Chapter 267 : Farewell
Chapter 267: Farewell
Only after crying for a long time did Iri finally calm down enough to wait while I changed my clothes.
It had been a long time since I'd returned to the Academy, yet I couldn't even stay there properly before having to leave again with Iri.
Inside the flying passenger car, Iri stared blankly out the window.
As far as I knew, the second-year students of the Tactical Combat Department had an important training exercise today.
But...
This wasn't the time to worry about something like that.
The skin around her eyes was swollen red, making her look all the more pitiful.
“……Iri.”
“I'm okay.”
She answered before I could even say anything.
“I'm…… okay…….”
I could see she was forcing herself to appear calm.
Right now, she was like a glass filled to the brim with water.
If someone so much as touched her, the surface tension would break, and tears would come pouring out again.
“I understand.”
Even I couldn't imagine exactly how she felt.
For now...
The best thing I could do was wait.
Eventually, we arrived at the secret containment facility.
We passed through the ordinary-looking building above ground, walked down the underground corridor, and opened the tightly sealed steel door.
The monster immediately came into view.
Small drones busily flew in and out, carrying out the tasks necessary to keep it alive.
Expressionless, Iri walked forward step by step.
She carefully placed a hand against the special plastic cage and silently observed the creature inside.
It took nearly twenty long minutes before she finally spoke.
“Chairman?”
“Do you know something?”
“What is it?”
“Right now...”
“I don't feel anything.”
She never looked at me.
Her gaze remained fixed on the monster the entire time.
Yet I could see her face reflected in the glass.
She looked so calm that no one would have believed she was the same person who had broken down sobbing back at the Academy.
“Maybe I've cried so much that I've become an idiot.”
“It feels like I'm having a nightmare.”
“It doesn't feel like this is real.”
“…….”
“……Is that really my brother?”
“……Yes.”
“I thought so…….”
Iri murmured absentmindedly.
“To be honest... before coming here, I imagined a few embarrassing things.”
“No...”
“I guess they were more like hopes.”
“I know they're ridiculous, but I imagined walking in here and seeing my brother waiting for me.”
“…….”
“I imagined everything about the parasite and him turning into a monster was a lie.”
“That he'd actually become a special agent for the Stingray Group and had been secretly carrying out missions while pretending to be dead.”
“That he'd only lied to me because he had no other choice.”
“And the moment I saw him...”
“I'd punch him in the face with everything I had.”
She continued her monologue in a hoarse voice.
“And then I imagined something else.”
“Even if he'd become a monster...”
“The moment he saw me, a miracle would happen.”
“He'd suddenly turn back into a human.”
“Or recognize me.”
“Wave his tentacles.”
“Cry……”
“But miracles like that don't happen in reality.”
“Then again……”
“I've never really been lucky.”
“Misfortune always finds me.”
“But miracles are never allowed.”
“Iri……”
“When I first heard all of this...”
“I hit Mister Lexus.”
“I told him to stop talking nonsense.”
“I asked him where he got the nerve to make up lies just to swindle money out of students.”
“I told him I was disappointed.”
“That he didn't deserve to be called a teacher.”
“That he was a fraud of a Fixer.”
“I beat him with everything I had.”
“…….”
“But he just stood there and took every punch.”
“He wasn't even a particularly tough person.”
“And I was genuinely trying to beat him half to death.”
“In the end...”
“I broke one of his arms.”
“Only then did I realize he wasn't lying.”
“Pretty stupid, isn't it?”
“But do you know what's even stupider?”
She turned toward me.
“Even after hearing all of that...”
“I still can't bring myself to hate Peter Jones……!”
Her expression finally collapsed.
“Isn't that strange!?”
“Peter Jones was just a robber!”
“If it weren't for him……”
“I wouldn't have been bullied for coming from the Fallen Sector!”
“I wouldn't have been looked down on!”
“I wouldn't have been treated like a criminal!”
“I wouldn't have had to risk my life every single day!”
“I could've lived with kind parents!”
“Eaten delicious food!”
“Thrown childish tantrums!”
“Gone to a normal school!”
“Fallen asleep in a comfortable bed!”
“He stole every one of those possibilities from me!”
“So how shameless is it for someone like him to call himself my brother!?”
“He was the worst kind of human imaginable!”
“He twisted my entire life from its very roots!”
“He took my brilliant future...”
“And turned it into piles of garbage and rotting mold in the Fallen Sector!”
“But……!”
Bang!!
Iri slammed her fist against the cage.
“Whenever I start thinking those hateful thoughts...”
“I keep remembering him running everywhere for my sake……”
“How he somehow managed to find a tiny slice of sawdust-flavored cake for my birthday and stuck a candle into it……”
“How he beat nearly to death the people who tried to convince me to try drugs……”
“How he stayed up all night studying because he wanted to teach me how to read……”
“How he carefully washed my white hair with the expensive soap he'd been saving every time it got dirty……”
Her voice gradually faded.
“The lullabies he'd sing while patting my head whenever I couldn't sleep……”
“The sunset I saw while riding on his back after crying because I'd fought with my friends……”
“How he dug through trash bins to make toys for me……”
“And……”
“And……”
Eventually...
Everything overflowed.
Even after crying so much...
She somehow still had tears left.
Watching them stream endlessly from her eyes...
I couldn't help marveling.
No...
Those weren't merely tears.
They were memories.
Memories taking the form of tears.
To Iri...
Peter Jones had been far more than just an older brother.
The bond between them couldn't be described simply as family.
Otherwise...
She never would've come all the way to the Academy just to search for traces of her brother years after his death.
She never would've contemplated standing against the Stingray Empire that ruled this city.
She never would've become so enraged over hearing someone speak about her brother that she'd kicked someone capable of killing her with a single finger the very first time they met.
The man who had devoted everything to her...
Had actually been the criminal who ruined her life.
Naturally...
That truth was devastating.
But one shocking revelation alone couldn't erase the mountain of memories they'd built together.
Everything they had shared still shone in brilliant rainbow colors.
A single truth told by someone else wasn't enough to paint all of it gray.
It couldn't possibly feel real.
She couldn't possibly believe it.
She could never truly hate him.
Because...
She was Iri Elisbell now.
Not Ariana Everheart.
What had allowed her to stand until today wasn't,
"The future destroyed by the young robber PJ."
It was,
"The devotion of her kind older brother, Peter Jones."
Even if everything he'd done had simply been born from guilt...
It didn't change the fact that he'd done his very best for Iri.
“…….”
I quietly watched her.
If I had been Shade Wells from the Original Story...
I probably would've rushed over to support her before she collapsed.
But I didn't.
No matter what conclusion Iri reached...
I intended to respect it.
Over the past year, she had successfully stepped out from her brother's shadow.
I believed she'd grown enough that even after learning the truth, she wouldn't collapse.
More importantly...
I had no right to judge this matter.
At least, that was my belief.
In my opinion...
The reason Aaron Stingray had spared Peter Jones after he attacked him wasn't anything noble.
It was simply because of his twisted sadism.
Instead of taking the young man's life on the spot...
He probably wanted to enjoy watching him slowly lose himself.
Even if those actions had been committed by the psychopathic, sociopathic Aaron Stingray before I transmigrated...
Now that I was Aaron...
I couldn't claim to be completely free of those sins.
So...
I waited.
Silently.
Until Iri had thought everything through.
Until the Iri Elisbell whom I respected and cherished more than anyone...
Reached her own conclusion.
“Chairman……”
She finally spoke.
“You knew everything, didn't you?”
“From the very beginning...”
“You knew I was Peter Jones' little sister.”
“You pitied me.”
“That's why you treated me so differently.”
“Isn't that right?”
“……No.”
“That's not true.”
“Then why?”
“…….”
I couldn't answer.
Seeing my silence...
Iri smiled bitterly, as though she'd expected exactly that.
“……Just as I thought.”
“You never tell us the important things.”
“Sometimes you care about us more than anyone else.”
“And other times...”
“You disappear without saying a single word.”
“…….”
“No.”
“It's okay.”
She wiped her tear-soaked face with her sleeve...
Then gave a faint smile.
At that moment...
I realized that sometimes...
A smile could express even greater sorrow than tears.
“I'm okay now.”
“I really am.”
“There are just a few things I want to ask.”
“You'll answer me, won't you?”
“I will.”
“If I wanted to inherit the Everheart couple's estate...”
“Could I?”
“I know it's been a very long time……”
“Yes.”
“You can.”
I answered immediately.
Although...
Legally speaking, I wasn't certain.
The Legal Department might very well say it wasn't possible.
But if that was what Iri truly wanted...
I intended to abuse my authority if necessary to make it happen.
“I see.”
“Then if that happened...”
“It'd become huge news, wouldn't it?”
“That the missing daughter of those famous actors had actually been alive this whole time.”
“Is that what you want?”
“I don't know……”
“I still haven't decided.”
“I think I need a little more time.”
“But……”
“There is one thing I definitely want to settle.”
She turned back toward the cage.
“Please kill my brother.”
“…….”
“Right now.”
“Here.”
Countless thoughts flashed through my mind.
But...
I remained silent.
I was the one who had promised to accept whatever decision she reached.
There was no intention of taking those words back now.
“I understand.”
I immediately connected remotely to the main computer.
After a few commands...
An emergency termination button slowly rose beside me.
“If I press this button...”
“He'll die.”
“……I understand.”
“Please.”
“Do it.”
Following her request...
I reached for the button.
But before I could press it...
Iri's scream stopped me.
“No!”
“Wait!”
“Please!”
Then she cried out toward the figure beyond the cage.
Pressing her face against the plastic...
She sobbed.
“Brother...”
“I'm sorry……”
“I'm sorry……”
“This is the only thing I can do……”
“I'm sorry……”
“I'm so sorry……”
Several minutes passed.
Eventually...
She calmed herself once more.
Slowly...
She stepped away from the cage.
I took that as my signal.
Then I quietly pressed the button.
Whoooosh!!
Gas and flames erupted from every side of the cage in an instant.
The monster made no attempt to resist.
As though it no longer felt pain...
It simply accepted its flesh burning away.
Some time later...
Nothing remained inside the cage except ashes.
Thanks to the filtration system...
The smell of burning never escaped outside.
“My brother……”
Iri quietly watched the monster burn away.
Then suddenly...
She spoke.
“My brother……”
“He paid for his sins...”
“Didn't he?”
“Do you believe that?”
“I……”
“I don't know……”
After answering...
Iri continued staring at the empty cage.
She didn't finally turn away...
Until an entire hour had passed.