[592] The Incident of That Day (3)
"Do you happen to know me?"
Shirone asked.
"What are you talking about? How would I know you?"
Sure enough, the Miro they had found the first time they came to Istas had been the one who'd met Shirone.
"I don't know how to explain it…"
It was the truth.
"I know you, Miro. I fought with you, and I learned a lot from you."
Miro blinked, then her expression hardened.
"You succeeded."
She was referring to Geopin's orders.
"Then how long after the time closed did you come?"
"Nineteen years."
He had met a boy from a future nineteen years ahead.
Shirone ran through the questions Miro might ask—what became of his fate, whether he lived happily, how the final war ended—and readied answers in his head.
But what came back was a cold voice.
"Why did you come here?"
"Huh?"
"If your mission succeeded, you should've buried the incident—destroyed Istas or whatever. Why did you go back in?"
"Well, um…"
Growing frustrated, Miro added, "Don't tell me you came in without knowing what this is. Time works in an infinite loop here. Your entering must've warped the incident! How are you going to take responsibility for that?"
Shirone fell silent. While he stood dazed, Miro turned the situation over in her head and asked again.
"Are you, by any chance, Fermini?"
He rejected that misunderstanding.
"No. I'm Shirone."
"Shirone?"
Miro frowned. "Huh. Shirone, huh."
No matter how she tried, the name meant nothing to her.
"Anyway, do nothing from now on. Stay outside the incident as much as you can."
"I can't do that. The reason I came in here was—"
"You don't need a reason. Just prepare for the end of your life. If Hexa dies, this world will end anyway."
"What's Hexa?"
Miro pointed to the child in her arms.
"This child. Geopin plans to pull Hexa out of the cosmic reset. Got it? If Hexa disappears, he'll annihilate the human called Anke Ra."
Pulled out of the cosmic reset.
"Does that mean Hexa won't disappear even if the reset happens?"
Shirone cut to the core, and Miro looked puzzled for a moment before conceding.
'Of course—there's no such thing as coincidence.'
Without at least that much information, the chance of someone infiltrating the upper ranks nineteen years from now would be virtually zero.
"Right. Only Hexa can survive Ra's reset. So you have to sacrifice yourself. Let me complete my mission."
Shirone swallowed.
"Maybe… that child could be me."
"What?"
Miro stared in disbelief, then studied Hexa's face closely.
"Now that you mention it, there might be a resemblance."
Appearances change with age, but the core likeness doesn't vanish easily.
"I'm not sure. If you are Hexa, why did you come here?"
Shirone was growing frustrated with the endless speculation.
"I might be Geopin's son."
"What?"
Miro's eyes widened.
"Then tell me. What exactly is happening here?"
"Haha…"
Her laugh rose and peaked.
"Hahahaha!"
It wasn't a happy laugh; Shirone felt both bewildered and angry.
"Why are you laughing?"
"You—Geopin's son? No way."
"How do you know that, Miro? Did you ask Geopin directly?"
"No, it's just—"
Miro laughed as if the idea were absurd, then said, "You don't even need to ask. There's absolutely no way you're Geopin's child."
"How can you be so sure?"
Shirone's voice rose, but Miro looked even more incredulous.
"You really don't know? Geopin is the most famous mage in this world. Everyone knows that."
"How is that an explanation?"
When Shirone finally raised his voice, Miro snapped, "Idiot! Geopin doesn't look like us!"
Silence.
"…What?"
Shirone's face went blank. "Doesn't look like… us?"
Miro suddenly realized. "Oh—could he have been erased?"
In Shirone's timeline, no one could accurately recall Geopin's appearance.
"Sorry. I didn't think that far. I haven't experienced an erasure myself. Anyway, you're not Geopin's child. You look completely different."
"Do you mean he's not human?"
Miro considered seriously. When an unknown intelligent species appears, assigning it a classification is a negotiation between the individual and society.
"He's human… I think. He has human features, and Geopin claimed to be human."
That was why Geopin had stood against Heaven to protect humankind.
"But he's an ancient Gaiaian. It's hard to believe you'd be his child…"
Shirone knew that, but he'd never heard what Gaaians actually looked like.
"So what does Geopin look like?"
Miro propped her chin on her hand. "Hmm—at first you'd be shocked. It's strange. His face is…"
Miro's eyes trembled in shock as she tried to recall Geopin.
"I can't remember."
"What?"
Instead of answering, Miro glanced at Hexa.
The child still slept in her arms, but its presence was fading.
"This is bad! The incident's been warped! In later timelines, Hexa dies!"
Because beginning and end were linked, Hexa's death in the future could affect the present Hexa.
"Huh? Uh—?"
Shirone raised his hands in alarm.
As Hexa's presence thinned, Shirone himself began to grow faint.
"What's happening?"
This proved it.
"Hexa. Are you really Hexa?"
If Hexa died, Shirone could not exist either.
Worse, Geopin's memory disappearing meant a time closed curve had opened.
In short, she would face Geopin's erasure before completing his orders.
"No!"
Miro sprang up and grabbed Shirone by the collar. "Get out of this coordinate right now!"
They didn't know what future would follow, but creating variables was their only chance.
"But… where do we go?"
"Geopin's Gate! Come there! We'll anchor Hexa there! We must secure that incident!"
Shirone nodded repeatedly. "Hurry! There's no time!"
As Miro left the room, Shirone cast Shibulsangpokmae.
"Ugh!"
His head felt like it would split again as huge events flooded his senses.
"Hah! Hah!"
Though the space was the same, in a completely different timeslot Shirone fell forward, gasping.
He had survived.
His sense of his body returned.
'Why did Miro's mission fail?'
That thought came first.
'I only met Miro.'
He had neither harmed Miro nor intended to.
The only thing he could suspect—
'Because I asked about Geopin.'
His curiosity about Geopin had ruined things.
'So my future self's obsession with Geopin caused Miro to fail her mission?'
Mission failure meant Hexa's death.
'I have to get to the Paranormal Psychophysics Research Society!'
That's where Geopin's Gate was.
'Please don't be too late.'
Shirone checked the warehouse marker and ran the opposite way from where Miro had gone.
Time: 12:53 a.m.
Place: Istas Warehouse No. 65.
"Ugh."
Where Miro had swept through, only corpses remained.
"Damn bitch."
The sole survivor was Rukang, an assassin of Flame Unit 1.
At twenty-three he had been recognized for his swordsmanship and judgment and recruited into Tormia's secret force, the Flame Unit.
"I thought life would get easier."
It was a dangerous job, but he had been confident—and his future had seemed bright.
'This is just a one-way ticket to die.'
Before the forty-two Flame operatives came here, they had all written wills—not because they might die, but because they knew they would never return. A kind of death certificate.
'Patriotism, my ass.'
He didn't want to be here. He wanted to tear off his Flame badge, quit, shout that he'd go back home.
'What use is honor if you're dead?'
But no one left; they were dying one by one.
They might have died even if they'd refused the mission, but if they were to go out like this he should've at least fought for his pride.
"Heh heh heh, damn world."
Rukang braced himself on the ground and leaned back; only his crushed lower body remained pitifully in place.
'How do we beat a monster like that?'
If Miro hadn't been focused on the child, his body would have been shredded like his comrades'.
'There's only so long you can hold on with schema.'
Strength ebbed as blood welled beneath his entrails.
"Is this the end…"
Just as his eyes began to blur, the door opened and a small group entered.
Time: 1:01 a.m.
Place: Istas Warehouse No. 65.
"Oh? A survivor…"
Behind the compact woman stood two men who looked dangerous at a glance and a tall, slender woman.
"Yolga."
Rukang lifted his head with effort and took her in.
Her deep brown hair curved gently over her forehead; her face was clear and translucent.
Small in stature, but strikingly beautiful.
"Damn it!"
Rukang's face twisted like a fiend.
Against the inhuman Miro, only Yolga and her companions could stand a chance.
When the Flame fell they hadn't even shown up, and now—what was that about?
"Are you okay? You're badly hurt."
Yolga pushed back her hood and approached.
"Badly hurt? Does this look like 'hurt' to you? It's all your fault. Despicable."
"Calm down. It's dangerous."
"You're going to die anyway. We're all dying because of you."
Yolga fell silent.
"I know. If you hadn't lured the king, Flame wouldn't have been deployed."
"I'm sorry. But we still need Geopin. We're not ready to stand against Heaven's army yet."
"Shut up! What does Heaven's army have to do with anything? I'm about to die—what good is any of that to you?"
"Forgive me."
Yolga bowed her head. Rukang glared and gathered blood in his mouth.
"Spit!"
He spat in her face.
"You bastard!"
Edgar, the two-meter giant standing behind Yolga, swung his mechanical arm and stepped forward.
"Don't you have conviction? Is dying that scary?"
"I'm just furious at how we died—like animals. From the start we were no match for Miro. We were only needed as meat shields, weren't we?"
"I don't have much life left, but I'll end it on my terms."
Edgar slammed his steel fist down as he advanced; Yolga raised a hand to stop him.
"If you have a last message, speak. I'll pass it on."
"Hah. You won't be going back either. It's all over."
Rukang sneered and laughed.
"If you want to repent so badly, how about a kiss? You were killing from the first sight, weren't you?"
"…"
"Oh, you're married? Doesn't matter—you'll die anyway, right? Huh, come to think of it, I don't have lower body parts, do I?"
The darker the murderous looks from Yolga's companions, the more Rukang enjoyed himself.
"Heh heh heh, anyway, you—"
At that moment, Yolga leaned in slowly.
"I'm truly sorry."
She grabbed Rukang's face and pressed a deep kiss to his lips.