My youth story cannot be a knight war

"Where the hell are you?! Hurry up and save us! Ayase and I are hiding in the closet of the school infirmary, and a bunch of people outside are turning into monsters!"

Kousaka Kirino said this angrily, but Aragaki Ayase who was beside her suddenly blinked, and a faint doubt emerged in the depths of her tearful eyes.

This voice...why does it feel familiar?

"……School?"

After hearing what his sister said, Kyosuke Kousaka on the other end of the phone was silent for a while, then spoke.

"Kirito, are you...hiding in the infirmary with your classmates right now? School isn't over yet?"

"Huh!? How can school be over at this hour? Do you think I'm a poor student like you? I'm thinking about it being over as soon as I get to school every day!"

……

"Stupid Kyousuke! Not only is he slow, but he's also stupid!"

"..."

Hearing his sister's scolding coming from the other end of the phone, Kousaka Kyosuke held the phone in a daze, and the conversation between Ebina and himself before replayed in his mind at this moment.

——"Now, time no longer flows forward, but rotates in a spiral. The past, present, and even the future as defined by humans are all running across and occasionally colliding in a chaotic timeline."

"For example, three hours ago, I received a call from Professor Martin, my former advisor at MIT. He asked me to help record data during the experiment later."

——"...So, it was a call from the past, and this is the truth behind most of the 'haunting' incidents today."

——"The past and the present...intersect???"

So that's it... Then, the Kirino across from me is...

"Hey! Are you still there? Did you hear me? Stupid Kyousuke!"

“…I’m listening. I’ve been listening all the time.”

Kyosuke Kousaka spoke softly, and at this moment a certain softness that should have disappeared in the past reappeared in the depths of his eyes, like a ray of warm sunlight shining into the bottom of the dark lake, allowing the grass that had been buried by the lake for many years to see the light of day again.

"Then come and save us quickly! Are you really——"

"...Kirito, I'm sorry."

The sudden apology came into her ears along with the phone call. Even though the situation was critical, Kousaka Kirino was still stunned.

"H-huh? What are you talking about? It's too early to apologize now!"

"Is it too early? But I feel that this apology may be too late."

Looking up at the sky filled with aurora borealis, Kyosuke Kousaka lowered his eyelids slightly, hiding the colors in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I was only paying attention to Manami at that time and ignored your feelings, Kirino."

"I've always thought, if I had been able to calm down and think about your feelings more at that time... maybe our relationship would still be the same as when we were kids, right?"

“——Huh??? Why are you suddenly talking about this now!?”

Her body couldn't help but tremble for a moment, then Kousaka Kirino tightened her tone and spoke, but even she could clearly feel the strangeness in her voice.

What Kyosuke Kousaka was talking about was a memory that neither of them wanted to recall. Because of that incident, the two, who were as close as twins when they were young, have been in a cold war until now, and only recently have there been some warming of their relationship.

But it's like a fence post that's been stuck in the ground for years. Even though it's been pulled out a little, most of it is still stuck deep in the ground, and the traces of the soil being pushed away for years are still there.

"I'm really... I'm sorry. I was really stubborn back then. I only thought about myself."

"Can you forgive me for what I did back then, Kirino?"

"W-What are you talking about! You chose this moment? This is taking advantage of someone's misfortune, you know!?"

"Can you forgive me?"

"Tsk—alright, alright! I forgive your mistake, idiot Kyousuke! I'm merciful and forgive you for what you did back then! So hurry up and come save us!"

Pursing her lips tightly, she mentally told herself that this was just a temporary solution and that she would definitely settle the score with the other party later. Kousaka Kirino shouted angrily.

"Is this okay? Stupid brother!"

"...Thank you, that's enough."

A tiny but real arc appeared at the corner of his mouth, and Kousaka Kyosuke smiled.

The moment this smile appeared on his face, the rings of time seemed to turn into ashes and dissipate from his body, and the face of the boy reappeared, smiling exactly the same as before.

"You and your friends should just hide for now... Don't worry, this should all be over soon, brother. I promise you."

"Hey! Why are you suddenly talking so cheesy? What are you doing... just trying to be cool."

Listening to the girl opposite him mumbling with resentment and shame, the smile slowly faded from his face. Kousaka Kyosuke looked down at the snowflakes gradually falling at his feet and pursed his lips.

"Kirito, can you promise me one last thing?"

"You!? —I will definitely settle the score with you later! Consider this request as your dying wish, so hurry up and tell me!"

Kousaka Kirino clenched her fists and spoke viciously.

"Last wish? Well, remember to take good care of Mom and... Dad. Also, if possible..."

"...I hope you can mend your relationship with me back then, just like long ago when you listened to your brother."

"Hey! These are two different things, right? And what do you mean by being with the you back then—"

Di-

The sound of hanging up came from the other side of the phone. Kousaka Kirino opened her eyes wide. She looked at the call ended status displayed on her phone and started cursing.

"That idiot brother! How dare you hang up on me first!?"

"Damn Kyosuke! Damn Kyosuke! I'll make you pay when you come later!"

Although she was very angry, Kousaka Kirino did not notice one thing, that is, the atmosphere of fear that had originally surrounded the two of them had disappeared unknowingly.

On the contrary, Aragaki Ayase had a very strange expression at this time. She looked at her best friend hesitantly while she was complaining to her brother over there, and finally chose to suppress her inner speculation.

The tone and intonation of that voice, the feeling it gave people, and that last sentence...

"Goo~"

The white neck with graceful curves like a swan moved slightly, and she couldn't help but open her eyes wide.

Could it be that the brother that Kirino just talked to was... No way?

……

Kyosuke Kousaka slowly lowered the phone from his ear. He took one last serious look at his phone, then—released his hand.

Plop~!

The fallen cell phone sank into the sea water with a few snowflakes floating on the surface, sank down in a burst of foam, and finally slowly disappeared into the depths of the dark sea.

"It's a pleasant surprise... but as a gift before the final battle, it's really great."

He exhaled a breath of hot white air, looked up at the snowflakes falling like leaves above his head, reached out to catch one of them, and then slowly closed his palms.

"I can only help you so far, my past self."

"at last……"

Kousaka turned around, his expression clearly unchanged, but the curve of his face was filled with a startling chill as he did so.

Whether he admits it or not, the boy from many years ago has actually disappeared in the torrent of time.

And the one standing here now is just another boy with the same name as that boy, "Kousaka Kyousuke".

He chose to give his last bit of tenderness to his "former" sister.

When he turned around completely, Kousaka's eyes and expression were colder than the snowflakes falling from the sky, as if he was the real origin of this heavy snow, and this was also the real him now.

But the only thing that gave people the same feeling was the tone of his voice.

Looking at the old warehouse building standing in front of him, Kousaka muttered to himself his last words that still held warmth.

"Goodbye, Kirino."

7. Memory of the Vow (4K)

“Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!”

"Hey! Zaimokuza—Ugh!!!"

When the brilliant and ominous light bloomed in the sky, the earth also erupted with a strong tremor. Caught off guard, Zaimokuza, who had just stood up, screamed and waved his hands and fell backwards.

Seeing this, Kousaka Kyosuke, who was quick-eyed and quick-handed, held onto a leaning electric pole beside him to stabilize his body, quickly reached out to grab his palm, but his five fingers grabbed nothing.

Then a strong feeling of weightlessness came from him, and the mysterious huge pulling force appeared again, pulling up the Zaimokuza in front of Kousaka who had no support.

Although Kousaka immediately pulled back his hand, his face flushed as he hugged the telephone pole with both hands, his heart sank to the bottom when the bottom of the pole made a dangerous cracking sound.

The cracked concrete floor suddenly burst open, and the bottom of the telephone pole was pulled out of it. Without support, Kousaka immediately rose into the sky with the telephone pole he was holding, following in Zaimokuza's footsteps.

The two figures were getting farther and farther away from the shaking earth, and soon they became two small dots in the sky. Only the faint sound of a sad and angry roar and the other's tearful voice could be heard.

“Why us again????”

“I want to know too!!!!”

The colorful aurora slowly emerged out of thin air in the dark sky, and the figures of the two were brushed by the tail curtain of the aurora and disappeared in the light.

And at this moment, a powerful force once again suppressed the trend of the two ends of the timeline to collide, and all the strange phenomena stopped again, except that the two people had disappeared at the end of time and sky.

A heavy sound of breaking wind sounded from the sky, and the lonely electric pole fell to the ground while spinning, and finally smashed heavily into a ruin. Dust and thick fog rose up along with the bursting concrete debris.

Click.

Black leather shoes stepped on a piece of cement, and the corners of the black windbreaker fluttered in the strong wind. The figure of the man was blurred in the thick fog, and only a slender half-body silhouette could be vaguely seen.

"..."

The figure looked silently at the electric pole in front of him that was stuck upside down in the ruins, revealing its messy and dense roots like a broom head, and then quietly looked up at the aurora curtain in the sky.

"……haven't seen you for a long time."

……

Day 4, around noon.

Zaimokuza Yoshiteru has disappeared from the eyes of the world for three days. If the day when the disaster broke out is also counted, it is four days.

No one knew where he had been these days, because he had cut off contact with all his relatives and friends. After leaving a few words to report his safety, he disappeared from people's world wearing his iconic windbreaker.

There are countless people like him all over Japan today. It is almost impossible to find a specific person in such a large group of missing people.

Zaimokuza chose to leave on his own. With his current abilities, as long as he didn't want to be found, even if all the countries in the world joined forces and scraped off three meters of the earth's surface, they would still not be able to find him.

All these actions seemed to fit the definition of desertion, but everyone who knew him did not think that this man chose to leave out of fear. He must have left because there was something that needed to be dealt with.

When these things are dealt with, he will return to his own battlefield and continue to fight to protect the smiles of others.

Tokyo, Shuchiin Academy, girls' dormitory.

"Sister Yukino, you still don't have any news about Yoshiteru?"

"...Really? Yeah, I get it, Sister Yukino. You should be careful too."

"Okay, see you tomorrow..."

After hanging up the phone, Tsurumi Rumi looked at the colorful aurora filling the sky and the endless devastated scene ahead, leaning against the door of her dormitory. There was a hint of daze on her delicate face.

Even though this scene had appeared several days ago, she still felt as if she was in a dream and it was unreal.

The only thing that kept reminding Rumi Tsurumi of the obvious was the record of over 500 calls on her cell phone in just three days, the dejected tone of the TV news anchor, and the uncontrollable despair and panic of the people around her. The legendary end of the world had already arrived.

This is almost a consensus among everyone now, especially the dimensionality reduction strike capability demonstrated by the unconfirmed life form No. 0 yesterday in the face of attacks from all countries in the world. This has made this view deeply rooted in people's minds with irrefutable facts.

All countries in the world have not taken any other actions since then. It can be said that except for not directly speaking out or issuing announcements on various media channels, governments around the world have basically acquiesced to the fact that humans were defeated in the "One Year War" with the Gurongi.

Thinking about this fact, it was indeed no different from a dream. The position of planetary overlord that countless people subconsciously believed would never be replaced was taken away in just one day, and the one who did this was just a single individual.

The unrivaled power of No. 0 completely shattered humanity's understanding of modern warfare and permanently changed certain things. Perhaps from now on, how to create super-strong individual soldiers will be valued, and the past legion warfare model will be gradually abandoned... But all this must have a prerequisite, that is, humanity can still have a future after this disaster.

Perhaps from now on people must get used to the fact that there is a race that is more advanced than humans, and anxiously await the verdict from the supreme ruler of this race. Some even despairingly believe that the human race has already entered a process of irreversible extinction.

However, Tsurumi Rumi didn't care much about these matters concerning the survival of the human race and the world. After all, every class has its own issues to worry about. Unless all adults in the world are dead, it's impossible for her, an active-duty JK who hasn't even graduated from high school, to worry about these things.

The people and things that Tsurumi Rumi cares about are also very much in line with what people would consider to be "petty-minded." Compared to grand propositions like "the world" or "humanity," she cares more about her family, friends, and acquaintances around her...