Editing The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume4 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 5===

'''(Timeline “Past”)

The night was growing late.

After successfully infiltrating Pandemonium, Shiroyama Kyousuke and Himekawa Mika hid among the complex array of passageways and rooms.

They had intended to use the large density of summoners to defeat one after another while using the Chain state to maintain a powerful Material and break into the center where the processor core and its 353 vessels were. Their opponents always had to start at the Regulation-class with a cost of 1, so Kyousuke could defeat an entire group once he had built up a Divine or Unexplored-class. A true demon king would be sweeping away the scouts and foot soldiers.

But.

After managing to summon the Unexplored-class “Ashen” Shrine Maiden who Invites Merciful and Dignified Death (em – ao – lev – ck – rol – ei – vb – yu – a – ps), their Chain broke and the original vessel returned. Needless to say, this was not due to a lack of skill on Kyousuke’s part.

“They intentionally had all the enemy summoners keep their distance to break our Chain.” The boy bluntly analyzed the situation. “I had assumed their coordination would be poor since they’re a mixture of Government, Illegal, and Freedom, but the Deltaston family must have more control than I thought.”

Kyousuke’s protective circle vanished and his vessel returned to being a bluish-black-haired ponytail woman in a navy blue tight skirt suit with torn stockings that showed off her bright skin. Himekawa glanced around and asked a question.

“Th-then what will they do next?”

“Don’t ask me.”

(They should already know they can’t beat me even if we’re all starting with Cost 1 Regulation-classes. And I doubt they’ll use the indiscriminate destruction of a Holy Key Woman to release an uncontrollable Divine-class inside Pandemonium. …If they’re being managed well, they’ll probably go for a little cannibalism. They’ll fight each other to build up an ace Material before attacking us again.)

Discussing that would only worry his partner, so he kept silent.

(That just means we have to do the same thing they did. After they reduce their numbers with the cannibalism, their Chain only lasts 90 seconds. If we can escape, the Material they sacrificed their own people for will be entirely wasted.)

Summoners used otherworldly beings that exceeded human understanding. Just because an opponent or situation seemed hopeless or too much to handle, they could not give into fear and stop thinking. They had to accept their weakness as a human and then use that to overcome it. That was the true essence of a summoner.

Kyousuke maintained a unique mental state that kept him relaxed enough to perform as best as possible while remaining tense.

“Mika.”

“That’s Mika''-san''. What is it?”

“Don’t force yourself. I doubt you’ve fully recovered from the cold water earlier. Find something around here to warm yourself with.”

“It’s been a while since then and I was fighting while transforming into Materials.”

“''I’m saying it's coming back.''”

Kyousuke had not overlooked the unnatural trembling in the core of Himekawa Mika’s body.

Being a vessel mostly came down to an issue of inborn talent, but the ability to be a spiritual medium was not always a plus. If they did not bind their own mind with restraint-like accessories, they could easily erroneously and accidently summon evil or vengeful spirits.

That did not seem to have happened this time, but a less serious problem was showing itself.

Kyousuke was pretty sure it was a condition known as an Imaginary Flashback.

“Any frustrations or desires held just before transforming into a Material will return with twice the intensity when you transform back. Of course you’re going to be having trouble after such a chill.”

“Uuh…”

It was like having your forgotten sleepiness come rushing back once the effects of the energy drink wore off. All physical effects were negated while in Material form, but that did not mean the vessel’s physical body recovered.

“Mika, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Not only were you forced into a mental battle with an otherworldly monster, but you’re a Holy Key Woman which has to make it worse. It makes sense you would run into problems more often than a normal vessel.”

“It’s Mika''-san''! Uuh…so it’s an error? But it’s still embarrassing…”

They were not in a military control room full of strange gauges and they were not in an armory where a single match would trigger an explosion large enough to blow them all the way to the moon. It was a space larger than a school classroom with drink and bread vending machines along the wall and several tables in the center. The chairs could recline for taking naps in them and the armrests had folded blankets on them.

(10m x 20m x…)

It was obvious if you thought about it, but even a military facility was run by people and they would need normal living spaces to supply the basic necessities.

(17.04m? What a shame. It’s so close to being 1 x 2 x √3.)

Kyousuke thought on the spatial observations that any summoner picked up as a habit.

At any rate, they only needed 5 or 10 minutes. He had Himekawa sit in a chair with the back reclined and he somewhat forcibly placed a blanket over her. But then the woman in the navy blue tight skirt shivered.

“Uuh… When you warm up a cold body so quickly, um, the difference in temperature…affects the bladder.”

“I can turn the other way if you want.”

“No, I’m fine. I have my pride!”

As he poured hot water in a cup of instant noodles on the table, Himekawa spoke while curled up in the blanket.

“Kyousuke-kun, you said I look a lot like a woman you used to know, didn’t you?”

“What about it?”

“…I most likely knew the same person.”

She revealed that information with a faint smile.

Kyousuke looked surprised, so she continued.

“Or rather, I remade my entire life plan to be more like her. My physique, my clothing, my mannerisms, my educational history, my skills, and my definition of salvation… You may have felt bad when you couldn’t help but compare me to someone else, but being told I’m just like her actually saved me. It told me I hadn’t chosen the wrong path.”

“But she was part of Government.”

“I pursued Madam Professor after she disappeared. But the higher ups would not let me view her information while I was in Government, so I thought I might have more luck if I joined their enemies in Illegal.”

The truth of that was hidden in darkness.

And that was a deep darkness that got to the root of Shiroyama Kyousuke and the White Queen.

Those were not secrets an individual’s effort could reach. But Himekawa Mika did not view Kyousuke with hostility or mistrust. She only narrowed her eyes gently.

''Oh, so that woman continued being herself even after she vanished.

''And this boy inherited something from her.

''Even if she is no longer here and we can only speak of her as someone from the past, she remained true to herself to the end and must not have felt any regret about her life.

That was what those eyes said.

“…She was a strange person.” Kyousuke suddenly found himself speaking. “For one thing, she was always terribly careless. She was almost always late, she would drink alcohol at work, she refused to eat any vegetables except for cabbage and radishes, and she lost interest so fast she couldn’t finish a movie, a novel, or even a manga. In her work, she would say the system was too coldhearted and that it lacked humanity, so she would write her own script into the blank spaces. Watching her made me seriously think that simply aging wasn’t enough to call someone an adult. I started wondering if we needed some kind of national exam like we do for driver’s licenses. She would make anyone and everyone mad, but strangely, everyone ended up laughing by the end. Even the coldhearted developers and fighters.”

Himekawa’s expression softened as she accepted the cup of noodles.

“Yeah…ha ha. I more or less know what you mean with all that.”

“And she often seemed entirely clueless. That Miniature Garden five hundred meters below the earth was a psychedelic egg where hidden knowledge and cutting-edge technology mixed, but even there, she taught us something incredibly strange.”

“What was it?”

“When you first see someone in the morning, give them a cheerful greeting.”

Kyousuke smiled faintly as he repeated the words of someone who was no longer with them.

“Isn’t that strange? But she really did teach us that. She threw out the Sewn Realm Summoning meant to monopolize the White Queen and the Fifteen Siblings Project meant to bring peace to all mankind, and she started with that. But I think that led straight to the most important thing. Just like we associate the stars in the chilly night sky to form constellations, I was able to see the slight bit of humanity hidden deep inside people dyed so deeply in the colors of coldhearted cruelty.”

It had been a small thing.

But it had been a necessary gear toward producing great meaning.

It had to be due to the accumulation of those miniscule but undoubtedly right things that had allowed Shiroyama Kyousuke to avoid drowning in the White Queen’s power and to continue fighting against that absolute temptation. He had been given the power to view the world head-on instead of from a cynical angle. And that obvious thing had given him the strength to reject the Queen’s overwhelming power even if every other summoner and vessel succumbed to it.

“If you have a unique background or objective, some irregular behavior is allowed. Society is accepting of eccentrics as long as they have a useful sort of genius. The little things can be overlooked in the face of the big things. …I’m certain it was thanks to those people that I didn’t use any of those outs. I’m not about to say I’m average for this world, but it’s because of the normal things they taught me that I can ''just barely'' avoid crossing the line.”

Without that, he would have succumbed.

He would have been swallowed up by the symbol of uniqueness that was the White Queen and he would have been irreparably distorted.

Or perhaps Shiroyama Kyousuke would have become a monster even greater than the Queen.

“Biondetta said our original families had betrayed us, sold us, and abandoned us. She said we had no friends in that cramped Miniature Garden, that all the adults were cruel, that the social structure was shallow, and that our sibling bonds were only artificial and thus untrustworthy.”

It was slight, but there was some bitterness in his voice.

“But there was more there if you pulled back the veils of suspicion and hatred and looked closely. Maybe it was like the Buddhist concept of Issui Shiken. The exact same lake seems to glitter with jewels to a Deva and seems filled with blood to a Preta; it’s all in your viewpoint. It’s true that the path the 15 of us walked may have been truly terrible and unlike anything a normal person experiences. Even my view of ‘normal’ may be terribly distorted. But that Miniature Garden contained more than just a perfect machine. Those were living and breathing humans. Everyone’s expression softened when Madam Professor was around. But she said that was something we all already had inside us. So no matter how coldhearted everyone acted, they had to have a warmth that would leak out as soon as they relaxed.”

Biondetta had been furious. She had said Kyousuke had been the only one of the 15 children not to break because he alone had received the Queen’s love.

But Kyousuke saw things differently.

He suspected Biondetta and the others had received ''too much exposure'' to the White Queen. Perhaps it was like a halo effect, but they had mistakenly decided each and every one of that powerful girl’s words held great meaning. When a national idol shook your hand in hers and smiled at you specifically, everything else seemed to vanish. The small kindness and favor of those closer to you were blown away. It had been just like that.

But what if they had not been trapped by that bright sun?

What if they had still recognized the shine of the stars twinkling in the night sky?

They might have seen an entirely different world.

Even if it had been an isolated space, that miniature garden had been large. It had taken 1000 people to keep it running. It was impossible to feel alone there as long as you looked to them.

Himekawa Mika narrowed her eyes a little as she drank the noodle soup and slurped up the noodles.

“But it wasn’t you that found that possibility.”

“Right. It was definitely thanks to those people. That wasn’t something some idiot who acts like a genius could do.”

Then Kyousuke quickly looked up.

He strained his ears and sensed a slight smell in the air.

“…They’re here.”

“Eh? Eh?”

“Mika, our break is over once you’re done eating. There was an odd change in the echoing footsteps of the summoners who have entered a Chain state, and I just detected the scent of an Incense Grenade.”

She pulled off her blanket and the two of them ran out of the break room and into the passageway. A young female summoner was just turning a corner further down the passageway.

She was accompanied by a Divine-class with a cost of 6 from the low sound range.

That giant bird from Indian mythology was Vishnu’s mount as well as the enemy of all snakes. This summoner could not have just summoned this Divine-class, so it was most likely the result of “cannibalism” in which she had fought her fellow summoners to use them as a stepping stone. If Kyousuke challenged her with the Cost 1 Regulation-class Original Series, he would be defeated instantly.

“Found you☆”

The summoner began running toward them. If they were caught in the 20m field around her, the Chain state would switch to a normal battle.

But Kyousuke only grabbed his vessel’s shoulders and stepped back a single step.

That was all.

The Artificial Sacred Ground that should have swallowed them up vanished like a switch had been thrown.

“Wha-…?”

The Chain state only lasted 90 seconds.

The White Thorns were replenished every 10 seconds and a total of 7 could be held in stock, but he could still calculate his enemy’s remaining time by glancing at her stock. Someone taking part in that “cannibalism” would not think about continuing the battle after reaching the Material she wanted.

“Ah?”

And as soon as her Artificial Sacred Ground vanished along with her protective circle and Material, Kyousuke pulled the pin from and threw an Incense Grenade.

This time, he was the master of the Artificial Sacred Ground.

He raised his Blood-Sign and grinned as he challenged her on equal terms.

“My condolences.”