From Another World (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter 101: The Core Mind is...

The sun was beginning to set and according to Rikka, we were getting close. In the distance was a mountain range and that was the place where the Legion was supposedly hidden.

Ayame and the others were preparing a meal and we were resting up. There was a chance that we would have to fight a robot army capable of destroying the Demon Realm in a single night.

Yes. Arief is capable of making things like that, Ars' voice told me.

Do you know him? I asked.

We were classmates in a magic academy. He was always an eccentric fellow, she said.

"Hey, Mikage. You look relieved. Got something in your mind?" Rikka sat down beside me.

"I'm just happy to have a man around. Being surrounded by girls is not really fun", I replied.

"Why would you think like that?"

"I don't know. I guess there's some sort of distance because of the difference in our bodies."

"Or bodies are different too, you know? I'm a holoroid and you treat me like a man. Is it because of my appearance? The way I talk? The way I act?"

"Come on now. Are we going to have a discussion about complicated things like that?"

Rikka laughed and patted my back. His hand was as hard as iron so it felt like I was being tapped by a hammer. However, it was a gentle tap that didn't bring any pain at all.

"It's been a long time since someone treated me like a human", he said.

"Really? How long has it been?"

"Ever since Arief died."

"... I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Deaths are a natural part of this world. While Arief created holoroids like me that withstood the test of time, he never once modified his own body."

He had a sad smile as he looked at the orange sky. If Ars and Arief were classmates, then that meant it was more than 4000 years since he died. Rikka most likely has spent those 4000 years all alone.

"How were you able to handle it?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Being able to live with nothing for that long. What made you not want to just end things there and then?"

"It's simple. I wasn't living with nothing."

Rikka raised his arm and moved his fingers. And then, he pointed at his head and smiled warmly.

"I have this body created by Arief. This body contains the memories of the person who cherished me and my siblings. Millennia might pass but Arief blessed me with this body that will never forget even the little moments of happiness I have", he said.

I see... That's the difference, huh? I thought.

What do you mean by that, Mikage? Anya asked.

Nothing.

I clenched my fist as I wondered what I really was. And what I should do to this world now that I was slowly remembering things.

"How are you coping up, Mikage?" Rikka asked me.

"That's a weird question."

"I'm a non-combatant unit. Arief designed me as a support so I'm very good at gathering information. My sensors are telling me that you are really troubled with something so I'm just asking. Letting people talk and knowing more about them is my specialty!"