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Sakura sat in the glow of the setting sun. The sunset by the sea in reality felt completely different from the one in the consciousness world. She let the waves lap at her ankles, listening to a series of songs with unique tastes through her headphones.
She didn't remember exactly what happened either. She had simply closed her eyes and opened them to find herself back in reality. Vil-V had even clapped her hands, congratulating her on being cleared of the contamination.
But back then, she was sure she had seen someone. The feeling was strange—hard to describe—but she was certain she had seen a person, and that person was the culprit who caused them to leave the consciousness world before clearing the "game."
...
"Who—"
Lin whipped his head around. A slender arm wrapped in bandages tore through space and appeared before him. The familiar look made his pupils contract.
Sakura also sensed a terrifying crisis from that hand. She immediately drew her blade to strike the arm, but the hand's five fingers spread wide, and a golden chain shot out from the rift, parrying her blade.
What speed—
Sakura was the fastest in Fire Moth, yet she couldn't react to this chain at all.
No. It wasn't that the opponent was fast, but that her own speed had decreased! From the moment the chain appeared, the Honkai energy she usually mobilized suddenly stagnated in her body. This change made her movements far slower than usual.
"This is only a preliminary preparation." A pair of rainbow-colored eyes, representing a certain Herrscher's power, peered out from the rift. Several chains shot out around her, binding Lin limbs. "Prove it to me—that ridiculous ideal of yours."
The bandage-wrapped hand formed a blade and pierced Lin body. Then, her rainbow eyes burned intensely, and "something" was injected into Lin.
"..." She paused, as if Lin consciousness was...
Whish! The sound of breaking wind approached.
Without turning her head, she commanded a chain to bind the downward-swinging blade. Then, with a clean motion, she turned and punched Sakura in the abdomen, sending her flying.
"Consciousness contamination?" She frowned, looking at the flying Sakura.
...
Splash.
The island weather was fickle; this was something Sakura had learned in the consciousness world, and reality proved it. A downpour hit her head without warning.
However, Sakura didn't return to the villa. She sat there, thinking about what had happened during those few days in the consciousness world. Was it special? Not really. Was it mundane? Impossible. She couldn't describe the feeling—it was a relief... yet there was new anxiety. Perhaps Far Easterners were just sentimental, and she was among the most so.
Sakura let out a soft sigh.
"Aren't you going to take shelter from the rain?" someone asked from beneath a coconut tree not far behind her.
Su, with his eyes closed, held out a hand to catch the falling raindrops as if perceiving something. He said calmly to Sakura, "Go back."
"...My apologies. Please leave me here to clear my head."
"If you don't mind, I can act as a sounding board."
"..."
Sakura wasn't close to the others, and even less so with Su. But it was precisely because they weren't close that she felt a desire to confide.
"Su, where is life headed?"
"...Apologies, that topic is too broad for me to answer," Su replied expressionlessly.
He hadn't expected her first sentence to leave him speechless. Was she considering such serious and grand matters? Should he answer that he was going to the pier to get some fries?
"Oh, my apologies. I spoke wrongly." Sakura shook her head awkwardly. "I was just thinking that everyone preaches that all lives are equal, yet when actually making a comparison, one can always judge which life has more value."
"...Like other animals versus humans?"
"Yes, and not just that." After all, between humans, things were definitely not equal. "When we constantly take other lives, we are constantly denying the equality of life. Yet someone told me that taking a life is for the sake of other lives living better—that inequality is for the sake of equality."
A contradiction. From her philosophy to her missions to her identity, Sakura was filled with contradictions.
"A life with... more value..." Su murmured.
"..."
"My mentor told me of his experience," Su said in a flat tone, recounting what Spaciel had told him. Sakura looked at him. "The time he lost his arm, Dr. Mei made a choice between him and his daughter. Dr. Spaciel chose his daughter without hesitation, and since his daughter was unconscious and couldn't choose, he intended for her to be saved."
"But Dr. Mei chose Dr. Spaciel and abandoned his daughter. The reason was... his life was of far greater value than his daughter's."
"So, Dr. Spaciel watched his daughter die. He said he had never hated himself more than in that moment."
"But later, Dr. Spaciel saved many people with his research and developed the Honkai sickness serum. Dr. Mei indeed made the correct choice."
So, life did have value. The moment a person who could save humanity and an ordinary person were placed on the scales, the "just" scales would tip toward an unfair result.
"But my mentor told me that humanity is just repeating a process of unequal screening. This time we choose the valuable person; next time we choose the more valuable person. Again and again, until the 'most valuable' person lives in a lonely world with no one else left."
"So, if you fear being lonely in that unequal screening, stop for a moment and find someone to lean on."
Su spoke these meaningful words, then picked up a coconut and walked back.
Another person had already arrived behind Sakura.
"...Aren't you going back?" the man in sunglasses asked, standing in the rain.
"I want to... be quiet for a bit," Sakura said again.
"I see." Lin nodded, and then... he sat down too.
The two sat silently side-by-side on the shore as the waves grew higher, drenched by the rain, staring at the horizon. Sakura went from initial awkward surprise to a sense of calm.
It made sense. This was just how Lin was—aloof, yet always making people want to draw closer to him.
After a long, long time, when even the rain had stopped, Lin stood up and wiped the water from his face.
"Sakura, being born human in this world is a lucky thing. We can eternally ponder why we live and how we should live."
"When you are lost, come find me. I won't give you an answer, but we can be lost together."