Chapter 56: Don't Make Your Choices Someone Else's
"Goodbye!"
"See you later! You’ve been heading home early lately, haven’t you?"
"Well, things have finally settled down with my club for now."
"Concert band, right?"
"Exactly."
"Yo, Sayama! Oh, look at that—so you finally started playing HoloMemo too!"
"Yeah... I actually became a Commander a while ago, but I got stuck..."
"What? You should’ve just asked me for advice! Besides, with your personality, I figured you’d have checked a strategy guide immediately."
"I just... I couldn’t choose. Between Asuna and Esil."
"Ah, man, that part is brutal! No matter which one you pick, the battles afterward are a nightmare."
"No, it’s not just the combat..."
It wasn’t about that.
"What? Don't tell me you’re a fan of both? Look, even if they die here, it doesn't mean you can't use them as characters anymore, you know?"
"I know that, but..."
I pulled out my phone. The screen was dark, but the facial recognition automatically unlocked it, bringing up the screen I’d left open.
There she was—Alter, who had suffered and agonized until she finally awakened as an S-Class Slayer...
No. It was Alter: Jester’s Ash, and she was demanding an answer.
"Choose," she said.
"Wait... your playtime for this stage is forty-nine hours!? Just how long have you been agonizing over this!?"
...
"Whoa! You have a max-limit-break Asuna? That's insane! Then you definitely have to go for the Esil route; it’s way easier! If you save her, she joins as a support, but the character you pick becomes unavailable!"
...?
"Is... is that part glowing?"
"Huh? Where?"
"Right here—look."
There were two choices displayed on the left and right. I tapped the space exactly in the middle, avoiding both.
There was no response. Was it just my imagination—?
"Do not lose sight of the truth."
That was the line Asuna had tried to convey to Alter. For some reason, it felt as though it were being whispered directly to me.
"Wait... I see!!"
I couldn't stay still for another second. I turned and bolted toward home.
"H-hey! Sayama!?"
Even the wait for the bus felt agonizing. The ride home felt twice as long as usual. I couldn't even stand the seconds it took for the doors to open.
"Welcome home! Dinner is—"
"Sorry, I’ll eat it later!"
I threw open my bedroom door, booted up my PC and camera, and launched my scripts. I hammered out a tweet to the blue bird social media site: "EMERGENCY STREAM!!" From the computer linked to my phone, the tense, high-stakes BGM of HoloMemo began to leak out.
I plugged in my headphones to drown out the noise, confirmed my avatar was working correctly, and started the broadcast. I immediately raised my voice.
"Sorry everyone, I'm recording this on the fly, but listen!!"
"What's going on?"
"This is way too sudden. It hasn't even been a minute since the tweet lol."
"What did you find?"
"Here! Look right here! Doesn't it look like it's glowing slightly!?"
"Don't see it."
"Nope."
"Looks normal to me?"
"A-ah! Right! Actually, my phone got submerged in water once, and I think it messed up one of the circuit boards because the overall brightness is a bit lower than usual! And whenever I play, I always keep the settings at the lowest brightness to save battery!!"
I quickly pulled up my editing software and lowered the brightness of the phone screen being captured for the stream.
"Oh, there really is something there."
"Wait, even if I turn my system and game brightness to minimum, I still can't see it???"
"Make the stream even darker!!"
Following the viewers' requests, I dimmed the stream further. In response, the faint glow in the gap became distinct and clear.
"What is that?"
"Is that... English? Wait a second... I, R, E... so—I reject."
I reject.
I refuse to accept this.
"I won't allow it!"
"Commander Amane...?"
On the screen before me, Alter’s expression shifted to one of disbelief.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"
"What are you doing!!?"
I lunged. I charged straight at Alter, intent on stabbing her with the Anti-Code I had pulled from my coat.
"What!!?"
She struck me reflexively, sending me flying back—but this was exactly what I wanted.
"Wake up, both of you!!!"
I screamed from the bottom of my heart, letting out my selfish, egoistic desires.
"Don't force me to carry the weight of your problems!!"
Choose for yourselves. Find a way that you can live with.
Driven by that wish, the strike fell. It pierced right through the barrier Alter had erected and buried itself deep into the keyboard that had merged with the pedestal.
Comments (1)
Please login or sign up to post a comment.