Like a Comet Into Your Heart (6)
Like a Comet Into Your Heart (6)
The two looked at each other.
One resented the many forgotten yesterdays.
The other, unable to forget, resented the things that had made every yesterday a regret.
It was a stretch of shared bed, different dreams.
Watcher had already activated one star in advance against a cold so bitter that even breathing was agony.
Alioth.
The power that handled flame by wielding the strength of the Flame Nail.
Even so, there was a limit to how much it could erase this chill—proof of how powerful Blue Sirius’s magic was.
“Come at me... you too... I... just like this one...”
The one who had actually cast the magic looked considerably exhausted.
Stamina drained by excessive magical power use.
It resembled Watcher’s own state after he had overproduced clones and spammed finishing moves.
She had used massive ice magic multiple times to kill the Testudo and tried a new technique for the first time.
A backlash like this was inevitable. She might even run a fever after she powered down.
Watcher approached her. In one hand he carried a red rapier shaped like a nail.
“Rest.”
He swung the sword and drove it in. Heat bloomed through the rigid body.
“I’ve said it before. I don’t want to talk with you, and I don’t want to fight you.”
It was, of all places, the inside of the monster’s mouth.
Whoosh! Flames burst forth. The body that had been frozen moments before sizzled and roasted in the intense heat. No matter how tough the outer shell, the internal organs were fragile. The monster’s body, every internal organ ruined, gradually warped.
“What are you doing?”
“Confirming the kill. The fact that it didn’t explode means it was still alive.”
“So what good does that do you?!”
“It probably does you plenty of good.”
Watcher kicked the corpse away with his foot. It flew off, decorated the sky, and burst apart like fireworks.
Beneath the romantic fireworks, former lovers met.
One awkward because she had lost her memories, the other awkward because he didn’t know her identity.
It wasn’t a meeting either of them particularly wanted.
The sparks from the monster’s explosion touched the ground.
Blue Sirius moved first.
Her ice-blue rapier came for him. It carried a chill so fierce that mere contact seemed enough to freeze his whole body solid.
Watcher dodged by tilting his head slightly. He caught her wrist with his right hand. She was less sharp than before. Not because her hatred or strength had waned, but because the timing was bad.
Right after she had just brought down a monster and over-spent her magical power and stamina.
“Stop. You’re too exhausted right now. Withdraw.”
“A decision like that must be easy for you people.”
“Blue Sirius.”
“It isn’t for us.”
Blue Sirius answered through clenched teeth.
“Red Vega ran away today for the first time. She’s fought life-or-death battles every single day, and only now was she able to run. You can only run when you’re that afraid. Only when you’re so terrified that not a shred of reason remains, insane with fear.”
Watcher didn’t show it outwardly, but he was fairly shocked.
Red Vega, running away.
It had to be because of fear.
His prediction had been right.
Soon, a great danger would come for her—and he wouldn’t be able to go to her.
That was why she had needed the fear to protect herself.
What he’d done that day was showing results.
But there was no relief or sense of accomplishment.
Only bitterness filled his mouth, thick with guilt and regret.
Even if that fear saved her life right now, it could easily become a liability later.
They were still going through so much suffering.
And he was one of the causes.
No one could rationalize it. No one should.
Blue Sirius exhaled a sigh. It turned to ice and scattered. Her resentment took form, became cold magic, and dyed the world.
It was magic that had passed through years and years of exhaustion and fury.
Her wrist trembled.
“Rest isn’t permitted for us... because you monsters rampage every single day.”
Watcher silently took in the resentment and hatred.
“Did you think I’d be happy if you killed a monster for me? Don’t flatter yourself. In our eyes, every last one of you needs to die. You’re monsters who grate on us just by existing!”
Blue Sirius shouted with a sneer.
“You want to do something good for me that badly? Then die right here.”
She simply found the monster in front of her loathsome.
A monster who blotted out a magical girl’s starlight and offered only suffering, yet had the nerve to put on a show of hypocritical kindness.
“If you’re so worried about me struggling, then die here.”
He was a monster facing her with his magical power depleted, but strangely, she felt no fear.
A sufficient supply of hatred and fury was more than enough to erase it.
“Ram that impressive sword of yours into that mouth that only ever says irritating things, and die. Or split your throat or your stomach open and die. That is the most helpful thing you could possibly do for me.”
Unfortunately, he’d already attempted suicide once.
It hadn’t worked.
Would she be happy if she heard that, or sad? A fascinating topic.
“Don’t pretend to be kind when you’re a monster!”
Blue Sirius yanked her arm free. As she pulled back, she drove her foot into Watcher’s stomach.
“...Ngh.”
It hurt, but he accepted it humbly. Even a hundred mouths wouldn’t have been enough to argue. She was right. That hatred was justified.
A magical girl’s fury toward a monster was always righteous.
Blue Sirius thrust her rapier straight forward again. Countless blue ice thorns poured from the blade’s tip.
Snow-Blossom Path (雪華一路).
It was weaker than when he’d first seen it, thanks to her current condition, but no less menacing.
Watcher didn’t dodge.
He accepted every attack as punishment for himself.
Wounds large and small opened all over his body, his body temperature plummeted, and his heartbeat slowed. The pain of contracting muscles.
Inside it, Watcher barely managed to open his mouth.
“...Sorry. But I can’t die here.”
It would certainly help soothe your mood for the moment.
But he couldn’t give up the future and its possibilities just for that.
He was Han Jae-jung, who already knew what consequence his death would bring.
So even more, he couldn’t walk toward death.
It’s absurd for someone who can’t value his own life to value someone else’s, too.
Death must always be feared.
“You can pour resentment and complaints on me all you want. But I still have work to do. The same work as you. I have to kill monsters. So I can’t die here, not now.”
He moved his chill-trembling hand and grasped the Belt.
“When everything is over someday, I don’t care if I die by your hand.”
Though the odds of dying before then were also fairly high.
He’d just have to work so that didn’t happen.
Han Jae-jung turned the Belt through his blurring vision.
[ALKAID.]
Alkaid’s characteristic smoke spread and flowed. It blocked some of the barrage of living ice, sharp as blades.
“I’ll pray that someday comes for you. A day when you can rest.”
The ice storm and the smoke overlapped, obscuring each other’s sight. No starlight was visible.
Before he left, he wanted to see her face one last time, but he couldn’t.
**
Three more days passed.
Boötes walked through a dark underground.
A place said to have been used as a subway station before the monsters appeared.
Of course, now there wasn’t a single person, let alone a subway—just a place crawling with monsters.
She went there to find a particular monster.
It didn’t take long. All she had to do was follow the sound of someone crying.
“S-save me... please, spare...”
Near the monster, a shabby-looking person was on his knees, fervently begging.
Judging by his appearance, he looked like a drug addict, a gambling addict, or both.
The monster casually ignored the man’s pleas and snapped his right finger.
“Gyaaaaagh!!!”
“Do not forget to keep the deadline.”
The screams and pain that poured out.
The energy of Negativity.
The aura flowing from the monster seemed to grow more massive.
“Libra.”
“Boö, it’s you. Wait a moment.”
“S-save, spare...”
Crunch.
He lightly stomped on the man’s head, killing him instantly.
Against a monster’s power, a human body was as soft as a ripe plum.
“Still cultivating starlight?”
“I lost quite a lot from our last duel... But I have no regrets. Starlight can be cultivated again. I found something far more precious, so it was a just sacrifice.”
Libra laughed with satisfaction.
He had found it: the most just sacrifice and the practice of true righteousness, capable of extracting the greatest happiness from the least sacrifice.
A hero’s path walked by one wearing a villain’s mask.
What a captivating scapegoat.
“How long are you going to stay holed up?”
“I have yet to complete every constellation... but this much should suffice. I think it’s time I began to move. So, Boö, I have a favor to ask.”
“...Like before?”
“It’s a pleasure when someone catches on so quickly.”
Boötes thought about it.
She recalled the conversation she’d shared days ago with the one who was neither monster nor human.
A peculiar figure who displayed both the aspect of a monster aware of his own ideal and the aspect of a wandering human.
The talk she’d had with him had been truly enjoyable.
She’d seen an object from old memories, and because of that, had remembered a person from those memories as well.
Above all, conversing with someone who was lost was always a pleasure.
That day’s chat had been deeply satisfying, but in the end she hadn’t decided whether he was a lamb or a wolf.
He had ended the conversation insisting he was human and left the Goldilocks Zone.
But Boötes still hadn’t defined him.
She felt the need to observe a little longer.
The favor Libra was asking now was simple.
He wanted to test someone, and he was asking her to help control the situation for him.
This time, the target was surely not a magical girl, but that man.
A monster who wished to find just sacrifice, and the man who wished to kill monsters.
It was good for both of them.
Boötes had not a single reason to refuse.
“Fine. I’ll help.”
She smiled brightly. The voice hidden behind the hood was as cheerful as ever.
Like a child running along a mountain path.
**
Red Vega woke and heaved a deep sigh.
Her heart was tangled.
“Gwaaaah...”
She let out a long, whining groan and kicked the blanket with her legs, again and again.
She’d had a dream.
A dream of her childhood, before she became a magical girl.
Whenever she dreamed it, she recalled the admiration she’d felt back then, which helped a great deal with motivation.
But since a few days ago, the meaning had changed.
“So embarrassing...”
She sighed deeply. If she could show her present self to herself from back then, what would that old self think?
How pathetic would she find her?
The fear she’d felt that day had diluted and drifted far away, but the result—the fact that she had run—remained.
Because of that, she had forgotten the necessity of running that day, and only the shame of the act of running ruled her.
“Aaaargh!!”
[Guardian, noise pollution.]
“I knowwww...”
She often threw around self-deprecating remarks about being disqualified as a magical girl or whatever, but this time it was genuinely, without exaggeration, grounds for disqualification.
Baek A-hee packed away this terrible feeling and got out of bed.
She had something else to worry about right now.
She tossed her pajamas carelessly around the room and headed for the shower.
More crumpled clothes joined the mess, adding to the filth of the room.
It was a room that had been neglected without cleaning for a while.
Her body was clammy with sleep-sweat, and the dirty air in the room clung to her skin.
And this turmoil she was carrying around wasn’t something she could show anyone else, either.
She needed to wash away some of the gloom, exhaustion, and grime with hot water.
Soaked by the water, Baek A-hee sighed again.
“Hah...”
Today was the day for the suicide counseling session.
A day she was supposed to be a source of strength for someone sunk in despair.
Her honest feelings wanted to move it to another day and meet them later.
But this was a session already postponed once. She couldn’t do it twice.
She leaned her forehead against the tiled wall and breathed out a hot breath.
The dirt on her body would wash away right now, but the gloom wouldn’t.
Apparently, her current gloom wasn’t water-soluble.
Did the person she was right now even have the right to be anyone’s mentor?
Could she be a star for someone?
The answer that came back to the question she asked herself was silence.