Chapter 12: Lost.

"Ah… aaAAAH…!!"

Why… why did it come to this?
This isn’t what I wanted…

"Fire!!! Don’t let her escape—recover Saegusa Cyan at all costs!!!"

The building was barely holding together.
Any moment now, it would be swallowed by a storm of bullets.

…Gotta move.

"St-stop shaking…!"

I wiped my tears and forced my trembling fingers to pull the pin on a smoke grenade.
With all my strength, I hurled it into the gunfire, buying a moment as the enemy’s vision blurred.

"Smoke grenade! Don’t stop shooting!!"

My eyes flicked back to Cyan’s body.
She wore a peaceful, pained smile.
Even in death’s grip, even with her Halo shattered and agony running through her, she’d forced herself to smile.

"…I’m sorry."

Whispering an apology that would never reach her, I gently closed her eyes with my hand.

She had begged me to leave her.
She told me she was already finished.

I couldn’t. Dead or not—it didn’t matter.
If respecting her final wish meant abandoning her, then yes, this was wrong.
I didn’t care.

I slid my arms beneath her and lifted her, sprinting into the rain of bullets.

My thoughts were too calm—disgustingly calm.

Bang after bang after bang—rounds slammed into my body.
But I pressed forward, shielding Cyan with everything I had, never letting her be hit.
Each time I threw a bomb to push them back, the gunfire faltered for a heartbeat.

When would this barrage stop?
Pain blurred my head.
My body felt unbearably heavy.

Cyan was growing colder in my arms.
Her face was pale.
She really was gone.

The thought alone sent tears spilling from my eyes again.
But now wasn’t the time.

Even so, I didn’t stop running—toward the Grand Cathedral.
Until—

"…ah!"

A bullet struck Cyan’s leg.
Her right calf, the inner side.

"…What?"

Hardly any blood came out.
Her heart had already stopped.

A rage beyond words boiled up inside me.

How dare they—how dare anyone claim the right, the justice, to desecrate her body?

Can’t even protect her corpse, useless fool.

"……!!!"

──Enough.

I hid her behind a pillar and drew the hand-cannon she had once entrusted to me.
Its recoil was monstrous, but it was the strongest weapon I had left.

"There! It’s one of Saegusa Cyan’s allies!!!"

"He was carrying her just now! Where did he put her!?"

"…Shut the hell up."

I poured my "strength" into the hand-cannon.
It felt like something was draining out of me.

Blinded by rage, I was about to fire—

"Gah!?"

"Gyah!?"

"Hey, you okay!?"

"Ah…!"

Suddenly, moderates—our allies—ambushed the pursuers.
Looked like about twenty of them.

"What do we do…!?"

"R-retreat!! Pull back!! Recovering Saegusa Cyan is impossible!! Make sure they don’t get their hands on it!!!"

The enemy fell back.
They must have decided fighting equals wasn’t worth the risk… or maybe they feared losing the "Halo-destroying bomb."

I couldn’t feel happy about it.

『Are you two okay!?』

A hologram flickered to life, showing a student with dull yellow hair tied into two tufts.

"Ann…na…"

『Sorry we’re late with reinforcements! We also secured the ten still fighting on-site! What about Cyan-chan!? Did she pass out!? What happened!?』

"Cyan… is dead."

『…What?』

Anna’s voice cracked, unable to hide her shock.
Yeah. I still can’t accept it myself.

『You’re lying… right? Dead…!? What do you mean dead!!? Are you saying the enemy was that strong, that it left her in such a state!!?』

"No."

『Th-then explain the situation!!! Right now!!! There’s no way I can believe—』

"It’s the truth."

Why is my head so calm right now?
I should be grieving. I should be drowning in guilt. And yet… it feels like I’m watching myself from far away.

I want to throw up. I wish I could just die here and now.

『…gh… ngh…!!! S-sorry, I lost it for a second… For now, just come back… We’ll confirm everything on-site…』

"…Understood."

Even while breaking down, Anna forced herself to act like an adult, making the best decision for the moment.
She was always more grown-up than anyone.

"That… is that President Cyan’s… body?"

"Yeah."

"W-we… we should—"

"No. Let me carry her."

I shifted Cyan’s body onto my back.
Even colder, heavier, stiffer than before.

But in the end, she was still just a child. Her body was so light.

The first to greet me when I returned was Anna.

"…That… is that… Cyan-chan…?"

Her voice trembled as she looked at Cyan, now resting on the bed.

"Yeah. She’s gone. She protected me… protected both of us, Anna. She told us to live happy lives. Said the times we shared were her happiest."

"…I see."

Anna’s hand hesitated, then gently brushed Cyan’s hair.

"Haha… she’s so cold. Gorillas aren’t cold-blooded, you know…? Hey…? Yell at me again, like you always did, for calling you a gorilla… We even found that old Zerna legend the other day… Come on… say something dumb… anything… please, just wake up…"

"…"

No answer.
Of course not.
She was gone.

"…Hey… kiddo…"

"…What is it?"

"We… met when we were eight."

"…I see."

"I was always weak… always getting chewed out by the instructors. I swore I’d change this rotten school… That was when she first helped me. That was Cyan-chan."

"…Yeah."

"At first… I thought she was just someone I could use. Strong, dumb, too kind for her own good… someone I could rely on to seize control from the shadows…"

"…"

"But then… we just played together. Found a manga by chance… and before I knew it, none of that mattered anymore. Because of her. Then she became Student Council President… and me? I was still weak, only good for clerical work. When I realized civil war was about to break out, every time I saw her suffering… I kept thinking, if only I were stronger… I always thought that. But I couldn’t say it. Not when morale was at stake…"

"…I see."

"…That’s why… everything you’re about to see—don’t tell anyone. Please."

"…Alright."

The moment I agreed, Anna broke down in tears.

Like a child who had just lost her family.
No… that’s exactly what she was.

Until now, she had only been pretending to be strong.

And even then, she never once blamed me.

All I could do was rub the back of a grieving child, crying her heart out.

Cyan’s death was relayed to all the moderates within the hour.

It would surely crush morale, but the truth would surface sooner or later, so there was no point in hiding it.

And indeed, morale plummeted. Of course it did.

Not just because they had lost their strongest fighter… but because Cyan was beloved.

Some had only joined the battle because she convinced them.
Others owed their lives to her saving them in the past.

Even so, not everyone gave in to despair.

Many swore they wouldn’t let her sacrifice be in vain.
That those who killed her would pay.

It didn’t feel like a healthy trend.
Some were blinded by hatred.
Some might stray down the wrong path.

But even that had to be used—if it meant increasing our chances of victory.

And I hated myself more and more. For being weak. For being unable to act like an adult.

Still… all I could do was what I could.

So I planned with Anna. My knowledge of the original story, and her tactical insight.

"First off—the weapon used was a ‘Halo-destroying bomb.’ If it hits, we Halo-bearers die. No exceptions."

"…Yeah, I’ve heard of it from your so-called future knowledge. In the future, it only got used once, right? And in the end, it failed to go off…"

The bomb used against Hakari Atsuko in the original story.
It never achieved its full effect.

"Right. It was blocked by a special mask. The maker himself called it a failed prototype—one that never worked the way he wanted."

"Hmm… a special mask, huh? Could we get our hands on it?"

"Impossible. Both the mask and the bomb were brought in by Beatrice."

"…"

"This one’s on me. I should have predicted Beatrice would incite a rebellion…"

Yes. I should have been more cautious. She was a member of Gematria. She would stop at nothing for her goals.

"Talk about blame later, okay?"

"…Yeah. Sorry. I just… assumed the bomb couldn’t be mass-produced. After all, such a powerful weapon had only ever appeared once. But I was wrong."

"…They might have been stockpiling them for a while. Tell me everything you know about the enemy’s bombs."

"…Alright."

I recalled everything I’d seen at the scene, as precisely as I could.

"First, the blast radius was about one to two meters. The ground wasn’t scorched afterward, so it might not affect physical matter at all. The enemy still had two bombs left at the end. Counting the three duds, plus the one that killed Cyan… that makes six in total. But given how freely they were using them, they might still have more in reserve."

"…That’s nasty."

No kidding. The more I laid it out, the less hope I could see.

We spent about twenty minutes trading information. Then Anna suddenly spoke.

"…Honestly? This is impossible."

"…Yeah, I know. I know, but we still have to—"

"Don’t jump to conclusions. What I’m saying is, winning head-on is impossible."

"…!? You mean—there’s another way!? Even in this situation!?"

"Of course."

For me, it was the best news imaginable.
But Anna’s expression wasn’t bright at all.

"Listen. I’ll tell you our last operation now."

Her face was heavy, like she was forcing herself to hide the pain.

"──We’ll buy time. And while we’re doing that… you take the brats from the training school and run."

"……What?"

Her expression in that moment was the spitting image of Cyan’s.