[152]
Purple eyes sink deep into a lightless depth.
That incredibly beautiful and enchanting color had, for a moment, turned dull and faded.
Like an old metal that hadn’t been polished.
Chris waited silently. He didn’t think Yuri would break or collapse.
Over time, Chris had come to trust Yuri in a different way than before.
Rosenhauser was just a ghost. And Yuri was someone who didn’t dwell on past memories.
“I’m reminded of something from before. I once searched through my parents’ study, trying to find something…”
Yuri slowly parted his lips but trailed off.
“Rosenhauser caught me. He didn’t scold or punish me. He just told me to go to bed, like a kind godfather coaxing his curious godson.”
At that time, Yuri had been angry at Rosenhauser’s composure.
Simultaneously, Rosenhauser had seemed impossibly large to him. Like an insurmountable wall or mountain.
But now he knew that it had been a composure Rosenhauser could afford because he hadn’t yet been caught off guard.
The lukewarm discomfort disappeared like smoke.
Raising his head, Yuri calmly began to examine the attic of the printing house.
When he unrolled several sheets of paper, blueprints became visible.
The buildings of Northern Light used by Guides, facilities for capturing mental Espers and extracting their energy, designs for airships and submarines…
It wasn’t difficult to realize that this was where Rosenhauser’s ideas had originated and his plans had been formulated.
“What he set up in my parents’ study was just a trophy.”
Yuri’s lips moved slightly.
This space contained Rosenhauser’s more intimate thoughts and plans.
That must be why he had the Thorns Order, his knights, guard it.
“That’s rather fortunate,” Chris suddenly spoke up. He wanted to comfort Yuri if possible.
“It means that man couldn’t completely relax in your home.”
He had forced his way in and occupied it, but he never truly became its master.
Yuri chuckled at those words.
“That’s just talk.”
“I apologize.”
Chris firmly set his lips.
Just when he was thinking that he might have overstepped, Yuri said,
“But… it’s not bad.”
Yuri was looking his way with a faint smile.
There was a time when even mere words of comfort had been desperately needed.
He had thought that after that period had passed, he no longer needed them. Yet unexpectedly, the sound of those words felt sweet to his ears.
‘I’ve become weak.’
But he didn’t think that was entirely bad. His former self from a few years ago would be utterly astonished.
Now he found himself having rather empty thoughts.
Yuri picked up Rosenhauser’s fountain pen and nodded toward the drawer.
“Open it. You can completely break the lock if needed.”
Chris extended his hand without hesitation.
Clatter, clatter.
The drawer shook up and down as if it were alive. Feeling something catch, Chris slightly furrowed his brow.
He clenched his fist toward the empty air, and the top of the drawer crumpled. Through the gap that formed, a blue, sharp-edged cog sprang out.
It seemed designed to completely shred the hand of anyone who tried to open the drawer without following the proper procedure.
But Chris plucked out that bladed part as easily as picking beans from rice and set it aside.
“There’s something like a latch behind that cog… there’s probably an ignition device and an oil tank behind it. Break it.”
Yuri, who had been carefully observing the gap, said.
“A secret so important that he’d rather burn it than let it fall into someone else’s hands…”
Chris muttered with a frown.
“Why? Are you curious?”
“No.”
Chris shook his head at Yuri’s question.
“…Boring fellow.”
Knowing that was Yuri’s way of complimenting him, Chris wasn’t hurt.
Chris carefully shifted his strength along the latch. There was a clicking sound as if something had gotten stuck somewhere.
After contemplating how to handle it, Chris crushed the trigger mechanism. Just to be safe, he separated the oil tank that was hanging behind it.
Finally, Chris pulled open the drawer.
“It’s like a child played with clay,” was Yuri’s rather plain assessment of the mechanism Chris had broken.
He reached out and took a box from the bottom of the drawer.
A screw that had fallen from the mechanism Chris had broken rolled away and fell. It made a relatively loud noise, but neither of them paid any attention.
Chris was about to open the box but frowned.
“It’s double-sealed.”
“Yes. That’s why this is needed.”
Yuri showed him the fountain pen. It wasn’t clearly visible before, but there was some kind of engraving on the cap.
Chris pressed the cap of the fountain pen against the flat circle in the center of the box.
Click. Clank.
The sound of metal interlocking and turning could be heard.
The box, which had appeared to be made of wood, began to split open from the center as if it were a hologram.
At the bottom of the revealed box lay an unexpected object.
It was a rectangular device about the length of a finger joint.
It seemed detachable; when the lid was opened, a square piece of metal was revealed.
“What is this…?”
When Yuri had a puzzled look on his face,
“It looks similar to a chip that goes into a terminal, but it’s too thick.”
Chris actually wasn’t paying attention to Yuri’s muttering.
He was staring at the square object as if entranced.
“This is… a data storage device used by ancient humans.”
Yuri turned to look at Chris. Astonishment was evident on his face.
Most of Chris’s knowledge came from Yuri.
In other words, there’s a high possibility that if Yuri doesn’t know something, Chris wouldn’t know it either.
“Do you know how to use this?”
“It can’t be read with current terminals. We need to find a device from the old era that still works.”
Yuri clicked his tongue at Chris’s words.
“Out of the frying pan and into the fire. There’s almost nothing left functioning from that time.”
It was only natural.
Humanity had been swept up in the flames of war and came to the brink of extinction. Although some barely survived and continued to the present, the technology of that time didn’t survive with them.
When even power plants had stopped operating, how could electronic devices be used? Technologies that had no use quickly died out.
Therefore, there’s no workforce capable of developing or repairing machines used in the old era.
It’s only relatively recently that some communication networks have been revived due to the special abilities of mental Espers, and Espers like Chase who use electric currents have started to be utilized as energy sources.
“I think we can find something if we look. For instance, something Rosenhauser used…”
“I’ll have to inquire at Northern Light about this as well.”
After saying that, Yuri looked down at the small device and handed it to Chris.
“Yuri…?”
Chris, who couldn’t understand why he was entrusting this to him, called out to his master.
“Keep it.”
“Me?”
“Don’t make me say it twice.”
Chris, who had half-forcibly received the square device, stared at Yuri.
“Since it’s an object you remember… there’s no harm in you having it.”
Chris suddenly realized that Yuri was concerned about his lack of memory.
“Memories I couldn’t find even after dying and coming back to life won’t return just because of a device like this.”
His tone was quite light.
“Aren’t you curious about your past?”
“I think… there wasn’t much meaning to my life before meeting Yuri.”
“Don’t you ever think about finding your family?”
Chris frowned at that question.
“Well… when I first met Yuri, I was in Rosenhauser’s hands.”
Yuri firmly closed his mouth.
Yuri, who had been used as “bait” to lure out runaway Espers. And Chris, who was destined to die after reaching his limit without receiving proper guiding.
Both had quite tragic lives.
“If I had a family, they would be one of two things.”
Chris held up two fingers.
“One, trash who sold a rare Esper for a high price. Or the other.”
He folded one finger, leaving only his index finger, which he wiggled.
“Someone who was disposed of by Rosenhauser while trying to find their child who had been kidnapped by him.”
Therefore, he neither thought deeply about it nor looked into it.
Chris was quite a dry person. His overflowing emotions only for Yuri were his sole exception.
‘Above all, no matter how hard I try to remember, nothing comes to mind.’
Even when he had met Yuri for the “first” time in Magnolia, he had been moved.
If he truly had a family in his forgotten past, could he be this indifferent?
Chris didn’t think so.
He instinctively knew he was alone. That there was no lingering attachment to the past he had left behind.
Therefore, he felt no doubt. He had no desire to recover what was forgotten.
“Fine. I understand. But keep that with you.”
Yuri said in a stiff tone.
“Since you recognized it immediately, you’ll probably figure out when and where to use it before I do.”
It was a reasonable command.
Chris readily nodded.
“Understood.”
“Good. Let’s consider this conversation finished for now… and get out of here.”
Yuri gestured around as if he was sick of the place.
After hesitating, Chris took something from the drawer and placed it in Yuri’s hand.
“The oil tank?”
His face showed that he couldn’t understand why this was being handed to him.
“…We need to clean up after ourselves.”
Chris muttered, subtly avoiding eye contact.
Though he had gently pushed it forward, somehow he was afraid to watch the reaction.
Yuri’s eyes widened slightly as he belatedly realized what Chris meant.
A peculiar gleam settled in those purple eyes.
The man with eyes that sparkled like jewels under daylight smiled faintly and opened the lid of the oil tank.
“Right. We need to clean up.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
