Volume 5 Chapter 4 (1/2)
The ringing of the alarm clock pounded on my head.
Surprisingly, I had made it to the morning. I had not gone to that flooded battlefield. I had taken a bath the day before and not left the bed since, so I simply had not had a chance to touch enough water to take me to that glowing ocean.
Given what had already happened, either the Leviathan or the Siren intended to use their ticket for each day. That suggested they could not store up tickets and then use them all at once. So I could not let my guard down. Somewhere today, they would make an attempt before midnight arrived. Even if that meant using people infected by parasites like the time before last.
”Good morning, Satori-chan.”
”Yeah, good morning.”
My mom apparently didn't eat breakfast, so there was nothing prepared. I was kind of used to that now, so I opened the kitchen fridge and found a fish sausage to eat. It was a complete mystery what kind of life Himatsuri-san lived, but since I had school, I changed into my uniform and left the high-rise apartment building.
While walking outside, my smartphone vibrated in my pocket.
”Helen> Senpai, I am following the plan.”
After reading the short-message SNS speech bubble, I typed in a quick response and put the phone back in my pocket.
I walked to school like normal.
At the very least, I couldn't see any suspicious infected people around. But after seeing Tanabe-san at the aquarium, I knew they could blend in so perfectly it was impossible to tell.
…And there was no sign of the supposed Siren.
Once I arrived at school, my smartphone vibrated again.
”Helen> I didn't see anyone tailing you.”
”…Hm.”
I had asked Itou Helen to walk a bit behind me to see if anyone was following me.
”Maxwell, is there a drone flying above us?”
”No. I cannot detect any control signals. It is possible for them to use an autonomous flight program, but they would still need to send and receive signals for error correction, similar to a radio clock. There was no sign of that.”
”What about a satellite?”
”I cannot account for unregistered guerilla satellites, but I detected nothing of note. 39 weather, military, and civilian topographical survey satellites pa.s.sed by overhead, but they were all performing a general scan and showed no sign of focusing in on a specific individual.”
…I was doing some pretty impressive things here, but sadly I couldn't brag about it when I was only asking Maxwell to do it for me.
Regardless, it seemed they were not using a camera instead of appearing in person.
While I changed into my indoor shoes at the shoe lockers, Itou Helen caught up and spoke to me directly.
”What is this about, Senpai?”
”That's the thing…”
I had explained the details to her when I asked for help, so I didn't need to hold back with her.
”If the Leviathan is to be believed, the Siren would be targeting me, right?”
”Well, yes…”
”So I was wondering how she would be targeting and attacking me. The Leviathan is inside an aquarium tank here in reality, so I thought the Siren might be in Kukyou City pursuing me like an a.s.sa.s.sin or sniper.”
”And you didn't find anything. Then was that shark lying about there being a Siren?”
”That would certainly simplify matters, but I have no guarantee of that…”
Finding something was a simple way of proving something, but not finding something did not prove anything one way or the other. Was there no Siren, or was she simply doing something else at the moment? I had no way of knowing.
And there was one other thing:
”It's also possible there is a Siren, but she isn't carefully targeting me like that. Her song might envelop all of Kukyou City. That would be the worst possibility.”
To be blunt, that was my biggest concern. Even that Leviathan had talked about intervening, so (if this Siren really did exist) the Siren's ability had to be greater than one of the seven deadly sins…
I didn't know the exact conditions, but in the worst case, she would be able to send hundreds of thousands of people to that glowing ocean on a rainy day. a.s.suming there was no limit to the number of people she could send at once.
”What I really want to find is that the Siren exists and there are some really intricate conditions that need to be true before she can send someone to that glowing ocean.”
That would mean she had to constantly tail me to track my location in preparation to send me to that ocean. In that case, I could move in and achieve checkmate before her preparations were complete. If I lured her into the shopping district with all its security cameras, I could use Maxwell's power to its fullest and work out the Siren's location.
But things changed if she could be anywhere in Kukyou City…or if her contamination could affect such a wide area from outside the city. Then I would be unilaterally tormented to death while trembling in fear of a ghost that may or may not even exist.
Yes, just like before.
It would actually be a relief to learn this was all a lie by the Leviathan, but I didn't have enough information to say that. The Siren was not here now, but that was no guarantee she would not be a minute from now.
I parted ways with my cute undercla.s.sman and entered my cla.s.sroom.
”Satori-kun.”
There I found my forehead gla.s.ses Cla.s.s Rep standing tall with her hands on her hips and her cheeks puffed out. She was as blatantly upset as Ayumi when Erika stole the popsicle she had been looking forward to after her bath.
”Come here a moment. Sit. On the floor. Now!!”
”In the middle of the cla.s.sroom!?”
That command came with a high difficulty level, but it was also a wonderfully unparalleled chance to demonstrate my superiority to the cla.s.s. I would gladly take her up on her offer and enjoy every moment of it. Heh heh heh. Hands off, boys and lesbians. Only I can keep up with this Cla.s.s Rep!!
”The depressed aura coming from your house is getting intense. There are tons of black cats out front and the roof is covered in crows and bats.”
”…I get the feeling you aren't joking and my stepmom and Erika really are attracting those things…”
”It's because you ran away! And running away from home!? You're just wandering around without the courage to confront them or the resolve to support yourself. Do you seriously think that makes me you look cool!?”
B-bgfhh…!?
I shouldn't have gotten carried away. That was the Cla.s.s Rep for you. It had taken me several days of risking my life to reach that answer, but she sent it at me in like half a minute!! Have you ever had your crush stamp your forehead with the words ”Hopelessly Smelly Idiot”!? It makes you feel dizzy and nauseous!!
”P-pant, gasp, gasp.”
”No hyperventilating. I'm not done yet. I saw Mrs. Yurina crying. She stepped out the kitchen back door and then broke down where she thought no one could see her, but I could see it from my window. Whatever justice you might think you have, whatever problem you might be dealing with, and however the world might work, I am going to cut you down to size here. Got that, Satori-kun? Here goes.”
Ahhhhh.
It was over. No one could stand up to the Cla.s.s Rep when she felt a responsibility to do something like this. There was a reason the Cla.s.s Rep was known as the Cla.s.s Rep.
”You can fight with your family. You're human, so of course you're going to have differences of opinion and issues you can't back down from. But, Satori-kun, why would you leave instead of speaking with them!? Did you not realize all you've done is take any other possibility away from them, given up on them, and sealed the issue away!? I know you did. I know you had to have known what you were doing. You know first-hand how painful it is to be treated like that!!”
The Cla.s.s Rep had seen it all.
She had seen my family situation from a far calmer perspective than anyone involved. And that was why her words stabbed into me so sharply. Even if the rest of the cla.s.s did not understand, those words pierced my chest more than any others could.
A family had come to an end when my mom left the home.
There would have been a mixture of feelings behind that decision, but that had been the end regardless. We had fallen apart.
The Cla.s.s Rep had seen that.
She had seen me lying around like a broken doll after I lost everything.
That was why she was angry.
She was too angry to care who saw this.
Someone who knew that pain was forcing it onto someone else. And onto people he had decided were his family.
I could only listen in silence.
How could I object? What could I do besides remain seated on the floor and hear her out?
”Don't rely on others and don't just a.s.sume someone else will work this out!! Satori-kun, you should know that what you take for granted and what you believe will continue forever can fall apart and collapse far too easily. So don't rely on others here!! You have to think about what a single mistake can cause and live a life that works to avoid that mistake. Isn't that all you can do!?”
I wished she would just hit me.
That would have been far easier to handle.
But the Cla.s.s Rep seemed to read my mind when she looked me in the eye. She breathed from her nose and responded.
”No. That isn't my job. So go settle this for yourself, Satori-kun!!”
Regardless, it must have been confusing for the rest of our cla.s.s. But I didn't really want them all getting into my family life, so that was fine with me.
They made a lot of speculation, but in the end it was summed with the following exchange:
”Well, Amatsu and the Cla.s.s Rep are always like that.”
”She's been scolding him since elementary school, hasn't she?”
I was glad for that.
Afterschool, everything was dyed in an orange light.
”What? Do I need to follow you?”
The Cla.s.s Rep was still angry, so I parted ways with her and looked up at a house. It was the one next door to my Cla.s.s Rep childhood friend.
In other words, my house.
…I couldn't believe it. It was my house, but I wasn't ready for this. Besides, if I suddenly disappeared from the high-rise apartment building, I would worry my mom and Himatsuri-san this time.
I looked to the intercom…but it would be weird for me to use that. Given the day of the week, my stepmom would not be standing at a register for her part-time job or at her mom's club. Amatsu Yurina was there. I didn't need to call first to check.
The Cla.s.s Rep really was watching.
At this point, I would have to face my stepmom.
”…I-I'm home.”
I hesitantly opened the front door and called out.
And something seemed intensely off from the moment I did so.
…What was this smell?
Rusty wasn't quite right. It was like something was rotting…except no, that wasn't it either. At the very least, it wasn't something that should be coming from a home.
”Mom…?”
Perhaps I should have turned back.
But without thinking, I slowly stepped inside. Something formless and unknown was encroaching on my territory. That was what it felt like.
It felt more cramped than Amatsu Taori's luxury apartment, but no part of that house would make you feel lonely.
The entranceway was dyed orange by the setting sun.
There was something on the floor.
Finally.
Only now did I manage to place the smell. It was an encroaching symbol. An unpleasant stench that should not have been found in a normal home.
It was a salty smell.
The smell of seawater that had gathered in the rocks and rotted.
”Mom!!”
I finally managed to focus properly on the object lying in the middle of the entranceway. It was Amatsu Yurina. The long hair tied back and her tight blouse and jeans were all soaked with sinister seawater. She curled up in something like a crawling position and she trembled while holding her stomach.
But when I started to run over, she unsteadily moved her arm to hold her open palm out toward me.
That hand wet, with a dark red liquid, told me stay back.
”…Satori, have you used up your one-way ticket for the day?”
”If not, then stay away. Step on the puddle and you'll be dragged to the other side…”
What did this mean?
That was obvious, you idiot!!
Whether it was the Leviathan or the Siren, they could bring more than one person to that battlefield. That was obvious from the fact that Himatsuri-san and I had been fleeing together.
It wasn't just us.
While I had been desperately trying to save myself, there had been someone else caught up in it all. While I had run away from home, she had worriedly given me advice over the phone.
It was obvious when I thought about it.
Whoever was behind it, they would be most interested in Archenemy Lilith. So there was always a risk of her being sent directly to that glowing ocean in addition to using me as a hostage!
”But…how? Yes, you're Lilith, a major demon lord, so you should be able to easily defeat a normal Archenemy like a vampire or zombie…”
”Ha…ha ha. You overestimate me. Maybe I scared you too much at that abandoned hospital. Things can change based on compatibility and the specific conditions.”
Still curled up on the floor, my stepmom forced a smile. So I wouldn't panic, run over, and step in the puddle.
”But…if you haven't used your one-way ticket yet, then we simply missed each other. I should have returned immediately instead of sticking around. What a basic strategic error. Ta ha ha.”
What was this?
Did that mean she could have easily escaped on her own, but she stayed in that dangerous flooded battlefield to search for me in case I was there? While isolated and surrounded by a giant shark, a Siren, parasites, and infected people, she had ignored the dangers to herself and gone around calling my name? And that's why this happened to her…!?
How…
How could I be so stupid!?
Why had I run away from home and felt I couldn't look her in the eye? If I had at least agreed to call home at a set time or otherwise set up a way to let her know if anything had happened to me, she wouldn't have had to search for me in vain!!
The Cla.s.s Rep's words pierced my heart anew.
Family was not an absolute for us. I had seen it shatter before my eyes once before. So I had to live my life while thinking about what a single mistake could cause. We had to respect each other. That was all so true.
What parent could sit idly by knowing their child was occasionally setting foot in a deadly world? Of course she was going to find a way to go there too. And would a parent in the same situation tell their child about it? When doing so would only invite their child to follow them? Of course they would keep it a secret!
I had built a simulator like Maxwell and I couldn't even predict something as simple as this!?
”No, Satori…”
Still curled up and giving off the stench of rotten sweater and blood, my stepmom desperately got the words out.
I could not run over to her or hold my hand to the wound in her stomach.
It was the water.
The great maw of the giant shark or Siren was in the way…!!
”Don't give into emotion. You decided to bring humans and Archenemies together in a different way than the Bright Cross, remember?”
”Kh.”
”So you can't. You can't give into the feeling roiling in your chest. That only leads to the same b.l.o.o.d.y path of retribution as the Bright Cross…”
”But…”
Was she telling me to overlook this?
Was I supposed to use my stepmom's blood to get past this? Was she saying that was the right thing to do?
But I had never been trying to do the ”right” thing! I just couldn't stand to leaving someone alone when they were crying and I couldn't bear to see blood!! I had wanted to protect Erika and Ayumi and I had wanted to side with Itou Helen the Witch, Muramatsu Yukie the Dark Elf, and the others to stop the Bright Cross's oppression. That was all. That was all it was supposed to be, so how had it ended up like this!? Why was I kept from acting here and forced to overlook the person who had done this to my stepmom!?
”…It's the same…”
My stepmom, Amatsu Yurina, spoke in a trembling voice. I doubted it was just the pain. She was trembling because her injury was threatening to take away her son's dream.
”That same feeling is what created the madness behind the Bright Cross.”
…What was I supposed to do?
I doubted the Leviathan or Siren would stop with this. Who would be next? Erika, Ayumi, the Cla.s.s Rep? Did I have any reason to think Itou Helen or Kuroyama Hinoki would be safe? We were up against an Archenemy that only needed to point at someone and register them to drag them into that glowing ocean. Then they would be in that sunken battlefield containing a giant shark, a Siren, parasites, and infected people.
Would I try to talk?
Or would I try to fight?
Either way…
”…Mom. Even as a great demon lord, I can just send you to the hospital like normal, right? You use normal medicine when you get a cold.”
”Satori…?”
”Maxwell, call an ambulance. They can only drag down someone who was chosen, so the EMTs should be fine.”
My stepmom had to have just returned from that deadly world. She was soaking wet and curled up in the entranceway with a puddle of sweater and blood surrounding her.
There was an ”entrance” there.
I still had my one-way ticket. I would find the culprit if I pa.s.sed through there. Whoever it was, that piece of s.h.i.+t had done this to my parent!!
”No, Satori!!”
I did not bother listening to her.
I took a large step.
And for the first time in my life, I chose for myself to step onto that h.e.l.lish battlefield.
Based on the ground level, the glowing ocean's water was 15m deep on average. The residential district full of short houses was entirely flooded. And when starting indoors, it was a lot like a maze.
But there was a difference between being dragged down when you least expected it and diving in yourself. There was no lost time. I swam across the entranceway, through the living room, and out the gla.s.s door that had already broken from the water pressure. From there, I just had to swim straight up in search of oxygen.
Would I make it in time?
I would make sure I did.
More than the oxygen, I was afraid of getting decompression sickness from rapidly swimming up more than 10 meters without diving equipment.
”Bwah!!”
My face broke the choppy surface. The rain was blowing in the wind as usual. The water would be giving off a damp blue glow, but even with thick clouds covering the sky, it was before sunset. Like a lit movie screen, the glow-in-the-dark paint glow was drowned out.
There was no point in fighting the current. I focused only on staying afloat and let the current carry me while pulling out my waterproof smartphone.
”Maxwell, check the situation.”
”Sure. The location of the 'today's exit' door is unknown. Nor do I have any information that could act as a hint.”