by Yuu Kamiya
“All you gotta do—is declare you’re Old Deus’s agent plenipotentiary.” His smile brimmed with unfathomable joy…“Then, if any other Old Deus has a problem, they’ve just gotta bring it on.”…but was also full of something far deeper than hell itself. “Then all these prayers who think they’re players—will fall on the board.”
He then extended his hand to Holou once more: “Does that sound awesome or what? If you’d like that, then let’s play together.”
Staring, Holou took his hand again, but it made her wonder: Does this man…truly understand what he’s accomplished? It had certainly been a grand game. There had never been one like it, on which five Race Pieces had been wagered. But with this game, promising no reward but Holou’s independence, this man—no, his sister must have plotted with him as well—Sora and Shiro…these two…
With one move.
With one game.
Had defeated just Holou.
And in accomplishing that alone…
…they had placed all of Old Deus in checkmate.
Holou, though, was the only one surprised by this fact. From the very beginning, all the participants had entered the game with some degree of prior knowledge. That was why, though his scheme hadn’t worked out, Plum had bet the Dhampir Piece. It was why Azril had entrusted the Flügel Piece to Jibril.
To take those smug Old Dei and yank them down by their roots… For the gamers gathered here, that was motivation enough to risk their doom.
“…Saaay, Chlammy? Why, it’s just as predicted.” A trace of light returned to Fiel’s hollow eyes. “This day—today—the world has quietly…turned on its head!”
Yes, it seemed everything had gone just as they’d imagined before leaving Elven Gard. But Chlammy continued Fiel’s train of thought by inquiring beyond the dividing screen:
“Yes, but we’ve fractured Elven Gard, and now there’s even an Old Deus… We can’t go back now.” Quite so. The world would surely be plunged into a crucible of fear. Few would have the gumption to declare war on Elkia—but some would. Elven Gard, for example, couldn’t possibly take it lying down, nor indeed— “…It wouldn’t surprise me if your ‘grumbling Old Deus’ came busting in right now. Can you manage? After you cut us off, I won’t take no for an answer here.”
The siblings answered Chlammy’s piercing question blankly.
“…Manage? …With pleasure… If they, bring it… We’ll bring it, harder…”
“Not to mention, on top of Immanity, we’ve got Werebeast, Flügel, Dhampir, Siren, Old Deus—even Elf. If anyone thinks they can beat this crew, I’ll say a prayer for them. ”
Fiel furrowed her brow at Sora’s giddiness.
“…Why, is it my imagination, or did you casually include me?”
The response she received, though, sounded surprised.
“Huh? I mean, you two have nowhere to go back to now, right?”
?
Sora shattered the brief silence himself.
“We sent Elven Gard a royal notice of your renunciation—or should I say, we went and narced on your treason. Oh, we’ve got a great place for you to live, so relax. You’d better be grateful to Steph for her skills! Oh, you little…”
Chlammy’s and Fiel’s gazes turned so sharply in Steph’s direction that one could practically hear their eyes make an audible creak. Steph turned her head away with similar effect.
“…U-ummm… S-Sora ordered me to, you know? O-oh-ho-ho-ho…”
There was a splash as Chlammy emerged from the water furiously, screaming in Sora’s direction.
“Y-y—you! Just what have you done to us?!”
“Huuuh? I mean, it was obvious you were gonna lose… Think about it, it was the most considerate thing to do.”
“I’m gonna tear you a new one!! But anyway, how are we supposed to undermine Elven—?”
“No, I mean—that’s not necessary anymore, y’know?”
““…………Huh?””
As Chlammy and Fiel froze, Sora, in high spirits, enlightened them.
“Y’see, not only did I tell them what you did, I told ’em all kinds of shit—everything I could think up. ”
“……”
Chlammy’s fists quivered as she grasped Sora’s meaning. Apart from whatever lies he might have mixed in, Chlammy and Fiel had, indeed, contrived to bet an entire state. Considering the scope of their actions (which included manipulating memories and the fact that the territory had been swiped in the end), the paranoia that could result would be—
“Leave ’em to their own devices, and pretty soon—Elven Gard’s gonna split!”
……
“Man, a civil war in such a big country… It’s gonna be brutal…”
“…In other words, totally sweet…”
Frivolously and flatly, Sora and Shiro chirped their amusement.
—Bam. Chlammy’s fist smashed into the wall as she ground her teeth and thought, This is why…
The more little folds and twists you built into your plot, the greater the chances for something to go wrong.
Like this. They’d sent it all crumbling with one blow and ran off with the spoils without a second glance. It was the move for which she and Fiel had been searching forever—and now it made her guts boil. They’d done it just like that, right in front of her, and had acted like it was nothing. She wanted to kill them.
“…Chlammy… Why, we must be strong!” Fiel, her eyes now full of life, comforted the trembling Chlammy. “Next time, why, we’ll deliver it back to them a triiillionfold… Nor will we forget that poor excuse for a mosquito! ”
Fiel’s face seethed with rage, and Chlammy uttered another unsettling laugh.
In the noisy and boisterous bath, Steph sat soaking in the hot water. Complaints. Objections. Grievances. Despite all these, they seemed to be enjoying themselves.
“…I’m glad you all appear to be having such fun.”
Perhaps this was just the kind of scene she’d hoped and wished for, as she managed a small smile.
—However, the next moment—
“O thou. Thou, thou! Individual of indeterminate name!”
“Yeeeeeeek?! Hey, I get the feeling you just called me the meanest thing ever!!”
Steph shrieked to find Holou, out of nowhere, suddenly bathing right before her. Holou tilted her head, though, as if she’d intended no malice—or, perhaps, didn’t know what malice was.
“…? But thine monikers are far too great in number. Which shall Holou hypothesize?”
“I have a name! Stephanie Dola! That’s my name! True and pure of pedigree!”
Holou appeared to recall how Sora had told her proper address was important for manners, and she seemed to be mulling it over very seriously. Holou nodded, addressing Steph.
“Be that as it may, there is none who doth address thee so. Holou will limit herself to the scope of consensus. Hypothesis: ‘Ste.’”
“Can you at least make it to the end of the first syllable?!”
But, apparently satisfied with her hypothesis, Holou ignored her and moved on to the “main topic.” Which was—
“Ste— What is fun?”
“Wh-wh—what? Uh, well, I mean… A-aren’t you having fun…now?”
Let’s have fun. Isn’t this fun? Holou remembered Sora, Shiro, and others saying such things, but she hadn’t been able to define the term precisely. With Holou’s innocently serious eyes boring into her own, Steph took a stab at it.
“U-umm. I-it’s about whether or not you’re happy, isn’t it?”
But Holou still didn’t seem to get it.
“…If it be a matter of being pleased or not, then, well. Holou finds the current state not unpleasant. However—”
“…You don’t know whether this’ll continue. Therefore, you’re unable to form a unified hypothesis. Right?”
“—S-Sora— Thou! Canst thou read the thoughts of one whose intellect is manifold?!”
Sora answered in Steph’s stead, prompting Holou
to shout, almost shivering in fear.
Sora had quite keenly intuited that it must be nerve-racking for Holou to exist in a future even an Old Deus had been unable to foresee. The Shrine Maiden stifled a laugh and listened with Holou to the rest of her master’s lecture.
“So you don’t know what’s coming. Think about that.”
.
“Is it unpleasant?”
“……Nay. But why?”
Holou inquired as if confounded to her very core, and yet…
“Dunno, man! But maybe it’s that you don’t know what’s gonna happen now or in the future, but—”
…her expression as she asked wasn’t nervous.
“—you’ve got a feeling it’ll be just as fun as this, or even better. Don’cha think?”
.
“O Host! O Host!”
Fwoosh. Holou crossed space again, this time calling upon the Shrine Maiden, who was swigging sake all by her lonesome. She didn’t answer Holou aloud, merely responding with a look.
“Hypothesis: It seems that, for Holou—the current state—
—is fun!”
Holou was all smiles, and the Shrine Maiden closed her eyes in profound emotion. She couldn’t remember how many years it had been since she’d last smiled this gently, but more surprisingly, it had appeared so naturally just now. She had just one thing to say.
“…That so?”
That was her answer—to her friend……
And so, several days later.
“Well, then… What is thy purpose, O holder of the Suniaster— Correction.”
Holou sat atop the peak of the giant chess piece at the end of the world.
“…Tet… It is best to address thee by thy name… Is it not?”
She glared at the one who’d suddenly proposed, “Let’s play chess! ” Her power no longer sufficed to call upon Tet, much less to resist his direct summons. This seemed to sour her, but—
“It is! Oh, and in return, I’ll call you Holou, too! Cool?”
Tet, the shameless One True God who had gone and summoned her anyway, keenly brushed her off. He wasn’t one to mind such unspoken protests.
“…Holou permits it not. For she hypothesizes thee to be the enemy of Holou—and Holou’s allies.”
Her looks turned even more sour as she plonked down a chess piece.
“…Hmmm. I see… So, ‘Holly,’ you still want that Suniaster?”
Ignoring this refusal as well, Tet placed his own piece and addressed her with uncomfortable familiarity. It was a question he obviously knew the answer to, it being so obvious…
“…O Tet. Didst thou not say…thou viewest only the past?”
Indeed, he’d once bragged about his “no-spoiler policy.” Now he just smiled. Holou sighed.
“—Hypothesis: Verily this may be a fine policy.”
“Oh, I’m so glad you understand! But, hey, that’s not a very good move. Boink! Check. ”
Tet smirked as he watched Holou’s mood sour even further.
He could tell that Holou no longer wanted to know the future, the answers. He didn’t need the Suniaster to see that much. Her face was enough. The thing was—it wouldn’t be fun. Holou made clear as she looked at him that her ether, the union of doubt and yearning, no longer sought such things.
“But thou didst also say…that thou wished to see Holou howl.”
“Mmm… Yeah, I guess I did. Not, like, you specifically, but—”
Tet laughed it off. He didn’t really want to see this Holou howl. In fact, seeing her now, he’d rather— But Holou interrupted his thoughts.
“—Hypothesis: Thy wish will not be fulfilled.”
There it was.
“…For it is thou, O Tet, who will howl.”
She was wearing just the smile he’d been thinking he’d rather see. She’d returned his check. Tet seemed deep in thought but asked merrily:
“—Is that precognition? Or just hope?”
Another question he obviously knew the answer to: It was hope. He narrowed his eyes at the Holou who had embraced it. Holou still smiled—though she was unaware of it—as she continued:
“It is precognition. Holou hath hypothesized that she is one who sees the future thou doth not…”
—Oh my! Tet searched for the meaning in Holou’s unexpected answer as he placed her back in check. She smiled with an even greater lack of self-awareness than Tet had anticipated—
“That she sees the future by which thou wilt howl, along with those who created it.”
—and returned his check to her perfect satisfaction.
“…Huh. Sure. Can’t wait to see it… For real!”
He closed his eyes as if seriously unable to wait.
“’Kay, then here’s some quick advice. Holly, you’ve gotta learn to be a liiittle bit patient. ”
With that, he stopped going easy on her and played his first serious move.
“…………Whut?”
Holou made an odd sound in spite of herself as she saw all the forces of the board reverse at once. As she pondered her next move, Tet continued his attack—that most basic of gaming tactics, psychological warfare—unabated.
“Holly, you just get so carried away. If I may be frank—you’re just so easy! Ah-ha! ”
Holou might not have known just what that meant, but she should’ve been able to figure out he was making fun of her. With each word Tet spoke, he could see her mouth straining further. For instance:
“Hmmm, first. You got suckered by the Shrine Maiden twice, right?”
—Erk.
“And our friends Blank just had to be a liiittle nice to you and wham, you’re all over them.”
—Errrk.
“Plus…”
He watched Holou brace herself.
“…You were always just in too much of a rush… When it came to developing a heart, or creating a race—or despairing…”
This time, it was Tet who looked away.
“If you’d just waited a little longer…I think your girls would have answered you.”
Though Tet whispered, Holou could probably not yet understand. She only tensed herself as if doubtful, as if suspecting a hidden insult. Tet looked up, his expression mixed.
“…It looks like you’ve always fretted over why you were born.”
Old Dei—ether—arose of concepts, of thoughts and prayers, as Tet had arisen. But the primordial gods…from back when there was no awareness… No one knew what had wished for them. So they had to choose for themselves, just like people. That’s what Sora had told Holou.
“…No one knows why you were born. Probably not even the Suniaster.” But— “I guess I’d kinda like it if you just remembered there’s someone who thinks this…”
The first god in the world…to have a “heart.” The god who’d given birth to that girl—who’d given birth to Tet by virtue of her hopes, her wishes, her faith. He’d called her here just to tell her this, so he did.
“…Thanks for being born—y’know? ”
Holou couldn’t possibly know what he meant. But now she might be able to see that the words came from his “heart.” Holou, rattled, gingerly placed a piece on the board.
“Oh, right, right. Of course, finally, one more thing—!”
Tet’s face lit up as if to distract her.
“You think you can beat me? Now, that’s what I call getting carried away. ”
He didn’t even give her time to react. There she was in checkmate, dumbfounded.
“—Welcome to my game. I’ve been waiting for you forever.”
As he spoke, he waved bye-bye to Holou.
“You’re six thousand years late, but I’ll give you a pass for having been the first Old Deus. ”
Holou found herself dismissed as arbitrarily as she’d been summoned. Tet gave her this parting shot.
“Oh, but you know, you’re way too weak to beat me now, so you’d better work on those skills. If you don’t at least get good enough to earn a draw aga
inst Blank, there is no future where you see me howl! Ah-ha-haaa! ”
“Oh, there you are, Holou. We’ve been looking for you.”
“…What, happened? …You just, disappeared!”
In the Elkia Royal Castle, Sora and Shiro had been looking everywhere for the vanished Holou. They’d found her standing in a corridor, staring at the floor. Holou asked:
“—O ye. Ye shall answer Holou just what hath occurred.”
“……Huh?”
“…Holou feels unpleasant. An indescribable something hath welled up as her body, despite being an illusion, seems to tremble. Her heart delights in fantasizing of the destruction of the one who hath planted this feeling. What is this?”
Holou asked plainly as if explaining her symptoms to a doctor.
…Well, that’s…
Sora and Shiro weren’t doctors, but they could see the answer on Holou’s face.
“…You’re angry? What happened?”
“—Ohhh… Indeed! Provisional: Holou is angry!!” Holou looked as if she were recording the discovery of the century on her scroll, and bearing the same expression, she inquired further, “Well. When is your plan to destroy Tet?”
“Uh?”
“Ye will vanquish Tet, will ye not? Ye will destroy him? Will it be tomorrow, tonight, perhaps even now?!”
Holou carried on with a masklike leer on her face. As Sora and Shiro rushed to calm her, far away—at the end of the world—someone watched and smiled.
Once upon a time, it had started with the convention “Once upon a time.” And it had ended without being told… That was the old myth. Now it was being carried forward into a new myth, not once upon a time, but in the near future. It had started with that convention, and now the story was finally making the transition into a myth that would be told.
“Come. Let the game that stopped that day—continue.”
The God grinned as he scribbled into the empty book—the myth that had not ended— That, properly speaking, this game—the most enjoyable since the creation of heaven and earth—had begun here.