician of the past‚ but as a recorder carving the future. He looked straight into my eyes and declared with pride as a human being.
「Take care‚ Haru-kun! Don't drop even a single grain of our special deluxe future—including the water and the seeds!!」
「……Launch‚ commence!!」
Rin-chan pushed the magnetic engine's throttle to its limit. At the same time‚ Momiji-chan's exoskeleton (splint) on the transport sled let out a straining cry of「――Kyuuu!」 as it took on the enormous load of the launch.
――GUOOOOOOOOOON!!
An explosive low bass roar.
From the gap in the vividly colored dome painted with our colors‚ the 'steel cradle' trailing a tail of pale blue static electricity shot out like a bullet into the sludgy melting sea of mud.
Turning the brownish mud into silvery splashes‚ the sled carrying Haru-kun advanced straight toward the other side of the 'past' where the white flag fluttered.
I continued to stare at the boundary of the earth with a strong prayer‚ hugging the support pillar with my left arm‚ until that small back disappeared into the fog.
The moment the sled carrying Haru-kun disappeared into the fog‚ the last fragment of 'peace' peeled off with a slurp from beneath our feet.
「……Nfuー. Haru-kun's gone. Now we've officially become the topping on a special deluxe ice cream floating in muddy water.」
Still on my knees at the boundary between the raft and the dome‚ I hugged the sensation-less left arm— a heavy marshmallow lump like someone else's forgotten belongings—even tighter. The AC adapter tourniquet on my right leg bit into my flesh with a beat even more violent than before‚ roughly knocking on my brain with "Live‚ live."
「……We don't have even one more second to indulge in sentiment. Let's completely repair the place (boat) where Haru will return to right now!」
Rin-chan kicked up mud and rushed over to my feet where the raft frame and dome support pillar were repeatedly colliding. White heat haze rose from her exposed shoulder from the residual heat of launching Haru‚ scorching the cold fog.
「Fix the support pillar? But the dome is saying 'I wanna go hooome!' and thrashing around really hard!」
The dome‚ now fully floating on the muddy water‚ was being tossed by the rapid current and screaming with rattling shakes. The wires connecting the raft and dome creaked sharply「Giiii!」 as if suffering metal fatigue.
「……That's why we're hacking your 'asset (debuff)' right now. Nagisa‚ don't move away from that pillar! Sink that left arm (marshmallow) deep into the joint between the pillar and the raft!」
「Eh‚ you're using my arm…… as a cushion!?」
「……That's right. Your left arm is now a 'meat shock absorber (damper)' with dead nerves‚ cold as ice.…… Without it‚ the bolts would fly off from the intense vibration at the moment of fusion.」
Behind those cold instructions‚ Rin-chan for a brief moment clenched her teeth so hard they seemed about to shatter‚ looking at my left arm with eyes enduring pain.
「……Using your body like this as a 'tool (part)'…… This will be the last time. So…… endure it now!」
「……Rin-chan.…… Roger!」
As instructed‚ I shifted the sensation-less arm wrapped around the pillar and forcibly wedged my own flesh into the violently creaking gap between iron and iron.
「……Here we go‚ Nagisa!」
The next moment‚ Rin-chan dropped to her knees right beside me‚ kicking up mud. She pressed her shoulder fiercely against mine as if sandwiching the raft frame. The tremendous heat transmitted from her exposed shoulder pushed into me from the side‚ supporting my chilled body. It wasn't closeness from behind. It was the side-by-side posture of comrades-in-arms‚ covered in mud and sweat‚ entrusting each other's will and weight to one another.
「……Filling the gap!」
Rin-chan forcefully slammed the remaining 'vividly colored slime (acid-resistant resin)' from the aluminum pot into the iron joint. Using a circuit board as a lever‚ she pushed it in roughly‚ scattering pale blue static sparks.
Crackle crackle crackle!!
The vividly colored slime hammered into the gap melted into a gooey mess from the engine's residual heat and static electricity‚ forcibly painting over the boundary between the house and the raft.
DOOOOOOON!!
The dome at our feet shook violently‚ and Momiji-chan's splint on the sled screamed「――Kyuu!」 in response to the impact. In the midst of that vortex‚ an intense shock pierced through my left arm.
If I had sensation‚ it would have felt like the bones in my arm were shattering to pieces from the physical vibration. But my left arm‚ with its awkward softness‚ perfectly 'accepted' the world's rejection and let it escape.
「……Repair‚ successful.…… Nagisa. I'm glad…… you were here.」
In the muddy water‚ our will and the slime meshed perfectly‚ and the 'absolute joint' rewriting the house into a ship was now truly complete.
Mud splashes danced and leaped at the edge of my vision.
I——gripped the cold frame of the 'self-propelled sled' that Rin-san had modified (repaired) tightly with fingertips that were gradually losing sensation. This 'cradle‚' which forcibly bypassed the surplus pulses of the magnetic engine‚ glided across the melting asphalt in an awkward yet astonishingly fast manner‚ like a penguin sliding on drift ice.
「……Haa‚…… haa.…… Calculations‚ maintained.…… Magnetic repulsion friction reduction rate‚ 88%…… I can do this.…… I haven't stopped yet.」
The intense pain in my immobile right ankle came to rob my brain's processing speed with every beat. But right now‚ I didn't have even one second to spare accepting that noise.
On the other side of the fog. Breaking through the rapidly thickening white turbid boundary‚ its shadow suddenly appeared.
'Humanity's Last Observatory.'
The building‚ which must once have been a giant's eye watching over the world‚ was now sinking its legs deep into the sea of mud due to the system's 'initialization.' The white flag fluttering weakly on the roof looked as if it were inviting me‚ or perhaps quietly bidding farewell.
「……That place looks a little like where I was……」
Momiji-san's words quietly revived in the back of my mind.
I stopped the sled by bumping it against the edge of the building and crawled inside. As I ran my hand along the concrete wall‚ the cold pulsation from the system's 'deletion' crawled directly into my palm.
It was the moment I opened the door.
「……っ……‚…… This is……」
What spread out before me was not the "inorganic graveyard of observation logs" I had expected.
A desk covered in dust. A wooden chair that had lost its master long ago‚ yet still seemed to be waiting for someone. And on the desk—— a half-drunk mug‚ dried up and leaving a brownish ring‚ sat there all alone.
Right beside it was a half-torn memo paper scribbled violently with a fountain pen.
『——Today‚ the last person boarded the train. I decided to record the end of this light until the very end.』
「……This is not…… data.…… This is the…… lingering heat of 'life'.」
Deep in my chest‚ it pulsed violently as if molten iron had been poured in.
If it had been the old me‚ I would have just made a list of the supplies here and efficiently collected the materials. But what was burned into my retinas now was the scene of that one 'festival'—Nagisa-san laughing‚ Rin-san cursing‚ Momiji-san smiling.
People had lived here.
Until the very last moment when the world tried to delete them as 'unnecessary data‚' someone here had desperately carved out 'life' as a human being‚ with the same seriousness as eating a parfait.
「……I accept it.…… The 'official history' that you lived here.…… I will definitely take it…… to our Day 4.」
With trembling hands‚ I reached for the rugged 'small transceiver' placed next to the half-drunk cup. The power was off and the battery was dead. But that cold lump of metal was the very weight of "earnest hope" that someone had once gripped while seeking the outside world.
——A prayer that someday‚ somewhere‚ it might receive the 'now' of someone living.
A small water purification filter. A small bottle of medicine. A vacuum-packed bag of seeds. I quickly tied those survival supplies onto the sled's frame.
And the last thing remaining.
A weathered journal—the proof that former humanity continued observing the world until the end and finally chose to 'die like humans.' Along with the transceiver‚ I carefully slipped it into the chest of my mud-covered parka.
The predecessors' dry journal overlapped with my 'Day 4' notebook‚ thickly sealed with wax. The solid weight of the two intertwined records was the greatest anchor keeping me tied to this disappearing world right now.
「……21 minutes remain until the acid rain overhead resumes.…… I must go back.」
Outside the window‚ the fluidization of the asphalt was complete‚ and a sea of mud stretched as far as the eye could see. Hugging the transceiver and journal to my chest‚ I threw myself back onto the broken sled.
Behind me‚ the sound of a large crack running through the observatory wall echoed. But my heart was already on the other side of the white turbid fog. There‚ the best comrades who believed in me and continued protecting our 'home' were waiting.
「……I'm coming back.…… To continue our 'festival'.」
The propulsion coil of the self-propelled sled let out a heavy roar that flicked away the mud‚ different from the metallic friction sound on the way there. Turning the completely liquid-formatted muddy water into silvery splashes‚ it reversed course with explosive acceleration toward the dome.
「……Nfuー‚ he's here! The mud-covered hero has returned in special deluxe fashion!!」
I crawled to the front of the raft and pointed at the pale blue static tail bursting at the edge of my vision. On the other side of the fog‚ across the sea of mud as far as the eye could see‚ there was one shadow gliding through with meteor-like intensity. The 'steel cradle' that Rin-chan had repaired was heading straight for our vividly colored cocoon (dome)‚ turning the brownish mud into white wave splashes.
「……Haru.…… You exceeded the scheduled time by 0.3 seconds.…… But it's within tolerance. Good job coming back.」
Rin-chan‚ who had been forcefully holding down the engine rudder at the rear‚ wiped the sweat from her forehead with fingertips trembling pure white. The tow rope marks engraved on the shoulder visible from her sleeveless jacket throbbed red-black‚ as if burned by the approaching twilight air.
While protecting my sensation-less left arm with my right hand‚ I leaned out from the raft's cold iron frame into the muddy water. The AC adapter tourniquet bit into my flesh with brain-piercing pain. But I smiled. Because in my right hand was something I had desperately torn from the edge of the raft by dragging my immobile leg during the few minutes waiting for Haru-kun.
——'A lump of mud-covered earth (remnants of the land).'
I hugged tightly the misshapen plastic bag stuffed with it.
KIIIIIIIIIIN!!
With a tremendous braking sound‚ Haru-kun's sled came to a perfect stop at our feet—at the boundary between the muddy water and the raft.
「……Haa‚……っ‚…… haa.…… I've…… just returned.」
Haru-kun shook his heavy mud-covered parka and crawled out of the sled. Even though his right ankle that couldn't move properly must have been screaming‚ his gray eyes held a definite warmth that the former statistician never had.
From his parka's chest‚ he held out the waterproof journal and transceiver he had protected so carefully‚ along with a bag of seeds tied to the sled.
「……Please take them.…… They are logs of…… someone's…… life from the past.…… And——」
I accepted the bag of seeds Haru-kun held out with my mud-covered right hand.
「Wow……! This is a treasure from the observatory! Look‚ Rin-chan—my collected 'earth (soil)' and the 'seeds of civilization' that Haru-kun brought! If these are combined‚ that means……」
I raised the two bags high and shouted.
「Then it's a special deluxe festival! Someday we might even be able to make parfaits with unlimited refills!!」
「……Your brain's conversion efficiency exceeds the heat loss rate of the magnetic engine. There are no parfaits anywhere.」
Rin-chan let out a sigh that was exasperated yet kinder than anyone's.
「……Hmph. Fine‚ special deluxe festival.…… As an exception to the physical laws‚ I permit it.」
It was at that moment.
Even the last remnants of earth clinging to the raft slithered down and melted into the mud. Ground fluidization—complete. The '0.02-second blank' that Haru-kun had predicted—and then.
「……Synchronization‚ commence!!」
The moment Rin-chan pushed the engine lever to its limit‚ the 'Tongue of Deletion (strong acid rain)' for initializing the world resumed from the sky overhead with the force of a waterfall.
Crackle crackle crackle!!
Shwaaaaaaaa!!
Fierce acid rain poured down on our heads. However‚ the dome roof‚ thickly coated with our body heat and vividly colored slime‚ completely bounced back the world's malice with a crisp 'shwa' sound. Not a single raindrop‚ not a single noise reached our dome.
The magnetic engine roared. The raft 'Special Deluxe Mud-Water Float' and our 'vividly colored house' became one giant "single entity (structure)" and began gliding across the sea of mud.
「……With this‚ the world has lost sight of us.」
On the transport sled‚ Momiji-chan smiled quietly. Her chest exoskeleton (splint) creaked gently‚ as if celebrating the birth of a new world.
We had now completely evolved into 'people of the water' who abandoned the land and lived carrying our house on our backs.
「……Day 4‚ 12:10 PM.…… We have inherited the baton.」
Haru-kun added the final stroke to his waterproof notebook sealed with wax. We huddled our shoulders together‚ gazing at the sinking "past" through the vividly colored resin. On the raft that marked the first voyage of the still-unnamed new life that was about to begin.
Suddenly‚ Haru-kun brought the transceiver in his parka pocket close to his ear.
——Za-……‚…… Tsu…… Tsu tsu…….
Was it the wind's prank‚ or just poor battery contact? It might have been nothing more than meaningless noise. But for that one instant‚ the sound that brushed the back of my ear felt like a faint 'human will (pulse)' gently pushing the backs of us drifting in a sea of despair.
「……Haru-kun? What's wrong‚ you have a strange look on your face.」
「……No.…… It's nothing.」
Haru-kun said that and tucked the transceiver deep into his pocket.
Our raft accelerated toward the unknown horizon‚ as if slicing through the black wall to the west. Embracing in its chest a faint omen of the future—whether hope or despair.
Chapter 44.2 "The Skeleton of the Floating House (The Baton of Inheritance and the 50-Minute Expedition)" End
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