Episode 8: Bubbles
“…Ah, wait, what!? You’re crying! Don’t cry, please! Um, what is it!? I’m sorry! Did I scare you? Was it scary? I’m sorry, okay? Just please don’t cry like that… Wait, where are your papa and mama? Hey, where are they? Have you lost them…?”
Momotsuki Haruka couldn’t understand the wetness running down her cheeks.
It felt cold, or perhaps lukewarm.
When it reached her lips, it tasted salty.
More kept spilling out, one tear after another.
“F-first things first, let’s calm down.
My name is [Serebryanyi Adamov]… Ah, sorry! Please don’t cry like that!? That was too long, wasn’t it! I’m sorry! [Sere]! Just call me [Sere]!”
“…I’m not crying.”
“You are! Look, just calm down. Have some juice…”
Momotsuki Haruka nodded.
Prompted by the silver-haired girl, Sere, she drank the strawberry milk.
It was astonishingly sweet. Sweet enough to make her tears retreat. She felt safe. Comfortable.
“…Phew…”
“Th-thank goodness! You’ve calmed down…!”
Sere breathed a sigh of relief, patting her chest.
A lovely fragrance drifted from her white dress.
“…Are you all right? Shall we go and find your papa and mama together?”
“…I don’t have any. Don’t need any, either.”
“Huh?”
“I’m alone.”
“O-oh, I see…”
Something was wrong with her body.
Momotsuki Haruka could sense that something was amiss.
Perhaps the Magus Engine was malfunctioning. To burst into tears just because she’d seen a girl whose face resembled the enemy she’d fought… There was no way that could be anything other than a fault.
She ought to have maintenance performed when she got back.
No, perhaps she ought to go back right now.
“…Well, then.”
“Ah, wait… At least wipe your tears! It’s dangerous to walk around like that!”
Haruka tried to leave.
But Sere caught hold of her sleeve.
“…!”
The hand had caught nothing but her sleeve.
Her missing right arm.
The remnants of her magic cyberwear, still under repair after the recent battle with the [Witch of Pisces].
“…Where are you going all by yourself? Um…”
“To visit a grave.”
“Is it in Tokyo?”
“Yeah. It’s a communal cemetery, so it’s just a short bus ride.”
“…I see.”
Sere let go of her sleeve.
Or so Haruka thought. Instead, Sere took her remaining left arm and clasped it tightly between both hands.
They were gentle hands.
A girl’s hands, slightly cool to the touch.
They stopped Momotsuki Haruka from leaving, then gently wiped away her tears.
“…Can I come with you, too, little sister?”
＊
The thought of refusing was drowned out by the strawberry milk.
Besides, she wasn’t supposed to think in the first place. The girl called Momotsuki Haruka was meant to do as she was told and nothing more. She wasn’t permitted to think beyond that.
In the first place, she was only going to the cemetery because Kimoto Yuki had told her to visit the grave.
“Huh? You’re buying flowers? I know a good shop! I’ll show you!”
They weren’t heading for a restricted area or a mission site.
“You don’t know where to buy crisps…? R-right, then! Let’s go to a convenience store together!”
So there was no reason to refuse.
“Ehh!? You don’t have any money!? But the payment came through… Oh! It’s because you bought strawberry milk on the ferry! Vending machines cost money, you know!? G-geez, what am I going to do with you… Fine, let’s share a drink.”
And she was glad she hadn’t refused.
*
At first, Haruka had planned to take a single bus.
But after buying a flower, then crisps and cola, the sun had set.
There hadn’t been enough money loaded onto her device to pay for the bus.
“We’re here, Haru-chan!”
“…Yeah.”
“That was a long and arduous journey…!”
“You were so noisy, Sere.”
“That’s mean!”
The communal cemetery lay on the outskirts of Magus City Tokyo.
By the time the sun began to set, the skyscrapers’ shadows had receded into the distance, and the cemetery was bathed in the evening light.
A vast, vast expanse of flat green.
At its centre stood a fountain and a stone monument.
Those who fought in the Third and Fourth World Wars.
The victims of the Battle of Hakodate.
All those who contributed to the founding of Magus City Tokyo.
The wars had come one after another, so frequently that erecting individual memorials for each had become an impractical undertaking. And so Magus City Tokyo had just one great memorial.
The only other graves belonged to the wealthy, since anything else would get in the way of urban development.
There were memorials online, too.
There was no reason to insist on a physical one.
This place was simply a set of coordinates where people without bodies were said to rest.
“…Thank you.”
“Eep!”
Momotsuki Haruka thanked her.
If Sere hadn’t shown her the way, she would probably have ended up without the flowers, the crisps, or the cola. She didn’t even need to think about it to know that she ought to be grateful.
“…Sure. It’s fine.”
“Yeah.”
“Hey, whose grave are you visiting?”
“[Shizuki Fuyumi].”
“Hm?”
“…Ah…”
She thought.
Who had she been?
What had she been?
What was Shizuki Fuyumi to Momotsuki Haruka?
Thought was forbidden. Emotions had been excised. She was supposed to drink her strawberry milk. But she didn’t know. She had to think. She had to find an answer.
She had to [think]…
*
She drank her strawberry milk.
*
“…I don’t know.”
The bottle was empty.
No tears fell. No answer came. She wasn’t thinking at all.
“I see.”
“Sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. I’m glad you got to visit the grave.”
“Yeah.”
And yet…
“Whew… I’m kind of tired. Let’s eat the crisps. And have some cola… Oh, we don’t have any cups. Um… Well, never mind. We’re both girls, after all.”
“?”
“Here, you drink first.”
The cola, already going a little flat, fizzed and crackled in her mouth.