Chapter 18: Fast track to recovery
"I know you didn't have any bad intentions…" you told Akatsuki, who was curled up on the couch.
"But you can't take control of either of us like that." Selena said.
"I didn't know what else to do…" Akatsuki replied softly, looking to the side.
"You don't need to be so anxious about everything." you replied. "Unless both of our cores are destroyed you'll be fine."
"Perhaps you can isolate our reactions from her? I think she responded to your brain waves more than the words." Selena said.
"Probably…"
"You idiots!!"
As you were trying to work out how to do what Selena had proposed without impeding Akatsuki's experience of her surroundings the girl began shouting, jumping out of her curled position. She was looking at you strangely but crossed her arms and averted her gaze soon enough.
"You can't do that!… I mean… if you get hurt I won't have a way out of here." she said with a small scoff. "And if she gets hurt I'll be stuck in the school building too much."
"Heh. She's definitely taking from her original host." Selena laughed.
"Which just proves my point." you replied. "Besides, I can't have you hear our thoughts all the time. It'd just make you socially inept." you replied.
"But…!"
"As much as they stings, I agree." Selena interrupted. "I would hate you acting like I have to act around that princess from Luxembourg after getting a separate body."
Unfortunately you had to be a little inconsiderate. Chances were only having her own thoughts would be helpful in the long run. But it seemed condescending to do so. And unfortunately Akatsuki was still at that age…
"Don't treat me like a kid!" Akatsuki said, probably knowing what you were just thinking about her.
"This would work on me. So hear me out. Do what we're suggesting for a week. If you feel like returning to this arrangement afterwards I'll do it and I'll admit it wasn't a good idea."
The girl agreed and you began working. It took a few minutes but you saw Akatsuki tilting her head and looking around. Selena had already left the core network to see if you had succeeded. Meanwhile you decided to try some other things.
Your research had been focused on freezing and reversing the core to its base components. Now you wanted to try facilitating the "first shift" Tatenashi had observed. Unfortunately you only managed slight tweaks. In the end there was one way through which IS evolved. Desire and danger.
"Laura and Tatenashi will kill me..."
Timeskip (a few days later)
You had escaped to the wall of the academy after your usual therapy. The initial plan had been to try jumping off the wall in the same place you had before, but that was honestly a little extreme. As such you had resigned yourself to basic walking attempts, using the wheelchair as support.
There was at least the advantage of no one really being around to see you. After all you still had some pride to preserve. And the place made for a nice change of scenery.
Which was soon ruined by the appearance of Charlotte and Cecilia, judging by the IS that materialised below. You hoped that they were simply practicing but the ferocity of the ensuing battle showed otherwise.
You were forced to lay on the ground and crawl to avoid falling as the walls began shaking from the girls' attacks. And to make things worse Akatsuki showed up.
"Why haven't you been here before?!?… Huh?"
She then saw you on the ground. Unfortunately with the fight having slowed down somewhat your position seemed unusual.
"What's happening? Did you fall?"
"No." you replied. "I'll be alright." you replied, moving to a sitting position, your legs crossed underneath you.
"Selena just flew off to meet some official from the military. I like flying, but meetings are boring." she said, joining you.
"Depends on the meeting. Do you think meeting me is boring?"
"Usually. You can't talk to me because those girls are always around!" she lamented.
"I guess that's fair… it'll probably be a bit until I'm carried off this wall. What do you want to discuss?"
"Why can't I just push the core into first shift? It's easier than banging your head against the wall like you do!"
"Still quite the sharp tongue…" you called her out, causing her to dress her voice. "It's the one interesting thing I'm getting to think about these days."
"And what is your next idea?"
"Hmmm… I don't remember asking for help." you replied.
"I… I'm just curious! I mean…" the girl began excusing herself.
"You could be the one person who can find out. Assuming you don't tell Selena."
"Like a secret?" she asked, getting a glint in her eyes.
"Yes. Exactly." you replied, switching to dangling your feet over the edge, facing the interior courtyard.
Akatsuki tried to follow you and nearly tripped. Out of habit you tried putting your hand in front of her. Obviously she couldn't exactly fall or get saved by you. But otherwise her presence was quite authentic.
"If an IS is made to evolve based on desire or danger then…"
"If you do something stupid I'm telling on you." Akatsuki threatened.
"I'm past that… Mostly. But what I wanted to do is dangerous. If I'm honest all of this was not in my plans. It's just damage control."
"What?"
"Separating you from Houki, remaining within the academy…"
"Are you calling me damage control?!?"
"Keep up with what I'm saying. Stopping you from possibly rampaging was damage control." you clarified. "Before I had… larger plans. You should know what I mean. After all you said you don't know what to do with yourself."
"I…"
"Oh? You figured something out…"
Another impact shook the wall though, causing you to fall on your back, almost moving over the edge. You stepped back and closer to the middle of the surface.
"I've had enough!" you shouted, opening a communication channel. "Could you please take your squabbles somewhere they won't kill me again!"
"Huh? You saw that?" Cecilia asked.
"Why were you here?!" Charlotte also exclaimed, sounding as if she had been caught in a compromising position.
You didn't give her the satisfaction of replying or getting mad, instead standing up with the help of the wheelchair and using it to walk to the door leading inside. Akatsuki had taken a seat, dangling her feet as you walked.
"This is weird. Why would you put up with it?"
"Necessity." you replied, stopping before you opened the door.
You looked behind, suddenly not sure about returning. The arena below was empty and would close soon. So you passed the door and continued walking along the wall.
"Weren't you returning?"
"…"
"You really don't seem like the person Selena's been talking about." Akatsuki said.
It was an innocent enough remark, in terms of the tone of her voice and you were pretty sure she didn't have any malicious intentions. Yet it felt like being hit in the head with a truck full of rocks.
You took a step back and fell down, laying on your back. Perhaps this entire thing had been a mistake… But Selena trusted it was you she had helped revive. But could that even work?
The sky shifted somehow. You stood up and were immediately surrounded by fog. The pace was still distinctly recognisable as the core network, specifically the same scenery as the one you had been revived in.
Clearly something was happening. So you laid down, expecting it again. Technically the AI of your core was dormant, due to your tinkering. Akatsuki might've taken its place, if not for her bouncing between you and Selena.
You were lifted up by a silhouette. It was using your sister's old IS. Probably because it had been her old core. Once you were stable the figure asked, in her voice:
"Are you all right? Can you walk?"
You didn't answer. After all, anything could happen. Was this a result of Selena's ownership of the core, had it appeared only after you had gotten it? Or perhaps this was Tabane messing with you again…
The figure sighed profusely and made a hand gesture, also supporting you with the other hand. You followed it to the patch of land. In a twist, it was very far in the distance and the tree didn't seem to be there.
"That's… strange." you said to no one in particular.
As you were starting to make out what was on the little island something knocked you aside into the mist. The intruder then covered your mouth, muttering a "Shh". Why exactly was a mystery, since sensors were enough to navigate such a situation.
However a clash of metal clarified things somewhat. A third party. Probably Akatsuki and Selena… or just another pair of constructs. You did remember a girl with Tabane who had an ability like that.
The weight on your chest went away, letting you roll to a better position. The middle of the island was still drawing you in. And there could be an opportunity, judging by the sounds of combat, which had moved further.
As such, under the cover of the mist you began making your way to the center. Then a strong gust cleared the surrounding area. Akatsuki was in her IS and the other person, Selena, had a Katana and handgun. The one responsible for the gust seemed to be the other Selena, who had also foregone the IS.
More strangely, however, the thing in the middle of the land area seemed to be a grave. The stone was either unmarked or had something on the opposite side and the hole was open.
"Stop!" one of the two Selenas said. "This has to be an attack or something. We can figure out the details outside."
"You want to know what's happening, don't you?" the other said.
You turned around and looked at everyone. At this point they had stopped, maybe because you were in the middle or due to the fact any fighting would knock you in the direction of the grave.
"Come on! You know which is the real one! You must know!" Akatsuki said.
"Maybe neither is." you replied. "Sure, the real one might be able to enter here through the link in our cores, but that's untested… Either way, they're both right."
This stopped everyone for a while. You were now sitting, but still didn't quite feel confident enough to walk, so you dragged yourself across the ground, taking one last look. Both versions of your sisters were watching, probably thinking what to do next. You looked inside the hole. It was a box, which you took out.
"I can't lose you again!" a Selena shouted.
However, the box was already open. Inside were schematics of some of your inventions and in the middle the chip you had invented to disable IS. As well as a strange storage device you did not recognise. As soon as you grabbed it a voice announced something.
Chloe's POV
"World purge complete." my IS announced.
The world around me disappeared, that troublesome girl and his sister being ejected from the system. This was certainly a strange world to consider "ideal" in any capacity.
As I walked on the wall until I was next to the frozen boy I felt a satisfaction. His consciousness would remain here, in whatever his ideal reality was. And this time he wouldn't be awakened.
Unlike the last time with that Ichika this had been a success. My IS was, after all invincible to someone without outside support. And now even that weakness had been circumvented.
I was tempted to vent my irritation a little. Not that this body could feel much in terms of pain even when he was conscious. But right now I had to start working on Mother's plan.
"Leaving so soon?" a new, yet eerily familiar voice asked from behind.
I looked to see nothing in particular, but then felt my sword being taken. Without delay I enabled my IS, casting an illusion to take the opponent's senses and hide myself. With that I managed to get a better look at the opponent.
"This wouldn't work on some people even if disregarding IS sensors." the voice, Y/N, said, thrusting the blade through my sleeve.
I jumped back as some blood spurted through the place he had cut. But how? The defenses of my unit were there. And still active. Not to mention the fact he had seemingly seen through both the illusions and the jammed sensors.
"Hmmm… Apparently I can't do that consistently enough. It's interesting to see it work." He said, throwing my blade back to me.
"See what work?" I asked, somewhat worried, switching to offense. He had no other weapons after all.
"Vibration. Matching the frequency of the shield with the correct wavelength can pierce the shield. Unfortunately my wrist isn't quite up to that task."
I froze in the middle of my movement and jumped away. His wrist? That was impossible… and yet it didn't seem to be a bluff. To make matters worse I could see another unit on the radar. It was time to retreat.
Your POV (moments before)
"What's the point of continuing? You had everything set, your biggest contributions made." a soft voice whispered into your ears. "You can let go. No need to figure things out anymore…"
While the voice continued whispering such things a warm weight began enveloping you. It was almost like the opposite of the freezing, burning pain of your death. Speaking of that event, it had now begun flashing in your mind. Then…
"You won't put any weapons, any trackers or anything else like that inside."
"I swear. That's my only chance as well."
These were unfamiliar. Memories of the time after your demise? They had to be, right? But why? Clearly that vision and the box were made to incapacitate you. Probably permanently. And yet you were still there. Then, another voice entered your head.
"What brought you here."
"My life so far…?"
"Say it clearly." the voice insisted. "Why did your decisions lead here?"
"…I never doubted what I did much. I found something I wanted to do and did it. Ready for what it could mean, but not focused on that."
"And what was it that you wanted to do?"
"Make the world more interesting. Move beyond this rut of an era."
"Is being stuck in that academy interesting? You know not. So what's next then?"
"Making more crazy decisions, until the world has no choice but to get interesting."
You then woke up, seeing Chloe on the wall, turned around. She had been quite crucial in a few of Tabane's less than honourable schemes. So her presence was definitely a bad sign. You smirked, standing confidently on your feet for the first time in a while.
Timeskip
"Is… that still you?" Selena asked.
"Yes." you replied, wondering why the weird look.
It took only a second to notice your lack of uniform and the fact your missing eye had changed colour. Your hair was also different and the body had gone through quite a few changes.
"Do you have some clothes? I'm not quite sure how to change the aesthetics of this right now." you asked.
"What happened? Did you really think I was fake?" Selena asked.
"Well… I was the fake one. So I didn't want to leave anyone with regrets."
"This… This wasn't my fault…" Akatsuki weakly said.
You gave her a pat on the back and began laughing. Selena had your wheelchair in one hand, dangling it over the edge of the wall. She had a smirk on her face.
"Don't litter!" you said.
"I think it's a good celebration. Catch it if you don't want to litter."
You gave each other a nod and, once the chair was falling, jumped off the wall, in front of a shocked Akatsuki. After a bit you reached the wheelchair. Tucking your knees in, you reoriented yourself from falling head first to having your feet facing the wall.
With a kick you were now flying sideways. You spread your limbs to slow down, while Selena was deploying her unit. The landing went smoothly and all that was left was leaving the wheelchair in the medical wing.