The Asterisk War, Vol. 9: Whispers of a Long Farewell

by Yuu Miyazaki

  Julis, breathing heavily, glanced toward Saya and Kirin to see whether they knew what was going on, but the two were just as confused as she was.

  “Wh-what are you talking about…?! That’s the first I’ve heard of it!”

  Their opponents, however, seemed to be just as bewildered.

  Julis and the others were surrounded by Shadowstar’s hooded operatives, along with several black-clad figures that had entered the fray—no doubt members of the Yabuki clan.

  When they had been facing Shadowstar alone, Julis and the others had been able to take the upper hand—probably because the student-run intelligence organization’s first priority was simply to keep them tied down—but as soon as the Yabuki clan had gotten involved, the situation had undergone a sudden reversal, and they had found themselves on the defensive.

  In spite of that, thanks to their training for the Gryps, they had been able to hold out. Even in the middle of the throng of combatants, their coordination had been enough to keep them from getting caught in too awkward a position, at times trusting their companions to cover them as they fought their way through the mass of fighters.

  That said, it was undeniable that they had been seriously outnumbered from the very beginning.

  Moreover, their opponents were each highly capable individuals in their own right.

  At the current rate, it was only a matter of time until they slipped up and made a mistake, or weariness got the better of them—until, of course, their opponents had descended into confusion at the sound of Silas’s flustered voice.

  “You’re telling us to pull back, now that we’ve finally gotten the upper hand?! That’s, that’s…!”

  “—”

  The figure standing beside him in silence was undoubtedly a member of the Yabuki clan.

  Compared to Silas, he remained perfectly calm, giving a signal to the other Yabuki members, who promptly melted away into the shadows.

  “Argh! Fine! We’ll fall back as well…!” Silas, his face red, stomped his feet in anger.

  The containers that had been floating in the air throughout the fight came crashing down one after another. This time, however, Silas wasn’t trying to throw them at the three girls—he had simply released them from his hold.

  Julis covered her face with her arms as water filled with concrete shards flew around them.

  It must have only taken a few seconds, but by the time she opened her eyes, the Shadowstar operatives had disappeared as well.

  Only Julis, Saya, and Kirin remained. They glanced at one another briefly before sinking to the ground in exhaustion.

  “Ah… Does this mean we did it…?” Kirin murmured.

  “…That was tiring.” Saya sighed, deactivating her Lux and lying faceup on the ground.

  The three seemed to be in the middle of a huge puddle of water, but seeing as they were all already wet, it didn’t really bother them. It was too late to worry about something so trivial.

  “No, we came here to save Claudia. Until we can make sure she’s okay, we can’t…” Julis fell silent, staggering as she tried and failed to lift herself to her feet.

  “A-are you okay?” Kirin asked.

  “Ah, yeah… I’m fine.” Julis held up a hand to reassure her, holding the other one against the ground to prop herself up.

  During the fight, she had used several large-scale abilities in quick succession, and her prana seemed to be almost completely depleted. It would have been wise to conserve it as much as possible, given that they still had the semifinal tomorrow, but their situation had been such that she hadn’t really been given much of a choice.

  All of a sudden, her mobile began to ring.

  “—! Ayato?!” she cried.

  Her companions leaned forward to catch the conversation. Julis opened the air-window as quickly as her fingers could move, Ayato’s weary face appearing before her.

  “Julis, are you guys all right?”

  “Well, it looks like we pulled through. But forget about us for a minute. What’s going on on your end? Where are you now? Is Claudia…?” The questions came pouring out of her one after another.

  “We’re at the hospital,” Ayato replied. “Claudia’s—”

  It was close to midnight when Claudia opened her eyes.

  “Where…am I?” she asked, her eyelids opening slowly.

  “Not heaven, I’m afraid,” Ayato, who had been waiting by her side the whole time, teased.

  A smile rose to Claudia’s lips as she tilted her neck toward him. “I know that much. With everything I’ve done, I’m destined for hell, not heaven.”

  “I guess you must be okay, if you can say things like that.” Ayato breathed a sigh of relief. “We’re in a special care unit in the hospital. There was a doctor here, just a short while ago, a healer…”

  “…Ah, no wonder my chest feels better.”

  For Ayato, it had been his first time watching a healer at work. He couldn’t help but be impressed by how effective the treatment had been. Still, given how much of the doctor’s prana the process had consumed, he could understand why such techniques were only employed in the most serious of situations.

  That was why, despite the fact that he himself had suffered considerable injuries of his own, he had received conventional medical treatment. That said, Director Jan Korbel had seen to everything himself, so he should probably be grateful, he mused.

  “The healers here truly are excellent… Hatefully so.” She spoke softly, but Ayato couldn’t fail to catch her words.

  “Can you tell me what’s going on, Claudia?” he asked, his expression grave.

  Claudia looked away, lowering her eyes. The room descended into a long, drawn-out silence.

  Ayato decided to give her time, and as he had expected, she eventually relented: “What do you want to know?” she asked softly.

  “Everything,” Ayato replied without hesitation.

  “…I see.” She sighed in defeat, sitting up. “Very well. I can’t say that you don’t deserve an explanation. But you must have already realized it? That dying today, there, that was my one true wish.” Claudia’s voice rang with disappointment.

  Her tone was enough to tell him beyond all doubt that she wasn’t joking.

  As she had guessed, Ayato had indeed realized it, somewhere deep inside. He hadn’t wanted to believe it, hadn’t wanted her to confirm his worst suspicions. Hearing it come from her own lips, he couldn’t hide his shock.

  “…Why on earth would you wish for something like that?” He had to force the words out.

  Claudia gave him a dejected laugh. “I don’t think you would understand. No, not just you. I don’t think anyone on this planet, anyone but me, would be able to understand,” she whispered, letting her eyes drift shut. “I was still a child when I received the Pan-Dora. Living through those nightmares every night, life seemed to lose all meaning and value… No matter how much you fight it, everyone dies one day. No matter how happy a life you might live, in the end, it doesn’t add up to anything. There’s no changing that. I came to realize—not through words or logic, but with my body—that it isn’t how you live that’s most important. It’s how you die.”

  Ayato wanted to disagree with her, but he forced himself to remain silent.

  At the very least, only someone who had experienced the nightmares caused by the Pan-Dora could hope to understand the meaning that lay behind her words.

  “And then, one night, I met you, Ayato… The Pan-Dora introduced us, in my dreams.”

  “Me?”

  Laetitia, it seemed, had been spot-on.

  Claudia opened her eyes, her expression a mixture of sadness and embarrassment. “My hero, leaping into danger to protect me, fighting to save my life… But in the dream, I still ended up dying.” Her moist eyes were staring into his own. “I’d been waiting for you, ever since I had that dream. Yearning for you… I suppose I fell in love with you…”

  “Claudia…” Ayato was at a loss as to how to respond.

>   So instead, he urged her to continue. “It was today? That’s what you saw?”

  “Yes. In the middle of all that rain, in Seidoukan’s harbor block, I took that blade for you, and I died in your arms… And the dream ended. I knew then what my wish was, the one dream that I wanted to come true, the vision that I wanted to make reality.”

  “…”

  Ayato listened on in silence.

  “I’ve died more than a thousand times since then, but never in a better way than that. No. The more I died, the more certain I became. I already knew the truth.” Claudia paused there, letting out a self-deprecating laugh. “The Pan-Dora was behind everything.”

  “Huh…?”

  “Do you remember what I told you, that it has the worst personality? Showing me such a vivid, ideal death…and making me fall in love with you… It’s enjoyed itself, toying with my life.”

  “That’s…” Ayato was at a loss for words.

  “Do you want me to give you an example? I’ve been killed by so many people in my dreams, over and over again. People close to me, at that. There’s been my mother and father, of course, Laetitia and Julis, Miss Sasamiya and Miss Toudou, even Eishirou Yabuki… But, Ayato, I’ve never been killed by you, not once. Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”

  “But if you knew what it was doing, then why…?”

  “Hee-hee. Isn’t it obvious?” Claudia asked with a soft laugh. “Even if you can look at it all logically, love isn’t something that you can just make yourself stop feeling,” she said with a smile, tears welling in her eyes. “My wish was to turn that dream into reality—that was all. I put everything I had into it. That’s why I came to Seidoukan, why I became student council president, why I had you transferred here on a special scholarship, why I entered the Gryps, why I fanned the flames at Galaxy until they decided to send someone to kill me, everything… It was all to make that vision come true.”

  “…But it didn’t,” Ayato said, taking something wrapped in a handkerchief from his pocket.

  It was the silver charm that Laetitia had entrusted him with and that he had in turn given to Claudia—split in two.

  “According to Director Korbel, if it had been even a centimeter or so deeper, you might not have pulled through. This charm might have saved your life.”

  “That’s… That’s the kind of miracle you might expect in a cheap drama.” Claudia laughed, before catching her breath. “To tell you the truth… I had a bad feeling about it, when you gave it to me. It didn’t happen, in my dream.”

  So that was it, Ayato thought. That’s why she made that face.

  “…That’s everything. Now, Ayato. Feel free to take me to task. I’m ready for it.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “Because… You know… Because I, thanks to no more than a foolish, selfish dream, used you, deceived you, and everyone else as well. I deserve to be punished.” There was a slight tremble to her voice.

  “…”

  Ayato stood up in silence, walked over to the window, and pulled back the curtain.

  The rain, it seemed, had come to an end, and the moon had come out to illuminate the city.

  “Well… There is a part of me that can’t help but feel upset. I mean, no matter how dear a wish it was for you, I wanted you to live,” he said, staring up at the moon. “And it wasn’t just me. I’m sure the others all felt the same way. Especially Julis. I can already imagine just how red with anger she’ll be.”

  “…Yes.”

  At this, Ayato glanced over his shoulder, fixing her in his gaze. “But before that, there’s something I want to ask you.”

  “There is?”

  “Yes. What do you want to do after this, Claudia?”

  “Huh? A-after this?” she repeated, glancing around nervously.

  The question, it seemed, had taken her completely by surprise.

  Ayato, having never seen her act that way before, found himself smiling in amusement. “That’s right. Fortunately—although it feels strange to say this—we managed to completely shatter your dream this time.”

  “…You’re relentless, aren’t you?”

  “Well, I’m angry, aren’t I? But let’s put that aside for the moment. I want you to tell me what you want to do now—your hopes, your wishes, that kind of thing.”

  “I don’t know what to say… Why are you asking me that?” Claudia was unable to hide her confusion.

  “Because I want to know more about you, of course, so that you don’t ever do something like this again.”

  Claudia looked back at him blankly. “Are you saying…that you forgive me, Ayato?” she murmured in disbelief.

  “No, not yet. I still want to get a few things off my chest first. But that’s a separate matter. Before we get to that, I want to discuss with you what we’re going to do from here on out.”

  “From here on out…?” she repeated, as if in a daze.

  And then, she smiled, a smile so sad that she looked as if she might break down into tears at any moment. “I don’t… How can I possibly have any idea…? I mean, I’ve lived my whole life waiting for today…! And now, now you’re asking me about the future?”

  “Then let’s start thinking about it now,” Ayato suggested.

  “I-it isn’t that simple…”

  “You don’t need to come to a decision right away. Dreams and wishes are things that pop up in our normal, everyday lives. So long as you keep moving, they’ll come to you. That’s what I think, at least.”

  “So long as I keep moving…”

  “Right, but if it’s the same kind of wish as last time, I’ll have to stop you,” Ayato added, half joking, half serious.

  Claudia burst into laughter, as if she couldn’t hold herself back any more. “It looks like you can be selfish, too!”

  “We’re pretty similar, I suppose.”

  Claudia’s shoulders continued to shake with laughter for a long moment, until finally she brushed the tears from her face and glanced up at him. “All right. In that case, I’ll… I’ll keep moving,” she said, suddenly reinvigorated.

  With that, Ayato felt as if he could finally start putting the day’s events behind him.

  “…Thank you, Claudia,” he said, taking her hand.

  “Why are you thanking me?” she said with a soft laugh. “It’s almost as if we’ve swapped places…” But she trailed off there, her body turning stiff.

  “…Claudia?”

  Her gaze was resting on her hand, placed within his own.

  “N-no, I mean, it’s nothing…!” Flustered, she pulled her hand away, spun around in her hospital bed—and fell crashing onto the floor.

  “Ah… S-sorry.” Though taken by surprise at her response, Ayato tried to apologize. They had been no more intimate than they usually were.

  And yet, Claudia, having turned red all the way to her ears, glanced up at him bashfully.

  Ayato had never seen this side of her before. Before he knew it, his heart was racing.

  “U-um… Ayato?”

  “Huh? Wh-what is it…?”

  “Earlier, I think… I confessed my feelings to you, didn’t I…?”

  “Y-yeah…” He nodded.

  “M-my thoughts were all over the place… T-try to put it out of your mind…”

  “Huh?”

  “I… I’d like to do it properly, next time… One day…,” Claudia said, burying her face in her pillow.

  “Ah… All right.” Those were the only words that came to his lips.

  “…”

  “…”

  They both descended into silence. After a while—Ayato didn’t know how long—there came a knock at the door.

  “Ayato, Claudia. Can we come in?” Julis said, her face projected on an air-window by the door.

  Saya and Kirin were standing behind her.

  Ayato turned to Claudia. “You’ll have to explain everything to them now, too. And then, after that… Make sure you’re ready for it, because we’ll all give you a
scolding together.”

  “Yes, I know. But still…” Claudia looked uneasy, but Ayato smiled back at her in reassurance.

  “You’ll be fine. They’ll probably say the same kind of thing I did. In fact, I’m willing to bet on it,” he responded.

  Finally, Claudia nodded. She seemed to be wearing her usual smile—but no, there was something slightly different about it. “All right,” she answered.

  “Phew…” Claudia, finally left to herself in the moonlit hospital room, let out a deep sigh.

  In the end, Julis and the others had given her a sound telling-off for upward of an hour.

  Saya, in her usual simple and cool fashion; Kirin tenderly—and to Claudia’s surprise, with tears in her eyes. They took her to task for her selfishness and betrayal, but they were also relieved and overjoyed that she had survived. Even Julis, whose fury at hearing the truth had blazed like a wildfire, couldn’t keep a tinge of sympathy from coming through in her voice.

  “…I don’t think I’ve ever been so thoroughly scolded before,” Claudia said to herself.

  Even so, she was grateful to them. They had all accepted what she had said, accepted her.

  “What should I do from here…?” she murmured, echoing what Ayato had said a short while earlier.

  The future stretching out in front of her was a terrifyingly blank swath of canvas.

  How ironic, she thought, for someone with the power of precognition.

  “Well, at any rate, I’ll have to set things straight on that front first,” Claudia murmured, pulling out her mobile from beside her pillow.

  How many years had it been since she had called her by her own volition?

  After a short moment, the face of her mother—Isabella—appeared in an air-window.

  “To think that I would receive a phone call from you. I suppose miracles do happen,” her mother said with her usual perfect smile and gentle voice. “I’ll hear you out.”

  “First, I would like to thank you.”

  “…For what?” Isabella tilted her head to one side.

  “I think that I’ve been able to grow a little, thanks to today.”

  Her mother, perhaps believing that she was being sarcastic, narrowed her eyes. “…You might have pulled through this time, but there won’t be any second chances.”