The Way to Love in the Place of Dead Chapter 10

“Call my name.”

“Are you joking?”

Without answering, he swung the spear, impaling the enemy machine behind him, and released Kay. Aran crushed the remaining unit underfoot, shattering its core, and watching him, Kay too rolled away, dodging a flying steel beam with a chill.

“Kgh.”

He snatched the firearm from a dead android on the ground and fired at the neck joint of an android charging at him. A crisp burst accompanied the click of the trigger being pulled. Without missing the gap in the shrieking machine, he drove his hand inside. Though invisible to the naked eye, once he crushed the core caught at his fingertips with sheer grip strength and kicked it away, the machine lost even its faint light and collapsed.

‘If the machine model is the same, is the <Core> location also the same?’

The machines identical to the ones Aran had taken down had their cores in the same spot.

“Kay!”

Apart from the fact that his name had been shouted loudly, he was more startled because the one calling it was Aran.

For some reason, the first time his name was called by him, it lodged deeply not in his ears, but in his chest.

“Don’t forget. We made a bet.”

Beyond his cocked head, the tree on the ridge could be glimpsed. Watching his retreating back, Kay ignited his competitive spirit. He dove under the feet of a machine charging with a blade as its weapon, threw off its balance, snapped its joints, and then drove his fist in from behind with all his might.

Once he resolved to melt and smash through the surface, which was harder than expected, with flames wreathed thickly around it, he was at last able to destroy the inside with ease. He seized the pink core visible between the charred, blackened, and melted steel with all the force he could muster.

“Hah, hah.”

He pulled a wounded soldier to their feet and hid them behind a rock, and breaking apart yet another machine, he steadily climbed the incline. His heart pounded painfully fast, and his mind was solely focused on survival, allowing no other stray thoughts to intrude. Amid the mix of red blood and green oil, only his nerves were sharpened to a razor’s edge.

—Remember me.

Until now, Kay had lived solely to remember El.

He lived to keep his promise to her, and he had to survive.

Because he regretted not answering El’s last request when he was attacked by unknown assailants and lost consciousness. He wanted to survive, so that if he met her again someday, he could tell her that he had never forgotten that promise, not for a single moment. That he had always remembered.

—That person is dead.

In that instant, from where he had fallen, flash! A fierce bolt of lightning struck down.

As if a reprimand telling him not to have idle thoughts on the battlefield.

Kay felt around inside the machine that had collapsed on top of him, searching for the core, and after shattering it, he unleashed dark red flames over his entire body. The scrap metal, melted by the heat, ran down onto the ground, and Kay stared down at the hot liquid.

‘Even if you are dead, I remember everything.’

The words she taught him, the warmth of her embrace, her racing heartbeat, her deep breathing, and even the combat she imparted to him for survival.

Kay cut off the blade attached to the machine’s arm, wrapped the end with a scrap of cloth, and gripping it, trampled the machines being carved down as he pushed forward.

For now, toward the tree. Then, beyond the end of this war. Holding a resolute purpose in his heart, a path toward the tree was carved out as swiftly as his strides grew longer.

Kay sublimated all the emotions crashing over him into combat, slaughtered the machine that clutched at his ankle until the very last moment, and climbed the final hill. The tree was before his eyes. The moment he reached out his hand with all his might, Aran’s hand shot past his shoulder. Thud. With their shoulders touching, two hands struck the tree trunk side by side. The giant tree shook its branches, scattering green leaves.

It was a close contest, but there was only one winner.

The bark of the tree touching his fingertips was rough. Marveling at a texture so distinctly different from anything he had imagined, Kay gazed up at the old tree without even realizing he had won.

‘A tree…’

It was a massive tree, the very thing he had only ever seen in print, in pictures, in his imagination. A living, green tree that could never be seen in Willamere, where desert stretched in all directions and even the light was faint with the sun obscured. The wonder was short-lived; the panting breath right beside him brought him back to reality.

“Hah… didn’t expect them to swarm at the very end.”

Unlike his usual unruffled composure, as if he had sprinted at full speed at the finish, his face, gasping for breath, was close. The rough breaths tinged with frustration brushed against Kay’s ear, and he felt a subtle sense of accomplishment. If this was the expression that came as the price of going all out, it didn’t feel too bad.

“Making excuses?”

“Hardly. I lost.”

At least, until he conceded defeat so readily, a smile gracing his lips.

As quick as his turnaround was, a sense of foreboding rapidly set in.

“What do you want?”

“Asking me that out of the blue…”

There was no way he had thought of anything.

“Figure it out quickly. There’s a deadline. By the end of this month.”

“What? You never said anything about that.”

Watching the android forces begin their retreat, Aran started manipulating the screen projected above his bracelet.

“If you don’t say by the deadline, I’ll pick something on my own.”

“You. You’ve been distorting the meaning of a gift for a while now, you know?”

“Then just pick something quickly.”

“Is this a forced sale or what.”

Ignoring Kay’s words, Aran contacted someone.

“Aran Rapperd. Reporting a transference error.”

Aran Rapperd. It was the first time he had heard his full name.

“Yes. Also, please transfer the companion-registered bracelet to the same location.”

No sooner had he finished the request and ended the call than the same pillar of light as before fell from overhead. The moment that difficult-to-acclimate sensation enveloped his body once more, Kay whipped his head around to look behind him.

“What’s wrong?”

“…No. Nothing.”

Before the words were finished, both of their bodies vanished.

Kay had thought he felt a gaze for a split second, but since there was nothing where he had turned, he dismissed it as his nerves, heightened by the first combat in a long while, overreacting.

Unaware that, in reality, the lens of an android playing dead was turning.

∞ ∞ ∞

Lyla Hexon, the director of Pierce Central Center, only set her pen down for the first time today upon hearing the report that Aran and his companion were returning. Where the pen was laid rested a file detailing Kay’s personal information.

Three years. She had devoted a full three years of effort to bringing him in.

She had sent people with gifts, tried persuasion, and even employed various operations to evoke sympathy, but the answer that came back each time was refusal, and in the end, even after resorting to force, the result was failure.

A whole building had been blown away, and an A-rank mental-manipulation-type esper was dead. A possessor not only of esper ability but of a mental fortitude so strong that even brainwashing wouldn’t take. Despite all that was lost, the coveted existence had set foot in this center, exactly as she had wanted, in a mere three days.

And of all people… by Aran Rapperd.

“Jin.”

“Yes.”

The adjutant, who had been working at a small desk set apart from the director, rose and stood before her with angular steps.

“Go greet them. Courtesy must be observed.”

“…Yes.”

Tying back long hair that reached down to the waist and straightening out the uniform, the adjutant picked up a bag as ordered and exited the director’s office.

∞ ∞ ∞

He opened his eyes, feeling the cool air touch his skin and then dissipate, moistening his lungs.

While marveling at the wondrous technology that transcended space and time, it was also slightly terrifying, as he could not grasp its principles or how it worked. Looking around, he was inside a silver-white cylindrical space with an open ceiling, and while gazing at the blue yet faintly pink sky, he followed Aran, who had finished authentication ahead of him, and placed his bracelet on the machine.

[Welcome back. Come in, Mr. Kay.]

Listening to the mechanical greeting, he stepped beyond the door.

He had ended up coming back after all.

To this place, Pierce Central Center.

By his own choice.

The first impression of the center was vast and brilliant.

Inside the silver-white building, pure white lighting spread out, and hundreds of monitors were displayed across the walls, bringing countless spaces into view. Watching staff in white coats tap at machines on their respective desks or exchange communications, he descended the metal stairs one by one, and at the end stood a person in uniform holding a bag.

“Welcome.”

The figure was androgynous in both appearance and voice.

“Jin.”