New Chapter 14: 'Countdown of Reverberations (Countdown)
A faint yet fatal crack appeared in the baton of our archenemy‚ Solan.
Our awkward‚ imperfect sound sharply shook the perfectly controlled silence that had not a single gap.
——However. Before delivering that blow‚ we needed to find one 'answer'.
Why were we — who should have been so powerless — able to push back Solan's barrier? Why had we been able to grow? We needed that desperate answer.
Click…… Ziii…….
The second hand of the world suddenly began to spin backwards.
The scattered fragments of light were sucked into the darkness of the past‚ as if drawing the curtain of the theater.
The place reached by tracing the threads of memory was only a few hours ago——.
The extremely quiet medical ward‚ the night before the decisive battle.
It was the room where she slept.
The freezing smell of disinfectant stung my nasal cavity.
In the heavy darkness‚ the red digital clock numbers floated in the void‚ glowing as if bleeding. Even that vivid light melted and disappeared into deep darkness each time the second hand ticked.
『9 days 23 hours 59 minutes』
The countdown of her life simply continued in silence…….
Her remaining days had already entered single digits.
The price for the magic used to save the world. This was the very lifespan left for Iris‚ who continued to sleep in this bed. Every time she performed a miracle‚ her life was surely shaved away‚ and finally she reached her limit and collapsed. There was no longer any light in her eyes.
「……Tomorrow‚ we will definitely win. Absolutely.」
My murmur fell onto the cold floor without reaching anyone's ears.
There was no reply from Iris.
Only the mechanical driving sound that kept her fragile life connected continued to mark the countdown to death at mercilessly regular intervals.
My fingertips gripped the edge of the sheet tightly.
The sensation of her skin‚ so cold that even touching it felt hesitant‚ further intensified the impatience burning in my chest.
「That's why I won't make any mistakes. I'll calculate everything. ……I'll carry everything. I have to conduct perfectly.」
I closed my eyelids. Darkness.
But that darkness did not last even a second.
In an instant——.
Countless rays of light raced through the space inside my brain.
Zephyr's vacuum blade. Ignis's shortest route. Valt's fixed barrier. Elze's correction calculations. Solan's conducting.
They became golden musical scores‚ forcibly engraved onto the back of my retinas.
One line. Two lines. Ten lines. A hundred lines. A thousand lines.
Eventually‚ countless futures branched out and filled my field of vision.
Cross steps left. ——Destroyed.
Mark is 0.007 seconds too early. ——Shot down.
Liam strikes his shield three times. ——Penetrated.
Rinne raises the heat. ——Rejected.
Rejected. Rejected. Rejected. Rejected.
Cold red text piled up at the edge of my vision.
FAILURE
FAILURE
REJECTED
REJECTED
DEAD
DEAD
DEAD
（No.）
（There must be another way.）
I swung the baton in my mind. I changed the score.
Mark falls. Liam shatters. Cross collapses.
I would not accept such a future for even a single second. I absolutely rejected it.
The future was updated. But——each time.
Only the display of Iris's remaining lifespan was being shaved away.
9 days 23 hours
9 days 22 hours 59 minutes
9 days 22 hours 58 minutes
（……There’s no time.）
（I can’t make any mistakes.）
（I have to calculate everything.）
（I have to carry everything.）
Not even the slightest mistake in command during tomorrow’s decisive battle would be allowed.
If I built a perfect strategy and moved the unit‚ the consumption of magic as Aria (Iris’s life) should be minimized. The lives of my comrades and Iris’s future——everything depended on my conducting.
In order not to surrender even one more second of the girl’s future‚ I was hardening my resolve in a state of stretched-tight despair‚ as if spitting blood.
In the distance‚ the sound of night wind rattling the window could be heard.
Mixed with that rough wind‚ quiet footsteps approached from behind.
「Aria. You haven’t talked to Iris lately‚ have you?」
Before I could turn around‚ Nagi’s voice came down from the darkness.
Her white hair reflected the faint moonlight‚ and her jade-colored eyes glowed coldly‚ as if seeing straight through to the bottom of my heart.
「I was just talking to her.」
「That was a monologue. Not a conversation.」
Nagi’s emotionless declaration sharply gouged the depths of my chest.
It was right on the mark. No matter how many words I poured out‚ there would be no response from the sleeping Iris.
「……What do you want‚ suddenly showing up like this?」
「I’m saying that the human element is disappearing from your sound.」
Nagi took one step forward‚ treading on the shadows.
「To escape from fear‚ you’re trying not to listen to the other person’s sound and convince yourself that only you are right. ……Just like some perfect conductor somewhere.」
At Nagi’s words‚ I clenched my back teeth tightly.
I tried to argue back‚ but the words got stuck in my throat. She had said I was the same as Solan. The cold‚ ruthless enemy who controlled everything through calculation alone and discarded everything in the name of rational judgment.
Was this proof that the frightened me was rejecting the surrounding sounds (notes) and falling into self-righteousness?
「If you want to become a machine‚ that’s fine too. You’ll be easier to use as a key.」
Cold‚ detached words spun out indifferently.
However——I knew that behind those words‚ her own heart was terribly worn down. The goal of wanting to purify the world using Aria as the ‘key.’ The bottomless guilt and self-loathing for continuing to shave away Iris’s lifespan for that purpose.
By pushing me away‚ she seemed to be desperately trying to protect the fragile parts inside herself.
「Don’t people call that kind of blunt way of speaking bad personality?」
「I only stated the facts. ……Now‚ show me your awkward answer.」
After her jade eyes coldly glanced at the red counter——they quietly melted into the shadows.
What was left behind was only the red numbers and the sound of time continuing to tick mercilessly.
The night training ground.
The cold light of the magic lamps illuminated the stone floor‚ vaguely blurring the boundary between pale white and deep ultramarine. There‚ the smell of soil containing night dew mixed with the ozone scent of clashing magical power‚ pressing against the nasal cavity.
「Here we gooo! Soul (My Soul) wild strike!!!」
Together with Cross’s rough roar‚ the massive greatsword was slammed down‚ compressing the air. A blow completely ignoring tactical theory‚ powered by brute strength with a haphazard trajectory. Any normal commander would immediately frown at such a strike.
「Your trajectory is off‚ you muscle idiot! That makes it hard to use as a foothold!」
Mark cursed while making neon mint sparks explode from his magic boots.
「It’s just that your ‘Gale’ can’t keep up with my soul!」
「Yeah yeah‚ I’ll pick up the discrepancy between you two!」
Liam angled his massive shield and deliberately reflected Cross’s shockwave at irregular angles.
GOOOONG!
A heavy bell sound shook the night air. Mark boldly kicked off the invisible wall of reverberating waves and began infinite refraction like a three-dimensional pinball‚ melting mint-colored trails into the navy blue of the night.
They were not correcting each other’s flaws or failures. They were “using” that imperfection as it was‚ forcefully connecting it to the next sound.
It was the polar opposite of Solan’s mechanical ‘perfection‚’ where everything was calculated down to the millimeter——a messy‚ unpredictable chemical reaction. There was the raw body temperature of humans‚ distorted‚ covered in mud‚ yet undeniably pulsing.
「Hey! You guys added more variables on your own again! My calculator (logic) is screaming over here!」
In the corner of the training ground‚ Kotone slammed the countless hologram monitors she had deployed in the night sky while screaming. However——behind her glasses‚ her eyes were trembling with such heat that her analyst thinking nearly short-circuited at the sight of their unpredictable errors (unknowns).
「……As noisy as ever.」
I had intended to approach quietly‚ but my voice carried an irrepressible impatience.
「Oh‚ the conductor has arrived. Where have you been wandering off to?」
Mark‚ who had made a sharp turn in mid-air‚ landed lightly while scattering neon mint sparks.
「I was just thinking a little. ……More importantly‚ final adjustments. I’ll mark the beat‚ so match it.」
I raised my whitening right hand and held up the baton in the dark void.
（I can’t make any mistakes. Iris doesn’t have much time left. If I don’t control them perfectly‚ without a single deviation‚ coldly and precisely——everything will end.）
「Here we go. Three‚ four——」
The moment I deployed magical power from my fingertips and began the tense conducting——.
「……Stop! Stop it‚ conductor!」
Mark plugged his ears seriously and forcefully interrupted.
「Eh……? Did my calculations go wrong……?」
「It’s not a calculation problem! Do you even realize what kind of face you’re making while swinging the baton?」
At Mark’s sharp point‚ I unconsciously reached for my own face.
「A suffocating score is more than enough with Solan. If you start making sounds like a rigid machine (system) too‚ it’ll throw off our rhythm.」
「Machine…… I was just trying to eliminate errors for tomorrow——」
「Aria.」
Liam gently placed his massive shield on the ground and turned serious‚ enveloping eyes toward me.
「We are not seeking your perfect instructions. Even if there’s deviation‚ my shield will support you.」
「……But then we can’t beat Solan! If I don’t carry everything and calculate perfectly……!」
The words came out rapidly on their own. Before I realized it‚ the outline of my voice was faintly trembling.
At that moment‚ Cross thrust his greatsword heavily into the ground. A heavy wind blew past‚ and he looked straight down at me.
「Hey‚ Aria.」
It was a strangely quiet voice‚ unlike the usual noisy hot-blooded man——yet one carrying overwhelming mass.
「Our muscles (souls) have definitely grown even while deviating. But…… where did you leave your own ‘true feelings’?」
「……True feelings?」
「Yeah. I get that you’re desperate to save Iris. But haven’t your own ‘I’m scared’ or ‘help me’ voices completely fallen out of that ticking baton?」
My breath stopped.
『That was a monologue. Not a conversation.』
Nagi’s words‚ thrown at me in the darkness of the medical ward just moments ago‚ overlapped with Cross’s and flashed violently in my mind.
「I……」
Even as I tried to answer‚ my lips trembled and I couldn’t find the words.
Right now‚ every time I thought‚ I could feel Iris’s lifespan being forcibly shaved away. The path connected to Iris had already gone beyond my will‚ devouring her future second by second. The horrific future that had crossed my mind earlier——everyone breaking one after another——I couldn’t possibly tell my comrades about such a price.
I was afraid of losing her. The thought of Iris’s life disappearing was unbearably terrifying.
That was why I had tried to put a lid on my emotions and become a perfect machine without a heart.
And yet‚ that fragile‚ distorted barrier had been seen through so easily by the ones who should have been the most clumsy in the unit.
「……See‚ bullseye. If the conductor is lost‚ we can’t run with all our might either.」
Mark shrugged his shoulders‚ looking somewhat exasperated yet affectionate. Liam cast a worried gaze at me.
Their gazes and words were far too warm——and to me right now‚ they were painfully dazzling.
The night wind mercilessly stroked the cold sweat on the back of my neck.
Unable to find words‚ with nothing more I could say‚ I could only weakly clench my whitened fingertips.
The cold night air quietly stole the temperature from the room through the stone walls.
Even after returning to my room‚ the question Cross left behind continued to smolder low and ominously in the back of my ears.
I held up my whitening right hand to the light of the magic lamp.
The bloodless‚ translucent white stood out eerily vivid in the light melting from amber to sepia.
「Hey‚ how long are you going to keep muttering to yourself!」
The door was forcefully opened‚ and at the same time‚ a strong smell of miso along with the loud voice “Night snack!” instantly repainted the frozen air of the room.
「……Rinne. I’d appreciate it if you at least knocked.」
When I frowned and said that‚ she immediately puffed her cheeks and shot back.
「I did knock! You were so deep in your own ticking world that you ignored my voice!」
She strode over without hesitation‚ placed the large sewing box she was carrying onto the desk with a thud‚ and grabbed both of my shoulders without asking.
「Come on‚ sit down quickly. And don’t hunch your back.」
「Eh‚ wait…… what are you going to do?」
She brushed off my flustered words with a stubborn voice.
「It’s obvious. I’m sewing ‘anti-magic fibers’ into the lining of your clothes. So you don’t go any whiter on your own.」
——Ah‚ that’s right. No matter what happened to the world‚ between us‚ every day always began in this same way.
And that ordinary‚ noisy warmth of hers always kept my freezing heart connected to this world‚ right at the very edge.
With an uncompromising hand‚ she roughly pushed open the front of my jacket.
The moment Rinne leaned forward‚ her face came so close that I didn’t know where to look.
Her slightly sweaty collarbone as she bent over reflected the amber light of the lamp‚ asserting raw heat. The faint scent of soap drifting from her neck mixed with the overbearing smell of miso‚ relentlessly thrusting a strangely vivid‚ warm sense of daily life at me.
Stitch‚ stitch——the regular sound of fabric being sewn echoed in the quiet room.
Every time she passed the needle‚ her body moved slightly‚ and her hot breath brushed against my defenseless neck with a “fuu.”
（……Close. Way too close.）
I tried to look away‚ unable to bear it‚ but her extremely serious expression at such close range wouldn’t allow it.
「……Hey. If you become cold like a machine in order to save Iris‚ it won’t mean anything‚ right?」
While still moving the needle‚ Rinne murmured.
「I was just trying to create a perfect score for tomorrow……」
「That’s exactly what I mean by ‘monologue’!」
The needle stopped abruptly‚ and her face drew even closer.
Her honey-colored eyes were trembling finely with anger that seemed to blame me——and an even deeper‚ earnest anxiety.
「If you’re scared‚ then say you’re scared! Spit it all out like miso!」
「I can’t just spit it out……!」
I shook off Rinne’s hand and shouted as if spitting blood.
「Every time I calculate a strategy like this‚ I see one minute into the future‚ and in exchange‚ Iris’s lifespan is shaved away! Every time I see the future‚ I get closer to victory. And at the same time‚ I lose Iris’s future. Mark falls‚ Liam shatters‚ Cross collapses——I’ve been shown that worst-case ending over and over! In that case‚ the only choice I have is to kill my heart and become a ‘perfect calculator’ without a single deviation! If I don’t‚ Iris will die before tomorrow morning……!」
「What the hell is that……」
「Why」
「Why were you carrying something so important」
「All by yourself」
Rinne’s eyes widened for a moment‚ but she immediately grabbed my collar strongly. With tears in her eyes——yet with tearing strength‚ she declared.
「……Idiot. You big idiot. There’s no way Iris would be happy about that. That girl didn’t entrust you with magic so you could turn into a machine! To hell with foresight. No matter what kind of attack Solan launches tomorrow‚ no matter what horrible future you see‚ we — with all our deviations — will become your shield and knock everything down with brute force! So…… stop hurting yourself already!」
Tight——the anti-magic fiber thread was pulled strongly.
At that moment‚ the countless futures racing through my mind gradually grew quieter each time the thread was sewn in.
——I could still see them.
But…….
They no longer flowed in infinitely like before.
The door to the future that had been forced wide open was slowly beginning to close by Rinne’s hand.
「……」
「Got it? The place you return to after fighting‚ I’ll protect it properly. So don’t hide that you’re scared. I’ll use this thread to sew you firmly to this ground so you don’t go somewhere far away.」
And then——the thread was pulled strongly once more‚ and the anti-magic fiber seam was firmly tied into the lining of my left chest.
「I’m not Iris.」
「I can’t replace her.」
「But」
「Right here‚ right now」
「The one by your side is me.」
The “fear of losing Iris” that I had sealed away with a thick lid in my chest touched Rinne’s raw body heat——and just a little‚ yet surely‚ began to change shape. The sensation in my fingertips‚ which had gone cold and begun to whiten‚ was slowly regaining human-like pulsation‚ as if pulled by her warmth.
「……Thank you. I feel a little lighter.」
The tension finally left my shoulders‚ and I let out a small breath.
I still couldn’t completely wipe away the fear. Even so——the weight of the thread she had firmly tied into my chest was barely keeping me on the side of being “human.”
「Hmph. Of course. Don’t underestimate the heat of five-fold miso.」
Rinne snorted with satisfaction and bit off the last remaining thread with her teeth.
---
The sound to break perfect silence is‚
surely.
not a completed melody made by someone.
It is the reverberation of awkward humans who cry‚
fear‚
hesitate‚
and yet hold someone’s hand and move forward.
And——.
A few hours later.
That answer‚
on the coldest stage in the world‚
becomes sound for the first time.
---
The morning of the decisive battle.
The underground corridor leading to the arena had cold stone walls mercilessly absorbing our body heat‚ with a faint smell of old rusted iron drifting.
The light coming from the exit ahead slowly melted together from the pale ultramarine of dawn into the vermilion of the torches illuminating the arena. As if foreshadowing the bloody baptism that was about to begin.
With each step forward‚ I felt the very concept of “sound” being gouged out from the space ahead.
Footsteps did not echo.
Even the flow of air was physically rejected.
「……They’ve arrived. What a suffocating bunch right from the morning.」
Mark scattered small neon mint sparks from his magic boots as if to dispel his irritation.
What appeared from the other end of the corridor was a perfectly synchronized march with not a single deviation‚ and silver-white uniforms that allowed no noise. It was the ‘Absolute Zero Orchestra’ led by our archenemy Solan.
In the moment we passed each other‚ invisible sparks crackled fiercely in the frozen air.
Ignis emotionlessly sliced through the excessive heat radiating from Cross’s entire body with his petrified right arm and passed by without even exchanging glances.
The bell shield on Liam’s back leaked heavy vibrations‚ but Valt’s feet‚ which had begun fusing with the floor‚ completely swallowed the reverberation and maintained absolute silence.
The ozone smell burned by Mark’s shoes was instantly sucked in by the vacuum surrounding Zephyr and erased in silence.
And then——Rinne‚ wrapped in the raw scent of five-fold miso‚ and Celes‚ who cast an ice-cold gaze beside Solan.
The warm daily life symbolizing the living‚ and the inorganic devotion premised on death. The two opposing ‘anchors’ scattered fierce sparks without words as they passed each other.
Furthermore——.
Elze‚ who coldly streamed blue logs behind her eyes‚ and Kotone‚ who quietly toyed with the afterglow of hologram monitors with her fingertips.
「……Error rate 0.00%. Your uncertain calculations and such will not reach my serial circuits.」
「My‚ can a fragile system that can’t even tolerate a single bug (play) stop our resonating sound?」
The absolute calculator that allowed not even 0.01 seconds of gap‚ and the perverse analyst who loved noise outside formulas. The two opposing intellects scattered invisible sparks that physically froze the cold corridor air.
「……As noisy as ever.」
In the center of the silence‚ Solan stopped walking abruptly. His white-gloved right hand moved slightly‚ as if brushing away an unpleasant insect.
「A collection of unfinished products has come to dirty my perfect score.」
While bathing in Solan’s bone-chilling cold smile on my back‚ I continued walking without stopping and slowly turned around.
The definite heat transmitted from the lining of my left chest——the anti-magic fiber seam that Rinne had tied strongly——gave my words a clear ‘human’ outline.
「……Yeah.」
I looked straight into my archenemy’s cold eyes.
「We are unfinished.」
Solan’s eyebrow twitched unpleasantly.
「That’s why we can’t end with the same sound.」
Toward Solan‚ who narrowed his eyes slightly as if to say he didn’t understand——I quietly declared.
「In the next moment‚ we will already be playing a different sound that exceeds your predictions.」
Beneath Solan’s white glove——his left wrist‚ where gray erosion was advancing‚ let out a faint creaking sound.
They were beautiful because they were complete‚ and because they were complete‚ they could not advance any further.
We were messy because we were incomplete‚ and because we were incomplete‚ we continued to produce unpredictable evolution.
「……How ridiculous. I’ll enjoy seeing just how far that distorted dissonance can resist my absolute zero.」
Solan left behind a pitying cold smile in the corridor and once again led the silver-white orchestra away.
What remained after they left was freezing cold air——which we powerfully stepped over with the hot body temperature that had only just been lit in our chests.
That’s right——.
There had never been any need for me to be perfect in solitude.
Everyone’s sounds‚ everyone’s body heat‚ had brought me this far.
I strongly poured the definite heat from the lining of my left chest into the baton in my whitened right hand.
「Everyone!」
At my voice‚ Cross‚ Mark‚ Liam‚ and Rinne nodded with fearless smiles.
「Let’s prove it on the battlefield.」
We are not lost. This messy bond is the only ‘guidepost’ to defeating Solan.
「Our sound is still far from over.」
——Click‚ ziii…….
The second hand of the world‚ which had been reversed‚ rang out once more into the present.
As if the theater curtain had been violently torn away‚ my vision returned to the midst of the fierce decisive battle.
A fatal crack had appeared in the baton of our archenemy‚ Solan.
Now——let’s play the answer we found that day on the battlefield.
---
New Chapter 14: 'Countdown of Reverberations (Countdown)' End
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