Chapter 17: The Devil Wears Red Shoes - 2

(There is a bonus scene.)

"What the fuck?"

"What the fuck?"

Eclipse and I cursed at the same time at that utterly absurd answer. I’m your mother? Even Darth Vader wouldn’t pull shit like this.

As though she found my reaction amusing, Red Shoes continued without wiping that unpleasant smile from her face.

"More precisely, I... prepared the materials."

So I am one of the people who made you, am I not?

Where should I begin?

Ah, yes.

Shall we go back... ■■ years?

.

.

As the war dragged on, a thought occurred to me. The Raptures are infinite, while we are finite. No matter how many powerful NIKKEs like you, Cinderella, we create, we cannot win.

Isn’t it terribly foolish to cling to hope in a situation where victory is impossible? So I thought...

Why not join hands with the Raptures instead?

That was why I began researching Corruption! At first, the moment I discovered that it tampered with NIMPH, ahh... I made contact with Her.

The Queen!! The ruler of the Raptures and the cause of it all!! She contacted me first!

My computer was hacked, and she gave me an order. Bring her the head of a human with unshakable convictions!!

Why, you ask?

The Raptures, seemingly an impregnable fortress, had a weakness. They were infinite and formed swarms like locusts, but unlike humans, they had no established chain of command and were scattered in complete disarray.

Even with their advanced technology, perfect imitation was impossible!!

I sent them the brains of dead commanders and mercenary leaders, but ahh, every result was a failure. Most of them could not withstand the Rapture Core and exploded.

Why? Mental strength! Conviction! Those two things were too weak! Absolute faith in the Queen! A mind that would not break no matter what hardship came! And the person suited for that was you, Samael!!

. . . .

"An... ordinary medic..."

Tap. Tap.

"I can’t believe you thought I was capable of something like that."

I asked, flicking the tea set before me twice with my index finger.

"Samael, you underestimate yourself far too much. Far too much!!"

. . . . . .

Finding someone with strong mental fortitude and convictions was no easy task. Most people had been mentally destroyed by the war with the Raptures.

But then...

Then, you see, I heard an interesting rumor.

There was a human medic who treated NIKKEs as people, an idiot who treasured NIKKEs more than his own life.

It was a ridiculous rumor. So many humans already treated NIKKEs like me as machines.

But that belief...

"Just hold on a little longer! We’re almost there!!"

"Leave me behind and go!"

"Don’t... say... such nonsense...!!"

...was completely overturned after I saw a medic on the front lines.

.

.

.

The front lines, ■■ years ago.

"Get lost."

"Haha... Is pointing a gun at visitors the standard greeting on the front lines?"

"Azalea...!"

"I’ll say it one more time."

Click.

"Get lost."

Ignoring the pink-haired woman who had cocked a pistol in front of her, Red Shoes spread several documents across the table.

[V.T.C. Researcher Recruitment Offer]

"Samael is someone V.T.C. needs."

"...Ha! Now you come asking? You bastards completely ignored us whenever we requested support!"

"Things change when the person in question has completely memorized how to repair NIKKEs in just one week. And... shouldn’t we ask the person himself?"

She glanced at the man across from her.

He looked small and frail. That was Red Shoes’s first impression of Samael.

Though he looked as though he would snap if someone poked him, it was only natural to find it unbelievable that he had endured this stage of death with a body like that.

"Now then, Medic Samael? What do you think?"

Anyone who wanted to live would naturally reach for that hand. Who in their right mind would remain in a place filled with bullets and blood like this?

"I’m sorry, but I will remain here."

"Yes, you made the right choi... What?"

"I’m sorry."

Bow.

Samael bent at the waist at a perfect right angle toward us. Naturally, it was the first time I had received such treatment as a NIKKE; I heard someone behind me draw a sharp breath.

"I am grateful that you would take an interest in a medic like me, but... my comrades are also fighting here prepared to die. If I abandoned them just so I could survive alone..."

Samael briefly looked beyond Red Shoes before continuing.

"I would be remembered as someone worse than a Rapture."

Ahh... truly... the phrase ‘a pearl in the mud’ suited you perfectly. To hold such thoughts amid a mess like this was abnormal.

The normal thing would have been to go mad and kill yourself!!

You were the perfect material. Your unchanging convictions, and your powerful mental strength!!

There was no time to delay.

So the next day, while supplies were being moved, I activated a Calling Signal device in your unit.

. . . . . .

"And then... pfft... and then I chased after you while you ran away... pffft..."

"This bitch is seriously insane, isn’t she?"

At some point, Red Shoes had filled her eyes with nothing but madness as she passionately explained it all to us. She was a monster through and through.

"When you ran away with hopeful eyes! Yes! I stomped on your leg! And cut off your head! Blood sprayed everywhere, and I realized no experience could ever bring as much pleasure as that!! When I held up your head and handed it over to the Raptures, I was so happy I nearly fainted! I was so, so, so happy!!"

"Red Shoes..."

Cinderella, who had remained still beside me, walked toward her.

"Ahh, Anachiro, will you too walk the path of harmony?"

Red Shoes asked Cinderella, brimming with excitement. But she made a grave mistake.

First, Cinderella had escaped Corruption. In other words, Anachiro no longer existed.

Second...

Fwoosh!

"...Huh...?"

"How... how could you do something like that?"

Cinderella loves me. (Probably?)

With her trembling arm, Cinderella blew away Red Shoes’s shoulder with the Glass Slipper. Yet Red Shoes still gleamed with the eyes of a fanatic as she spoke.

"This is all for everyone. Anachiro, Medic Samael, you... it had to be you two!! For everyone... for everyone, for harmony with the Raptures, it was only natural for you to become the first...!!"

"Don’t..."

Fwoosh!!

"Call me by that name."

The Glass Slipper smashed Red Shoes’s Core to pieces.

"...It’s over."

"...Yeah..."

Standing before Red Shoes’s corpse, Cinderella drew several ragged breaths, then came toward me... Huh?

Swoop!!

"Huhhhh???? C-C-C-Cinderella???"

"My prince... I will definitely..."

Squeeeze.

"Protect you... From now on, I’ll protect you, my prince."

"What? Uh, y-yes??"

"Wow, this guy was a total virgin?"

Anyone would like it if a beautiful older woman hugged them. But... down there... that... that feeling!!! I felt like I was going to lose my mind! Someone, please!!

"Cinderella!!"

"Rukh!!"

"Everyone..."

The door opened, and Hansel and Gretel, Siren, Mori, and Janghwa rushed in.

When Cinderella loosened her embrace for a moment, Hansel and Gretel and Siren tearfully hugged her.

"I’m sorry!! I’m sorry we couldn’t help you!!"

"I’m sorry..."

Watching them apologize to each other as they held each other tight warmed a corner of my heart. But... something was around my leg...

Swoop.

"M-Mori?"

"I’m sorry, Rukh... I never knew you had a past like that..."

With her short stature, Mori hugged my leg tightly like a red panda. Haha... I’m fine... J-Janghwa?

Swoop!

"Mmphhh??"

"It’s okay... Everything’s okay..."

Janghwa looked at me and pulled me into an embrace against her chest. No, I was even less okay right now... Mmph!!!

After we spent about five minutes hugging and crying together, Cinderella seemed to notice something strange and looked around.

"But... how did you know to come? Did you hear what Red Shoes said?"

"Ah, that was because of me, Cinderella."

"Hm?"

I too escaped Janghwa’s embrace and answered Cinderella’s question. What did I mean by that?

Tap, tap.

"I had been broadcasting from one of my eyes from the very beginning."

"Huh?" "What??" "What?"

"It’s all thanks to this body’s hard work!!"

When Red Shoes began spouting her outrageous nonsense, I asked Eclipse to turn one of my mechanical eyes into a camera, record all her atrocities, and broadcast them.

Through hacking, we broadcast it through the speakers of this laboratory—not only to V.T.C., but all the way to the Central Government.

That’s why you shouldn’t have replaced my eyes too.

Now then... how would everyone react?

I was terribly curious about the reactions of those lofty people.

.

.

.

"Is this transmission right? Where is it coming from?!"

"Connect me to V.T.C. right now! Ask them if it’s real!"

Naturally, the Central Government was in complete chaos. Administrative personnel everywhere were trying to contact V.T.C. or the laboratory, checking whether there were any projects Red Shoes had participated in.

Some claimed it was fake, while others said it was real, and arguments broke out.

And the Goddess Squad...

"God..."

"V.T.C. did something like that...?"

"Just when you think you can trust someone, they stab you in the back."

"Is this true?"

"..."

Rapunzel panicked, and most of them had similar reactions of shock. All except one.

"Everyone, calm down. And headquarters says our squad’s orders regarding this attack on the Orbital Elevator remain unchanged."

"I know everyone is shocked right now, but... let’s calm down. Rapunzel? Would you like to go get some water?"

"I... I will..."

Perhaps she was deeply shocked that a colleague from the organization she followed had done such a thing. Rapunzel staggered out of the conference room.

Silence followed again. No one spoke.

"...Commander... That Red Shoes..."

Tap. Tap.

"Was the cause of all this, right?"

Red Hood asked, struggling to force out each word as she tapped the documents for the Sicarius capture operation lying on the desk.

"...You could say that."

The paper was torn to shreds in an instant. In Red Hood’s hand.

"Red Hood? Separate personal feelings from duty. What are you doing right—"

"Dorothy, stop."

"..."

Ignoring them, Red Hood rose from her seat and looked up at the dark night sky beyond the window.

So not only did the bastard kill Samael, turn him into a Rapture, make me beat my friend with my own hands, and get her shot... that bastard is up there in the sky.

"I will kill you myself."

Creakkk.

In that moment, rage, irritation, and every other emotion tore through her mind. She would kill that bastard somehow. Even if she died, even if her Core was destroyed!!

If her gun broke, she would use her arms. If her arms broke, her legs. And if even her legs broke, she would bite him and make him suffer until he died!!

"Waaah!! The captain has gone insane!!"

"Shut up! Lay out the mats already!!"

Whoooosh... Splash.

Somewhere with a blue sea, contrary to its peaceful appearance, chaos reigned within.

Several NIKKEs were methodically laying out mats beneath an abandoned smokestack.

"Captain!! Could this be because I secretly ate canned tuna?! I hid one right here... Gack!"

"Shut... up."

There was one reason they were doing this: their captain had suddenly climbed to the top of that smokestack, which looked ready to collapse at any moment.

But perhaps unaware of the feelings of the NIKKEs below, the pink-haired NIKKE climbed even higher up the smokestack.

"He’s alive...?"

"Whaaat?? I can’t hear you!! Captaaaain!! Please come downnn!!"

"He’s alive... He was alive...!!"

Holding the broken radio higher with one hand, tears finally began to well in the pink-haired NIKKE’s eyes.

"He was alive...! He’s alive... sob... alive!!!"

Comments (0)

Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register