novelVolume 10, Stage 03: The True Enemy Was With Us All Along (2)
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Volume 10, Stage 03: The True Enemy Was With Us All Along (2)
This was the amusement park city of Toy Dream 35. It was scary how everyone just accepted her battle costume as no more than "flashier than a yukata". The girl's tennis team was trying to show off by wearing their full tennis uniforms even on a practice day, so they ended up grinding their teeth. The Queen herself kept a composed expression as she gathered all the attention.
She made her way to the school building and looked to one of the few empty classrooms designated as a girl's locker room.
"Okay, brother, I hate to be away from you for even a moment, but we have no choice here."
"Yes, yes."
"You are injured, so just let me know if you ever need any hands-on rehab assistance☆"
"Yes, I get it. You'll kill me if I run away."
He shooed her away like a dog and walked to the empty classroom for the boys.
He kicked the door open while holding the waterproof bag carrying his swimsuit and found someone already changing inside. Rendou Akiya had just put on a lovely swimsuit and was pulling his chestnut hair back with a hair tie in his mouth.
The orchestral band and the pop band must have been competing in some way because Kyousuke could hear their loud music playing in the distance.
"Oh, right. You don't use the girl's locker room, do you?"
"Hwa hwa hwah hwa hwa hwan."
"Take that hair tie out of your mouth."
Kyousuke could have read his lips, but revealing that skill would only confuse the boy.
His classmate tied back his hair with the tie before speaking.
"I only do this as a fashion statement, so why would I use the girl's locker room? That sounds like a harrowing experience, if you ask me. I accidentally boarded the women-only car the other day and that was very bad for my heart."
"Sigh."
That said, Rendou Akiya was so "perfect" that having to change in the same room as him felt like being handcuffed. There were a lot of ordinary guests here, so this explained why no one else was using this particular locker room. However, making too much of an issue out of it would only put this belligerent classmate in a bad mood.
"By the way, how'd you hurt yourself so bad? What happened? Did you try to learn how to ride a motorcycle during summer break and have it fall over in the middle of a ride?"
"I got in a bit of a fight with my 'little sister'."
"Yikes. That sounds way more dangerous than a 250cc big scooter. My condolences. I swear nothing brings trouble like a little sister. Why anyone wants to have one of those when they can have an older girl is beyond me. These days, everyone wants to be surrounded by kindness. I mean, we're all too overwhelmed by life to deal with supporting someone else."
That seemed to be Rendou Akiya's philosophy, which explained why he had heaped praise on Student Council President Benikomichi Fuuki in the other timeline.
The two boys walked barefoot down the hall.
"So, Shiroyama-chan, did you know Librarian has an older sister?"
"Oh, you mean Umie Shouko?"
"Eh? You already know her full name? Wait, why have you researched her so much? I went to middle school with Librarian and I only recently learned about this. Are you seriously aiming for that sexy upperclassman!?"
Rendou Akiya suddenly grew tearful and emotionally unstable, so he was definitely into older girls. Kyousuke was kind of impressed by how the boy did not hide anything from his friends....And the boy had nothing to worry about. The Rainy Girl could manipulate the paranormal all on her own without spelling anything out with letters, so in a way, she outdid even Tomb Priestess Sekurtiti. Her power could be seen as a form of cheating different from the White Queen's, so Kyousuke could only praise his friend's courage for going after someone like that.
After following the passageway to the outdoor pool, a chlorine disinfectant smell stung their noses.
Librarian-chan, who wore glasses and kept her hair in a braid, must have only just arrived. Her school swimsuit somehow did not help her stand out from the crowd. She stood on the poolside with her legs spread apart and her hands on her hips while she wiggled her body around in some warmup exercises.
"Morning, you two. I hope you're enjoying a lazy summer while I'm stuck here for work again."
"Morning, Umie Whatever."
"Hello, Shouko-san's sister."
"Um, I am super worried by how you seem to be defining me based on my sister, but please don't tell me some summer event has greatly complicated the interpersonal relationships around me. My family isn't going to be hit by some strange storm, is it!? Is it!?"
Librarian-chan approached them so forcefully she would likely make a good member of the public morals committee, but she had nothing to worry about. Kyousuke felt like successfully confessing to the Rainy Girl would be harder than seducing the Red Lady of the Three.
(Although I guess I tried something just as crazy. )
The heat of the tiles must have been too much for her bare feet because Librarian-chan began hopping back and forth as she asked another question.
"And Shiroyama-kun, what's with those bandages? Did you visit the mountains and fight a bear???"
"I got in a bit of a scuffle with my 'little sister'. I regret nothing."
"I-I refuse to accept the common theory that little sisters are nothing but trouble!! In my family, it's always my older sister that brings chaos with her!!"
Librarian-chan began freaking out again, but she seemed to be enjoying her summer.
That was when Kyousuke heard some quiet footsteps.
It was still morning and the water was still cold, but there were a lot of people here.
Nevertheless, this chilly noise was not drowned out by the crowd. It reminded him of water dripping from stalactites in a blue glowing cave.
"Sorry about the wait, brother."
A silver-twintailed girl awkwardly stood there holding an extra-large sports towel. She was wearing the same style of school swimsuit as Librarian-chan, but her overall aura was different. White. It was white. Kyousuke was surprised to find that swimsuit actually existed.
Rendou Akiya stared in shock.
"A white school swimsuit? Are you serious!? That legendary item is too much even for me, yet she's pulling it off perfectly! Who is she!?"
"If that is made to be see-through when wet, I am blowing this whistle. And why did you call him 'brother'?"
...Kyousuke recalled that Librarian-chan did not remember anything of the Rainy Girl incident since it had been resolved by altering history. This was confusing. Although if she did remember all that, she might have done a spit take and collapsed backwards here.
He decided to give a simple explanation before this got to be too much trouble.
"This is my little sister who is my little sister but also not my little sister. I also have a little sister who is my real little sister."
"Oh, god!! This is definitely trouble!!"
Rendou Akiya held his head in his hands.
An amateur opinion could sometimes be surprisingly accurate.
Part 8
The twintailed White Queen had gone to the trouble of visiting the school pool, but she did not jump in the water or chase after the beach ball. She only sat on the edge of the chlorine-smelling pool and kicked her feet to splash the water.
She opened a rental book contained in a clear waterproof bag, but she seemed more entertained by watching Kyousuke play with his classmates.
According to her...
"Um, matching my actions to human standards is quite difficult. And the underwater calculations are especially difficult. You do not want me to start walking on the water or accidentally part the ocean, do you?"
Not sneaking up behind her and pushing her in was the right decision.
They also ended up eating lunch at the school.
The cafeteria had been opened up to sell some seaside restaurant snacks like yakisoba, chilled noodles, grilled chicken, ramen, curry rice, pancakes, fried rice, and shaved ice. This was of course just a repurposing of the cultural festival menu.
"Mind if I join you?"
The Student Council President sat across from Kyousuke at the long table and she too was wearing a school swimsuit. Her long black hair and dark blue swimsuit were both soaking wet and the floor below the table was quickly covered with chlorine-smelling drops.
Her name was Benikomichi Fuuki.
"Who is this person with you? A foreigner? I hate to brag, but it is unusual for someone to outshine me. Damn, I thought going with the school designated version during the summer would be interesting enough, but I never expected someone to get a white one."
The White Queen tilted her head, but Kyousuke held out a hand to stop her.
Their memories of the incident involving this girl made these situations tricky. At the very least, the current Benikomichi Fuuki was not an Illegal vessel and she was not fighting Kyousuke over a deathless world. And since she was hanging around in a swimsuit like this, checking her back would probably not reveal tattoos that functioned as psychological bonds.
The beautiful Student Council President did not seem to notice Kyousuke and the White Queen's exchanged glance.
"There are an awful lot of people here today. It seems the kids from some other school are here for a field trip to appreciate nature."
"Nature? In this concrete city?"
"Some areas among all the bridges are considered nature parks. Yesterday, they apparently went to a 100% artificial forest to cook in the great outdoors and sleep in a tent with mosquitos biting them throughout. All while they could see the light of a convenience store not far away. Thanks to that, they are starving for some junk food. It was quite a scene when they viewed the fries and sodas with tears in their eyes."
The other schools apparently had their own issues.
And that entire event reeked of having been planned entirely by the teachers.
For one thing, it was unlikely a student would schedule any kind of school event during summer break.
The Student Council President brushed the wet hair from her ear while giving off the chlorine scent of the school pool and ate a mysterious experimental dish made by combining cold udon, a salad, and some sweet vinegar dressing.
"Also, why is that girl eating only the whites of those fried eggs? If you were being picky, wouldn't you normally focus your attack on the yolks!?"
"Queen."
"I am a body builder, so I only eat egg whites, white chicken tenders, and drinks made from white protein powder."
"I'm fine with you being a picky eater, but don't lie about it."
When the White Queen said all that with a straight face, he pinched both her cheeks to punish her. It was a small thing, but he did not like how she started falling back into old habits once things settled down.
"Hut I heally hoo heat honly hite hings..."
With her base durability, the punishment had little effect. In fact, the white swimsuit girl looked a little happy about it.
"We must not waste food, " she said once released."So we can solve all of this by having you eat what I leave behind, brother."
"...Are you serious?"
"Here, you can have this garlic liver. Oh, and all the eel that didn't come out white. And let's not forget these bite-sized pork cutlets."
She mercilessly began loading up his plate until it was piled high.
"By the way." She was smiling."Just one of these is something I cooked myself using a portable stove☆ Now, brother. You know everything about me, so surely you can figure out which it is."
"A deadly quiz out of the blue, huh? I get the feeling you haven't really changed at all!"
"Oh, and looking for something white is not going to work. I bit my lip and endured the pain this time."
Nothing was more annoying than a lover who decided to test your love every once in a while.
Did she not understand that simple fact that was known the world over!?
Meanwhile, Benikomichi Fuuki rudely placed her head in her hand.
The beautiful Student Council President frowned while resting her wet swimsuit boobs on the table.
"Hmm, I seriously doubt the school budget is enough for natural eel. Either there's some strange supply logic at play like with the gyudon shops fighting for supremacy in the dog days of summer, or some kind of deep sea fish is being used as a replacement."
"Then it must be that!! Where did that eel come from!?"
"Tch. I shouldn't have left room for another girl to help you out. But regardless, say 'ah', brother. I will feed you the eel as a reward for getting it right."
The only difference between white eel and amber-colored eel was whether it had a sweet sauce on it or not. The White Queen must have cooked it and then given it the (from her perspective) unnecessary coloring sauce while cooking it some more.
Kyousuke looked on the verge of tears, but he was gradually figuring out what the White Queen was trying to do here. He was looking fairly weak due to his injuries, so she was trying to feed him highly nutritious foods that would help him produce more blood.
(I was wondering what she was reading so intently there on the poolside, but it must have been a cookbook. )
"Hee hee hee. Get better soon, brother."
"Honestly..."
If she really wanted to do this, it would have been easier to prepare him some cereal with iron-fortified milk, but he had no intention of getting into an argument here.
But.
Then he heard a clattering sound from a seat a short distance away.
And when he looked over...
"I am super-sized afraid to speculate what she is hoping to accomplish by feeding him nothing but stamina-building foods while wearing a wet and see-through white swimsuit. Shiver (deadpan)."
"No, Sayuri! We should leave them be. That white swimsuit alone is taking things too far, but when you also take all those stamina foods into consideration, it's pretty obvious they have some rather adult plans for this summer night!!"
There were indeed some students from another school here for a field trip.
And thanks to that, Shiroyama Kyousuke had to hold his head in hands with a dark look on his face.
Part 9
They may have only been the tip of the iceberg, but there had been signs and premonitions visible here and there.
And now someone had stumbled upon the correct answer by pure coincidence instead of by following all the hints and gathering all the relevant information.
...If this were a murder mystery novel, they likely would have ended up as the second or third victim who was killed in an irregular fashion after learning too much.
"R-Renge?"
"..."
They wore bright white and red shrine maiden outfits.
And they themselves were identical twins.
Except that is, for the black hair and black eyes of the one and the blonde hair and blue eyes of the other.
They were Meinokawa Renge and Higan.
They too were qualified for this role because they knew the truth of the Shiroyama family. Although they had acquired the information through a unique route: speaking directly with Doctor S while he was imprisoned on South America's Devil's Island.
Of course, a simple conversation did not give them all the information they might have wanted.
They were on a large bridge crowded with people.
The twin shrine maidens were in Toy Dream 35 to get more accurate information out of Kyousuke himself even if it was hard on him.
...But the truth was, Doctor S had broken the strict rules of his prison. He needed an oxygen mask at all times for medical reasons, so he always had a small tank in a bag he wheeled around with him and he had hidden a few personal items in there.
For example, some documents and photographs that corroborated the truth about the past.
But instead of trying to preserve his memories of his wife and kids in that nightmarish small home, he may have been more interested in the large price tag he hoped to attach to the information on Shiroyama Kyousuke and the White Queen's origins.
However.
That was why blonde Higan had grown pale now.
She had seen something on the crowded bridge that should not have been there.
It was nowhere near as exciting as an oddly-dressed summoner or vessel and nowhere near as strange as an otherworldly Material. Nor was it a bloody warrior or skeleton. In fact, no one but those twins realized anything was amiss as they enjoyed their summer break despite the sweltering heat. The twins themselves may have stood out more due to their shrine maiden outfits.
But thanks to their experience on a different stage, Meinokawa Renge and Higan could tell quite clearly that a true oddity was mixed in with the crowd of people. And this could not be explained away using theatre costumes or special makeup.
They sensed a sickly sweet smell similar to a fruit just as it started to rot.
This was a dangerous presence that lured others toward death along with it.
"I-i-isn't that-? But it can't be!!"
"Wait, Higan. Let's look at this rationally. It could just be someone who looks a lot like her."
This was someone intimately connected to Shiroyama Kyousuke's past.
Yet it was not the Colorless Little Girl who had been created using his younger sister's soul.
The extreme oddity standing before them was someone else.
"That person...Natsuginu-san, was it? She seems to have talent as a vessel just like my sister."
Higan cried out in surprise.
When a summoner or vessel had earned a certain number of Awards, normal people would forget all about them. Yet this girl had spoken to them without issue. That suggested she was an expert in the world of summoning, but something about her seemed different.
A summoner would be carrying a Blood-Sign and a vessel would be wearing some kind of psychological bond so evil spirits and monsters would not take control of their mind.
Yet this high school girl had nothing of the sort.
She was an ordinary person, yet she could properly perceive summoners and vessels.
The short-haired girl wore the wine-red miniskirt and short-sleeved blouse of some school's summer uniform and she existed outside the Blood-Sign rules.
She glanced over at Higan.
"I wonder if being a younger sister is an important factor there. You are a vessel too, aren't you?"
"U-u-um, who are you?"
"My real name is so boring I doubt you would remember it. Even my sister is still called Librarian-chan by her friends, after all. So I think I will name myself as the Rainy Girl."
She seemed like a perfectly ordinary girl, but she had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and kept a casual tone as she spoke.
"More importantly, " she added."You aren't wrong about this. That person is probably the same as me."
"The same how?"
The girl laughed at black-haired Renge's question.
"She has died, but certain circumstances erased that death."
"?"
"You don't need to understand. But you know that person over there should be dead, don't you?"
Yes.
That was right.
Whoever this girl talking to them was and whoever that person in the crowd was, it could not overturn the information Renge and Higan had acquired. It made no sense for that person to be alive. And they doubted this was anything as boring as decoy information at this point. They had to assume that reality had been forcibly altered by some great force.
So.
Who was this person that Renge and Higan had spotted by chance?
"Shiroyama-san's...mom?"
That was exactly it.
Doctor S had created that nightmare stage and it had been bloodied by the White Queen's appearance. When that happened, Kyousuke's mother and little sister had been killed.
Anyone directly killed by the White Queen could not be saved even by traveling back in time or to parallel worlds.
That was an inviolable rule.
...But you must not forget. The Queen had killed Kyousuke's little sister, but what about his mother?
Hadn't she been shot to death by her husband, Doctor S, before all that happened?
And.
If the White Queen had not done it, then there was a way to save a supposedly dead person by altering history. The Rainy Girl's very presence here was proof of that.
"Hurry to Shiroyama Kyousuke." That was all she said at first."However it was done, there must be someone more powerful behind the unnatural resurrection of a supposedly dead person. That means there is something here with a connection to Shiroyama-san's roots that wants a special vessel....And at this point, it can't be the White Queen. Who is that wandering out there? And whoever is behind this, it is obvious who it is they want to control: the Colorless Little Girl."
Like a midsummer mirage, the Rainy Girl was already gone by the time Renge and Higan tried to ask more.
"Ah."
And.
The other ghost, Kyousuke's mother, had also disappeared without a trace.
Part 10
With that, they had all the information.
Part 11
They were in Aika's mansion.
Shiroyama Kyousuke was back to his normal self as he stepped out of one of the many guest rooms.
While borrowing the White Queen's shoulder.
Several familiar girls were waiting for him in the living room: Aika, Lu Niang Lan, Meinokawa Renge and Higan, Joruri Method Aoi, Shigara Masami, Isabelle, Murasame Kuina, Biondetta, Himekawa Mika, Sekurtiti, Sinceria, Rachel, and Olivia. These were all bonds Kyousuke had risked his life to build. Vessels without a contract were the same as normal people, so the memory and recognition issues must have made it difficult to summon some of them here. The summoners must have put in a lot of work while he was recovering.
The boy looked around and immediately got to the crux of the matter while sitting down on the sofa.
"Wisdom."
That term alone did not mean much of anything.
But anyone who had seen his past would find special meaning there.
"The White Queen once asked a certain question while watching me and my sister in the fight to the death Doctor S demanded of us. She asked 'what is that?'"
A predecessor, one who shows the way, one you can rely upon, the master of an apprentice.
In other words, a being known as an older brother.
"You could say that is where it all began."
This was a criticism.
A criticism only possible for someone who had overcome that hell.
"It was that answer to the Queen's question that led her to view me as something special. And I think that is why she tried to protect me even if it meant killing my sister. But who was that? The Queen had never been summoned to this world before then. That means there was someone else in that world that could speak like a human and provide opinions on a level equal to or greater than the Queen. All of this might have been set up by them. They might have intentionally sent the Queen on a rampage so she would kill my sister and destroy any chance of us ever getting along."
Wisdom.
A search.
...Thinking back, when the White Queen had first come to Toy Dream 35 in response to Azalea Magentarain and Guard of Honor's summons, she had said she called him brother not because of a blood relation but because she had performed a search and that was the most fitting term.
That meant there was some other being who the White Queen relied on for knowledge.
For Kyousuke and anyone else who still lived in this world, they could only ever speculate about things in that other world, so asking someone who actually lived there was their best bet.
Everyone's eyes focused on the White Queen.
The twintailed girl tilted her head while standing next to Kyousuke instead of sitting on the sofa.
"This Wisdom you are referring to is a special Unexplored-class."
She readily supplied the information.
In fact, it was such an ordinary fact of life for her that she probably never even considered hiding it. She seemed surprised to learn that the others were only just now realizing this being existed.
"Her technical name is...um, it is actually impossible to represent it using the alphabet."
"What do you mean it's impossible?" asked Olivia who had pulled out a kiddie pool even though they were indoors.
The White Queen winked and raised her index finger.
"It is a non-looping pattern similar to pi, so it just continues on and on forever. A few of the cults I have visited speculated her existence and worked on analyzing her name, but none of them have ever made it past 1, 287, 993, 006 letters. Then again, that entire endeavor is probably meaningless."
"If letters can't spell her name, is this a Material no one has ever summoned?"
Names were everything in the Blood-Sign system.
If their name could not be represented with the 5 vowels and 21 consonants, they could not be summoned to this world.
"Yes, but that has no bearing on her strength."
"I get that. I'm not about to accept that there's someone even more overpowered than you or the Colorless Little Girl out there."
In fact, if some convenient being like that existed, Kyousuke would not have needed to rely on the Colorless Little Girl at all. The Queen stood at the top of the pyramid and the Colorless Little Girl was the specialized killer who did not exist in the natural world.
"She definitely exists, but she cannot be summoned with the Blood-Sign system since she has no name. That makes her an Unexplored-class with no place except for the other world. She has no power in combat, but she instead constantly absorbs all forms of knowledge in real-time. Yes, if you think of me as the omnipotent one, then she would be the omniscient one. She is the yin to my yang and the left to my right. When one of us exists, the other is defined into existence as well and we remain together whether we try to or not."
"So after all this, it turns out she has an ex-girlfriend?"
"Oh, dear. Is this a new rival for Kyousuke-chan? And since all of the Unexplored-classes are girls, am I right in imagining a strong lily scent coming from this?"
"Everyone always talks about lilies, but do you really know what they smell like?"
"Of course I do. I went to a girl's school."
"I meant the literal flower. Where were you sticking your head and what were you smelling, flower chafer woman?"
The striped bikini girl and modified China dress beauty used the white liger as a sofa while discussing something on their own.
"Mhh (deadpan). I don't get what they're talking about one small-sized bit."
"Sayuri, try to ignore them."
Blonde Isabelle tilted her head, but Murasame Kuina's face blushed bright red below her shoulder-length chestnut hair and she was clearly shaken. She must have known what that discussion was really about.
"They're talking about love and romance between girls! There must be an unimaginable world out there!! Don't look, Sayuri, I'm not ready yet!"
The White Queen sighed.
It was not uncommon for the one giving the warning to have the more active imagination.
"If you want to insist that using a search engine makes it your girlfriend, then be my guest."
"Oh? Going with the dry response? How boring."
"What am I supposed to say when you point at the AI speaker hooked up to the network and claim it must be my girlfriend because I let it live in my house? Do you draw eyes and a mouth on yours to help anthropomorphize it?"
"But we are talking about an Unexplored-class here, aren't we?" cautiously asked Himekawa Mika who was sitting on the glass table instead of the sofa.
"Yes, although she is the weakest of us all when it comes to combat, " said the White Queen."I viewed the world through her until I met brother. Because it was a lot easier than heading out and taking a look for myself."
It could not hurt to ask as many questions as they could.
Aika tilted her head while leaning back against the white liger.
"Hm? But shouldn't an Unexplored-class be associated with a color?"
"Usually, yes, but she is omniscience while I am omnipotence. All of those colorations came from breaking down my white coloration as if by a prism, so it has nothing to do with the omniscience that exists in another category altogether."
"Um, you called it 'searching', but does it work like with an internet browser or an AI speaker?"
Renge hesitantly spoke up while directly sitting on the floor because she was a traditional Japanese-style person. Her examples were awfully digital for a shrine maiden, but that may have been because the insufficient infrastructure of rural villages led people to rely more on online shopping and flat-fee video streaming sites that were uniform across the country.
The other shrine maiden, Higan, was still hiding behind her twin's back. Her fear of the Queen was not going to disappear overnight.
The White Queen put a hand on her hip and answered.
"It may be more like a translation or interpretation."
"Interpretation?"
Brown-skinned and bandaged Sekurtiti frowned while standing and leaning back against a cupboard with a glass door.
The twintailed girl nodded.
"Wisdom is a being who gathers all words. When speaking with another Unexplored-class, it is easier to have Wisdom provide a translation of what they mean than to try to read the emotions from their face."
Kyousuke felt like he was figuring something out here.
Even if the White Queen had been in contact with one million Unexplored-classes, she would only have really been speaking with Wisdom.
Like a mother bird flying around in the dangerous outside world to bring food back to the baby bird in the safe nest.
And there was more information that bothered Kyousuke.
"When I lost, the Colorless Little Girl would have left Aoi and returned to the other world, right?" he said."And now Sinceria, Olivia, Renge, and Higan have seen Shiroyama Natsuginu. In other words, my mom who should be dead. It is highly suspicious that she came back from the dead without warning like this. It's a little worrying that we only have the Rainy Girl as a source, but it seems she has talent as a vessel."
What if Kyousuke's mother really did have excellent talent as a vessel?
Wouldn't that change the meaning of what happened in the past?
Doctor S had maintained control of that small house by controlling the supply of insect vessels using silkworms, which had been worshiped as a beneficial bug. No matter how powerful Kyousuke and his sister were as summoners, they could not rebel against him when he controlled all the vessels.
But what if their mother had been a vessel capable of fighting?
If she had escaped Doctor S's bonds and helped out those young children, that tragedy might never have occurred, they might have easily defeated their father, and the story might have ended with the good rewarded and the evil punished. And in fact, Kyousuke's mother and sister had secretly protected him during all that abuse. They had retrieved the treasures Doctor S had thrown out as unnecessary and hid them above the ceiling.
So.
When Doctor S started that incident by shooting his own wife, it was not because he thought nothing of her. He had feared her from the bottom of his heart. In that final stage, he was pitting Kyousuke and his sister against each other in a fight to the death, but he would have been destroyed had that woman chosen to act as a mother more than a wife and had protected her young children.
(He feared his wife and his children. He made sure he looked like a researcher who had it all, but he was such a pitiful man. )
Doctor S had only been reaping what he sowed, but Kyousuke could only feel pity.
He felt no anger when thinking back on that tragic past.
He had always thought a lack of desire for revenge was only found in dramas and movies written by people who disliked killing, but here he had found someone so utterly hopeless that he could not even work up those negative emotions about him.
There was no point in discussing a man as small as Doctor S any longer.
What mattered was Kyousuke's mother, the vessel whose very presence had filled that man's heart with fear.
"Like with the Rainy Girl, it is possible to use the logic of the Summoning Ceremony to resurrect the dead. It requires a singularity on the level of the White Queen, but it is possible."
Resurrecting the dead.
That was one of the oldest topics of discussion and it was just like Shiroyama Kyousuke to not simply write it off as impossible. And this was not just a theory for him; he had actually pulled it off with the Rainy Girl.
"You said Wisdom is a word specialist, right?" he said."That seems suspiciously similar to the entire Summoning Ceremony system."
"At this point, there is no way to know which came first. Maybe what Doctor S developed in 1999 was no more than a small piece of Wisdom. And if it is not that simple, the similarity may have caused some kind of crossed wires somewhere."
Glasses Knight Rachel, who stood at the ready, was correct.
And...
"To reiterate, I saved a girl during my fight against an organization that started with Killer Intent Antenna. And it required rewriting history. Do you think Wisdom would be able to use that same method to overturn my mom's death?"
"Wisdom herself cannot leave the other world, but that does not mean she has no influence in this world. You should know that well enough after everything I did to you, brother."
This was strange.
The White Queen was speculating and discussing possibilities instead of just stating facts.
"That said, she is only omniscient. She only has all her intellectual knowledge and no direct power. Or perhaps some of my power has been stolen from me even as I discuss this here."
"What do you mean?" asked Kyousuke.
The Queen herself looked like she was slowly getting her bearings while inside a bewildering forest.
"Wisdom limited what she told me to narrow my view of the world. Or she did until I met you and began moving between worlds myself."
Wisdom had chewed up all the letters and words before taking them to the baby bird's mouth and she had used her lullaby to guide even the baby bird's dreams in the direction she wanted.
Like a kind older sister who was overprotective to the point of smothering her younger sister.
"I wonder if Wisdom was originally meant as a safety system to control me and prevent me from going berserk, much like the rest of the Unexplored-class was meant to do. And just like Doctor S successfully used the Summoning Ceremony to draw out some portion of a Material's power, a word-based safety system like Wisdom might be able to extract my power. Of course, it would have to be a small enough amount that I did not notice."
The White Queen was positing a theory.
It might be as close to the truth as possible, but she had no proof.
But just like the big bang theory, this might be a question that would never have a proven answer.
"If this Wisdom being is in a position to hold the omniscience that matches your omnipotence, it is possible. And it's also possible she could forcibly resurrect a third party to use as a pawn. The Colorless Little Girl disappeared into the ether and now my vessel mom has unnaturally appeared. The logic is not all that complicated if we assume Wisdom is controlling both of them."
"Um."
The modified China dress beauty looked puzzled while leaning back into the white liger next to Aika.
Lu Niang Lan did not seem to understand.
"This Wisdom is a safety system, right? Then why is she trying to make Kyousuke-chan suffer?"
"She may not actually be focused on brother." The White Queen slowly let out a sigh."I had been partially summoned to this world before that incident, but that was the first time I came here of my own free will. Since Wisdom was limiting my view of the world through what she told me, wouldn't it have looked like I was going over her head and accessing all that information without her permission? If Wisdom wants to control me, shutting everything down for the time being would make sense. And I mean shutting down this world, not me."
"Also, summoning is only possible because there are two worlds, " added Kyousuke."If only one of them remains, I guess there's nothing we can do, huh?"
"Wisdom sees this world as the alternate world, so she would have no real reason to protect it."
The Queen made it sound like she had nothing to do with it.
And since she had not intentionally done anything this time, that may have been accurate.
Wisdom was the overprotective big sister trying to set up strict filtering on the home computer. And when that did not work, she started thinking about removing the internet connection from the house.
Of the three girls in old-fashioned shrine maiden outfits, the one with long silver hair breathed a soft sigh.
"So wouldn't this Wisdom entity be really interested in targeting the boy's life? I mean, there is no one else the Queen can rely on without worrying about breaking them with her charisma."
Black-haired Renge belatedly started panicking because she too was a Joruri Method, but blonde Higan only tilted her head curiously. Renge apparently did not want her twin sister to see that world's oldest version, but it was unlikely the secret would be revealed here. To be honest, Higan could be a little too polite.
...Wisdom's mentality may have been similar.
She wanted to externally control everything her beloved someone saw, everything they heard, and every word that entered their mind. Everyone in charge of protecting someone would feel that desire to filter things out, but it only remained adorable for Renge because she always failed when she tried. But if you took it far enough, it was like imprisoning that person behind invisible walls. The person kept inside that cage would not be thankful.
And during that discussion...
asked Shigara Masami with ponytail swaying.
Waitress Demon Biondetta poured Shigara Masami some more of a cold carbonated beverage (because the woman would reach for something alcoholic if she did not) and continued the conversation.
"Wouldn't that explain exactly why she wants an avatar to act in her stead?"
Hence the special vessel.
She had acquired what she needed to make the Colorless Little Girl her pawn.
Kingdom F's Queen Sinceria placed a hand on her slender chin while her butt squished a balance ball that Aika had barely touched since buying it.
"I am glad that strange being did not target Via, but since my Via was snubbed, should we assume Kyousuke's mother has even greater precision as a vessel than we do?"
"Do not be ridiculous. No vessel alive is more skilled than you!"
"Rachel, I appreciate the thought, but try to remember what we are talking about. Wisdom pulled this vessel back from beyond the veil of death, so there is no point in discussing the rankings of vessels who are alive. Kyousuke's mother must be enough of a vessel to make that worth it."
Not to mention that Doctor S had chosen her as a wife.
...Kyousuke should have considered it more rationally.
That research-obsessed man had thrown out all his morals and even experimented on his blood-related son, so would he really have invited a normal person into his family? After all, that was his one and only wife and it was obvious that Doctor S would not use looks, personality, educational history, or income to determine someone's value.
Olivia and Sinceria could almost perfectly control a Material, even from the Unexplored-class. Since they could lock onto and precision target the Silhouette weak point, their strength could not be measured using the normal Cost and Sound Range values.
Yet they had been snubbed, as Kingdom F's queen had put it.
Then how much control did Kyousuke's mother have over Materials for her to be chosen?
Would she be able to fully control the Colorless Little Girl while entirely ignoring the Material's mind and soul?
Striped bikini Aika spoke up while leaning back against the curled-up white liger.
"What are you going to do, Onii-chan?"
"It imagine it would be impossible to track down where my mom and sister are as they wander this world. Since my mom has returned from the dead like the Rainy Girl did, she should be able to do the same things that girl can."
He made this clear.
He would admit when he was at a disadvantage.
That was always this boy's stance when faced with a seemingly impossible task.
He would clearly define the invisible hurdles standing before him and make the preparations needed to clear them.
"But we do know what Wisdom is thinking, don't we? She wants to destroy this world so she can limit what the Queen sees. And the biggest obstacle to that would be me, since I was the starting point for all this. If that's all she's thinking about, then it's simple, isn't it? The final battle will begin no matter what we do, so the real question is where we will start it."
Also.
Kyousuke did not really have anything to gain here.
If he did lose, he would be killed while defenseless in that mindless state. But what would he gain if he won? The Colorless Little Girl would return to the other world and nothing they did to Shiroyama Natsuginu would harm Wisdom who was controlling that vessel remotely.
It was terribly unfair, but Wisdom only saw Kyousuke as a security hole in her filtering system. She wanted to fill in that hole however she could, so why would she set up the rules to give him an advantage?
Her job was to control the White Queen.
She had created a safety system by reshaping the words the White Queen was given into a convenient form that narrowed and limited the Queen's view of the world. She would do anything to maintain that system. And preserving this world was not a requirement for managing the Queen.
The White Queen had always relied on Wisdom and asked for words and information like a baby bird opening its mouth to ask for food. Although it was unclear if Wisdom wanted to control her like a pet or protect her like a little sister.
So.
If they wanted to fight her, they could not just follow the rules she had set up. They had to add in their own rules.
(Houbi Village and Quad Motors are the hints I need. Although this hinges on how quickly Azalea can respond to my request from Devil's Island. )
"I won't let this keep happening. We might be up against my mom and my sister here, but I will fight them both and bring this to an end. And if I'm gambling with my life here, I need to make sure Wisdom is risking something of equal value. I won't let her go at this with unlimited continues and zero risk."
He would end this.
He would settle everything that had begun so long ago.
And to do that...
"How does this sound as an idea?"
Part 12
They had settled on a general plan.
But there was one thing Shiroyama Kyousuke had not told the others.
And he did not necessarily have a logical reason for that. He was a summoner, but he was also a teenage high school boy. Now that he had freed himself from the bonds of the White Queen, he would not always make the most logical and efficient decision even if it meant selling off his heart and soul.
He was embarrassed.
He was embarrassed to violate the principles he had proclaimed so confidently in the past.
"Queen."
"What is it, brother?"
In one of the many guest rooms of Aika's apartment, the White Queen smiled and poured a glass of ice-cold mineral water from the pitcher on the bedside table.
He took the glass and got to the point.
"Despite what I said in front of everyone, I want to get out as much of the pus as I can when we do this....What I am about to request will probably only get in the way of simply winning, so you can refuse if you don't think it's doable."
"Brother."
The twintailed girl put her hands on her hips.
But she looked more troubled than angry.
"Do you want me to scold you or comfort you? Tell me and I will do it."
"I'm not really sure myself."
He smiled bitterly.
This was different from asking for advice to receive support for the choice he had already made.
This really would put everyone at risk for his own personal reasons.
He had the idea in his head, but he was not sure if it was the right thing to do.
But the White Queen shrugged.
"Brother, who are you fighting for here?"
"?"
"Is it for the human race or for the world? No, Wisdom is using your dead mother to acquire the Colorless Little Girl. That is not such a largescale issue. This is an extremely small-scale and personal fight, but that is why you cannot back down. So shouldn't you make any decision based on what you claim your goal is here? This is all meaningless if you hold back for the human race or the world's sake and end up winning an unsatisfying victory."
He knew he was indulging in her kindness, but he decided to continue along that line of thought.
"It bothers me that Wisdom brought back my mom now of all times."
"Does it?"
"I don't know what she can do as a vessel, but surely there are better ones if you search all of the living and the dead throughout history. If historical prestige means anything, Kingdom F's very first ruler would be a good example. Yet Wisdom chose my mom. She chose someone who would remind us of our failure that placed those initial cracks between us."
"..."
"And Wisdom intends to wield the Colorless Little Girl. Queen, that is the sister that you killed....She's doing this on purpose. She's highlighting our mistake and criticizing your actions by drawing a clear line between the mother who can be brought back and the sister who can't. She's saying you did something irreversible, so trying to reconcile is meaningless. But if she can lock you down under her rules again, then no one else will die, so she is asking me to hand you over so you will never dirty your hands again."
The Summoning Ceremony required intense use of the body and the mind. The concentration it required was far greater than a game of shogi or chess and the physical stamina it required was far greater than a game of soccer or basketball. Even if they knew this was psychological warfare similar to heckling, it could still affect the White Queen's condition during the battle itself.
"I intend to accept what I have done wrong, " said the Queen."I have done more than enough to warrant criticism, but that criticism should not come from Wisdom who has only observed everything from the other world."
"That isn't good enough. Responding at all is what she wants. She literally is Wisdom, right? She'll use whatever tricks it takes to bring you down psychologically. And in ways that won't be bearable even if you know what she's trying to do."
"Then what should we do? Surely you aren't saying we should ignore your sister's death and just move on."
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
The White Queen gasped at Kyousuke's response.
Alice (with) Rabbit never could have spoken those words.
"If my sister's death only functions to shackle me, then I'll remove it. I won't let Wisdom manipulate us after she intentionally set it up so you would press the wrong button. And that means we have to do something about that factor."
"Are you serious?"
She was trembling.
As if to say she was not happy about being defended like this.
"You're going to overturn someone's death!? You're going to cancel out my crime!? Sealing away the truth won't save anyone and it won't help us!! We won't even be able to fight Wisdom because you'll be crushed under the weight of what you've done!!"
"Yeah, I know."
The time had come to violate his past principles.
The time had come to choose one and abandon the other.
So Shiroyama Kyousuke spoke while prepared to carry the weight of his mistakes.
"I want to save the Colorless Little Girl...no, I want to save my dead sister. Just like the Rainy Girl and my mom."
The White Queen looked even more flabbergasted as she listened to this.
"But, um..."
"In the past, I stopped Benikomichi Fuuki of Killer Intent Antenna. I know it's ridiculous for me to mock the idea of a deathless world then and rely on resurrecting the dead now, but I have to change my views on this!"
"Do you understand what you are saying? This is not like the Rainy Girl or your mother. That girl...your sister was the victim of my very first murder. And when I have directly killed someone, there is no saving them even if you travel back in time or to a parallel world. Isn't that the absolute and inviolable rule!?"
"Is it, though?"
Those were the magic words.
Yes, after constantly facing the most powerful enemy out there, Shiroyama Kyousuke would not stop just because something was "impossible". He had developed the strength to question any claims of impossibility.
Which was why he could speak these words without hesitation.
"What if there was a loophole in the rules we've believed in this whole time? Queen, are you prepared to face this? I'm not talking about a cruel reality or a nightmarish defeat. Are you prepared throw out your principles while laughing your head off and reach for the kind of happy ending that looks so unnatural, contrived, and convenient that it makes people want to vomit?"
What if that initial murder had never happened?
What if nothing had happened in that small house ruled by Doctor S?
What if it had ended happily?
What if the boy and the girl had met in an ordinary way with nothing tragic occurring?
"..."
The White Queen bit her lip.
It sounded like a dream come true.
However, it was such a silly idea that speaking it aloud could easily be taken as a sign of weakness.
But.
Even so.
That was a different possible world that would have happened if not for Wisdom's intervention.
And.
And.
And.
"I am not going to ask you to help me again, brother."
She slowly looked up, forced back the tears, and let those words out from between her lovely lips.
But not as a rejection.
"So let us go help her together. Let us save the soul of that girl who did nothing wrong but was plunged into the depths of the underworld for our mistakes!!"
It was an utterly impossible dream.
But that did not matter to them. The boy and the girl exchanged a handshake as equals.
They had decided on the true win condition.
Between the Lines 3
Words were everything for Wisdom.
The thought of skin-to-skin contact disgusted her.
(md)
The words flowed out.
She could not stop hose words filled with dark emotions.
(wb - ao - xf - oo - kd - iu - jrb)
Wisdom had always specialized in words and the White Queen had always relied on her. Whenever the Queen spoke with or about anything, Wisdom was always there to break everything down and relay the words to the White Queen.
Just like the mother bird flying around the dangerous outside world and bringing food back to the baby bird in the safe nest. From the opposite perspective, it was like a little sister clinging to her older sister's skirt and hiding behind her.
As an older sister, she wanted to sing a lullaby that would give her little sister sweet dreams. She did not care if it was considered overprotective. The White Queen was too powerful, so Wisdom simply wanted to give her a safe and comfortable environment to live in. One that would never, ever break down.
So Wisdom had covered all points of contact and the White Queen had not actually spoken with anyone else.
That was their relationship.
That should have been enough.
She had decided to give the White Queen anything she wanted. While being very careful that what she was given did not pose a choking hazard. But perhaps that had been a mistake. Wisdom regretted listening to the White Queen's selfish demands.
She should not have shown her the outside world.
Words that did not first pass through her were poison.
And it was Wisdom's own overprotectiveness that had left the White Queen too inexperienced to handle it all.
What is that?
Wisdom still remembered that question.
And she remembered going against her own nature as Wisdom by providing false words in response.
When the White Queen had viewed that world and all its conflicting interests and desires, she had not been looking to Wisdom. Only then had Wisdom seen her in profile.
And in the end, the White Queen had not been satisfied with words alone. She had not accepted simply spying on that world. She had needlessly responded to the summoning, started moving between the two worlds, and tossed Wisdom into a corner of their world like a discarded toy.
Omniscience and omnipotence.
It was blatantly obvious which one would win in a struggle of strength. There was nothing intellectual Wisdom could do while stuck in their world.
But.
What had the Queen acquired from that?
She had been harmed, she had wept, she had been used, and she had been lifted up as a ruler she did not want to be.
If she had never contacted anyone else in the first place and had continued hiding behind Wisdom's back, she never would have been exposed to that unnecessary suffering or used in various plans.
And the humans were a problem too. It made no difference whether they were throwing mudballs or gold coins at her. The White Queen was already perfect, so adding anything else could only harm her. Why did they not understand something so simple?
Their words harmed the White Queen.
What was that Summoning Ceremony nonsense? Anyone would cower down if people started angrily shouting their name for no reason. They would be emotionally shaken. It was laughable to think of that as successfully making contact.
If she only wanted to speak with them, why didn't the Queen realize it was many times more efficient to do it through Wisdom?
If she let Wisdom take charge, the words of the world's people would have the edges rounded off and smoothed down and the surfaces polished so none if it would hurt her.
Wisdom hated being omniscient.
She was aware that part of her wanted to gloat when she saw the White Queen crying or entering a fit of rage.
But that was exactly the point.
She wanted to remain someone who loved the White Queen. She wanted to stay in that position. She wanted to play the glad game. She wanted to see the White Queen's obedient side again before she truly started to hate her. That way she could bring her feelings back to where they had been. That way the part of her that wanted to protect the White Queen would not become something else entirely.
The White Queen could be controlled.
Attempting it by brute force was meaningless. Then you would only be defeated and dragged around like the many other Unexplored-classes had been. Using strength to oppose the omnipotent Queen was meaningless. It may have been Wisdom's realization of that which had earned her that title.
So she thought about it differently.
To construct a safety system for the White Queen, you had to know what desires would appear within her and then control them.
And Wisdom could do that.
All she had to do was use her words to narrow the Queen's view.
She had to do it.
It was the only option.
Wisdom was like a big sister and she knew she should never bring harm to the Queen who was like a little sister to her.
And yet the omniscient might just kill the omnipotent.
She might get carried away and overturn the usual way of things.
No matter what kind of trickery it required.
Facts:
-The grudge between Kyousuke and the Queen has been resolved.
-The Rainy Girl, aka Umie Shouko, diverged outside of history when her death was overturned. As a result, she can independently use paranormal powers without relying on Materials or the Blood-Sign system.
-The true villain was Wisdom, a being who had continually given the White Queen advice in the other world.
-Wisdom resurrected Kyousuke's mother, Natsuginu, a vessel capable of even greater precision control than Olivia, in order to take control of the Colorless Little Girl. Her goal is to create a perfect safety system she can use to control the White Queen. For that reason, Kyousuke is a hindrance since he gives the Queen freedom.
-To the White Queen, Wisdom was no more than an inorganic search engine or interpreter app.
-Doctor S's greatest fear was that his wife would choose her identity as a mother and side with their young children. That small house had not been an absolute dead end and it could have ended with the good rewarded and the evil punished had some decisions been made slightly differently.
-Now, go rescue the Colorless Little Girl who is actually the murdered little sister. Only then will that boy and girl really and truly have earned the right to walk side by side.
| ← Ch. 119 | Ch. 121 → |