1.
A story from just a few months ago.
I would like to briefly recount a life that should now be called my ‘past life.’
Memories that have remained crystal clear, without fading, from ancient times up to this very moment.
If I were to gather those memories together and express them in a sentence…
The word ‘responsibility’ always followed me in my life.
That was it.
…
…
…
Ever since I was a child, even at a time when a normal child could have relied on their parents to bear the responsibility for them, I had to take full responsibility for myself.
From sleeping, dressing, to eating.
The responsibility that followed each of my actions was a heavy and terrifying shackle, too much for a child like me to bear.
Therefore, while I came to understand the meaning of responsibility, I never truly understood the meaning of family and love.
I never knew what it meant to be protected by someone.
I had to toughen up and endure, gritting my teeth alone, in order to protect myself.
There was no money, no dreams, and no stability.
The period of my life back then was something that the teacher here would describe as not even the life of a ‘child.’
At least, I was fortunate because various relatives took turns in raising me. And, thanks to my modest social skills, I never experienced domestic violence, as one might see in dramas or movies.
Still, the boundary between them and me always felt like an insurmountable gap.
My relatives did not take full responsibility for me.
My cousins did not see me as a real family member.
Thus, I never had anything ‘real.’
I wore a mask, honing my social skills to survive, and my school life became more like a social life.
I valued gain over romance, saving over wastefulness, and my own safety over dreams.
I became someone who didn’t believe in ideals or hope, always seeing every situation pessimistically.
I couldn’t trust others and therefore could never form deep relationships.
In such a way, I fell apart.
My life was like a dull and dry piece of bread.
It looked soft on the outside but was extremely coarse inside.
It had become something that could barely be called bread.
But I think it was inevitable.
To survive in this world as a child, one had to choose this path.
That’s the knowledge and method I learned while surviving in the wilderness of society.
Perhaps I prayed in my heart.
If I kept hiding my twisted inner self and wearing a mask, maybe one day it would become real.
Maybe one day, I hoped to brighten enough to truly accept this life as my own.
That might be why.
My reality was always cruel, a place where one could survive only by disguising the truth.
Therefore, I delved deeper into fantasy than others.
Even though I distrusted ideals and hope more than others, I got absorbed in hero movies that embodied them.
Even though I wanted to run away from the word ‘responsibility’ more than anyone else, I respected the ‘teacher’ who realized its meaning.
More than anything, since I worked hard in reality but simultaneously feared it, I ended up living submerged in daydreams.
From them, I relearned the meaning of responsibility and re-realized the meaning of duty and trust. I came to know the true meaning of being an adult and also rediscovered what a child’s life should be.
That’s why I liked “Blue Archive.”
No, maybe I even came to love it.
While watching the stories of the students, I felt as if they were painting my dull life with blue pigment.
In other words, it deeply moved me.
Perhaps that’s why.
Even after I fell into this world, I could remain calm, and even feel limitless joy.
The fiction became reality.
Reality became fiction.
That’s why even I could change.
2.
BOOM─!!
A red light illuminated the desert, as a fierce explosion shook the surrounding area. Sirens blared warnings, and gunshots and screams echoed endlessly.
To anyone else, it would sound like a continuous terror attack lasting for tens of minutes.
But if you observed the focus of the sounds, the scene unfolding there was ironic.
Because the targets of the explosions and assaults were not people but automata, and the attacker was a single person.
BOOOM─!!!
Another explosion erupted, followed by a shockwave.
An invisible wave stretching out like a jet plane flipped the sand, turning the makeshift base where the automata resided into a wasteland.
Hundreds of automata, these soldiers trained for combat, were especially vulnerable to this shockwave that couldn’t be seen but instantly disabled the mainframes upon contact.
As the soldiers fell like puppets with their strings cut, scattering across the sandy ground, a girl passed through their ranks.
The girl proceeded straight ahead confidently, as if she knew this place well, stroking her wrist.
The glove attached to her left arm, more akin to a small gauntlet, was glowing red and emitting white steam.
However, the fact that the temperature was dropping faster than before signified that her weapon had been enhanced.
Furthermore,
Vroom-
Several drones trailing behind her, invisible to others, turned their gaze towards the fallen automata.
As the drones turned their sights on them, a zap sound followed, and bolts of blue electricity shot out.
The automata struck by the electric beams immediately lost function as their power was completely shut down.
At that moment, the girl leading the charge began to speak.
“Are the surveillance cameras taken care of?”
Her sudden utterance might have appeared to others as mere muttering to herself, but a familiar voice in her ear promptly responded to her question.
[Already hacked.]
“Good.”
The voice belonged to Akeboshi Himari, the self-proclaimed top genius frail girl hacker of Millennium Academy, and at this point, the only one awarded the title of Omniscient.
Himari remained silent at the girl’s calm compliment.
She usually would have explicitly revealed her joy, but she remained calm, sensing the emotion behind the girl she saw on the screen.
This was also true for Veritas, the organization that supported the hero girl alongside Himari’s drones.
They knew.
They knew just how righteous, just how steadfast in her beliefs the girl – Nanashi Hiiro, otherwise known as Silk, was. And how serious, how emotionally intense she was now.
Silk’s emotions had become more sensitive than ever.
In other words, Silk was currently enraged.
Creeeeak-
The bunker marked with the logo of Kaiser PMC opened as if welcoming its master, as Silk stood before it.
Technically, it was Himari’s doing, but to an outsider, it would seem that the bunker opened just in time for Silk’s arrival.
And thus.
“What… How…!”
The surprise was mutual among those hiding inside the bunker.
A giant automaton, together with a few soldiers, was cornered in the corner and exclaimed in astonishment.
Its massive mechanical frame trembled as if in anger as it glared at the intruder who had infiltrated the bunker.
“Having the audacity to attack Kaiser PMC so recklessly – and you call yourself a hero?”
Golden eyes glowed, and a heavy voice boomed, chastising my actions.
The soldiers standing beside him hesitantly pointed their guns at me, but I could tell.
I could tell they were afraid of me.
And thus, understood that the director’s words were merely futile resistance.
“Tell me, do you really think citizens will still praise you as a hero when they learn of this?”
“Of course, they’ll criticize me. I’ve broken the law, invaded your private property, attacked you unreasonably, and even blackmailed you.”
“Hah! And yet you dare attack us! Does Kaiser Corporation look like it’ll just sit back and watch? You fool –”
“Thing is, the citizens won’t know about this incident.”
“What…?”
My calm tone cut off the PMC director’s excited rant.
Surprised by my composure, the director began to exhibit a confused mechanical reaction.
I slowly approached him.
Even as he was cornered, he tried to back away even further.
Or he tried to.
Crack!
Had I not tethered him with strands of spider silk and pulled him, that is.
“Ughh!”
In an instant, the PMC director was grabbed by me.
Soldiers nearby tried to react urgently, but the drones floating beside me suppressed them.
I slammed him into the floor and grabbed his neck.
“Don’t misunderstand. I’m only here to warn you.”
“W-warn… what?”
I gripped the director’s neck tighter.
The metallic groaning sound as it bent echoed.
“To President, tell him to contact me.”
“G-grh! T-that’s… not something I can do as I please!”
“Not a choice. You will have to do it because otherwise, you’ll die here.”
“G-ghraah! Alright! I’ll do it! So let me go!”
Only then did I release the PMC director, who creaked as he approached a desk and tried to make a call-
Ping!
Suddenly, he pulled a gun from his pocket and fired at me.
But having detected everything already, I simply turned my head to avoid the bullet.
“You’re trying to play games?”
In an instant, I leaped toward the director and plunged my fist.
With my left arm’s mini gauntlet.
KA-BOOM!!
Although no shockwave was emitted, the sound of an explosion came from the gauntlet’s blow, which was charged with acceleration onto his abdomen.
“Ughhhaaa…!!!”
An attack powerful enough to disrupt his internal mechanisms, causing the director to cry out in pain.
Whether automata feel pain is unclear, but the director would certainly be shocked as his internal mechanisms were damaged.
I set him down and commanded him with a clearer voice.
“Contact the President.”
“….”
Without uttering a word, the director docilely operated the communications device and reached out.
After a few dozen seconds of dial tone, it cut off,
[What is it, Director?]
The assumed voice of the President echoed.
At the sight of my face through the hologram, the President showed a fairly surprised reaction.
I didn’t reply and instead caught the PMC Director, placing his head on the table.
At the sight of this, the President, who had begun to speak, shut his mouth tightly.
He looked angry.
“I’ve come to warn you.”
[A warning, huh. Haha, the hero of Kiburatos has always taken a keen interest in our Kaiser, hasn’t she? And you think we’ll listen to your warning despite all these reckless actions?]
I shrugged my shoulders and continued.
“You have to. If you don’t, your company will disappear from this city.”
[Huh. That’s quite a frightening statement, isn’t it?]
The President maintained his calm demeanor, sneering at me.
Though his six eyes glared fiercely at me, showering me with immense hostility.
I couldn’t help but chuckle bitterly.
“You think your corporate city is scarier than what I can do? And open your eyes before I destroy them all.”
[What… You…!!]
“Open your eyes, you bastard.”
[Before that!]
Haha, guess you didn’t think I’d figure it out, did you?
“Corporate city. Dominate Kiburatos. That’s your goal, isn’t it? And Abidos is just part of that.”
[…….]
The flabbergasted President.
Though mechanical, I could tell he was flustered from his reaction.
“Originally, I only planned to stop you from occupying Abidos. But even after I sent you signals to halt, you didn’t.”
Thus, I infiltrated.
Even if Hotchino makes a wrong choice, I’d shatter the game to correct her mistake.
And furthermore, to properly warn Kaiser.
“If you insist on opposing me, it’s fine by me. I never wanted to get close anyway. But if you keep crossing the line, I will crush you all, burying you underground. Choose wisely.”
[……What are you talking about.]
“Withdraw from Abidos, or go all the way.”
I warned the President.
In their words, in an adult manner.
If you pressure others for your own benefit, I’ll do the same to you as a counter measure.
“If you don’t step back here, you’ll have to take the responsibility for what you have planned.”
That was what I was saying.
3.
Responsibility. I thought it was such a heavy word.
The teacher said,
“Do as you please. I’ll take the responsibility.”
Because I’ve long known the weight of the word ‘responsibility,’ I understood the immense value in that sentence.
Therefore, I decided not to hesitate any longer.
I thought organizing the situation in Abidos would be the only way to properly thank them.
So I approached Kaiser, forced them to back off from Abidos.
If I just sorted out the situation in Abidos, the normal life I wanted for Abidos would return.
I surely thought so.
But,
“…Why?”
My senses were still sounding a warning.
As if,
The danger wasn’t over yet.
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