“If it’ll get rid of the implant, I’ll do it...” Marine said, still a bit hesitant.
And then they went into the bushes and out of sight. Akuto and Keena were left behind, unsure of what to do next. The circumstances were incredibly serious, but still, something felt ridiculous about this whole situation. The two of them both sighed and sat down.
They could hear voices from the bushes, but couldn’t see.
“When do I remove the implant?”
“When the mind starts to focus on the hem-hem. That’s when you do the surgery.”
Marine didn’t seem to know what hem-hem meant.
“Hem-hem...?”
“You don’t know it? Well, that’s fine. Just don’t move.”
A minute later they heard Marine cry out in surprise.
“W-What are you doing?!”
“Don’t move. We’re going to do hem-hem. Of course I need to get naked.”
“Naked...? Why?”
“Because we’re doing hem-hem. Just like I said.”
“Wait... why are you taking my pants off, though?”
“Can you be a little more cooperative? Hem-hem is a two person job, you know.”
Nonimora’s voice was bright and cheerful, but Marine gasped in shock.
“D-Don’t tell me that hem-hem is...”
“Hem-hem is hem-hem, duh. Now stay put. We’re going to get rid of that implant.”
“But what does that have to do with anything...?”
“Hem-hem helps the mind concentrate. Weren’t you listening?”
It was hard to tell if Marine found this explanation persuasive or not, but he shot up.
“But I’m a prince, you know...”
“Who cares? It’s not like guys lose anything by doing it. Nobody else will know if you did or not.”
“But your body...”
“I’m very healthy. I don’t have any diseases. Do you?”
“No, I don’t... but...”
“Then we’re fine. Today’s a day where I won’t become pon-pon, after all. Now... huh? You’re not very baki-baki, are you?”
“I-I don’t know how I could be, considering...”
“Let go! That’s a very rude thing to do to a woman. I’ll make sure everything’s ready. Be grateful!”
“Hyah... uwah...”
There was the sound of something rubbing something else, and then muffled whispers.
“How do we handle the timing?”
“We’ll have to have him tell us. Take out the implant when he reaches his peak.”
“His peak?”
“When he dop-dops, of course.”
Akuto could do nothing but chuckle as he sat there listening. The whole atmosphere had changed.
“Y-You know, this is kind of...” Akuto whispered.
Maybe this was something Nonimora had that made her special. She’d just saved him a few moments earlier, too. If she hadn’t intervened, he would’ve killed Marine.
“Hey, Ackie...”
He heard a voice next to him. Keena was leaning up against him.
“What is it?”
“Um...”
Keena was fidgeting. They could hear lustful moans and the sounds of two things rubbing together from the bushes. Sitting in silence, there was no way for them to avoid it.
“Um, well... uh...”
Akuto tried to speak and trailed off too. Suddenly, Keena made her move. She wrapped an arm around Akuto’s body, and looked up into his eyes.
“Ackie...” she said, and pursed her lips.
Akuto knew what she meant. He remembered the conversations she’d had with Nonimora. He’d known for a while now what she wanted him to do. But...
Normally the feeling of Keena’s body against his made him relax. But now it just felt heavy. Part of the reason was that he’d betrayed her by killing Morlock. And part of it was that he’d just lost Junko, the other girl he loved.
Keena closed her eyes.
The moans from the bushes were becoming impossible to ignore. For some reason, Akuto felt like he was being forced into something he didn’t want to do.
“That’s not right.”
He didn’t know what wasn’t right, but he said it anyway. Keena’s face looked sad as she opened her eyes.
“I’m sorry. But um...”
Akuto shook his head. And then suddenly, he heard the sound of something popping within her. It was like a soap bubble being blown by a gentle breeze.
Akuto looked into her eyes, surprised. They were a mysterious color.
“Something sad, very sad, is going to happen. Your mistake began a long time ago, after all.”
He recognized the soft voice. The Law of Identity. That’s what she had called herself, he recalled.
“Keena?”
“The girl you call that is me, but not me. Especially now,” she answered.
“Why did you show up now?” he asked.
“Because her heart can no longer endure the pain...” The other Keena answered sadly. “That’s the answer that’s closest to the truth.”
“But I...” Akuto began to mumble. But the Law of Identity continued.
“This is your mistake. For a long time, and even now, you’ve continued to make a very small mistake. You let me do your thinking for you. You fought against other’s plots. But still, you never truly resisted. And this is the result. My prayer is that you will not make that mistake again.”
She was neither blaming nor consoling him, simply speaking the truth.
Akuto didn’t understand what she was saying. No, he didn’t want to understand. It had come out of nowhere, but she was talking about his sin. The being he called the Law of Identity had saved him several times before. When Boichiro Yamato had tried to do the ritual with her. When he’d been left on the moon with her. But now, she’d come out of nowhere to condemn him.
“Mistake? I don’t think what you’re saying is right. And I think of you as a savior...”
“That is your mistake. The false story that you’ve rejected for so long... If it is false, then the story where I am a savior is false too. Yes. I am who I am, and nothing more. Anything which is enough of a story that it cannot reject causality, is a mistake,” she said calmly.
“What...?”
In a vague way... he knew what she meant. But if that was true... if that was really true...
“Tell me... What should I do?”
“Nobody knows the answer to that. But only the passage of time will tell you of your mistakes. That’s all there is to it. With great power comes great responsibility. That is the way of mankind. The truth is that a great power can be used in any way its wielder wishes. But the results of how that power is used will always exist.”
“That’s crazy. That’s causality itself. Are you saying that you’re god, or something?”
“No. I am the beginning of the self. The first point of its existence. Since I have existed from the start of time, I have seen many mistakes made. Even I don’t know what is right. What those with power desire, is what becomes everything that is right.”
The answer given was one of despair.
“So you’re saying it’s my fault that I’ve lost so much?”
“Correct. But still, you must continue forward, as you always have.”
“But I can’t...!” Akuto trailed off.
And then he realized that there was nothing else she had to say to him. The strange color faded from Keena’s eyes. The normal Keena was back. By the time an awkward-looking Marine and oddly-satisfied looking Nonimora came back, Keena was looking at Akuto with a sad look on her face.