A Song Can be Heard
The stroll through the night sky the two of them flew out into was a time calm enough to feel pleasant.
Moreover, the reason this town was now wrapped in a silence where nothing could be heard except the chirping of bell crickets was because a great many people had already evacuated from the highway.
However, for Mea, who was originally bad with crowds, unlike during the day there was no need to worry about the eyes of those around her, and the situation where she only had to observe the state of the boy before her was, though improper, something she felt somewhat at ease with.
Of course, that did not mean Mea had completely let down her guard against the fallen angel before her who called himself the reincarnation of Adyeshach.
From their exchanges up to now she had understood that he held no hostility toward her, but his true intentions still remained unclear.
From the contents of the “legend” he spoke of while flying through the night sky, she generally understood the existence called “Greysphere*.” (tl note: I originally thought Greysphere was something like a term for a collective, same with the Abyss, but since it’s now the name of an individual, no more “the” before the name.)
That it was, so to speak, something like a conscience separated from Abyss Zero as well.
But even so, even understanding that, suspicious points could still be seen in the actions they had taken.
“If Greysphere is that grey sphere, then what are those aberrations? Were those also reincarnations of the Abyssal Qlippoth?”
“Those children are terminals that Greysphere himself sent into this world. If speaking in the sense of messengers of heaven, those are also beings like angels, but they don't have an independent wills like me... yeah, they’re like reconnaissance aircraft.”
“Reconnaissance aircraft...”
Perhaps satisfied after flying around the town sky for a while, the fallen angel landed on a road illuminated by street lights, then looked around the townscape of Akebono City with eyes of deep interested.
Chasing after him, Mea held down with one hand the hem of her skirt that softly fluttered up during the landing, while thoroughly pressing him with the questions that still remained in her chest.
“That gesture resembles Daat!”
“...Why did they attack Arisu and the others?”
“Greysphere wants the power of those children. More accurately, Daat’s power... when I told Greysphere about Daat, he became interested.”
“Is Greysphere targeting Eight-san?”
“Yeah, he wants to eat Daat.”
“...Why?”
“He probably thought that if he devoured her power, he could become an existence of an even higher dimension than now... but he also really loves Daat, so he didn’t want to kill her.”
“............”
For Greysphere, the black-winged Archangel Daat was said to be the one and only existence in the world who noticed his existence that had branched off from Abyss Zero.
The boy said that Greysphere remembered her from ancient times when he had been separated from Abyss Zero, and held special feelings toward her.
Come to think of it, the reason he picked up Adyeshach’s soul was also because he felt some strong sympathy toward him, who loved the same woman, Daat.
“So maybe Greysphere compromised by targeting dark supernatural ability users who inherited her power in place of her? Especially the powers of children, who still haven’t been optimized as human supernatural abilities, resemble Daat’s nature very closely. Well, that aim was obstructed by her too.”
“I see... so that’s why Eight-san...”
Compromise──that way of putting it somewhat made her uneasy, but thanks to it Mea was able to understand.
The reason T.P. Eight Olishua had once again begun working in the shadows as the Supernatural Ability Phantom Thief was indeed to divert Greysphere’s focus away from the children.
Toward the relieved Mea, the grey boy spoke happily.
“Her judgment was apt. Thanks to her turning many children into ordinary humans, it became difficult for Greysphere to find prey. ...Really, I’m glad nobody was killed.”
Because Eight recovered the dark powers from the children, they were removed from Greysphere’s targets.
The fallen angel said that although he did not know how Eight foresaw Greysphere’s arrival, it was truly an action that spoiled Greysphere’s start.
However, the way he spoke made it seem as though he himself was relieved as well... and it appeared that attacking the children had not been what he truly wanted either.
“You won’t attack them?”
“Yeah, I won’t. Because I don’t want Daat or you to hate me. If children were attacked, you would become very sad, right?”
“You...”
Simple and concise reasons carried strong persuasive power.
Certainly, even if he did not want to eat Daat, if he targeted children instead, T.P. Eight Olishua would grieve over that more than anyone.
The fact that he understood that much was proof above all that the fallen angel before her possessed ethics like the average person, and understood not only his own feelings but also those of others.
After stretching a hand toward the night sky and looking up, he turned around, looked into Mea’s eyes, and spoke.
“I’ve always wanted to meet you... after being reincarnated at Greysphere’s side, I obtained a brand new heart instead of one distorted by Abyss Zero. I thought that if I met you and Daat, I could understand this heart more.”
“...Me?”
“Yeah. Because you resemble me a lot. Even though you’re neither human nor holy beast, you possess a heart. You love Eight... and you also want to become like her.”
“.….”
That was why he had contacted Mea.
The current him, a fallen angel born from Greysphere, was neither Abyss, nor holy beast, nor of course human.
He said that because he stood in a similarly ambiguous position, he became interested in the existence named Mea, who was neither human nor holy beast.
She also had a connection to him from when he was Adyeshach, and from those old memories he felt attached to her, feeling a one-sided sense of fellowship.
For Mea, that──strangely, did not feel unpleasant.
“...So that’s why you came to meet me? And why you were speaking to me in my dreams too?”
“That’s right. I always thought that if it was with you, we could become friends!”
While showing an carefree smile fitting for his appearance, the grey fallen angel showed affection toward her head-on.
However, several seconds later, when the pitch-black Gate floating in the night sky entered his field of vision, his expression suddenly clouded over.
With an awkward, embarrassed expression, he continued speaking.
“...Also, through you, my god, Greysphere wants to negotiate with the Savers.”
“Negotiate?”
Though from his perspective this was the main subject... the fallen angel said as a preface before speaking.
“I want you to fight together with us. We want to take back Fairy World from the holy beasts... the dependents of the Holy Dragon.”
That was his business, spoken as the messenger of the grey god Greysphere.
At those words, Mea widened her eyes and questioned him back, praying she had misheard.
“You want us to fight... you mean you want us to fight the holy beasts again?”
“Yeah. That is Greysphere’s demand. Now that Abyss Zero has fallen asleep, he wants to return... to Fairy World, the distant homeland from which he was once exiled.”
At the words spoken by the grey fallen angel with lonely eyes, Mea remembered.
The presence she felt when fighting those aberrations──Greysphere’s terminals──something the Abyss and the Abyssal Qlippoth did not have.
Their sorrowful words, exhaled as if lamenting.
HomE, rEtUrn──that was what their words sounded like, and they meant exactly as that.
“...So that’s why they looked so lonely...”
Even though they launched attacks, there had been no hostility or bloodlust from them. The true nature of the emotions emitted by those aberrations had been nostalgia for their homeland, Fairy World, from which they had grown distant hundreds of millions of years ago.
The moment she understood their objective, the feeling that surfaced in Mea’s thoughts was pity toward him.
...In that world where there was nothing, he had been all alone for hundreds of millions of years.
Unlike Abyss Zero, which possessed neither emotions nor will, it was impossible to even imagine how much of a torture that had been for Greysphere, who possessed a heart.
If someone like him now wished to return to his homeland because Abyss Zero had been sealed away, Mea also felt sympathy that made her want to help him.
She could not help but feel some sentimentality from the world of emptiness he had shown her, and from the figure of Greysphere standing there.
“Greysphere was very grateful to you all for driving away Abyss Zero. That after waiting for hundreds of millions of years, the time had finally come.”
Greysphere’s wish was only one thing: returning to Fairy World.
Wanting Mea’s circle, the Savers, to cooperate with that, the fallen angel who wished to repay his debt to Greysphere held out his small hand and said,
“Let’s go together, Mea. You, who are neither human nor holy beast, are an existence that should come to this side. ...Things that are alike can never become the same thing.”
And then emptiness dwelled in his eyes.
“We will erase the World Tree Sefira, and we, who are no one, will rule Fairy World.”
“...!”
Wearing a fleeting smile that looked as though he might disappear somewhere at any moment, the grey fallen angel gazed into Mea’s eyes with silver eyes.
Mea perceived the dim emotions hidden beneath that smile of his, and involuntarily lost her words.
That was because it was far too distant from the innocent attitude like that of a normal child he had shown until now.
──Several beats of silence wrapped around the night road where the two stood.
The one who broke that silence was neither Mea nor the grey fallen angel.
“That’s something I can’t let go.”
Suddenly, a man’s voice was heard from behind them.
At that familiar voice, Mea gasped and turned her eyes toward it. Because she had been focused on the boy before her, she had not noticed, but he had probably been eavesdropping on their conversation all this time while waiting for the timing to appear.
At the sight of the long-haired young man who emerged from the back street, Mea was surprised while the grey fallen angel openly showed an displeased expression.
“Tsubasa-san!”
“I heard the story. Sounds like there are quite complicated circumstances.”
“Kazaoka Tsubasa... a pitiful human who has fallen to being Binah’s pawn.”
“I’m not a pawn. She’s currently a valued client of mine, but she’s not my boss or anything.”
“Really? Aren’t you inwardly enjoying taking requests from her, who has a face resembling Daat?”
“Binah-sama is a very attractive woman, but I’ve never looked at her that way. I never even thought about it.”
“...I dislike you.”
“What a coincidence, I dislike you too.”
The young man──Kazaoka Tsubasa──stared sharply at the boy without letting down his guard.
Contrary to his easygoing manner of speaking, clear wariness floated in his severe expression.
After a glance at Mea, he let out a deep sigh and began spoke.
“Fallen Angel-san, this young lady you’ve taken a liking to is certainly a kind-hearted beautiful girl that even the old me probably wouldn’t have left alone.
...But this girl, maybe because of who she resembles, is unexpectedly easily swept along... to the point that I’ve been consulted several times by that En if she’ll someday get deceived by a bad man.”
“Tsubasa-san!?”
“Rather, when we went drinking last month he complained about it endlessly. At the time even I was exasperated, thinking he was overly overprotective, but... for this one thing, that guy was right.”
“Eh... eeh...”
Eh, Onii-chan was consulting people about that...? While Mea was shocked by the drinking-party meeting between her brother-in-law and company that had taken place without her knowledge, Tsubasa continued speaking while leaving her aside.
The dependable back that stepped forward as though obstructing Mea’s line of sight had not changed from when he was in the Savers.
Though he said nothing, it was as though he were saying, “I’ll handle this place,” in place of the inexperienced her.
“It seems that time has finally come. Adyeshach, how about you stop deceiving our friend?”
“Deceive? That hurts my impression. I haven’t told a single lie. It’s all true that Greysphere simply wants to return to his homeland, and that we possess ‘hearts.’ That’s why I came to negotiate with her like this.”
“Negotiate, huh...”
Letting out a voice as though laughing it off, Tsubasa turned his gaze away from the boy.
His eyes were directed toward the two abnormalities that had appeared in this town: the Tree of Evil and the Gate.
“Then if we don’t accept that demand, what does this Greysphere intend to do?”
The cooperation Greysphere desired from the Savers was to erase the World Tree Sefira, the source of life in Fairy World.
That was synonymous with destroying Fairy World, and if they took part in such a thing, an all-out war with the holy beasts would be unavoidable.
Therefore, his demand was something that could not possibly be accepted.
“Accept it. It’s not a bad deal for you either, you know? In the past humans never had a chance of winning, but now there are strong supernatural ability users like you. If you cooperate with Greysphere, even the Ten Archangels of Sefirot can be defeated.”
“Unfortunately, at the moment we’ve formed friendly relations with that world. I’m no politician, but even I know only a complete fool would go along with a proposal like that.”
“...I see... Mea, you think so too?”
...Of course, Mea agreed with Tsubasa as well.
She did not even want to imagine turning Fairy World their enemy again, and it was them Savers who had once gone on a life-risking adventure in order to avoid that.
To state the conclusion, even if heaven and earth were overturned, they could not go along with that negotiation.
However... even so, thinking there should still be room for discussion, Mea asked,
“Why is there a need to fight for Greysphere to return?”
“...Because otherwise he can’t live in that world. Just like the Abyss was poison to you all, the World Tree is an incompatible deadly poison for Greysphere. If we don’t burn it down, there is no place for him in that world.”
If they were to seek a solution through dialogue as a method for Greysphere to return, there should have been room for consideration.
However, Kazaoka Tsubasa had probably sensed from his richer interpersonal experience than Mea’s that Greysphere would not choose that option. More than anything, in this case the existence of the Tree of Evil that had appeared in the human world was far too ominous.
That ominous premonition──proved correct.
“If you all won’t accept it, then it can’t be helped.
Before Fairy World, Greysphere will devour this world. The Trees of Evil scattered throughout the world will drain all power from this planet.”
The demand of Greysphere that he spoke of was effectively a threat──“if you do not cooperate, this world will be destroyed.”
Then this makes things simple, as though he had expected the fallen angel’s words from the start, Tsubasa replied.
“There’s no need to even take it back and discuss it. Who would accept a demand like that?”
“Tsubasa-san...”
Though the current Kazaoka Tsubasa had withdrawn from the Savers, those words were more eloquent than anyone else’s.
Mea perceived the emotions hidden behind his expression, and gasped.
Fairy World was also, to him, a world he cherished as the homeland of his benefactor. He could not turn a blade toward that world, and of course he had no intention of quietly waiting for this world to be devoured completely by the Trees of Evil either.
Receiving his glaring gaze, the grey fallen angel muttered,
“...Kazaoka Tsubasa, how sad.”
“What?”
“Even though you’ve already lost what you truly wanted to protect...”
“Shut up!”
The fallen angel, lamenting the decision to oppose Greysphere, stepped on Tsubasa’s landmine with words that had no malice at all.
What passed through his mind then was perhaps the noble angel Raphael, who had once guided him.
Tsubasa raised a gun in his right hand, pointed its muzzle with murderous eyes, and shouted:
“In the end, you’re an Abyss! Even if you’ve become able to speak like a human... you’re still a monster that understands nothing about the human heart!”
“...! What do you understand!?”
This time, it was the boy’s turn to become enraged at Tsubasa’s words.
The two, having easily crossed lines neither could concede, gave off an explosive atmosphere* where they could clash at any moment. (tl note: literally translates to “one more and it will explode”)
Watching the two of them, Mea thought... this is… kind of bad.
She thought, though she could not put it into words well, that it was bad for the two of them to collide like this.
“...Stop... stop...”
However, Mea’s words at that moment lacked the strength to appeal to the consciousnesses of the two enraged people.
She herself was also shaken by the violent whirlpool of information assaulting her mind at this time and had lost her composure.
Meeting the reincarnation of an Abyssal Qlippoth, Adyeshach.
That reincarnation seeming like a calm existence completely different from his previous life.
Learning of the great existence called Greysphere, different from both the Holy Dragon and Abyss Zero.
How very lonely they had seemed.
That they wanted to return to Fairy World. And for that purpose, that they were trying to harm the existence of Fairy World and this human world.
And──even though she understood that their scheme absolutely must not be forgiven... she herself could not harbor hostility toward the grey fallen angel.
──The moment Mea realized that way of thinking was neither “human-like” nor “holy beast-like,” more than anything she felt disgust toward herself for being that way and was aghast.
Before Mea in that condition, Kazaoka Tsubasa placed his finger on the trigger of his supernatural gun.
“I became a Saver...!”
To destroy people like you──the words he was about to say stopped together with the fingertip he had been straining.
“...! …”
“This, is...?”
Tsubasa froze in place with his eyes opened wide, and the grey fallen angel also stood still there.
Mea too, as though throwing away the emotions she had held until then, focused her awareness on the phenomenon that had occurred here and now.
“...The same gentle sound... as back then...”
──A sound could be heard.
A pure and beautiful tone, as though equally affirming and washing away hatred, regret... everything.
“──♪ ──♪♪”
Along with that tone was the pleasant, whisper-like singing voice of a young girl.
It was a T.P. Eight Olishua’s song, like a prayer──one that seemed to keep back the soul of Kazaoka Tsubasa, who had clasped the trigger under intense rage toward Abyss, within this world.
While looking up at the starry sky, a single tear fell from Tsubasa’s eye, and the grey fallen angel hang his head and closed his eyes as he listened to the song.
Right now, they simply did not want the noise of their fighting to interrupt this song──and both enemies shared the same feeling.
“...Is that you? Eight-san...”
The sound of a harp played a gentle tune, followed by the voice of the girl singing.
Not lecturing someone, nor forcing her opinions onto anyone.
The girl merely sang into this night sky, blessing this very moment.
The lyrics touching their eardrums were ordinary words one could hear anywhere.
And yet... exactly because of that, they were pure to the very end.
It was a gentle song... as though softly reminding them of what they had lost in the past.
“...You kept... your promise...”
The resounding tone of the harp was as whimsical as a gust of wind blowing through the night sky.
(Author: It seems Eight, flustering over the two fighting, played something like a “Hiroshi flashback*” kind of song with some improvised lyrics on top of it. (´･ω･`)) (tl note: from Crayon Shin-chan)
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