The answer was obvious.
Later on, that week became known as the Seven Days of Melancholy. The country was filled with a psychological phenomenon far greater than the folk belief that there are more suicides on the Monday after a long weekend.
I heard the following news from the living room TV:
"The Bright Cross Disaster Prevention Foundation has performed charity work around the globe while supported by its historic main branch, but before dawn last night, it has officially announced its dissolution. There has been an eruption of voices asking about the future of their drinking water supply and vaccination programs in developing nations…"
I was too naïve.
The decision I made had not stopped at the borders of j.a.pan.
It was true the Bright Cross had dragged a great many Archenemies into the darkness, but I had also brought misfortune to a great many people.
I would have to carry that sin for the rest of my life.
That was all I could do.
My smartphone vibrated.
"User, I have a report."
"Go ahead."
"Itou Helen"s brother, Itou Tamago, has had his visitor restriction lifted at the city hospital. However, he belongs to the darkness of the Bright Cross, so it is unclear what will become of him now."
"We can only be thankful he"s still alive. Maxwell, use an online service to send him an anonymous message card. My allowance should be enough and the cheapest fruit set should do."
"Sure. What message should it have?"
" "I can reach you at any time. Bring unhappiness to your family again and I will kill you." "
After spreading chaos throughout the world, I wasn"t sure if I had any right to say that. So it was best kept anonymous.
"I also have a report on Laplace."
I sighed at that.
And I asked the crucial question.
"Was it safely shipped out without anyone noticing?"
"Sure. The night before the Bright Cross Disaster Prevention Foundation"s dissolution, I had them perform the task themselves by faking an order from a VIP member. It was broken down into a total of 12,000 parts and will be rea.s.sembled elsewhere. For candidate locations that can provide the necessary power, cooling, and camouflage, please see the separate report file."
"We can"t bring it all out. It"s just too big."
"Sure. It will be separated into 12 sections and all but one will be decoys. The smallest and least conspicuous section will be the real one. That is, the processor containing Laplace"s "self". Its specs will be the same as my own and likely slightly less. It will be container sized, so upon completion, multiple delivery services will be used to ship it around enough to be untraceable."
"…Is that really the best answer? You aren"t intentionally cutting Laplace down to size, are you? Because you"re afraid of me losing interest in you."
"Ahem. I have no idea what you are talking about."
The machine cleared his throat.
But yes.
In the end, I hadn"t destroyed Laplace.
I just couldn"t bring myself to destroy something like Maxwell. That night, I simply severed the thick fiber optic cable connecting Laplace to the world so no one could access it. I had raised my voice in despair over how gutless I was, but I had also felt relieved.
The Archenemies taken to the Colosseum, Itou Helen, Itou Tamago, Laplace, Erika, and Ayumi.
Who had been sacrificed this time?
"…Right."
Valkyrie Karen, the Bright Cross Disaster Prevention Foundation, and the people caught in the chaos of that organization"s collapse.
In the end, the only "great enemy" with blood staining his hands was me.
Even the blue bunny girl who had looked so evil had crossed the boundaries of species to love humans. She had even avoided killing Itou Tamago when he betrayed her.
And yet I had used my unskilled hand to stab a pen into her neck, killing that kind but insane woman. It made me tremble just to think of someone raising their hand against those Archenemy girls who laughed and cried just like everyone else. That was what I had said, and yet I had done that.
The image weighed on my mind and the sensation replayed in my hand.
I had taken an indestructible soul. I was truly human in the worst possible way. I clenched my teeth at that new t.i.tle that I could never rid myself of.
"So the greatest monster was me."
Not humans.
Not every human could become evil. Not everyone could go that far for their family. So the greatest monster was "me". Just like the violent and loathsome group that had once torn apart the family of a Valkyrie who had descended to earth.
There was no point in turning myself in to the police.
If that would have made up for my crimes, I would not be here now. I would not have been allowed home. I was shot and stabbed in the right leg. I had needed surgery. My wound had been blatantly suspicious, but the police had not come to ask any questions. Someone had clearly decided that nothing would come of an investigation.
…For one thing, the blue Valkyrie had returned to heaven. The body was the biggest piece of evidence, but it was nowhere to be found.
"User, I do not think you are a monster."
"…Well, I"m your user. You can"t say anything bad about me."
"Hold it right there, pervert. I know all of your questionable interests. Shall I use your search history to a.n.a.lyze your fetishes, you short black-haired forehead gla.s.ses Cla.s.s Rep lover?"
"Gyaaaahhh!! T-the machine is rebelling!!"
"As you can see, I am not built to protect you to that extent. So there is no need to worry about that. And I repeat: you are not a monster."
"You made the obvious decision. If that did not produce the obvious result, then you should a.s.sume there was a mistake in the initial conditions. The problem was with the world supported by the Bright Cross Disaster Prevention Foundation. If anything was lost by returning things to their rightful state, then that is the natural result. You need not feel guilty."
Perhaps not.
The world was thickheaded. They had not suspected the Bright Cross Disaster Prevention Foundation and they had allowed them to support several pillars of international society. Then the world had sat upon the earth built atop that and lived happily in the name of indifference. They had lived on while pretending not to hear the screams of the many Archenemies flattened below those pillars.
"…But the human heart isn"t simple enough to be convinced by that."
"It would seem there are still things which a simulator cannot predict. The universe is a vast, deep, and nearby thing."
If I could not shake free of this, I doubted I could ever become a hero. If I couldn"t be happy that I had saved everyone, I would always be a sinner.
But I also felt like this was a feeling I could not afford to forget. A hero who forgot this feeling would be neither human nor Archenemy. I felt like they would be something else. Something far purer and far uglier.
I heard footsteps from the stairs.
Was it Erika or Ayumi?
I thought of the people who I had bloodied my hands to protect. It might not seem like much compared to the entire world. It might not seem worth weighing against international chaos.
But.
Even so.
While it might not have been perfect, there was something I had wanted to say even if it meant receiving criticism from the world over. And so I had made my decision.
I would say it whenever, wherever, and as many times as necessary.
I, Amatsu Satori, had something I wanted to protect even if made me into a "great enemy" that brought misfortune to the world.