Chapter 5.3

If you swear not to die

A sedan was traveling down a coastal road.

"Charlie, turn left at the next corner, then go straight for a while." "Thanks, Yui. I'm going to speed a bit."

Charlie was at the wheel, with Saikawa riding shotgun and navigating. Clouds had blocked the sun again, and it had started to rain. The four of us were driving in the direction Seed had gone.

"We're really doing this? All on our own?" Charlie glanced at me in the rearview mirror.

"Yeah. There's no telling what Seed's next move will be, or what he might pull. Since we know he's taken at least a little damage, now's our chance to take him down."

Ms. Fuubi wasn't here, and naturally, Siesta hadn't come back to life. To make matters worse, we'd lost Bat, our new ally. However, if we tried to make careful plans, Seed would come up with another scheme, and any damage we'd managed to do today would be wasted.

"We'll finish Seed by ourselves. We'll wipe out SPES. We'll end it all today." Siesta had said we were her last hope. We had to do this.

Today was going to be our final showdown with SPES.

"That's okay…right?" I turned to the other three. Come to think of it, I hadn't checked in with them about this.

"Of course." Saikawa twisted around, looking into the back seat. "As I said before, Kimizuka, I'm not your right arm, I'm your left eye! I'm sure the next thing this eye sees will be a perfect happy ending!"

"…That's great to hear."

Saikawa might be the youngest one here, but she was the most mature, and she always stuck with me. After learning what had happened between her parents and SPES, she'd overcome her inner conflict, choosing the future over the past. If that future was going to be a bright one, we couldn't afford to lose this fight.

"I was planning to do that all along anyway," Charlie said, without looking back at us. "That's why I came in a car I'd loaded up with weapons."

"Talk about well-prepared. You must've gotten that from Siesta."

When Charlie said she'd been planning to do this all along, she definitely

didn't mean she'd always been on my side. For Charlie and me, though, that was fine. We never got along, but even if we stayed on parallel rails the whole time, as long as we were heading in the same direction, that was enough. As progress went, it was plenty.

"What about you? Are you okay with this?" Finally, I turned to Natsunagi, who was with me in the back seat.

"Hmm, well, let's see…"

…I hadn't been expecting that reaction. Natsunagi stretched, seeming to think for a while.

"As long as you swear not to die, I guess it's fine." She turned an oddly mature smile on me.

"All right. In exchange, if I make it through this alive, you have to do what I

tell you one time," I joked. The death flag was intentional. When they're this obvious, they do a quick-change into survival flags.

"Coming from you, that's scary, Kimizuka… What exactly are you planning to demand?"

"'NC-17' is too tame. Brace yourself for 'NC-70' or so."

"What kind of adult fun time isn't allowed until you're seventy?!"

"A game of shogi and drinking tea on the veranda while surrounded by your grandkids, maybe?"

"That…actually is an adult game you can only play after you're seventy. … Huh? Wait, so you want us to be together even when we're old? Was that an indirect proposal…?"

"Marry you, Natsunagi?.............. Yeah, no."

"It's even worse when you refuse after thinking about it! I wasn't even asking for you to propose in the first place!" Natsunagi shrieked, pummeling my shoulder.

Then I realized that Saikawa was staring dully at us in the rearview mirror. "Hmm? This lovers' spat is even more rehearsed than your earlier ones. Something must have happened in London. Have you made each other into adults?"

"Seriously. What were you doing while we were working our butts off?" Even Charlie turned cold eyes on us.

…Sheesh. They don't have a clue. We had it rough, too.

"Actually, forcing me to drive while you two make out back there is extremely annoying."

"Haaah. Charlie, it looks as if you and I were never on Kimizuka's list of targets to romance. We're just sub-heroines."

"Uh, I never wanted to be Kimizuka's heroine in the first place." Charlie rejected that idea firmly, with a straight face. "And I'll defend that statement to the death."

"Oh yes, come to think of it, that is true for you, Charlie. You and Nagisa are rather similar—the way you're both aggressive, but a little weak when pushed— the difference is that you can't stand Kimizuka, while Nagisa really loves him. Remembering that makes it nice and simple."

"Yui, every so often you fling these incredible bombs without hesitating. I'm too scared to look at the backseat right now. I don't even want to imagine what that remark did to the mood."

"It's fine, Charlie. When you're in a romcom phase, the protagonists tend to develop hearing issues, so I'm sure they didn't hear that remark, either."

"Kimizuka! Your smartphone alarm is going off! It's loud!"

"Oh, it's still set to London time. Sorry… By the way, Saikawa, did you just try to tell us something?"

"No, nothing."

"That was magnificent."

For some reason, Saikawa and Charlie really seemed to be hitting it off, but that alarm had been so loud I couldn't hear them. What had they been talking about, anyway?

"Are you sure it's all right to be this relaxed, though?" Charlie sighed. She was probably concerned that we were acting so normal when we were headed into our final showdown.

"It's fine. It was like this last time, too."

This is probably the best approach for us. After all, before Siesta headed into her final battle a year ago, she thoroughly enjoyed her tea, the way she always did.

"Well, if you're okay with it, then all right." Charlie gave a fleeting, wry smile. "From this point on, though, no more jokes."

The tension in her voice changed the mood.

According to Saikawa, Seed's jump should have taken him to this area.

"Over there!" Saikawa said, pointing. A big bridge crossed the ocean, and on it was a pileup involving several cars. Beyond the black smoke, right in the middle of the span, stood a swaying figure.

"Bat…"

The shape on the other side of the thick smoke belonged to a blond man in a suit. However, Seed was the one inside it…or so I thought. Then again, it was hard to imagine that Seed would wait for us here, without a plan. It was more likely that he'd discarded Bat, his temporary, nearly broken vessel.

"! What should we do? Yui, is Seed nearby?"

"At the moment, even my left eye can't see Seed. But he may have turned invisible, so I can't guarantee…" Saikawa's expression was grim.

"Let's get out. Charlie, stop the car."

Either way, we couldn't ignore Bat when he was like this. We got out of the car about ten meters in front of him. There was no one else on the bridge; maybe the monster had scared them off.

"Bat…"

I went closer, loading my gun on the way.

His right arm had been severed at the shoulder, and there were puncture wounds in his chest and stomach from Seed's tentacles. He was managing to stay on his feet somehow, but he staggered dramatically. His head was down. He didn't look at us.

"Kimizuka, be careful! Bat's not—!" Saikawa screamed. As she'd anticipated, the tentacle emerged from his right ear.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Bat bent backward, howling.

It was probably the seed going out of control; I'd seen this happen with Chameleon before, during the battle on the cruise ship.

Not only was he bloodied and bruised all over, but his body had been commandeered as Seed's vessel and splashed with a lot of Seed's blood. As a result, the seed was devouring him from the inside out.

"I'll end it now." I walked toward Bat, keeping my eyes on him. "Kimizuka." Natsunagi was watching me with worry.

Hey, it's fine.

Anyway, I have to be the one to do this. It's not coincidence.

It's just that the word destiny doesn't suit whatever's between me and this guy. So, yeah. This is probably just—history.

"This is the second time we've fought, Bat."

Then I turned my gun on the man who'd been my sworn enemy for four years.

Albert Coleman

This is going to be one hell of a fight.

That was what I thought when I first took aim at my target. Except… "Bat, you…"

Bat was no longer in any shape to actually fight. That missing arm made it hard to keep his balance, and he kept falling over. The tentacle that had grown from his ear lashed around weakly, but even without Charlie's agility, I managed to avoid it without trouble.

As a matter of fact, it actually made me hesitate to attack. The fight was so one-sided that I wondered whether I should just finish him off and be done with it. He'd already lost all sense of self. As my former enemy raged feebly, he seemed like one of Scarlet's undead.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

However, even that faltering battle was finally coming to an end.

Bat's eyes had rolled back in his head, and as he howled, rampaging tentacles burst out of both his ears. The sprouts swelled, their sharp points turning on me. All his remaining strength had to be concentrated in those. That meant this was the end. I fired bullets into the tentacles bearing down on me.

"…Gakh, ah!"

They burst, spraying fluid. With a short scream, Bat crumpled to his knees.

Had I managed to destroy the seed inside him, too?

"Forgive me, Bat." I pointed my gun at the fallen man's head. My former sworn enemy, whom I hadn't seen in four years.

In a way, the hijacking Bat had pulled that day was what had launched my journey through the extraordinary. If I was going to call meeting Siesta "destiny," then I really should call meeting him a "fateful connection."

However, that would end today, too.

I was going to end it with my own hands.

All I had to do was put a few hundred more grams of pressure behind this trigger—

"…Ha-ha. This's ironic." "…!"

Just then, Bat slowly lifted his head. Destroying the seed seemed to have restored his awareness. He looked up at me with those sightless eyes, smiling faintly.

"Bat! Hang on, we'll get you treated—"

"Hey, whoa, we were fighting to the death a second ago. Don't go saying that now. You know there's no way I'm surviving this," Bat said, glancing at his bloodied body. He gave a sardonic smile. Cracks were beginning to appear in him here and there, as the price of being used as Seed's vessel.

"I swear… I thought I'd died at the factory and made myself look awesome as hell, and here I am, a total train wreck."

As Bat laughed at himself, I helped him over to the bridge railing and leaned him against it.

"! It's okay, you don't have to talk anymore."

"Ha-ha! I'm on my way out. Let me talk all I want." Even at a time like this, Bat joked around with that dark smile of his. "That said, my head's not working so great. I'm pretty sure there was something I was supposed to tell you, but…" His body was crumbling away, starting from the cracks. "Ah, I would've liked a smoke before I died… Guess that's not happening."

With shaking fingertips, Bat tossed a bloody cigarette away. It must have gotten soaked during the fight. He'd never get that thing lit.

"Take this."

Slim fingers held a cigarette out to him.

It was Charlotte Arisaka Anderson. She and the other two girls had watched our fight play out, and they'd come over to us before I noticed them.

"It belonged to that woman, though."

I see. She'd swiped it from Ms. Fuubi. Yeah, I was just thinking she needed to knock off her "I'm quitting" scam.

"Well, that makes it even better. Ha-ha! I'll smoke it for her." Bat put the cigarette between his lips, and Charlie lit it for him.

"—That's good stuff," he murmured, sounding as if he'd lost himself in it. He exhaled a big puff of smoke.

"There was something I wanted to make sure I told you." Natsunagi stepped in closer.

"Thank you for telling me who owned my heart."

It had happened about a month ago, when Natsunagi and I had gone to the prison where Bat was being held. He'd used his augmented ears to uncover the fact that Natsunagi's heart donor had been Siesta.

"On that day, my life began to move again. If I'd never learned about that, I couldn't have faced my past. I wouldn't have remembered anything. And so…

Thank you," Natsunagi said again.

"Ha-ha! I don't remember living a life worthy of gratitude from anybody. Doesn't feel too bad, though." Bat's eyes were vacant, but he gazed in Natsunagi's direction anyway. "You and that heart carry out your mission," he said, encouraging her in a steady, straightforward voice.

Natsunagi smiled back softly, then yielded her spot to me.

"…Oh, hey, that reminded me of what I needed to say." Bat grabbed my shoulder with his one remaining hand. "Don't you give up."

He spoke as if he were entrusting something personal to me.

"I blew it. You can still make it, though. No matter what you sacrifice, no matter what price you pay, keep working to get that wish of yours. Don't stop thinking. People are gonna warn you off, telling you not to go after forbidden fruit. They'll laugh at you for taking the road through hell. But if that wish churning inside you is the real thing, if it's something you want no matter what you have to put on the line—then cling to it. Grab it and hold on tight, Kimihiko Kimizuka."

It was the first time Bat had ever said my name. "—Yeah, I will."

When he heard that, Bat grinned.

"Well, now. While we've been chatting, it looks like my time's run out." The cigarette slipped from Bat's fingers. "I can't tell whether I'm hot or cold, and it's getting hard to hear. So this is death, huh?"

"! Bat. I… We swear we'll take Seed down. So—"

"'So rest in peace'? Wow, all this mercy from an enemy. Some top-class agent I am. Ha-ha!" Bat laughed the way he always did.

A girl knelt beside him.

"Bat…" Yui Saikawa squeezed Bat's hand. Her eyes were filled with tears. "Ha! What are you crying for, sapphire girl?"

"This happened because you protected me… Besides, there are things I still want you to teach me!"

"How many times are you gonna make me say it?" Although Bat's words were harsh, he seemed to want Saikawa to understand. "I was just doing what I wanted to back there."

This was a story I didn't know, one that belonged to Bat and Saikawa alone. I was sure it was because they'd both been wrestling with the issue of revenge. Even if they'd come up with different answers, there was something the two of

them had been able to share.

"One more piece of advice. When you point a gun at your enemy, don't hesitate. Shoot them in the head. That's an ironclad rule. Let's see… When you get home today, I recommend eating pizza and watching a ton of zombie movies."

Saikawa's face had crumpled, and Bat gave her a little smile.

"I'll remember…!" There were big tears running down Saikawa's face now, and her voice was rising.

"Yeah, that's right. All it takes to land you in big trouble is a moment's hesitation, one little slip…"

"Not that! I meant you, Bat! I'll always remember you!" Saikawa screamed. Bat's sightless eyes widened.

"Just like you remembered your little sister for twenty years, without forgetting her for a moment! Like I remember my parents every time I close my eyes! I'll never forget you! My left eye will always, always remember what you looked like! And— I'll— All four of us! We'll always remember what you wanted to protect! And so—"

Saikawa's face was blotchy and swollen with tears, but even so, at the end, she smiled.

"And so please don't worry—Albert." It was probably Bat's real name.

"—I see," Bat murmured, his voice coming out like a trickle now. Leaning

against the railing, he raised a trembling hand to the sun. "So feelings don't vanish?"

That's right. Even if your body gets destroyed, your feelings don't disappear. As long as somebody remembers it, your last wish will never die.

"Ha-ha. I didn't…know that. I'm glad I found out, before the end," he said. His smile seemed boyish, as if the last twenty years had fallen away from him.

Then, drenched in sunlight, as if he could see someone beyond that light—Bat murmured his last words.

"I missed you, Ellie."