SMD 29

 "Pay. Do you remember the day when the voice of God was heard in the temple?"

"Yeah." Summer sat comfortably in an armchair, gently closing her eyes. On her lap, Pay, transformed into a black cat, was purring softly. "It seems this world hasn't reached its conclusion yet." "Hasn't reached its conclusion?" Pay asked fiercely, thumping the armrest of the chair with her tail. "Yes. It felt like they wrapped up the story with 'They lived happily ever after' and then started a side story." Summer added as she gently stroked Pay. "Isn't a book without a defined ending too empty?" "Well, I don't know. You might know the ending, but we all live today without knowing the conclusion." Summer suddenly stopped her hand, as if surprised. To her, this world was fiction, a novel, a text. The people living in this world were all moving forward without knowing anything about the ending. "Why... didn't I think of that?" "You didn't consider us as beings capable of thought, did you?" Pay jumped down from Summer's lap and began to wander around the room restlessly. "If what you say is true, then causality must be applied very strictly." "Right." "Black hair. If your time is running short, what will you do?" "Is it running short?" "Do you still want to return to the original world?" Why was she asking this again now? Summer felt a bit uneasy at Pay's words but nodded in affirmation. She wanted to go back. Still. She had never heard of anyone living trapped in a book, and she had certainly never heard of a human who returned after living in a book. The fear of living in this world was still greater. Compared to the original world, this world was too small and too strict. "If you want to go back to the original world, then hurry back." "...What do you mean by that?" "Don't worry about it, Summer." Pay's expression was serious. After all, she was just a cat. "Are you saying I shouldn't worry? Is that what I understood? Right now, Summer... I mean, the owner of this body..." "If a creator exists in this world and if there is an ending in this world, then a single person's wish can be recreated by the creator." "What on earth are you talking about...!" "You've gotten too close to that woman, the protagonist, haven't you?" There was no way to refute that. "I came back to stop the cracks, and you've accelerated them. Well, it's been pushed forward by about three months." So that meant only a month was left. She had thought there were still four months left, but suddenly being told it was moved up like this left her feeling bewildered. "I didn't know..." "From the moment you drank the poison, a significant change occurred in the world, one that all witches could feel." Now that she thought about it, it was one of the important events, and Summer could have intervened. The once transparent and solid wall had suddenly become mushy, allowing her arm to break through. "Was it because I acted for Julian?" "You must have had something going on too, considering you're not surprised." "...Yes. I intervened in the predetermined story for the first time." "And so, it changed?" "Yes." Pay meowed once, as if in distress, and stretched out. "You should just go back. As quickly as possible, before you blend into this world." "What about you, Pay? I mean, that ghost." "Don't worry about it. It's not important." "Pay!" Summer shouted sharply. A sudden silence enveloped the room. Summer collapsed in front of Pay, wrapping her head in her arms. "How could a newly created soul be exactly the same as the current Summer... I don't know about dying, but if something happens to Summer because of me..." "Weren't you the one who said you wouldn't worry about such things?" "......" "Give up. From your world's perspective, we aren't even truly alive." What Pay said was quite selfish. It meant that in order for Summer to safely return to the original world, she would have to give up her soul. Pay looked at the suffering Summer with a chilling indifference. "We are merely illusions. We can appear and disappear as we please. Don't give it meaning. If what you say is true, then this isn't a truly existing world." "But Pay, you are not just an illusion." "Well." Pay curled her tail and settled on the sofa. "Who knows if we are all just letters?" After saying that, Pay closed her eyes and began to snore softly. Summer couldn't sleep until dawn broke. She sat on the terrace, watching the slowly emerging blue light. She felt strange. There were no words to express it other than 'strange.' Summer's painfully blue eyes, gazing at the blue dawn light, strangely glimmered. Pay was right. Everything that exists here is all fiction. A novel can never be absolute truth. She couldn't live in fiction. She had to exist by any means necessary. Even if it meant trampling on Summer's soul. Slowly, Summer got up and opened the door. The hallway was still empty. Summer headed towards the count's office. As expected, it was quite shabby since it wasn't the mansion of a main character. Summer easily entered the office and looked around. As is often the case with nobles, Count Lindsey had a magnificent sword hanging on the wall that he had never used. The blade glimmered fiercely in the blue light. Yes. She shouldn't hesitate. Perhaps all of this had happened because she had hesitated until now. Determined, Summer reached out to touch the sword. "Summer. At this point, is your goal to die in front of me?" A low voice came from behind, causing Summer to flinch and quickly turn around. Through the dim darkness, he revealed himself. "...Russell." "I stayed in the mansion because there was something I couldn't ask properly earlier. It seems I did well." "Could you please just pretend you didn't see me this once?" No. No. Summer fell to her knees. Then, with a heartfelt plea, she pressed her forehead to the floor. Please. Don't make me waver at the moment I decided. Just let me be. She wished earnestly. "Please, Russell. Just this once, let me pass by you..." Russell quietly stared at the round back of Summer, who was prostrated before him, and opened his mouth. "Isn't it strange?" "......" "Summer. Every time you try to die, I feel like I have to stop something, though I'm not sure what." His sun-like blonde hair and lake-blue eyes were imprinted in her mind, sticking there and refusing to leave. "Stop?" "Yes. And when I follow that feeling, you are always there." "Ha, haha... ha..." Summer let out a laugh that quickly turned into suppressed sobs. So it was. It wasn't just Summer who intervened in the world. The world also intervened with Summer. "How did you know that Lady Legacy was trying to poison Lady Dudley?" "......" "Is this something you can't answer either? Then did you know that the poison was the breath of Blenkis?" "......" "Did you know that it was a deadly poison that could kill someone instantly?" "......Yes." "You drank it knowing that?" "Yes." "Why on earth?" "......" "Why on earth!" Russell raised his voice, then seemed to calm himself, roughly brushing his hair back with one hand. His hair, as fine as the dawn, flowed back smoothly. A straight forehead. Straight eyebrows. This was the part of him that best revealed his rational and cold personality. But now, the sight of Russell trembling slightly in front of Summer, trying hard to calm down, was so far from the original character. "Russell. I am not a person from this world." "Then who on earth are you? If you are not Summer Lindsey, then who are you?" "......" "Will you not tell me anything until the end? I have witnessed you trying to die countless times; what is making you hesitate so much?" "......That is..." "Summer! Please, please tell me. I feel like I want to open your head and see what's inside." "I don't know either." "......What?" So absurd was the situation that Russell, who never spoke informally to anyone, suddenly did. "I am - not." "......?" "I don't know who I am. That's why I have to find out who I am, and that's why I want to go back." Russell felt a sharp pain in his ear and realized that he couldn't hear Summer's voice for a moment. Was it a coincidence? They say three coincidences make a fate. Every time Summer wanted to die, instinctively stopping her, and the way she kept bothering him. The sudden increase in their entanglements. Even the way that whenever she seemed to be about to say something to him, a piercing pain would come, and he would hear nothing at all. "Summer. Calm down and listen to me." "......Yes." "I believe you. Even if you say you see a bird and call it a fish, I will believe you." "Yes?" "So let's play a game of nonsense. We take turns saying nonsense. Everything we say at this moment is a lie and a boast." It was a method Russell had come up with. To fully hear Summer's voice. "Okay." Fortunately, it seemed Summer understood. Russell unknowingly smiled in satisfaction and knelt before her. "W-what!" Then he lifted Summer and gently set her down on the office sofa. Her golden hair spread out over the sofa. "I'll go first. I once stayed in a slum." Russell Bertrand? There was no such story in the original. The only character with almost no narrative was Russell. Could it be that he was really suggesting they play a game of lies? But looking at Russell's demeanor, it was clearly a ruse to keep the creator unaware. Summer, after trembling her lips several times, slowly spoke. "I... prepared for an exam for a very long time." "Good. That's a very poor lie. My turn. I am not the rightful heir." Russell sat across from Summer, leaning forward, quietly waiting for her to speak. This time, Summer mustered a bit more courage. "This world is fiction." After saying that, Summer glanced at Russell to see if he had heard. Did he catch that? "Are you saying it doesn't exist?" He heard it. Her voice. This time, clearly.