A Rainy Day (5)

The inside of the building was dark.

With so few electric lights on the stairs, the shadows were drawn especially deep.

We slowly descended the dark staircase.

"Si-un-ah, conjure up some water for me."

It seemed the blood smeared on her was bothering her.

Andrea stuck her tongue out slightly and made a disgusted face.

By then, almost her entire body, including that massive mechanical arm, was drenched ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in crimson.

"That's why you should've brought a gun too."

"Ah, that thing doesn't fit in my car. Honestly, even this one I can only lug around because I extended the trunk."

Andrea answered while swinging one arm with a whir. The sheer size of it was outrageous every time I saw it.

Water, huh.

I stopped in the middle of the stairs.

I concentrated briefly.

A moment later, a mass of water floated up into the air above my palm.

It was a wondrous sight, but also one we were thoroughly accustomed to.

Andrea began wiping the blood droplets off her body one after another.

The mechanical arm was so massive that cleaning it thoroughly would normally have been a struggle, but it didn't take long before Andrea looked neat again.

Vividly, the memories came back to me—of making water orbs for Andrea back when I used to run requests with my old comrades.

From the moment we entered the building until now, the total number of people we'd encountered was six.

And of course, all of them were escaped inmates.

Terrorists, bomb-makers, gang members.

The severity of their crimes was just as varied.

Though by now, all of them had been turned into meatballs by Andrea's hands.

Before we entered, Eve had said:

there were a total of seven signals picked up inside the building.

So then, it was obvious who the remaining one was.

We started walking again.

Soon we reached the bottom of the stairs, where a large, old room greeted us.

The concrete bulkheads surrounding us on all sides looked exactly like every room we'd seen so far.

But there was one difference.

In the center of the room, a woman was sitting on a chair.

The woman, Maya, turned her eyes toward us.

6. A Rainy Day (5)

With an utterly everyday and peaceful air.

Maya opened her mouth.

"You came?"

Her outer shell, slightly cracked from being hit by the turret's bullets, was still the same as before.

It was thanks to chasing her immediately after she caused a commotion on the street.

Plus, since we'd come in Andrea's red supercar, it was something we'd expected.

She wouldn't have had any time to get repaired or treated.

"How did you follow me here? Did you stick a tracking chip on me when you punched me?"

While speaking, Maya stroked her own abdomen.

It was the spot I'd punched hard earlier.

"Or did you pick up net hacking or something? Looks like you've changed a lot from the old days."

"People change someday."

I answered that, but.

In truth, I hadn't changed.

Eve had helped me.

Personally, I thought I was always the same, whether before or now.

But right now, with Eve's identity needing to stay hidden, I couldn't tell the truth.

I played along and pretended I'd studied up.

"Behind you... who's that? A face I haven't seen."

"A friend."

"For now, a friend."

Andrea tacked on a remark to my answer.

The 'for now' part bothered me, but.

Right then, that wasn't what mattered.

The conversation stopped and a short silence began.

"......A friend, huh."

Maya's head tilted to the side.

Her face was expressionless, but a very faint sound leaked from the corner of her mouth.

Crunch, grind. It was the sound of her grinding her teeth.

Under the chair, the fist she was clenching tightly showed no sign of relaxing.

Maya let out a sigh.

"...huu."

In an atmosphere that had loosened up again, Maya continued speaking.

"I know, I know. At least the fact that I'm a little weird right now."

Had she come to her senses after being hit by my powerful physical magic (punch) on the street?

Just like when she'd fled the scene.

She seemed far more normal than when we first met.

Maybe we could resolve this with words at this point.

With that thought, I spoke to Maya.

"If that's the case, then come with me—."

Maya's voice cut off my words.

Madness flickered in her eyes.

"But I can't help it. I want you to only look at me. I want you to look at only me."

Maya rose from her seat.

At some point, several blades had sprouted from her wrist.

"Even if it's greed—fine, just look at me. Forever. Always."

It was then that her expressionless face changed.

A long curve drew across Maya's mouth.

The atmosphere was no longer suited for conversation.

......In the end, we had to fight.

The room was wide from an ordinary perspective.

But on the other hand, to me it felt very cramped.

Because we were underground.

If I used a powerful spell and the ceiling or walls collapsed, the only future I could see was all of us getting buried alive.

No matter how outstanding a mage I was,

how outstanding a singer Andrea was,

and how outstanding a chrome psycho Maya was.

If things went that way, it would be hard for any of us to survive.

For that part, it was a relief that Andrea was with me.

If I'd come alone, I would've struggled terribly.

Thinking that far, I let out a sigh of relief.

I turned around to thank Andrea for coming with me ahead of time.

But for some reason.

Andrea's expression was subtle.

She looked like something didn't sit right with her.

And she also looked like she was reflecting.

Was it because Maya's condition was much more serious ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠than she'd thought?

Hm.

Probably not.

We'd seen plenty of chrome psychos together while running requests.

"Why the face?"

"......No, I just thought, when possessiveness gets that severe, it's really something. It made me suddenly reflect."

I wasn't quite sure why she was hearing about that and reflecting in this situation.

Andrea rubbed the back of her neck.

Since the mechanical arm was so huge, a single finger handled her entire neck.

"Are you ready to fight?"

"We obviously can't kill her, right?"

"Yeah, I'll ask for it to go the capture-alive direction."

"Well, fine."

Andrea and I exchanged a short conversation.

It was Maya's voice that broke our talk.

"What are you two talking about!!"

Maya's figure charged at us like a shot.

[Synchronizing vision interface data. ......Complete.]

Eve supported ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me.

Given her characteristic obsession, I'd expected her to target me, the mage, first.

But the one Maya aimed for was Andrea.

"Die!!"

"Ha... what is she saying."

Clang! A noise erupted.

Maya was ricocheted straight back.

A red plasma figure writhed from Andrea's mechanical fist.

The shockwave from the force field made the air tremble.

"Hey, hey, Andrea. You know we can't kill her, right?"

"I just heard that and I know, don't worry. I hit her very gently."

Just a moment ago, the other escaped convicts had been hit by that and turned into lumps of meat before flying off.

What difference there was remained a question.

But it seemed Andrea's words were indeed correct.

Maya, who had been sent flying backwards and reached the wall, looked far better than I'd expected.

Yes.

'Better than I expected.'

One of Maya's arms, which had blocked Andrea's attack, was already smashed and gone.

Maya also seemed surprised, staring blankly down at her missing arm that had been destroyed and disappeared.

No blood flowed.

For her, whose entire body had been replaced with cyberware, that amount of blood simply didn't exist.

Instead, transparent electrolytic fluid oozed out with the viscosity of oil.

It was an inevitable result.

Maya—the cyberware implanted in her body was already quite old.

In today's terms, it was outdated equipment.

And the latest cyberware that came out these days was bound to have a huge functional gap.

Plus, Andrea was the type who spared no expense on gear.

The escaped convicts we'd encountered on our way down had all literally burst apart from a single punch from Andrea for the very same reason.

The situation that followed was also hardly something you could call a battle.

Compared to when Maya and I fought on the street,

the time it took and the outcome were completely different.

It didn't take long for Maya to lose both arms and both legs and collapse to the floor.

"There, all done."

Andrea drew a V with her massive mechanical arm.

"Thanks for helping me."

"What, between us, you don't need to say thanks."

With that, she took a step back.

She was giving Maya and me space to talk quietly by ourselves.

I approached the fallen Maya.

Thanks to her whole body being modified with cyberware,

having her limbs gone didn't seem to pose any danger to her life at all.

However, the neural lines were still alive, so it must have been just as painful—

but she didn't seem to feel any of that pain either.

"......."

"I said it before, but I'm sorry I was late."

"......I told you, it's not that you were late."

Her mechanical eye blinked.

I don't know what it was that was reflected in her pupils right then.

Maybe she was thinking of me in the past.

Maybe she was looking at her past self.

Maya slowly opened her mouth.

"......Now kill me."

A body modified with chrome couldn't even shed tears.

But maybe because an internal part had broken,

transparent electrolytic fluid ran down the corners of her eyes like tears.

"I want to remain in your memory, at least, forever."

As she said that, Maya closed her eyes.

What kind of future did she imagine for herself?

Was it going back to prison again?

So maybe she was asking me to kill her.

But the future I envisioned wasn't that.

I propped up Maya's upper body with one hand.

With my other hand, I cupped the back of her neck.

"I don't want to."

Before hearing Maya's answer.

I generated an electric shock at my fingertips.

No matter how much cyberware encased your entire body, jolting the nervous system with electricity was effective on almost anyone.

I looked down at the unconscious Maya.

Her ghastly appearance was nowhere to be seen; she looked like she was quietly sleeping.

In the past too.

I hadn't wanted to send Maya to prison.

But the situation back then had been unavoidable.

Among the people she'd sought revenge against were high-ranking corporate executives, and on paper, many ordinary citizens.

Considering the NCPD and Chrome Force that had been dispatched to that corpse-filled place, sending Maya to prison had been the best option at the time.

Even then, I'd stopped them from killing her on the spot and had her arrested ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠instead.

But now, the story was different from back then.

Here, there was no NCPD dispatched and no eyes of anyone else who'd recognize her.

Andrea was also curious about that part, as she'd come up behind me at some point and asked.

"So... what now?"

"I'll leave it to a bioware specialist."

In the end, if it was a case of chrome psychosis,

the root cause was 'chrome.'

If all the chrome in her whole body was removed and replaced with biological bioware, and she underwent implant surgery again, a certain degree of treatment was possible.

Well, I'd heard that even that didn't work in some cases, but.

Right now, this was the only method that came to mind.

She was a sore spot for me.

Because I had saved her too late.

Because I'd remembered too late that she was a character who'd come out of the game.

That was why all this had come to happen.

So after Maya's incident, to make sure nothing like it happened again,

I had put even more effort into saving and helping other people—like Drex's case.

I couldn't turn back time, but.

If I could help her now, it was the right thing to do.

I couldn't give a definite answer about what her future would ultimately be.

However.

I hoped that a better future than now lay ahead.

"Hm... that's the best option for sure."

Andrea nodded.

"So now that it's all done, want to go out and have some fun?"

"...Since you helped, if you want—, ah."

I cut myself off midway.

"Why?"

Because a message had arrived for me right then.

"Catherine's come to my place."

"Ah."

Andrea stopped talking just like I had.

"......."

"......."

I'd better head home.

I also didn't forget to contact the bioware specialist who would help Maya.

Anyway, that was how.

That day came to an end.

* * *

Then, one day.

In the middle of a weeklong stretch of days where I'd only enjoyed virtual reality games without leaving the house.

Someone came to find me.

"......The Boss made an appointment, and they're asking why I haven't visited even once. They told me to come and escort you personally. Let's go now, Shun-ssi."

They were gun-toting kidnappers (Smith and his subordinates).