Sentimental Voice

by Shūsuke Amagi

  Sudden cheers filled the shop. Meishen looked over, and so did Layfon.

  "......What's happened?"

  "Sorry, I can't see it either."

  They couldn't see the screen because of the employees and other customers gathering before it. He could have strengthened his hearing with internal Kei, but he wasn't that interested in the match.

  "......You don't seem to be concerned."

  "Um?"

  "About winning or losing a match."

  "Yeah, I suppose."

  "So you're still not interested in it now?"

  "Um......not really."

  "Layfon isn't concerned about his opponents because he's very strong?"

  "Not really. It's just that......"

  "Ah, I'm sorry......" Meishen lowered her head, feeling as if she had asked too much.

  "Oh, no. I don't feel like that. Um......how should I put it?" he paused.

  "......Military Artists are always the center of attention in Grendan."

  "......Center of attention?"

  "Yeah. You know that Grendan has an unusual number of encounters with filth monsters?"

  "......Yes."

  "There're lots of people in Grendan who can use Kei, but it's totally different for one to use that Kei to fight filth monsters......"

  "Especially in Grendan, a place having numerous fights with filth monsters, those Military Artists are valued. So between Military Artists, there are many matches like the platoon matches here. There are also official contests to choose members who are to fight filth monsters. In Grendan, one must obtain acknowledgment in an official match to become a Military Artist."

  To Layfon, the students of Zuellni were too lax. Although he never let down his guard in a platoon match, he had never felt the tension he had back in Grendan. He was better at fighting without knowing any information beforehand. He could concentrate more in a fight when he was ignorant of everything.

  On some level of meaning, perhaps he really was despicable.

  But that was matter of fact in a match. One couldn't always wait for five minutes before a war starts.

  "I've heard of it, something about a title that Grendan's Queen gives. Has Layton participated in that kind of a contest?"

  "Yes."

  Not only that, but he had also obtained the title that the Queen gave out – a Heaven's Blade successor.

  He didn't have the courage to tell Meishen and her friends about that.

  Either way, he did something that caused the Queen to take back his title. He didn't think he was in the wrong, but in the end, what he did was a big issue against the city's system. He was afraid that Meishen and her friends would fear him.

  (Do I really have an issue inside me?)

  He remembered those sad eyes of Nina's when she knew of his past. Would that pair of eyes appear on another person too?......Thinking of that, everything became painful for him.

  "......Have you also fought filth monsters?"

  "Yeah."

  Layfon was unsure whether it was because his answer was too simple, but Meishen had a shocked expression on her face.

  "......Weren't you scared?"

  "Huh?"

  "I was so scared when that happened not long ago. I was in the shelter all the time, not like Naruki and Layton, fighting out there......Thinking that I might die, I was very scared."

  "But that's a part of any Military Artist's job."

  "Naruki wants to be a policewoman, and Layfon......You don't want to be like that, do you?"

  "No, but......"

  In a world where humanity could only survive in cities, a world where Military Artists were a threat to filth monsters......For Military Artists to be given privileges in cities, they weren't permitted to run away from filth monsters.

  This was the absolute rule of any city.

  (Even so, I want to abandon my identity as a Military Artist.)

  He didn't resent Karian for transferring him into Military Arts anymore, but he hadn't removed all of his dissatisfaction with Karian for preventing his dream from becoming a reality.

  (Perhaps......)

  Perhaps the part of him in Grendan didn't want him to abandon his identity as a Military Artist. It seemed almost impossible to give up Military Arts and pick up something else. It was like starting all over again, walking an even harder and more painful road.

  The name Layfon Alseif was taboo in Grendan.

  (Her Majesty had no choice but to exile me.)

  He shook his head, scolding himself for revisiting the possibility of returning to Grendan and realizing how foolish he was to consider it.

  "Layton?"

  "Uh? Ah, nothing."

  Meishen's bowl was empty.

  "Shall we go to another shop for dessert? It's noisy here."

  "Huh? Um, OK."

  "Do you know of any good places around?" Layfon said.

  "......Um, anywhere is fine?"

  "Anywhere's fine if you think it's good."

  "Then, just a little bit farther from here."

  "Let's go then."

  Meishen led him out and in the direction of the school where many facilities were gathered.

  "Is it ok there?"

  "Yeah, it's got some very delicious ice cream."

  "Oh, um, that's all?"

  The place they were heading for was near the school, but it was different from the place they went to everyday. Layfon wasn't aware of such a shop.

  "I chanced across it a few days ago."

  Walking and talking like that, Meishen seemed quite happy. The tension she held back in the shop was gone. She seemed to have gradually gotten used to not having Naruki and Mifi around.

  (Does that mean she's accepted me?)

  He felt that this was his proof for getting used to his life in Zuellni.

  They came to a park. The gaps between the trees fencing the park revealed a few school buildings. Inside the parks were also a large number of trees. A place to put one's worries at ease.

  "This is close to the Alchemy course campus."

  "Yeah."

  It was the weekend, and smoke in hard-to-believe colors blew out from the windows of an Alchemy building. Someone must be conducting some strange experiment. Although Layfon didn't know whether the experiment was a success, he hoped there wasn't any harmful substance mixed in that smoke. As for his lack of surprise in the sounding of the alarm, that must be more proof of his being inured to life in the Academy city.

  "It's that stall over there," Meishen pointed at a stall painted in the colors of the rainbow. She too, didn't seem to notice the alarm going off.

  "A stall?" He thought they were only taking a shortcut through the park.

  "I found it by coincidence. Great that it's open today."

  For sure. Most people should be gathered at the war field or outside it, so the chance of the stall opening today couldn't be that high.

  Meishen ordered an orthodox vanilla flavored ice-cream. Layfon spent some time worrying about picking a not too sweet ice-cream and in the end decided on one with a soft serve yogurt.

  "You don't seem to like sweets, sorry......"

  "Not a problem. This is delicious."

  Actually, the soft serve yogurt suited his tastes perfectly. While looking around for a nearby bench as he licked the ice-cream, someone caught his attention.

  Two people, one riding a wheelchair

  "......Ah."

  "Ah......"

  Having noticed each other, Layfon and the person sitting on the bench next to the wheelchair called out.

  "Good afternoon. How unexpected meeting you here," Harley said.

  So to speak with Harley, Layfon stuffed the ice-cream in his mouth and stood up from the chair to wave at him.

  "Good afternoon. Did you go to the lab today too?"

  "Yeah, just to accompany someone. We're restocking some sugar for the brain," Harley said with a that's-how-it-is expression as he looked at the person eating ice-cream in the wheelchair.

&nb
sp; That person hadn't yet turned his head around.

  "He's Kirik Seron. We work in the same lab."

  Kirik stared at Harley with a troublesome gaze, but Harley ignored him.

  "You said you wanted company. Oh, he's Layfon."

  "......What did you say?" Kirik's gaze swung to Layfon.

  A delicate face and pale, unhealthy skin from spending too much time indoors. Kirik gave off the weak air of a patient, which might have something to do with the wheelchair he was sitting in. But the way he glared at Layfon swept clean that feeling of weakness he gave off.

  "So you were the one who destroyed my work?"

  "Work?"

  "He made your new Dite."

  "Oh......"

  In the previous fight with the filth monster in its aged phase, Layfon was given a Dite that was combined with different types of alloys. And the inventor of that Dite refused to show himself using the excuse of his dislike of meeting strangers......

  "Really, you really did it. Rather than letting you handle my art like that, I'd have had it eaten by worms."

  "Hey, hey......"

  This guy had a critical mouth.

  "I don't think Layfon's skill is that bad."

  "I could tell from the remnants of the Dites. What's with the messy swings? It's a miracle that you managed to stay alive, swinging the weapon without looking at the paths of the swing."

  Layfon, speechless, could deeply feel this man's anger.

  (Has he watched my fight?)

  Two of the three Dites inserted into the restored Dite were damaged, and Layfon only managed to return the last Dite to Harley. This man was able to determine the progression of Layfon's fight just by analyzing the traces left on the Dite.

  "As I said, the compressed Dites are easily affected by heat. Heat expands and reduces the solidness of the Dites, which in turn damages them. So I installed a safety lock to prevent that from happening, but that has yet to become reality because it still overheats after a long period of time in use. Two of the Dites were damaged due to this reason. This is unforgivable."

  "You couldn't have perfected it for lack of real battle experience," Harley said.

  "No, that's not the case......"

  "............!"

  "............!"

  Kirik and Harley started arguing. Layfon observed them.

  "......Is it all right not to stop them?" Meishen said.

  "The ice cream's about to melt. Hurry up and eat it," Layfon said.

  "......Yeah, I guess so."

  Meishen accepted Layfon's advice. The two Alchemy students were debating with technical jargon. Meishen and Layfon didn't understand a word. Looking at how the two had deviated from the original topic, Meishen decided not to interfere. The two of them finally stopped their debate when Layfon and Meishen had finished their ice-cream.

  "Haven't we wasted the sugar we just stocked up?" Harley wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve.

  "Then we'll restock and review the problem again. I want strawberry flavor."

  "As you wish. I'll have chocolate."

  After having this conversation that sounded like an argument or a genuine decision on what to buy, the two parted. Harley walked to the stall, so he must also be buying for Kirik.

  Kirik glared at Layfon. "......What? You're still here?"

  It seemed he had totally forgotten them.

  "Um, well......I'm sorry for ruining your work," Layfon lowered his head and heard the tense Meishen swallowing her saliva behind him.

  "......A tool is made to be broken," Kirik looked away. "But if possible, I want the reason behind it being broken to be more meaningful......Isn't this your responsibility?"

  "Of course. If I had used a normal Dite, I'd have had trouble escaping."

  "......Yeah," Kirik turned the wheelchair around to have his back facing Layfon.

  "My next work will be even better. I hope you can also use it well."

  "......Yes," Layfon lifted his head and left the park with Meishen. He saw Harley strolling back to Kirik with two helpings of ice cream in his hands.

  "Ah, when those two get together, things get out of hand."

  After telling Nina about his day, her attitude became different.

  They were cleaning in the Mechanical Department, scrubbing a wall of a corridor.

  "Out of hand?"

  "Out of hand."

  "......Yeah."

  "Yes!" Nina nodded, suppressing her laughter.

  "I've seen him a few times, but I still don't quite understand him. "You only know to use brute force" those kind of things. He's lectured me a lot, but the way he says it is too professional. It's hard to understand."

  "Did he make Senpai's Dites too?"

  "Ah, yes. Even if I got lectured, he really is amazing."

  At the park, Kirik had said "the path of the swing." Everything had an angle that allowed it to be cut through easily. If one sped up the swing from that particular angle, no matter how hard the thing was, it could be cut apart. Of course, the path of the swing was different in different situations for the same thing. If one wasn't familiar with the Art of the Sword, it was hard to discover the path.

  "That person might have been a Military Artist in the past."

  "Perhaps."

  Nina must also be thinking of Kirik's wheelchair.

  If Kirik really was a Military Artist, it was natural for him to look at the path of the swing and become angry with Layfon for breaking the Dites. And that was why Layfon apologized to him.

  "Speaking of which, though it's his style, but to say your skill is bad, that's a bit......"

  "No. He did point out my error."

  "Really?" Nina said, disbelieving.

  "Yeah, Senpai saw it too. The cause of that situation was because of my two failures."

  Of course, there was also another reason that broke his concentration when he was attacking the filth monster. Both misses had something to do with Nina. Moreover, the Dite itself had been overworked. But Layfon couldn't say that.

  The main cause was because he fought with the way he fought in Grendan.

  After the fight, Layfon had done some researching in the library on records of how other cities fought with filth monsters. And as expected, Grendan......the way that Heaven's Blade successors fought filth monsters was extremely unusual.

  To fight alone outside the city was the same as being foolhardy.

  And the Dite made for this style of fighting didn't exist anywhere except in Grendan.

  "Layfon."

  "Hmm?"

  Nina might blame herself if they analyzed too deeply the reason behind his failures, so he was glad that she changed the topic. And he realized that she had turned around hesitantly. Layfon bent and saw her face reddening.

  "What is it?"

  "Oh, um......About the girl named Naruki, what do you think?"

  "Naruki?"

  "Yeah. Just say whatever you think," Nina coughed as if to cover up something.

  (Why is she saying this?)

  "Well, she's pretty strong for a first year. She's better at internal type Kei. Besides that, her movements are also exceptional."

  "I see," she smiled shyly.

  "......Could it be, that you want to recruit her into the team?"

  Nina nodded. "Ah, perhaps."

  "But why so sudden......"

  "It's not sudden. I've been thinking about it," she said, cleaning the brush in a bucket of clean water.

  "It's a must to train the best from the very beginning. In the Military Arts course now, there aren't any who are good enough to join a platoon. We can get good results if we recruit some quality members and nurture them......so I've been looking around. That's also why you attracted my attention in the opening ceremony."

  "Is that so?"

  "But with you, you don't need anyone to pick you out," she laughed.

  He shrugged. If he didn't get involved with the two Military Arts students who started the whole fiasco because of their
home cities, Layfon wouldn't be the way he was now. At first, he was tired of being forced back to Military Arts, but now he didn't regret fighting.

  "I've observed the first years for a while, but I still haven't found anyone better than that girl." The noise of the gears drowned out Nina's sigh.

  People whose ability in Military Arts was discovered at a very young age were usually kept in their home cities. To any city, the number of excellent Military Artists it held denoted its fighting strength. For the crisis of filth monster assaults and war between cities......these people were irreplaceable. It was every city's dream to hold in hand exceptional Military Artists, so they wouldn't have let them go easily.

  (Could it be......)

  Could this be the reason that Nina ran away from home? She was recruited into a platoon when she first started school here. She should have been acknowledged at her home city. In that case, she should have no means of leaving the city. She also said her family was rich. Perhaps it was a family of great Military Artists.

  The ability of Kei was what made one a Military Artist – the internal type Kei that strengthened one's flesh, and the external type burst Kei that could directly damage and destroy anything outside one's body. The source of Kei was a special type of organ that these people had, the Kei vein.

  There were two types of people with Kei veins – the type that was born in a normal family, and the type that was born in between Military Artist parents to increase the rate of a baby born with the Kei vein. In order to increase the rate of babies born with the Kei vein, every city had prize money given out to families who managed to produce those special kids. And if a person with the Kei vein had his ability proven......For example, one could be given a status equal to a Heaven's Blade successor in Grendan.

  (Am I thinking too much?)

  The possibilities he thought of might not be zero. This was the world of Regios that he knew. And he had managed to earn large sums of money because of using, no, abusing this relationship the cities had with the world.

  "What is it?"

  "Ah, nothing......"

  He had stopped cleaning, diving too deeply into his thoughts. He started cleaning again.

  "No matter what, I'm going to invite her in. I'm counting on you when the time comes," Nina concluded and went back to work.

  (I guess it'll be quite hard.) Layfon thought.