Chapter 35 - EP.1 The Butterfly Dream 8

"Why do you say nothing?"

Akina had kept her lips firmly sealed all this time. Head bowed, she merely traced meaningless doodles on the blameless floor.

"Is it difficult to answer? Then I shall change the question."

But the new question meant precisely the same thing.

"Why did you hide it?"

"..."

A long time passed before Akina hesitantly parted her lips.

"... Because I thought you'd object, Mister."

"To what?"

"Exploring the ruins."

"Indeed. I probably would have."

After a brief pause, Ash continued.

"And now I know. About the Echo Effect. How, then, do you think I shall act from now on?"

Akina flinched and raised her head. Her blue eyes darted uneasily.

"... Are you going to object?"

Ash did not avoid her gaze.

"Do you know how long it has taken you to wake, Miss Akina? Two days."

"... Huh? I slept that long...?"

"Slept?"

Ash let out a sigh of disbelief.

"No. You woke several times. And screamed, uttering words we could not understand. With your eyes shining gold!"

For the first time, fierce emotion charged his electronic voice.

"Can you even imagine how old Master Santa and I felt as we tried to calm you each time?"

"..."

"Yes. That must be difficult to answer. Then let me ask something else. If you were in my place, do you think you could ask us to venture into that hell together again?"

Realizing what he truly meant, Akina jerked her head up.

"Mister...!"

"Enough. There will be no more exploring ruins. That is my conclusion."

At this declaration, Akina shouted.

"No!"

"This is not a matter of what you want! You nearly lost yourself!"

"I already knew there was that much risk!"

"I did not!"

Ash's shout cut across the rooftop in the dead of night.

"I did not know! That connecting to cyberspace, that a Deep Dive, carried such a deadly risk!"

Akina could say nothing in the face of his outburst. As far as she knew, this was the first time Ash had ever poured out his emotions so passionately. The unfamiliarity of it frightened her somehow.

A heavy silence settled over the rooftop once more. Only the cold night wind swept between them.

After a long while, Ash raised a steel arm and rubbed his head. The gesture looked just like a human rubbing their face with dry hands.

At last, his electronic voice sounded again. In place of his earlier vehemence, it carried utter exhaustion.

"... My lady Ifrit tells me there is an occupation in Sanctum known as a 'fixer.'"

Akina did not answer, so Ash went on.

"They accept commissions to find people or settle disputes, she says. The pay may be lower, but at least they work within Sanctum, so it should be safer than being a Pathfinder. Nor would there be threats like the Echo Effect."

He reached out and rested a hand on Akina's shoulder.

"Let us stop being Pathfinders and work as fixers. As it happens, my lady knows a fixer well. We could ask for an introduction..."

Akina raised her head. She was smiling.

The trouble was, that smile was closer to a sneer.

"Fixers? What are we supposed to do with that pittance?"

"It is no pittance. It should easily cover your breathing fee and living expenses."

"Then what about my revenge?"

The smile on her lips twisted grotesquely. What surfaced on Akina's face was boundless hatred.

"Mister. You said you'd help me."

"... And I shall. To the utmost of my ability. That is precisely why I am saying this. Becoming a fixer need not mean abandoning your quest for revenge, does it?"

"To me, it does. To me."

Her stance was unyielding. Watching her, Ash's optical sensors shone with a cold light.

"... You insist on being a Pathfinder, then?"

"Yes. It's the only way."

"Miss Akina!"

"Do you!"

Akina shouted, then met Ash's unwavering stare. She bit her lip, her face red as though she might burst into tears at any moment.

"... Do you know who my enemy is, Mister?"

Ash did not. She had never told him.

Akina continued, her words steeped in a hatred so deep it was hard to believe it belonged to a young girl.

"Omni-Cell Biotech."

"..."

"You know them too, don't you? I made sure not to leave that information out of the data card I gave you."

She was right. Ash knew.

Omni-Cell Biotech.

One of Sanctum's megacorps, a company at the pinnacle of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. A benevolent savior enjoying the citizens' absolute support thanks to its cures for all manner of diseases and its life-extension technology.

At the same time, it was a company shrouded in mystery, the origins of its technology unknown to anyone.

That was Omni-Cell Biotech.

But that was merely the general picture. There was something more important to say about Omni-Cell.

An open secret that a data card alone could not fully explain, something everyone in Sanctum knew but dared not speak aloud.

Omni-Cell Biotech was Sanctum's de facto ruler.

Among the countless corporations scattered throughout Sanctum, three stood out above all the rest.

Stroud Group.

Foundation Systems.

And Omni-Cell Biotech.

The three pillars sustaining humanity.

At some point, Sanctum's citizens had begun calling them the Trinity.

And Akina had just named one of them as the target of her revenge—a corporation universally acknowledged as one of Sanctum's greatest and most powerful.

Ash's optical sensors glimmered narrowly as he weighed the gravity of the name Akina had uttered.

'Omni-Cell...'

His first thought was this.

'... Is it possible?'

Her opponent was far too vast for this tiny girl to face. Even Ash, who was only gradually learning about this world, could see that it seemed impossible.

'Truly, striking a rock with an egg.'

Throwing an egg against a rock. The expression fit perfectly.

At this point, despite his agitated feelings, one question occurred to Ash. What did working as a Pathfinder have to do with taking revenge on Omni-Cell?

And so he asked.

"... Do you have a plan?"

In a way, the question could have sounded like a cynical challenge: What could you possibly do against so powerful an opponent?

But Akina was not cowed. Instead, as though she had been waiting for him to ask, she explained her plan.

It was, however, an utterly preposterous one.

"I'm going to start a company."

Yes. Start a company.

"... Start a company? You mean establish a merchant enterprise?"

"Yes. And I'll make it bigger. Big enough to stand against Omni-Cell."

"... I do not understand. How can running a merchant enterprise be called revenge?"

"It is revenge."

Akina's blue eyes flashed as never before.

"Because companies can declare mergers and acquisitions on one another."

Mergers and acquisitions.

The act of two or more companies combining into one, or of one company acquiring another's shares or assets to gain management control.

That was the dictionary definition.

But that applied only in a peaceful age. In Sanctum, a "merger and acquisition" carried a more violent meaning.

Something closer to "war."

"That's why I have to go to the ruins. To start a company. To extract ancient knowledge no one has ever discovered before!"

Only then did Ash understand everything. It felt as though every piece of the puzzle was falling into place.

Why had Akina undergone the notoriously dangerous cyberbrain conversion procedure at such a young age? Why had she searched through a junkyard and awakened him? Why had she so eagerly longed to become a Pathfinder?

Every question led to the same answer.

For revenge.

To lay the groundwork for that revenge.

To start a company founded on ancient knowledge.

It was an absurd plan.

And yet, it truly seemed there was no other answer.

Ash wanted to suggest that she simply give up her revenge instead. But he could not bring himself to let those words out through his voice module.

'... For I was scarcely any different.'

Ash, too, had endured ordeal after ordeal on the brink of death, driven by nothing but an implacable obsession with revenge. Back then, he had listened to no one's advice.

And now he would tell her to abandon her revenge?

That would be deceit and arrogance. Deceit toward his past self, and the arrogance of believing some paltry advice could change her mind.

How could he force this little girl down the path of surrender when he himself had failed to take it?

When he knew better than anyone the hatred that burned one's heart away?

"..."

A long time passed. Even Akina, normally so talkative, did not open her mouth now.

Without exchanging a single word, the two gazed at Sanctum's nightscape.

But surely they were thinking of the same thing.

The karmic inferno called revenge.

At some point, Ash rose.

"I like high places."

He took a step toward the nightscape and murmured, almost as though reciting a verse.

"... Because that is where I used to live. Pure white snow filled heaven and earth, and sometimes clouds settled beside my head. I loved that. It felt as though I had become an immortal."

Ash fell silent for a moment before continuing.

"All of it burned away. At one person's will, by one organization's hand, my home was burned to nothing. It remained high, of course. The clouds still drifted low from time to time. But I never went back after that."

Akina stood as well. She came to his side and listened.

"They spoke to me. The burned halls spoke, and the snow spoke. So did the clouds that sometimes settled there. Go and take revenge, they said. Fulfill your duty as the survivor. Do not forget, not for a single moment."

His words were nothing more than electronic sounds, yet some profound emotion suffused them.

"And so I did. I gave everything I had, and at last I achieved my revenge."

Ash turned his head and looked at Akina beside him.

"But in the end, nothing remained. Only a terrible emptiness and silence."

Akina turned to look at him too.

"... Are you telling me to give up? Because nothing will be left?"

"I am telling you to go in knowing. For nothing will be left."

The girl shook her head.

"You're wrong about that."

Then she hugged his arm.

"I'll still have you, Mister."

"... Indeed, that much does seem different."

The girl and the humanoid turned their heads in unison and gazed at the city glittering with multicolored lights.

"Do not let yourself break."

"All right."

"Nor must you become empty inside."

"I'll remember."

"... And so, do not lose yourself."

Ash slipped his arm free of Akina's grasp and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"For I shall be beside you to help."

For a while, the girl and the humanoid stood side by side, looking out at Sanctum's nightscape.

"By the way..."

At some point, Akina spoke.

"Is liking high places why you're always coming up to the roof? Hee-hee. You're just like a cat."

"Miss Akina."

"Yes?"

"At a moment like this, one simply stays quiet."

"Oh, I see."

The girl composed her face again and gazed at the city.

The city lights bathed them both in many colors.