Chapter 41: There, in the Dark, the Abyss

“I’ll say this now—this method is extremely dangerous, and I’m your doctor.”

Just before everything began, Heaven Canceller had said that.

“I understand. At this point, that hardly means anything…”

“That’s why—if something happens, and your life is put in danger… in that case, I’ll abort the program. Even if you end up hating me for the rest of your life.”

“………………”

“So. Don’t. Fail.”

And with that, Heaven Canceller turned his back on Reicia, who was holding a headgear-like device.

“You said all that big talk, didn’t you? You’ll have to follow through, or you’ll look like a joke.”

“…Hmph. Of course I will.”

With a haughty snort, the arrogant young lady confidently equipped the device.

To save her other half.

Chapter 3 – I Won’t Let You Run Away With the Win – (N)ever_Give_Up.
Episode 33: There, in the Dark, the Abyss – Dive_into.

By the time she noticed, she was surrounded by darkness.

Death.

That was the first thing Reicia pictured. She remembered the sensation. After jumping in, as the water flooded into her body, that feeling had definitely touched her toes.

That same feeling was now gathering in masses, like a swamp, and enveloping her.

『…………』

Reicia instinctively shuddered, then shook her head.

This was her battlefield now.

She couldn’t afford to be scared by something like this.

『This place is……』

She took another look at the darkness around her.

This program had multiple stages built into it.

The first stage was the implementation of a “safety mechanism” based on meditation techniques from magic.

This allowed Reicia’s mind to be brought to a state of stability far beyond scientific means. During this stage, magic spells were used to reinforce her personality via protective charms.

These interventions—“minor and undetectable, not directly tied to the program’s main flow”—had been arranged by Kanzaki for political reasons… apparently. This way, they wouldn’t be violating any “treaties.” Reicia herself had no qualms about smashing through such “treaties,” but it seemed proper magicians still gave thought to those boundaries.

Next was the second stage: Using equipment to put Reicia in a hypnotic state and establishing contact between her personality-controlling brain and that of Shiren.

Simply put, Reicia would dive into a mental world and make contact with Shiren. In cases of multiple personalities, there are instances where the personalities can communicate internally. However, in their case, that contact was extremely weak. So they would construct one artificially, trigger a stimulus, and use that as the spark for “excitation.”

Reicia was now in that stage.

『This is where it really begins.』

Thinking that, she proceeded through the darkness—until she saw a faint white light in the distance.

As she drew closer, the light grew to the size of a human being… and in its center, she saw a girl curled up.

Long golden hair.

Wearing the Tokiwadai school uniform, the girl was unmistakably familiar to Reicia.

『……Is that… me……?』

She murmured it, then realized that while the impression wasn’t wrong, it wasn’t quite right either.

A subtle sense of disconnect—her soul was telling her the truth.

This girl in front of her was a soul fragment that had slipped into Reicia Blackguard. A lingering remnant of Shiren.

Why he had taken on Reicia’s appearance was unclear.

Was it because visual form in the mental world depended on the body? Had his self-perception blurred into hers over the past two months? Was it some magical law governing changes in the soul? Or was it just how Reicia subjectively saw him…?

In any case, Reicia didn’t hesitate long.

『Shiren!! How long are you planning to sleep?! Wake up, this instant!!』

『……Mmmgh……? Huh, wah!? L-Late for class!?!?』

…After all the effort to wake him, that was his first line? Reicia scowled in irritation.

Well, from what she remembered, that was pretty typical of Shiren’s personality.

『I can’t believe you’re still groggy even in the mental world… Shouldn’t you be shocked that you’re even conscious?』

『Huh? Reicia-chan? Wait, me? ……Reicia-chan!?!?』

『Honestly, talking to you is always such a chore…』

With Shiren still not fully grasping the situation, Reicia sighed.

『Right now, I’m working on your personality—』

『Why the hell are you here!?』

Just as Reicia was about to explain, Shiren cut her off with a scream.

There was none of the usual carefree look on his face. If anything, he looked cornered—almost in despair.

『W-What—』

『Because—because this isn’t a place you should be in! Why did you come!? Get out of here right now! If you stay in a place like this, you’ll d-i-e!! …No, wait—have you already…? No way, no…』

『Ah—ahh! Wait! Please wait! I’m not dead! I’m not dead!!』

Panicking as Shiren jumped to conclusions on his own, Reicia waved her hands and tried to explain.

Realizing the conversation was off, Shiren regained his composure and looked her in the eyes.

『Then why are you h-e-r-e?』

『…………Rather, what is h-e-r-e supposed to be? I’m just in a meditative state using external equipment…』

『I see… So that’s what it is. That’s how we’re connected, then.』

Shiren muttered, then said:

『…To be blunt, Reicia-chan. Right now, you’ve got one foot in the afterlife.』

He declared it flatly.

『Hah? What are you saying? Are you stupid?』

…Reicia shut him down without hesitation.

『I’m not stupid! …Though, if I’m being serious, it’s kind of hard to deny… But I’m telling the truth! I mean, think about it, I’m dead to begin with! A corpse! I mean, don’t you remember? There was that novel, right? The one with the “Aggregate” that showed up in Othinus’s world!』

Shiren flailed his hands awkwardly.

『They categorized all living things into the living and the dead, and ruled the world that way. In other words, the concept of such classification actually exists in this world.』

『Was that… ever mentioned?? I remember that Othinus reshaped the world, but…』

『…Maybe how well we can recall things depends on whether we were interested or not…』

Shiren looked slightly saddened.

『In short, even though we casually call it a “soul”, it gets clearly tagged as either living or dead. My soul originally belonged to someone who was already dead, so now that something like this has happened… I guess you could say my rank of existence? It’s getting closer to the afterlife.』

『………………Once again, you’ve started spouting nonsense out of nowhere.』

『Well, I’m just roughly matching terms to what I’m feeling and putting it into words, so honestly, I’m not sure if it’s accurate… But I don’t think I’m that far off. If this keeps up, I’m heading for the afterlife. But I won’t drag you into it, Reicia-chan. …That said, as long as we’re still in “contact” like this, there’s a chance you might get caught up in it too. There’s still time. Cut the connection.』

Shiren said it with complete seriousness.

In response, Reicia gave him a look that could only be described as disillusioned.

『Um, where do I even begin? I’ll just say this—this is under external control, so there’s nothing I can do about it personally, all right?』

In other words, because it’s externally controlled, ending it midway depends entirely on someone else's will. And since only Reicia knows what’s going on internally…

…This state won’t end until Shiren’s soul perishes, or something goes wrong with Reicia herself.

『Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh?!?!?!?!』

That was the depth of Shiren’s shock upon waking up to this reality.

『S-So that’s what happened…』

Shiren, having been told how things had progressed up to this point, was visibly torn between exasperation and admiration, emotions rapidly flashing across his face.

『…Honestly, a small part of me hoped you’d want to talk. If you did, I would’ve been happy. But this—this isn’t right… this is not how it should be…』

As Reicia stood beside him with arms crossed, Shiren held his head in his hands.

From his perspective, everything had wrapped up neatly and cleanly, no lingering regrets. He had let go of his consciousness thinking it was all done—only to wake up and find the girl he cared about had flung herself into the jaws of death. His reaction was only natural.

『If anyone’s saying “that’s not right,” it’s me. Aren’t you completely misunderstanding the situation? You saved me on your own, then disappeared on your own—there’s no way I’m just going to accept that.』

『That might be true, but to think you’d actually risk your life to come here… I mean, there was even a method to do that… and just to have a conversation…』

At those words, Reicia’s brow twitched.

…She had been slightly bothered by it for a while now.

From the moment they reunited, Shiren had operated under the assumption that Reicia had come all this way purely to 『talk』 to him. Normally, if someone risked their life, you’d at least consider the possibility they came to save you. But Shiren hadn’t shown even a hint of such thinking—in fact, not a trace of 『hopeful expectation』 could be seen in his actions.

It felt… insulting.

After everything he’d done for her, of course Reicia felt grateful. And yet, did he really see her as the kind of person who’d only move for the sake of conversation?

(“Sure, I’ll admit I wasn’t the nicest person before. But still, can’t he trust me even a little? …I-I did help during that incident, didn’t I?! Would it kill him to think a bit more kindly of me…?”)

That may have been an outburst of an endearing sort of self-assertion—a desire to be acknowledged.

At any rate, Reicia, looking slightly displeased, tried scolding Shiren.

『…Couldn’t you at least entertain the idea? Like, for example, that I came here to save you, or something like that?』

『Don’t say that.』

…And so, Reicia was momentarily startled.

It wasn’t just that Shiren had cut her off—it was the coldness in his voice when he did.

『…Don’t say things like that. Please don’t joke about stuff like that. …I’m seriously torn up inside right now, but even so, I’m really glad that you came to see me at the end like this, Reicia-chan. That’s why I don’t want to get angry with you. So please… don’t say stuff like that.』

Shiren said it clearly and firmly.

He didn’t want to get angry, he said. It was typical of him, yet Reicia felt something off about it.

…It was as if he believed—without even the slightest shred of doubt—that being saved was utterly impossible for him.

『What are you… what are you deciding all on your own? You will be saved. Because that’s why I came here, to—』

『I told you to stop!!』

…Still, Shiren remained stubborn.

『…! Ah, sorry, I’m sorry, Reicia-chan… I know you’re just trying to comfort me. I get that. But… I’m sorry, I just can’t accept that. Please understand. …More importantly, let’s think about how to resolve this. If I can just move my body somehow and signal to the outside that something’s wrong, I’m sure they’ll force the program to shut down early—』

『W-What… are you even saying…?』

Reicia had no other words for it.

This was… beyond abnormal.

Because risking your life to come this far, only to just talk, made no sense. And saying it was externally controlled, and thus impossible to go back—that was odd too. If all she came for was a conversation, then surely a return route would have been prepared.

And since it clearly wasn’t, it should be obvious she had come to save him. And yet—it was like that option didn’t exist in Shiren’s mind. As if he refused to choose it.

『I’m talking about a way to get you back. You really are reckless… It’s okay, don’t worry. There’s definitely a way. I’ll find it with you. …It’s turned into a ridiculous last-minute team effort, but we’ll make it through—』

『That’s not!! What I’m saying at all!!』

『…………』

『I told you—I came to save you!! Why can’t you just accept that?!』

Something was wrong.

Deeply wrong.

Because he had never been this abnormal. At the very least, no one had seen any signs of it these past two months. …Yes, he was deeply selfless, but he had never outright rejected the idea that others might try to save him.

Even if it defied all logic, even if the optimal solution came from elsewhere—he had never shown such self-denying behavior before.

『Not just me. Shika, Ennai, Kamijou, Misaka-san, Index, Stiyl, Kanzaki-san, Semi-san, and Heaven Canceller… So many people are helping. All to save you!! To save you, and to smile and laugh together again!!』

Everyone had lent their hand.

Those who had been saved by Shiren, those who had crossed paths with him—all had come together and helped her get this far.

That’s why—it should be okay for Shiren to be saved too.

『…………There’s no way something like that could happen.』

He muttered softly.

The very boy she had come here to save… said that.

『There’s no way… I’m allowed to be saved.』