Volu 14, Chapter 28: What I Desire
If I were a bell
I would not want to ring again and again
I would want a single ring so great
I could never ring again
There was a world of glowing white light.
It was a world filled with concept spray.
The ground was Shinjuku’s, but the sky was not.
That world was located below where Noah floated even after being destroyed.
Sayama and Shinjou stood there all alone, looking at their clasped hands.
Georgius’s light was weakening before their eyes.
“So it’s finally happened. …Will we be caught in the blast when Noah overloads?”
“I think Noah’s overload has also grown unstable due to Georgius’s influence. The real countdown begins once this light vanishes, Shinjou-kun.”
“I see.” Shinjou saw Sayama pull acceleration charms from his pocket. “We have to head after the others who already retreated, don’t we? You’re going to be running again, Sayama-kun.”
“I always do, Shinjou-kun. But do not worry. I will not let go of your hand. And…”
He spoke with his usual expressionless look.
“I will always be with you, Shinjou-kun.”
“And I with you, Sayama-kun.”
She answered with a slight smile and she wondered what kind of a smile it was.
But when she looked at Georgius’s light and at the surrounding concept light, she asked about sothing else.
“What’s going to happen now?”
“Noah will explode and the two of us will have a fun ti escaping. …What is that look for?”
“That’s not what I ant.”
“Our normal life awaits us once we leave here.”
Sayama glanced around them.
“The Leviathan Road will end, but cleaning up afterwards is a job for the adults. So the direct problem facing us will be deciding on the next student council. …How about you try running for president?”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
But it was not a bad idea. She even thought about trying it if it would be fun.
“I guess we’ll continue our student lives like that, continue on to college, and probably end up working for the betternt of the world.”
“And once we marry, I would like two children. …Oh, but if the children would be like you, Shinjou-kun, then I suppose one would be enough.”
“L-let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“Ha ha ha,” he laughed.
Shinjou belatedly realized that laugh of his was actually a way to hide his embarrassnt.
He truly was a complex and welco person.
Then, Sayama suddenly opened his mouth again.
“Either way, I think the two of us will create a world when we grow up.”
“Let’s not exaggerate.”
As soon as she said that, he turned her way.
He gave her an astonished look but also smiled a little.
“Had you really not figured this out? Releasing the concepts ans filling the world with the traits of the other Gears and making them reality.”
“aning?”
Unsure what he ant, she tilted her head and he explained.
“aning the underworld, heaven, reincarnation, destruction and rebirth, and everything else will beco part of reality. The gods of war will surely beco man’s property and lose the title of ‘god’. And the chanical dragons will beco flying ships and travel as far as outer space. Also…mankind will harness the power of words and pictures in a world shared with the other races.”
He continued calmly.
“This world will not be immortal, but from now on, it will be guided by the concepts of reincarnation and inheritance. You, I, and all the others are sure to et again at any ti in the future. Sotis our mories and wills will be passed along and sotis they will be forgotten, but it will all help this world evolve into an even better world. …If necessary, we might even beco each other’s enemies.”
“————”
“Now, Shinjou-kun, many problems await us. The adults will have to put in so work at first, but by the ti we enter society, the hidden side of the world should be organized enough for us to have so real fun working there.”
Shinjou sort of understood what he ant by “having fun”.
“In other words, the world will be organized fairly well but there will still be plenty of holes and problems? Instead of being the world that destroyed eleven others, it will be a single, incredibly young world newly created by gathering them all together?”
“Yes,” said Sayama before suddenly saying more. “So can I hope for sothing from that world? Can I hope for my own battle to change the world? But one other than the Leviathan Road that was left for by the past?”
He seed to be asking himself that more than her and that was proof of his hesitation.
…If you do what you truly want to, we’ll all follow you.
So she smiled, nodded, and said what only she could say to him.
“I think you can hope for that. We’ll all help you. But…make sure to invite first of all, okay?”
She had already made up her mind, so she spoke her decision aloud with a bitter smile.
“I’ll be with you, Sayama-kun. …I’ll be watching over you to make sure you don’t change the world in too weird a way.”
“You will be able to write an excellent story. I do not know what will happen yet, but that alone I do know.”
He sounded confident, so she could only accept it with her bitter smile.
“I suppose it will be amazing. After all, anything can happen there other than immortality.”
“Yes. You and I will be able to go anywhere in that world.”
Shinjou felt heat in her cheeks when he said that.
…Why does he want to be with so much?
But that was sothing she could say too. She wanted to be with him forever.
“Well, yes. I want to be with you too, Sayama-kun.”
The two of them brought their smiling faces close and their lips t.
After a long ti, the dampness parted and they looked at their clasped hands.
Georgius’s light was just about to vanish.
And then it was gone.
So the two of them exchanged a nod but did not let go of each other’s hand.
“Now, it is ti to go.”
They began to run with slight smiles on their lips. They ran at the sa speed without letting go of each other.
At that mont, they heard a song from overhead.
It was a hymn coming from Noah.
Shinjou looked up, wondering who was singing it, but Sayama spoke next to her.
“Is Noah-kun singing?”
December 25, 2005
Noah reached the concept creation facility with her broken body.
She looked around the area.
She could only see the surrounding light of the concepts.
That light proved the world was changing.
December 25, 2005
Noah climbed the stairs to the bell tower.
“Before” November 5, 1990
She liked the ringing of the bell.
It made a unique sound that no one else could emulate and it also carried far into the distance.
“Before” March 25, 1991
Noah wanted to be like that.
“Before” December 25, 1993
One more thing was added to the creation facility: a bell.
The bell would indicate the completion of the concept creation. It would inform everyone that the world had changed.
This was sothing only Noah had.
She wanted to try ringing it right away.
This was hers alone. It was the physical proof of sothing only she could do.
“Before” December 25, 1995
Her creator spoke to her.
“Take care of the new world.”
She was told to ring her bell.
“Before” December 25, 1993
She wanted to try ringing it right away.
December 25, 2005
Noah looked around from the top of the bell tower.
She could only see the surrounding light of the concepts.
That light proved the world was changing.
December 25, 2005
Noah knew the world was about to change.
She asked if that would an she had created a new world.
“Before” December 25, 1995
Her creator spoke to her.
“Take care of the new world.”
She was told to ring her bell.
December 25, 2005
Noah realized what it was she was ant to take care of.
She had not been told to take care of the creation of the new world; she had been told to take care of the new world itself.
“In that case…”
December 25, 2005
Noah looked to the world that had to exist beyond the light. That world had gained the past and would continue to beco new forevermore.
She realized that this here was the answer.
December 25, 2005
So Noah spoke.
“Thank you very much.”
Those were the first words she had physically spoken from her own lips.
December 25, 2005
Why had she not said “over”?
And where was that song in her mories?
December 25, 2005
Noah found the song in her mories.
She opened her mouth and released a voice from deep in her throat.
It was a loud, loud voice.
She sang.
“Silent night, Holy night
“Shepherds first see the sight
“Told by angelic Alleluja,
“Sounding everywhere, both near and far
“ ‘Christ the savior is here’
“ ‘Christ the savior is here’ ”
December 25, 2005
Noah rang the bell.
“Before” December 25, 1993
Sothing only she could do.
December 25, 2005
Noah had accomplished that goal.
December 25, 2005
“This is 8th Arch-Model Automaton No. 0 of Concept Creation Facility Aerial Ship SSS-X0 Noah. I was restarted ten years ago and today…”
December 25, 2005
“I have completed the task left with . Restarting my stopped clock and continuing to the next situation.”
December 25, 2005
“Over.”
As Sayama and Shinjou ran, they heard the ringing of a bell behind them.
The wall of the concept space was visible up ahead and everyone was waiting for them.
The others would not be able to see them from outside, but the automatons had to have detected them.
Izumo and Kazami, Hiba and Mikage, Heo and Harakawa, the others from Team Leviathan or UCAT, their schoolmates, and the mbers of other Gears were raising their hands.
“Sayama! Shinjou! Behind you! Behind you!!”
They already knew. Noah had exploded behind them.
The light grew stronger and approached from behind.
Sayama ran, but…
“Shinjou-kun.”
He squeezed her hand.
“Right, Sayama-kun.”
They believed they would make it in ti.
And just then, Sayama saw sothing in the light around him. So did Shinjou.
“Eh?” They looked around to find a world filled with white light.
This was not the concept light from before. It was a much calr light.
And they both saw several people there.
“Is that…?”
His grandfather stood next to an automaton.
His father was there wearing a lab coat.
Next to Noah were Shinjou’s…
“That’s my mom and dad…”
They were waving with a smile and they mouthed sothing.
“ ‘Go forth in lewdness.’ ”
“That is not what they said! They said to work hard.”
Shinjou then smiled toward her parents and they all nodded.
“Um, so was that dream of the afterlife I had real?”
“Should I grab that lecherous old man over there and start an interrogation?”
“Y-you don’t have to! Besides, you’d get caught in the blast and end up like them! Also…now that I think about it, the underworld and all that are only now going to be created, so maybe that really was just a dream.”
Sayama smiled bitterly at that.
“But Low-Gear had the negative concepts as the opposites of the other Gears’ positive ones. It also has the contradiction allowance concept. It is possible so kind of model version was created here.”
“Oh, no,” gasped Shinjou. “Th-that ans I cried and said I didn’t want to be there in front of your mom. And I said I wanted to see you. Wh-what have I done?”
“Do not worry. If the underworld had beco a banquet hall for that old monkey man and his friends, then you are much better off with .”
“Y-you really can be an to them…”
“There is nothing wrong with that,” he said.
A great many people were moving to the other side of the white light. Those residents of the past were traveling to the future.
So of them turned back toward Sayama and Shinjou: Itaru and Sf, Chao, Hajji, and Shino. The blond young man may have been Alex.
Besides them, they saw the mbers of the National Defense Departnt, an old man riding a large chanical dragon, a princess, a woman riding a white god of war, a giant black chanical dragon, and a giant white chanical dragon. Everyone who had been lost was there.
They all waved back and spoke their own words.
Then they turned their back to continue toward the empty whiteness.
“What is that?”
“A region of blank paper. That is the world’s genetic notebook in which everything we have done is written.”
Sayama explained and nodded as he looked into that vast emptiness.
…The two of us will continue on together and write more of the world.
“From now on, whether in this world, a much greater world, outer space, parallel worlds, or an evolving world, we and those who co after us will inherit what ca before and continue on from there. And we will all fight alongside each other to move further ahead. We will always, always advance to the leading edge of the world. And while I am there, I know exactly who will be by my side.”
As he said that, he felt a squeeze on his hand as if in agreent.
So he ran. Instead of pulling on Shinjou’s hand, he held her hand as proof that she was with him and ran through the world at the sa speed as her.
But the explosion was approaching from behind.
“————!!”
Just as they wondered if they would make it, they felt a push from behind.
“!?”
What had caused that sudden speed boost?
Sayama looked back and saw a woman standing there.
It was soone he had long misunderstood, it was soone who had protected him, and it was soone who had said she hoped he could do sothing soday.
Sayama called for that person.
“…!!”
She smiled and moved her lips.
She mouthed the words, “It’s okay. I understand.”
And, “You have soone to support you now, don’t you?”
So he and Shinjou nodded back toward the woman and spoke up as if rely leaving for school.
“Bye.”
As she watched them go, Sayama and Shinjou faced forward and passed through the wall.
They arrived where the others were.
And as they plunged into the new world, they gathered strength in their clasped hands.
“From now on, I will always be with you because you are right, Shinjou-kun.”
She gave a single answer.”
“Testant,” she said with a smile. “So will I.”
They squeezed each other’s hand.
“So will I! I’ll always be with you because you’re a villain!”
With those words, they had arrived ho.
They had arrived in the original world that was filled with new cheers of joy.
A mont later, the concept space closed and the Leviathan Road ended.
Lights were seen around the world, it was called a miracle of the holy night, and most of Taka-Akita Academy’s students arrived ho late at night to be scolded by their parents.
They were all returning to where they belonged.
To confirm the last traces of the holy night, they returned to those who would be with them and to the places they shared with those people.
And now the story returns to springti two years later.
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