Chapter 130

SUMMERTIME RECORD SIDE -NO. 7- A lot of the time, you see people who look back on their lives and say “Boy, I’ve sure come a long way.” But rest assured, my friend: You haven’t gone anywhere near as far as I have. I mean, this is a whole ’nother world. I wish it could’ve been a sword-and-sorcery world with elves and big-breasted maids, though, at the very least. There isn’t enough high adventure to this place. Something that can get my soul soaring to the beat of my passion… “What’re you thinking about?” “Oh, just about my friends. Like, they were pretty nice guys.” I was trying to act all cool and nihilistic, but Ayano just gave me a weird look and said “Hmm.” She must’ve seen right through it, with those downward eyebrows of hers. Ayano and I were strolling down a promenade the Kagerou Daze had made. Haruka had mentioned that the Kagerou Daze created scenery for us that reflected what was in each of our hearts, but it sure concocted a pretty boring-ass one for me. It was just the road I took to and from my high school. That’s it. Looking back, I couldn’t think of anything particularly happy that had happened to me here, on the way home. In fact, if this was the number one scene of my life, the thing that summarized my years, then it was making me feel like I left a pretty bland-ass life behind. I don’t know why, though, but Ayano seemed to like this setting. She was grinning the whole way. I swear, I’ll probably die before I understand what women are thinking about. Oh! But I guess I did die, didn’t I? Oops. “…So I guess we decided to rewind it,” Ayano offhandedly said, kicking a pebble on the side of the path. “Yep. I figured it’d end up like this, really.” She passed another pebble to me. I took it and gave it a dropkick down the road. …We couldn’t beat the “clearing eyes.” Not that it really felt that way to me, but being able to stop the world from unfairly regressing upon itself was, maybe, the same thing as saving the world. We could crow about it all we wanted to, though—it’s not like anyone would believe us. If we couldn’t prove it, it’d just sound like a bunch of fiction. And even if they did, and we all got lauded as heroes for it…even that would be a big waste of effort. After all, the final decision we’d made—to rewind the world—was exactly what “clearing” had been trying to do this whole time. That guy was gonna rewind this world sooner or later anyway. The idea that we should do it ourselves, that nobody was gonna know the difference anyway… Really, I couldn’t think of a more awful plan. The world’s going to go right back to zero, without anybody knowing about it, like we pressed some giant reset button. All of “clearing’s” hopes and dreams—come to life. “I mean,” Ayano whispered, “was there even any…purpose to fighting it?” I looked at her—and, as I’d expected, her face didn’t betray much concern about the question. “I think there was,” I said as I kicked another pebble. “Because once we knew the world was gonna end, I think we all pretty much lost hope.” “Yeah… I guess. If we didn’t know about it… If we never noticed… It would’ve just rewound anyway.” “Maybe you’d think the battle was meaningless if you didn’t know the world was going to end. But we did know that, right? So I think—to us, at least—there was a point to it.” The pebble bounced into the air and rolled into the gutter. “…How many times have we talked about this?” Ayano laughed, as if expressing the ridiculousness of it all. “Probably a few hundred times by now.” I grinned along with her. “Funny how we never get bored of it.” We continued walking, toward a setting sun that never quite made it all the way down. No matter how many days, how many years we walked, I was sure we’d never reach our destination. “You know,” I added to break the silence, “I bet ‘clearing’ didn’t want to disappear at all. It had its own consciousness…but it was still just an ability. If it could make a wish come true, it’d disappear, right?” “Probably, yeah. That’s why it tried to flip the hourglass on the world so the wish could stay alive. The longer it didn’t come true, the longer it’d survive.” “Right. So…probably, if you ask me, we’ve fought this battle hundreds of times already. Thousands of times. And every time, we just hit the rewind button on the world. The story wouldn’t add up if we didn’t.” Ayano stopped. “Did…did ‘clearing’ say that to you?” I gave a mischievous grin at her concerned face. “Ooh, I like that idea. A friend… Someone that it took over.” “Look, I know this is the end of it, but I really don’t want to go treading into dangerous territory like that.” She puffed out her cheeks. I felt a little bad for making that joke. “Just kidding, just kidding,” I said, strolling onward. Ayano joined me, making sure her pace matched mine. “Kind of rare for you, Shintaro. Using the word ‘friend’ like that.” “Oh? Yeah… Maybe you’re right.” “So, um… What about me? Am I…a friend?” The evening sun still hadn’t set, but the end of summer was definitely near. I wasn’t sure if I’d remember this feeling until the next one came along. I was sure the memory would escape me, but—for some reason—I had this weird dream that I couldn’t possibly forget it. It seemed like such a sure thing. I won’t forget about this battle. I won’t forget about the people I ran into. And whatever it is that I swear I won’t forget, I won’t. Even if I die trying. Ayano prompted me for an answer. “Well, who knows?” I listlessly replied, continuing to walk.