The Way to Love in the Place of Dead Chapter 27

The fact that the place he was sold to from the slave market was a circus troupe was, he often thought in hindsight, quite lucky.

“Ready?”

“Whenever.”

After scanning the card, the two infiltrated the interior of the building. For a spacious research institute, it was an incredibly quiet space. The two advanced, checking for cover. As they went deeper inside, the smell of disinfectant grew thicker, and Kay covered his mouth.

“You said this was a research institute.”

No matter how cleanly it was maintained, it was that smell you inevitably encounter when entering a hospital.

The moment he saw Kay wiping his nose tip with his collar, Aran felt a cold sensation brush against his fingertips. Based on several experiences, he clearly named this feeling.

‘Ominous.’

The captured Esper. The hospital that the smell of disinfectant evoked.

The worst possible scenario flashed through Aran’s mind. Above all.

‘It’s too well maintained for a supposedly abandoned place.’

After eliminating the conditions that came to mind and dismissing the removable possibilities, what remained was.

“Aran.”

Kay, who had been walking ahead, stopped while looking through the window of one laboratory. Unlike the softly spoken name, his pupils shook greatly. Beside him, Aran confirmed the form of his ominous premonition. Beyond the glass window, inside capsules, humans were laid down, bound. It was Simon and the Espers who had been sold.

Quickly moving, Kay pressed the same key card against the door inside the lab.

[ERROR: You do not have the corresponding access authority.]

Just as Kay spat out a curse full of rage, Aran clamped his hand over his mouth.

“Hide.”

The two concealed themselves at the entrance of the bathroom next to the laboratory.

Rattle, rattle— the sound of something rolling across the floor grew closer, and what they saw by just peeking their eyes out was the auction box placed on a cart. Watching the researcher in a white coat fumble for a key card, Kay asked.

“Are we stopping this? If I say I’m going in after him.”

“No way.”

Aran left a breeze along with his voice. The moment their touching bodies separated, the researcher opening the door collapsed, and Aran created a small blade of light, hurling it to destroy the ceiling camera. It was literally light speed.

Kay, belatedly pulling himself together, followed Aran in before the door closed and immediately threw open the capsule where Simon was lying.

“Wake up.”

And then he shook him recklessly. It was a desperate touch, not even having the time to check if he was breathing, if his heart was beating.

“Simon. Wake up.”

The sound of air escaping from the capsule ceased, and he opened his eyes, just like Sleeping Beauty.

“…Kay?”

Before he could even offer a reply to the one who had called his name, what Kay discovered was skin. The skin below the neck was different from a human’s. Very similar to a human, yet not human….

Placing his hand on the unfamiliar material, Kay knew what it was. Even as he knew, he wanted to deny it. It was…

An android body.

He wished there was a switch for emotions.

Everything after losing El was so overwhelming that he had sincerely wished that it would be okay to feel nothing forever, that everything—emotions, thoughts—would just be taken away from him.

But humans didn’t function that way, and eventually, his heart went out again to the bonds formed over the passing time.

— Kay, let’s play!

To the peer who shouted every day, holding a ball, even though he ignored him daily.

— Without you, I would have been really, really lonely.

Because the time spent alone kindling fire on the pole was lonely just as he said. So eventually, they kicked the ball and became conversational companions.

— I’ll be back, Kay.

Was that why? In his world made up of very few people and a very small space, he had suddenly conveyed feelings beyond friendly affection, and Kay couldn’t accept those emotions.

— We’ll keep being friends, right?

Because he was a friend.

His only one.

Throughout that long lifetime in Willamere. He was.

Because he was the one friend Kay didn’t need to protect.

∞ ∞ ∞

“Ka, y…?”

Simon, opening his eyes inside the open capsule, was not a bit different from Kay’s memory, but below the neck, he was like an android.

“Kay… It’s you, right?”

His stammering words and awkward smile overlapped with memory, confirming he was Simon.

“Right. Wait. I’ll untie you now.”

Let’s think after that. Just as the judgment to rescue him first if he really was Simon took precedence.

“…No.”

Simon shook his head and stopped Kay, who was about to release the restraints.

“Run.”

“What?”

“I-It, won’t… work…”

Noise mixed into his voice, which came out in fragments. Yes. It was noise.

It felt as if a wedge had been driven into a fact he might have known deep in a corner of his mind from the moment half his body had been replaced with android parts. Immediately after.

[“Intruder detected. Research Building, Room J, two Esper intruders.”]

The inside of Simon’s pupils glowed red, relaying the situation he was seeing somewhere. Given that all androids shared a thought circuit, it was clear that the report had been sent to the higher-ups.

[“One person is extracting research data, requesting rapid interception.”]

“Tch.”

Aran, who had connected the computer network to his bracelet, clicked his tongue. A red light blinked above his head as he failed to extract data due to the blocked network.

[From now on, the research building will be locked down. Announcing again. From now on, the research building will be locked down until intruders are located and captured.]

[All combat-capable personnel in the research building, please commence search and capture operations for the intruders. Survival is not required.]

The lens in Simon’s eyes, glowing red, also blinked at the command.

[“Run.”]

“But.”

[“H-hurry…!”]

Just as Simon’s bound arms were released, the sound of air escaping came from the capsules lined up beside him, and doors opened. One by one, they rose, and they all shared the commonality that their left arms were not human—the meaning was clear. It meant they were Espers who had been sold at the auction, just like Simon.

“Kh.”

Kay stepped backward, watching Simon resist the commands flooding his mind. But only for a moment. Once again, eyes glowing with red lenses, noise scratching between breaths. He was no longer the person Kay knew.

“Escape is out of the question. Get ready.”

Before they knew it, beings that seemed both human and android were swarming outside the glass window.

‘Should I fight?’

He had to fight.

‘Then I have to kill him.’

Simon.

A hesitation anyone human would naturally have. Even if it was a final moment without even a greeting.

“Simon.”

Just once. The time it takes to call a name. At that moment, Simon, having activated his ability, launched an attack from Kay’s feet, and the blade of the attack stopped just before springing out.

[“Run, I said! Kay!”]

His flickering pupils had now fully turned red. Only belatedly did Kay realize that that had been his last moment as a human. The instant Kay escaped the circle beneath his feet, blades shot out. Whoosh! The springing metal grazed his leg. The fabric, soft and easily torn, fluttered as blood trickled from the bare skin.

As Kay adjusted his stance, androids and half-android, half-human mechanical life forms poured in through the open entrance.

“Jin. How long.”

— Is self-extraction difficult?

“We’ll try, but…”

A cramped laboratory. Surrounded front and back, including Simon and the Espers who had begun to awaken.

“Don’t count on it.”

— I will dispatch a unit within 10 minutes.

Pulling on his gloves, Aran commanded Kay.

“Stand up straight.”

The tone was forceful, which was rather comforting. There was no time for deep thought. The command forced his body. The Espers who had fully emerged from their capsules were four in total. Meaning there were at least four Aberrants. The fact that one of them was Simon… wasn’t something that could be resolved just by trying not to be conscious of it.