Chapter 269 : The Room You Can't Leave Unless You Apologize Sincerely
Chapter 269: The Room You Can't Leave Unless You Apologize Sincerely
“Congratulations. Your recovery is going very well.”
“[......Is that so?]”
“Of course. Your reaction to the medication has returned to normal, and your neural stability has improved as well. It means your hormone receptors are gradually returning to their original state. Haven't you noticed that your body has been changing?”
“[Hmm...... My body used to go numb a lot while I was sleeping, but these days I sleep pretty soundly. The tingling in my fingertips is gone too......]”
“There's more than just that, isn't there?”
“[Huh?]”
“When was the last time you looked in a mirror?”
“[......I'm not sure.]”
A mirror.
He hadn't looked into one since the side effects of the Junk Chips had begun melting his face away.
He had removed every mirror from his room, and whenever there was even the slightest chance of seeing one, he always put on his mask first.
Seeing that reaction, the doctor nodded as though he understood.
“When you get home, take a look in a mirror. You'll be able to see the difference immediately.”
“[......Alright.]”
“Anyway, your recovery is going well, so there's nothing to worry about. I'll schedule your next appointment for next week, so don't forget to come.”
“[Doctor.]”
“Yes?”
“[How long will it take before I'm completely healed?]”
“Hmm......”
At Silence's question, the doctor smiled bitterly.
“You'll never return completely to how you were before. Once the human body has been damaged, it can't truly return to its original state.”
“Treatment can bring you back to the level of a healthy person... no, even beyond that.”
“But becoming exactly the way you were before you ever used a Junk Chip is impossible.”
“[I see......]”
“Yes. That's why it's best not to touch cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs if you can help it.”
“At least you're an Adaptee, so your recovery is fast and your prognosis is excellent.”
“If you were an ordinary person, you'd probably have had to replace your entire nervous system and internal organs with Cyberware and spend the rest of your life swallowing five high-dose immunosuppressant pills every few hours.”
“So you're actually quite lucky.”
“Cases like yours are extremely rare, so I'm finding your recovery rather fascinating to observe.”
“[......]”
...Was it really okay to say something like that directly to a patient?
Silence grumbled inwardly that he sounded more like an experimental lab rat than a patient.
Still...
He kept those complaints to himself.
After all, regardless of his reasons, the one who had ruined his own body by using all sorts of Junk Chips had been none other than himself.
“[Thank you. I'll be going now.]”
“Don't forget your medication.”
“And make sure you come back next week.”
The doctor smiled kindly and waved goodbye as Silence left the examination room.
Perhaps it was because this was a major hospital, but both the service and the doctor's attitude were excellent.
The neighborhood clinic he'd gone to before had been run by a quack who shamelessly puffed away on an electronic cigarette right in front of his patients.
'Money really is a wonderful thing.'
Being able to receive treatment and service like this...
It was only possible because he had the Crown Prince backing him.
Thinking about that left him with mixed feelings.
Well, anyway.
The treatment was going well.
That much was certainly good news.
It was just after leaving the hospital while thinking that—
“[Guaaaargh!?]”
Just before the hospital's automatic doors behind him had completely closed...
An invisible force grabbed the back of his neck.
A sudden sensation of weightlessness.
He was actually flying.
Only moments ago, both feet had been firmly planted on the ground.
Now...
The rooftop of the massive hospital spread out beneath him.
“[I-I'm fallingggggghhh!?]”
Just as gravity prepared to send him plummeting toward the ground...
The force pulling him upward abruptly shifted sideways.
“[Ughhh! Ughhh!]”
I'm going to die.
I'm seriously going to die.
An overwhelming terror engulfed his body.
He'd experienced all kinds of bizarre memories through Junk Chips...
But this...
This was a first.
The skyscrapers of New Valhalla City streaked past him.
He was nothing more than a kite soaring high in the sky, dangling helplessly wherever the string pulled him.
...Wait.
A string?
Could it be...!
Just as the culprit's identity began taking shape in his mind—
Thud!
A tremendous impact slammed into his back.
His vision suddenly went dark, preventing him from seeing anything around him.
“[Ow... owowow......!]”
The pain was so intense that it wouldn't have been surprising if he'd broken several bones.
Rubbing his lower back, Silence barely managed to pull himself upright.
Then...
He heard a familiar voice.
“S-Senior?”
“[Uh... Reina?]”
Contrary to his expectations that 'that man' would appear...
The one standing there was none other than Reina.
Caught off guard in an entirely different way, Silence opened and closed his mouth several times before finally managing to speak.
“[......Where are we?]”
“I-I don't know.”
“[Hm?]”
Despite saying she didn't know...
She somehow looked like she did know something.
Just as he was about to question her...
The surroundings suddenly brightened, revealing the room.
“[W-What is this place...?]”
It was a perfect cube.
Each side measured roughly five meters in length.
The problem...
Was that absolutely nothing existed inside.
Every surface was covered in pure white walls.
It looked like something straight out of a horror movie's psychiatric ward.
There wasn't even an exit.
He was certain he'd fallen from above.
Yet when he looked up...
There was nothing.
Literally nothing.
He and Reina were trapped alone inside a room with absolutely no exits.
“[Then why is it so bright if there aren't any lights?]”
It was almost as if the walls themselves were softly glowing.
Thinking there must be some secret behind it, Silence examined them more closely.
Then he realized the truth.
“[These... they're all threads......]”
What he'd mistaken for walls...
Were closer to woven fabric.
Countless incredibly fine threads intertwined with one another to form the enormous room.
“[Aaron Stingray...!!]”
The culprit was obvious.
There was only one person in the entire city capable of creating a space like this in an instant.
Filled with anger, Silence shouted.
Almost as though responding to him...
The voice of 'that man' echoed from beyond the wall.
—As expected of Silence.
You're quick to figure things out.
“[Who else could possibly do something like this!? What the hell are you trying to pull!? I seriously thought I was going to die!]”
—Think of it as punishment.
“[Punishment!? What did I even do!?]”
—Are you seriously asking because you don't know?
Aaron's voice suddenly turned cold.
For some reason...
Silence's gaze instinctively shifted toward Reina.
After several awkward seconds of exchanged glances, Silence snapped back to reality and shouted again.
“[Enough already! Let us out!]”
—You've never properly treasured Reina.
Ignoring Silence's demand, Aaron continued speaking as though he hadn't heard him.
His voice was remarkably serious.
Apparently...
This wasn't merely a prank.
—Now then.
Let's begin the game.
...No, you're obviously enjoying yourself!
Normally that old man radiated overwhelming presence...
Yet at times like this, he could be unbelievably childish.
Once he got out of here...
Silence swore he'd somehow punch him at least once.
“[What kind of ridiculous game is this!?]”
—Turn to your right.
“[What?]”
Following the instruction, he turned his head.
Black ink-like stains began spreading across the wall.
Gradually...
They formed letters.
The sentence wasn't complete yet...
But halfway through, it looked something like—
[The Room You Can't Leave Unless You Have Sx]
“[?!]”
It was a silent scream.
Has this old man finally gone insane!?
Feeling his face burn bright red, Silence shouted even louder.
“[You crazy bastard! What the hell are you trying t—!]”
“......S-Senior.”
“[Reina, you say something too! That old man's finally lost it! No, he was crazy from the beginning! He's just been hiding his true nature all this time! Once I get out of here, I'll—!]”
“Senior...... read the whole thing.”
“[What?]”
Calming himself down, Silence looked back.
The characters that had looked like "Sx" separated apart...
Forming the words "Sincerely" and "Apologize."
The completed sentence became—
[The Room You Can't Leave Unless You Apologize Sincerely]
“[......]”
—...What sentence did you think it said, Silence?
“[Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!]”
That old man definitely did that on purpose!
The spacing between the letters definitely hadn't been that wide a moment ago!
Just imagining the smug grin on the other side of the wall made him want to punch him.
But only for a moment.
[The Room You Can't Leave Unless You Apologize Sincerely]
“[......]”
He was beginning to understand why Aaron had gone through all this trouble.
The fact that Aaron had brought Reina here, of all people, had made it obvious from the beginning.
“[Ah...... This is driving me crazy......]”
He turned off his mask's emoticon display.
The angry emoji that had been glowing on the LED panel vanished.
Sigh.
A deep sigh escaped from inside his mask.
Reina simply stood there quietly with both hands politely clasped together, staring blankly at him.
“[......]”
“......”
An awkward silence settled between them.
About five minutes passed.
Then Silence finally spoke first.
“[Reina.]”
“......Yes, Senior?”
“[Um...... I'm sorry......]”
Unable to meet her eyes, he scratched the back of his head.
“[According to our promise... I should've given you my answer much sooner.”
“I said I'd answer before the new year... but I kept putting it off......”
“Things became awkward between us... and we just kept drifting into this strange relationship where neither of us knew what to do......]”
“......”
“[To be honest... I thought you'd confessed because you'd gotten swept up in the atmosphere that day.”
“You know... the festival was an event we never could've experienced at the Academy.”
“It probably poured fuel onto feelings that normally wouldn't have grown that strong.]”
“Senior. I......”
“[Yeah. I know.”
“That's just an excuse.]”
Silence sighed once more.
“[I just wanted to pretend it had never happened.”
“Or at the very least... postpone dealing with it.”
“I thought time would solve everything on its own.”
“If I buried it and kept delaying things, eventually you'd slowly drift away from me.”
“Then I'd be able to act like nothing had happened.”
“I thought that even if things stayed a little awkward... remaining as senior and junior at school would be the best outcome.”
“But......”
“I was wrong.”
“It was my mistake.]”
“Senior.”
Reina finally spoke.
Her lips trembled as she forced out every ounce of courage she had left.
“I'll say it again.”
“I like you, Senior.”
“[Yeah.”
“Thank you for feeling that way.”
“I don't dislike you either.]”
“You... don't dislike me...?”
“[Hmm... no.”
“I said that wrong.”
“It's not that I don't dislike you.”
“I think... I like you too.”
“That's the conclusion I reached after thinking about it for months.]”
“......!! Then that means we're...!!”
Reina's face brightened once more.
She had become noticeably thinner over the past several months.
Yet at this very moment...
It was as though every shadow hanging over her had vanished, replaced by radiant happiness.
However.
The very next moment—
“[That's why......]”
The words that came from Silence's mouth...
Were the complete opposite of what she had hoped to hear.
“[I can't return your feelings.]”