Story Reader / Floating Record / ER09: Crescent Sun / Story
...
Walking through the frigid waters, surrounded by an endless sea...
In the distance, where the sky meets the sea, twinkling stars dot the horizon.
At the center of the sea lies what appears to be a luminous mark, radiating an endless halo of light.
I walk toward it, each step closer bringing more pain. My heart grows heavier with every moment...
Sorrow silently corrodes my will...
The girl, enshrouded in a faint glow, appears almost transparent, casting no shadow.
Upon touching her, I feel a bone-chilling cold and, beneath layers of despair, the faintest glimmer of hope.
Her presence isn't unfamiliar at all—on the contrary, it feels deeply familiar.
Is it you... Yuka?
Why is this so painful? What exactly happened?
The moment I ask these questions, the dream shatters instantly.
Good morning. I see you're awake.
Where am I? I should be at the track team's celebration party...
Wait, what exactly happened in the activity room last night?!
Please calm down. You've just recovered from a severe concussion. It's natural to feel disoriented.
Severe concussion? What are you talking about?
Well, you see, during the celebration party in the activity room last night...
The ceiling suddenly collapsed for some reason and knocked all of you out, so...
That's ridiculous! I clearly remember someone speaking to us through the broadcast system!
Those were hallucinations from your brain injury...
This happens sometimes. Physical trauma can cause temporary memory confusion.
Yata sits up in the hospital bed and tears off the suspiciously pristine bandage wrapped around her head.
She grabs the nurse's sleeve, gritting her teeth as she fixes them with an intense stare.
Do you even believe that nonsense you just spouted?!
I-I'm sorry, but that's what I heard from someone else...
To be honest... with you acting like this, I really don't know what to do...
I only started my internship at this hospital last week. If the attending physician finds out about this...
Sigh... Forget it.
Yata leaps off the bed and charges past the nurses trying to stop her, bursting out of the ward.
Her slippers slap against the floor as she strides forward in her hospital gown.
An inexplicable urge in her heart drives Yata toward somewhere within the hospital.
After walking for what feels like forever, she slows down in a corner.
To her left stands a partially open door to a ward, isolated from any other rooms nearby.
Like something that materialized out of nowhere, an object that feels completely out of place in its surroundings.
Yata gently pushes the door open to find a frail girl lying on the solitary bed. Yata knows her.
Hearing the movement, the girl struggles to pull herself up into a sitting position.
Yuka?
Yata? So you're here, too...
Why are you back in the hospital? Weren't you doing fine just a few days ago?
I'm sorry.
Why are you apologizing? It's not like you're the one who made me sick.
No, Yata... This might sound strange, but you weren't supposed to find me here.
I don't have much time left, and I probably won't be going back to school anymore... That's why I wanted to say a proper goodbye.
I might have pulled a few tricks... I hope you can forgive me for being selfish.
What are you talking about, Yuka? Weren't you getting better?
You were just talking about becoming an apprentice at the flower shop! Why are you being so pessimistic now?
I don't need those things anymore...
I heard that in spiritual Eden, there are gardens more beautiful than anything in the real world.
Spiritual Eden? What is that... Do you even know what's coming out of your mouth?
When I've filled that place with hydrangeas, Yata, that's when you should come pay me a visit.
Yuka turns to her side and takes a folded paper fox from the bedside table, placing it in Yata's hands.
Paper foxes?
I don't have anything worth giving you, but please accept this as a parting gift. I folded it while I was still lucid.
When you see these little ones again someday, please don't forget our promise.
As Yata takes the paper foxes and is about to say something, there's a knock at the door behind her.
The person who knocked enters directly, wearing a doctor's white coat. He has clearly overheard their conversation.
The doctor shows no surprise at Yata's presence, only staring back with cold indifference.
I'm afraid you'll have to leave. The patient needs to rest now.
Please come back another time, if you would.
Yata rises from her seat in protest, but Yuka holds her hand and nods to the doctor.
Come visit me again another time, Yata.
I'll come back tomorrow. I promise I will.
Goodbye, Yata. Head back to school now.
Yata leaves with lingering doubts. As she reaches the corridor, something suddenly crosses her mind.
The doctor's cold voice sounds familiar to her, but she can't quite place where she's heard it before.
Time freezes like a paused film, and everything around comes to a sudden halt.
The dusk light silently streams through the window onto the floor, while birds outside hang motionless in mid-air.
The surroundings take on an unreal quality, as if they've become part of a photorealistic painting.
In this frozen moment, footsteps echo from behind Yata.
If only she had recognized the doctor's voice back then... If only she had realized it was Yuka's cry for help...
At the very least, she wouldn't have had to watch Yuka head down that dark path alone.
In the end, I did nothing. I couldn't change anything at all.
Even you, as you are now, are nothing but a shadow formed from the depths of my regret.
Did something happen to Yuka?
On the day of the Punishing outbreak, she was trapped in the laboratory with no way to escape.
When the rescue team published their list, Yuka's name appeared under the column of the deceased.
Years have passed, and this nightmare has haunted me relentlessly—until I came back to this place.
Only when I saw her through these memories and hallucinations did I finally understand...
That Yuka's tragedy didn't end with her death—it began with it.
Yuka's tragedy began with her death?
Decades have passed, and she made her appearance again at the abandoned Misono High ever so quietly.
I can only believe that the real Yuka died, and whoever she is now... is something else entirely.
And yet, she definitely has Yuka's memories, and...
I can't bring myself to see her as an enemy. I just can't think of her as someone I have to fight.
Has Yuka become your enemy?
She's taken control of the entire island, commandeered Babylonia's strike team, and kidnapped my squadmates.
If that doesn't make her an enemy, then what exactly is she trying to do?
Perhaps she just wanted to see you one last time. After all, you were Yuka's only friend.
Wanted to see me one last time?
She has always been easily influenced by people, and she's going through puberty, right?
Puberty?
Yes, even after all these years, if her mind hasn't changed...
Then she's really no different from any other teenage girl...
Her brain hasn't fully developed yet, while her personality is still sensitive, and she has many unrealistic ideas about the world.
Like a child who never grows up, her soul remains trapped within this school.
Trapped in the school...
But the same can be said about you, no? I mean, if you're still living with regret now...
Your "heart" is just as trapped in this place.
What am I supposed to do? Everything is the way it is now because I couldn't save her back then.
Then why not try to save her again?
Save her again?
If she can't find her way out of this on her own, then as her best friend, Yata...
You should be the one to help her. It could be that she probably just can't figure her way out on her own...
I came to see you hoping you could stop her...
Because you're the only person she finds trustworthy, Yata, besides her Dr. Saotome.
But what if I fail again?
Are you going to let the fear of failure stop you from trying?
...
Back when you competed in track and field, did you ever hold back just because you were afraid of not winning first place?
You'll never give a race your all if you're afraid of losing.
Have you forgotten your own words?
Once you get in the zone, you gradually tune out everyone around you and focus solely on your own pace.
But I run to surpass myself, not to defeat others...
Your only enemy has always been yourself. All these years, you've never been able to overcome your inner demons.
You run away and refuse to take responsibility because you can't face who you were yesterday.
Don't think, just act. The effort is what counts.
Even if you're bound to fail, you'll need to face the music with honesty.
You only see your failure to save Yuka, but have you forgotten what you did that day?
Were you really doing nothing? Just waiting for death to come?
Back then, I...
You fought, didn't you?
Didn't you fight with everything you had?
You might not have been as strong as you'd hoped to be, but you're no longer the Yata you were back then.
I'm no longer the Yata of yesterday. I stand here as a stronger version of myself...
Now it's your turn to save her. Please!
I see. Thanks.
After all these years, this rematch... I'm not losing again this time!
Yata's hallucination fades away as she emerges from her meditation...
Reality pulls her back to the battlefield—the derelict school building still shrouded in night.
In the narrow corridor, three Corrupted loom right before her eyes.
In less than half a second, their weapons will tear right through Yata's flesh...
Nope, not gonna let that happen!
Yata steps back half a pace, dodging the incoming blades. In that split second as they graze past her...
She uses the frontmost Corrupted as a pivot point to leap into the air, breaking free from their encirclement.
Think I'm a pushover, huh...
With a sideway flip, Yata channels the momentum into a kick that shatters the Corrupted's blade.
Landing, crouching, lowering her center of gravity, she charges at full speed—until her blade cleaves the enemy in half...
Then comes a powerful beam, charged and unleashed...
The brilliant beam floods the dim corridor with daylight...
Scorched scrap metal and dismembered parts litter the ground around Yata.
Stepping over the deactivated Corrupted, Yata finds Shiva unconscious at the end of the corridor.
She kneels down and gently shakes Shiva.
Shiva, Shiva!
Silence.
Not a single wound marks her body, her eyes tightly shut...
Only the third "eye" on her forehead still emits a faint green light, telling Yata that she's still alive.
Damn it, this is not working... Did Yuka do this?
Shiva's kidnapper probably had absolute confidence when they left her in the corridor—an absolute certainty that those under her control wouldn't easily awaken.
Come to think of it, the Corrupted here are growing more restless, and the interference signals are getting stronger... Yuka... have you chosen the Red Tide?
Bzz—
Aargh!
Another wave of intense pain surges through her M.I.N.D., and Yata clutches her head in agony.
Yata, a six-armed freak... What's going on here? Is there not a single normal person in Scarab?
Hey, are you calling yourself normal when you have three eyes?!
They're for battlefield analysis and signal detection, and observation of...
All right, all right. There's a lot of uses for my six arms as well—
Weren't you bragging about being the best at escaping? How'd you end up surrounded?
The Corrupted are swarming in, and none of us managed to escape with no one covering our retreat...
Eight o'clock, high ground. Prepare to break through.
You idiot, why did you come back?
Shorthalt is going to give me a real piece of his mind if you don't make it back.
Not a single normal person in Scarab... but you all give off some nice frequencies.
Yata... even if Shorthalt were still here, this mission to investigate the source of the Red Tide anomaly wouldn't be any easier.
...Something's off with the frequencies in my body...
I have a...
Shut it!
Shut up, shut up, shut up!
You phony mystic, quit talking in your sleep!
SCREEEEE—
Get away from me!
Yata snaps awake and sends an approaching Corrupted flying with a punch, but more and more Hetero-Creatures emerge from the shadows of the corridor.
Shorthalt's the type who'd keep nagging at me even as a ghost—
So, Shiva, even if he's gone now, I'm still taking you back with me!
She bends down to scoop up Shiva as the mechanical arms on her back fan out dramatically.
What are you waiting for? Come at me all at once, inferior beings.
As the Hetero-Creatures surge forward en masse, a faint smile plays across Yata's lips.
That's what I'm takling about...
But let's just keep this in mind...
This is my school, not your playground to run wild in!
A deafening explosion rings out, accompanied by the crisp sound of shattering glass...
Several Hetero-Creatures come hurtling down from the school building.
In an instant, violent gunfire tears through the second floor, echoing from the stairwell corner to the end of the hallway.
Gotta establish contact with Babylonia now!
Sprinting full-tilt, Yata makes her way to the school building's rooftop.
Yata quickly sets up the communication anchor and picks Shiva up again to leave.
If everything works properly, communications should be restored in five minutes.
But there's no time to linger here. Yuka's projection keeps growing stronger...
If this goes on, no one here is ever going to wake up again.
