Chapter 132: Overlapping Prayers (2)

──For several dozen seconds, she had been unconscious.

When she came to, what both of Reicia Blackguard’s personalities felt was the searing pain coursing through her entire body. It was only natural. Even if the “Crack” and “Debris Matter” had acted as a buffer, she had taken the Doppelgänger’s strike head-on. The fact that she wasn’t dead was what truly defied reason.

And yet──

"…………"

As Reicia lowered her gaze to her palm, what she felt was a familiar unnatural sensation.

(...That strike was never something we could have withstood.)

Shiren recalled. It had been a full-power defense: the black-and-white “Crack,” the “Debris Matter,” even cloaking herself in the “Armor of Soundwaves.”

A perfect defensive posture. Yet even so, that strike was more than enough to put Reicia completely out of action. The fact that she could still barely cling to consciousness was a miracle in itself. Losing a limb or two wouldn’t have been strange at all. The only reason she’d managed to stand her ground at the last moment was…

(...Probably thanks to Kamijou-san…? Maybe the Ideal ability got disrupted by Imagine Breaker’s interference, so it couldn’t unleash its full power.)

An unbelievably convenient, thread-thin stroke of fortune. But when weighed against the misfortune of taking a surprise hit, one might call it even.
──Plus and minus, zero.

This kind of balancing act, this trick of fate, was something Shiren had experienced countless times before. But now wasn’t the time to dwell on it.

《Ugh… We were dealt quite the harsh blow, weren’t we.》

Reicia muttered inwardly. Her tone bled with pain, yet still carried her usual fierce confidence. Shiren, who had been staring down at her palm, snapped back to himself when he heard her.

《…Yeah. We need to get back into the fight quickly. I can’t go all-out anymore, but there still has to be something we can do.》

Placing her hand on her knee, she forced herself upright, only for her gaze to suddenly drop. She realized her knees could barely hold her weight when the leg she grabbed for support trembled violently.

《…That’s none of my concern.》

Hearing Reicia’s scornful words, Shiren felt his spirit harden once more.

《That spiky-headed fool is still fighting, with the Third and Fifth by his side! Shiren, we cannot allow ourselves to fall behind here! Stand tall!!》

《Wait, I’m the one who has to stand tall!?》

An unreasonable demand. Yet despite his shock, Shiren found a smile tugging at his lips. Her recklessness, if anything, lent him strength. For this selfish noblewoman, he would throw himself into the fray again. That was the kind of power she gave him.

Trembling all over, Reicia still managed to take a step forward. And that was when it happened.

"Bl… Blackguard-san!"

Pale, patchwork skin. Black-and-white hair. A school uniform beneath a white lab coat──Ryoko Kuriba rushed over with a worried expression.

"Are you okay!? That’s a terrible wound…! Did you get hurt in the fight against the Doppelgänger!? What about her…!?"

"…Yes, it seems she’s grown up quite rowdy. I ended up taking a heavy hit."

With Kuriba lending her a shoulder, Reicia finally allowed her body to relax. The battlefield was still several hundred meters away. At that distance, she should be able to reach it before the fighting was over.

"Even so, this too is a blessing."

Reicia said, and then, with a fearless smile:

"──Because of it, I’ll be able to grant your ‘request.’"

The Daihaseisai, Day One.

Reicia Blackguard and Ryoko Kuriba were having this conversation.

『Besides, the very fact that events have progressed this far already makes any immediate annulment of the engagement impossible. At the earliest, it would be after the next body inspection system scan──sometime in October, I suppose. At that point I’ll secure my Level 5 esper certification, and in the ensuing commotion I’ll formally declare the annulment.』

『I-I see. Then that means… there won’t be any need for me to take action this time… Hm.』

At the time, it had seemed like nothing more than a trivial exchange.

『Kuriba-san. Is something troubling you? If there’s anything I can do, I’ll help.』

『R-Really? Th-the truth is…』

Shiren’s kindness had drawn it out.

『…Kuriba. You said you needed to “deal with” that Doppelgänger. By that, did you mean… to erase “her”?』

『……』

『If that’s truly what you’re thinking, then abandon such arrogance at once. Even if she was artificially created, even if she were something without a soul, the fact remains: the moment “she” possesses the ability to think, just like you do, she deserves to be respected as a living being.』

Reicia’s pride carved the way forward.

『…I understand. The responsibility for what I’ve done… I’ll bear it myself.』

Kuriba chose her own path.

One prayer, leading into the closing act of this night, where overlapping souls gathered.

Chapter 3: The Worth of a Soul Is Worthless — Double(Square)_Faith.
Episode 106: Overlapping Prayers II — Square_Face.

"Doppelganger!!"

On the battlefield.

Only one voice rang out—Kuriba's.

"Just... just a little longer, won't you wait? Two months. ...With two months, I can erase my own soul. If this 'Indian Poker' craze continues, a method to erase the soul should be discovered within two months...!"

"...Hah?"

The one most shocked by Kuriba's proposal was Reicia, who stood beside her.

To reveal the truth────

What Reicia had been asked by Kuriba was to 'facilitate a dialogue with the Doppelganger.'
Kuriba had, in fact, already sensed the emotional wounds the Doppelganger must be carrying.

She had considered what she would suffer and what she would wish for if her own consciousness were suddenly transferred into a mechanical body.
And she had concluded that the only way to resolve this was to sacrifice her own physical body to save the Doppelganger.

However, she had kept this hidden from Reicia, merely asking her to 'prepare a place to talk with the Doppelganger.'
And then, at this critical moment, she brought it up.

In reality, the Doppelganger had transferred its 'consciousness' from a mechanical body to a mycelial one.
If it could use the same method to transfer its consciousness into a body whose soul had been erased, the Doppelganger might indeed obtain the flesh-and-blood body it desired. That would certainly be, without a doubt, its only possible salvation.

But.

"Out of the question."

The Doppelganger spoke mockingly.

"Even if I waited two months, where's the guarantee you'd direct that power toward me? ...No, more fundamentally, do you really think I can maintain my existence for two whole months after having wreaked this much destruction and bared my fangs at Academy City? Not while I'm leashed by Kihara Amata."

That mockery was also known as 'resignation.'

"If you still don't get it at this point, I'll spell it out for you. ...I never had any interest in your body from the start. That was just a bluff to smoothly advance my plans this far. The 'soul diffusion hypothesis' was merely a deceptive tactic to prevent you from actively trying to destroy me."

"………………,"

"You see... I just want to die."

Clearly.
With a weight that felt like a final slash, she stated definitively.

Kuriba and Reicia could only be left speechless.
That was how utterly despairing she was.

Neither Kamijou, nor Misaka, nor Shokuhou could save her, someone who wished for death.

『――But Shiren, you do want to live, don't you? You never once said you hated being with me.』

That time, it was precisely because of that they could be saved.

Shiren Blackguard had never once said she wanted to die. If she had truly confessed from the bottom of her heart that she no longer wanted to live, that living itself was painful, that the death approaching her was a release from that agony── then Reicia truly would have had nothing to say.

She likely would have only been able to watch her back in silence as she left.

『Misaka and the others―—no longer wish to cooperate with the experiment. They want to live their own lives. They want to save their sisters, who have been captured by a dangerous group that seeks to destroy their individual realities—their Personal Reality—through incomprehensible experiments.』

That time, it was precisely because of that they could be saved.

Because the Sisters themselves asked for help. If they had truly confessed from the bottom of their hearts that they were lab animals, that they could never lead normal lives, that they should just be left alone── then neither Misaka nor Kamijou would have had anything to say.
They likely would have only been able to clench their fists and stare at the ground.

That time, it didn't turn out that way.
That's why they could join hands.

《Shiren, what would you have done... if I truly were a hopeless, utterly despicable woman?》

The question from that time flashed back in Shiren's mind.

Shiren Blackguard reached out their hand to Reicia Blackguard. And Reicia grasped the hand that was offered to her. That is why that "Restart" was possible.

But—such a thing also works in reverse.

Shiren took hold of the hand that reached out. Because of that, Reicia was able to pull him up. She was able to save him.

But what if.

──What if there existed someone who absolutely could not be saved by simply reaching out a hand?

That vast gulf of separation now stood here.

To save a being who wished for death, ignoring that will—was that truly the right thing to do? Without looking toward the suffering that lay ahead, to simply cast her into a trackless wasteland—wasn’t that beyond irresponsibility, already a sin? Was a dead end truly a bad end? Could it be that "Never End" was in fact the worst possible conclusion?

And as the core of the problem—could they really say with certainty that the choices they had made so far were not arrogance, not a "sin"?

Kamijou Touma could not answer. Misaka Mikoto could not answer. Shokuhou Misaki could not answer. Reicia Blackguard could not answer.

Because they were all on the side of the "saviors." To someone who truly desired death, they had no words to offer. The only choices they could make were those that offered even a shred of comfort. Because any other choice that only spread more suffering would be nothing but arrogance. That was why, in this place, there was no one who could speak to her.

Except for one.

"──Don’t go acting all dramatic, Kuriba Ryouko."

"……What did you just say?"

Twitch. The Doppelgänger lifted her face. In her line of sight stood a young lady, her golden hair and pale skin smeared with soot, blood dripping from here and there—Reicia Blackguard. No. Shiren Blackguard. The Tokiwadai blazer, the black-and-white garb, all of it was torn and battered—but within those e-me-rald-green eyes, a resolute will burned.

"If you didn’t hear me, I’ll say it as many times as it takes. Don’t go acting all dramatic, Kuriba Ryouko!!"

Even if no one else could overcome the Doppelgänger’s rejection, Shiren was different. Shiren understood the heart of someone who refused salvation. He knew better than anyone the true desire hidden deep inside.

He could listen to that voiceless cry!!

"……You."

Even as fury bled into the girl’s voice, Shiren did not flinch. Instead, without a trace of hesitation, he stepped forward. Likely toward the very core of the despair the girl carried.

"That’s right. You are Kuriba Ryouko!! No memory before the experiments? That doesn’t matter!! Whether you have memories or not, you are still you!!!!"

Without noticing the sharp intake of breath from a certain boy, Shiren continued to speak. Perhaps that was the very origin of despair for the girl who had become known as a Doppelgänger. Because she despaired most of all over not being "Kuriba Ryouko"—that was why being called that name made her voice tremble with anger.

"In your own consciousness, up until the day you ‘realized,’ you believed you were a normal human. You thought your body had ‘turned into’ a machine without you noticing. …For someone like that, their very first wish could never have been ‘I just want to die.’"

Shiren knew. He knew that there existed despair of that kind.

"You must have thought it over and given up many things. You must have found countless reasons to justify it. And at the very end, the last path that remained was ‘to die.’ …Isn’t that right?"

"What do you know…!!"

"I do understand, because I was the same way!!"

Those words silenced the Doppelgänger. It wasn’t because of impact or shock. It was because those words carried a quiet weight. A conviction that no surface-level reasoning could give.

"I was afraid too. Afraid that my hopes would never come true. That with no real means left, despair was the only card in my hand. So I turned away from the hope before me, I gave up, and I dressed up a half-baked bad end as a beautiful conclusion. I was just putting on an act."

"…………"

As if baring his own wounds, Shiren spoke. Naturally, the Doppelgänger—or rather, the girl cast out from the name Kuriba Ryouko—was drawn in by those words.

"Your true wish is not some half-baked bad end! Don’t act like some all-knowing sage and turn your eyes away from what you really want!!!!"

"Then……"

At that moment, the girl—who should have been entirely inorganic—changed her expression for the first time.

"Then!! What am I supposed to do!! I’ve realized what it’s like to have an organic body. The material doesn’t matter!! I… have no soul!! Even if I were to take this body of flesh, my true essence would not change!!"

The girl who could not become Kuriba Ryouko said this and dropped her gaze.

Yes. The Doppelgänger had no soul. What transferred from the machine body was only the gradation computer, a fluid-based computational pattern, not a soul.

And so, therefore.

"If there’s no soul, how can you possibly judge anything?"

Shiren would overturn such a premise.

"……Huh?"

"Perhaps you didn’t notice because developing abilities isn’t your specialty? T-t-the thing is, abilities do not exist solely from eruption points and computational functions!!"

That knowledge was something that should not have been attainable under normal circumstances. A rule-breaking insight possible only because Reicia Blackguard had access to ‘canonical’ knowledge—a secret that her own circumstances could not explain. Yet she did not hesitate to reveal it, not even a millimeter. To her, such trivialities paled in comparison to saving the ‘life’ that stood before her.

"Even if you mechanize every function related to an ability, there’s still one point that must remain ‘biological.’ The smallest unit of the brain must be alive."

And if that living part does not harbor a soul, how can you judge it? It has the ‘recognition’ to control abilities. It has the intelligence to ‘observe’ reality with precise detail. How could anyone assert with certainty that this smallest unit is different from a human ‘soul,’ on what grounds could they make that claim?

"……Amicrobiotic, cilia-based computer."

The words slipped like a fevered whisper from Kuriba. It was the very technology used to generate the brain of the medical cyborg ‘Doppelgänger.’ In fact, the reason the Doppelgänger could achieve its fungal ‘disguised possession’ was largely because the same type of science had been applied at its very core.

In other words.

A soul had been born. The machine’s brain could not detect it. In a world divided by science and magic, thought could not reach it. Yet, there was undoubtedly life that deserved to be saved. A path existed to save it.

"Bu-but… but…… I’m bound by my abilities to Amata Kihara, so to maintain this existence, and that’s why…"

"……I know you’re saying something cruel."

Shiren stepped forward toward the faltering girl and spoke.

"I understand it very well. H-how terrifying it is to admit that. To truly, truly lose it. Just thinking about it makes you want to claw your whole body apart in fear. But…"

"……!"

"If you reach out your hand, I’m certain you can be saved. The evidence is all here to make that declaration. So!!"

At that moment, a shadow passed by her side. Patchwork skin. Black-and-white hair. A student uniform draped in a white coat. Kuriba Ryouko—the girl who had become nothing—grasped the hand firmly.

"Please, reach out to me. Let me save you. Let me help you…!!"

There was no verbal response.

Yet the girl did hold that hand firmly.

At that moment.

Somewhere, a devil smiled.

"Well then, it’s about time the time bomb goes off, isn’t it?"

And thus, the scattered, diverging futures began to converge.

Like a stretched rubber band snapping back to its original shape.