Ame no Hi no Iris

In front of the nonexistent junk parts store, I froze.

I did not know what to do.

I bet my last hope, dragging my heavy body to come here frantically.

I didn"t consider what would happen next.

The "rain" that forced me to a corner was getting more and more terrible. The countless white lines that covered my sight increased drastically, the fragments of sight that I was left with squeezed me with the light sounds.

Being forced into a corner, I supported myself on the road with my skull.

What should I do? Lilith, what should I do?

Should I go back now? Impossible. I don"t have any energy left. Besides, if my battery were to by used up on the way back, only death awaits me. That"s right, battery. No matter what I do, the first thing I have to consider is the batte—

That moment, my body convulsed violently. I remembered something.

That"s right, the Umbrella residence. I could recharge as long as I walk there, and I can undergo repair as well. Three months have pa.s.sed now, can I still go in? Has the Umbrella residence been torn down?

To dispel all hesitation, I shook my head. This is not the time for me to ponder, the only place that I could go is there. I want to, and could only go there.

Disregarding my tired body, I used my last energy to raise my arm.

I extended my arm and clutched the surface of the road for the last slither of hope.

However.

—Warning.

A beeping electronic voice rang in my mental circuit. It sounded just like the sound that would be emitted by an ECG device when a heart stops beating.

The self-a.s.sured, long awaited electronic voice gave the most terrible warning.

—After five minutes, battery will be used up. Please recharge immediately.

It"s the declaration of death. Declaring that only five minutes is left in my life, a merciless declaration.

This is not fair. How can things turn out like this? I hammered the road with my arm. Pain and despair caused anger to surge in my heart.

Even so, I continued to extend my right arm. As though I wanted to catch hold of my last hope, I laid my fingers on the road, dragging my body forwards. Tubes were exposed from the lower part of my body again. When the tubes come in contact with the road, it would emit an annoying metallic noise. Even so, I continued to extend my arm. Extending my arm again and again, again and again.

—Three minutes left. Please recharge immediately.

Time pa.s.sed mercilessly, my arm became more and more heavy, causing my body to be even harder to move. It was as though the air used a powerful force to press on my body. Even so, I still used my only arm to crawl forward with all my effort.

—Two minutes left. Please recharge immediately.

The rain is getting heavier. It"s not heavy rain, but a rainstorm, a rainstorm that hides everything. My movements almost stopped, only time continued to go forward.

—One minute left. Please recharge immediately.

The flames of strength and stamina rapidly diminished in me. My vow to Lilith that I would save her seemed just like a faraway memory, gradually losing its form. My soul was utterly severed from the depths of my body. Forty seconds left, thirty, ahhhh, twenty, ten—

—Battery has finished. System offline.

Ahh, it ended, it ended, I"m vanishing, vanishing, my life, Lilith"s life, this is bad, are you joking, how, how could I, here, I, I—

At the moment when my heart was about to sink into despair.

A voice suddenly rang in my heart.

—Iris Rain Umbrella!

It was a majestic, powerful voice.

—Don"t be so naive!

She shook me.

—Alright, go! Hurry!

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

I screamed. The voice that seemed like the roar of a wild beast did not sound like my voice at all.

I used up the small flame left in my body to raise my right arm.

Then.

Like a car that changed gears, something surged rapidly in my body. The system that went offline before this awoke while moaning, while my mental circuit became hot, burning to the extent that it almost melted. The lava of energy spurted out from the depts. Of my body, causing myself to move energetically.

I raised my right arm as though I was punching air, punching the road to go forward. The energy in my body was concentrated at my fingertips, dragging my body forwards.

—Iris!

Lilith"s words strongly motivated me.

—Have courage!

Sparks flew on the surface on the road.

—You must have the courage to live on even though you"re alone!

That"s right! Have courage, Iris Rain Umbrella!

I raised my arm powerfully. Forward, forward, even if it"s just a little, I flung my arm forwards, clutching the road, the future, and the promise that I made to her.

—The world isn"t so simple!

In the hurricane, I used all my might, extending my arm towards the future.

—If you weaken, you might just become sc.r.a.p metal!

My thoughts became confused in my overheated body, and the data became confused as well. The memories were like a torn alb.u.m, fragments of the past dancing in the air. The torn memory fragments divided my live into a few parts, the happy life with Professor, the sudden farewell, the cut off limbs, myself after changing, moving waste materials, gut, intestines, Lilith, Volkov, escaping, laser beams, flaming giant— all of these raised my body abruptly, pushing against my back.

However, at the next instant.

—Eh?

The fragments of memories started to discolor, swirl, and pierced me maliciously. Those were the memories sealed in the depths of my mind— an unfamiliar house, an unfamiliar family, being hit, being kicked, being burned, escaping, escaping, cars, ahhh, my arm broke, my leg broke as well, I"m squashed, flattened, it"s raining, I"m alone, so lonely, what"s with this, the memories, I, don"t, remember, touch, pain, sorrow, all of these swirled in my body, compressed, spurted, flowed out, ahhh, hate, I hate the coldness, I hate the loneliness, why would I forget, why would I remember, I ran away, from the house, my family that hurt me, running away, escaping, dragging my body, dragging, being flattened by cars, but dragging my body even so, that"s right, on that, rainy day, I, I, I, that person that person that person.

At that moment.

Abruptly.

Really abruptly.

As though only I was separated from the world, the time stopped.

It started raining.