Kagura of the Moonlight: The Immortal Bride and the Reincarnated Programmer
Sora Kagura had everything—until a single virus erased every line of code he'd ever written and dragged him into a world where the moon hangs three times too large and nothing follows the rules he knows.
Now he's stranded in a parallel world with no stamina, no combat skills, and no way home. His only lead: a torn nameplate reading "Yuzaki." His only guide: Kougetsu Kaguya, a masked girl in a black kimono who claims he carries the "blood of the moon" and that she needs his power.
But what powe
Kagura of the Moonlight: The Immortal Bride and the Reincarnated Programmer - The Abyssal Attic: The Broken Terminal and the Promise I Couldn't Keep
The air in the living room was thick with the smell of burnt plastic and dust.
Kagura Sora sat on the floor, his back against the wall. Every breath sent a dull ache through his ribs. The impact of being slammed into the wall by Tsukikage no Shisha still lingered deep in his body.
(I can move. But I can't take a deep breath.)
He glanced at the old digital watch on his left wrist. 4:20 AM. Still dark outside.
The living room was a wreck. The door leading to the entryway had been blown apart from the inside, splinters of wood scattered across the tatami. The TV screen was shattered, the microwave's side blackened and scorched. In the corner, the area around a wall outlet had melted in a way that defied nature.
It was the trail of that messenger.
"...Sora-kun, can you drink some water?"
He turned toward the voice. Yuzaki Nasa stood there holding two paper cups from the kitchen. His eyes behind his glasses were bloodshot. His black hair was a mess, and his usual cheerful demeanor was nowhere to be seen.
"Yeah, thanks."
Sora took the cup and sipped. Cold water slid down his throat. Just that much cleared his head a little.
Nasa sat down beside him.
"...You know,"
Nasa's voice was low and heavy.
"I grabbed a knife from the kitchen and stood in front of the entryway the whole time. But when that thing showed up — what could I have actually done?"
"Nasa-san."
"People call me the man who'll beat NASA to light speed, right? And in the end, all my knowledge and skill couldn't do a damn thing to protect Tsukasa."
Nasa crushed the paper cup in his fist. Water spilled over his palm.
"It's frustrating. So damn frustrating I don't know what to do with myself."
Sora couldn't say anything.
He understood Nasa's feelings painfully well. Because he felt the same.
(I couldn't do anything either.)
Sora touched the smartphone in his pocket.
No — more accurately, what used to be a smartphone.
---
Footsteps came from the back of the kitchen.
"...Are neither of you sleeping?"
Yuzaki Tsukasa stood in the doorway of the living room. Her long black hair was gathered at the back, a deerskin barrette swaying faintly. Her white skin was pale, her lips thin and colorless.
Over the bandages wrapped around her abdomen, she wore a thin cardigan.
"Tsukasa-chan, you should still be lying down."
Nasa started to rise.
"I'm fine. The wound has already closed."
Tsukasa said this and quietly entered the living room.
Immortality.
Through the medicine granted by the Moon People, Tsukasa's body could not die. No matter how she was wounded, no matter what illness she contracted, given time, she would return to normal.
But even so.
"...Tsukasa-san, please don't push yourself."
At Sora's words, Tsukasa shook her head slightly.
"I'm more worried about you. Your ribs are cracked, aren't they?"
"...Well, yeah."
"It must hurt. Please don't force yourself to move."
With that, Tsukasa picked up a small cushion lying in the corner of the living room, carefully brushed off the dust, and sat down against the wall.
Each of her movements was somehow painful to watch.
Even if the wound in her abdomen had closed, the stamina she'd lost wouldn't return so easily. Her complexion was clearly bad. And yet Tsukasa sat with her back straight, trying not to make her family worry.
(This person is pushing herself too.)
Sora felt a tightness in his chest.
---
"...Where's Kaguya?"
Sora asked.
"She's resting in the guest room. She used too much of the moon's blood."
Tsukasa's voice sank slightly.
"That girl pushed herself until her body couldn't move, all to protect me. Right now, she can't even stand."
"I see."
Sora looked toward the guest room.
Down the hallway, past the closed fusuma door.
Beyond it was Kougetsu Kaguya.
The moon's blood.
The mark of one born into a lineage deeply tied to the Moon People. A trait that reacted sensitively to the moon's movements and allowed one to sense the presence of the Moon People.
Kaguya had used that power to try to slow the messenger's movements, even slightly.
As a result, her body had stopped moving.
(It's my fault.)
Sora bit his lip.
---
Silence filled the living room.
Only the ticking of the clock's second hand echoed — tick, tick.
Eventually, Sora slowly pulled the smartphone from his pocket.
The screen was shattered.
No — not just shattered.
The back cover had melted and warped, exposing the internal circuitry. Part of the board was blackened and scorched, and several chips were beyond recognition.
It was completely destroyed.
"...Sora-kun."
Nasa said, staring at Sora's hands.
"I've got a spare device. My work laptop and a tablet too. Use them if you want."
"...Thank you."
Sora answered briefly.
But in his heart, the answer was already clear.
(Probably won't work.)
Sora's ability was interference with electronic devices.
He could recognize the rules of this world as code, and rewrite them.
That power depended on machines Sora was "used to using."
More precisely, on having a perfect grasp of the machine's internal structure in his mind.
The arrangement of circuits. The role of each chip. The flow of electrical signals.
Only because he understood all of it could Sora interfere with the world through that machine.
"...I'll try."
Sora took the tablet Nasa lent him.
He turned it on. The screen lit up.
Sora closed his eyes.
(See the inside of this machine.)
He concentrated.
His fingertips trembled faintly.
He tried to assemble the tablet's circuit diagram in his mind.
But.
(...I can't see it.)
The image of the circuits blurred.
With his own smartphone, the moment he picked it up, the internal structure rose in his mind.
Which chip controlled what, which wire carried which signal.
He understood it like the back of his hand.
But this tablet was different.
(Not enough information. I don't know this machine.)
Sora set the tablet down.
"...It's no good."
"No good, meaning..."
"My ability isn't tied to the device itself. It works because I have a perfect grasp of the internal structure of machines I'm used to. This tablet is just a slab to me."
"...I see."
Nasa bit his lip.
"So my devices can't substitute for your power."
"...No."
Sora admitted it honestly.
He had no choice but to admit it.
(My power was built on that smartphone.)
(Now that I've lost it, I'm...)
Sora clenched his fist.
His fingertips went white.
---
"Sora-san."
Tsukasa's voice rang out quietly.
"Your power shouldn't belong to that smartphone alone. After all, that smartphone was originally just a machine, wasn't it?"
"...Yes."
"You used it so much that you came to understand that machine better than anyone, and that's how it became part of your power. Then even if it takes time, couldn't you simply do the same thing again?"
"...That's..."
Sora was at a loss for words.
"I know there's no time. But that's not a reason to give up."
Tsukasa's dark eyes looked straight at Sora.
"You tried to protect me. That alone is enough for me."
"...It's not enough."
Sora forced the words out.
"You took a blade to the stomach shielding me. And you say that's enough — that's not—"
"I won't die, you see."
Tsukasa smiled faintly.
"The pain will heal if I endure it a little. But if you had died, that would be the end. So shielding you is only natural for me."
"...It's not natural."
Sora hung his head.
(It's not natural. One person shielding another isn't natural.)
(And yet, this person calls it natural.)
(How heavy that is.)
Sora couldn't say anything more.
---
"...We'll talk later."
Suddenly, a voice came.
Kougetsu Kaguya stood in the doorway of the living room.
She wore a black kimono. A black mask covered her mouth, her long black hair disheveled. The moon-patterned birthmark on the back of her right hand floated pale against her skin.
She leaned against the wall for support.
"Kaguya, you shouldn't be moving yet."
As Sora tried to stand, pain shot through his ribs.
"You're one to talk. Don't move."
Kaguya's voice was low and drained.
"...I have something to tell you. Come."
"Where?"
"The attic."
---
The Yuzaki house's attic smelled of old wood.
After climbing the ladder, a low-ceilinged space barely tall enough for an adult to stand opened up. Several cardboard boxes were stacked, and old futons lay rolled up.
Moonlight streamed through a small round window.
That strangely large moon.
Its pale blue light illuminated the dust floating in the attic.
"...No one can hear us here."
Kaguya sat down against the wall.
"Are you really okay?"
Sora sat down too, pressing a hand to his aching side.
"I'm not okay. But I can at least talk."
"...Don't push yourself."
"I don't want to hear that from you."
Kaguya's dark eyes reflected the moonlight, golden rings surfacing within them.
"...When I was ten, my mother was taken by the Moon People."
Kaguya began to speak quietly.
"The moon was large that night too. My mother hid me in the closet and faced the Moon People alone. I watched from the gap in the closet door."
"...You just watched?"
"I couldn't do anything. My moon-blood power was still immature. My body was small. I let go of my mother's hand."
Kaguya's voice trembled faintly.
"For ten years after that, I kept chasing the presence of the Moon People. But I never once caught up. My mother is still somewhere, captive to the Moon People. And all I could do was stand by and watch."
"...Kaguya."
"There are things logic alone can't protect."
Kaguya looked straight into Sora's eyes.
"You act on logic. You judge by efficiency. But in this world, there are things that logic can't account for. Tsukasa's pain. Nasa's cries. Your tears."
"...I'm not crying."
"You are. Along with the nosebleed, tears too."
Sora touched his cheek.
It was wet.
At some point, tears had spilled over.
"...I'm the same."
Kaguya said.
"I couldn't protect my mother either. She was taken by the Moon People. My power still isn't enough. But I won't give up. Because if I give up, it's over."
"...Kaguya."
"Your analysis isn't wrong. A program that rewrites the world's rules. If you complete it, I'm sure we can stand against the Moon People. I believe that."
Kaguya's dark eyes, golden rings floating in them, gazed at Sora.
"So fight with me. As my partner."
Sora stared at Kaguya's face.
Expressionless.
But deep in her eyes burned a fierce will.
(This girl has been fighting alone all this time.)
(Her mother taken, and still she never gave up.)
(For ten years, alone.)
Sora felt something hot rise in his chest.
"...Yeah."
Sora nodded.
"I'll do it. I'll complete the program that rewrites the world's rules. No matter what."
At those words, Kaguya's lips softened — just barely.
Hidden by the mask, almost invisible.
But she had definitely smiled.
---
Before dawn.
Sora remained in the attic alone.
After finishing her story, Kaguya had reached the limit of her strength and fallen asleep against the wall.
Steady, quiet breathing.
Sora placed the wreckage of the destroyed smartphone on the floor.
The shattered screen. The melted cover. The scorched board.
(This was everything I had.)
Sora stared at the remains.
This smartphone had contained all the information from his original world.
The winning data from programming contests.
The hundreds of lines of code he'd written.
The analysis notes on the world's rules he'd recorded since arriving here.
All of it, gone.
(Back then, I was assembling the prototype of the program to rewrite the world's rules in my head.)
(But that design assumed the smartphone's computational resources.)
(Now that I've lost the device, that blueprint is just empty theory.)
Sora clenched his fist.
His fingertips trembled.
"...It's over."
The words slipped out.
"I lost the device. I lost the foundation for the program. I couldn't even protect Tsukasa. ...I have nothing left."
Tears spilled over.
They made small stains on t
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