by Kamiya Yuu
—That was not the case.
“But I can’t leave it alone.”
In the midst of such a situation, Marie’s actions were not malicious in any way, but she could not escape from the involvement. How could she pretend that she did not see such a thing?
“That isn’t the problem here.”
Halter denied her with a calm voice,
“The situation is out of hand here. It was already beyond what you could do as a clockwork technician.”
“But that’s…ugh!”
“Now then, what will you do? Reveal the information? You can take the risk, but this will just force the government to act faster. It’s just an urban rumor without solid proof; they can say anything they want as an excuse. ‘The purge in Kyoto was for the same reason’, Those guys will calmly state this difficult decision, I guess.”
“So…!”
Marie turned back, and stared at Halter.
Halter took her stare head on without flinching, and spoke up,
“So, what do you want to do now? Are you going to stop it all in secrecy? How? The enemies are the government, the ‘militaries’ serving both sides, and the 5 Enterprises. What can you do right now?”
That tone was very calm, to a point one could call it gentle.
“Are you still not aware that you’re already dead? Also, if I have to say, you should be living an obedient life as a student in Kyoto right now until the social chatter calms now.”
“Tell me what I have to do then!!”
Marie yelled in agitation,
“Are you saying that I should quietly observe everything that happens afterwards as a bystander?”
“That’s an option.”
Halter let out a little sigh, and nodded,
“The government will use the ‘military’ and crush that weapon. If they are able to do so, they will at least get back the bare minimum amount of credibility. It’s not really a bad thing to quietly watch hopeless guys fight it out against those who had no other choice but to fight.”
“Are you serious?”
In response to Marie’s question, Halter shrugged,
“I’m not good at making jokes.”
“You saw it too, right? The underground weapon. Look at it. Do you think the Tokyo ‘military’ itself would be enough to defeat it? We also got to consider AnchoR here. With that weapon and AnchoR attacking at the same time, you think they can win?”
“Probably impossible.”
Halter honestly nodded,
“And even so, what is the problem here? Is it that important of an issue whether the government wins or loses here? Like what that Prefectural governor said, maybe the scenario will play out against them—but so what about that? There’s no reason for us to be troubled by that.
Marie shouted,
“A lot of people will die!”
“Of course.”
“If that weapon’s going rampant out there, it will not end that easily! Whether they win or lose here, the city will be fatally devastated!”
“I guess.”
“In that case—are we going to lose more lives than how it was supposed to be in Kyoto?”
“You’re absolutely right here. No matter how many times I do say so, it’s the result of idiots doing idiotic things here. It’s not something a powerless brat has to take responsibility for and start panicking like crazy.”
Marie was left speechless, and stumbled back.
She was unable to understand Halter’s words—no, actually, she could understand it. At the very least, she was able to recognize that the logic behind it was the right one. Even if she did not do anything, whatever happened in the future was not Marie’s responsibility. That was what he was trying to get at.
“Don’t kid around with me!”
Marie gritted her teeth as she growled, the wounded pride completely completely. We’re at this stage already, and you’re trying to take away my responsibility here!?
Halter took a little breath, his expression seemingly easing as he shook his head,
“I’m not joking around here. I’m just plainly stating the cold hard facts here, Milady. If you really can’t accept this, well…that can do. I’ll follow your decision.”
And then, Halter asked,
“What do we do now?”
Marie did not answer.
Nothing mattered no matter what she did, and she understood best that she herself was unable to do anything. She understood her capabilities and limitations very well…in her current state, there was nothing she could do to interfere.
“—”
She naturally got down to her knees.
She knelt there dejected. The rainwater gathered on the ground dampened her underwear so much it was disgusting, but it did not matter to her.
The important things in her heart seemed to be crushed, and she was unable to stand up.
She bit her lips hard.
She understood what this weakness was, and understood that no matter how much she persevered and remained proud as she did the right things, there were still thngs she could not do.
But even so—she had a feeling that if she was together with Naoto, they would be able to overcome anything. Having let him die at this point, this diminutive her could not do anything at this point.
“…No.”
Such thinking there was simply an excuse.
The water and mud splattered upon hear, and a numbing pain passed through her arms.
—Don’t be mistaken here.
What could she do even with him around? Did she think he was just a nice gimmick for any circumstances?”
She thought of the talent she could not understand as a magical miracle, and that turned out to be the outcome.
She could not give up, and she could not allow herself to die like this.
But she could not do anything. She could not change anything.
—Her thoughts were spinning blankly.
And the pouring rain got stronger.
There was no light, and visibility was really bad. Unable to endure the pattering raindrops, her body gradually got heavier.
And at this point, she just ended up unable to move forward.
“…Why?”
Why did it end up like this? Maybe it was as that rural Prefectural governor that said, that if she had just died quietly, perhaps things would have been better than they were at this moment.
They intended to sacrifice 20 million lives for the sake of their meaningless pride. Even after so much effort spent to save them, they intended to continue killing more people than that this time?
“What, is this…”
Marie was unable to understand.
—There was always someone dragging things down.
There were both right decisions and mistakes. Justice did not belong to any side, contorted easily by a little malice when without belief and sincerity. The only facts were the circumstances that benefited them, and the rest were all just lies.
—She did not doubt it at all. She had to be mentally prepared to understand that yes, that was how it was. Nothing would change even if she sighed, and till this point, she agreed that it waswas the world she lived in.
But in fact,
Ever since she was a child, she always thought,
That this world was unpleasant, so irritating.
Marie continued to pant as she looked up at the sky.
She could see the dimmed, narrow sky from between the gaps of the buildings.
The falling rain pelted on her face, sliding down her eyes as they flowed down her cheeks.
The words that were always in her heart were so difficult to express so simply, and they carelessly slip out,
“…What value is there in this world?”
It was because of such an idea that she realized her own arrogance.
Was it not ridiculous that a mere human would question the value of the world? That would be the issue she knew very well of, where many people would cry together, laugh toge
ther, solve issues together little by little and improve.
—Go eat shit.
She was already sick of it all. She was sick of those pretty sounding words
The Clockwork Planet was patched all over simply to extend its lifespan—but were the people living on it not already failures themselves?
Even if they were to somehow overhaul this world itself, what could they do?
It had been approximately 1000 years since that miracle, when the already dead and frozen planet was forced to continue on.
But in the end, such a situation occurred. How much had humanity actually progressed exactly?
She was completely worn out, her clenched fists loosened.
—At this moment.
Pak.
A soft sound rang as the manhole beside her opened.
Appearing there was a hole large enough for a person to pass through.
Appearing from there was an unimpressive looking boy who suddenly poked his head out, growling,
“Wow, this damned rain…what now? We got away from the drain water for the rain water?”
“Will it not be better to think of it as something that can wash away filth? Also, if this rain is caused by the improper maintenance of the facility, the manager will have to bear responsibility for dirtying my clothes, and I wish to bury him alive.”
“………………………………………………………………………….”
That’s a hallucination, right? She concluded.
It seemed Marie Bell Breguet’s sanity was completely blown to a point where she could even see hallucinations, a delusion that should not exist, and her dejection got severe as a result.
In a corner of her vision, the ever familiar boy and girl slowly climbed out of the manhole, and that had to be a hallucination itself. This was a delusion that should not happen. It was probably the rain’s fault.
…For it certainly was very strange.
“—Seriously, it’s hot here! If it’s going to rain, at least lower the temperature a little! Seriously, what’s with this, this place called Mie!?”
“Master Naoto, given that it is raining this much, you must have been disappointed that you are unable to see me in my swimwear on this precious Sunday—”
“Ahh!!! That too damn it!!! When it rains, it pours here!! Ahh, but now…hm? Ah, it’s Marie. Dammit, don’t wanna involve myself with her.”
“Master Naoto, have you finally learned the high level skill called learning from your own mistakes?
……And furthermore, she had auditory hallucinations. There has to be a limit to how much you can be dejected here! It’s so unbecoming of you that you’re having the trash end sinking into such a nice delusion here. Even if you’re given up the Breguets name, you didn’t abandon your own pride. No matter how sad or bitter you are, you have to keep going forward, and even if you lost—wait.
She gasped.
Her hands on the floor, she exerted strength in her feet. She relaxed her joints, and with her muscles acting as a spring, her body, heavy due to the rainwater absorbed, leaped and spun!
With all her might, she sent a sure-kill spinning kick at the hallucination that was not supposed to exist—
“—Burragh!?”
“Master Naoto—!? Seeing your insolence here, Master Marie, I suppose you do not want your life anymore, so since you wish to be sliced up, allow me to—”
“Wait, wait! Both of you, calm down already! Especially the Princess!”
“ARRRR!!!”
Marie grabbed Naoto, who almost fainted, and yelled out a strange sound.
The deflated feeling of all her efforts being for naught became a flood of emotions that knocked her senses off, but her hands clearly felt the idiot she was grabbing, and at least convinced her this was the case.
“—Since you’re still alive, shouldn’t you have hurried up and show your face?”
“U-ugh—y-you gotta be kidding me! I just came back.”
“Shut up with your answer!”
“Master Naoto, please wait. I shall now utterly dissect that wild dog here.”
“I told you guys to calm down already!”
—It seemed that this was not a nice, one-sided delusion.
● ● ●
Let us rewind the clock to 20 hours back.
When he woke up, Naoto wondered, why am I in such a place?
His vision was dim. It seemed he was in an exceptionally large space, and the ceiling height from this point was not merely a few hundred meters. It felt as if he was outdoors…eh, outdoors?
His memories linked together.
After battling AnchoR, he was embraced tightly by RyuZU, and fell into this deep, deep hole.
The moment Naoto recalled this, a voice from above his head called him,
“Are you awake, Master Naoto?”
He tilted his neck slightly, and found RyuZU’s face close to him. At this moment, he finally realized his current predicament.
He was using RyuZU as a lap pillow.
Once he realized this, Naoto felt that it was a pity to just get up like this, and gently nodded before closing his eyes.
All his sense were focused at the bottom of the head, where the tenderness of the thighs were.
“I see that you are tired, so please listen to me as how you are now. Right now, we are outside the Mie city, in the basement far below. This place was originally the equivalent of space, and given your utterly feeble body of flesh and blood, Master Naoto, you will die in the next few seconds—”
“Waaahhheeeyyy!!?”
Naoto got up in a panic.
No matter how reluctant he was to leave RyuZU’s thighs, he could not pretend not to hear these words.
“Th-this is bad, got to hurry back before I die—huh, w-wait…? But it’s been more than 10 seconds already, isn’t it?”
Naoto pattered his body as he asked, and RyuZU nodded in response,
“—Yes, logically, that should be the case. For some reason however, it seems this stretch does contain an environment that allows humans to survive…how about you, Master Naoto? Did you give that command because you realized that fact?”
“Eh? It’s nothing. I just found that there’s still footing down below, so I thought that since there’s another level below, it’s fine to just fall down.”
That’s it. Naoto was about to say this, before he hushed up.
RyuZU, staring at his face, had lost all expression, and with this icy mask face, she spoke stoically,
“Master Naoto.”
“…Yes.”
“I found that though you are at the apex of humanity, Master Naoto, relatively speaking, you are the most intelligent in the world. Tragically however, in an objective viewpoint, I have determined that you are so foolish beyond hope.”
“Eh, errm…”
“Please allow me to explain. This is a foothold remnant built more than 1000 years ago.”
“Foothold remnant…?”.
Naoto repeated blankly as he looked around.
He focused his attention as he observed the dim surroundings, and then, he realized this was a large web-shaped place linked to countless passages. Dilapidated, it was still sturdy.
For some reason, Naoto found it to resemble a construction site. Either that, or a ridiculously large, complex jungle gym.
RyuZU waited for Naoto’s understanding, and continued,
“The Clockwork Planet was created using the mantle within the Earth as the original material. Of course, the conclusion is that there was a need for footing to excavate. At the same time, these footings were used as the structural frame when constructing the planet—And they exist throughout the underground.”
“Eh, that’s…”
“Currently, the planet is completed, and all the cities are running normally. This level is not protected by the Clockwork Planet’s environmental controls.”
“And you mean…?”
At first, Naoto assumed that it was to be expected tha
t there was a footing far below the surface, and even determined that it was a place humans could survive at. In fact, this judgment was just due to a erred misunderstanding on Naoto’s part—
Yes. RyuZU nodded, and said,
“To be blunt, you could have died. I suppose it can be said that you were lucky, and this should be due to the kind deeds I accumulate daily to a point where even an angel would feel sheepish by.”
“GYYAAAHHH!!”
Realizing how much he was playing with fire back then, Naoto let out a scream.
Only at this point was he breaking out cold sweat, his heart pumping wildly.
And RyuZU stared coldly at a panicking Naoto, saying,
“Master Naoto, once we return home, be prepared to receive my strict education, including those not included in the curriculum. You may have an exceptional talent, but you still need the most basic of knowledge, or it will be extremely dangerous; this is what I determined.”
“Yes…I’m really sorry.”
Naoto lowered his head, grovelling as he apologized.
However—he tilted his head.
At the same time, he was skeptical. Why was this place an exception?
And the moment he asked RyuZU this,
“There is only one answer. There are people who came to repair this place, no?”
“Then who?”
“I do not know. It probably has to so with that hideous looking massive weapon, no?”
Hm. Naoto nodded.
Truly, they could not say that that strange thing and this underground phenomenon were not interconnected.
And the most important thing was that—this place looked new no matter how he looked at it.
It was dated, but it did not resemble something that was here since a thousand years ago. Furthermore, the place was not completely dark, or in other words, there was light. What was supposedly a place of pitch darkness was lit by the light gears, though it was really bright enough to see.
In other words, Naoto muttered,
“Somebody’s maintaining this place, huh? Did they use the transport routes used to create that big weapon, or…well, I’m not really sure, but anyway—”