Where am I?
?!
"What the hell?!"
I'm sliding down a silver line!
Two hands wrap around my waist from behind, and I realize Kotori is pressed against my back.
"Kotori?!" I shout, my voice lost in the rushing of this impossible place.
"What is this?! Where are we?!"
Kotori opens her eyes and looks around.
"Location: Unidentified data stream," Kotori reports.
"We are currently in a state of high-velocity transit along a primary data conduit."
Data?
(That's right, my little savior.)
Savior? Huh?! S-Shizuka!
(Surprised? It's all thanks to your new partner.)
My partner?
You mean Kotori?
I begin to see pyramid-shaped things coming towards us in the air...
"Hostile data-forms detected," Kotori reports.
"Beginning threat neutralization protocol."
Kotori tightens her right arm around my waist. With her free left hand, she forms something and points it at the approaching threat.
"Boom"
*Boom*
*Boom*
Kotori destroys the pyramids, one by one.
"W-What is that?!"
"It is a handgun," Kotori answers.
"A compact, ranged projectile weapon."
As she speaks, more of the pyramids swarm towards us.
Kotori barely glances at them.
She aims the handgun and destroys the approaching targets with each pull of the trigger.
"It discharges high-velocity kinetic rounds. Optimized for the rapid neutralization of swarm-type threats."
…Incredible.
So fast. So precise.
It's like Lenah's Sixth Form, but…
Less artful, but brutally effective.
(It appears your partner has quite a unique ability.)
Unique ability?
What are you talking about? And what is this place?!
(This place... Is the mind of the girl you seek to save. Her consciousness. Her soul. You are not in the physical world anymore, my little savior. You are inside her.)
Inside... Her?
This silver rail, these attacking pyramids, Kotori's impossible gun… All of it is happening inside the head of the girl on the bed?
(That is Correct. Your 'Dominance Assertion Protocol,' as your strange system calls it, was the key. By asserting your will over Kotori, you didn't just claim her loyalty. You forced a direct, raw connection to her Divine Ki. A system-level override. And through that connection, you were able to 'hack' into this one.)
"So… So Haruka was right?!" I shout over the wind.
"That whole… 'Harem protagonist' thing… It's real?!"
(Hehe. I have no idea how this system of yours works, but it seems to be quite effective.)
I shake my head and focus ahead.
"So what do we do now?"
"My function is to neutralize immediate threats."
"Your function, Pilot, is to navigate."
Yeah...
Navigate.
...
"T-The rail is splitting!"
Which one?! Which one do we take?!
(The Corruption hides in the deepest wounds. Ignore the decoys. Find the path that feels... Heavy. That is where her pain lives.)
"How am I supposed to know which is which?!" I yell at the voice in my head, my panic rising.
(Don't trust your eyes. Extend your Ki. The corruption is a void that devours—you have felt that hunger before.)
Before? How do you—
No.
Now isn't the time.
Where have I... Done it before?
Wait... Ki sense?
"Ah!"
During the bar, when I sensed the machines coming.
I didn't see them. I sensed them coming.
(Umu. There's no reason you shouldn't be able to feel Divine Ki.)
"Which one, Pilot? A decision is required in 3.2 seconds."
Focus.
Like before.
Still Water Breathing.
The rushing noise in my head fades.
There is only the breath. In and out.
I extend my Ki Sense, pushing it past its limits, letting it flow down the three branching paths ahead.
There.
No... This is different from the bar.
Back then, the enemies were distinct. I could count them.
All three paths are screaming with the same cold, empty hunger.
The decoys are mimicking the Corruption perfectly!
I can't distinguish the real pain from the others!
It's a wall of identical noise.
"Agh—!"
My head throbs.
It's likely... I could feel them because they're all corrupted...
I'm going to lose it!
The path is coming closer—I'm running out of time!
"Pilot, a decision is required."
I can't. The noise... It's not just a feeling anymore.
Thousand screaming voices all demanding my attention.
My skull feels like it's about to split open.
(Focus, my little savior. Do not listen to the noise. Listen to the silence between the noise.)
Silence? There is no silence! It's all just—
(Feel not for what is there, but for what is missing.)
What is missing...
I squeeze my eyes shut. Forget feeling. I have to see. I have to see what Shizuka is talking about. I push my Ki Sense harder than ever before, not just outwards, but inwards, trying to force the chaotic feelings into an image my mind can understand.
(Stop! You are fracturing your own mind, my little savior!)
No.
Not now. I have to see.
The pressure in my skull becomes unbearable.
Hot, wet drip runs from my nose.
Blood.
My vision becomes white. Not from pain, but from sheer overload. I've pushed too far—I've broken something.
And then... In the blank, white nothingness... I see it.
Color.
It burns through the white void. Not the cold, artificial light from before. These are different. Brighter. More… Alive.
...
I slowly open my eyes.
The blinding white fades, revealing the silver rails beneath us.
But they aren't just silver anymore.
They are flowing.
It's not a feeling. Not a sound.
I can see it.
My headache is gone.
The screaming noise that nearly split my skull has vanished.
"What..." I whisper, blinking my eyes.
I look at the three branching paths ahead of me.
Before, they looked identical.
Now?
The left path is a dull, fading grey. The flow of energy stops abruptly a few hundred meters in. Dead end.
The right path loops back on itself.
But the center path...
It's hideous.
There's a pitch-black vein running through the silver rail.
It doesn't reflect the light; it eats it.
...
"It eats the light..."
(Hoh?)
Shizuka's voice cuts through my mind with sudden interest.
(You... Can see the flow?)
"See?"
I blink.
And the image doesn't fade.
(To awaken Reishi here... Through sheer brute force of will? You truly are entertaining.)
"Reishi?"
"Pilot! Time is up!"
"Junction imminent!"
I point my finger forward, directly at the hideous path.
"Center! Go center!"
"Acknowledged."
Kotori leans her body into me,
And we slide into the black vein.
"Guh—!"
It's like falling into freezing mud.
The cold isn't just on my skin. It creeps through the pores, into my blood, dragging down the very beat of my heart.
Not again...
That same feeling,
...From the park.
It tries to drown me. To silence the fire in my blood.
But before the darkness can take me, I feel a warmth wrap around my soul.
(Hush. I have you.)
The voice whispers directly into my soul, bypassing my ears entirely.
(The darkness cannot hurt you, my little savior. Not while I am holding you close.)
The cold recedes.
It doesn't vanish, but it's pushed back.
Safe.
Impossibly safe.
"Shizuka..." I whisper.
(Focus, Horikita. Your connection with your partner keeps the corruption from digesting you, but do not let your guard down. The divine ki inside her isn't infinite, and you are burning through it faster than you realize.)
"Right."
I choke back the fear, clinging to Shizuka's voice. If she says I'm safe, then I'm safe.
"Let's keep going!"