Part 141: Faris and Okabe have a heart to heart

(This chapter will look a little bit weird, because my sprite resource doesn't have a sprite for Faris's dad.)

"Right. I heard you were an enthusiastic retro PC collector. Do you know anything about it?"

I ended up eating a meal at Faris's house. Somehow, it seems Faris's dad was pleased with me and was most gracious. I would've been okay with just borrowing the shower, but he even prepared a change of clothes for me, and it was still dangerous to go outside today, so he told me I could stay.

During the meal, enduring the pain still throbbing through my body, I tried asking about the IBN 5100.



Her dad smiled when I brought up his hobby.

"I certainly had one. I relinquished it, though."

"Relinquished...?"



Her dad glimpses at Faris. Faris keeps eating her meal without saying anything in particular.

"Did you dedicate it to Yanagibayashi Shrine?"

"Dedicate? Ah, no, I didn't."

He didn't...? I drop my shoulders, overcome by an indescribable exhaustion.



"Hashida, as in Hashida Suzu?"

Faris's dad nods. Suzuha's pseudonym. Hearing that name instantly raises my pulse. She obtained an IBN 5100, and then she brought it here to Akihabara. She got it done right...

My heart painfully squeezes with sadness.



"Rumiho was kidnapped. The culprit demanded an unthinkable sum of ransom money. Maybe I should have mortgaged the company instead. At the time, people appeared like a godsend, offering large sums of money to buy IBN 5100s. Because I sold mine, I was able to prepare Rumiho's ransom money."

"Papa, stop telling that story..."

For some reason, Faris's face turned read with embarrassment. If I had to say, her dad was talking really happily. You don't really expect to hear kidnapping stories...

"...So, who was the buyer?"

"Hmm, a French businessman, I believe. I think I still have his contact information. Would you like to know it?"

I politely declined that offer. Even if we borrow it from France, it would take more than a week for it to arrive, and depending on the situation, it might require an outrageous sum of money. But, France...

There's a high possibility that the buyer is related to SERN, or to the Rounders. I tightly clench my palm into a fist, and open it again. Did you slip through my grasp again, you IBN 5100...?!







I was given a bed in another room, but I wasn't sleepy, just idly thinking. The reason I can't sleep is the pain throughout my body. Not just that...

What should I do?

The D-mail that Faris sent to her own father. The mail to cancel that... Thoughtlessly, I came in contact with her dad himself, giving birth to unnecessary internal conflict. I'm about to steal a blood relative from Faris. Can that be forgiven?

But if I don't, I can't save Mayuri...

I hear a knock, and the door opens.



I hear Faris's voice.

"Oh, Faris. Still not asleep?"

"Can I come inside?"

Mm? The usual Faris would've said "Can I come inside nya?"

Without waiting for my answer, Faris enters the room on her own, and then she sits on the bed I'm lying on.



"...Well. Thanks for before. When the Viral gang chased me, I was really scared."

Does she have a fever? Why is she talking so normally? She usually insists 'Faris is Faris nya,' so is she talking to me as Akiha Rumiho now?

This isn't Faris... is what I want to say, but Faris's voice talking normally is really fresh. I'm somehow excited.

"That was the first time that I ever felt such black emotion from that crowd of people."

"Those guys were obsessed with black, after all."

She lightly strikes my lap.

"Geez. I was speaking seriously."

Th-This.. Even her retort is normal. The one before me isn't the cat-eared maid, nor the RaiNetter champion, but a normal girl...

"Do your wounds hurt?"

"No, it's fine."



"Don't say that again. Just call me what you usually do."

Faris sighs.

"Anyway, Kyouma, I can't thank you enough. Thank you, honestly... Kyouma, you know... You're my prince."

Prince...? What's with the fairy tale talk? It's giving me goosebumps. A-At times like these... I can overcome the strange atmosphere as Hououin Kyouma.

"I-I am not a prince. I am an insane mad scientist and--"



She clings onto me tightly.

"F-Faris...?"

"I want you to call me Rumiho."

"No, Faris is Faris, right..."

Gh, the atmosphere's getting more and more ticklish...! What... should I do about this?! What does Faris want?!

"Hey... I think we should end this already."

...

"Kyouma, you went back in time, risking your life to save me. So, I want to grant your wish too, Kyouma."

"But..."

I swallow the rest of my words.

But granting my wish would mean erasing Faris's dad.

My heart throbs.



I erased the memories Suzuha made in 2010, and her memories of meeting her father, Daru. For the sake of my wish - for the sake of saving Mayuri.

Must I once again sacrifice something precious to someone else?

"It was on my 8th birthday."

She casts her eyes down while clinging to me. Faris begins her story.



"Back then, Papa's company wasn't big, so every day, from morning till night, he would keep working, so I never got to see him. The present I wanted the most was to spend one day with Papa. Papa promised that he'd spend the day with me no matter what. But..."



"'Do you mean papa doesn't love me anymore?' I said, extremely anxious. So, on my birthday, I ran away from home. I wanted papa to worry."

Faris cuts off her words there, downcast. After a while, she lifts her face. Shining spheres run down the corners of her eyes.



"Only one person died. All the other passengers were safe."

Don't tell me...

"That person was papa..."

That was before the world line changed... events from the world line where her dad's dead in 2010...

"I couldn't believe that the world would push such a cold fate onto me. 'I don't know you anymore, papa! You should just die!' Those were the last words I said to him... I closed my relationship with papa for all eternity with those words."

Before she noticed, Faris's voice got wet.

"Even though I loved him... why did I say those last things to him... I always felt guilty for papa... I always thought. If only I had a time machine."

Did fate guide her to me, then...?

"That's why, when Kyouma talked about time machines, I thought that was a chance given to me by God or Buddha or Fate."

"Faris... Rumiho. You don't have to say anything more today."

"No. Let me talk to the end."

Faris won't leave me no matter what. After sniffing and wiping away her tears, she smiles for me.



"I've already enjoyed this reward plenty. So, you need to change the past back to normal."

"But..."

"Kyouma, Mayushii's a very important friend to me, you know? If Mayushii's in a crisis, then I would do the same thing you would. Okay, Kyouma?"

"...Sorry."

"Didn't I say so? This current reality isn't reality, but a reward. Or maybe I should say a dream. Papa originally doesn't belong in this timeline. You're just turning this back to normal."



"Is this... really okay?"]

Faris buries her face into my chest.

"Ugh... actually... it's not okay at all... I remembered how things were before the world changed, but... I also remember everything about how things were after the world changed, too, you know? My memories are in a huge panic right now. Before the change and after the change got all mixed up. I don't know which one is real anymore. But if I say any more selfish things, it'll make Kyouma sad, right...? I don't want to see Kyouma's sad face. I mean, you are my prince, after all..."

"But...! There might be a world where we don't lose your dad and Mayuri doesn't die! If we try searching for it--"

"It's okay. It's okay now... I don't want to run anymore."

If she says that much, there's nothing I can reply with. I tightly embrace Faris's slender body.

"...Thank you."



She says so even though she's already crying. I nod silently. Faris's body trembles with emotion. Since her dad's sleeping in the room next door, she probably thought it would be bad if he noticed, so Faris cries, muffling her voice into my chest.