Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Chapter4 (section)

===Part 7===

What time was it, what was this place, and how much distance was there?

Kamijou Touma did not know.

He could not perceive his own body, much less anyone else. He had his five senses but not his body. Not even the translucent body seen in out-of-body experiences in movies and dramas. He felt helpless, like he was a worthless speck of light in an inconceivably vast world.

No, that was not it.

The helplessness and loneliness may have come from the lack of warmth in his arms from the girl he was supposedly holding.

(Where’s Furashina…!?)

He had no idea what was going on, but Kamijou still looked around.

As soon as he shifted his focus to the outside world, the scene changed.

It was like the entire universe had opened up.

The distinction between front and back, left and right, and even up and down had little meaning in this infinitely expanding space. Points of light flashed here and there in the dark space. He could not tell if they were expressing a will like his own or if they indicated stars or worlds.

But there was something with an overwhelming presence in the center of the space.

It looked like the ultimate manmade object and also like a biological eyeball.

Kamijou was reminded of the spaceship-like structure from when he had fought the Second Plajiner unit.

Had that been modeled after this?

Had the Blue Stalker designed the stage that way because of his desire for this?

And another thought occurred to him.

He had no real basis for it, though.

(That is not of our world. It shouldn’t be there.)

No, that was not quite accurate.

It was everywhere and crossed between every world, but that was why it could not be allowed to remain in a single world and be monopolized by that world. So as the puny resident of a single world, Kamijou felt a pain as he viewed it. It felt like an invisible “heart” or “soul” within him was being worn away.

This was the ruler and gatekeeper that connected every parallel world.

Only one possibility came to mind.

“The Tangram!!”

As soon as he said that, something flashed.

They were two small lights. They were much like Kamijou now and he could tell they were racing toward the giant eyeball. No, one of them was caught by the other, held in the other’s grasp, and being dragged around. It was all in order to forcibly approach and contact the Tangram.

They had no faces and no bodies.

But he still immediately identified them.

(The Blue Stalker and…)

“…Furashina!!”

There was no need to hesitate. He had no reason to just watch.

He would save her.

With that purpose in mind, his point of light also raced toward the Tangram at dizzying speed. He began a headlong charge to take Furashina Ririn back from the Blue Stalker.

The Tangram grew to fill his vision, but the distance between them never seemed to shrink. It was simply too big. It felt like chasing after the sun.

And his attempts to catch up to the Blue Stalker were not going well either. The closer he got, the greater the ferocious headwind that obstructed his progress.

The point of light spoke mockingly ahead of him.

“It’s useless. The Tangram is the highest being that binds all dimensions together, but it also chooses who can contact it. Those who are rejected are repelled and vanish into one of the infinite parallel worlds. And they are swapped out by someone from that world. You are not qualified. As far as I know, only the Plajiner girl has ever accomplished that.”

“!!”

“And I have acquired the Plajiner girl. In my own way. By sacrificing a world and using the singularity of technological development known as Academy City, I have duplicated the master key! So the Tangram will accept me. My primary objective is returning home, but if I have a means of doing so in a comfortable manner, I must make use of it. I will use that gate to return to my original world where Virtuaroids are weapons of war. Once there, I will bring freedom to the world by letting the two Plajiners meet and lock up. There is no good or evil here, boy. Only the acknowledgment of correct or incorrect!!”

Kamijou did not care.

He did not care about that.

The Tangram, Plajiner, parallel worlds, and the master key did not matter to him. To Kamijou Touma, the one and only absolute rule was the presence of a girl who was not even allowed to shed tears.

After all, she had conveyed her will in the very, very end.

After being dragged from the Second Plajiner, Furashina Ririn had wrapped her arms around Kamijou’s back as he held her. She had clutched his clothes in her small hands.

That was enough for him.

Even if she had not spoken to him or written him a letter, Furashina Ririn had already confessed her feelings.

She did not want this.

She had not accepted it.

She wanted to live.

She wanted someone to save her.

So ''the real Virtual-On did not matter. The power balance of that world could eat shit.'' By destroying everything, bringing it to failure, ruining it all, picking a fight, and selfishly and willfully refusing to hold back, Kamijou Touma was only trying to say one thing.

He would keep his promise.

He would save her.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

But reality was cruel.

The headwind crossed a certain line. Kamijou could not continue forward and was held in place. And before long, he was pushed backwards. The Blue Stalker continued toward the Tangram while holding onto Furashina Ririn. If they made contact and were sent to a parallel world, they would be out of Kamijou’s reach. He knew that, but he could do no more than watch. In fact, Kamijou Touma’s puny existence felt like it was being blown away like a dandelion.

The Tangram was rejecting him.

And just before that happened…

“Honestly, why are you getting so thoughtlessly worked up on your own there? Well, that might be part of your charm, Touma-sama.”

Something supported the boy from behind, even as his existence was nearly blown away.

There were no physical bodies in this world, so he could only see a point of light. Still, he instinctually realized who it was.

“Lilina!?”

“Hi, Touma-sama. It’s your lovely partner, Lilina-chan.”

Why was she here?

How could she resist the Tangram’s frightening power of rejection that forced all things into random parallel worlds?

“Given my appearance, there’s a good possibility I’m an external emulation control program for the Second Plajiner based on Furashina Ririn.” Lilina sounded exasperated. “The Tangram only accepts the original L’Ln Plajiner or a copy as its master key, right? Then wouldn’t I have a small right to control since I was modeled after her in a different way?”

“…”

“Well, it’s probably more accurate to say the Blue Stalker made me as insurance in case the Furashina Ririn plan failed, but he was a real fool to prepare multiple access points. Did he not know that more openings makes it easier for a cyber attack to get in?”

But Lilina shouldn’t have been able to do anything alone.

Furashina Ririn was the complete master key and Lilina was only a partial one.

To put it another way, Furashina Ririn was the completed jigsaw puzzle and Lilina was just one piece.

That would be why the Blue Stalker had given Furashina Ririn top priority.

However…

“Who ever said I’m the only Lilina?”

He had not expected that.

And the next thing he knew, they were not the only points of light.

“Whether legal or Defected, every device had the Lilina support AI preinstalled. They all grasped their player’s traits and grew into different Lilinas as they conversed with their player. And unfortunately for him, the Blue Stalker had all of us absorbed and stored within the Second Plajiner. That means we were dragged in here.”

There were more than just 1 or 2 of them.

In fact, there were more than just 10 or 20.

Kamijou suddenly found a full starry sky twinkling behind him.

“Now, Touma-sama. Give me your orders as always,” said Lilina. “Everyone is wishing for it. We don’t matter. Who could possibly bear to watch as Furashina Ririn is forced into such an unfair situation, mocked and manipulated by the Blue Stalker, and transformed into the villain’s master key? So we’re all waiting for your words as the final survivor who can save her. We want you to say that the rules of the true Virtual-On don’t matter and you can throw out any concern for the power balance in the true Academy City. We want you to say that one rule remains even if you get rid of all that and view the world as a blank slate. We want you to say that there is always one kind, unwritten rule that no one can violate, even if it seems overly convenient. We want you to say you believe that. So say that to the world. No, say it to that damn eyeball that links every world together! Say it to that piece of junk called the Tangram that thinks it makes all the rules! Show it you have the absolute words needed to reach it!! Touma-sama!!”

“…”

He accepted it.

He took it in.

He grasped it.

He had no body in this world and thus could not form a fist, but the boy named Kamijou Touma still clenched something.

“I don’t care how powerful a being the Tangram is, I don’t care if the Blue Stalker is protected by its absolute power, and I don’t care how hopeless Furashina Ririn’s situation might be.”

And he finally said it.

He was picking a fight with something.

“I will save her despite all that. Yes, I ''will'' save her!! Because she let me know she doesn’t want to die! Because she was glad, because she wrapped her arms around my back, and because she grabbed at my clothes!! Because she wished to live longer and she prayed to be happier. So I’ll give her what she wanted, no matter how high the hurdle in the way! No matter how difficult it might be!! Because it’s worth going through all that!!!!!”

He psyched everything up.

Kamijou Touma was no longer alone. He shook the hearts of all of the beings twinkling in that starry sky.

“So lend me your power!! I will make your dreams come true. You want to know someone will reach out their hand if a girl can’t even cry. You want to know that exceedingly convenient rule exists. Well, I’ll prove that it does!! And I’ll destroy anyone who gets in the way of that! They might say we can’t protect anyone, we can’t save anyone, and we can’t make anyone happy! But I’ll destroy every last one of those illusions!! I’ll show you that here! So, Lilina!! Each and every one you!! Lend me every last drop of your powerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!”

He let out a crazed roar, but everyone began moving calmly.

The immense number of lights, the countless Lilinas, all pushed on his back.

From there, it was like he was equipped with a rocket engine.

He was in hot pursuit.

It did not matter how far ahead the Blue Stalker and Furashina Ririn had gotten. With the support of as many Lilinas as there were stars in the sky, Kamijou Touma approached in the blink of an eye.

But as he got closer, the headwind from the Tangram grew.

The Blue Stalker sounded concerned, but he still mocked Kamijou.

“It’s no use. I have the full master key. That patchwork emulation might fool the Tangram to an extent, but only so far. You will be rejected by the Tangram in the end. It is only a matter of sooner or later.”

With another 10,000 kilometers, he might have been able to kick the Blue Stalker’s ass.

With another 5000 kilometers, he might have been able to grab Furashina Ririn.

But they were too close to the Tangram.

The Blue Stalker and Furashina Ririn would reach the giant eyeball before he fully caught up. Once that happened, they would leap to another world and Kamijou and the Lilinas would be unable to interfere. He would be unable to save the girl known as Furashina Ririn.

He charged onward with all his might.

He had no arms or legs in this world, but he still stretched his mental fingertips toward the girl’s point of light.

But he did not reach her.

He did not make it in time.

The true rules that treated Virtuaroids as weapons of war were far heavier and absolute than the boy’s pathetic cry. So it was a matter of correct or incorrect, not good or evil, and the Blue Stalker was prioritized. He would be accepted by the Tangram, he would contact it, he would freely cross between parallel worlds, and he would be given the power to rearrange history.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

Kamijou screamed.

But it was no use.

The ending was approaching fast.

In the end, this would establish a rule saying that ''there are girls in the world that cannot be saved.

But just before that happened, something far too large moved its gaze.

“………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Ah.”

The one caught off guard first was the Blue Stalker.

At the same time, there was a torrent of tremendous power. It was the ferocious headwind of the Tangram’s power of rejection. The Blue Stalker had held a position of absolute safety, but now he came to a stop. He was held back. Even though he held Furashina Ririn, the master key known as the Second Plajiner.

“What!? Why am I being rejected!? I was scattered among countless parallel worlds and rejected by you, but I finally, finally had the answer! This was the greatest possible Code Phoenix, so why is it unraveling in the final stage!?”

Kamijou also sensed the change as he pursued from behind.

The Tangram was an incomprehensible being that looked biological yet also dull and bland. But it had changed. Its appearance remained the same, but he could sense something oozing out from within.

It was almost like someone had accessed a previously automated robot and was now controlling it remotely.

But who could do that?

This being existed across every dimension and parallel world, reigned as the gatekeeper and ruler, and would eternally exile those it rejected to a random world. Who was the one and only person with the authorization to fully access the Tangram despite the risk?

“It can’t be…” muttered the Lilina right by his side.

Kamijou could also only think of one possibility.

“''Is that the true L’Ln Plajiner''!?”

He did not know what intention she had for this.

He did not know what she would benefit from this.

He did not know what emotions led her to do this.

But in the end, that absolute being had made her judgment against the wicked man who had destroyed an entire world in his greed, pursued a girl, and remade her into a copy of a girl who held a godlike position.

And she had judged him “incorrect”.

Thus the rejection began.

“T-to hell with this. The power to gain it all was right there. I had the master key in hand. I had Plajiner right here. And yet…and…and…byaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

He came to a complete stop.

In another few seconds, he would be exiled to a parallel world like a dried leaf blown from the branch by a gust of wind.

The judgment had already been made.

The Tangram had chosen exile.

There was no escaping it. Struggling would not overturn it. It was only a matter of sooner or later. The Blue Stalker would be sent to a random parallel world and would likely never appear before Kamijou and the others again.

Kamijou could just let it happen.

That would solve everything.

He knew that, but a thought flashed through his mind.

(Can I really do that?)

This man had made so many people suffer.

He had manipulated that one girl so very much.

He was the source of it all.

Kamijou had never managed to punch him even once. So could he really just watch as a third party interrupted and passed judgment?

Furashina Ririn had never shed any obvious tears.

But who was it that had stolen even that from her?

This was a strange rule set in place by some strange person.

Could he just leave it to that?

Was that his only option?

Really?

“Don’t joke…”

The next thing he knew, he was speaking.

And it quickly rose to an obvious shout.

“I can’t just let this happen. I’m sick of just letting some big shot have their way! Blue Stalker, whether I’m going to forgive you or whatever else, I won’t be satisfied until I’ve gotten one good punch in on you!! So give it back!! Give back my conclusioooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon!!”

He did not have a fist or even a physical body.

He had no idea if Imagine Breaker even worked here.

But Kamijou Touma was here.

That fact could not be denied.

So as a point of light, he charged forward at top speed. He shot toward the Blue Stalker who was pushed back by the Tangram’s power of rejection but just barely managed to hang on like a spiteful serpent.

Kamijou did not know what would happen.

He simply collided with the man.

Kamijou Touma broke through the center of the Blue Stalker’s point of light, causing it to burst into a million pieces.

There was not even a scream.

The tiny particles were swept away somewhere. They showed no sign of resistance.

Kamijou could not even imagine what kind of parallel world they would end up in or what form they would take there.

But he instinctually understood that the Blue Stalker there would be nothing like the one he knew.

He had finally gotten an attack in.

He had not left the conclusion to someone else.

He had settled things with someone who had harmed his precious friends and he now bore a certain sin in exchange.

“Sorry.”

A single point of light remained afterwards. It was that lone girl.

Kamijou Touma slammed on the brakes to stop alongside her and spoke to Furashina Ririn.

His words were brief but powerful.

“But I finally caught up.”

There was no response.

He concluded she was filled with something that could not be expressed with simple words.

And the change did not stop there.

Now that he had finally reached Furashina Ririn, Kamijou realized that something like an impossibly thin layer of filth was peeling away from what had looked like a point of light.

“The mechanism set up by the Blue Stalker is being removed,” said Lilina.

“Hm? You mean…?”

“I can’t believe it. The Blue Stalker’s mechanism was definitely wicked, but Furashina Ririn could not have existed without it. It was keeping the world in a ridiculous state where a girl with no physical form was given physical form. With the mechanism gone, Furashina Ririn should naturally disappear. But she’s not!? This is logically impossible, but something is forcibly establishing that logic!! It’s almost like some new rules were prepared to secure her safety!!”

It was cheating.

It was absolute.

It was salvation.

This was the judgment of the one who was meant to control the Tangram. Since her role had been taken from her, she was playfully helping out elsewhere. It was a chaotic mixture of solemnity and charm, of strictness and fun. This was different from the gods of legend who each fulfilled a single role. This was not on a level where she might lose believers if she allowed an exceptional action. This being reigned supreme in a dimension different from the puny boy who had only been able to yell and reach out his hand and who had been able to promise but not guarantee.

She had been saved.

She had saved her.

Kamijou Touma had to accept that he had only been able to fight and had thus failed.

“L’-…!!”

He looked to the Tangram and tried to yell something, but he could not.

He was hit by an absolute headwind far more powerful than the one that had hit the Blue Stalker. The overwhelming torrent prevented him from clenching his teeth or holding his position. And unlike the one that had exiled the Blue Stalker, he sensed precise directionality in this current.

It wordlessly told him to return to his world.

And just before he was blown away, Kamijou saw it.

It was often said that eyes can say as much as the mouth.

When he saw the strange emblem carved into the Tangram’s surface, he felt like the meaning contained there had changed ever so slightly.