148. It's Not a Dream.
148. It's Not a Dream.
A white room.
A white ceiling.
A white blanket.
White clothes.
"........Uuup.."
There was no window.
There was also no clock.
There was no way to know what was happening outside.
Completely isolated.
A hollow space where even breathing was difficult.
Her mind began to be gradually cornered.
"Uup....eudeuk...."
Her limbs were bound by something like chains, and a gag was shoved into her mouth.
Her physical freedom was stolen. Her mind was isolated.
'──Haaaaa...'
She closed her eyes.
Slowly regulated her breathing.
Suppressed her emotions.
Maintained her reason.
Minerva traced back the events that had happened to her and gradually grasped what kind of situation she was in.
'This place is probably....'
A mental hospital.
Specifically, a place that confined severely ill patients.
And it wasn't merely a place that confined just patients...
'Probably a place that imprisons the Awakened.'
Whenever she tried to summon her power, the chains locked around her wrists and ankles suppressed her divinity.
It felt as if it was forcibly suppressing her power. As she resisted that feeling and tried to pull up her divinity──
─Chijijijik...!
"Keuuup....!!"
The pain surged through the chains.
A pain like being grazed by lightning.
A pain no human could resist, that one could never get used to. Her concentration broke and every muscle in her body momentarily seized up.
'....What do I do..?'
There was no answer.
She couldn't come up with an answer.
Her limbs were bound and her power was sealed.
It was a situation where there was absolutely nothing she could do on her own.
'Chrono....'
Was Chrono okay?
Probably not. He must be in so much pain, struggling so much.
Maybe he was locked up in a place just like this, his limbs restrained, being tortured.
'Something... there must be some way....!'
There was none.
Nothing at all.
There was nothing Minerva could do.
The only thing permitted to her was to worry in her heart and grow anxious about the current situation.
Ultimately, worry turned into regret,
regret led to reminiscence,
"......Eudeuk..."
And reminiscence soon led to reflection on herself.
'I was too hasty.'
She had been too hasty, blinded by the feeling that she had lost Chrono, that he had been imprisoned.
The opponent was none other than Father──the Athena Guild Master.
The idea of just shouting into a broadcast camera against such an opponent was an immensely childish and foolish act.
'If I could go back....'
What would have been the right thing to do then?
'First....'
Make a phone call.
To whom? To Mars.
Mars was the successor of the Ares Guild.
And on top of that, she was Chrono's lover.
If she received news that Chrono was in danger, she would come running immediately to help.
'And next....'
Merk.
Gather information through her.
She was a friend with a somewhat bad hobby, but her abilities were outstanding.
If she stole the keys or a master key to the Athena Guild and handed it over, she would be able to grasp everything about the Athena Guild's situation.
Once she found out where Chrono was, where he was imprisoned, after that it would be smooth sailing.
Rescue Chrono and return to their original life──as if that could ever happen.
"────Eudeuk."
Father.
Dad.
The Athena Guild Master, her father, would block their path.
She could deduce that fact simply through the script Father had handed her.
He was a person who lived for the guild, by the guild, above all else.
Someone who, for the sake of the guild, could use even his own daughter as a marketing tool and erase even Chrono's existence.
Therefore, he would do everything in his power to cover up the truth, and she would not be able to overcome that alone.
'It would probably be difficult even with Merk, right?'
Even if Merk extracted information, it would still be a problem.
Even if she exposed the corruption of the Athena Guild, if there was no one to respond to it, that information would just become a futile, meaningless voice.
She had learned that fact through the people in front of the broadcast station cameras.
She poured all her strength into conveying the truth, her sincerity, but because the people she thought were the public were actually all members of the Athena Guild,
a truth that received no response disappeared behind lies,
and sincerity that received no attention was buried beneath sensational subject matter.
She had come to realize that fact, that reality, through her own body.
It was a good experience. Knowledge that could serve as fertilizer for the future.
But for the immediate present, it was useless knowledge she couldn't apply.
'To persuade people....'
...It was too much for me.
Minerva knew.
She had always stepped forward as a leader, as the next guild master of the Athena Guild, but the reason they followed was not because of her own leadership, but because of her father's shadow.
It was never a result she achieved by persuading them.
Rather, when it came to that kind of 'personality' that could persuade people...
'...Yuno is far more suited for it.'
She had felt it during the midterms when they worked together.
She was someone who knew how to care for others, and thus she also possessed a disposition capable of persuading others.
If Yuno tried to persuade someone with all her heart, they would be convinced even just for the sake of her sincerity.
'At least, she has a much higher chance than me.'
And the role of leading the public once they were persuaded in that way was probably──
'──Chrono.'
Minerva recalled it.
The Queen Siren subjugation battle.
The moment a hero was born.
The one who, when everyone else stepped back, stepped forward alone and roused everyone's morale.
'If it's Chrono, he'll surely draw out everyone's support.'
The ability to kindle a small ember into a great flame.
At the very least, the Chrono she saw that day was far more suited to be a 'leader' than she was.
'If that happens, surely.'
The public would be swayed,
the people would be swayed,
their hearts would be swayed,
and after all that, the sight of the guild crumbling.
"......Heuu..."
Inside the half-ruined guild,
her father, denying reality with a haggard expression.
And imagining Chrono standing before him, treating it as if it was nothing, and walking past with her at his side...
"Heuu... heuu, uuuu....!"
It felt so good.
Minerva thoroughly enjoyed the delusions blooming inside her head.
Thus, after indulging in those delusions for a while, the price paid was──
"........Eudeuk."
Grasping reality.
"Eudeuk... eudeudeuk."
The rage that followed.
And then.
'.......I, really can't do anything, can I.'
Self-loathing.
Minerva no longer bit down on the gag.
She just lay there with her eyes closed, still. Just lying there quietly, she exhaled.
'I don't know how to do anything.'
'I can't do anything.'
The hatred for herself gradually deepened.
Rage at her own incompetence.
'I don't even have the drive that Mars has.'
'My skills aren't even as good as Merk's.'
She tore herself down, tore herself down, and writhed in the pain that followed.
'My personality isn't even as good as Yuno's.'
'I don't even have the leadership of Chrono.'
Comparing, blaming herself,
cursing, insulting, and what came after that──
'I──really don't know how to do anything.....'
A sense of helplessness.
A sensation as if she had dropped something from her hands.
The emptiness that followed. A sense of void. An indescribable, strange pleasure that made her body tremble.
'Idiot... moron... a coward who pushes everything onto others.'
Not the warm, happy pleasure she felt in Chrono's arms,
'......You fucking retard.'
But a cold, chilly pleasure that sent a shiver down her spine,
as if she were being sucked into a deep, cold swamp.
Her brain's defense instinct to protect her body from the extreme self-loathing.
Through that, a strange and hollow happiness was created. Minerva smiled as if she had lost her mind.
'Retard... fucking retard.... All I do is receive help, just waiting for others to do it for me....!'
Hot steam rose to her eyes. Hot teardrops.
As they rolled down her cheeks, her body temperature grew increasingly cold.
'................'
Her body heat cooled.
Her mind grew blank.
A human whose body heat had cooled.
A human who did not think.
The word to express that was soon──a corpse.
'....................'
A dead person.
Flesh, mind, and soul rotting away.
And then.
"That works? This thing's a real scam, huh?"
'..............?'
A voice.
Chrono's voice.
"Minerva, you... I'm sorry. I'll untie you quickly."
'................'
Was it an auditory hallucination?
A visual hallucination?
Chrono appeared before her eyes.
Chrono raised a knife in his hand and moved toward the chains on her wrists and ankles──
"──Fuck, why is this thing here of all places?"
He couldn't cut them.
Whether the blade wouldn't hold an edge or there was some other problem,
Chrono, who had been staring at the chains and pondering, soon aimed his gun at the chains and shot them.
─Jiiiing...!
"...Done."
'.......Ah.'
A vibration felt on her wrist.
The sensation of her hand being freed.
But she knew. Minerva knew.
'This is a dream, isn't it.'
Because, If he shot a gun, the sound of the gunshot should have rung out.
But the gun Chrono fired made no sound at all, as if it had a silencer on it, or rather no sound was heard at all.
He shot a gun but no sound was heard?
It was a contradiction.
"Now let's go home. Mai!"
"Two people are heavy though...."
The blonde beauty listened to Chrono's order and transformed into a White Horse.
It was a contradiction.
"Now if I stop everything and go... hold on, but if even the kid freezes, how do I take her?"
─Pureureung... puhwing!
"A scythe? What can you do with a scythe... Ah, that does it!"
─Pureureureung....
A human was talking with a horse.
It was a contradiction.
"Minerva, bear with it even if it stings a little."
"───Ah..."
Her hand hurt as if cut by something.
It hurt.
The sensation of pain.
It was not a contradiction.
'...It's not a dream?'
"Controlling the time of the cut target... so it can be used in this way too."
"..........."
The world turned gray.
Chrono lifted me into his arms.
He got on the horse and went outside.
A prince on a white horse.
Me, held in his arms.
A gray world.
All around, people were just frozen in place.
'....It really is a dream.'
Perhaps while sleeping, she had bumped into the wall or the chains had tightened around her wrist.
"Now let's go back. Use up all the remaining time!"
"Ah....."
Chrono held me in his arms and ran.
Ssuuuuuk──her field of vision narrowed.
A sensation as if space itself was folding.
"──Keuyook.... Ugh. Even though it's my second time, my stomach is still churning."
".........."
When I opened my eyes again,
I was not in the sickroom but inside an unfamiliar house.
"So now... first, rest for a bit."
"Ah......"
Chrono lifted me in his arms and laid me down on the bed.
As he covered me with the blanket, I saw his back retreating.
"Wait...."
"....?"
Even if it was a dream,
even though it was a dream,
Minerva wanted to say these words to him.
"...I'm sorry."
Even if it might be impossible in reality,
"I'm sorry... I couldn't save you....."
Still, at least here in this dream,
Minerva apologized to Chrono with all her heart.
"....I'm the one who's sorry, really."
With those final words, Chrono closed the door and vanished.
Inside the dark room. An unfamiliar but cozy bed. A blanket with a nice scent.
"....Chrono is.."
"still Chrono... even in my dreams...."
Minerva buried her face in the blanket and slowly closed her eyes.
As an aside,
"This isn't a dream."
".....Huh?"
The blonde beauty from earlier.
Mai spoke toward her.
"So don't rub your face in it too much. This is a blanket Mai cherishes."
"............"
The dream had a somewhat detailed feel to it.
Minerva buried her face in the blanket again and shut her eyes.
'Smells nice....'
Did the sickroom use nice fabric softener?
Intoxicated by the calming, mood-lifting scent, she tried to close her eyes──
───Ttak!
"Awch....!"
A pain thumped on her forehead.
As she immediately sat up and covered her forehead with both hands, the beauty before her said,
"Even pets have their place, upper and lower!"
"....???"
Is this really a dream?
Only then did Minerva put strength into her body and rise from the spot.
"....Huh...?"
Gravity.
Her reason returning.
Reality slowly coming into focus.
At the same time, the door opened and Chrono came inside.
"Mai, what are you doing to someone who's sleeping?"
"A mere junior coveting a senior's property."
"You want to do that to a patient?"
"Cheeee....."
"......Uh, uh..."
The sense of reality gradually returning.
Finally, Minerva spoke.
"Chrono....?"
"Huh? Uh, yeah. Why. Is there somewhere else that's uncomfortable?"
"Is it really Chrono?"
"...Did they give her morphine instead of an IV at the hospital? What's wrong with her state... uh, uuh...?!!"
Chrono.
Chrono Chrono Chrono──
"──Chrono!!!"
"Whoa....?!"
Minerva embraced Chrono with all her strength.
Only after feeling Chrono's warmth against her chest did Minerva finally manage to open her mouth and say,
"It's not... a dream.....!"
"....???"
Chrono, who was caught in her arms, looked completely baffled.