A stray projectile exploded halfway up a nearby building.
Sensing bloodlust at his back, Aoi leapt into a back alley. A car burst into flames behind him as he sprinted down the narrow lane, kicking trash bins aside in his desperate flight.
Just as he burst onto the main street, a red flash swallowed the alley behind him.
His breath was ragged, the air refusing to fill his lungs. His foot caught on something, and he crashed to the ground.
He propped himself up on one arm. A pale blue gash ran down his forearm, sending pain and panic spiking through him.
From his coat he pulled out a jagged, black key, one of the “Malice Divine Arms” the vanguard had dropped during the earlier battle.
He had picked it up just in case.
He didn’t know what would happen if he combined his Fallen Madness mode with the Malice Divine Arms. But it didn’t matter. Once he invoked that power, his life would be forfeit either way.
He kept running and slipped into a building that had somehow survived the collapse.
Dragging himself all the way to the rooftop, he stumbled over tangled wiring but made it to the edge.
A strong wind, almost like someone was blowing directly into his face, battered his skin as he clung to the fence and narrowed his eyes against the countless beams of light painting the city.
He tried to calm his breathing, but the nausea surged. He gagged and vomited.
Red-black fluid spread across the rooftop, mixing with beads of cold sweat dripping from his chin. A wave of chills swept over him.
「Where is she…!?」
Gripping the key tight, Aoi forced his head up and scanned the city.
Crimson shockwaves and black flashes clashed in the distance.
Not far, no doubt, it was Kokujou and Kotone.
Kotone was one of the most powerful in the story, but even she couldn’t last long against Kokujou.
He’d thought it over countless times…
Still, without Fallen Madness or a Counterblade, they didn’t stand a chance of defeating Kokujou.
They simply lacked the firepower.
He had to fight.
The key in his hand began to glow faintly, clicking softly with a tremble.
Was his clenched fist a show of his resolve to fight… or was it just to stop the key from moving on its own?
Even Aoi couldn’t tell anymore.
Footsteps echoed from the stairwell behind him, soldiers closing in.
But Aoi’s mind wasn’t focused on that.
『Okay!』
A voice echoed in Sazanami Aoi’s eardrums, one he’d never heard before.
His irises took in a scene he had never witnessed with his own eyes.
…It was around the midpoint of Volume 9 in the original story, wasn’t it?
In the middle of accelerating combat and a love story growing ever more intense, one girl, uncertain and awkward in an unfamiliar city, had nonetheless found her resolve.
And now, Aoi remembered that scene.
Unaware that countless viewers were watching her, Rui snuck off on her day off toward the station’s department store.
After about two hours of deliberation, she finally picked something up from a clothing shop with a satisfied look: a hair clip.
It had a large blue ornament. For Rui, who rarely dressed up in casual settings, it was an unusually flashy choice, undeniably so.
But it symbolized a break from the girl she had been up until yesterday.
A farewell to the version of herself who couldn’t be honest.
To the girl who always stepped aside in love, giving others the right of way.
It was a scene full of significance.
And yet, Rui never once wore that hair clip.
Because right after that, a major battle with CODE:I erupted, and she had to fight against Kokujou Lilia.
It happened just as she had finally found the resolve to rise and move forward.
Back then, did even the faintest part of her wish for death, despite her desire to live?
The reason she made that choice was simple.
Because if she didn’t, she wouldn’t have been able to protect the people she loved.
Even if her friends broke down in tears.
Even if Hayato shouted for her to stop.
Even if a heavy musical cue rang hollow over the ending shot of the powerless hair clip resting on her desk.
No one could be her strength.
And maybe Aoi was the same, now.
He knew what he wanted to do.
He knew what he didn’t want to do.
He knew the preciousness of everyday life, the pull of normalcy.
But even so, this was the only way to save his dearest friend.
He turned, breath ragged.
Beneath the blue sky, a hulking black figure leveled its spear. Behind it, a kaleidoscope of vivid irises blinked like fireworks across the battlefield.
He saw the slash coming.
He threw himself down and barely dodged.
Above him, the fence was split clean through and plummeted to the gray depths below.
Groaning, he rose to his feet.
「…Move.」
「……」
Each breath he took expelled more of his doubt.
In his past life, if he’d been in this exact situation, he wouldn’t have hesitated for a second. And that made it hurt all the more.
The tip of the spear gleamed with a dull metallic sheen.
But even more vividly than that sign of hostile intent, Aoi’s eyes were drawn to the endlessly sprawling blue above them.
The sky was so beautiful, it almost felt cruel.
「I… I don’t think I can hold back.」
He thought of Rui’s final battle.
How dignified and brave she had been.
But even then, hadn’t she cried, too?
The key in Aoi’s hand began to glow brighter.
And he saw the armored figure take a single, heavy step forward.
—I’m glad I was able to save Rui.
—She, of all people, should never have to feel this kind of pain.
With that breath, Aoi exhaled the last trace of hesitation.
He silenced the voice within him, the one still smoldering, crying out for someone to save him.
He drew in a firm breath.
And with blood in his throat, he let out a roar.
「《Resona– 」
「Sazanami Aoiiiiiiiiiiiiiii！！！！！！！！！！」
It was like being struck by lightning.
The scream cut him off before he could finish. In that instant, he couldn’t understand what had been said, or who had said it.
But he did know that something had just happened, something too fast for the eye to follow.
A flash of blue.
Countless sword slashes appeared all at once, like a hallucination of dozens of people swinging blades simultaneously. The armored enemies were cut down in a single instant.
From each wound burst thunder and searing heat.
They never even realized what had happened before they froze in place.
Watching this unfold, Aoi was suddenly reminded of the moment he had first arrived in this world.
A hopeless situation.
A second journey that began with despair rather than excitement.
And the light that had greeted him then,
It was the same as now.
Aoi staggered under the shock, and his body was flung from the crumbling rooftop edge.
All he could see was the vast, overwhelming blue of the sky.
The air parted behind his back and swirled into an updraft toward the heavens.
「Why are you here…」
Even through wounded eyes, he saw it clearly.
A figure raced across the sky, majestic and proud like the beings of a noble race, reaching out toward him, toward Aoi.
Far faster than Aoi fell to the ground, she closed the distance between them.
Her golden twin-tails flared behind her as she shouted his name again.
And Aoi, in turn, called out hers.
「Rui」
His hand reached out, caught in the wind.
A small, yet powerful hand seized his battered one tightly.
In that moment, it felt as though something had burst inside Aoi, a membrane that had sealed him off was torn apart, dissolving into a radiant blue glow.
In this city.
No, in this world.
No… even that wasn’t enough.
Eyes of the deepest, most elegant sapphire, unmatched in any world, were locked onto him.
Amid the vivid clarity of that view, Aoi asked.
「Was I… was I wrong…?」
Though he posed it as a question, it was more a desperate plea.
A hope that he had been mistaken.
Pulling him close by the hand she held, Rui answered.
「I’m here now because of this. Because I wish it. Because your sister does. Because so many people who care about you do. And most of all, because you do.」
She said it without the faintest cloud in her voice.
Then, wings spread wide, the girl swept Aoi up and away from the sky.
His body, once so tense, slowly began to relax.
And in the void they left behind,
Heavy, glittering droplets danced through the air.
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