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"Wow! So this is what it feels like to be full? This is the first time I've ever thought the world was beautiful!"
Yuuri slumped back in her chair with complete contentment, patting her stomach.
Even so, Kaito noticed that the despair within her was quietly growing.
It had been the same in the original story. Yuuri, for all her energy and apparent carefreeness, had been the first of the two to fall into true despair. If Chito had not been there, she likely would have ended things somewhere along the road long before they reached the top.
"Hey, little Yuuri. Why is it that after having a meal with me, your mood hasn't gotten better? It's actually gotten worse."
Kaito looked at her with exaggerated puzzlement.
"Hehehe! Aren't you here to take us to Heaven?"
Yuuri grinned at him, tilting her head.
"Heaven?"
"Right! Why else would God suddenly show up in front of us?"
"God! Are we going to see Grandpa soon?!"
At that, Chito, who had been sitting quietly nearby, also turned to look at Kaito.
She had been thinking the same thing. If he was truly a god, there was no obvious reason for him to invite two strangers to dinner unless it meant something.
There was an old idea that when people were close to death, they sometimes experienced something like a final kindness before the end.
"Uh... Hahahaha! Hahahahaha!"
Kaito stared at them for a moment, then burst into genuine laughter.
These two had concluded this was their last meal.
Though, he thought, turning it over in his head. In this world. In this environment. Possibly years without seeing another living person. And then, out of nowhere, something that calls itself God appears with an attendant and lays out a feast that exceeds anything you have ever eaten in your life.
In that situation, the conclusion they reached was actually completely reasonable.
Chito and Yuuri stared at him, thoroughly baffled.
Why was God laughing so hard?
"Um... God?"
Chito tried cautiously.
"Ha... my apologies. I just thought of something funny."
Kaito composed himself with some effort and cleared his throat.
"First of all: you are both alive and well, and you are not going to die."
"Second: you did get one thing right. I am here to take you somewhere."
Sure enough, Chito thought.
"However, the place I am taking you is probably somewhat different from the Heaven you are picturing."
"Third: do either of you have any wish you have not yet fulfilled in this world?"
Both girls looked at him.
"Can it really be any wish?"
Kaito nodded.
"Then I want another enormous meal!"
Thump!
"Ow~!"
Chito ignored Yuuri entirely and looked at Kaito with full seriousness.
"God. We want to reach the top level of the city. We want to see if Eden is real."
Yuuri stopped nursing her head and looked up with the same seriousness.
"The top level. The end of the journey."
Kaito nodded slowly.
"Granted."
"From what I can see, the entire city has only two other living people besides the two of you."
He had swept the city with his divine sense. Other than Kanazawa, who spent his days drawing maps, and Ishii, who was building an aircraft, there was no one.
Both girls' expressions shifted. There were other people.
"Really?"
"Really. I can take you to them. We will bring them along."
"Thank you! Thank you, God!"
A small, fragile light pushed up through the despair that had settled into them both. It was the particular kind of light that comes from something most people forget how to feel in a place like this.
Hope.
"Alright. Let's get moving."
Kaito had Sakuya clear the table and led the two to an open stretch of ground.
"God, if we are going to the top level, why are we..."
He did not answer. Instead, he raised one hand gently.
Three golden shields shimmered into existence around Chito, Yuuri, and their Kettenkrad.
The two reached out and poked at the barrier curiously. Their fingers passed straight through as though it were not there at all.
"Let's go."
All three of them lifted slowly off the ground, rising like three small suns ascending from the ruined city below.
Sakuya touched down lightly on her toes and rose alongside them.
"Chito! Chito! We're flying!"
"Oh! Oh oh oh!"
The two stared down at the broken city below and forgot to close their mouths.
"There. Found them. This way."
On the ground far below, Kanazawa walked through the city as he always did, camera in hand, adding to the map at his waist.
He had long since made peace with the rhythm of this life. His plan was simple: finish the map, then find somewhere quiet to end things. He did not have much food left.
Click.
'Good. Mark this as a key reference point.'
He examined the image, compared it against the map, and moved on.
He had not spoken aloud to anyone in so long that he had mostly stopped bothering. Words were easier as thoughts.
'At this rate I can finish the whole map in about half a month. And after that...'
A deep emptiness moved through his eyes.
'That is enough for today.'
He turned back toward his base.
He had not gone far when he thought he heard something from above.
'Probably nothing.'
"Whoa, there really are people down there!"
Kanazawa stopped.
He had definitely heard a voice. He looked up.
What he saw made him question whether he was hallucinating. Humans did not fly. That was simply not a thing that happened.
Before he could decide what to do with this information, the four figures slowly descended and landed directly in front of him.
Kaito leaned forward slightly and waved a hand in front of Kanazawa's face.
"Hey. You're not hallucinating. This is all real."
He understood the reaction. Any sane person seeing this would feel their understanding of the world collapse on the spot.
"This... you... you're all..."
"Then... I... we..."
Kaito looked at Kanazawa's halting, rusty attempts at speech and, with genuine affection, mimicked him back perfectly.
"Pfft..."
"Hahahaha..."