Why…? How… How… How… I’m… How am I still alive? It hurts everywhere… It hurts so much… Why did I just do that…?

The girl’s jaded breathing grew heavier and heavier as she ran through the intense heat of the blistering sun.

I knew the fire was going to hurt, but I didn’t know the pain was going to last this long…!

She was confused why she was still running, already having failed once before to escape.

Urk! Even with ice shielding me… My skin… It’s blistering.

It felt meaningless for her to keep going. Did her past failure not teach her that it was useless to keep going on?

My head hurts so much… I feel so light-headed. I don’t… I don’t think I’m going to make it.

To her knowledge, there was no one else left in the world who would accept her.

I don’t want to die.

That was when she saw a vague figure in the distance.

Huh? There’s a person…? Why would they be walking here?

It was a figure that sparked a memory.

[https://i.imgur.com/HD3zDdH.png]

He looks familiar...

If I recall… That was the same person that looked me in the eyes, all the way back then…

Out of everyone there, he had the most concerned expression.

But what happened to him now?

Why does he…

...have the exact same dead eyes that I had?

—Urk…! I can’t… it’s slipping...

In the end, it really was useless after all.

All I wanted was just a little bit of freedom. Was that so much to ask?

・・・・・

The increasing altitude made the coldness the five had to bear all the worse. It was cold, yet there was hardly any precipitation as the team made their ascent up the mountain with Oluka’s Aoi. The eye of the storm casted an unnatural, yet hopeful light on the slope and refracted across the surfaces of the air bubbles. Furthermore, the speed at which they were rising made the mountain’s rocky texture a blur. To say it was awesome would be a huge understatement. Riki was amazed how he could ride an almost invisible platform without losing all of the blood in his legs. He wanted to equate the reason to the scenery laid out in front which would distract him from fear. Thanks to Oluka’s Aoi, the five were able to see first hand the abandoned region of Sozuraka in its entirety. 

He could have said it was a frozen wasteland. Sozuraka wasn’t meant to be covered in snow. Its people had developed intricate open pipe systems as infrastructure once, but they’re all now rendered useless, basked in a sea of white. From his aerial view, why wouldn’t anyone think of anything other than the end of the world? Needless to say, it was the most breathtaking and frightening experience he had ever felt. What a bizarre world he lived in. He only wished Oluka could've also experienced the view as well.

・

“Good luck you guys. Make it out alive for me.” she said to the team who had their first taste of the icy blizzard as they stepped outside of the armored vehicle. As everyone nodded, they turned and headed into the abandoned lands, except for Riki who remained standing in the snow. He stood back and watched Oluka as she formed five air bubbles for them to make it up to the observatory. It was difficult to notice at first, but there was a small influence of where the air bubbles were in the air as snow wrapped around the space where they fell. Eventually, frost began forming on the surfaces, but even with the extreme temperature, there were no signs of them popping.

Wow, no matter how many times I see it, it’s always cool. But...

“Any reason why you can’t come besides manning the communication system?” Riki asked, “Wouldn’t you have done just fine in the raid?”

“It’s so I wouldn’t have to be dealing with the coldness. Sorry bad joke. It’s just that I can only create so many air bubbles. ‘Sides, I can’t run, or walk for that matter. If I try then I would only embarrass myself. Legs can’t support my body weight.”

“They can’t?”

“Eh. I thought it just wasn’t an important detail. But it’s true though. Of course, that’s why I’m such a pro at driving as you experienced first hand.” As she finished up creating all five bubbles, she watched them all drift into the fog of the snow.

That wasn’t really a great riding experience. But now that I think about it, I’ve never actually seen her stand up once ever. Man, of course I had to poke my head in. Would it be disrespectful to not say anything after learning about her condition?

“I’m sor—”

“Just get your ass out there, you’re being left behind. You still got the thing that Keijin gave you?”

“...You’re right. And yeah, I have it.” Riki said, feeling the red maple leaf inside his pocket to be used for communication. It was useless for him to feel apologetic, yet he didn’t feel he had the right to infiltrate while she sat behind. After all, Oluka was the one who was a member of Azure, not him. It would have been her to be the one holding the maple leaf in another timeline. Nevertheless, there’s no sense in ruminating about it now. It’s time.

“Good. Now knock ‘em dead, Riki. Good luck out there.”

“...Thanks.”

・

There was nothing but silence as the five covered the majority of the height leading up to the summit. In the final moments of the distance, the observatory finally came into their view. On the outside, the dome building appeared pretty modern for the region it was established in. There was a system of scaffolding that had been destroyed partially by the natural disasters which led up to the entrance. The exterior walls were a silvery white constructed from steel which wrapped around the circular building. On the roof, there was a slot that could be pulled back to reveal the telescope housed on the highest floor. Though, this detail felt strange to Riki, as he remembered that this observatory was constructed to monitor volcanic activity. Considering that, why was it seemingly more like an astronomical observatory? 

He didn’t have time to think as the five were about to reach the summit. Their position was now well over 2,000 meters above the foot of the mountain. With just a few more left, the infiltration would commence and the limits of their resolve will be tested—

-Woof!

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“One more unit can’t hurt our force, right?” Katou finally said.

“...You do you.” And with that, Keijin began the countdown to the operation.

“Five.”

All eyes were on the stars.

“Four.”

Meanwhile, a short distance away…

“Three.”

While Keijin counted down…

“Two.”

...A shadow fell over Riki’s eyes.

“One.”

  A quiet, icy abyss.

“Go!”

With a single word, the race to the top began.

・・・・・

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“So they’ve made their move.”

Residing in a chilled chamber, Takeshi felt the presence of the floor rumble unnaturally for a brief moment before settling down. He closed the book in his hands and sat up from a stair that led to the telescope platform. Even in the equatorial room, he can tell Azure has made a grand entrance for themselves.

“It’s time for the performance I see…” Mary said, who was currently tuning her pipa, “You know Take-san, if you hadn’t spent all of those 4 million, then we could’ve easily bought some security systems somewhere. Why couldn’t you have gone lower?” As soon as she got the right sound, she happily played a short tune.

“I could have, but I didn’t want to completely destroy the experience and spirit of auctioning.”

*Sigh* “I don’t get the appeal of auctioning. It just seems so... wasteful of your money when you can spend it more efficiently.”

“At least it returns value in terms of pure entertainment. But I do see your point.”

“Do you now?” she said, swinging the string instrument to her back.

Mary turned around and approached the other end of the room which was perhaps the coldest point in all of the entire observatory. There, she peered into what can be described as a miniature storm confined within the walls of the room. The silver winds blew counterclockwise in a vortex, catching everything in its wake. At the center was the Sword of Tsurugi alongside a breathing, living person: the white-haired girl.

Forgive me for doing this. Perhaps if we had met earlier, we could’ve been close friends.

“In exchange for a life, what would the return value be...? Would it be worth the investment?” she whispered.

“Say Mary, what would you do if this little experiment does succeed?” Takeshi asked her, interrupting her thoughts. She thought about it for a bit but couldn’t find the right words. The more she considered his question, the more conflicted she felt.

“Let’s see… Then we would get solid evidence of forward time manipulation. Uncovering a big secret in Aoi…”

“You know what I meant Mary.” The look in Takeshi’s expression indicated he wanted a different answer.

“...Then we can live the life we want, and possibly let the same for others. I thought we already had this talk earlier.”

Chuckling, he said “You’re right, apologies. I’m forgetful sometimes.”

“Ah… Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts on this~. We’ve sacrificed so much already, it’s going to be hard to back out now.”

“Don’t tease me. Far from it. If I did, I wouldn’t have shut my book in the middle of the chapter.”

Takeshi rested his eyes and stared into the silver vortex to catch a glimpse of the unconscious girl. Of course, there wasn’t an option to go back now after what they’ve done up until the present. Disdain had already numbed his sense of self a long time ago. It was a disdain that he couldn’t quite find the origins to; an everlasting sensation of wrongness.

“Everyone should be at least aware of the fact that life is fleeting and that others’ existence are just as malleable and fragile as theirs.”

Hearing this, Mary adorned a lackluster smile. “Please don’t get philosophical on me… Sometimes your existential-crisis ramblings bore me to pieces.”

There was no ill will on her part. She personally didn’t mind them, but now wasn’t necessarily the right time to discuss life aspirations.

“Hm. Alright. In any case, it’s apparent that man has every intention of interfering with us. So let’s give them what they desire and accept their offer.”

“Teehee~ And here I thought we established a good relationship with him. ♪ Let’s do it.”

The two exited the stormy equatorial room into the main halls to greet their guests for the afternoon.

Surly, this’ll spark the attention of the others.

・・・・・

A lofty ceiling, marble pillars, and an exquisite stone mosaic that was the floor were the first things that Riki took in. For an observatory, it was strange to think how spacious and lavish the space appeared he was standing in. With hardly any light inside the vase interior of the observatory, his team made due with a faint orb of light he created. Even though Keijin had explained that there were countless natural disasters along with it being abandoned for years, there’s hardly any damage on anything from what he can tell.

“We’re currently at the bottom floor of this place. That means we have to go up three flights of stairs somewhere to reach the telescope room in order to retrieve the sword and the girl.” Tamaki whispered.

“Great,  it’s like we’re basically going in blind.” Riki muttered.

“Not necessarily. The air bubble around me extends my range significantly into a five meter radius. Any surprise attacks won’t work when I’m around. For now, stick by my side.”

“That’s the original plan anyways.” Katou said, “Though, never thought that Cavall woulda been chosen on the other team in the plan…”

“Don’t dwell on it.” Closing her eyes, Tamaki felt the presence of the air surrounding her. ‘Mindfulness’ is what people would have called the technique she was performing; the state of being conscious or aware of the present moment. But in this case, she was rather focusing on the future, ten seconds from the present.

“Let’s go!”

With the signal, Riki, Tamaki, and Katou embarked into the deep, dark abyss.

Once again, there was silence except from the sounds of their own breathing and their subdued footsteps. The only thing they could do now was to run aimlessly in hope of finding the way up. In spite of the high-pressure situation, the lack of sound was the one only thing deafening his ears. It was incredible to him that silence can be so insignificant, yet can affect a person so much. The least he can do was to trade words to fill the void in light of the situation.

“Remember how you said that your father would kill you?” Riki asked.

“...I did, didn’t I?”

“Were you serious when you said that? Was that true?”

As soon as he asked that, he quickly wanted to pull it back. One second too late did it feel too personal of a question. So much for breaking the tension.

“Ah, it was just a small one-liner; a jest really—”

“I ain’t buying you, Tamaki.” Katou said, catching the attention of the two.

“Huh?”

“Even though the profession of the stargazers is the freest in this world, you’re limiting yourself under the anxiety of your connections. Until ya become conscious of that truth, you’ll remain like this for the rest of your life. And I’m pretty sure Azure ain’t looking for people like that in the organization.”

“...Um, Katou? Is that really you?” Tamaki said, staring blankly over her shoulder towards him.

“What? You got a problem?”

“Sort of… How do you know about all of that?”

“Here’s a tip. Just speak your mind.”

 Guess I would have to hear from him later, but for now...

Tamaki’s gaze lowered to the ground. “...Sometimes, I wanted to cut ties with my family, to be quite honest. It isn’t out of spite, but out of a feeling of necessity.”

“That’s how the world works.” Katou said, agreeingly, “It’s human nature to want to leave your home and just abandon it all.”

Damn Katou… He is right… That’s exactly the reason why I wanted to do this. So I could be separated from everything.

“So I can just have a sense of being free…”

Riki watched as Tamaki’s gaze reversed back to her steadfast look into the way forward. It felt strange to Riki to listen in on that short conversation. He had no say on the matter; the concept of ‘free’ was foreign to him. And yet somehow, he could resonate to that feeling of being trapped. It’s expected to not allow yourself to be consumed by your inner demons; to fight back against… the world. And he didn’t have the right to say anything about that.

“And I’m doing this knowing that there’s the highest chance the result would apply to Kaori as well.” she whispered. But I resolved myself a long time ago already—

“—Stop…!” Tamaki’s sudden halt caused them to crash into each other, sandwiching Riki between her and Katou.

“Urgh… Can you warn us ahead of time when you—”

“Shhh…!”

Tamaki’s expression grew concerned while a bead of sweat formed on her temple: A sign that could only mean trouble. Had she not narrowed her eyes, Riki’s heart wouldn’t have been palpitating so much.

“Something would have entered in the range of the air bubble in ten seconds. Something... biological.”

“The hell kind of description is that?”

“I don’t suppose it’s Cavall?”

“It’s an adult male… Just our luck. That must be Takeshi…! He’s 45 degrees above the floor and slowly moving down towards our position; which means he must be on top of the staircase of the observatory.”

As soon as she announced that, they were able to hone in on the sound of footsteps that they initially wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. It was true, team 1 had uncovered the location of Takeshi and the staircase.

“...We have to go into cover. Now.” Katou said as his eyes darted around the floor, searching for anything that could provide any sort of cover. Unfortunately, there was hardly anything remotely considered as cover, except for the two rows of pillars that surrounded the pathway.

That’ll do.

Grabbing them both by the collar, Katou dragged the two both behind a pillar a few meters away from the staircase just in time before the three heard metal footsteps on steel. Riki gulped. He retracted his foot back behind a pillar and dissipated the energy sphere to be absolutely sure their location wouldn’t be revealed. But even with the precautions, there ought to be no way that they would be able to advance without engaging with the enemy. With the pieces they currently have on the board, he couldn’t think of anything they could do.

To make matters worse, the footsteps had long since ceased. Now that there was total silence, Riki could just make out the slight sound of music coming from the upper floor. It must’ve been Mary setting up for their arrival, if they would even ever reach the floor to begin with.

But what’s with the silence? Did Takeshi stop going down the stairs? Does that mean he knows where we are? His nails dug into his palm as he clenched his fist. And… is this the opportunity to fight for my memories? What’s stopping me from—

“Take it easy, Mr. Amnesia. I’m well aware of what you’re thinking right now. You’re just gonna end up losing more than you already had.” Katou said.

“I know.”

“At least our tactic worked.” Tamaki whispered, “The range of his Aoi isn’t that far, around three meters I suppose. Luckily, it’s shorter than my range.”

Though, these circumstances couldn’t be considered in their favor. Tamaki could’ve never anticipated they would’ve entered a bind this early on. Like Riki, she scoured her options, none of which would have the slightest chance of sneaking by and avoiding endangering their memories. She couldn’t help but to feel disappointed in herself, leading them to such a disadvantageous situation.

No, it’s perfect that we found the staircase. I can’t just be so pessimistic.

Spitting on the ground, Katou banged his fist on the pillar. “Damn, the hell’s Keijin and Kaori doin’ right now? Can’t believe he’s the commanding officer of this operation right now. What are they waiting for?”

The other team, if only they’re aware of our situation. Their names resonated inside Tamaki’s mind and for a second, it clicked. A new option arised. That’s right! There’s still something that we can do!

“...Oluka! You there?”

A moment after her call, brief static was heard before a voice crackled through.

“That was fast. Sup, Tamaki? It’s so early in the infiltration and you already need me, huh?”

Hearing her familiar voice eased her nerves in an instant. “We got through... phew… This has turned into a difficult situation already, Oluka.”

“That doesn’t sound good, elaborate.”

“We’ve found the staircase that would lead up to the second floor, but there is a certain barrier gate-keeping us from taking it. It might be just out of range of the computer system, but one of our opponents is currently standing on said staircase: Takeshi.”

“You encountered him already, eh?” Oluka said, “Damn, so he volunteered himself to guard the way up…”

It was only a matter of time that Takeshi would uncover their position if the three remained behind the pillar. The clock was ticking.

“Do you have a suggestion of a way to get him off there, Oluka?” After she asked however, there was no response, as if she really was talking to the thin air.

“...Oluka? Do you respond?” Once again, there was only silence. Seconds pass by without a reply.

“H—Hey, what’s going on?”

“Tamaki, chill for a moment.” Katou said, keeping an eye on the dark pathway.

“Huh? What do you mean—”

That was when the sound of a gunshot echoed in the hallway alongside what can be described as gas fumes. The pang sound echoed throughout the floor, sending a shock of adrenaline through the three’s blood.

D—Did Kaori just do that?! Tamaki thought. No, that was definitely her. But isn’t that going to reveal their own position? So much for stealth.

The click of soles on metal soon after arised and was heard by the three in the distance. Takeshi had moved.

Oh, I get it. That was for us to climb the staircase!

It was an obvious tactic to draw out the enemy, but it seemed that Takeshi gladly obliged to the distraction. Tamaki sensed that he would come down the staircase, and so he did without the knowledge of their presence. He easily passed over the pillar they resided behind with their memories still intact.

Thank you, Kaori!

“To the second floor.”

Without a hitch, the three began their ascent.