Itsuka-kun looked at me and said, "Hieta. I want to talk to Rinne."
Looking into his eyes, I could tell he wasn’t going to back down, no matter how much I tried to stop him.
"...If that’s what you want, then fine. I’ll clear the way, so run straight to her."
"...Thanks."
"Don’t mention it."
The good news was that I had already burned away one wave of the vines, so there were far fewer of them left to contend with.
I tightened my grip on the Spiral Sword in my hand.
The others were also preparing to carve a path for Itsuka-kun.
Then, without a signal, we all charged toward Rinne simultaneously.
I took the lead, swinging my Spiral Sword to hack through the vines. The sections sliced by the blade were scorched black by the heat.
Tohka followed close behind, cutting through the foliage with her angel, [Sandalphon]. Her attack style was similar to mine, but because [Sandalphon] was far larger than my sword, she cleared a much wider path.
Tobiichi used her CR-Unit to rain down missiles from a distance. The vines that Tohka and I missed were blasted back by the explosions, and she quickly finished them off with her laser blade.
The commander used [Kamiel] to incinerate every attack aimed at Itsuka-kun from right beside him. She wielded fire as well, but her output was on an entirely different level than mine; she blocked the vines with a torrent of firepower that dwarfed my usual flames.
Yoshino provided support from the rear alongside Tobiichi, piercing the attacks we failed to notice with shards of ice. The vines she struck froze instantly, crumbling apart with a sharp cracking sound.
Tokisaki-san fought at the front despite only wielding a gun, which was impressive in its own right. She used [Zaphkiel] to buff me, Tohka, and the commander while simultaneously deflecting vines with her gunfire. It was a masterful display.
Before long, Itsuka-kun reached Rinne. Soon, I could hear their conversation.
"Rinne, why did you trap us here...!"
"This place is paradise. A paradise where everything Shido wants comes true. If you hadn’t learned the truth, you could have lived happily here forever."
"There’s no way something like this is paradise! So what if everything I want comes true?! What’s so happy about that? What kind of happiness is an artificial thing someone else just hands to you?!"
"You... are denying this paradise... [Eden]?"
At Rinne’s question, the building began to shake violently.
"W-what?!"
"...[Eden] is crying. If no one in this world wants it anymore... [Eden] can no longer fulfill its role..."
"Ugh, this is so frustrating!"
Listening to them talk made my insides twist with sheer irritation.
"What does it matter if [Eden] can’t fulfill its role! Rinne! Didn’t you want to stay with Shido?! Why do you need [Eden] for that?!"
"But..."
"What do you mean, 'but'?! From the way you’ve been talking, the happiest you ever were was when you were with Shido! And Shido! The same goes for you!"
Itsuka-kun looked surprised that I was speaking so casually, but he quietly nodded.
"See?! Shido thinks the same thing! You’re not happy just because your wishes come true! So just be honest and tell each other how you really feel!"
Trying to shout while hacking away at the attacking vines was absolutely exhausting.
"...Hieta’s right. Rinne, I want to be with you. You’re already like family to me. After all, you were the one I spent the most time with, the one closest to this world...!"
Hearing my words, Itsuka-kun finally began to speak his true feelings.
"Even if we leave this place, it won’t change the fact that you’re precious to me."
"So let’s go back together. Rinne."
Before I knew it, the building stopped shaking, and the vines attacking us went still. When I turned around, I saw Itsuka-kun kissing Rinne.
As I caught my breath, sighing in relief that Rinne had been successfully sealed, Itsuka-kun’s frantic voice reached me.
"R-Rinne! Your body!"
Rinne’s body was dissolving into particles of light, slowly disappearing.
"Actually, you know... I can’t go back with you. Not just me."
"What are you talking about! Stay with me! Just like you have until now, and from now on too!"
"What you call 'until now' was never really real, you know? So there won’t be any 'from now on' either......"
"No! No, that can’t be!"
"Shido... The days I spent with Shido were, without a single lie, truly... happy......"
With those words, Rinne began to close her eyes.
"...Rinne. Let me ask you one thing. Do you still want to be with Shido?"
"Of course..."
"Hah... I see."
After hearing her answer, I stepped toward her. I placed my hand on her fading form and focused my will.
"H-Hieta?"
Honestly, I had no idea if this would work.
It was a "maybe," a "perhaps," a "possibly"—the kind of slim chance that felt like a gamble.
The term I had heard constantly since falling into this world was "spirit." The commander had noted that spirit waves were present in my body, and on that basis, she had judged me to be a spirit.
If that were true, then perhaps souls and spirit power were similar in nature.
The soul sorcery I used, including [Soul Stream] and stealth, were all techniques that manipulated souls. I didn’t understand the underlying mechanism, but my body remembered how to execute them.
"Kgh..."
The problem was that manipulating souls wasn’t my specialty.
I was only able to use these abilities because of the "game" system. Normally, these were techniques I had never mastered and couldn't use; at best, I could only adjust the output of my sorcery.
What I was doing now was essentially a desperate bet.
"Rinne, your body...!"
"It’s coming back...?"
I could hear the others around me, but I couldn't afford to be distracted. Holding her form together with such incomplete control was only a temporary fix.
As if to prove the point, the body I was trying to reconstruct using my own soul and Rinne’s spirit power began to waver. I could feel it refusing to solidify.
"I-it’s getting blurry again...?"
No matter how hard I focused, I kept failing. Rinne’s body would flicker back into existence only to blur again, and the amount of spirit power leaking away was increasing.
Right then.
"I’ll assist you."
Along with a woman’s voice, I felt another hand press down on top of mine.
Like a miracle, Rinne’s body stabilized.
The leaking spirit power surged back in, and the conflict caused by the energy refusing to mix with my soul was instantly resolved.
Once I felt Rinne’s body fully return, I opened my eyes. The Fire Keeper was standing right in front of me.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register