Chapter 16

1.

I had a dream.

It was far too vivid to be called a mere dream—it was difficult to discern whether it was reality or a dream.

A crimson sky, the shattered Sentum Tower, a ruined city.

The cries of citizens and the desperate voices of students filled the downtown area.

Is this what the end of the world looks like?

In the midst of such a harrowing scene, I could barely breathe, and I inadvertently gritted my teeth.

“…If only I had worked harder, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“If only I wasn’t so incompetent, wasn’t so foolish, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“All my fault…”

A voice echoed from somewhere.

It was the voice of self-reproach, filled with despair. Turning my head towards its origin, I saw someone very familiar to me—none other than—

‘Hm?’

‘Me.’

A head full of snow-white hair and blue eyes.

My hero gear-clad self stood there, looking at the world’s collapse with despair, tears streaming down my face.

For a brief moment of confusion, I just stared, but soon found myself gasping in shock.

The reason why I was crying, or why the world had come to this state, all faded from my mind.

I had a vague idea of what timeframe this was, what had happened here. But the reason for my shock was elsewhere.

‘No way… Could it really be… Is it?’

A blue glow on my chest in the dream.

A triangular-shaped pad. The swirling blue energy within it.

‘Ahh… Could this be… the Iron Man suit…??’

Just as I was wondering whether it was really the thing I had in mind…

The version of me in the dream who was sitting slumped on the ground crying suddenly stood up, wiped away the despair, and took on a determined gaze.

Huh? No way. Is it showing off?

And then…

My hand moved to my chest.

<Tap-tap>

<Swish-swish>

The suit rapidly unfolded at the touch of the pad!

Indeed, it was what I had been thinking of all along.

‘Really… crazy.’

At the user’s signal, the pad unfolded, rapidly covering my body with the brilliant red metallic suit.

Red. And gold.

The perfect balance of the suit I had always imagined manifested before me, just like in the movies. My ultimate goal, the pinnacle of the hero I had dreamed of, was right there in front of me. I was overcome with awe.

‘Wow… This is so cool…!’

You really built an Iron Man suit? Is this real?

How did you do it? Is this the future? It must be.

‘Come on, tell me I have precognition!’

The reason the world was ending? I was curious, but it didn’t matter now.

An Iron Man suit-wearing me was right in front of me—this was what mattered!

‘Not a nanosuit, but maybe a partially combined suit? Looking closely, there are devices attached to the back and legs. Does it assemble by spreading out from those areas? The blue glow on the hands and legs seems to indicate that the repulsors are functioning too. So the most crucial power source, the Arc Reactor?’

I clamped my mouth shut at some point and made a quiet wish.

‘Please let this be the future.’

I could prevent the world from ending if I stopped this. Even if this was merely a dream, I’d always been aware of the dangers. All I needed to do was prevent the dream scenario from happening. But, but…

This Iron Man suit must not be a dream.

It is my love, my life, my soul.

A long-held dream, a longing that has made my heart race since childhood.

I become Iron Man.

I couldn’t bear the thought that this fact might be just an illusion.

As I fervently prayed that the Iron Man suit wasn’t a fantasy, my dream-self suddenly looked up at the sky and turned his head somewhere.

I was startled.

‘Is he looking… at me right now?’

Before I could fully process it, he turned his head again and uttered something incomprehensible.

“If only I had one more chance, then—”

He said something I couldn’t easily brush off.

‘…What did he just say…?—’

<BOOM!>

Before I could even ask, the suit-clad me shot skyward in an instant and disappeared somewhere.

And with that, the dream ended.

2.

“Hmm.”

When I woke up, the ceiling I saw looked familiar.

The faint sound of machinery and the clicking of holographic keyboards from all around. And the familiar smell too.

The Paranormal Taskforce Clubroom.

That is where I woke up.

No… my Iron Man suit.

As I lay there reminiscing about the dream, a gentle and refined voice called out.

“Have you woken up, Nanashi?”

Turning my head, I saw a cute silver-haired elf greeting me.

Himari. She was her usual self, and the friendly smile she gave me upon seeing my face showed why she’s truly a beautiful girl.

…I want to stroke her ears.

I banished that wandering thought, rubbing my still aching body and asked her with a confused expression.

“…Himari-senpai, why am I here?”

“Why, because you came here, of course. From now on, you’ll be staying here with me. Didn’t you ask me to before you fell asleep?”

…

But I don’t remember asking for that…

“…S-, staying together?”

She will stay with me too, and Amy will probably be here for a while as well. We’ve already prepared everything necessary, so don’t worry.”

Wha… what is she talking about?

All of a sudden declaring that we’ll cohabit?

I looked at Himari with a perplexed expression. She tilted her head in confusion at my expression, but then seemed to understand something, and quickly shook her head while shouting.

“No, no! It’s not what you’re thinking!”

“…Pardon?”

“It’s really not!”

“Ahh, okay.”

Then don’t. I’m just disappointed, that’s all.

“Hmm, what’s wrong with Nanashi’s mind? Haven’t we already discussed this yesterday? We figured it would raise suspicion if you walked around injured, so we decided that you’d stay here in the clubroom for a while.”

“Ah.”

That’s right.

After the fight with Wakamo, I thought about the injuries all over my body, and consulted with Himari. She suggested staying in the secure clubroom.

‘Guess I forgot about it while sleeping.’

…Though, honestly, it’s not entirely my fault, right?

Himari, you phrased it in a suspiciously suggestive way!

Of course, I didn’t say that aloud.

It would’ve been awkward to say that to Himari.

So I just apologized.

“I forgot. Sorry.”

“…Hehe, don’t worry about it. Nanashi’s always odd, but that’s not new. Don’t worry, I, the greatest genius, delicate beautiful girl hacker of the Millennium Academy, understand you completely. Objectively speaking, since I’m beautiful, it’s understandable to have such thoughts. Hmm.”

“That’s right, senpai is beautiful.”

“…”

Himari is beautiful, that’s common knowledge…

But when I threw her own self-praise back at her, she froze. She soon started glaring at me with a red face.

I smirked and ignored her gaze.

“By the way, where’s Amy?”

“Ah. I reacted like a fool again, huh… Amy is outside for a bit, investigating something. She’ll be back soon.”

“I see.”

With that, I got up from the bed and stretched my stiff body.

“Zzzzt—”

“Hnnh…”

“! D-Don’t make weird noises, Nanashi!”

“What? I was just stretching.”

“…”

Why is she acting like this?

I ignored the flustered Himari and headed towards the bathroom located in the clubroom. I could feel her gaze boring into my back, but I decided to ignore it.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror in the bathroom.

Snow-white hair reaching down to my shoulders, and sharp blue eyes. Objectively speaking, it was a handsome face with a bit of a tough look, a face I could stare at endlessly.

“Hmph.”

…Damn, she really is pretty.

I’ve seen this face many times, but I still can’t get used to it.

Without makeup, right after waking up, and still looking like this—do all women look like this?

‘There’s no way.’

I chuckled and began washing my face.

Rinsing my face with water, applying soap, rinsing again lightly, applying cleansing foam, then washing it off with water again. And—

‘Complicated, it’s just so complicated.’

…Maybe because of this pretty face, I can’t rush. Somehow, the washing routine became more complicated than before.

Back then, it used to be just soap and done, but now I can’t go with that.

I also thought about washing my hair, but since my body had mostly recovered, I planned to go outside and do some light exercise, so I just washed my face and came out of the bathroom.

As soon as I stepped out into the clubroom, I met eyes with Himari, who was furiously tapping on the holographic screen.

Not knowing what to say, I gave her a small smile, to which she inexplicably blushed.

“Himari-senpai.”

“…What is it, Nanashi?”

“Can I go for a bit of exercise? I think I’ve mostly recovered—”

“No. You can’t.”

Huh?

She cut me off before I even finished speaking.

“But I just want to do light exercise. Just some jogging.”

“Even so, no. From what I see, Nanashi still needs more rest.”

“Eh? I’ve fully recovered, though—”

“You haven’t fully recovered. So no.”

…What?

Is there something I don’t know about?

Surprised by Himari’s rigid response, I circled my body with my senses, but all I could feel was rapidly recovering stamina.

Hmm. I don’t feel anything particularly unusual…

“Na—Nanashi, listen to your senior.”

“…Understood.”

I decided to give in.

I obediently lay down on the bed as Himari had said.

Himari-senpai is scary today. She seems worried about me, but her attitude is strangely oppressive.

Of course, it wasn’t unpleasant.

Rather…

“…Maybe it’s not that bad?”

A beautiful girl is obsessed with me? Hehehe.

Suppressing the rising corners of my mouth, I lay down and grabbed my phone. But once I took it out, I realized I had nothing to do.

“…The internet is kinda complicated to look at right now.”

I wasn’t sure what kind of discussions might be happening…

So I decided to just enjoy watching Himari. A focused silver-haired elf, delicate and beautiful girl? Could I resist? This seemed even more entertaining than the internet.

<Taking a quiet glance—>

How many minutes had passed since I quietly peeked at her from my bed, fidgeting around? Himari, who had been tapping the hologram, suddenly sighed deeply and turned her head towards me.

“Nanashi, is there something you wanted to say?”

“No, I was just looking.”

“….”

“Because I was bored, feel free to continue what you were doing.”

Upon hearing my words, Himari’s face turned bright red.

She sighed deeply again and began focusing on the hologram in front of her.

…

…Click… Click…

The speed at which she tapped the keys had undoubtedly slowed down. Perhaps it was my imagination, but it seemed she was being more cautious.

…

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