Wounds from yesterday's Gehenna still lingered on my body. A bandage on my cheek. A dull, throbbing ache in my side. Sensei sat on the sofa in Schale's office, staring blankly at the desk. The damage report I'd started reading last night had apparently put me to sleep midway through—it lay open on my lap. I recalled Karen's brusque touch as she applied the bandage. Nagisa throwing the first aid kit at me. Five days. That's all I had left. The canned coffee I'd bought from the convenience store "Totem" on the first floor had gone lukewarm at the edge of the desk. I took a sip and grimaced. I didn't like lukewarm coffee. But I couldn't bring myself to throw it away. Then—— The door burst open with a bang. Too forcefully. When I looked up, a girl in uniform came striding in. Silver twin tails bounced as she moved. Her right eye was gold, her left eye silver—vivid heterochromia that scanned the office with unbridled curiosity. A small star-shaped mole beneath her right eye. The girl placed a machine on the desk with a thud. Something like a large headset. Complex circuitry was exposed on its sides, with several thin cables extending from it. By any measure, it wasn't a "finished product." "[excited]Sensei! I made something amazing!" I looked at the girl. An unfamiliar face. Millennium Science Academy uniform—that distinctive design with the burgundy trim. "……Who are you?" "[excited]Oh, nice to meet you! I'm Hoshino from Millennium! Ayase Hoshino! I came because I wanted to help Schale!" She was completely carefree. My mind had been churning with heavy problems—"Gehenna, five days, what do I do"—but she was completely ignoring that atmosphere. "What does a Millennium student want?" "[excited]I just told you! To help! And to test this thing!" Hoshino began spreading circuit diagrams across the desk without hesitation. Design notes overlapped, cables dangled. My lukewarm coffee was pushed to the edge. "[excited]A temporal interference device—something that lets you experience the outcomes of choices you didn't make at past branching points as mental imagery! I spent three months making it, but I wanted to see if it actually works!" I looked at the circuit diagram. Equations lined the page. Too specialized to read the details, but—I could clearly understand the words "temporal interference." "I refuse." "[surprised]Huh, just like that!?" "It may have been rude to refuse before hearing your reasons, but my answer wouldn't change even if I did." Hoshino's expression turned sullen. But then, something seemed to occur to her. Her gold right eye looked directly at me. "[serious]……What if you'd chosen Gehenna that day? Don't you want to know what would've happened?" It was a quiet statement. A completely different tone from her rapid-fire explanation moments before. My hand stopped. That day. The day Trinity and Gehenna were attacked simultaneously. The day I chose Trinity. The reason I keep going to Gehenna even after Nagisa told me not to come. (Saying I don't want to know is a lie.) I've been thinking about it constantly. If I'd chosen Gehenna back then——I've never found an answer to that question. I've come this far without one. "……Is there no danger?" "[excited]Probably fine!" "Probably?" "[excited]Like, ninety percent sure!" I looked at Hoshino. She was waiting with a smile. No malice. Rather, she was sparkling. That made it somehow more frightening, but—— I slowly reached out. I took the device in my hands. "[excited]Yes! Okay, put it on your head! This connector goes like this——" Hoshino quickly explained while beginning to fit the device onto my head. "[excited]Basically, I send low-power electrical signals to your brain's recognition system, and it stimulates the neural patterns corresponding to the other choice option——" "Got it, got it. Just activate it." "[excited]The explanation is important! But okay, fine! Here we go!" Click. The switch engaged. ——My vision exploded white. ————— There was no sound. In front of Gehenna's school gates. The discipline committee's station. Red brick walls. That landscape spread out clearly. Nagisa stood with the committee members. Her usual uniform. The short sword at her waist. The station was intact. (A future where Gehenna was protected.) I was "watching" it—or more precisely, I was sinking into that image. I had no body. I was only watching. Then the perspective shifted. Trinity District. Tiara Lake——was red. Crimson red. The light reflecting off the water surface was red. The tree-lined path along the shore was engulfed in flames. That white school building was billowing black smoke. Students were running. Falling. Screaming. One female student clung to someone and couldn't move. (No matter which I chose——) I felt something crumbling inside my head. If I chose Gehenna, Trinity burns. If I chose Trinity, Gehenna gets hurt. Where is the correct answer I didn't choose? Nowhere—— The image shifted again. Ruins. Concrete debris. Rusted steel frames. A desolate landscape——a scene like the Cradle site. The outer edge of Gehenna District. A single figure stood there. Long black hair. Red mesh. A uniform collar buttoned up tight. It was Nagisa. Standing alone in the ruins. She turned around. Our eyes met——no, I'm not here. But our gazes connected. Nagisa smiled. She wasn't angry. She wasn't crying. A quiet, truly quiet smile. An expression of confirmation, nothing more—— "[cold]I knew no one would come." That whisper reached me as an almost soundless voice within the image. I—— What is this? It wasn't anger or despair. Just confirmation. There was no difference in that smile between "I didn't think you'd come" and "you didn't come." That——pierced deeper than anger, deeper than despair. ————— The device was ripped from my head with a violent motion. The smell of smoke. "[scared]Wait wait wait, overheating——!" Hoshino placed the device on the floor. Sizzle, sizzle—the sound of burning, and white smoke rose thinly from the apparatus. "[sad]……Ah. It burned out." I remained sitting on the sofa, unable to move. My mind couldn't yet distinguish between the image and reality. The red surface of Tiara Lake. The white school building engulfed in flames. Nagisa's smile. Which was now, and which was the image? I held my head. "[serious]……Sensei? Are you okay?" I couldn't respond. I heard Hoshino's footsteps hurrying out of the room. After a while, the sound of her returning. A plastic bottle was pressed against my knee. "[gentle]I bought it from Totem on the first floor. Water. Drink it." I looked up. Hoshino's expression had changed from her earlier sparkling demeanor. Was she worried? Did she feel guilty?——probably both. I took the bottle. It was cold. I drank. It was chilled. For some reason, I remembered the first aid kit Nagisa had thrown at me in Gehenna's storage room. That too had been given in "silent" fashion. "[sad]……I had no right to make that choice." The words spilled out. My voice was hoarse. "[surprised]Wait——" Hoshino's face became flustered. "[serious]Calm down. Listen to me." I looked at Hoshino. "[serious]That image might not be a future that actually happened. The device was still incomplete——there's a possibility it amplified what your brain wanted to see and showed you that. It might be imagery you created yourself, the worst outcome you feared most." "……Can you prove it?" "[sad]I can't. But I can't deny it either." An honest answer. I was silent for a while. I couldn't prove it. But I couldn't say it was completely true either——that contradiction quietly remained in my mind. Whether that image was a true future, or whether I'd simply seen what I feared. I didn't know. I'd have to carry it without knowing. "[sad]I'm……sorry. I didn't think it would break, and I didn't think you'd react like that." "……It can't be helped." Hoshino looked slightly surprised. Perhaps she'd expected me to be angry. I looked out the window. Evening had come. The office's fluorescent lights were on with their usual dim white glow. Then—— My terminal chimed. An emergency notification. Sender: Federal Assembly. I opened it. Data flowed in as text format. I read. As I read, I stood up. "[serious]……What is this?" Hoshino leaned in to look. The content was brief.——Through internal investigation by the Federal Assembly, analysis of communication records from the simultaneous attack on both academies that day revealed that the attack orders sent to Trinity and Gehenna were transmitted using the same encryption key. In other words. Not a coincidental simultaneous occurrence. Someone intentionally triggered both at the same time. I didn't "choose" between Trinity and Gehenna——I was possibly "made to choose." "[surprised]……Huh?" Hoshino's voice became slightly quieter. I read the end of the data. ——Furthermore, this information is not to be disclosed externally until deliberation within the Federal Student Council is complete. Violation will result in immediate suspension of Schale's operational authority. For a while, we both said nothing. The office's fluorescent lights glowed quietly. A faint sound of wind drifted in from outside. "[whispers]……This is bad, right?" Hoshino spoke in a low voice. The brightness from before had completely vanished. I placed the notification on the desk. Evidence exists. But I'm told not to touch it. It's being covered up. The fact that Hoshino and I know——means our existence might become inconvenient to "whoever" finds this inconvenient. Still. I looked out the window toward Gehenna District. Four days remaining. Evidence of conspiracy. Orders for concealment. My spirit still wavered. My body ached. I'd thrown away the lukewarm coffee. Reasons to give up were piling up. But my eyes held no color of surrender.