I sat in an isolation room, arranged like a concert hall, listening to the soft piano music that filled the space. My thoughts were centered around the Gaki Reaper and the golden harmful Object.
More precisely, I was pondering the question, Where does ntal contamination co from?
It was a troubling phenonon—the transformation of an Object into sothing "harmful."
Though the mini Reapers and firewood were immune to the contamination, the ntal affliction that affected Objects had always seed rather peculiar to .
First, once an Object becos "harmful," the ntal contamination is irreversible.
No matter how far back you rewind ti, the ntal contamination remained "sothing that had already occurred." If you hadn't made an effort to rember what the Object looked like before contamination, your own perception would twist, making it feel like it had always been that way.
Second, the cause-and-effect relationship of ntal contamination was unclear.
It could appear seemingly without cause, as though it had just spontaneously happened. Even when I examined it through the abilities of the Orange Reaper, there were cases where contamination occurred even when the probability was zero, and cases where it didn’t happen despite a 100% likelihood.
Ti and cause-effect relationships were all jumbled together.
I knew of one phenonon that matched this description.
It was the reality distortion caused by the red fiend from the Color Universe.
These distortions were brought about by gods or beings from outside our world—external gods. The reality-warping they caused had a similar feeling to the ntal contamination of Objects.
"Hmm."
With that thought, I started closely observing the blue lizard that was scampering across the piano in the center of the room.
It exuded a faint, harmful aura, although only enough for the Golden Reapers to dismiss it as harmless.
Could it be that the lizard’s strength was why it wasn’t easily contaminated?
Even though the lizard lacked attack power, it was a rather strong Object, capable of infinite resurrection and cloning itself.
I lowered my gaze to the ghost cat nestled in my arms.
I hadn’t confird its destruction conditions, but I could sense that it was a much weaker Object.
Perhaps, if soone managed to bypass its ghostly form, it could be as easily destroyed as a kitten.
Still, the ghost cat, like the blue lizard, wasn’t heavily contaminated.
"Why are you unaffected?"
The cat, apparently annoyed by my unnecessary pestering, gave a sharp slap across the cheek with its paw.
Indeed, the more I studied ntal contamination, the more it reminded of the Color Universe.
Could there be a way to revive the Gaki Reaper's beloved Object using that universe?
I had a strong intuition that it might be possible.
As my thoughts wandered, a faint mory surfaced in my mind.
"Co to think of it, wasn’t there a mini Reaper who had so connection to the Color Universe?"
I closed my eyes, trying to rember who it was.
A colossal giant of light, large enough to blot out the sky, lood over the buildings below.
The purple Reaper shrank as small as possible, suppressing its presence to avoid being detected by the giant.
"Huff."
Covering its eyes with its small hands, the purple Reaper puffed its cheeks as if holding its breath.
The Reaper was certain that the blue starlight giant was searching for it.
The energy it emitted was clearly ant to expel all Objects not under its control. The purple Reaper could feel its own strength rising as a result, but that also ant the giant was becoming more aware of its presence.
Should I call Mom?
The purple Reaper, still covering its eyes, began to worry.
It wanted to continue its private travels with its beloved human.
But it was also concerned for the safety of that human, urging it to call for help from Mom.
Yet, with the energy it had now, the purple Reaper felt like it might be able to fight the giant.
These three conflicting thoughts swirled around in its mind, making it impossible to reach a conclusion.
As the sun rose, the blue starlight giant faded away with the morning light.
The giant’s pursuit was getting closer.
What should I do?
The purple Reaper was deep in thought as it prepared breakfast for its beloved human, who was about to wake up.
The man sat at the table, enjoying a simple breakfast of bread, ham, and a strong espresso, while analyzing the file left at storage location 41 by the old man.
It was an encrypted USB, so the decryption process was taking so ti.
However, since it had been prepared for him, it wasn’t an insurmountable challenge.
Beep.
The computer signaled that the decryption was complete, and the contents of the file appeared on the screen.
If you’re reading this, it ans I’m already dead.
The docunt began with these words and contained a short story.
The old man had been part of the Organization, just as he had worked with the man, he had also been responsible for the man’s sister.
It revealed what the sister had been investigating.
Along with a map, it pointed to the last known location his sister had traveled to.
I’m sorry for not telling you sooner.
I should have, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
At the end of the docunt, there was an apology for not revealing the information earlier and a warning about the location.
“Finally...!”
The man tapped the spot on the map where the location was marked, his voice filled with excitent at the thought of discovering his sister’s final destination.
But in his excitent, he failed to notice the shocked expression on the purple Reaper’s face as it peered over his shoulder at the map.
The place where the blue starlight giant appears!
The location marked on the map was the very place where the ominous blue starlight giant erged every night.
At Sehee Research Institute during lunch, a researcher wandered around holding a small photograph, asking questions.
“Have you seen this Object?”
The photograph showed the golden Gaki Reaper sleeping peacefully on a small cushion.
The researcher, much like soone searching for a lost puppy, was asking people everywhere.
But no one seed to know where the golden Gaki Reaper had gone.
It seed unnecessary to worry about an Object, yet the researcher couldn’t shake the feeling of unease.
The reason was simple.
Only a day had passed, but their mory of the golden Gaki Reaper was already fading.
They hadn’t forgotten that it existed, but the cute, gentle image of it was becoming hazy.
It had been so adorable.
It had brought so much joy.
There were still so many things they wanted to experience with it.
This doesn’t feel natural.
The researcher, desperate, even began asking the mini Reapers lounging in the courtyard.
But the mini Reapers, black and golden alike, shook their heads, showing no knowledge of the golden Gaki Reaper’s whereabouts.
“Have you seen this one?”
The researcher asked one of the black Reapers, who responded with a slightly sorrowful shake of its head.
The black Reaper then watched with a look of pity as the researcher moved on to question another mini Reaper.
Deep in the mini Reaper’s garden, in the Marshmallow Cabin.
The Gaki Reaper, wearing a sorrowful expression, stood by the bed of the blue-haired girl.
It poked her cheek gently, lost in thought.
The Gaki Reaper was recalling an old mory—a mory of a boy and a dog that had died after coming into contact with the evolution fluid.
Back then, its master had ground up the dog’s corpse to create a guardian.
To stop the boy from grieving, the master had replaced the dog’s rotting face with the Gaki’s own, creating a grotesque guardian.
From that, the Gaki Reaper was sure that the entity inside the lead doll was indeed its forr master.
It had always felt this way—if only the master would admit that there were so things they just couldn’t do.
As the Gaki Reaper reminisced by the blue-haired girl’s side, the cabin door suddenly burst open.
“There you are!”
Its master appeared, smiling brightly.
“I found a solution! Let’s go!”
The Gray Reaper, filled with excitent, grabbed the Gaki Reaper’s hand and pulled it along.
The Gaki Reaper followed, feeling both a deep unease and a flicker of hope.
When the man arrived at the location marked on the map, he was greeted by an eerie, deep blue fog.
The fog appeared suddenly as he passed between buildings, so thick that he could barely see his own feet.
It was a sight one would never expect to find in the middle of the city.
The purple Reaper, clearly tense, glanced nervously around the fog-shrouded area.
As the man cautiously stepped deeper into the fog, he recalled a note his sister had left behind.
I need to go to the place where the star fell.
Of course, the man had visited the site known as the 'Place where the star fell' as soon as he read the note.
Naturally, the famous park where the star's blessing had begun was his target.
But there, he had found no trace of his sister.
This must be the real 'Place where the star fell.'
The deeper he ventured into the blue-tinged fog, the more he felt sure of it.
The star that had driven away Objects from this land and created the 'Chosen Ones,' beings who were almost like Objects themselves.
The true 'Place where the star fell' couldn’t possibly be sothing as ordinary as a park.
As the man continued into the strange blue fog, unusual phenona began to occur.
A butterfly, glowing with blue light, appeared suddenly, only to fly back into a decayed cocoon and die.
Footprints were left ahead of him, while no trace remained behind.
‘...’
Unsettling events piled up, making the man want to turn back.
Slowly, he stopped and looked over his shoulder.
“Brother.”
His sister’s voice, as clear as if she were standing right next to him, echoed in his ears.
And within the depths of the blue fog, a faint silhouette that resembled his sister seed to erge.
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