Part 145: A story

Music: Quiet Voice



Using a small connection like a blood vessel, I see a memory that I cannot reach.

It is his memories.
At the very least, it's not mine.
This is someone else's story.
It's so long ago that he doesn't even recall it.
It's so old that he doesn't even try to recall it.
It's so ancient that he cannot recall it.
It is…
A heavy burden of a contract that has been established and cannot be withdrawn.



If anything, he was the kind of guy that could not put up with anything.
He cannot put up with having people cry around him.
He cannot put up with having people get hurt around him.
He cannot put up with having people die around him.
That's the only reason he had.
And for that reason only, he tried to help everybody in his sight.

He was clumsy, and it made you worry if you were looking at him.
But he would accomplish it in the end, and I think he changed a lot of people's lives.
I'm sure his life was a happy one.
His clumsy battles were not meaningless.
He was able to save people proportional to how much he got hurt and how many times he faced death.

…But there's one pitfall there.
I said everybody in his sight.
But one can never look at oneself.
So, in the end.
He could not save the most important person of all, himself.



"Let me make a contract. I shall give you my life after my death. I would like the compensation now."

Yes, he made a contract with something as mysterious as the world.
Throwing away himself to save people.
It is the birth of a hero.

Music: Stop



But his end came rather quickly.
An excellent savior is nothing but a nuisance for the people that are not getting saved.

He understands his own powers and the extent of the world.
He accepts what can be saved and what cannot be saved.
That's why he wanted at least the people in his sight to be happy.
A lot of people called it hypocrisy.
Many despised it as an extreme value.
The way he silently pursued his ideal was something he should've been proud of.

But in the end…
He met an uncompensated end, as the contract promised.



He had friends and a lover.
He lost all of them, and he was cornered by the ideal he pursued.

He had no place to go.
He was burdened with many voices of resentment, but still kept fighting.
He knew of his fate, but he acted like he tried to perform "miracles" using his fate as a support.

…But that comes to an end.
The place he reaches at the end is a hill of swords.
His battle ends on the hill among the rusted, ownerless steel.