227 それぞれのその後
入院3日目。病室でアキラの腕の結合手術が始まった。アキラの胴体側の腕は既に手術台に固定されている。担当医が新しい腕を水槽から取り出して手術台に置き、端を切って長さを調整する。アキラ側の方も同様に切られる。そして切断面を結合器具で
「どうですか? 違和感などはありますか?」
「大丈夫そうです」
事前に処置をしているのでアキラに痛みは無い。まだ完全には
「そうですか......」
アキラは担当医の残念そうな様子に少し怖いものを覚えて、手早く強化服を着て足早に退院していった。
「別に怒ったりしないから普通に入ってきなさい」
「あ、はい」
シズカはカウンターから出ると、近付いてきたアキラを優しく抱き締めて軽く頭を
「さて、店長らしい仕事に戻りますか。アキラ。今日の御用は何かしら」
「はい。また装備一式の調達をお願いしたいと思いまして......」
車もバイクも銃も全部失い、強化服も壊れかけで修理か買い換えが必要。シズカはアキラがまたそのような事態に陥ったことに余り驚かなくなった自分に気付いて少し苦笑した。
「相変わらずというか、アキラも大変ね」
「俺も好きで装備を失っている訳じゃないんですけどね。まあ、もう、ある程度は開き直ってます。幸い予算には余裕がありますから、金で安全を買うってことで
「あ、そうそう。アキラは機領ってところの強化服に興味があったりする?」
「昨日そこの営業が来たのよ。私の店に強化服を置かせてほしいってね。強化服はうちの商品から外れているから断わったのだけど、物
「えっと、実はですね......」
アキラからヨドガワの話を聞いたシズカが納得と感心を顔に出す。
「そういうことか。要は優良顧客の囲い込みってことなのね。確かに高ランクハンターに自社製品を使ってもらえば宣伝にもなるし、次々と装備を壊して買い換える大口の客を
それだけではないと自身の勘が伝えていたが、アキラにも自分にも損を与えるものではないとも伝えていたので、シズカもそれ以上を追求する気は無かった。
「それで、どうする? アキラに異存が無ければ機領の話を受けてみようと思うけど。変な裏が無いのなら、私の店にもアキラにも確かに良い話だからね。強いて弊害を挙げれば、今後のアキラの装備が機領製の製品に偏るかもしれないってことぐらいね。それでもあの割引率から判断すれば、他社が同等の割引を提示しない限り、コストパフォーマンス的に機領製一択になるわ」
「シズカさんにも俺にも良い話なら、是非お願いします」
「分かったわ。細かい話は私が機領の営業と話しておくから、先に予算だけ聞いておくわね。今回はどれぐらいなの?」
「20億オーラムぐらいでお願いします」
いハンターになったわね。機領が囲い込みに走る訳だわ」
シズカがアキラの様子を少し意外に思う。そこに今までなら感じていた卑下を感じられなかったからだ。そしてそれを良い変化だと判断してアキラの成長を喜んでいた。
「しかし、カツヤが死んでいたとはな」
ツバキとの取引を終えて都市に帰還したヤナギサワはそのまま状況の後処理を済ませた。当面の仕事を片付けた後にカツヤの調査を部下に指示すると、既に死亡していることが判明した。予想外の事態に驚き、念の
の偶然か。そこまでは幾ら考えてもヤナギサワには分からない。だが今後のツバキとの付き合いも考えて、前者として推測を深めていく。
思考を過去に巡らせて、今一度全ての可能性を羅列していく。
(......ハンターが旧世界製の情報端末を見付けた騒ぎがあった。そこからか? あれらはツバキの管理区画から流れた物だ。それは確認済みだ。ツバキは過去にも同様の物をハンター達に流していた。だからこそ、統企連総合遺物鑑定局はあの遺物の出所を判明できた。過去に同様の事例があったからだ。それらの遺物の出所を想像させて、大規模な遺跡攻略を、軍事行動を誘発した。仮設基地の襲撃騒ぎを含めた一連の出来事は、都市の利益と不安を
ヤナギサワが笑みを険しくする。全ては推測だ。証拠は無い。だが否定も出来なかった。
(まあいい。彼女とは当面は仲良く出来そうなんだ。警戒は怠らない。それで良い)
味方ではないが、敵でもない。部分的にだが利害は一致している。そして過剰な警戒は不利益を生む。ヤナギサワはそう判断して、推察を打ち切った。
隠れ家の警備システムがヤナギサワに来客を知らせる。ヤナギサワは協力者に隠れ家の使用を許可しているが、その中には諸事情により顔や体型を頻繁に変える者もいるので、警備システムは本人識別判断に顔や体型を使用していない。
「お前は、カツヤ? お前は死んだはずだ。いや、それ以前にどうやって入ってきた?」
カツヤの顔の少年が意味有り気に答える。
げられた、と答えたいところだが、今まで通りの名で呼べば良い」
ヤナギサワがその返答でいろいろと気付き、少し顔を険しくする。
完全義体者が脳以外を全て取り替えることはあるが、脳まで取り替えたのか」
「他の部分に比べて重要度が高いとはいえ、脳もまた全体を構成する要素にすぎない。一定の規格と条件さえ
「それ、カツヤの意識とかはどうなってるんだ?」
「既に彼は死亡している。少なくともこの脳に彼の人格などを含めて、彼と呼べる要素は残っていない」
「本当に死んでるの?」
「死とは何か。難しい問題ではある。技術の発達はその基準を曖昧にし続けている。人は生き返らない。生き返るとは
「いや、そういう話じゃなくてさ」
「知っているかもしれないが、我々はツバキと部分的に取引し、大規模遺跡探索での被害の拡大に協力していた。その時に彼女から彼が生きている間は手を出すなと厳命された。私が彼の死体に手を出してから、彼女から苦情は出ていない。つまり、現代の基準でも、我々の基準でも、旧世界の基準でも彼は死んでいる」
ヤナギサワはネルゴの説明から、カツヤは確かに死んだと判断した。
「ふーん。そうなんだ。それで、カツヤの脳の使い心地はどんな感じなんだ? 良い感じ?」
ネルゴがカツヤの顔で、ネルゴの表情で軽く首を横に振る。
「残念ながら、期待した動作はしていない。彼の死とともに、この脳を旧領域接続者として動作させる情報も失われたのだろう。
ヤナギサワが普段の軽薄さを強めて笑って応対する。
「それで、今日は何の用? あ、ドランカムにカツヤとして潜り込むから、その情報操作を頼みたいとかか? やっても良いけど、もう死んだって知れ渡ってるし、
「ふーん。じゃあ何の用かな?」
「ある確認の
に確認したいことがあったのだ。そしてその確認は済んだ」
「同志が旧領域接続者を探す目的は、対象の確保ではなく排除だ。その明確な確認を済ませた」
ヤナギサワから軽薄さが消え、笑顔が消え、静かな威圧と、相手の心の奥底を
「それを、知って、どうする?」
だがネルゴもそれで揺らぐような者ではなかった。
「特に何かをするつもりはない。未知は様々な不確定要素を生む。強いて答えるなら、その排除が目的だ」
する。その裏で相手の思考を推察し合う。そしてネルゴが先に口を開く。
「話は変わるが、そろそろ同志の計画を我々に打ち明けるつもりはないか? 同志も我々も、より良い世界の
ヤナギサワが僅かに迷った後に、慎重に口を開く。
「......断る。話せない。少なくとも、今は駄目だ。俺が目的達成の
「そうか。残念だ。では、同志の計画が進み、その手段を手に入れる日まで、気長に待つとしよう」
ネルゴはそう言い残して帰っていった。
ヤナギサワが緊張を解き、疲れた顔で
自分しかいない部屋で、ヤナギサワは面倒そうな顔で愚痴を吐き続けた。
ヤナギサワの隠れ家を出たネルゴが難しい顔を浮かべている。
「君と取引がしたい。是非話を聞いてほしい」
「そうだ。カツヤを失った君達にとって、とても有益な取引だ」
みを浮かべながら、優しく話し始めた。
ユミナが病室で目を覚ます。目覚めきっていない意識の中で身を起こし、軽い混乱を覚えながら周囲を見渡した。夢を見ていたような気がしたが、その内容はもう
その後、ユミナは病室に入ってきたアラベから説明を受けて状況を把握した。
「そうですか......。カツヤは......」
ユミナはカツヤの死に
アラベは丁寧に頭を下げたユミナの姿を見て軽い罪悪感を覚えつつ、割り切って自身の仕事に移る。
「あー、それで、本来は君が落ち着くまで待つべきなんだろうが、私も仕事でね、少し話と頼みがある。落ち着いて聞いてほしい」
すると意気込まれるのが一番困るのだ。
「あー、何だ、頼んだ私が言うのも何だが、良いのかね?」
「嫌がっている人を教えてください。後で私からも説得してみます」
「そうか? 本当に助かる」
いろいろと疲れていたアラベは真面目に感謝して礼を言った。
ユミナは何となくそう尋ねただけだった。だが表情を少し険しいものに変えたアラベを見て、胸騒ぎを覚えて表情を陰らせる。
「いなかった?」
「ああ。どうも勝手に病室を抜け出して、そのまま病院も出たらしい。一応捜索を頼んだが、見付かったという連絡は来ていない。何らかの混乱によるものだと思うのだが......」
ユミナの胸騒ぎが
夢の中で女性はユミナにそう言っていた。それは、断らなかった者がいたと、その口調で示していた。
アイリが荒野を車で走っている。装備もしっかり調えている。車も装備もドランカムからの貸出品ではない。急にドランカムを追い出された場合に備えて、前から
情報端末から通知音がする。アイリが表示を確認すると、そこにはユミナが夢で見た女性が映っていた。
「適当に呼べば良い」
「では、エイリアスと呼ぶと良い。私達はそういうものだ」
「分かった。エイリアス。これから
Ch 227
On the third day of his stay in the hospital, Akira finally went through the surgery, to stick his new arm to his body. Akira's body was already fixed on the operating table, ready for the surgery. The doctor took the new arm out of the liquid tank and placed it on the operating table, he then cut the overgrown part and readjust the stump. After that, he proceeded to shave the stump on Akira's shoulder before sticking both stumps together.
"How is it? Do you feel any discomfort?"
"It's okay."
Due to the painkiller, Akira did not feel any pain at all. The still detached new arm also only had a numb sensation due to the drug. The surgery continued to connect the bone, the nerves, and then the flesh. Akira had to try to move his arms a few times in the middle of the surgery to check on the connection. In the end, the doctor wrapped it in a medical tape, and with that, the surgery was finished.
"I see..."
Akira felt a shiver down his spine from the disappointed doctor, so he quickly put on his augmented suit and left the hospital.
"It's not like I'm angry, so you can just enter the shop normally."
"Ah, yes."
Shizuka left the counter and went to Akira, she then hugged Akira tightly and gently patted his head.
"So then, I guess I should return back to my job as this shop's manager. Akira, what can I do for you today?"
"Right, I actually want to order another set of equipment..."
Akira lost his bike, vehicle, and rifles, not to mention that his augmented suit was close to being unusable. So he needed to buy replacements for them. Shizuka was not that surprised. Especially when Akira was back in the same situation again. She could not help but smile bitterly.
"Well, that's just so like you, or more like, it must have been rough."
"It's not like I'm doing this intentionally. Well, I've already partially given up on how things always end up like this. Fortunately, I have the money to buy good equipment, so I'll at least buy my safety with money."
"Ah, by the way, Akira, are you interested in augmented suits from Kiryou?"
"Someone from that company came to my shop yesterday saying that they want to put their augmented suit in my shop. Since my shop doesn't usually sell that kind of augmented suit, I refused. But they were so desperate that they even offered some special deals which make it actually sound suspicious instead, so I decided to just keep it for now. Although I can't really tell you the details, basically Hunters that satisfy certain prerequisites should be able to buy this augmented suit with a special discount. You might be able to get that discount as well, so, what do you think?"
"Uhh, well, actually..."
After listening to Akira's story about Yodogawa, Shizuka nodded, looking convinced and a bit amazed.
"So that's why. Basically, they're hunting for a potential customer. Well, it's true when a high ranking Hunter is using their product, they can use it as advertisement. I can understand wanting to secure a customer who often destroys their equipment and keeps coming back to buy expensive products."
In reality, her intuition was telling that was not everything. But since it did not cause any inconvenience for both Akira and her, she decided not to inquire any further.
"So then, what are you going to do? If you don't have anything against it, I'm thinking of accepting their offer. Of course, as long as it doesn't have any strings attached. It's a good offer both for you and me. If there's anything to worry about, it might be that your equipment will lean toward what they manufacture from here on out. But as long as that discount applies and other companies don't give you any discount, the cost-performance ratio of their product is great."
"If it's really a good offer for me and Shizuka-san, then please accept their offer."
"Alright, I'll discuss the details with them, so can you at least tell me your budget for now?"
"I'm thinking about 2 billion Aurum."
"Good grief, Akira, you've really grown up to be a great Hunter. No wonder even companies try to get you on their side."
Shizuka raised her eyebrows. That reply just now showed no self-depreciation that Akira always had up until now. But she did think that this was a good change and was happy for him.
"But still, to think Katsuya died."
After making that deal with Tsubaki, Yanagisawa returned back to the city to deal with the clean-up and the aftermath. Once he was done, he then ordered one of his men to check up on Katsuya. That was when he received a report that Katsuya was already dead. Since that was completely unexpected, Yanagisawa ordered for a closer investigation. But the report regarding Katsuya's death did not change much.
It did not matter how many times Yanagisawa tried to rethink it, he could not differentiate if everything was all according to Tsubaki's plan, or that everything lined up due to coincidence. But since he would be dealing with Tsubaki in the future, Yanagisawa assumed that the first guess was the correct one as he tried to rethink the whole incident.
Yanagisawa went through all the recent incidents in chronological order to pull out all possibilities.
[...Now that I think about it, there was a small commotion about old-world terminals. Was it from that time? Tsubaki might have transported those terminals here. I've already confirmed that she did something similar in the past to bait Hunters. That's why City Management was able to quickly determine where those terminals came from. After all, the same thing happened in the past. She might have deliberately released those terminals out to encourage City Management to organize an expedition. Then all the incidents preceding the expedition, such as the attack on the forward base, were for the sake of thinning out City Management's resources. Once that happened, City Management would send out a bigger army to ensure the success of the expedition. In such a manner, she would have basically manipulated the army. Taking that opportunity, she crushed the oncoming army, which resulted in plenty of deaths. To eliminate more people, the bigger the army, the more chaotic it was, the greater the death count...]
Yanagisawa's smile turned sharp. Everything was nothing but his guess, he had no proof that it was the real truth. But he also did not have any argument to deny that guess as well.
[Well, it doesn't really matter. It seems that we can get along well from here on out. I just need to always keep my guard up, that's all there is to it.]
Although they were not allies, they were no longer enemies as well. Furthermore, they had the same objective as well. Excessive suspicion would only cause problems. Thus, Yanagisawa decided not to delve any further into this matter.
The security system of the hideout suddenly issued Yanagisawa a warning. There was a guest. Yanagisawa did grant passage for certain individuals to his hideout, but since some of them often changed their faces or bodies, the system could not account for them.
"You're... Katsuya? Shouldn't you be dead? No, more than that, how did you get in here?"
The boy with Katsuya's face replied cryptically.
"I've given up my name for the great cause, or so I want to say, but... You can just call me with my previous name."
Yanagisawa came up with many guesses from that quick reply, his face then turned stern as he said.
"I know that followers of the great cause can change any of their body parts excluding the brain, but you, you even changed your brain, didn't you?"
"Although it's way more important than any other body part, the brain is nothing more than another part of our body that can be freely replaced."
"What happened to Katsuya's mind?"
"He's already dead for good. Or at least, there's no leftover of his personality in the brain. So, he no longer exists."
"Is he really dead?"
"What is death? It is a difficult question to answer. Technology developments continue to blur the line between life and death. People can't return back to life. If someone returns back to life, it means that they're still alive right from the start. To put it differently, they're not dead yet. Although it's theoretically possible to resurrect someone, it's still open to interpretation whether life after resurrection is still considered as dead or not."
"I'm not talking about that."
"You might already know about this. We had a separate deal with Tsubaki to help her cause more chaos during the expedition. At that time, she told us not to cause any harm to him. Even after I took the head off from his corpse, I did not receive any complaint from Tsubaki. So basically, according to the current standard, our standard, and the old-world standard, Katsuya is already dead."
Yanagisawa was convinced by that argument, Katsuya was really dead for good.
"Hmmm, is that so? So then, How does it feel using Katsuya's brain? Does it feel good?"
Nergo made an expression that was unlike Katsuya as he shook his head and explained.
"Unfortunately, it didn't work out as I had hoped. I bet his death also cut off any of his connection to the old-world domain. Either that or we made a mistake while handling his brain, which caused some kind of incompatibility to the hardware. The reason doesn't matter, in the end, I wasn't able to recover his ability to connect to the old-world domain."
Yanagisawa returned to his usual joking attitude as he smiled and said.
"So then, what do you need from me today? Ah, in case you want information about Katsuya in order to slip into Drankam, just to let you know, I don't mind if you want to do that but everyone already knows that Katsuya is dead. I'm pretty sure it's too late for you to do that now. But, do you still want to try?"
"Hmmm, so, why are you here?"
"I just want to check something."
"No, there's something that I want to confirm, and I was able to do so."
"The reason why you're looking for us is not for safe-keeping, but for eradication. I've confirmed that with absolute proof."
Yanagisawa's joking attitude vanished. His smile vanished. Only silent pressure and a pair of eyes that could pierce through one's soul remained.
"So, now that you know, what are you going to do?"
Yanagisawa said that but he knew Nergo was not someone he could easily deal with.
"Nothing in particular. Unknown factors are a source of disruptions. If I really have to say it, then my objective is to remove these factors."
After that, a short silence wafted between them. Both of them were trying to figure out what their opponent was thinking. Nergo was the first one to open his mouth.
"It's completely unrelated, but isn't it about time for you to tell us about your real plan? I do believe that both of us are moving for the sake of humanity. And I think that you share some of the same principles with us. After all, we were able to work together although only for a limited capacity. I think we can work together to realize our ideals."
Yanagisawa seemed to hesitate for a bit, he then carefully said.
"...I have to refuse. I can't tell you, or at least, not now. Although, if it's after I have everything I need to reach my goal, I do think that we can be allies."
"I see, that's indeed regrettable. Now then, we shall wait patiently for the day that you have everything you need to reach your goal."
Nergo only said so and left.
Yanagisawa relaxed his tense body and sighed.
Inside the room where there was no one else but him, Yanagisawa started complaining and cursing.
After Nergo left Yanagisawa's hideout, he then frowned and muttered.
"I'm here with an offer, I hope you will hear me out."
"That's right. It's a very good offer for you and the rest who have lost Katsuya."
The girl started explaining her offer with an amicable smile on her face.
Yumina woke up on the infirmary bed. Her consciousness was still hazy as she pushed herself up and looked around, confused. She felt like she just had a dream but she could not remember what it was. She could not remember who she was talking to and what she refused. As her hazy consciousness retreated, it also carried away that thought and vanished altogether.
After that, Arabe came in and explained what had happened to Yumina.
"I see... So Katsuya is already..."
Yumina was very saddened by the news, but for some reason, she was not surprised. Although she did not know the reason why, she somehow already knew that Katsuya was dead.
Arabe felt a slight pang of guilt seeing Yumina politely bow at him, but he then shook that feeling off and returned back to business.
"Ah, and also, I know that I should bring this after you have fully recovered, but it's my job, you see. I have something that I need to talk to you about, so please just listen to it calmly, okay?"
Arabe was a bit surprised by that as he looked at Yumina with eyes full of questions. His biggest worry was that Yumina only accepted that in appearance while was scheming for revenge inside.
"Uhh, well, it might be weird for me to say this since I'm the one who came to you with this subject, but, are you really okay with this?"
"Can you tell me who refused? I'll try to convince them."
"Really? Thank you."
Arabe, who seemed exhausted, thanked Yumina with a serious expression.
Yumina actually asked that question purely out of curiosity. But seeing Arabe make a conflicted expression, she felt that something did not go well as her expression turned cloudy.
"She's gone?"
"Yeah, it seems like she had sneaked out of the hospital. We dispatched some of our guys to look for her, but we have not found her so far. I think she's currently confused and panicking but..."
The worry in Yumina's chest turned worse. The shock even caused her to feel dizzy. But right now, she remembered a portion of her dream.
The girl inside Yumina's dream said so, it meant that someone else accepted her offer.
Airi was traversing through the wasteland on a vehicle. She was well-armed. Both the vehicle and her equipments were not from Drankam. She had them ready beforehand just to be safe in case she got kicked out of Drankam. She had been slowly gathering these equipment in secret.
A voice came out from her information terminal. Airi looked at the display, there was the girl that Yumina saw in her dream.
"You can call me anything."
"In that case, you can call me Alias. We're just like the embodiment of that word after all."
"Alright, Alias. I'll be in your care."
Rebuild World (WN)
リビルドワールド
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/rebuild-world/
Action Adventure Drama Harem Mecha Mystery Sci-fi Seinen
Abandoned Children Adapted to Manga Adventurers Alternate World Anti-social Protagonist Apocalypse Artificial Intelligence Beautiful Female Lead Cautious Protagonist Child Protagonist Dense Protagonist Determined Protagonist Distrustful Protagonist Futuristic Setting Gangs Gunfighters Harsh Training Lack of Common Sense Male Protagonist Manipulative Characters Monsters Near-Death Experience Older Love Interests Poor Protagonist Poor to Rich Ruthless Protagonist Shota Sudden Strength Gain Survival Twisted Personality Unlucky Protagonist Weak to Strong
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9736dt/
非公開