I felt like I was half-dead as I returned to j.a.pan. I didn"t want to go on another overseas trip for a long while. I just wanted to stay home.
"Oh, Satori-kun? But Transylvania is a wonderful place. I"d love to show you around."
"Not a chance. I"d definitely end up seeing the resurrection of something-or-other that had been sleeping for a millennium!!"
By the way, my suitcase and personal items were left in the ruins of the hotel. They would have been destroyed after the windows shattered and the double-punch of a sandstorm and hurricane hit them, though. It probably meant a lot that the gels ate biological matter and that Las Vegas had been destroyed before anyone could think of using the chaos to steal things.
Nonexistent Archenemies.
Immortal weapons modified by human hands.
That was a horrific invention since they had destroyed a world-famous city containing more than 2 million Archenemies in a single night.
"We"ll need to keep an eye on the online movements for a while. But just leave that to your hacker of justice."
That was what Anastasia had told me at the airport.
"It looks like we"ll have to abandon Vegas. After this much attention, we can"t continue our financial strategy using Mephistopheles. Well, there are plenty of other world-famous casino cities. I wonder where the gamblers will go now that Vegas is gone. It can be Macau or Monaco or wherever else, but we aren"t going to give up."
She had received a pretty bad injury, but she was an Archenemy maid. There didn"t seem to be any lasting effects, which was a relief.
And now.
However the time difference worked out, it was late at night when we got home. And in a way, that was where I encountered the biggest barrier of all.
"Mom."
"Oh, Satori, why not get some rest? You have to be feeling jetlagged."
Amatsu Yurina.
Archenemy Lilith.
She was an important figure on the Absolute Noah side and she was most likely the one who had manipulated Area 51 and the US Congress to do such devastating damage to Las Vegas with the gels and bombers.
She was filling up the dishwasher like normal, but I could not allow this to remain normal.
"We need to talk."
"Can"t it wait until tomorrow? You seem tired and, once I finish with the dishes, I need to take a bath and then work on the household finances."
With a high-pitched noise, a plate shattered inside the IoT dishwasher my stepmom was using.
I remained expressionless (meaning I was working hard to not allow any emotion to the surface) as I softly repeated myself.
"We need to talk. Now."
"Sigh... I only let you have that toy because I wanted to respect my son"s freedom and intellectual curiosity."
On her suggestion, we moved to the dining room table.
I did not make any attempt to sit down and she sat directly on the table while elegantly giving off a lovely charm.
"So what do we need to talk about? If you"re feeling homesick, I suppose we could spend the night together."
"This isn"t over yet."
"What isn"t?"
"The collapse of Area 51 and the US Senate! Turn on the TV and it"s all news about them resigning due to their health!! But there"s no way that"s all it is. Mom, did you really think you could hide it like this!?"
"Hey, Satori."
My stepmom chuckled and licked her lips a bit. Almost like a snake.
"It is true I acted on Absolute Noah"s behalf and worked to destroy Las Vegas to our own ends. But who was it that did the actual damage?"
"Only the rotten VIPs who fled to Absolute Noah 04, right? The people of Las Vegas were temporarily eaten by the gels, but they were all spat out again and the gels themselves have apparently been safely "secured"."
The words flowed smoothly from her lips.
Almost like it was a prepared script.
"Hey, Satori. This incident was not actually limited to Absolute Noah 04."
"What?"
"Absolute Noahs 01 through 14 are spread out across the 5 continents and self-proclaimed VIPs rushed to them all. This incident was in Las Vegas, but it happened in Asia and Australia as well. ...That"s how ugly they are. Yet we can"t ignore their power. If they weren"t rooted out here, they would have survived to the next age. And that would be devastating."
I had met them at the Hoover Dam. They were undoubtedly nothing but trash. Any group would be rotten to the core with them in the lead.
"This was no more than infighting. No, it was a filter." Amatsu Yurina laughed. "So we aren"t going to take any more lives. Take Herbal Science for example. They tried to harm my precious daughters, but all I did was destroy their main building and drive them to bankruptcy; I didn"t kill them. How can you complain about that?"
"But, mom, you were never planning to save the people of Las Vegas after the gels got them, were you?"
"I left that with you. Even if you hadn"t suggested it, Maxwell is a disaster environment simulator, right? The idea would have reached you one way or another. There was no need for me to do anything."
"I don"t like people saying I"m giving you all an unfair advantage. You, Erika, and Ayumi proved here that you can help Absolute Noah. You proved your worth, so no one can oppose your priority seating. This will shut up the people insisting you do even more for us."
She was in control of everything. Even my way of getting back at her had been planned. There was no way to escape that beautiful demon. If I just gave up and let it play out, I would likely survive the Calamity and live happily ever after.
But.
However.
"You went too far, mom."
Silence followed.
Amatsu Yurina clearly stopped moving as she sat on the table with her slender legs hanging down.
I was scared.
I felt like I had touched something I shouldn"t have. I knew family bonds were not guaranteed to remain intact no matter what. I knew they were maintained by small bits of effort that we weren"t even aware of. But I gathered my courage and continued.
I couldn"t just overlook this.
If I did that, the idea of family would fall apart!!
"You didn"t let anyone die but the black-hearted traitors? Las Vegas"s people are safe and this didn"t harm anyone? Are you kidding me, mom!? 4 million humans and Archenemies were caught in the middle of this! A ton of people have lost their homes and their city!! A rescue helicopter from out of town crashed there! Anastasia had a piece of rebar through her gut and Ayumi nearly drowned!! And you say that did no harm? How can I accept that?!"
"Satori, please listen."
"No, it"s my turn to talk! I"m not letting you weasel out of this with suggestive words. You left Las Vegas to us? To convince Absolute Noah to take us...o...b..ard? That only works if we succeeded!! If we had failed, 4 million people would"ve been digested by the gels. Including, Anastasia, the Cla.s.s Rep, Erika, and Ayumi! It would"ve been everyone!!"
"Satori..."
"And I know you"re telling me to do this with 7 billion people. And not in a simulator; in reality!! Is this really that fun!? Is it really that great to turn your back and look down on people!!!???"
I realized my stepmom had shut her mouth.
Her hand had wandered through the air and had nowhere to go. She bit her lip and I saw emotional shock and confusion in her eyes.
What had I wanted to do here?
Had I wanted to play the hero so I could see a family member looking like this?
"...I"ve reached the edge of the Calamity."
But I didn"t stop.
I couldn"t contain the feelings burning deep in my gut.
What was I supposed to do?
Couldn"t someone tell me!? What was the right thing to do!?
"Who cares about Absolute Noah!? What does being chosen matter!? If you"re doing all this because you"re afraid of the Calamity, then I"ll grab that Calamity and drag it around myself. Just like with that hurricane, I"ll do the same thing with a wildfire, an avalanche, or a supernatural Archenemy if I have to! Once I quantify a way to control the Calamity, there will be nothing to fear. And then we"ll all laugh at you for what you are: a bunch of cowards who kept preparing for a Calamity that never came!!"
I couldn"t look her in the eye.
I left my stepmom in the dining room and ran from the house.
I couldn"t stop the tears as I ran aimlessly through the night.
That wasn"t what I had wanted to say.
I hadn"t wanted to see that hurt look on her face. I really hadn"t.
I had just wanted her to apologize.
I had just wanted her to accept her mistake, apologize, and say she wouldn"t do it again! I had wanted it to all go back to normal!! I had wanted to say good morning like normal, laugh together, and eat breakfast together like we had not long before!! That was all. That was all I had wanted!!
Memories of the past rose to the forefront of my mind.
I remembered that unbearable conflict between adults, which had felt like a small war fought in a house that should have been safer than anywhere. This was the same. I hadn"t changed at all. It didn"t matter who was right and who was wrong here. I couldn"t control my own emotions and I had just lashed out at her to fill the hole in my heart! I had attacked my own family!! And I had gotten carried away because I knew she couldn"t say anything in return!! Could I have been that bold right from the beginning? No, I had only managed that after seeing the look on her face!!
"Ahhhh!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
I had nowhere to go.
If there was a hole to h.e.l.l, I would have dived right in.
All I had was my smartphone and my wallet. I wouldn"t be able to wander around for even three days like this. And part of me didn"t care. I was the one who had hurt someone here. I knew that. And if I relied on my stepmom"s kindness and didn"t confront that fact, I would just do the same thing again. I would smash up the things I cared about the most, look at the wreckage, and selfishly weep. I wouldn"t be able to accomplish anything productive.
I hated this.
I hated this side of myself.
Once I lost the will to keep running, I clung to a building wall and slid down to the ground. This was my home city, but I didn"t know where this was.
I didn"t care about the people watching me. They could upload photos of me to social media and laugh all they wanted.
But reality turned out to be even more complex and unpredictable than I had thought.
"Are you okay?"
I heard the soft voice of a young woman.
That was when I realized I had screwed up. If a minor in casual clothes was running around this late at night, of course the police would be called. They might think I had been drinking or taking some weird kind of dried plant. And who was it that would come to get me? My stepmom, Amatsu Yurina, of course.
But my expectations were betrayed yet again.
The female voice continued.
"Satori-chan, you look awful. What happened?"
Satori-chan?
This was someone who knew my name?
While leaning up against the building wall, I hesitantly moved my head to turn around.
I knew the answer.
I really did.
There was only one person who called me Satori-chan. Even my childhood friend, the Cla.s.s Rep, had always called me Satori-kun. She had never called me that.
It was only the person whose time with me had been cut short.
Someone who had once felt this same pain dozens or even hundreds of times greater.
The person standing there was a human yet had once wielded a monstrosity that combined triple chainsaws with a large crossbow and she had fought on at least equal footing with Archenemy Lilith.
It was my true...
"...Mom...?"