07 The Power to Change the Universe 4

"Remember the incident eight years ago...?"

"Which one? There were plenty of events back then."

True, upon reflection.

We’ve shared a significant amount of time.

Therefore, many memories remain.

"The time on Planet Merce, when Tōya nearly died."

"Yeah. I remember that."

Light. There’s something to say, but he holds it back.

Mio will have to apologize soon.

"At that time, I used my ASID abilities to save Tōya… I think."

"Probably. I only just realized recently—probably it was Hijō who helped me out. Thanks."

"You’re welcome… no, wait. At that time, I likely left those nanomachines inside Tōya."

"Figured as much."

Leave the question of how she realized it for now.

Mio insists, earnestly.

Why is it, she wonders, that serious conversation keeps getting interrupted like this?

Only Mio wears a serious expression.

The guard facing her has the same calm face she once saw in a classroom.

The same expression—Mio’s—was once hers.

“—”

She bites her lip, shaking off the sudden surge of emotion.

The taste of blood.

She replicates even that detail—yet still—

“I am the Queen of ASID. But I have no subordinates around me. So I acted on instinct and made Tōya my servant.”

“…Hey, Tōgō, you know what that’s called, right? That’s called middle school delusion.”

“Don’t mock me! If you’re dissatisfied with ‘servant,’ call it a pack, call it anything! But—anyway! I’m making you my subordinate!”

She’d noticed, just slightly, how her own words sounded like middle school delusion.

Caught off guard, Mio struggles to calm her rising voice.

“You like me, Toya—because of that. It’s the loyalty a subordinate owes a superior. I forced you to feel this false affection, so you’d never betray me.”

So Mio continued.

“You like me, Toya—because I did something strange. That’s not your true feeling. Toya doesn’t actually like me.”

The words Mio spoke, as if tearing out her own blood.

The act of erasing a confession so joyful it made her want to leap—self-harming in its precision.

“Uh… probably not related.”

She dismissed it with a light tone.

“‘Cause I liked Tohgo even before that.”

“…………Huh?”

“No, you know, guys usually like girls who’re faster than them.”

“Is that… really so?”

Mio truly didn’t understand boys’ tastes.

Something felt off, but being told that made her think, perhaps that’s just how it is.

“But—still! It’s weird to keep liking someone after that!”

"Don't you ever say that in front of your brother. It's been ten years of unrequited feelings, after all."

The current statement from Shu was certainly something that would provoke a strong reaction from Kou.

"Anyway, hypothetically. Even if Tohgo was right, what's the problem?"

Casually. Even if told his heart was being manipulated by someone else, Shu declared there was no issue.

"After all, the fact that he chose me first means Tohgo trusted me the most back then. How could anyone not be happy hearing that?"

From Shu, rubbing the corner of his nose awkwardly, no further emotion was visible.

Mio stared, stunned, as the attack continued.

"Besides, being part of a group—basically means family. I was the first one chosen. Being told that by the girl I like? There's no greater joy than that."

Whether Mio's words were right or wrong didn't matter to Shu.

In essence, Mio's words were.

"Frankly, guys are simple. You fall for someone because they're cute or whatever—pretty common, really..."

In middle school, Mio had been popular even among boys due to her appearance.

But—

"If you think the other person has feelings for you, you switch sides without hesitation. That's how easy they are."

A boy will switch to another girl who treats him kindly—just like that. That’s how easy they are.

"So you're saying you're directing emotions? That's just an extension of the same thing. It's not much when you think about it—just constant attention, day and night."

Stunned.

Mio hadn’t felt this shocked in months.

Shu dismissed what she’d taken so seriously with a single stroke.

Like a door sealed shut, she’d been hammering at it from the inside, again and again.

"Anyway, that kind of relationship is pointless now."

With that, Shu lightly nudged Mio’s shoulder.

"In the end, I couldn’t beat you, so Higashi remains my superior. That’s all. Just a slight physical connection, nothing more."

As always. Shu was unchanged.

No—unchanged wasn’t right.

She had said she liked him.

Even when he denied it, she wouldn’t accept it.

Worse, Shu dismissed it with a laugh, as if such concerns were baseless.

Mio’s voice rose, bewildered by her own urgency.

"Toya, you don’t truly understand what it means that I’m ASID! I’m not human!"

"I heard that just now."

"No. This body is a counterfeit. I only mimic humans. The details are different."

She drove the blade into her own heart.

"I’d be fine floating in vacuum. I’m not human. I don’t die from severe injury. That’s what I am—a monster."

"Your father was the same way, wasn't he?"

"Stop making fun of me!"

"I'm not making fun of you. If you weren't in that situation, none of this would matter. Cyborgs can operate in vacuum. Nanomachines can regenerate the brain if it's intact. That's still within the bounds of humanity."

He clenches his molars.

Anger at having his suffering dismissed.

Or anger at the unchangeable reality.

"I'm not human."

"You're not quite—"

"This form is a disguise. Functions unnecessary for the disguise aren't implemented."

Eating and breathing are required. A human who doesn't do either would be clearly unnatural.

Sleep is required. No human exists who doesn't sleep.

"That's why I can't— give birth."

That was what devastated Mio the most.

She had dreamed, watching others, of one day having a family of her own.

The emptiness when she realized it would never happen.

Mio asks, her voice edged with self-exposure.

"Hey… even so, will you say you love me, Tōya? Will you dedicate your future to me?"

Tears fall.

Once shed, the augmented lacrimal glands work diligently.

Emotions meant to be hidden spill out.

"Will you give up happiness?"

Shu’s face hardens, unmistakably.

The sight tightens Mio’s chest—a pain, and a faint—something so insignificant in exchange for that pain, yet she feels it as satisfaction.

"...Do you really think this is giving up happiness?"

Mio nods silently. Shu frowns deeper, then brings his fist down onto Mio’s crown.

It does not hurt—yet the impact resonates through her entire body.

Looking at Shu, it is he who appears to be in pain.

I can’t imagine how much you’ve struggled with this.

His face carries sorrow.

Saying something like that—me, a guy like me—might not lighten your burdens at all.

That’s not true.

A crack has formed in the door that stood before Mio.

You don’t get to say that being unable to bear children means giving up on happiness. Your father was certainly not unhappy.

“…But I—”

That’s why I won’t be unhappy either! I don’t care if it’s just the two of us! If you absolutely must have a child, then I’ll follow the example of the old man from Higashiō and find someone else to make happy together!

Jin cannot do this.

He can stand before Mio and protect the present, but he cannot carve out Mio’s future.

That task belongs not to the one who stands ahead, but to the one who walks beside her.

Let go of the hand.

Mio no longer tries to run away.

"One more time, Higashiō. I like you. What about you? What do you want? Say what you want, not what you should."

A second question. The hand is extended again.

Shu has made his decision since arriving here.

He came here to show Mio her future.

There is only one thing Mio wants to confirm with Shu.

"...I’ll probably live a long time."

"I know. I heard from your brother... probably until around five hundred years old."

"You, Tōya, will become an old man before me."

"I regret that. I won’t be able to walk beside you for long."

There’s nothing he can do about that.

Even with all of humanity’s technology combined, life might be extended to about one hundred and fifty years.

But that is merely prolongation. It is far from a healthy lifespan.

Even if she lives to the maximum, Mio will lose the person standing beside her in about eighty years.

I’ll make you suffer—yet I want to stay with you.