Chapter 302: The Spirit Entity
The wind along the riverbank carried the cool sting of the night, scattering the
final embers of the diary. Sora stood up, brushing phantom dust from her
trousers, and watched as the last of the ashen flakes merged with the dark.
The contract was fulfilled.
"Let's go, Bochi," she whispered.
"Mmh."
Bochi hopped from Sora's shoulder back onto her head, finding a comfortable
anchor point. They walked along the riverside path toward their sector. The
streetlamps stretched Sora's shadow, then contracted it, then stretched it again
in a rhythmic cycle.
Silence stretched between them until Bochi poked her forehead with a tentacle.
"Sora."
"Mmh?"
"That bound volume... why did you incinerate the data?"
Bochi's voice was filled with a raw, academic curiosity. "I perceived a high
density of text. Was it a treasure map?"
Sora's footsteps faltered for a second before she resumed her pace. "Negative.
Not a treasure map."
"Then logic? You appeared to be experiencing 'Sorrow' during the liquidation
process. Was it a food item that reached its expiration date?"
A small, sad laugh escaped Sora's lips. "It was not food."
"I am listening."
"The text within contained... data that shouldn't be witnessed by others."
Bochi wobbled on her head, confused. "Why? Is it like the gold coins Bishop
Anchi hides in the cellar? Data that attracts predators if exposed?"
"In a sense," Sora admitted. "It contained Vivi's thoughts. Her... 'Wishes'."
"Wishes?"
"Mmh. Plans for the future. She wanted to take her mother on an expedition to a
distant coordinate after graduation. She wanted to procure a larger sector with
a garden. She wanted to..."
Sora's voice trailed off, becoming a thin thread of sound.
Those were the beautiful, naive projections of an eighteen-year-old girl. Now,
they were jagged blades. If Auntie Sarah read those words, they would only serve
to rip open her trauma every night, over and over.
"Therefore, the mother must not audit the record," Sora said softly. "The data
would only increase her 'Sadness' parameter."
"Oh."
Bochi seemed to process the explanation. "Like how I must not let Auntie Lust
see me sharing her cakes with the sewer slimes. The data would induce structural
heartbreak. I see the logic."
Sora didn't correct the strange analogy.
They crossed through a deserted park. Suddenly, Bochi spoke again.
"The girl in the portrait in that sector... that was Vivi, correct?"
"Mmh."
"Her biological markers differ from yours."
"We were friends, Bochi. Not siblings." Sora felt a wave of exhaustion.
"But you spent cycles together," Bochi reasoned. "The Master said that if humans
shared a social resonance for a long duration, their physical frames begin to
synchronize."
Sora had zero energy left to explain human biological diversity to a slime. "Our
coordinate operates under different rules."
They cleared the park, reaching a sector where the lighting was denser. The
scent of street food—grease, spice, and grilled meat—drifted through the air,
causing Bochi to writhe with hunger.
"Sora, my energy-levels are low."
"I will prepare sustenance at the sector."
"I demand that item!" Bochi pointed a tentacle toward a nearby grill stall.
"Negative. It is past 22:00. High-grease intake at this hour leads to digestive
errors."
"But the aroma is Tier-S!"
"Return to the sector."
Bochi retracted its tentacles, pouting silently atop her head. As the familiar
silhouette of the apartment complex appeared on the horizon, Sora's pace slowed
once more.
"I wonder if Auntie Sarah is safe... alone in that room."
Sora's voice was laced with a new, nagging dread. "The Anomalies favor targets
with fluctuating emotional parameters. A grieving, solitary human is an optimal
lure."
This was foundational knowledge from the survival manuals. Sorrow, despair, and
loneliness were the highest-tier bait for the street-level pests. The
Federation's patrols were spread too thin to cover every residential sector.
Many solitary units simply vanished into the night without a sound.
"The mother-unit? She should be within safe parameters," Bochi murmured lazily,
sounding entirely bored with the sociology of the coordinate.
"Logically, she is not alone. Her daughter is standing right beside her."
Sora's entire body went rigid.
She stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk. The night wind whipped several
strands of hair across her face, stinging her eyes.
"Bochi... what did you just state?"
"I stated that the daughter-unit is currently positioned adjacent to the
mother."
Bochi repeated the data, his tone flat and clinical.
"Though... her left chest-cavity is an absolute void. Zero cardiac signature
detected."
"However, she radiates zero killing intent. She appears... dazed. She simply
stands there, motionless. Like the newly-spawned skeletons in the Imperial
Graveyards before their cognitive circuits fully ignite."
Sora felt as if the air had turned to liquid in her lungs. Several seconds
passed before she found the bandwidth to speak.
"You... you can perceive her?"
"Naturally," Bochi replied as if it were a redundant query.
"It is a basic Spirit Entity. Very weak. Below Tier 1. But it would suffice to
neutralize any low-tier pests wandering into the sector."
"What... what does she look like?" Sora's voice was a shivering rasp.
"Identical to the portrait on the wall. Same garments. Same hair length."
Bochi squinted, refining the description. "Her expression is a null-value. Her
eye sockets are voids. She simply watches the mother. Constantly."
"She isn't... trying to harm her?"
This was Sora's primary concern. Many who failed the Game returned as
Echoes—beings driven by a singular, violent resentment. Their first targets
were almost always their closest social ties.
"Negative."
Bochi was definitive. "I stated there is no killing intent. She is a
Sentinel-unit. She watches. Like a loyal thrall of the Evernight."
Sora fell silent.
She slowly turned around, looking back at the distant building. The complex was
a dark, jagged silhouette against the city lights, but she could still see that
third-floor window.
It was a tiny, warm pinprick of light in the infinite dark. A lighthouse. A
coordinate for a soul that had nowhere else to go.
So that's it.
Auntie Sarah wasn't alone. Vivi—that stubborn, silly girl—even after her
extraction was terminated, couldn't bring herself to leave her mother. She had
anchored herself to the room with the last of her will, serving as a silent
guardian for the woman she loved.
Sora's eyes grew hot, and this time, she didn't suppress the reaction. She
watched the distant amber glow until her vision blurred into a kaleidoscope of
light.
"Bochi."
"Mmh?"
"Thank you."
"Query: Why offer gratitude?" Bochi asked, confused. "I merely provided a
sensory report of the environment."
"Yes. Thank you for providing the report."
Sora wiped the moisture from her face and turned back toward their home. Her
gait felt significantly lighter now.
"Let's return to the sector." "I shall prepare a midnight meal."
"Guchi-guchi-yay!"
Bochi bounced with excitement. "I demand ten cheesecakes!"
"Zero cakes. Only instant noodles."
"I demand two eggs in the broth!"
"One egg."
"Two!"
"One."
"Contract accepted!"
The dialogue of the girl and the slime faded into the quiet of the street as
they walked. In the distance, on the third floor of a weathered apartment
building, the light remained on.
It would stay on for a very, very long time.
☆☆☆
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