Chapter 183

What am I looking at right now?

For a moment, I wondered if it was just some sort of light smearing caused by my optic nerves melting into a jelly-like state… perhaps an illusion like that.

But no.

It wasn’t some kind of hallucination.

There was no mistake.

Aaron Stingray — he was crying.

His expression remained calm as ever.

But the corners of his eyes were wet.

And his gaze was fixed entirely on me.

‘Why…?’

I couldn’t understand.

I couldn’t believe it.

I prided myself on knowing the man named Aaron Stingray well. He was an incredibly strong person, someone who would never, under any circumstances, shed tears.

Even if a ‘tool’ like me were to disappear, he might be troubled or burst into anger, but never would he let emotions sweep him into showing weakness.

“……”

Aaron looked at me silently.

I felt as if his gaze was piercing right through my entire body. Even normally, before those eyes that could see through everyone’s inner thoughts, I felt as if I had been thrown naked into the open.

Had he perhaps noticed my heart?

No, I was certain.

Aaron had seen through the thought in my heart — ‘I don’t want to live.’ His eyes were full of compassion and regret. He must have read my desire to disappear on my own.

But why.

I felt as if someone had placed a heavy rock on my chest. I had let go of everything, so I should have felt relieved. So why did I feel this way?

It was at that moment of questioning.

Srrrk.

Aaron’s large hand caught me. He lifted me carefully, as if I would break. He didn’t even care that my liquefied body was staining his clothes, and he held me in his arms.

“Please. I want you to live.”

At that moment.

I felt an indescribable warmth. The dark surroundings filled with a soft and gentle light.

A warmth I had never once felt from the moment I was born until now seeped deep into my body. At the same time, memories from the past few months flashed rapidly through my mind.

Aaron’s sudden appearance.

The first time I came to the Academy.

Iri tying my hair every morning.

The shopping mall I visited right after the midterms ended… meeting a Dwarf living in the Fallen Sector… the Colony recapture operation… the Ashita-kyo terrorist attack… compared to those grand events, the peaceful everyday life we had.

Aaron.

I finally remembered.

The times you patted my head.

The mischievous smile you gave me.

The voice of encouragement you spoke to me.

The kind people you let me meet.

Ah.

And then I realized.

Why had I been so foolishly mistaken all this time? You had always been different from the others from the very beginning. In those golden eyes of yours there had always been feelings of affection.

“A… ron…”

I reached out my hand weakly.

But was it already too late to regret?

My hand, melted like jelly, lost its form and crumbled the moment it brushed Aaron’s cheek. He swallowed a gasp at the sight, but with my nerves dead, I felt no pain.

‘Not… yet…’

I searched desperately for a way back.

Yes, my tail was still there.

Unlike my body, which had turned to jelly, the metal tail remained intact. Judging by how I could still move it, the neural connection hadn’t been severed.

I reached my tail toward Aaron.

Little by little, carefully so it wouldn’t collapse.

Even now, I was a little afraid.

What if this was all just a misunderstanding?

What if your true feelings lay elsewhere, and I had arbitrarily interpreted them as ‘affection’? What if, by carefully opening the door to my feelings as if extending my hand first, I only ended up in a bloodied, wounded state again?

Aaron.

Can I muster a little courage?

Can I believe that you see me not as a ‘tool’ but as a person? When I regain my original body, would it be alright for me to hope that you’ll embrace me warmly once again?

At last, my tail touched Aaron’s cheek. With desperate intent, I cried out silently with lips that could no longer make a sound.

—Please hold me.

Would this voiceless plea reach him?

I didn’t know.

I knew more than most people, but at this moment, I couldn’t be sure of an answer. Aaron might not read my heart and miss this last chance.

Please.

Please.

Please.

…My vision gradually darkened.

It seemed my optic nerves had finally reached the point of no return. My consciousness blurred, and the surroundings were slowly swallowed by shadows.

And then…

[CONNECTED]

[‘Pandora’ usage rights granted.]

…At last, it connected.

I plugged the tip of Miyu’s tail into the socket HUB at the back of my neck. If someone asked me why, I could only answer, “Because I felt like I had to do it.”

I still didn’t know her past.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find it out. I had originally intended to stage crises differently and make her grow that way.

I’ll be honest.

I felt a deep sense of betrayal toward Miyu for hiding her past even from me. Despite how much heart I poured into her, she never opened hers to me until the very end, and I even felt anger at that fact.

But even so, ‘Miyu’ was still ‘Miyu.’

Even if she had a dark past I didn’t know about, that didn’t mean all the faces she showed me were lies.

So I connected myself to Miyu.

Disconnection, communication, severance, connection.

Even if we couldn’t speak the same language or hid secrets from each other, it didn’t matter to me. It wasn’t as if I had always understood every bit of chatter from Miyu when I spent time with her.

[‘Connection Partner’ requests usage rights.]

[Do you permit?]

“Yes.”

I nodded.

And then, in that instant, something incredible and unexpected began to happen.

From the tail connected to Miyu’s spine, something dark spread outward. At the same time, Miyu’s body, which had turned to jelly, began to be rebuilt from the ground up.

First the nerves.

Then the bones, organs, muscles, skin…

As I marveled at what phenomenon this could be, Vladimir, who had been silent beside me, spoke up.

“Nanomachines.”

“…What?”

“I’m talking about nanomachines. Aaron Stingray, she’s hacking ‘Adam’ inside your body in real time to reconstruct her own body. An astonishing ability.”

At Vladimir’s words, Iri asked,

“Then Miyu can return to her original state, right?”

“Of course. Don’t Adaptees also return to their original bodies once their modules are removed? Same principle. It’s just that nanomachine code adapts in real time to an individual’s genes. To hack that and make it your own… astonishing.”

Vladimir was amazed but… no.

I knew he was wrong.

First of all, the nanomachines in my body right now weren’t Stingray-made ‘Adam,’ but Miyu’s personal nanomachines, ‘Pandora.’ Since Miyu herself was the creator, there was no hacking or anything of the sort.

Secondly, Miyu wasn’t ‘taking’ my nanomachines and making them hers.

Nanomachines evolve by modifying their code to each Adaptee individually, and thus they can only create or remove ‘their master’s cells.’

In short, if I extracted nanomachines from Iri’s and Vladimir’s bodies and ordered “make an arm,” each set of nanomachines could only make “Iri’s arm” and “Vladimir’s arm,” respectively.

Vladimir’s nanomachines making an arm out of Iri’s cells was impossible, and the reverse was true as well.

Therefore, Miyu was now combining “Aaron Stingray’s cells” made from nanomachines with the gelatinous “her own cells” to create something new.

“How on earth did she plan to do that…?”

Worry welled up inside me, but all I could do was wait.

Miyu was a genius — she must have some plan. Thinking that, I kept silent and watched her complete the restoration of her body.

At last.

Reconstruction finished, and Miyu’s appearance returned to normal. The girl who had been translucent jelly had regained ordinary human skin and hair.

“Ugh, ugh….”

“Miyu! Miyu!”

When Miyu groaned, Iri choked back tears and hugged her. Miyu opened her eyes with difficulty and answered.

“Iri… j-just a moment… I can’t… breathe…”

“Ah, sorry!”

Startled, Iri pulled back from Miyu. Meanwhile Miyu carefully looked over at me, and I was fairly surprised by how different she seemed.

Was it because she’d used Aaron Stingray’s cells?

Her skin was still pale, but it no longer gave off that “frail” impression, and her build and bone structure felt a little sturdier than before.

Most striking of all was—

“Mi-Miyu. Your eye color is….”

Iri muttered in embarrassment.

As she had said, Miyu’s eyes had turned the same golden color as mine. Black hair, gold eyes — a feature of the Stingray family.

“Heh… well, well.”

Vladimir let out a hollow laugh as if he were dumbfounded. It made sense — unbelievable things had been happening before our eyes in only a few hours.

Leaving Vladimir’s reaction aside, I looked into Miyu’s eyes. But Miyu couldn’t meet my gaze; she fidgeted, glanced around awkwardly, and then bowed her head.

“That, that is….”

“Enough.”

I cut off whatever Miyu was about to say. Then I pulled her arm and drew her fully into my embrace, murmuring.

“…Thank you. For staying alive.”

“….”

Miyu’s lips trembled.

She seemed to be looking for something to say in return.

But lacking the words, she only let out a soft sigh and held me quietly.

With that, the incident was settled for the time being.

When Iri asked about the before and after, Miyu honestly explained everything. But that had been a bad move — Iri was lecturing her now about “why you did such a dangerous thing!”

Leaving them to it, I left the exhibition hall with Vladimir. He looked oddly refreshed and said to me,

“Then I shall take my leave. Consider this a debt, Aaron Stingray.”

“Wait a moment.”

“……What is it?”

“There was still something I had to do.”

Vladimir eyed me warily, but I ignored him and made a few calls.

First, Maria.

I told her — cutting out all the backstory — to somehow clean up the trashed “fireworks” exhibition hall before morning. She would surely curse me inwardly for the moment, but once she heard the full story she would forgive me.

Next, Professor Richardson.

I wanted to tell him “directly” about Feng Wei’s disappearance and the fact that Miyu’s body had changed. It was late, so he didn’t pick up; I left a message by text.

And finally…

Drake Stingray.

My father.

Of course, when I called I didn’t get him but his chief of staff.

[Yes, Master Aaron.]

A somewhat presumptuous response for a chief of staff.

It meant he was confident in his abilities, and that the one he owed loyalty to was Chairman Drake Stingray alone.

In other words, he was not my subordinate.

I didn’t care about that and opened my mouth with a demand.

“Put my father on.”

[The chairman is currently in his bedchamber…]

“I won’t repeat myself.”

I warned softly.

“Do not let anyone like you meddle in family matters.”

[…….]

An oddly displeased breath came through.

But then he seemed to calm himself and replied, “Please wait a moment.” Not long after, a frail old man’s voice creaked weakly over the line.

[Yes. It’s me.]

He didn’t ask what had happened.

As if he already knew everything that had taken place. I found that more than unpleasant, but at the same time I was glad to skip a tedious explanation.

“Father.”

I cut to the chase.

“Do not provoke me.”

This was my final ultimatum.

It was the last bargaining table that could prevent catastrophe, right before truly starting a war.

“I will be perfectly clear.”

I had restrained myself many times.

When he’d tried to kill me, I had lacked the power to respond, so I endured. When he’d touched Evangeline, nothing major had happened, so I endured.

But not this time.

“I will not let this pass.”

I had found that my brother Benedict was behind this incident.

But he could only have dared such a feat with my father’s protection.

Otherwise he would never have thought to defy me.

Therefore, the true mastermind was the Chairman of the Stingray Group.

I spoke a line that could be called somewhat presumptuous to the Emperor.

“You will pay for what happened this time.”

I intended to set an example.

Through this, I planned to deliver a clear warning. Even if you failed to inherit your empire, I would not meekly accept all of your will.

“And do not resent my revenge. Please — keep your attention away from the things I cherish.”

[…….]

The Stingray Chairman did not answer.

He was already close to two hundred years old.

Having woken him in the dead of night, perhaps he had fallen asleep again during the call, I thought. But his breathing told me that was not the case.

He was smiling.

Smiling silently.

As I suspected—

[……And if I refuse? What will you do?]

the Chairman asked.

I answered as if it were only natural.

“Then your empire will collapse.”

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