Part 50: Episode 35: Yuuya's Confrontation

It’s one hallway from start to finish. Looks like this path must be hidden too well for the naked eye to see.

The last room should be where I’ll find Prof. Nanaki--or wait, didn’t Goon say he was “Hitori nee Nemo” in this world?
Anyway, there should be a quail here somewhere, but he’s been singled out for poor treatment. Did you really have to hide him away like this, your majesty?

Radio static started to emit from my radio.

…ou…er…?
……?

A voice echoes faintly in the dark corridor.
One of the king’s underlings? I don’t see it anywhere.

…th……JB, do you r…e…zaki…Yuu…

As it continued speaking, the voice became clearer. It was coming from my radio, amid the static.

Leone!?



The teacher here, Nanaki Kazuaki, is starting to show abnormal brain activity. He’s probably falling into a coma.
I’m trying to find him right now. But… it looks like the man behind all this has hidden him somewhere.
I thought as much. Nanaki’s brain activity is dropping. He may not be able to regain consciousness.
Meaning, he alone is proceeding more rapidly into the disconnect between mind and body.
Unfortunately.

So my job is to concentrate and find the professor while the high lasts?
Exactly. You should have about two minutes. Good luck.

Leone fades away like a puff of smoke.
This isn’t the first solo search-and-rescue I’ve had to do. But all the same--

It is reassuring to the see that unshakable cockatiel’s face, even for just a minute.

The music stops.

It’s almost time. If the planisphere was right, the path down to the last star should be between Sakuya and Ryouta’s rooms.
That magnificent artist did get rid of the clouds for us. It would be a waste if we didn’t let any of the nice moonlight in here!





Meanwhile, outside…





We are… like cogwheels. We serve as parts of a machine much larger and more important than ourselves. You should know it as well as I do.
Hmph! Unfortunately, I cannot even begin to comprehend such groveling ideas. I am not here for the system. The system is here for me.
Anyway, I administered the amounts you said to your underling and the quail there.





Back inside the egg…






Every sensation deepens, and expands. If only I could enter this state at will!


I can see a crack in the wall. I hadn’t noticed it before, but light is seeping through.

That must be the light from a bird’s soul, like the migrant was talking about.

The wall should be fragile here. This is just like Sakuya’s tea party: break it open, and be on my way.

We can’t let you do that, traveler.

I was interrupted from my mission by an unfamiliar voice.



…Well, hello there, yokels. What’s with the long faces?
I’m just here to pick up a friend. He’s gotten stuck in here my mistake, you see.
I’m not going to do anything to hurt you. Mind letting me by?
Why do you do such terrible things?
You must not open this until everyone is one.
No room for negotiation, then? I was hoping this would go more smoothly, but… Oh well. If you don’t move, I’m going to make you.

The music stops.


The King is scared of birds like you.

……!

The King asked, are you trying to break another egg?

The citizens--who appear to have morphed into the king--address me, accusingly.

What a mean thing to do. You break eggs, and you think nothing of it.
So many.
So many.
So many eggs…

Every line the king spoke was extenuated by the sound of egg shells breaking.

Those lives, that couldn’t live. Poor, poor eggs. Don’t you feel sorry for them?
The King knows. The King knows that long ago, you broke an egg out of your own selfishness.
……

So this is how the king fights back? I don’t know how he figured out my secret, but in any case it’s a very precise attack.
The king himself is on his throne. The citizens should just be small parts of the whole, but maybe they share his consciousness and abilities?

This is my job. I’m here to rescue everyone from the school. You’ve trapped one inside this wall. So I’m breaking this wall. Any questions?

…Please, try not to get distracted. My past has nothing to do with that fact that you’re in my way.
You poor, poor bird. The King thought, you should not have to suffer any more.

Suddenly the king is carrying eggs. And dropping them at my feet. Before I know it there’s nowhere left to stand but on the broken eggs.

The King said, The King can lift the burden from your shoulders. The King can take away your pain.

How much does he know? He’s aware of the guilt I’ve carried with me ever since I broke my brother’s egg, anyway…
But he seems to have misunderstood.

Thanks, but no thanks.


…You’re asking me to hand my guilt over to some complete stranger? Please, tell me you’re joking.
……?

Yeah, I didn’t think you would. I don’t think you ever will.
Like you said, I dirtied my hands with a crime, and I can never take it back. A life lost will not return. The past does not change.
The least I can do is remember. I will always carry this with me.
This pain is mine. And you can’t have it.

Suffering… Indeed.
I don’t think you’ll understand. This pain is part of me.
Your egg is already rotten. Isn’t it a little much for you to ask me to accept your sympathy?


The music stops.

A friendly and considerate man. I imagine an eternity spent with him would be full of happy days.

My sentimentality is dying down, in contrast with the high from the drugs in my bloodstream.
I stepped cautiously into the crack in the wall. For all the light shining through, the inside was rather dark.





I don’t know how long I was walking through the corridor. I wasn’t sure where I was headed, or where I would end up by the end of this.

Slowly, a faint light began to appear ahead of me. I walked more quickly towards the source of the light, seeing it as my exit.
The light began to grow, until it had completely consumed me.





At the end of the light was…