On the Brink
The tension was razor-sharp.
“She’s eating well—”
“…Oh, right. Lumiel. You have an exam tomorrow. Did you prepare properly?”
“Y-yeah…! I studied everything.”
“Wait, seriously? You’re actually studying now?”
“Sister, what do you take me for…!”
“Pfft, I’m just teasing. I know you work hard. You’re so cute.”
“—Hold on, phone’s ringing.”
“…Go ahead.”
“Yes, hello?”
“That’s right. ■■■ Arcarne—yes, she’s our mother.”
“…Excuse me?”
“S-Sister…? What’s going on…?”
“Lumiel, j-just a second.”
“So… an accident, you said?”
“…Why? No, never mind that—where should I go?”
“…Yes. Yes, I understand.”
“Sister…?”
“Um, did something happen to Mom…?”
“…”
“It’s probably nothing serious. Try not to worry too much.”
“…Go change your clothes. For now. Let’s go see.”
“…”
I don’t know how long I stood there in a daze after that.
It was Lucia. My sister.
I had only caught a glimpse, but there was no mistaking her. The moment I saw her face again, a sharp ringing exploded in my head, followed by a wave of pain so intense it nearly knocked me off my feet.
My heart hammered wildly.
Faster even than that day on the rooftop when I saw her bleeding out.
“Hic… ugh…”
Why?
Was it because her face was exactly the same as the one burned into my memories?
The last time I had seen her—right before she disappeared—she had looked more mature. So seeing the exact same face from five years ago made my heart lose control.
“…Haah. I could have caught her.”
A man’s faint voice drifted from far away. Only then did I snap back to reality and turn my gaze toward the Association building.
Three people in white lab coats—the ones who had been chasing her.
“…Who were they?”
Why had they been pursuing my sister? And why had she been running?
The most logical assumption was that it had something to do with her disappearance.
But that was the Hero Association building.
That single fact made the whole idea feel impossible.
“…Capture failed. No civilians in the vicinity.”
The men in lab coats fiddled with their radios for a moment, then disappeared back inside the Association building.
I wondered if I should have asked them something, but the way they had scanned their surroundings with extreme caution as they left told me it wouldn’t have been a good idea.
“…Haah. Let’s head back. For now.”
Still, it was as if I had gained a clue I never had before.
I would have to think about what came next once I returned to the dormitory.
…
Hero Association C-Branch.
The place where my sister had first acted as a villain. The only location where she had behaved so extremely that people called it outright terrorism.
Would I be able to find any clues there?
Crash—thud.
The sound of two girls tumbling across the ground was surprisingly loud.
We had picked any random coordinate in our desperation to get away as fast as possible. There simply hadn’t been time to choose a stable landing spot.
…Though I certainly hadn’t expected to materialize inside a dusty little room lit by a single flickering bulb.
“Hic… haa…! Haah… ha…”
“Haa… haa… Lu-Lucia… are you okay…?”
Berry leaned against the wall, voice low, clearly lacking the strength to stand after the pain that had bloomed all over her body from the fall.
I wasn’t in much better shape. If someone had told me to get up right then, I doubt I could have managed.
“Mmm… I’m fine…”
When I answered, Berry let out a sigh of relief and completely relaxed, staring up at the ceiling.
For a while, neither of us did anything but breathe hard.
The adrenaline from what had just happened was only now beginning to fade, and my vision still refused to focus properly.
How much time passed like that?
“…Oh, right.”
“Lucia, what about your ankle?!”
Berry suddenly remembered and scrambled over to me.
Come to think of it, this whole mess had started because of my ankle. I didn’t know what had hit me, but it felt like the bone had cracked on impact.
How had they thrown something that heavy with such accuracy?
Maybe the researchers had all been Awakened too.
“…Oh my god.”
Berry must have reached me and examined my ankle while I was lost in thought.
She was covering her mouth with both hands, visibly horrified.
“…Is it that bad?”
“Is it that bad? Your ankle is completely bruised purple, Lucia.”
I suppose it was.
As long as it wasn’t broken, it would be fine. An Awakened body was tougher than it looked.
It would probably heal in a day.
“…It’s okay.”
“We got out of there. This will heal soon enough.”
“…That’s true, but…”
Berry let out a small sigh, then sat down right beside me, leaning against the same wall.
“…We really did it. We actually got out of there.”
“I never thought it would actually work.”
“…I kept telling you it would.”
“Heh. Yeah, you did.”
After that, silence settled over us again.
It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. We were simply savoring the lingering feeling of having escaped, too content to speak.
Berry let out a soft, disbelieving laugh for a long time, as if she still couldn’t believe it. Then she pushed herself up using the wall and began looking around.
“So… where are we?”
“…Here?”
Now that she mentioned it, where had I teleported us?
I had been in such a hurry when I picked the coordinates. I think I just used the last place this body remembered—
When I turned my head, I saw steel beams and random junk piled on top of them.
I couldn’t tell exactly what the scattered objects were, but there were wooden planks, screwdrivers, and nuts.
“…A warehouse?”
“Looks like an old storage shed that was used as a warehouse.”
“…A warehouse?”
Berry glanced around and started rummaging through the items.
“…Eek?!”
She pulled out a few of the odds and ends I had seen earlier, then suddenly threw everything away as if she had found something horrifying.
“…There was a rat.”
Ah.
Well, in a rundown warehouse like this, it wasn’t surprising to find a dead rat or two.
I had no desire to see it.
There was a door that looked like an exit up ahead. It would be better to leave.
“…Let’s go outside, Berry. Ngh—”
When I tried to stand, pain shot through my ankle and I nearly fell back down.
But Berry caught my arm from the side, saving me from disaster.
“…Be careful. Does it hurt a lot?”
Her voice was full of worry as she tried to drape my arm over her shoulder.
“Want me to support you?”
I could walk well enough on my own.
I gave her back a couple of light pats and gently pushed her away to show I was fine.
“It’s okay. I can walk. It only hurts a little when I stand up…”
“…Tch. Just let me help you for once.”
“What? Fine, okay. Let’s go outside.”
…I wasn’t sure what she meant by “for once,” but anyway.
Berry walked ahead and opened the door for me. I followed her out of the warehouse.
…And what I saw was—
“…Wh-where are we…? A train station…?”
It looked like a train station.
An incredibly shabby, dilapidated one. The panels were peeling off everywhere.
It resembled an abandoned station haunted by ghosts.
“…Wh-where on earth are we…? Is this even a real station…?”
Berry spoke in a trembling whisper beside me.
She looked around, then spotted a signpost and walked over to it.
Inside the crumbling station, the words written in an eerily vivid red stood out.
She began reading them aloud.
“…Welcome. The exit to this station is to the right of this sign. Once you leave, you cannot return. From that point on, no laws or regulations will apply—”
Ah.
I knew exactly where we were.
“…Z-district.”
The moment I saw the sign, it came back to me. Five years ago I had accidentally boarded the train headed for the Z-district. The first thing I saw was this exact message, so I remembered it clearly.
A lawless zone. The Z-district.
One of the reasons public safety in this world was so good. All the worst criminals who weren’t Awakened were sent here instead of being executed.
The idea was that if you threw every criminal into a district with no laws or order, they would wipe each other out.
I had no idea who had come up with such a concept.
“We ask that you refrain from staying at this station for more than twenty-four hours. There is one bottle of drinking water on the left—…There’s nothing here?”
Berry continued reading the sign.
When I looked behind us, I saw a single set of tracks. That was the only entrance to the Z-district—a train that arrived once a day.
The station had been designed so people could reach it from any city. It was meant for those who had nowhere left to go.
Because here, if you were strong enough, you could at least survive.
That was also why there were no trains leaving for other places.
Only trains coming in.
“…If you arrived at this station due to a routing error, please ask the crew on the next incoming train for assistance in returning. That is all.”
Ah, right.
The last time I had come here by mistake, I had waited for the next train to go back and ended up getting kidnapped.
When I opened my eyes, I was in that laboratory.
“…That’s what it says. What do you want to do?”
Having finished reading the sign, Berry turned around and looked at me.
The answer was obvious.
I would rather die than stay here any longer than necessary.
“We have to go back. Obviously. Let’s just spend one night here.”
“…Alright.”
“…Huuung…”
Back in my room, I tried to organize my thoughts, pressing hard on my throbbing temples.
My sister had vanished right before my eyes. I already knew she could teleport with her ability…
…The problem was that I had no idea where she had gone.
It was the middle of the night, so the CCTV hadn’t picked up the missing person yet. If it had been daytime, I would have received an alert on my phone the moment she was detected.
Maybe something would turn up tomorrow morning. And if nothing did…
She really was in the slums, wasn’t she?
In that case, tomorrow I would have to search deeper into the Z-district.
Last time I hadn’t gone inside the district itself. I had just circled the outer perimeter, sensing for mana.
This time, maybe I should go in directly.
It was Monday, but… if not tomorrow, who knew when I would get another chance?
I really hope I can meet her this time.