The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume5 Chapter2

Status: Incomplete

6/12 parts completed

   

Stage 02: A Certain Boy’s Warm Days, Both Sides

“What about Alice (with) Rabbit?”

“Now we’ll never be separated again!!”

(Stage 02 Open 10/07 22:00 “Before the War”)

A Certain Boy’s Warm Days, Both Sides

Part 1

A month passed.

“Wait, Kyousuke.”

In a room the size of a midsized movie theater in the Miniature Garden’s Inner Circle, a muffled female voice spoke through a spacesuit colored white with pink stripes. The girl inside was supposedly a Scandinavian beauty, but was that really true?

“Stop ignoring that Queen and go look after her.”

“…It’s not like she belongs to me.”

“You know no one but you can communicate with her. When we talk to her, she only gives that nyah smile and repeats the word ‘brother’. I doubt that monster even understands her ABCs.”

Kyousuke mussed up his bangs.

Instead of the thin surgical gown, he now wore a red and black T-shirt and shorts. It was apparently the uniform of some soccer club or another. When they had seen him refusing to change out of the surgical gown because he only cared about functionality, Humpty Dumpty and the Dodo had dragged him into the walk-in closet, argued that he could not reject something if it was even more functional, and forced him to try on several outfits. This was one of those.

Yes, Kyousuke had started interacting with them.

While isolated in his group with Biondetta and Kyoumi, they had seemed like inhuman symbols of siblings, but once he started speaking with them, he found they were normal (if oddly dressed) people.

“So where is the Queen…?”

When he sighed and asked that, the answer came from a girl far younger than his 10 years. She was Shiroyama Junri. Perhaps because she had drawn the card for the Duchess, she forced herself to wear bewitching Western mourning clothes. She also wore crossed sash strings to carry a baby doll on her back.

“She’s struggling to reach something in the kitchen. Oh, I mean the one in the west block. Even with those specs, she apparently starts crying when she can’t reach the chips on top shelf. But those wouldn’t be very good for her health, so helping her would be neither here nor there.”

“That’s not quite how you use that phrase. And I can’t believe her. It wasn’t that long ago that she got flipped over in an empty bathtub and couldn’t get out.”

None of this sounded like the actions of the strongest of the strongest and the peak of the Unexplored-class.

But Claudia Shiroyama explained the law of nature behind it like it was obvious.

“That monster just wants you to go help her. You’re her knight in shining armor, so go galloping over to her.”

He did not know how serious they were about that, but it would be a major problem if he caused her to lose her temper which he had never seen her do. It was possible the entire Miniature Garden would collapse and bury them all alive.

After getting over his exasperation, Kyousuke finally opened his mouth.

“Then I’ll be going.”

“Sure thing. That’s how boys are supposed to act.”

The spacesuit laughed in response.

He had never expected they would be laughing together like this.

And it was more than just Humpty Dumpy in her white and pink spacesuit. It was everything. Somehow, the Miniature Garden seemed different from before. The Relective Graph showing their bonds was much more calm and stable and their lines were grouped much closer together. The tense atmosphere had vanished and the reason…no, the trigger could not have been more obvious.

The White Queen had appeared and been fixed in place.

Just before leaving the large room, Kyousuke glanced at the screen so large a home theater could not hope to compare. The lights were on and the screen had vaguely lost its outline, but it clearly showed a list of names.

It was the usual ranking board.

Except none of the 15 paid any attention to it anymore.

“…”

The world was surprisingly hard to destroy.

It had not audibly fallen apart as soon as the White Queen appeared.

It had been novel, disconcerting, and a lot like being in the same room as a bomb that should have exploded but did not. He did not want it to explode, but he could not relax while it did not either.

It was an uneasy feeling.

And much like the suspension bridge effect, it brought waves of various emotions to Kyousuke.

“Kyousuke-kun.”

A graceful woman’s voice reached his ears.

He turned around to find a developer in a lab coat and tight suit approaching.

It was Shigara Masami, aka Madam Professor, a developer from Government.

“What brings you here?”

“Nothing really.”

She had viewed the Mock Battlefield in the same way as Kyousuke, but she finally spoke.

“I think it’s a good thing.”

“?”

“However it happened, all conflict has vanished. I think you should honestly accept that fact, no matter what everyone else says.”

“…”

“Ah ha ha. I am a little sad fewer kids are coming to my classes now that ‘that girl’ showed up, so you’re my mental oasis for continuing to attend. Bye.”

She laughed, spoke, and left.

Kyousuke could not move for a while.

However it had happened, all conflict had vanished.

It was the white.

That being had done it.

The rankings had ceased to be updated on that day.

That meant they had all stopped holding mock battles at the Mock Battlefield.

They had reached the Queen.

Now that their goal had been achieved by a different method, the giant facility was simply drifting in the wind like a cicada shell or a dried flower.

This was now a world devoid of conflict.

It was a peaceful world where the family did not need to fight itself.

Part 2

Perhaps their initial assumption had been wrong.

Perhaps the White Queen would not necessarily destroy the balance and spread endless destruction.

Yes, just like the current situation.

Perhaps the Queen could end all conflict and save people if she was used correctly.

Part 3

When Kyousuke entered the kitchen bordering the cafeteria in his T-shirt and shorts, he found the situation had changed somewhat from what the 7-year-old Duchess had told him.

The “White” Queen who Wields the Sword of Unsullied Truth (iu – nu – fb – a – wuh – ei –kx – eu – pl – vjz).

The twintail girl who truly was mankind’s ultimate weapon had given up on the potato chips on the shelf and was instead crying down on the floor.

“Wahhh.”

It was like “that” was the only word she could say.

It was like some kind of seal had been placed on her.

“Wahhhhh. Brother, brother…”

But when Kyousuke walked in, she started using new words, like a switch had been thrown. She suddenly seemed to understand her ABCs.

“Ah! Brother!!”

The tears vanished in an instant.

With the full-faced smile of a small child, she did not even bother getting up and dragged herself across the floor to reach Kyousuke.

“Where did you go!? And I want to eat the quatro cheese flavor. That white crunchy stuff!”

“…”

———Kill the Queen.

———Eliminate the source of the conflict that will destroy the balance between the two worlds.

“What is it, ****?”

“Well, well you see…”

The White Queen shook her head while wrapping her arms tightly around Kyousuke’s waist.

She shook her head fiercely.

“Everyone’s so mean to me.”

“?”

“They say I shouldn’t bother you. They say the strongest of the strongest shouldn’t have so much trouble with these things. They say I should do everything myself. They say I should stop playing around with this creepy civility and instead show off the power of the strongest.”

She sniffled.

She pouted her lips in a way not even Kyousuke would.

“They say I can’t be part of your family since I’m not one of the 15. They say I can’t stay with you because my lifespan is different from a human’s. They say a summoner and a Material can’t be together.”

———Deceive her for that.

———Win her trust, earn your freedom, and pave the way to a miracle that lasts but a moment.

“Y’know, ****, that isn’t going to happen.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Really, really? You aren’t going anywhere, brother?”

The small boy looked up at the girl’s red and swollen eyes and nodded just once. He did not need to think about it at all. It was the carefree answer of someone confirming the obvious.

“We’re never going to change and I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stay by your side, ****. If you’re that worried, how about we make a promise?”

The boy in a T-shirt and shorts held out his right hand’s little finger.

“?”

“We make promises like this. It’s called a pinky swear.”

“What kind of effect does this ritual have, brother?”

“Well.”

———So that promise was broken from the moment it was made.

———You had lied from the moment you swore not to lie.

“If you break your promise, you have to cut off your own finger.”

Little finger wrapped around little finger.

He used a chair to reach the snack bag on the top shelf and that was enough for the strongest being to jump for joy.

“Brother! Then, then! Let’s eat it together. I want to have a party! If you open the back of the bag vertically like this…”

He perfectly smiled.

He perfectly accompanied her.

He perfectly found topics for conversation.

Once it was over and the White Queen continued to follow him around everywhere, he asked her to wait in his room.

And once her back disappeared, Kyousuke breathed a quiet sigh.

The sound of his fist hitting his own cheek rang through the Miniature Garden’s passageway.

Humans were truly unreasonable creatures, so there were times when they could not be perfect.

Part 4

The truth was found hidden behind a single thin layer.

In that dimly-lit room with a wall lined with flat-screen monitors, the gothic lolita kimono girl known as Humanism laughed.

“How young of you, boy.”

There was clear scorn in her voice, but also a hint of sadness.

That monster had achieved Award 2799 and she had extended her roots of experience out to the limits of the world she could perceive, so she released prophetic-seeming words.

“That is something everyone considers, but that no one can achieve. Surely you knew that before you arrived at the Miniature Garden.”

“Keh,” spat out the king of Illegal who rested his crossed legs on the table. “And you call yourself Humanism? You claim to praise humanity, but you don’t seem to understand human beings in the slightest.”

“Oh?”

“There’s one thing that humans will seek even if they know it’s wrong: an ideal. We aren’t machines that can throw out all the rusted components just because we claim correctness is everything. Personally, I’m relieved. That kid has the eyes of a precision guided missile’s sensor head, but now I know he’s more than just that.”

“That kindness will hinder the plan.”

“Oh, shut up. If you bring about the ideal but lose your heart in the process, that’s just another way for ruin to set in.”

Government and Illegal silently glared at each other.

The atmosphere was too tense for the surrounding operators to even gulp. They contradictorily wanted their hearts to stop beating so loudly so that they could survive.

The only one with any freedom there was the beauty in a Taoist outfit who had been nodding off.

She was the ruler of Freedom and a resident of the world of sleep.

“But I do see how this situation might not be so bad.” She muttered under her breath while rubbing her eyes. “It’s because the White Queen is so much more powerful than us humans that we don’t end up with a gloomy and sordid situation even with all our weapons. That’s why the humans of the three major powers can speak like this. We don’t attack on our own and we aren’t destroyed on our own. Yeah, mankind is hopeless when we bind ourselves and divide ourselves with the national borders we made up. Ahh, ahh. If only a giant saucer would attack from space…”

It was a hopeless opinion.

But that ruler of the free had dug down to a truth rudely blocking their way.

“…”

“…”

Humanism and Open Bluff looked away.

Once this conflict was over, what came next?

That was the deep, silent, and weighty question. Freedom had given up and decided they did not care what happened, but Government and Illegal each had something to protect. They doubted they could protect it during an all-out war between the three major powers and they doubted the flames of war would entirely vanish even if peace was announced between the three major powers.

They hated the White Queen, but her presence did support something.

“…That is a dangerous idea.”

The representative of Government slowly shook her head.

Thinking like that meant her soul had already been captured by a powerful attraction.

That was what her tone of voice said.

“It’s true I don’t know what the ‘next age’ will look like.” Illegal’s leader sighed and placed a thick cigar in his mouth. “But I want our age to be the last one that places kids with that look in their eyes on the front line.”

A quiet laugh followed.

It came from Perfect Equilibrium who had just about fallen into the world of sleep.

“What a romanticist.”

“Don’t be silly. Someone who can’t fight for their own ideal can’t turn their back on the cold system we call the world’s correctness.”

Part 5

“Mumble, mumble…”

In his T-shirt and shorts, Kyousuke spotted the White Queen in the cafeteria.

She was napping with her head down on a table.

Perhaps because he had helped the queen get the chips down from the shelf and made that promise with her, she was often found wandering around the kitchen or cafeteria. She may have found comfort in that connection to a pleasant memory.

The demon whispered in his ear.

————This should be a good thing. It hasn’t left the plan.

————Earning the target’s trust is undoubtedly the first step toward assassination.

“…”

The White Queen had a beauty that surpassed divine and seemed to drag his soul away if he looked at her for too long, but seeing her twintails splayed out on the table and the drool dripping from the corner of her half-opened mouth, she looked just like a small child.

He did not know if the strongest of the strongest could catch cold, but he approached and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“C’mon, wake up, ****.”

These situations were tricky with a being who had the ultimate offense and defense. She could shrug off an attack from a being beyond the gods, so he doubted a human whispering in her ear or shaking her would be much of a stimulus. He could only be thankful that she did not blow the country off the map when she tossed and turned in her sleep.

“Nnn.”

So when the White Queen said that, he doubted it was due to his futile efforts.

Was she half asleep or was it some kind of reflex?

She did not open her eyes and she sleepily shook her head before placing her lips around Kyousuke’s index finger.

“…”

“Mhh…hhh…”

She gently bit it with her white teeth and licked at it with the tip of her tongue.

Instead of a small child, she was now more like a baby with a bottle placed in front of her.

He let her do it for a while, but then he tilted his head and spoke again.

“…What are you doing?”

“Zzz…hm? Brother???”

Even after opening her eyes, she did not remove his finger from her mouth. She acted just like a kitten being loved on by its mother.

“I’m hungry…”

“If you need nutrients, I can get you a vitamin pill or a gelatin drink.”

“Mhh, mhh! Brother, isn’t there something else?”

“…Hm.”

Kyousuke was honestly not that interested in food. He took the White Queen into the kitchen with him and spotted…

“Oh, they have canned foods.”

“Rejected.”

“I’ve heard hardtack doesn’t actually taste that bad these days.”

“Double rejected.”

She opposed every one of his ideas like that.

There was only one thing left that Kyousuke thought he could fix for her.

“Cereal?” she asked.

“Yeah. You just have to pour it into a bowl and add in the milk from the fridge.”

There was no real meaning to it.

He thought it was just one of the options she would reject.

But the White Queen did not react as expected.

“Okay, that should work.”

“?”

“Heh heh heh. This is the first meal made for me by my brother!”

He had not “made” anything. He had only poured cereal and milk in a bowl and stuck a spoon in it, but the White Queen was so delighted that she started eating it right then and there without carrying it back to the cafeteria.

So Kyousuke decided to protest a little.

“Wait.”

“No. It’s too late to take it from me now!”

“Not that. I’m not too knowledgeable on the subject, but I hear you can put more than milk in. Like yogurt and dried fruit.”

He felt like he had to put in at least that much of an effort.

After he rummaged through the cabinets and refrigerator and added some more ingredients, he realized it now had nearly three times as many calories.

The White Queen smiled innocently, but Biondetta or Kyoumi probably would have punched him in her place.

“More, brother!!”

“Yes, yes.”

“You need to eat it with me, brother!”

However, he did not feel like getting another bowl dirty.

And with all the extra sugar and calories from his additions, it was probably just right to be shared by two.

“Excuse me, then.”

“Ah!”

When he stuck his own spoon in the large bowl, the White Queen blushed for some reason.

“What?”

“The same bowl…eating the same food…that makes this an indirect kiss! This is a day for celebration!!”

“…”

At any rate, the world was at peace.

He no longer had to worry about Biondetta and Kyoumi falling victim to the Summoning Ceremony.

They no longer had to fight with the Jabberwock or Humpty Dumpty.

It was all thanks to the White Queen.

It was all thanks to her standing at the peak.

So…

———Isn’t that great? Now you can focus on killing the Queen with no distractions.

———It’s all thanks to her. You need to thank her.

“…”

The demon whispered in his ear.

The young boy stared at his nemesis and hid all that in his heart.

And he used his reeling mind to think.

What was the right thing to do?

Part 6

The Mock Battlefield had stopped.

They no longer had to repeat those dangerous Summoning Ceremony battles that were too much for the facility’s safety features.

That was a good sign.

Or it should have been.

“Tah dah.”

A pink-haired girl put her hands on her hips and revealed her outfit to Kyousuke.

It was Biondetta Shiroyama.

She wore something like a white and pink waitress uniform.

“What is that?”

“Heh heh. The Queen of Hearts finally finished the outfit I asked for!”

Biondetta spun around on the spot as if to say, “Look, look!”

She was a waitress with devil horns and tail.

“I’m not sure I get the concept.”

“Oh? Doesn’t it sound romantic to make a contract and then lend a helping hand in someone’s fight? Yes. For example, something really emotional like a fight for revenge or retribution. I couldn’t be your big sister unless I was at least that insane.”

“…!?”

Something bothered Kyousuke about that.

It was like a smoothly moving record needle suddenly catching.

What had Biondetta just said?

What had she mentioned like it was no more than casual conversation?

“?”

The demon actually looked puzzled. She did not seem to understand what he found so odd.

And before he could figure anything out, the situation continued to develop.

“Oh, Kyoumi.”

Biondetta’s face brightened.

But the other girl did not even look over. That high school aged girl had somewhat droopy black eyebrows, loved to make costumes, and had made a White Queen one based on the paintings and sculptures in the gallery. She was the big sister they all relied on.

There was no sign of that anymore.

Her head swayed as if her body weight was swinging it around and she muttered something under her breath.

“It’s hopeless…”

It may have been wrong to compare them.

It was well made for something put together by human hands.

But the white dress she dragged behind her had frays, wrinkles, and stains in places.

“I was deadly wrong to look up to her. I never should have reached for the sun. Everyone must be laughing at me. They’re comparing me to the real one and laughing at me…”

Had she not noticed them or was she just ignoring them?

Shiroyama Kyoumi never did turn around and walked off somewhere.

Something invisible seemed to be tangled around her. And Kyousuke was worried because he had pulled the trigger.

The ranking board on the wall never changed.

It was like the brown dried leaves that stubbornly stayed on the branch even when winter came and they lost their power of photosynthesis.

At the very least, he had not done the wrong thing.

Even now, the 15 were avoiding any direct threat.

“What are you looking at?”

But that lifeless voice pierced through his heart.

He turned around to find someone had approached without him noticing. That boy’s messy blond hair and brown skin had lost their shine and he looked terribly emaciated, but his eyes alone gave off a bright light.

It was Alberto S. Divinesmith the Hatter.

He had once been – and technically still was – the summoner at the top of the ranking board.

But no one in the Miniature Garden visited the Mock Battlefield any longer, so that meant nothing. And he likely understood that better than anyone.

No.

He may have understood it too well.

“You’re…goddammit…you’re making fun of me. Don’t look at your elders like that. I! I am an undefeated summoner! I am talented!! I haven’t changed!! It’s everyone else who’s changed!!”

“…”

Biondetta shrunk down, but she still stood in front of Kyousuke.

Even after losing the ranking board, she continued to be his “big sister”.

How did that strength – that light – look to the Hatter?

His face twisted, his voice caught in his throat, and he exploded with anger.

“To hell with you! What is…what is with this position!? How did I end up in this miserable position!? I…that’s right…I haven’t changed at all!!”

Something could be heard cracking.

The Hatter may have clenched his back teeth so hard one of them broke.

“Do you enjoy hogging the strongest to yourself!? Well, do you, Kyousuke!? The Summoning Ceremony was supposed to be open equally to everyone. If you hadn’t done something weird, the Queen’s power would have been distributed to everyone. You twisted this world!! That’s why…goddammit…that’s why I-…!!”

Just before he raised a fist clenched harder than stone, something else happened.

“Brother?”

The world froze.

Alberto had been boiling like magma, but he came to a stop.

Cracks formed across his heart, as if it could not bear the rapid change in temperature.

It was painful to look at, but anyone would have been the same. His entire body trembled and he bit his lip. He could no longer move. He had built up his brand around being the oldest and an excellent summoner, but that pride was stolen from him.

It was the White Queen.

When she was here, what meaning did physical strength and the Summoning Ceremony have? How could any remain? That monster would end any battle the instant she was summoned, so how could an individual who had her on his side be defeated?

He was #1.

He was the hero of the ranking board.

He saw beauty in his madness and he found value in what no one could understand. He had even placed his own death on the scales and had not hesitated to wear away his own life for temporary pleasure.

That was the monster he should have been.

But he was not.

“〰〰〰!!!!!!”

That shell of his former self could no longer speak a single word.

Kyousuke and Biondetta saw something as they stood in front of him.

That absolute cliff, that summoner who had created such overwhelming pressure, wordlessly wept. But not at the Queen’s intensity. He wept at how worthless he felt when he was unable to do a thing while faced with a threat and standing before a powerful enemy.

He feared for his life.

And someone ranked below him had seen that fear.

Those were tears he had needed to keep hidden.

To him, letting young Kyousuke and Biondetta see those tears was a sin he needed to confess to god.

There was nothing he could do.

The Hatter turned his back and left. He ran off. There was nothing Kyousuke or Biondetta could do either. Those inexperienced children could not have known whether or not they should call out to the back of that fleeing hero.

“Are you okay?”

Their far too cruel savior asked that question.

It was a voice brimming with humanity like that of an older girl rubbing their head. It was very unlike the White Queen and they finally caught on.

“…Kyoumi.”

“Sorry.”

The girl dressed like the Queen crouched down and hugged Kyousuke and Biondetta.

“Sorry for ignoring you before. I didn’t know what to do or how to look you in the eye. But when I heard the Hatter shouting, I finally decided to return. …I could deadly understand when I saw it from the outside. I probably looked the same to you.”

“No, you-…”

Biondetta started to respond with her face buried in the Queen of Hearts’ chest.

But the arms around her and Kyousuke squeezed harder and sealed off those words.

“No. You mustn’t forgive me.”

It was a kind voice.

But there was a tremor of instability in it.

“If you do, I’ll lose the chance to forgive myself. Yes, I’ll be honest. The darkness inside me still hasn’t gone away. I doubt it ever will go away. It might grow or shrink, but…yes…my hatred of you will never completely go away. That’s what I think.”

“…”

“You can think of it as a ridiculous and immature grudge if you want. So Kyousuke…and Biondetta too. Don’t trust me. Don’t turn your back on me. Don’t think I’ve opened up to you. Always keep your guard up, always doubt me, and always keep me away. …Please, I deadly mean it. Don’t show a heartwarming opening and turn me into the worst possible sister who lays a hand on her own family.”

What were they supposed to do?

How would a grownup act at a time like this?

Kyousuke and Biondetta had no way of knowing, so they simply hugged their kind sister back.

They did not want to let her go.

But they had to eventually.

While wrapped in that warmth, Kyousuke felt the world, the hope, and the possibility he had imagined rapidly falling apart.

———The Hatter hasn’t done anything wrong and the Queen of Hearts isn’t wrong.

———The White Queen is simply there. She has not actually done anything wrong.

(Then how did this happen…?)

Looking only at the result, it was purely negative.

This vicious cycle would probably continue forever as long as the White Queen remained.

Their brother had his pride torn away and their sister had been crushed by the difference between the ideal and the reality. And if those siblings were like this, then what about the adults who stood above the children? How far was their distortion accelerating?

But…

Even so…

(An evil that does nothing wrong.)

Kyousuke clenched his teeth.

As a mere pawn and as a precision guided missile that had been fired, it may have been wrong of him to worry about this while making a show of thinking. He had been told who to aim at and to pull the trigger, so there was no reason to stare at and agonize over the list of suspects. It might solve everything if he skipped past all that and faithfully obeyed his instructions.

And yet he could not help but think about it.

He could not help but wonder why the world had been twisted in such a coldhearted way.

(Is defeating her really the right thing to do?)

That night, Shiroyama Kyousuke visited Shigara Masami’s lab.

She showed him the Relective Graph.

That line graph measured the 15 children’s bonds and changed in real time.

He saw exactly what he expected.

They were completely scattered.

Facts

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