Epilogue A: And So the World Keeps Turning

It had been about two weeks since Koito Hikari started crying.

"Waaaaah... Kotohaaa... Kotohaaaa..."

She had been crying and screaming in her room for two solid weeks. She hadn't eaten, hadn't slept -- in a sense making effective use of her infinite stamina. Then came a knock at her door.

"Captain! Captain! Please come immediately, now!!"

"Waaaaah... Mef... You don't have to worry about me..."

"That's not what this is about, you idiot! A ship... a ship just arrived!"

"...A ship?"

Koito asked, blowing her nose loudly into a tissue.

"A spaceship from another dimension! The transmission says -- it's Kotoyorozu-kun!"

Koito opened the door at the speed of light and shot into the sky in an instant.

Ibis-99 landed at Azure Academy's Space Development Center.

When the door opened with a heavy clank, I -- Kotoyorozu Kotoha -- was left speechless.

"Wh-what the hell is all this?!"

Spread out before me -- stretching all the way to the horizon -- was a massive crowd of people.

"And -- oof!"

"Hey hey. That's why I told you, didn't I? Brace yourself 'cause the gravity's gonna be brutal."

Luna-san's threads caught me as I nearly collapsed under Earth's gravity.

The enormous crowd was showering us with thunderous cheers.

"Is everyone... welcoming us?"

There were so many people it made my head spin. Luna-san and I looked at each other. Just then, from high in the sky, a girl came plummeting down at meteor-like speed.

"KOTOHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

The cherry-pink-haired girl crashed into the concrete in front of us, blasting a huge crater in the ground. But she immediately leaped out and -- Koito-senpai -- threw her arms around me.

"Mgyaaaaaah! It's Kotoha! It's really... it's really Kotoha...!! Waaaaah... Kotoha... I'm sorry, I'm so sorryyyyy!"

"H-hey... Koito-senpai... can't breathe... I'm, y'know... struggling with the gravity right now..."

"Waaaaaaaah!"

Koito-senpai's eyes were swollen from crying, and she wouldn't let go. Luna-san's threads tried to pry her off, but it was completely useless. Seriously, that really hurt.

"Shamshir!"

The one who peeled the clingy senpai off me was my dependable junior -- Koshiba.

"Ugh... thanks, Koshiba... appre-- ...Koshiba...?"

The Koshiba I hadn't seen in so long was trembling like a puppy, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Koshiba... Koshiba-san? What's wrong?"

"Koto... ha... sen... pai..."

"...Huh?"

"WAAAAAAAAAH KOTOHA-SENPAAAAAAIIIIII!!"

"Gyaah!"

Koshiba kicked off the ground with those healthy legs of hers and launched herself straight at me. I hit the back of my head on the ground. Koshiba smacked her knees too, but she completely ignored it and kept bawling.

"Senpa... WAAAAAAH! Hic... hic... WAAAAAAAAH!"

"You're crying too much! You've got snot all over your face!"

"Gya-- bud I caaaan'd-- WAAAH it's too much-- WAAH-- snff--"

The one who plucked the petite girl up by the collar was a dark-skinned girl.

"...It really is... you... Kotoyorozu-kun..."

"Oh, yeah, Mef. Long time no s--"

She knelt down and wrapped her arms around my neck as I lay on the ground.

"Guh...!?"

"...I wasn't... worried... or anything, okay...? I... I always knew... you'd come back... so..." She sniffled.

Mef was crying as she pressed her cheek against mine, holding me tight. I finally understood just how worried everyone had been, and felt terrible about it. I clumsily patted the back of her head.

"No trace of Parallel Law. ...So it really is the real Kotoyorozu Kotoha."

I looked up to see Von Simon-senpai. He wore his usual difficult expression as he stared at the spaceship we'd arrived in.

"...What... is this...? What is this ship? How on earth did you get back?"

Luna-san and I exchanged looks.

"...We don't remember anything. Not even how we got back."

The rest of that day was hectic.

Apparently, everyone had been watching our battle -- mine and Luna-san's. A huge crowd had surrounded Ibis-99, and it took ages to push through the sea of people. We could have easily escaped using the abilities of Koito's squad, but everyone was crying too hard to be of any use.

"You must be Kotoyorozu. And... Luna."

The one who addressed us while we were being examined in the infirmary was a tall girl. She introduced herself as Platinum Story End.

"...Thank you. Thanks to you, my mother's soul was saved."

She had looked up to Nguyen-senpai as a mother figure. Nguyen-senpai had burned through her very life to transport us to that other dimension. We were the ones who should have been saying thanks.

"I shall bestow upon you a knight's medal. And while we're at it, why don't you both join the Arboreal Knights--"

"Hey! Platinum! Kotoha and Luna-san belong to Team Koito!"

"N-no fair, Koito-chan! You always get special treatment from HR!"

Platinum, who'd been acting all knightly, instantly switched to a childish tone the moment Koito-senpai appeared.

"How many times must I tell you? Koito-san. You are not permitted in the infirmary."

Helen Clover-senpai -- Azure Academy's medical officer, the white-coated angel -- always wore a gentle smile, but she was scary when she got angry. The instant Koito-senpai met her glare, she fled like a startled rabbit.

"Eek! I'm sorry! C-come on, let's go, Platinum!"

"Why me too?!"

-- But even her ironclad guard couldn't stop the flood of visitors.

"K-Kotohaaaa! You really did it, you bastard!"

PM was openly crying as he slapped my back, leaving behind a basket of fruit as a get-well gift.

"...Heh, well, I always believed you'd make it."

Arav said that, but the tear tracks on his cheeks told a different story. Our classmates were safe and sound too, and I felt relieved. Being sensible guys, they left before Helen-senpai could scold them.

"Ha! Nice work, you two! I'll be honest -- I thought there was no way in hell you'd pull it off!"

Ter-senpai came into the infirmary laughing, and was immediately smacked on the head by Mef.

"Can't you remember anything yet? What is that spaceship? That thing can't be built even at Azure Academy -- a ship designed to bridge specific dimensions. Its energy source is unknown. I'm dying of curiosity."

"Sorry... I really can't."

Neither Luna-san nor I had clear memories of anything after defeating the Star Whale. Even dredging the very bottom of my memory, the furthest I could get was the shocking fact that she had ultimately planned to die at my grave.

"Master-chan, are you replaying my LOL suicidal flashback again?"

"Just your imagination."

Something was nagging at me. I felt like I'd left something incredibly important behind somewhere. But I couldn't remember what it was at all.

A gentle knock echoed at the door of the room where we were staying for observation.

"...--"

The one who entered was the girl with rainbow-colored hair -- mALEEa.

"Mari-chan!"

When she saw me, her face lit up with the brightest smile. She slowly walked over and gave me a hug. I was a little embarrassed, but she looked so happy I couldn't say a word.

"...Thanks. Your song -- it really reached me."

"--"

"Mari-chan?"

I realized it then. Her voice was gone. That made sense, I thought. She had literally paid the price for that song. For a moment, I was lost for words.

"I see. ...You're okay with that, aren't you?"

I could tell there wasn't an ounce of regret in her. She had fulfilled her dream. Even if it was only for a few minutes, she had made every single person on Earth smile. That was an incredible feat.

That's right! It was so, so much fun. So... I'm okay now.

Personally speaking, I had no problem with someone who couldn't talk. I was used to that sort of thing--

(Wait... who was I "used to" this with?)

I didn't know a single person who couldn't speak. I shook my head.

By the way, I just figured it out. Kotoha, your Apocalypse ability isn't future sight -- it's mind reading, right?

"Ha ha... sorry for keeping quiet about it. So, what are you going to do now, Mari-chan?"

I can't use my Half-Wing anymore either, so there's no point staying at Azure Academy. I'm thinking of going back to Corporations.

"I see. ...I'll miss you."

Not at all! If I miss you, I can just come visit. Right?

I was genuinely proud to have become friends with her.

By nighttime, the area around the Koito dormitory on the outskirts of District 12 had gone completely quiet. All that remained was the chirping of insects and the faint rustling of the wind.

(I really do love this place.)

The cool air, carrying the faintest hint of damp earth. The goat in the yard stared at me with its hollow eyes. I felt like I'd come home. Come back to where I belonged. The fact that I could feel that way made me happy.

"Good evening, darling♪"

A presence suddenly swelled behind me. I turned around to find the girl darker than the night itself -- the Black Demon Lord. She leaned against my shoulder with a cool smile.

"...Demon Lord? What are you doing here--"

"Hehe. I got something tasty out of this battle too, y'know."

The Demon Lord gathered shadows at her fingertips, manipulating them. The geometric patterns held not just blue but a faint trace of indigo. I recognized that aura. It was -- the power of the Indigo Rabbit.

"'Indigo' is the symbol of cross-dimensional travel. So I've picked up a little trick -- something like teleportation."

"Wow... you've come back even more of a handful."

We were friends, and enemies, and allies, and fiances. It was a vague, floating kind of relationship -- and I didn't really hate it.

"So what brings you here, Demon Lord? Even with teleportation, coming here's gotta be pretty dangerous, right?"

"True. But sneaking into your future husband's place at night is a critical mission. Got a nice new ability, gotta put it to evil use."

"Please absolutely do not do that."

The Black Demon Lord laughed with genuine amusement. How much of it was serious, I couldn't tell. All her emotions were swallowed up by her black, after all. I thought she was sad -- and that sadness was what made her beautiful.

"...On my end, Koito-senpai stole my futon. So I'm kinda stranded right now."

"What. Are you cheating on me?"

"Something like that."

Koito-senpai must have been really frightened. During dinner with everyone in the dorm, when I tried to go take a bath, when I got into bed -- she'd been gripping my sleeve with a vise-like hold the entire time. Even now, my shirt was probably still in her grasp.

"Well, a little cheating's fine, but make sure you stay a virgin until the world ends, okay?"

"Could you maybe chew on what you just said for a minute?"

We both laughed together. The daily life with a demon lord I'd eventually have to fight. It was strange, and comfortable.

"So how does it feel? Being a hero?"

"...Huh? I mean... I dunno. Everyone worked hard for this. I just... happened to be there."

"Hehe, you could afford to be a little prouder."

"No, I... I am proud. Plenty. We really did... something incredible. But..."

I murmured, to no one in particular.

"...I feel like I've forgotten someone's name."

There was a hole in my heart too big to ignore. I felt like I'd lost a deeply important memory. Like I'd failed to take someone's hand. I felt less like a hero and more like a defeated survivor.

(Of course. Because someone put me and Luna-san on that spaceship.)

I had to -- remember, didn't I? That someone.

"Ah. You mean E------- A-------, right?"

"...............Huh?"

The Demon Lord said it like it was nothing. But I couldn't process that name correctly. Like radio static, my brain was actively blocking me from understanding her words.

"W... wait, Demon Lord. What did you say? Who?"

"Hm? I said, the student ------- president of Azure Academy. ---f A---tolia. Yep, I knew it. That girl was practically radiating 'I love darling' energy."

"...Wha... huh...?"

I couldn't digest a single word the Black Demon Lord was saying. Every time I tried to understand, white light shot through my head, and my mind rejected the information. The harder I thought, the more my head pounded until I felt like throwing up.

"Don't force it, darling. She probably sacrificed her own existence to make some incredible miracle happen. Her name shouldn't remain even in the Universal Source Code. Knowledge of her is a massive contradiction in itself. The world rejects her existence."

"Th-then... how come you're... fine...?"

"I belong deeply to the 'black.' I'm a class of being that exists independently of fundamental science, Angel's Law, Color of Space, and all those other rules. No matter how much the world changes, I'm barely affected."

"...Is... that so...?"

"Yep. And you've got some 'black' in you too, darling. The fact that you feel something's off about E--- not being here should tell you that much. Normally, people can't even feel the question."

That made a little sense. Luna-san hadn't even noticed she'd lost someone's memory. And... I'd known for a while that I was somehow close to the Demon Lord.

"I have to... remember. That person's name. Definitely. I absolutely have to remember. Because... I think she was someone incredibly important to me..."

"Hmm. Well, yeah. It seems impossible -- is what I'd like to say, but."

The Black Demon Lord smiled like a beautiful moon.

"-- In a universe that stretches out infinitely, nothing is truly impossible."

I couldn't even imagine the depths of chaos teeming behind those words. But I had absolutely no intention of giving up. No matter how painful the road ahead.

"Tell me. How to do it. Even just a starting point."

"Let's see. A way to recover lost records, huh. Honestly, it's too tough even for me to figure out, but... if it's the Library Mandala people... maybe they'd know?"

"Library Mandala? I've heard the name before."

"They worship the Infinite Library and seek to collect all knowledge. No group knows more about forbidden lore than they do. They have branches across many dimensions, and they favor 'death and chaos.' They affirm the End and love beauty."

Boiled down to simple terms, the Apocalypse Stagnation Committee stood on the side of justice and order. But the Library Mandala stood on the side of evil and chaos. And that was precisely why they possessed certain knowledge.

"The reason you can't remember E---'s name, darling, is that the world would be inconvenienced if you did. To maintain the world's order -- Homeostasis, essentially. Going against that is going to be a painful road. Very."

"...I see. Thanks."

Reclaim 'that person's' name. Find the way to do it.

Remembering her name -- would surely mean fighting the world itself.

(Even so.)

Even so, there was a fire burning in my chest. My heart was screaming: get her back, no matter what.

I remembered something -- the Old Man used to say this all the time.

(Even if you lose everything -- something precious remains at the bottom of your pocket.)

I still had something left. A feeling. A resolve. The will to fight.

"Ugh. Boring."

"Huh? What is?"

"Nothing. Just a little... jealous."

The Black Demon Lord gave me a light punch on the shoulder. I smiled a little, and together, we gazed at the moon.

And so, the world kept turning, even today.

It was anything but ordinary. It was nothing more than a cluster of miracles. And yet, those miracles were everywhere you looked.

One story ended, and another began.

(Wait for me. No matter how long it takes, I will--)

-- I will absolutely come to bring you home.