I Think I Fell for You at the Bottom of the Abyss (Probably) - Episode 7

Morning came. Riko slowly opened her eyes. On top of the crystal pillar. The pale blue light swayed the same as always. She looked at her own hand. Thin. Small. My hand. She couldn't help wanting to confirm it again. She'd checked yesterday. The day before too. That time when she had a man's body still felt like it was lingering somewhere. She put her hand in her pocket. The Tamaugachi's needle was there. Cold, thin, definitely there. Riko let out a small breath. "You awake" Next to her, white ears twitched. Nanachi was already awake. Since when. Hugging her knees, staring blankly at the sea of corpses. "Nanachi, when did you wake up" "Around when you started talking in your sleep" "Huh, I was talking in my sleep?" "Something about Tamaugachi" "That's bad……" A little ways off, Reg was gazing at the water's surface. Arms resting on her knees, perfectly still. Since she was a body that couldn't sleep, maybe she'd been in that position the whole time. "Reg, you want breakfast?" "I don't eat" "I know, just asking anyway" "……Why ask anyway" "Just because!" Reg laughed faintly. Riko opened a bag of preserved food. Hard bread. Same as yesterday. Same as the day before. Honestly, she was already tired of it. But she ate. Can't move without eating. She took a bite and looked up at the force field's light again. They'd made it this far. Gone to the Nanakamado Spring and made it back. Properly back to being Riko. Picked up a stone in the Yobigishi depression and became a boy, the three of them passed through the Kurogane Corridor, avoided three Nurikabe-modoki. Defeated Tamaugachi too. Dove into that eight-meter body, drove a small bottle into the soft part of its belly. That hand was huge. A boy's hand, covered in scars. (I really did something like that, huh) She touched the needle in her pocket with her finger. Evidence of battle. A memento. Weird, she thought to herself. But she didn't want to throw it away. --- After eating, the three of them cleaned up. "Can we make it back to Hoozuki's Rock Shelf today?" "Daiou Kabura might still be around. We'll take a detour and check" "How much of a detour?" "About an hour extra" "Then let's do that" Reg stood up and looked at her arm. The Incinerator's cannon mouth. She hadn't used it yesterday. Riko hoped she wouldn't need to today either. If she used that, Reg would be defenseless for ten whole minutes. "Let's go" "Yeah" She climbed down from the pillar. The soles of her feet touched the rock shelf. Cold. She felt it clearly. Standing on my own feet. Riko confirmed it once more before she started walking. --- The detour route was a path she'd never taken before. They circled the outer edge of the Towa no Hashira's crystal pillar, walking along the shore of the sea of corpses. The water's surface swayed slowly. Catching the force field's light, glowing pale blue. A single Oogasumi floated in the distance. Huge. More than ten meters in diameter. Touch that and it's instant death. Riko quietly pointed in that direction. "That's an Oogasumi, right?" "Yeah. They gather toward light. Don't shine anything in that direction" "I'm not, I'm not" Reg watched the Oogasumi silently. "That's big" "Don't go near it, okay" "I won't" The three of them quietly looked away from the Oogasumi and kept walking. The sea of corpses was vast. She couldn't see how far it stretched, the depths were dark and invisible. As Riko walked, she suddenly thought. This place is beautiful. Even though it's scary. Even though it's a place where she almost died. The force field's light spreading through the crystal pillar, reflecting off the water's surface, pale blue and quiet. Most people in the world don't know a place like this exists. The children in the orphanage in Orth don't know. Only White Whistles and those close to them know. (Mom walked through here) Riko kept walking as she thought. Mom's a White Whistle. She left a map. She knew about the Nanakamado Spring. Which means she must have come through here too. Walked under this same sea, under this same light. (What kind of face did she have when she saw this) "Thinking about something?" Reg said it from beside her. Not like she was seeing through her, just like she'd noticed. "About Mom" "About Lyza?" "Yeah. Wondering if she came through here too" Reg walked forward silently for a while. "I think she did. She was the kind of person who explored thoroughly enough to make a map" Riko heard those words and felt her chest warm a little. The words didn't come easily, so instead she looked ahead. Nanachi spoke without turning around. "Save the sentimentality for while you're walking. Hoozuki's Rock Shelf is still far" "I know!!" --- After two hours of taking the detour, Hoozuki's Rock Shelf came into view. The base Kagerou had spent half a year setting up. Forty meters wide, twenty meters deep, a large rock shelf. Three tents. A fire pit. Preserved food, fire-starting equipment, and a first aid kit. They'd been using this as a base for a while. There were traces of Daiou Kabura, but it wasn't here now. The edge of the shelf had crumbled a bit, and one of the tents was tilted. "We should fix that tent" "Later. First we check the food" "More of that preserved food……" "If you don't want to eat it, don't" "I'll eat it!!" Reg was standing next to the tilted tent. Looking at something. "What's wrong?" "This is near where I collapsed when you guys first came here" Riko stopped walking. That's right. Reg had collapsed here. Back then it wasn't three yet. Reg was sleeping, Nanachi was there, and Riko picked up a stone in the Yobigishi depression. That was how it all started. "That's nostalgic. Reg back then didn't understand anything, huh" "There's still a lot I don't understand now" "That's not what I meant! The situation, I mean!" Nanachi said it while checking supplies. "……You've changed too since then, Riko" Riko turned around. Nanachi was still looking at the supplies. She could only see her profile. "Really?" "Where else would you find someone who dives into a Tamaugachi's belly with a man's body" "That was pretty unplanned though!!" "Unplanned or not, you did it. That's all" Short words. But somehow she felt embarrassed. Riko looked away and touched the needle in her pocket. She'd defeated Tamaugachi. Passed through the Kurogane Corridor. Gone to the spring and come back. It felt like a chapter had ended. Like a game, except it wasn't. But. When Reg entered the spring, the light bounced back. That still caught in her head. The spring that returns existence to its original form did nothing for Reg. Or maybe it wasn't that it couldn't—— "Riko" "Yeah?" "Thank you for bringing me this far" Riko stopped. It didn't feel like words Reg would say. But she said them. With a serious face, Reg said it while looking out at the sea beyond the shelf. "……Why so suddenly" "It's not sudden. I've been thinking it the whole time" "If you've been thinking it the whole time, you should've said it earlier" "……I didn't know when to say it" Riko laughed a little. Reg saying "I didn't know when to say it" was somehow so very Reg. "You're welcome" Nanachi's voice counting supplies drifted quietly from behind. --- Evening. The three of them sat around the campfire. They ate preserved food. It was still bad. Nanachi made a disgusted face. But she ate it all. Reg didn't eat. But she sat near the fire. Riko took the needle out of her pocket while looking at the flames. Thin, sharp, catching the force field's light and glowing faintly. "What are you going to do with that needle" "Take it home. As a memento" "A memento" "Yeah. Proof that I could really fight with a man's body" Nanachi didn't say anything. She looked at the flames for a moment. Reg looked at the needle and said. "……Don't you need to report it to the Tochosie Organization" "Tamaugachi body parts aren't relics, so it's fine. Classified as materials" "You know a lot" "I grew up in Belchero. The Relic Management Law was drilled into me from when I was little" Belchero——the orphanage in Orth. A place where children who'd lost their parents to cave diving gathered. Riko grew up there. From age ten she trained in cave diving, registered as a Red Whistle. (I wonder what everyone's doing now) She thought suddenly. Her friends from Belchero. They'd never expect Riko to come this far into the fifth layer. Nanachi spoke quietly. "……When will you go back to Orth" "Haven't decided yet. Mom's map has more ahead" "I see" Nanachi didn't ask further. She watched the flames. Her white ears swayed quietly. Riko watched the flames too. Mom's map had more ahead. Beyond the Nanakamado Spring. From the deepest part of the fifth layer, continuing further. Lyza Inverno's map wasn't finished yet. Reg's true identity was still unknown. The meaning of that light the spring had reflected was still unknown. But today was fine with that. They'd made it back. The three of them were here. The campfire was warm. That was enough. Riko put the needle back in her pocket and watched the flames. The sea of corpses swayed quietly. Where would they go next. No one said anything yet. But they'd walk again, Riko thought. The three of them. Laughing. Scared. Reg suddenly looked up at the sky. The force field's light swirled. "Riko" "Yeah" "I think I'll understand someday why the spring reacted like that" Riko looked at Reg's profile. "Yeah. We'll understand someday" "……Be quiet" They both looked at Nanachi at the same time. Nanachi kept watching the flames, not moving. But the corner of her mouth, just barely, was turning up. Riko saw it and held back her laughter. Held it back, held it back, and ended up laughing quietly anyway. The campfire's flames swayed gently.

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Episode 7

Name: I Think I Fell for You at the Bottom of the Abyss (Probably)
Author: Novelia

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