Owari no Chronicle

Volume 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 something else.

“What’s going to happen now?”

“Noah will explode and the two of us will have a fun time escaping. …What is that look for?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“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 betterment 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 embarrassment.

He truly was a complex and welcome 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 means filling the world with the traits of the other Gears and making them reality.”

“Meaning?”

Unsure what he meant, she tilted her head and he explained.

“Meaning the underworld, heaven, reincarnation, destruction and rebirth, and everything else will become part of reality. The gods of war will surely become man’s property and lose the title of ‘god’. And the mechanical dragons will become 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 meet again at any time in the future. Sometimes our memories and wills will be passed along and sometimes they will be forgotten, but it will all help this world evolve into an even better world. …If necessary, we might even become each other’s enemies.”

“————”

“Now, Shinjou-kun, many problems await us. The adults will have to put in some work at first, but by the time we enter society, the hidden side of the world should be organized enough for us to have some real fun working there.”

Shinjou sort of understood what he meant 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 something 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 me by the past?”

He seemed 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.

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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 me 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 me so much?

But that was something 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 met.

After a long time, 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 time to go.”

They began to run with slight smiles on their lips. They ran at the same speed without letting go of each other.

At that moment, 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 something only Noah had.

She wanted to try ringing it right away.

This was hers alone. It was the physical proof of something 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 mean 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 meant 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 become 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 memories?

December 25, 2005

Noah found the song in her memories.

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

Something 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 me. 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 members 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 time.

And just then, Sayama saw something 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 calmer 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 something.

“ ‘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 some kind of model version was created here.”

“Oh, no,” gasped Shinjou. “Th-that means 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 become a banquet hall for that old monkey man and his friends, then you are much better off with me.”

“Y-you really can be mean 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.

Some 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 members of the National Defense Department, an old man riding a large mechanical dragon, a princess, a woman riding a white god of war, a giant black mechanical dragon, and a giant white mechanical 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 come after us will inherit what came 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 agreement.

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 same 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 someone he had long misunderstood, it was someone who had protected him, and it was someone who had said she hoped he could do something someday.

Sayama called for that person.

“…!!”

She smiled and moved her lips.

She mouthed the words, “It’s okay. I understand.”

And, “You have someone to support you now, don’t you?”

So he and Shinjou nodded back toward the woman and spoke up as if merely 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.”

“Testament,” 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 home.

They had arrived in the original world that was filled with new cheers of joy.

A moment 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 home 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 springtime two years later.