Volume 6, Ending X-01: A Bouquet for Your Enemy at the Hilltop Grave
“Are you sure you want that?”
“I am not as strong a person as Elvast thinks.”
(Ending X-01 Open 07/09 10:00)
A Bouquet for Your Enemy at the Hilltop Grave
The hellish battle was over.
July 7’s Tanabata was over, so the astronomical observation fair had ended and Toy Dream 35 had been freed from the strict lux restriction. Bright lights would color the night once more, but due to the massive fireworks disaster in C Block, the fireworks festival everyone had been looking forward to had been canceled.
“Honestly, I apparently sent him from this world with my own hand, but it doesn’t feel real when someone has to tell me about it afterwards. It’s like the nightmare hasn’t left my heart.”
Modified China Dress Beauty Lu Niang Lan sounded troubled.
She and Kyousuke were outside the city. They had selected an arbitrary hill, buried Elvast Toydream’s body there, and erected a perfunctory gravestone on top. There was no name carved into it and anyone who happened across it probably would not know what it was. He had been the king of Government, the world police. He had reached Award 1000 and been praised as inhuman, but this was always how a summoner met their end. The authorities had not been notified of his death and they did not have permission to bury him, making this abandonment of a corpse, but no one would accuse them of wrongdoing. Memories of summoners and vessels vanished from people’s minds once they were out of sight.
Kyousuke spoke as a long, skinny contrail cut by in the blue sky overhead.
“I’ll be ending the contract soon, but what will you do?”
That meant she would at least temporarily return to Award 0.
The unorthodox Awards she had built up without a summoner would be erased in the process of binding and canceling a contract with Alice (with) Rabbit.
But as expected, Lu Niang Lan sounded troubled.
“I doubt I can cut my ties to Illegal now, so even if I’m a little suspicious of you, please grab my hand. If you give me a chance to reach Award 1 or 2 on my own, my memories and awareness will return to normal.”
“Are you sure you want that?”
“I am not as strong a person as Elvast thinks.” The modified China dress beauty sighed and scratched her cheek. “I’m afraid of having the three major powers attack me while I’ve lost my memories. I’m afraid of losing my usual cycle of earning money. I'm afraid of breaking the bond with you and that swimsuit shut-in. I just can’t free myself from the draw of the Summoning Ceremony and the White Queen. I’m even afraid of severing the bonds I’ve made with other people.”
At that point, a rustling sound came from Kyousuke’s hands.
Lu Niang Lan sounded exasperated.
“Did you really bring a bouquet for him?”
“Lu-san. I might be wrong about this, and you can get as mad as you want if I am.”
“What is it?”
With the modified China dress beauty’s permission, Kyousuke opened his mouth again.
“That troubled look on your face. Is that the look you get when you’re holding back tears?”
Nothing more was necessary.
The usually transcendently sexy young woman wept like a child in the summoner’s chest.
This was a secret just between the two of them.
And as Shiroyama Kyousuke held her in his arms, he silently ended the contract.
Facts:
*When someone who already has Awards binds a contract with a summoner and becomes a vessel, their previous Awards vanish and are overwritten by the summoner’s Awards. If the contract is ended, their Awards will reset to zero, so this process can be thought of as purifying the vessel of their Awards. However, the reverse (the vessel’s Awards overwriting the summoner’s) is not possible, so there is no way for a summoner’s awards to be purified, returning them to a normal person.
*Lu Niang Lan returned to 0 when the contract ended, but she hoped to quickly acquire a simple Award to return to Illegal. This suggests she is going against Elvast’s wishes by creating her own bonds.
*Kyousuke did not need to end his contract with Lu Niang Lan since she was already a professional, but he did so anyway. Not wanting to keep her for himself may be the difference between him and Elvast.
*Elvast Toydream died. That is an obvious fact, but let us record it here.