Naoto and RyuZU walked down the path, hand in hand.
Marie and Halter followed them from behind.
The location was Grid Kyoto, 27th level of the core tower, the spiral staircase leading to the innermost area.
This path looked as if it would head further into the underground; it was cramped, and was lacking in light gears lighting the path. It was practically the mouth of a cave leading to hell.
“Is this way correct, RyuZU?”
“Yes. It is.”
Naoto did not show any fear heading into hell, looking pumped up as he strode forward.
There was a simple reason.
It was–
As Naoto hurried down the spiral staircase, his lips started to relax.
“Right in front of us is–RyuZU’s little sister AnchoR! A super high capability automata…!”
He looked ready to monopolize it.
“Master Naoto!”
“Eh? Woah!”
RyuZU suddenly called out and grabbed Naoto’s hand.
But he was unable to stop due to the excessive momentum.
He slipped on his feet–and his body was thrown into space outside the stairs.
“–!!”
Cold sweat was draped all over his body.
The spiral staircase was wrecked midway through, and the front became an actual cave to Hell. If RyuZU had not reached her arm out, Naoto would have fallen into the abyss just now.
“Hey hey, watch out there. You managed to save your life just now.”
Halter joked as he grabbed Naoto by the collar and pulled him up.
“I-I got saved…”
Naoto felt relieved by the firmness below his feet, and spoke doubtfully,
“No, wait a moment. There should be a path here, and RyuZU’s little sister is inside, right? The road’s broken now. What’s going on?”
“…It looks like it collapsed due to the impact from the purge.”
Marie knelt down to check the severed portion of the spiral staircase, and answered,
Upon hearing this, Naoto looked as if the world was going to end,
“Th-Tha…that’s that’s impossible…why, just a little step further—da-damn, DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTT”
It was a weeping of the soul.
He let out an anguished voice that would have pulled anyone into the abyss, and knelt on the floor.
He was crying.
He was wailing loudly, ignoring his image as he swung his fist at the spiral staircase.
Born within the abyss of darkness inches away from him was an overly powerful anguish, and in the face of it, he felt how puny he was while it continued to torture away at his 16 year old boy’s soul.
Let’s yell my throat out.
Destroy every single cell within me for being unable to save her.
The boy who saved 20 million saves felt grave despair over his inability to save a single automata’s life, and in his immense guilt, he could not help but wail and weep.
Marie muttered as she watch him in such grief,
“Even if you continue to cry and scream like that…”
“Shut up already! Do you understand this pain I’m suffering? I just lost this ultimate prize of humanity no billions of people can compare to–!”
“Leaving aside that ultimate prize of humanity–!”
Marie was pressing onto her temple,
“But if there was something in front, it should have been moved out already, right?”
“–Eh?”
Naoto stopped crying and lifted his face is surprise.
Marie looked up at the spiral staircase, and said,
“It was already decided that this place is to be purged. If there exists an Initial-Y series here, the military’ should have known of its value…it’s unlikely that they will just leave her here.”
RyuZU nods in approval of Marie’s words,
“–Yes. Even to those people who chose this haphazard method of purging this city, and whose intelligence are below that of retards to a point where the latter would feel enraged when compared, she was something they could have never hoped to attain. If they however could not comprehend the value of its existence, I will have to suspect if they truly have brains. I do think that Master Marie’s view is very plausible.”
Naoto felt skeptical about those words, and asked,
“…Wait, RyuZU, in that case, have you already expected this right from the beginning?”
“Ah, please pardon me, Master Naoto. I am currently wondering if ‘your brain does not exist’.”
Upon seeing RyuZU bow with an unimpressed look, Naoto lowered his shoulders dejectedly.
He collapsed onto the floor, and muttered as he watched the hole leading deep into the planet, hell itself,
“…Wh-what was I doing…taking such a huge risk, putting RyuZU in danger.”
“Not bad though. At least you managed to save 20 million lives.”
“It’s not good at all!”
Naoto glared at Marie vengefully as he yelled,
He recalled the events that transpired on this day.
The day was fine. He had a date with RyuZU, enjoyed her cuteness, and got lashed out by her–it was a heartwarming, blissful memory.
What happened after that? Once he met this crazy, damned trigger-happy girl, he immediately fell from Heaven to Hell. He got fooled by all the rhetoric she made, got caught in the middle of a storm, and after going through many life threatening situations, he ended up in such a pathetic state.
“I just went through all that for no good reason…damn it!”
“Stop complaining. You managed to change the fate of this planet anyway.”
As Naoto let out a deep sigh, Marie cheerfully said.
And then,
“And you helped me make a decision.”
“…Huh?”
Naoto let out a surprised cry.
However, Marie ignored him as she turned to look at the giant man beside her.
“Halter.”
She said.
“Hm?”
“I’m proceeding on.”
As Marie showed a gentle smile, Halter sighed,
“…I won’t stop you, but just a question–is it really alright?”
Marie’s face remained as valiant as before in the face of Halter’s question.
She steadied her feet on the steeps, her hands on her hips as she puffed her chest haughtily, her petite body straightened as she faced Halter.
Her emerald eyes showed only hope and self-belief.
That was a dream.
It was a foolish, nostalgic, yet respectable will, one only children could see.
Halter witnessed the glint in the adamant eyes, and felt envious as he gave a wry smile, and nodded, saying,
“…Alright, I’ll follow you until the very end, Professor Marie.”
Marie nodded in satisfaction, and Naoto, standing below them, tilted his head,
“Anyway, what are you talking about…?”
“It’s my own business–nope, our business.”
Marie looked over at Naoto with a mischievous grin.
“Sorry Naoto, but about the recommendation into the academy, can you pretend that it never happened?”
“Eh?”
Naoto was unable to comprehend her as he blurted out incredulously.
Upon seeing the boy’s reaction, she turned way with her lips curled up.
She elegantly strode off, leaving the sight of a small yet wide back as her summer coat was flipped. Halter then followed her from behind.
“Hey, Marie?”
Marie waved her little hand at Naoto without turning back at him.
She cheerfully said,
“–See you next time, Naoto.”
●
“Master Naoto, this is the ‘ahhn’ action.”
…How do I explain this current situation? Naoto inadvertently wondered.
An event happened during lunch break, in a classroom at Tadasu no Mori High School.
The students that brought their own lunch boxes instead of going to the cafeteria were having their meals at their usual places.
And amongst them, Naoto and RyuZU chose to do so in the middle of the classroom.
A week passed since that incident.
The purge, the conspiracy between the ‘Military’ and the ‘Guild’, RyuZU’s crisis, and her little sister–
Everything reverted back to normal within a week, as if a nightmare was over.
Right, everything was back to normal.
He was already used to seeing the blank eyes and tongue clicking from his classmates.
He was back to his daily life, but to how it was before he met Marie.
If he had to say so–
“Master Naoto, are you not feeling well in your ears? Or is it your eyes? Or mind?”
Naoto closed his eyes the moment he was asked this.
Their tables were put together, and RyuZU opened the handmade lunchboxes she put so much effort in, clung to him in an excessive manner, creating a sickeningly steamy sweet mood as she picked up a side dish, saying,
“Here, say ‘Ah’, Master Naoto.”
–Just explode.
Naoto was unable to endure the silent protesting stares filling his classroom, and could only violently gulp down the side dish that was served to him.
Right, if he had to mention something different, it was that RyuZU attended school in a matter-of-fact manner, and also an unprecedented scandal that had 24 hour coverage.
–A failed ploy to purge Kyoto.
According to the anonymous reports mailed in to many studios, the ‘government’, the ‘military’, and the ‘Meister Guild’ had collided to destroy a city and slaughter 20 million citizens. Once this fact was exposed to the public, the entire world fell into chaos.
This report did not simply expose the relevant information relating to this incident itself; it also revealed a large amount of what was clearly classified information and other shady internal reports.
These included the truth to a historical murder incident, the negotiation details between the government and enterprises, the spy list of those entering a certain country, the ‘military’ secret bases that were never recorded on the map, the illegal weapons they had that goes against the treaties, some members of the ‘guild’ carrying out secret human experimentation, and so on…
The Japanese Prime Minister admitted to the purge the ‘military’ tried to carry out, and took responsibility for it.
“This is undoubtedly a terrorist attack.”
A famous commentator on a certain studio had indicated.
“A purge is certainly a serious matter, but what happened here is way too much.”
And this line caused lots of controversy and scathing criticism.
Also, on a certain morning telecast, foreign correspondent Limonz suddenly fainted and was sent to the hospital after a recording was revealed; it involved him instructing others to kill the young genius clock technician Marie Bell Breguet, 16, and to cover up the incident. His backer, the Vachron Company, was being watched as a result, and was the receiver of some riots and boycotts, resulting in a prolonged downturn for its businesses.
In the entire whirlwind of scandals that swept the world however, only the Breguets managed to remain unscathed–for there was a romantic tale of the Princess of the President being killed while trying to save the city until the very end.
For some reason, the image of that blond, savage smiling girl grinning gleefully entered Naoto’s mind after all these commotion, but–
“…Ah, whatever.”
For Naoto, who was not concerned with the events of the world, these events did not cause him too much concern.
In other words, everything was back to normal, besides having RyuZU with him.
..Though that was the biggest problem.
“Master Naoto, since you are not studying, I suppose your brain is malfunctioning or something–”
And as RyuZU handed him another side dish, Naoto said,
“I say! Can you at least notice the surrounding stares! If stress can kill, I’ll be–”
At this point, he swallowed his words back.
RyuZU was being her usual, showing a regal and relaxed smile.
At that moment, it seemed he realized it. He started to understand RyuZU’s ‘free will’–the amazing thing about the ‘true hearts’ automata had.
–You dare not eat when I made this for you, Master Naoto?
“Sorry. I’ll finish it up.”
“Should you have not done that before? Is this a stress play?”
“No! There’s killing stares from everyone in the classroom right now, you know!? Seriously…”
At this moment,
Naoto froze once he spotted something that should not be present.
For some reason, a bald middle-aged man over 2m tall was standing outside the classroom door, peering at the entire classroom with a sharp stare unfitting of someone in the education field.
…What’s that?
Everyone stopped their chatter due to this silent pressure.
The man passed through the lintel, and nudged his way to the teaching podium.
He was not a teacher.
To emphasize, he was not Japanese either.
To further emphasize, half of him was not human either.
The man’s muscled frame was stuffed in a gray suit, a thick colored pair of sunglasses on his nose. His cynical lips were tightly shut, showing a masculine charm as dangerous as a wild beast.
Also, there was the sound of enhanced cybernetics only Naoto could hear.
The man said,
“Ah, it is sudden, but I am Vainney Halter, currently acting at this class homeroom teacher from now on. I have no interest in brats, so do away with the love letters and date requests. Any other questions?”
“…Whatcha doing?”
Naoto subconsciously retorted in dialect.
Having foresaw this for some reason, Naoto had his head in his hands; the terrifying matter however was that this series of startling events was not over.
Once he saw that the students became silent after being pressurized, Halter nodded.
He sounded like he was from a certain military battalion as he said,
“Let’s make this quick. I’ll introduce a new transfer student to everyone—enter.”
“Alright.”
The sun has arrived. Naoto thought.
A blond white-skinned girl entered the classroom.
Her bright blond hair was tied into two bundles, draped behind her ears. Her large emerald eyes showed vigorous glows upon her tender skin.
The girl was dressed elegantly in the standard uniform as she stood on the podium properly.
She was of a similar build to Naoto, but her overflowing pride and self-confidence made her look a lot taller.
All the students were stunned as they seemingly saw a glorious leader with light shining behind her.
Naoto too could not say anything.
The girl smiled, and cheerfully spoke quickly.
“My name is Maribel Halter. People do say we’re alike, but I’m different from a certain person. Just call me Marie if you wish. Please take care of me here.”
After saying that, she made an elegant gesture.
And at that moment, the emerald eyes glancing at Naoto flickered like a predator catching sight of its prey.
Of course–no matter how anyone looked at this, this person was Marie Bell Breguet.
Naoto’s body could not move as he stared at her blankly.
“……No, seriously, whatcha doing?”
He subconsciously spoke in his native dialect–hereinafter sniped.
●
After school, there were 4 people on the roof of this Tadasu no Mori High School, where people hardly gathered.
Due to the red sky separated by the ‘Equator Spring’, the black silhouette of the core tower looked exceptionally eye-catching under the sunset.
Naoto faced the girl who called herself Maribel Halter as she leaned over the roof’s railing and faced the streets of Kyoto, and sighed, saying,
“…So, mind explaining what’s going on?”
“Huh? Didn’t I say we would meet again?”
“It’s impossible to think of that as you transferring to my school here!”
Marie turned around, and grinned,
“You were shocked, right? Weren’t you?”
“You’re really annoying!!”
Naoto curled his lips and glanced at Marie,
“I’ll tell you if you don’t know. The public thinks that you were killed.”
“Of course I know. I’m the one who leaked it!”
Marie spread her arms wide as she gave a fiendish grin.
“Thanks to that, the entire world’s in complete chaos now! It’s satisfying seeing those useless obstructive people pushing the blame onto each other and running away! Super enjoyable! Heehee♪!”
“Oi, hush up.”
Halter tapped his bald head lightly as he whispered,
“We already expected to expose this incident to the media, but I never thought you just revealed all the information without caring about any confidentiality. Are you the demon or something?”
“Are you an idiot? Why would the dead think about such things?”
“The politicians and the soldiers in the world have their heads chopped off here, you know?”
“What has the fate of those dirt-like guys got to do with me? I did it for such a reason, you know?”
“…Then, what are you aiming for?”
RyuZU stared at Marie suspiciously.
“I have no interest in your actions, Master Marie, but I shall respond with physical revenge if you intend to use Master Naoto for some weird reasons.”
“Huh, that’s not a good way of saying things, right? I just hope that he’ll help me slightly.”
“Help…?”
Naoto murmured, feeling suspicious. Marie then raised a finger.
“It’s simple.”
She said,
“–Just to save the world.”
“…………………………………What?”
After a long silence, Naoto raised an eyebrow.
In the midst of her ecstasy, Marie continued,
“I exposed all the masterminds I know of this time, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are all sorts of despicable ploys, victims of those covered-up plots, and city anomalies.
“…So?”
“I intend to enter those scenes people won’t care about because of politics or plots and repair them all I want, and stop everything just like what happened this time. I won’t get any reward and thanks, but that’s definitely something worth feeling good over, right?”
Naoto said,
“What’s with you? You got some 8th grader syndrome or something?”
“To be precise, it’s a rebellious age. I’m going to counter this rotten society.”
Rock on. Marie did an air gesture gesture.
Naoto stared at her coldly, and asked,
“…It has nothing to do with me, but what’s your reason for transferring into this school?”
“Well, there are many reasons, but the biggest reason is camouflage.”
“Camouflage…?”
After seeing Naoto tilt his head, Marie grinned,
“You know what’s the perfect stand to chase after your dreams?”
Naoto tilted his head.
“No.”
“That’s–being a terrorist!”
Marie continued on, showing a dangerous grin,
“No responsibility, no restrictions. All I need is to proclaim a ridiculous ideal and make noise.”
“…Isn’t that too unreasonable.”
“It’s fine. It’s a kid’s right to talk however I want.”
–Marie Bell Breguet never stated her real thoughts.
And she could never do so.
For it was overly ridiculous. Till this point, it was just a ridiculous, unattainable ideal.
Perhaps she might be able to save this ‘Clockwork Planet’.
Perhaps she might be able to completely repair this planet that was verging between destruction and prolonging.
Perhaps she might be able to replicate the planet’s design that had long disappeared.
Perhaps she might be able to end up on the plane ‘Y’ was on, which nobody else could reach.
She had a feeling that if she worked together with Naoto, she could fulfill this dream–this was the real reason.
“Well, my identity as a student is just a bonus. Since the thing about the academy is gone like a blank paper, I’ll personally teach you as compensation. Be grateful, you know?”
“Hm…well, I’m grateful about that–hey? Wait, I have to follow you?”
“Of course. I’ll use your body well as your lessons fee.”
“There has to be a limit to hard selling right!?”
●
…As he watched their banter.
Halter wondered.
Did that princess realize this?
Without a doubt, her decision was basically taking ‘the place of god’.
That genius and the talented certainly had taken a step into that realm.
In the face of such a fact, he could not help but recall the nostalgic dream he had in his youth–but the uncertainly he had was of course…
“Good grief. Looks like I’m advancing in age now…”
He scratched his head, and sighed.
And so, he spoke to the automata who had been watching Naoto and Marie from slightly further away,
“…Hey, Missy, RyuZU.”
“While I do wish to fault you for your fairly familiar attitude, what is it?”
“How much do you know?”
“So even you core of your words are also formed by trash, you patchwork piece of trash. Have you not learned about being specific as to what you are talking about?”
Upon hearing her venomous tongue, Halter gave a wry smile, and asked,
“You said that time that Naoto would definitely do it. Have you already understood everything that happened?”
–Each aspect was overly outstanding.
Marie’s ‘genius’, Naoto ‘superpower’, and RyuZU’s ‘Imaginary Gear’.
This grid would have fallen below the ground if any of them were lacking.
Any slight deviation from the moment the container fell off would not have led to such an outcome.
–More importantly, this automata was the one who lead Naoto to the core tower.
The decisive blow was to hint of ‘AnchoR’s existence, causing Naoto to make up his mind.
But this automata clearly knew that ‘AnchoR’ would not be there.
That should be the case.
“It seems you were mistaken somewhere. I am the ‘Yourslave’–not the one leading the path.”
…In the end, could an automata actually lie?
As Halter narrowed his eyes, wondering this, RyuZU merely showed a little smile,
“But, how about this? Do you know the term–‘the gear of fate’?”
“…”
Stretching through the sky was the power source driving all the gears on this planet.
RyuZU looked up at the ‘equator spring’ that made use of the Moon’s gravitational pull, and continued on.
“This world is built only by gears–in that case, I feel that there is such a gear. My body structure contains nothing coincidental; everything runs on in a necessary manner–this is what I think as an automata.”
–An automata’s philosophy.
Those words rang in Halter’s mind in a half mechanical manner.
He looked forward to the two geniuses (idiots) who could possibly change this world.
“Ah, Naoto. Be happen now. I got some quick news here. There seems to be an anomaly in Tokyo.”
“…Can you tell me why I have to be happy about such a change?”
“Actually, AnchoR might have been moved there already.”
“Alright, open the champagne! It’s party time tonight! Got to prepare for the trip too!”
…Good grief.
Halter gave a wry smile.
“Anyway, no matter how fate leads us, I guess it’s not a bad thing to anticipate a little, right?”
The day the world ends–and reborn. Such a thought raced in his mind.
With feelings of nostalgia and anticipation, Halter rubbed his bald head as he looked forward to this future with little hope.
—Tick tock, tick tock.
The gears continued to spin.
Regularly, mechanically, inevitably.
And so, they continued to count time as it existed.
Even as clocks stopped, it meant nothing.
Even when damaged, twisted, the wheel of time would continue to spin.
Regularly, mechanically, inevitably.
Tick tock, tick tock—
–They simply exist to continue spinning in the direction they are supposed to.
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