Episode 145 – Fragment (1)

Fragment (1)

Pork Cutlets and soup. Salad and rice.

Having quietly finished her meal, Elise placed her hand gently on the dining table. Fidgeting, she stared at Shion across from her.

“….Have you eaten?”

“I did eat.”

“I see.”

Elise asked some pointless questions.

“Is it because of the… fragment of time?”

But the problem starts with her tone. She’s confused about whether to use formal or informal speech, but her pride makes formal speech impossible.

“….’I see’. You say that quite often.”

Shion chuckled. Elise pouted her lips.

She says it often. As if this has happened before.

Anyway.

This Shion is…

No, does this space itself belong to the future?

“This is the future, isn’t it?”

“That’s right? But the time allowed isn’t long.”

Shion shrugged his shoulders.

“The ‘fragment of time’ you’re entangled with is at most a day’s worth. It doesn’t have more energy than that.”

At his words, Elise asked out of instinctive curiosity.

“If it’s a day at most… what happens next?”

“….”

Shion silently held a faint smile. Then, he looked into her eyes.

“A creature living only for today should focus on today. If you carelessly think about tomorrow, you’ll fail.”

“….What kind of ominous-”

“If you’re done eating, clean up.”

Shion picked up the dishes. Elise quietly watched his actions.

He put the dishes down on the kitchen sink, clatter- clatter- washing dishes from behind.

Observing his forearm, she asked in a low voice.

“Do you know how to get back?”

“You have to find the exit.”

“So how do I….”

Elise glanced at Shion.

If by any chance, he could help-

“You have to find it yourself. No one else can find it.”

“….”

Her expression hardened.

Alone, it’s impossible.

Elise ‘alone’ is absolutely, physically impossible.

“I know. Here.”

Shion, who had briefly smiled, took something out from the kitchen shelf. It was a doll ‘Cookie’.

Elise opened her eyes wide at the sight of it.

“Where did you find it?”

“It came back to you on its own. Go with it.”

He said with a hint of laughter in his voice.

“Don’t feel bad. The ‘fragment of time’ reacts to your Spectrum. If I go with you, I’ll only be a hindrance, right?”

“Hmph. When was I ever upset… wait, my Spectrum?”

Elise wore a slightly surprised expression.

“Yeah. It’s not like you got entangled for no reason.”

Her Spectrum is, as the scouts predicted, related to telekinesis, but its limit far exceeds that.

Telekinesis.

Not only that, but magnetism.

Simply put, her Magic Core is extremely specialized in ‘attracting’, ‘holding’, or ‘repelling’.

That nature itself is her ‘Spectrum’, and the reason why her Magic Core capacity is enormous. Even mana, once it flows into her body, is instantly held and cannot leak out.

Of course, the potential itself is so huge that she can’t fully utilize it yet….

“Your Spectrum resonated unconsciously with your goal of ‘finding something’, and pulled the ‘fragment of time’.”

“….Did I tell you about my magnetism?”

However, Elise had never spoken of her ‘magnetism’ to anyone, not even to her father.

Shion, who had quickly finished washing the dishes, turned to look at her. He brushed his hair aside and shrugged his shoulders.

“Maybe?”

“What do you mean by ‘maybe’?”

“Don’t try to know too much. If you know too much in a day, the natural force will come into play.”

Natural force. It’s the power of nature trying to maintain causality.

“This is a time that only exists in the [Fragment of Time]. If you take too much information outside, you, the subject of the memory, could be subject to modification by the natural force.”

Elise’s lips jutted out like thorns.

“……Look at you pretending to be wise just because you’ve lived a few more years.”

Shion smirked. Elise dusted off her clothes and looked at her wristwatch.

“Anyway. This place is just for a day, right? Then……”

“We still have time. Get some sleep before you go.”

He pointed to one side of the farm. There was a sleeping bag.

“……Is that okay?”

Elise doesn’t really care about her sleeping environment. As long as she’s not alone, she can sleep comfortably anytime.

“Sure. If you don’t sleep now, you’ll faint later anyway.”

Shion gave a faint smile.

“Sleep well. I’ll be here.”

“……Well, if you insist, I won’t refuse.”

Elise opened the sleeping bag’s zipper, brushing her inexplicably hot cheeks. She crawled in and curled up like a cocoon.

“Sleep well.”

“……”

And so, she lay there, staring at the ceiling.

Thump-thump── thump-thump──

The sound of rain hitting the greenhouse. The cozy warmth trapped in the fluff of the sleeping bag. The air that seemed to make her body soft and supple.

In that atmosphere, Elise quietly let out a sigh.

“……Hey.”

Shion turned to look at her.

“In that future.”

Suddenly, Elise wanted to ask.

In that future, did she confess her family’s sins to him, and was his revenge fulfilled?

“What.”

“……It’s nothing.”

She shook her head. She folded her curiosity.

After all, there’s no such thing as a predetermined future.

Everything is the result of choices.

My confession. Your revenge.

If it’s something that will happen in the future, it’s ultimately up to me to decide.

“Do you want me to read you a fairy tale?”

She didn’t have the energy to respond to Shion’s teasing joke.

“Once upon a time……”

He seemed absurd trying to recite a real fairy tale, but Elise surrendered to the slowly creeping drowsiness.

* * *

──Thump, thump.

The sound of rain hitting the window.

──No, maybe. This time, Senator Zelon’s daughter came to the social circle, but our Miss Elise is a hundred times more……

The chatter of the servants drifting through the open door.

──In Edsilla’s district, it seems that Senator Petra’s re-election is certain……

The pleasant sound of news from the radio.

Using these three sounds as white noise, Elise is studying a medical textbook. She already fully understands the general medical course, so it’s not that difficult now.

So she’s just quickly reviewing the parts she roughly knows, when suddenly.

A thought spreads like raindrops.

‘Hmm……’

Fourteen-year-old Elise propped her chin on her hand, murmuring to herself as she thought of someone.

“…Magic Leukemia.”

Magic Leukemia.

Ordinary leukemia is just that, leukemia. But when magic gets involved, it becomes Magic Leukemia. It’s even worse than ordinary leukemia.

“…”

Elise kept thinking about a boy her age with a buzz cut.

Shion Ascal.

He was the same age as her, but he was suffering from a severe disease.

Was it simple compassion? Or was it sympathy?

Probably both.

Such empathy could be seen as a noble’s duty.

Tap-tap-tap-

She drummed her fingers on the desk before finally opening her laptop.

Tap-tap-tap-

She typed with only her index fingers, a technique like an eagle pecking. She didn’t like digital things and believed that studying should always be done through books, so she wasn’t very familiar with these things.

“Magic… Leukemia…”

Enter.

After that, click-click-

She scrolled through the information with her mouse, but it was no use.

“Mr. Azen, are you there?”

In the end, she called for one of her attendants.

“Yes, Miss.”

“This. Please print out all the papers related to Magic Leukemia. Anything even slightly related. Don’t distinguish between domestic and foreign.”

It would be a study in itself.

“Alright, I’ll do it right away.”

The attendant took over the laptop, and Elise sat on her bed, looking out the window.

Whoosh…

The rain was getting heavier.

* * *

…Whoosh.

Elise, inside her sleeping bag, opened her eyes. It was still night outside the plastic greenhouse, and the rain was heavy.

“…”

The sound of pages turning seeped into her ears as she blinked, dazed.

Rustle- rustle-

Elise looked in that direction. Shion was sitting at the entrance of the farm, reading a book. Bathed in moonlight, he looked somewhat sad.

“…Is something wrong?”

Elise sat up in her sleeping bag. He glanced at her and closed the book with a thud.

“No. Can you do it?”

“Hmm. You seem worried?”

At that, a faint smile appeared on Shion’s lips.

“Always.”

His words came back without hesitation.

“…”

Suddenly feeling hot, Elise turned her head. She put her hands on her cheeks, pretending to massage her swollen face.

In case her cheeks were turning red.

“I’m sorry I can’t help.”

He said, as if he wanted to help but couldn’t.

Instead, Elise raised her head.

“I can do it. I’ve done it once, haven’t I?”

She had confidence. If she had been ‘attracted’ here unknowingly by a ‘fragment’, then.

She should be able to find the exit similarly.

Elise tucked Cookie into her waistband. She walked over and stood next to Shion. Shion also stood up.

She looked up at him cautiously. She wasn’t used to the height difference.

“No matter how I think about it, it doesn’t make sense…”

Elise grumbled and looked ahead again.

The darkness where the heavy rain was falling. What could be beyond it?

“Don’t worry.”

Suddenly, he put his hand on her shoulder.

“You don’t need to deal with this. It’ll pass like any other day.”

“…”

His voice was too confident, too warm.

Elise bit her lip, finally asking the question that had been on her mind.

“Don’t you… hate me?”

A very fragmented question about a future she didn’t know.

“I am the result of the choices you’ve made.”

Shion answered with an enigmatic sentence.

…The result of choices?

At Elise’s murmuring, Shion gestured.

“Are you ready?”

Actions speak louder than words.

Elise immediately opened the door. She blocked the incoming rain with a telekinetic shield.

“I’m going.”

“Uh. Come back anytime.”

Since Shion had spoken first, Elise changed her words.

“…I’ll be back.”

And so, she set off.

Elise walked up the mountain.

She advanced, spreading her aura all around her. She moved towards where her magic led her.

Swoosh!

The sound of rain hitting the telekinetic shield was quite loud and scary, but it was bearable.

Bang!

Cookie in her pocket also helped her. It told her it was still okay. That she could do it.

Encouraged by it, Elise climbed the mountain, crossed the river, and squeezed into the crevices of the rocks.

If there was a path, she followed it; if not, she dug through with telekinesis, rushing towards the [Fragment of Memory]…

“…Haah.”

How many hours had she been going like this?

Exhausted, Elise slowly sensed the end of the day.

There wasn’t much time left now.

“Where is it?”

She still couldn’t even get a sense of it.

Should she turn back? She was hungry, too.

As she wiped the sweat from her forehead with such thoughts, she suddenly looked up.

Crack!

Lightning carved into the sky. The space vibrated greatly.

Boom!

A rumble as if the world was splitting.

Cracks spreading like spider webs.

Between them, gaps in the void opened, and fragmented…

It collapsed.

“Huh…?”

Elise’s eyes widened.

In that moment, she realized something, but then she stopped.

…

After that, there was only silence.

Her existence was bound by time.

Not just hers.

All natural objects in the world, the branching of lightning and the flow of rain, even the spray rising from the ground, all of it.

The world, having used up a day’s worth of time, paused to prepare for regeneration.

Caught in a very, very deep silence…

However.

In that world that had come to a halt.

There was a presence calmly approaching, breaking through the quiet destruction.

Thud- thud-

The sound of falling footsteps.

A hand slowly approached, picked up ‘Cookie’ that had fallen to the ground.

Then, looking at the stiffened Elise, he…

“You’ve worked hard.”

…Shion Ascal spoke in a warm voice.

The day ends here.

Elise still doesn’t know whether she’s getting closer to the ‘exit’ or moving further away.

Even whether she can reach the ‘exit’ is still uncertain to her.

After all, this place is a ‘magical space’ made up of [Fragments of Time].

“…It’s not easy.”

Somewhere in these [Fragments of Time], an exit exists. Only Elise can observe and find it, but it’s impossible for her alone. She would just repeat an infinite day, only to collapse and regenerate.

That’s why Shion came to find her. To save her and fulfill his promise.

“You’ve worked hard today, too.”

June 8th.

The day she thinks is just a day, has already become countless hours for Shion.

It’s being repeated endlessly.

All for a single answer.

Shion’s interpretation of this [Fragment of Time] is a simple ‘probability theory’.

If he spends each day with Elise, guiding her path, then by repeating countless days, a ‘gap’ will form from a very small variable.

He slightly distorts her footsteps to prevent the same regression, to prevent the same day from being meaninglessly consumed.

That’s Shion’s role.

Shion believes so.

No matter how low the probability of the correct answer, Elise will find the answer someday. Because she’s a genius who will eventually produce the solution.

So if it doesn’t happen in a day, then two days, if not two days, then a week, if not a week, then a month… even if thousands of days pass.

Shion will be with her, quietly assisting her so she can find the answer.

He will be with her until she reaches the correct answer.

He will willingly bear her days…

Why?

Because he promised.

Rumble…

Suddenly, the slowly descending lightning. The signal for regeneration.

The shattered world rewinds and tries to reassemble.

“Take care. See you later.”

He bids farewell to her for the day, leaving words for her who will return.

Shion returned to the [Ascal Farm] again.

Crash!

The moment the lightning strikes.

Shion lights up the sign again.

[OPEN]

He puts Cookie in his arms on the kitchen shelf, preparing a meal for the one who will arrive soon.

Today’s menu should be steak.

Sizzle-

As he heats the pan, cuts the meat, and concentrates on cooking, he waits.

Suddenly!

The door opens without warning.

With the heavy rain, she comes in.

“Haah, haah….”

Elise, curled up like a shrimp on the floor, panting heavily.

Incredibly weak and small compared to the future, a girl with only chubby cheeks.

To her, Shion Ascal now delivers a single line.

“…Are you coming in?”