Chapter 270 : A Confession That Couldn't Be Rejected
Chapter 270: A Confession That Couldn't Be Rejected
I knew I had hurt her.
It would have been better if I'd reached this conclusion much sooner.
After dragging things out for months, leaving her trapped between hope and anxiety, this was the answer I ended up giving her.
It made me want to beat myself up.
If I had to make an excuse...
It was all for Reina's sake.
“......Senior.”
Moisture gathered in Reina's eyes once more.
Silence bit down so hard on his lip that it nearly bled before steadying himself.
If he took back what he'd just said out of pity...
That would be the greatest insult he could possibly give Reina.
To answer, "Fine, I'll date you," as though he were doing her a favor...
Would make him an irredeemable piece of trash.
So...
He refused to yield to her tears and continued speaking.
“[......There was someone I loved.]”
“......”
“[You said you'd already figured it out a long time ago, didn't you? Well, it doesn't matter. This is probably the first time I've ever told anyone the whole story.]”
Silence quietly recalled his memories.
...No.
There was no need to recall them.
Even the smallest trigger caused those memories to sprout back to life like seeds nourished by spring rain.
“[Her name was Na-yeon.]”
She had been his childhood friend from the same neighborhood.
A girl with hair so black it shimmered blue...
And pitch-black eyes whose depths no one could fathom.
He couldn't even remember how they'd first become close.
Even his oldest memory contained her.
Thinking about it now, they'd probably been together since they were toddlers.
Their parents, both now deceased, must have been close friends.
He vaguely remembered bathing together when they were babies.
“[After both of our parents died in an accident on the very same day, we leaned on each other and grew up together.]”
“What happened to your parents...?”
“[I don't know. Apparently they got caught up in a gang war when we were around ten years old... They said we were too young to understand, so nobody ever told us.”
“I never bothered looking into it either.]”
“Why not...?”
“[Probably because I never felt the need.”
“The neighborhood where I grew up was one where people of the same ethnicity stuck together.”
“Our ancestors were apparently from 'Korea.'”
“It's kind of funny worrying about a country that disappeared more than two hundred years ago.”
“But anyway, thanks to all the adults around us looking after us, neither of us ever really lacked anything.”
“I'm grateful for that.]”
“I see......”
“[Well... anyway.”
“She was like my little sister.”
“My older sister.”
“My friend...”
“That kind of person.]”
They had been so close that it was impossible to imagine life without each other.
When they were children...
She felt less like a lover and more like family.
“[Because we were so close, we never thought of each other that way at first.”
“Nobody looks at their sister as a woman, right?”
“It was something like that.]”
Countless memories flashed through Silence's mind.
Back when he had been shorter than her, when they had genuinely punched and fought each other...
Later, after he'd grown taller, when he'd fought four neighborhood boys at once because they'd been bullying her...
Walking through the marketplace after school while eating snacks together...
Sneaking into restricted areas to build secret hideouts...
Her existence had felt natural.
Her absence had felt unnatural.
Every future Silence imagined...
Contained her in one form or another.
And she probably imagined the same.
“[Then before I knew it......]”
“You realized you loved her......”
“......Yeah.”
When had it started?
When had he first become aware that she was undeniably a girl?
When they stopped going to the public bath together?
Or when he'd suddenly grown taller than her and started teasing her by looking down at the top of her head, saying she was "small and cute?"
Or when he'd absentmindedly grabbed her wrist after a long time...
Only to realize how pale and slender it was...
Making him feel he had to protect her?
He didn't know.
He never would.
He had never asked her.
And now...
He never could.
“[And that's how I found someone I loved.]”
Oddly enough...
He couldn't clearly remember how he'd confessed to her or how they'd started dating.
Perhaps he had simply been that nervous.
Ironically...
Rather than the confession itself...
What remained more vividly in his memory was everyone else's reaction afterward.
One friend had shouted,
"What!? You weren't already dating!?"
Completely shocked.
A shopkeeper they both knew well had sighed,
"Oh dear... Finally..."
As though she'd been waiting forever.
Well...
Those happy days had existed.
In this cold, merciless city where no one knew what tomorrow would bring...
Simply having her by his side had made him believe the future could be brighter.
Yes.
He had been happy.
...Until she was murdered.
At Silence's final words, Reina's expression darkened as well.
Her lips trembled as though she wanted to say something.
Seeing her reaction, Silence quietly sighed.
He glanced toward the white wall surrounding them before continuing.
“[I'm not going to tell you how she died.”
“But I know one thing for certain.”
“She wasn't the kind of person who deserved to die like that.]”
“......”
“[By the time I finally heard what had happened and reached the scene...”
“Her body had already been mutilated beyond recognition.”
“The nearby scavengers had stripped away every usable organ and piece of Cyberware.”
“And some of them even ripped out her brain...”
“Turned her memories into illegal Junk Chips...”
“And sold them.]”
“......!”
Reina covered her mouth with both hands as though she were about to throw up.
It was understandable.
She seemed to come from a fairly comfortable middle-class family.
She had probably never imagined that things like this happened at the very bottom of this cursed city.
“[I searched everywhere for the people who killed her.”
“I thought that if I found the Junk Chips containing her memories...”
“I'd find the murderer's face too.”
“And so......]”
Silence pointed at his mask.
“[I kept repeating that.”
“And this...”
“Is what happened to me.]”
Stopping there, Silence opened a voice chat with Aaron, whom he knew was listening.
“[You're listening, aren't you?”
“That's why I can never completely forgive you.”
“Even if none of it happened because you wanted it to.”
“Even if you're genuinely trying to atone now.”
“Even if you're paying all my tuition and medical expenses...”
“Some things can never be restored.]”
“[......]”
Once your health is ruined...
It can never truly return.
No matter how hard you exercise or train until your body surpasses the average person...
You'll never completely recover the health you once had.
The same was true for people.
And for memories.
The dead never returned.
Distorted memories never disappeared.
Whenever he spoke the name "Na-yeon"...
He could no longer remember only her beautiful smile.
He was also forced to remember...
Her brutally murdered corpse.
“[Now you understand what I'm trying to say, don't you?]”
“Senior......”
“[I can't go back to who I was.]”
Reina tried to answer...
But Silence cut her off before she could speak.
“[Even if I dated you...”
“She'd always remain in my heart.”
“No matter how many layers of wallpaper you paste over a wall...”
“The burn marks underneath never disappear.”
“I'd keep thinking about her every time I looked at you.”
“And that would be a terrible insult to you.]”
“Even so...!”
“[And besides!]”
Silence suddenly raised his voice.
“[Look at my body!]”
He rolled up the sleeve covering his wrist.
Beneath it...
Grotesque scar-covered skin was exposed.
“[See this?”
“This is what the side effects of Junk Chips did to me.”
“I peeked into other people's memories stored on Data Chips...”
“And my entire hormonal system was destroyed.”
“And that's not all—!]”
“Senior......!”
“[My face!”
“This mask I always wear?”
“My nervous system's so damaged that my facial muscles move on their own!”
“My tongue and vocal cords barely work anymore!”
“Without this mask helping me, I sound like a complete idiot!”
“Hahaha!”
“Do you get it!?”
“I'm broken!”
“I'm literally broken!”
“So how...”
“How could I possibly......]”
The fury draining from him...
Silence's voice gradually grew quieter.
The heat of his anger slowly faded away.
“[How could someone like me... ever accept your confession...?”
“When underneath all this...”
“There's nothing but an ugly face that's been ruined beyond repair......]”
Thud.
Silence finally collapsed onto the floor.
“[Do you understand now?”
“That's why I can't, Reina.”
“You're beautiful.”
“You've got a wonderful personality.”
“Someone like you... deserves far better than me......!]”
A man who still couldn't let go of the lover he'd lost years ago.
A broken wreck whose body had been destroyed by cybernetic drugs.
How could someone like that...
Ever deserve a girl as wonderful as her?
“[So, Reina.”
“Try fixing that habit of falling in love so easily.”
“Does it really make sense that you'd like someone like me just because I saved you once?”
“Please.”
“Come to your senses.]”
“Senior......”
“[You understand now, don't you?”
“I think I've explained enough.”
“So hurry up and do something about this damned room.]”
“Senior......”
“[And after we leave here...”
“Let's just go back to being ordinary senior and junior.”
“You don't need to keep suffering because of someone like me.”
“I'm sure you'll eventually meet someone far bette—]”
“Ah, would you just shut uuuuuuup!!”
At that moment—
Reina exploded.
Her voice was so loud that Silence's ears rang.
Even the LED mask he'd turned off suddenly powered itself back on.
By the time the ringing finally subsided...
The emoticon "(°ロ°)." was displayed across his face.
Pointing at him, Reina furiously shouted,
“Why are you the only one talking the whole time!?”
“It was already hard enough to say anything because of the atmosphere!”
“But you just kept talking and talking by yourself!”
“Shouldn't you at least hear what I think too!?”
“[H-Huh...? U-Uh... S-Sorry...?]”
“Shut up!”
At Reina's shout, Silence immediately shrank back.
He knew perfectly well...
There was no way he could beat Reina in terms of physical strength.
The memory of being tucked under her arm like a stuffed doll and dragged all over the festival still haunted him.
More importantly...
The tears welling in Reina's eyes robbed him of the ability to say anything.
“You've said enough, Senior.”
“And now I understand exactly why you answered the way you did.”
“As for breaking your promise and leaving me hanging for months...”
“I'll forgive you.”
“[U-Uh...... Th-Thank you...?]”
“I said shut up!”
“[Y-Yes......]”
Reina silenced him once again.
“Yes.”
“You've clearly been struggling with this.”
“And honestly...”
“I'm grateful that you took my feelings so seriously.”
“But—!”
Lowering her voice slightly, she asked,
“When did I ever ask you to do that?”
“[What...?]”
“When did I ever ask for any of that?”
“Do you think I fell for you because of your face?”
“You're always wearing a mask.”
“You only ever speak through a synthesized voice.”
“What exactly about your face was I supposed to fall for?”
“[......]”
...Wasn't that a little harsh?
Just as Silence was about to feel hurt—
“So none of that mattered from the beginning.”
“I don't care what kind of body you have.”
“I don't care what your face looks like.”
“I don't care what kind of past you've had.”
“I just ended up liking you.”
“That's all!”
“[No, after everything I just told you—]”
“Quiet!”
“I listened to everything!”
“Just like you said, I do fall in love easily.”
“I know that.”
“So I'm taking back what I said when I confessed last time about you being my 'last love.'”
“Maybe someone far more handsome and amazing than you will appear someday.”
“And maybe I'll fall for him instead.”
“Isn't that possible?”
“[Y-Yeah... I suppose.”
“So that's exactly why—]”
“Exactly.”
“Until that day comes...”
“I'll keep liking you.”
“That's how I feel.”
“I don't care what happened in your past.”
“I don't care what your body's like now.”
“I just want to date you.”
“[No, that logic doesn't make any sen—]”
“Quiet.”
“When the time comes, I'll leave on my own.”
“So until then...”
“Just stay with me.”
“You've been trying to push me away from the beginning.”
“So if I'm the one who eventually dumps you...”
“You won't have any reason to be sad, right?”
“Then wouldn't it be fine for us to be together until that day?”
“[......Huh?]”
W-Was it?
It somehow sounded reasonable...
Yet somehow...
It also didn't.
No...
It definitely sounded strange.
Just as Silence was about to argue—
“Got it?”
“Then today is officially Day One!”
“[Whaaat!? How did we get to that conclusion!?]”
“I told you to stop talking!”
“Just date me!”
“You don't dislike me either!”
“[That's not the point!]”
“Day One!”
“[Wait a minute!]”
“Day One!”
No matter how much Silence protested...
Reina stubbornly repeated,
“Day One!”
Ignoring every argument he made.
Then...
At some point...
Her expression changed.
Like a female leopard stalking her prey.
Silence instinctively sensed danger.
“[W-Wait.”
“What are you doing?]”
“......”
Without answering...
Reina strode straight toward the fallen Silence.
She suddenly grabbed his mask...
Pulled it off...
And threw it far beyond his reach.
The next instant—
She knelt down...
And pressed her lips against his bare face.
Silence couldn't escape.
Pinned beneath her, with Reina overwhelmingly stronger than him...
There was no way he could push her away.
Don't.
Please don't.
Stop.
No.
Those words echoed only inside his head.
After what felt like an eternity...
Reina slowly pulled her lips away.
She casually wiped her mouth with her sleeve before putting on a seductive smile.
Though...
She couldn't hide her deeply flushed cheeks.
Her face was redder than it had ever been before.
“......!”
Silence could only open and close his mouth in stunned silence.
Then...
As Reina gently caressed his cheek—
“Geez.”
She smiled brightly.
“You're the most handsome man in the whole world, Senior.”