[103] Vajrayana (3)
Amira, at the front, urged the students on.
"The school must disclose every detail of this incident. Only by prosecuting Principal Alpheas can the future of the magic school be secured!"
"That's right! Alpheas must resign! Hold Shirone's funeral!"
Their shouts carried past the infirmary window and reached Amy and the others. At that moment the door flew open and Seriel rushed in.
"Amy, this is bad!"
"What happened? Why are they acting like that all of a sudden?"
It was natural for Amy to be flustered. She'd thought the student council meeting was wrapping up, but crowds had suddenly gathered, demanding Shirone's funeral.
"The seniors are plotting to accuse the principal. I thought we could at least keep Shirone safe, but that bastard Fermi stirred things up…"
Even without seeing it, Amy could picture the situation. Fermi was more than capable of that. It seemed the student council had decided to push for the principal's resignation. You couldn't exactly blame them; if the head of the school had moral faults, exposing them might be best for the future.
But it was extreme. That was what annoyed Amy about Fermi. The faculty's lukewarm response had provoked student anger, but Fermi was the match that set it aflame.
"Such a bastard. He owes his life to Shirone, too."
"What do we do now, Amy?"
Amy bit her nails as she spoke.
"What else can we do but hold on?"
Alpheas had persuaded the teachers to keep watching over Shirone for the time being. The fact that the man most responsible for the incident had managed to convince the faculty felt almost miraculous.
Nade, scanning outside the window, turned to Iruki and snapped at him.
"Happy now? Look—there are heaps of students thinking the same as you. Aren't you supposed to be with them?"
"If you want me to, shall I?"
Iruki didn't back down and shot back. The two of them were still awkward after their fight that day.
Seriel frowned.
"Cut it out. Fighting among ourselves won't help. Now's the time to join forces."
"Tch! Do you really think Iruki will cooperate? He looks like he has no blood or tears."
"Stop it. And Iruki, control yourself. The situation's gotten serious. Public opinion can change with a single word, so stay here for now."
"I wasn't planning on leaving anyway."
Iruki buried his face in the table and fell into thought. It had already been five days since Shirone died. It was taking far longer than he'd expected.
If the student council moved, the faculty wouldn't hold out long. Maybe forty-eight hours or so…
The infirmary chilled rapidly. Everyone was frayed by the incident and on edge.
Amy stroked Shirone's forehead. Logically, he had to be dead. Yet here she was, clinging to hope. Was that sane?
"Please, please come back, Shirone…"
Amy couldn't be certain Shirone would return alive. Five days after his heart had stopped, certainty was already out of reach. From now on it was a matter of faith.
* * *
The woman watched the red light emanating from Shirone's body with care. If it released high-energy vibrations that set particles trembling, it could obliterate anything.
"Shirone, don't do this. That magic is far too destructive. It doesn't suit you."
"I don't want to fight either. But you plan to bind me here. I can't let that happen. I have to go back."
"Do you think you can beat me?"
Shirone shook his head. He was honest. Even among beings of the same plane, she possessed power enough to call herself a god. At the very least, she seemed far beyond the arcane rank.
Who was this woman? And where was this place?
He stopped thinking. This was certainly not where he belonged.
"Teach me how to return to my original world."
"Even if I teach you, it won't be possible. That act will drive you to death again."
"Even so, I must try."
The woman did not fear Shirone's magic. But the laser's destructive force was no trivial thing. Whatever else happened, she would prevent this world's destruction.
"All right. I'll do as you wish. But promise me this: if you fail to return to your original world and come back here, you will submit to my will."
"How do I get back?"
"I won't concede more. Will you still do it?"
Whatever grim obstacle she hinted at, Shirone's resolve did not change.
"All right. But I will never give up."
"Your life is yours. Use it as you see fit."
The woman formed a glass sphere before Shirone. A pitch-black darkness rotated inside it.
"Shirone. To return to your original world, you must reverse the process that brought you here."
"I understand."
"It's not simple. It's the process of returning from a pure mind to a human. Humans are a bundle of all sorts of unpleasant elements. If you can't accept that, you'll be corrupted into something neither human nor anything else."
She seemed certain he would fail.
"The darkness you see is a spot that pierces space-time. Commonly, it's called a black hole. You can return to your original world through this."
As the glass orb dissolved, a massive darkness formed before Shirone.
"What do I need to do?"
"Simple. Go in. It's a spot connected to your body."
"Thank you. I won't forget this favor."
Shirone meant it. He'd been hijacked, but without her he wouldn't even have a chance to return.
"Don't thank me yet. I don't expect you to succeed. If you want to give up, just walk back here."
Would that ever happen? If he died once, he thought, he'd be dead rather than return—but the unknown could not be ruled out.
"All right. I'll go."
The woman narrowed her eyes lazily. "Have a good journey."
Shirone took his first step into the sphere. The sensation was the same as when he first entered the spot. As expected, he couldn't find an exit. No matter how he walked, nothing changed.
When he glanced back, he was startled. The woman still watched him with sleep-narrowed eyes. Time was not passing. He was trapped on the horizon of thought—the kind of horizon that forms only under extreme gravity.
"I can't get out. Escaping this place is absolutely impossible."
At last Shirone understood her words. In a place where even time was held fast, there was nothing he could do.
Clever and quick to face reality, he turned with a miserable feeling. He could go back to her. Better to live among people than be locked forever in the dark.
Wait—perhaps…
He stopped. On the thought-horizon, time was forever arrested. But he had the ability to generate time: photonization magic.
There were four speed tiers for photon mages: near-light, sub-light, light, and superluminal. By his calculations, crossing the horizon required superluminal speed—faster than light.
"Superluminal… is it even possible?"
His current level was at best near-light. Adding divine particles might push him to sub-light, but it would still fall far short of superluminal.
"Think."
With a method in sight, time ceased to be the main problem. After long deliberation his eyes changed. He could do it. Without a body, perhaps he could generate superluminal speed.
"Immortal Function."
Traveling the vastness of space at light speed wasn't feasible. But infinite expansion could be instantaneous. Perhaps the Immortal Function was the key to reaching superluminal velocity.
Returning came first. Shirone took a deep breath, cast the photonization spell, and simultaneously opened the Immortal Function.
The effect was immediate. The trembling acceleration through near-light, sub-light, and light speed pressed so strongly it threatened to collapse the Spirit Zone.
"Uuuugh…!"
Still, he did not reach superluminal. Unless one could grasp what it meant to be faster than time, casting magic through ordinary cognition was impossible. The remaining option was full activation of the Immortal Function. It might dissolve him into unknown nonexistence, but without hesitation he expanded his consciousness to encompass everything.
Shirone's form burst and broke down into microparticles. At last something faster than light crossed the horizon of thought and began racing toward the light.
"Done!"
He still retained consciousness. Even with the Immortal Function fully open, no particle scattered inside the black hole. Far off he could see an exit. His body waited there.
"Going! Finally going!"
Then his speed suddenly dropped. Meaningless particles clung to his. Through combination, those particles generated meaning and acted like voices that muddled Shirone's mind.
-Feed. Feed. Feed. Feed. Feed. Feed. Feed. Feed.
-Reproduce. Reproduce. Reproduce. Reproduce. Reproduce. Reproduce. Reproduce. Reproduce.
As the burden grew, the exit seemed to recede. The particles intertwined and simple meanings evolved into higher-dimensional meanings.
-Ah, it's birth. The lowest existence.
-I don't want to die. Mortal life.
Shirone realized this was the process the woman had described: becoming human. A being hurled into the world with desire and fear entwined.
Maybe every human had once heard these voices in their mother's womb.
"I won't lose! I will definitely go back!"
-Where to? There is nowhere to welcome you.
"To my world! To where my friends wait!"
-They will kill you. They will obstruct your feeding and reproduction. What awaits you is the clash of desires, painful struggle, and the inevitable journey to death.
"Aaah! I can't hear anything! Nothing can stop me!"
Shirone screamed desperately, but as the bonding progressed the drifting voices grew louder.
A human was ultimately a composition of countless voices. Like a solo swallowed by a chorus, Shirone eventually lost his own voice.
-Feed. Feed. Feed. Feed. Feed. Feed. Feed. Feed.
-Reproduce. Reproduce. Reproduce. Reproduce. Reproduce. Reproduce. Reproduce. Reproduce.
* * *
Seventh day since Shirone's death.
The student council still held its sit-in. More precisely, the radicals following Amira remained.
Against them, conservative students blocked the entrance and prevented entry. The moderates split into factions as well, and the number of protesters doubled.
Most of the student body had gathered in front of the building and, protesting day and night, Shirone's friends who guarded him were becoming frayed.
"Carry out Shirone's funeral!"
"Execute it! Execute it!"
"Alpheas, face judgment from the Magic Association!"
"Face it! Face it!"
Seriel covered her ears. With the window closed the noise wasn't that loud, but she couldn't bear it any longer.
"Isn't this too much? Why are they so eager to tear Shirone apart?"
At Seriel's remark, Amy, who had been dozing with her face on the spare bed, lifted her head.
"They probably have their reasons. Some of them must've always disliked Shirone and joined in."
"Is Shirone's being good his fault? They're just narrow-minded."
"That's how humans are. If some accept Shirone, others will naturally reject him."