That 268: Words at the End
"…Hey"
"What is it?"
"Are you free for a bit?"
"Free, huh?"
"Well, you know… we don’t seem to be dying anytime soon, do we?"
"True, for a normal person, this injury should’ve killed them already."
"Still, you’re talking normally even though your heart’s stopped. That’s impressive."
"I heard you can stay conscious for up to five minutes after cardiac arrest. Maybe the wound’s location is just lucky."
"That’s absurd."
Well, it looks like I'm the one who'll survive.
Yeah... I tried really hard, though.
Haha. That's funny.
"People who say they'll do it in the real world—this is the first time I've tried it."
Mind your own business.
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……………………
"…hey"
Huh? Still something else?
We've always focused on our similarities—but now that you mention it, we never thought about the opposite.
"The opposite thing?"
The differences between us
"Hmm."
"For example, talking about our favorite manga."
"I guess… Conan, Seven Deadly Sins, JoJo, Weak Pedal, Fullmetal Alchemist, stuff like that."
"…Why does your list seem so carefully balanced across different shonen magazines?"
"Hey now, it's just coincidence, really."
"Come to think of it, I haven't read Attack on Titan in a while… How about games?"
"Probably Brave Frontier. Then the classics—Zelda, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy."
"Uh... what did you just say at the end?"
"Final Fantasy."
"You call it 'Faifan'? Not 'FF'?"
"Huh?"
"Why?"
"Kind of naturally... probably because 'FF' sounds like 'Final Fight'?"
"You're really the same age as me?"
"Should be."
"You're totally nuts."
"[Bad news] FF fans are a bunch of judgmental jerks."
"Wait, are you actually going against the grain like that? You must be a Flora fan, right?"
"If you're getting married, it should be a rich girl, right?"
"But that girl has a bad personality."
"What? Are we starting a war or something?"
"I'm a Flora fan~! The rich lord's daughter~!"
"Stories about the 'Stor SP' are off-limits. That's a conspiracy by the evil Bianca faction."
"I'm just watching from the sidelines—supporting the fairy Bera faction."
"Isn't that the opposite of what you'd expect? Wanting to stay a little monster forever and all..."
"Let's go up to the rooftop... It's been a while... I'm really losing it..."
"……………………"
"……………………"
"……………………phew…………"
"Turns out... there are some surprising differences..."
"Yeah."
"So even if that's the case..."
"Yeah."
"It's not really a big deal, though."
"……………………"
"……………………"
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"I'm starting to feel... my consciousness fading... gradually..."
"Either way, there won't be any grudges left between us."
"I know."
"……………………"
"……………………"
"Oh, and one more thing... may I?"
"Still, something else?"
Now that I think about it, if Spatial-Temporal Magic isn't useful, how am I supposed to recover my memories?
Come on
Well... isn't this quite a matter of life and death?
"Surprisingly, maybe there's such a technique in the lower-ranked 'Spatial Magic'."
"Ugh. So in the end, we have no choice but to rely on Hakka-san?"
No. — But surely, there's no need to worry.
"Why?"
"You remember, right? The voice in our head definitely said something like, 'We don't care about the means—just recover our memories.'"
"?"
"Memories... well, don't worry. They'll come back naturally."
"Really? I'm not so sure about that."
"Probably."
"Probably?"
"But you did remember on your own, didn't you—about the *Fairy*?"
"That... well..."
"One memory recalled might bring the rest back, one after another, like a string of beads."
Hmm, I'm not sure about that.
That's right. It's coming from none other than "me," so believe it.
"But then, wouldn't coming all this way have been almost a waste of time?"
Don't worry about it.
I should have stayed under the blankets after all.
"One cannot connect the dots looking toward the future; one can only connect them looking back at the past. One must believe that, in time, all the dots will be connected."
That's what it is, you know.
"It's a quote from Steve Jobs—something along the lines of, 'All this hardship will eventually pay off someday.'"
"…Another difference I've noticed. I don't let myself get swayed by lofty, inspirational quotes like that."
"I understand, you know, how anyone forced into an unfamiliar leadership role might start relying on someone else's words for comfort."
"Alright, I've made up my mind. I'm going to entrust the leadership role to someone I can truly rely on."
"……hmm. ……Well, that might actually be……a pretty smart choice, I suppose."
"……………………"
"……………………"
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"………………That one…"
"………………hmm"
"Remember……we're no longer……quite…normal……"
"……………I understand. I know."
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"……………………Hey…"
"……………………"
"……………………Having a huge hole in my body like this…blood pouring out like this…still not dying…even I find that a little scary…a bit…"
"……………………"
"…Suddenly, it just occurred to me. Your injury… wouldn't a healing spell have had a chance to fix it?"
"…"
"You weren't really planning on surviving, were you?"
"…"
"…Hm."
"…"
"You're an idiot, you know that?"
"…"
"You should've said something meaningful as your last words."