Aoi felt the wind battering his body begin to ease. Only then did he dare to open his eyes.
He realized he was leaning against the slender arms and upper body of the girl.
A golden-haired girl stood with the blue sky at her back, her face floating before him as she looked down. She wore a deep blue and white kimono, her eyes glowing softly like they held inner light.
On her left cheek bloomed a flame-like azure birthmark. Above it, a lightning-shaped scar cut vertically through her eyelid.
Just beside her, a sword was planted in the ground. The blade, black and honed to a mirror sheen, bore a ripple pattern in the likeness of a blue dragon.
Sparks danced around her, carrying heat. Tiny flickers of lightning stung Aoi’s skin like tiny pinches.
Her breathing showed no sign of disturbance, and the power she emanated was so carefully refined that it felt seamless.
It was the form Rui had shown only once before to readers.
Back then, it had been wild, destructive, power that had driven even her to death.
But now, that same power coursed through her like lifeblood, calm, controlled, and still as the surface of deep water.
Beautiful.
He thought it, out of place, perhaps, but genuinely.
Her hair, her eyes, the very colors that cloaked her…
Even the most magnificent relics of history would look like scrap if placed beside her. That was the level of grace she held now, ethereal, almost otherworldly.
Come to think of it, when was the last time he’d seen her from so close?
Her expression was still. Was she angry? Sad? Relieved?
Even Aoi couldn’t tell.
「Sazanami. Stay with me.」
He tried to reply, but the blood pooled in his mouth caught in his throat, making him cough violently.
「…Rui…」
Looking up at that breathtaking, dignified face, he barely managed to speak her name.
Rui continued to support his broken body.
After a few ragged breaths, he finally managed to speak in a hoarse whisper.
「Will you… lend me your hand…?」
「Well, that’s rich coming from you.」
Her reply came without hesitation.
「Don’t you know me better than I know myself? You think after all this, I’d just turn tail and run without you? Is that what it said in your precious setting encyclopedia?」
Of course it wasn’t.
He shook his head and tried to smile.
Though, surely, he looked more like a mess, eyes red and face crumpled with tears.
His favorite line from that thick, heavily annotated fanbook he’d pored over so many times echoed in his mind:
“Though strong-willed and often sharp-tongued, she’s a clumsy girl who’ll give everything to protect those she cares about.”
Even if Rui was still poisoned by Kokujou’s curse,
Even if it meant putting herself at risk,
She wouldn’t hesitate to fight.
「You have the right to live. But Kokujou Lilia will be defeated.」
「Yeah… I see. …What an idiot I am…」
He added one more thing, softly.
「Thank you.」
As soon as the words left him, he choked with emotion.
He wanted to live.
And Rui had given him permission to face that feeling,
To reach for it.
From the pitch-dark depths where he’d been powerless, she had reached down and pulled him back up.
And in the safety of her embrace, Aoi began to cry.
He couldn’t stop the tears. He sobbed like a child, uncontrollably.
At the same time,
Despite the fever burning through him,
Something else began to rise from deep inside.
This time, it didn’t soothe him.
It clenched around his nearly lifeless body, sharp and merciless.
A feeling that clings to all living beings,
That can crush you, or push you to your feet, or chase you endlessly…
Regret.
Now that he’d finally come to terms with his feelings,
His body was nearing its limit, inching closer to death.
He silently begged time to stop, to hold off the unraveling.
Tears streamed from the corners of his eyes, mixing with the blood at his lips. He let out a groan, twisted by pain.
He already knew the regret of doing nothing.
But ever since setting foot on this second world, it was only regret from doing something that had haunted him.
He’d been cornered.
Rushed.
Made hasty decisions and tried to throw his life away.
Believed that what he could see was all there was and nearly committed a grave mistake.
Turned his back on those who tried to keep him alive.
He wanted to live, but his body was breaking apart.
His heart felt like it would burst.
Then, amid a brief silence, he felt the ground tremble beneath them.
Rui said nothing of the blood staining her clothes where he had buried his face. She simply spoke, quietly.
「Life… doesn’t really go the way you want, does it.」
Whether she was speaking to Aoi or to herself, it was hard to tell.
She lifted her face, meeting Aoi’s eyes, those same deep azure eyes that had once stolen his heart.
「There are things we can’t handle alone. Even if we act with the best intentions, we still end up hurting others. Even when we mean well, we can still be wrong. No matter how hard we try to avoid regret, it’s bound to find us.」
Her warmth flowed into his body, as though her very heat was keeping him alive.
「Maybe there’s no such thing as a life without failure. That’s why… even when we’re crushed, even if we fall apart—we can’t just stop there. A dear friend taught me that. That the past can’t be changed, so we have to step forward, to make sure our next mistake isn’t one we’ll regret.」
Aoi nodded.
「Just like… how you tried to do that for me. Now I want to do the same.」
The world seemed brighter.
The sky a deeper blue.
Her golden hair more radiant.
The flame in Rui’s eyes, perhaps it had leapt to Aoi, too.
Her words, though they came from self-reflection, felt like they were outlining the shape of Sazanami Aoi, echoing inside him.
He nodded again.
It had been a life of nothing but mistakes, to the point of hating himself.
But even so, he had survived, desperately, stubbornly.
He hadn’t come this far just to lie here like a stone.
The self-loathing still surged, boiling inside him.
But precisely because he hated his own foolishness…
Because of this searing pain that made him want to tear his chest open,
He had to rise.
Turn that agony into fuel.
Stand back up.
His chest,
His chest burned.
Just like that moment when he ran toward Rui before,
His hand curled into a fist, unbidden.
「…Me too—」
「――――AhahahahahahahahaHAHHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!」
A second after Rui had finished speaking,
A figure shot through the air from the far end of the avenue, cutting off Aoi’s words.
Her form tumbled forward, black hair whipping like trailing ribbons.
Torrents of toxic liquid exploded from the earth.
Aoi was hit with a chill, like a bucket of ice water dumped over his head.
Behind Kokujou, the world seemed to collapse into shadow, like a cliff-face rising into infinity, no light, only depthless black.
Shit.
That was all Aoi’s mind could muster when he saw her eyes, those icy blue eyes, razor-sharp and glowing within the darkness.
The bloodlust and battle-hardened fury in them said everything:
There would be no mercy.
One of the top executives of CODE: I was now facing down a worthy adversary and intended to unleash her full might.
Aoi was no longer even on her radar.
「A pleasure to see you again… little princess of the Saotome family!」
Kokujou spread her arms wide.
The black liquid around her moved like it had a mind of its own, taking the shape of insects.
Moths?
Maybe.
But Aoi only had a second to think.
The swarm launched straight for them, like a volley of bullets.
Touching one would mean certain death.
A pure, unfiltered end.
And before such a fate, there was very little a human could do.
「The pleasure’s mine. Though I do apologize for the rather disgraceful showing last time.」
Rui answered politely.
She traced her fingers gently down Aoi’s back, then faced Kokujou head-on.
She did not flinch, even with a sky full of death bearing down on them.
The moment she gripped the sword still embedded in the ground, fire and lightning surged around her.
「――This time… you’re the one who’ll be crying.」
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