It was not as though he felt no reluctance over reading someone’s diary, but even Ace, whose eyes were glued on Ina, was drawn by the sound of the diary.
Even though it was just the pages being flipped by the breeze, the other three people present could practically hear Ina’s voice.
It was filled with Ina’s thoughts.
“…”
They did not actually touch the pages, but they looked at the diary that just happened to be near them.
There was a date on the upper left, that was three years before Ina met Qualia.
‘I am becoming a maid to repay Mister Qualia. The human maids hit me, but it’s better than where I was before. Mister Qualia protected me. I really need to work hard to be of help to him as soon as possible. I’m starting to write a diary to learn how to write. It was Mister Qualia’s first present.’
The page turned a little.
It was like Ina was telling them to look.
‘Maids have to remember a lot of things. The other maids won’t teach me, but Mister Qualia does. I want to learn what to do and say fast. I want Mister Qualia to pat my head more. I want to learn how to use more of the words Mister Qualia used to save me.’
The wind blew again, and the page turned.
‘They won’t let me in the bath. They say beast people are dirty. But I’m not giving up.’
Those words flowed subliminally for a moment, and the pages stopped after advancing a little.
‘Mister Qualia lets me bathe in secret when it’s his turn. He saw me naked when the towel fell off. It was embarrassing. He got a good look at this dirty body. My heart won’t stop racing. But when he looked at me and closed his eyes with embarrassment, I was happy. Why? I don’t know.’
‘But I ended up making Mister Qualia apologize a lot. Apparently he was worried, because I couldn’t pull myself together due to embarrassment. I’m still feeling warm from when he said he didn’t want to hurt a girl like me. Maybe I stayed in the bath too long.’
‘But the fact that he saw me naked really was embarrassing. Thinking back, I didn’t even want my brother to see me. I need to reconsider how I take a bath.’
The pages flipped again.
It was getting closer to the present. The date showed it was that year.
‘The home instructor that taught Mister Qualia swordsmanship, magic, and general studying didn’t show up. Apparently Mister Wannacry turned his back on him. The maids and butlers are even colder towards him too.’
The ink was blurry, and there were traces of drops of another liquid.
And furthermore, the way the words were carved deeply into the paper showed she was writing with a lot of pressure. But it eased up a little in the next page.
‘Today, Mister Qualia took me to his mother’s grave. Apparently she passed away when he was five, and she was attacked by monsters. It’s only when he talks about her that he has a nice smile on his face. I’m sure he loved her.’
‘I’ve never visited a grave before, so Mister Qualia taught me how to offer a prayer. He told me that the words you say while offering flowers are important. I think what was in my head was that I’m thankful for her son, who has given me so much. Did it reach her?’
‘Mister Qualia promised to make a grave for my brother too one day. I was happy to hear that.’
‘Why are the Sandbox people so bad to someone so kind? Mister Qualia is no failure. It would be great if the world was filled with people like him. I’ll always support him.’
One page turned, and there was another blur caused by a tear. It was on the words ‘big brother’.
‘I wish my big brother could’ve met Mister Qualia.’
‘I’m sure they would’ve been good friends.’
‘I wish I could’ve seen them walking side by side.’
She really was picturing Qualia and Liebe speaking as good friends, even though she knew that future would never happen.
But as she approached present day, the letters became weaker.
They were turning sad.
‘Mister Qualia has been acting strange. It’s because of Mister Arrows. His bullying has been terrible lately, but if I try to intervene, it just gets worse. There’s more and more gauze on Mister Qualia, but he always smiles and says it’s all right.
But I don’t get that feeling. I’m worried about him. What should I do? How can I support him? What would my brother do?’
The next page that was opened was from two weeks before.
It was blurred with pain.
‘Mister Qualia isn’t here. He’s not waking up. Mister Qualia isn’t here. I can’t breathe. It’s painful. No no no. But I believe. Mister Qualia will wake up. I’ll wait. It’s all right. I’ll wait. Mister Qualia will wake up. He will wake up eventually. If I don’t believe, who will?’
Qualia and Spirito understood. That was the day Qualia committed suicide.
‘If Mister Qualia doesn’t wake up, I can’t live. I went crazy when I lost my brother. When I’m alone, I go crazy.’
‘Why does everyone important to me go?’
‘I don’t want to be alone.’
‘Mister Qualia, wake up.’
The wind blew again, and the pages turned.
But Qualia was not looking at the diary anymore.
He punched his reflection in the window with curtains rolled up, with his right hand.
“Qualia!?”
The sounds of the blow and shattering glass echoed. Spirito and Ace both said something, but Qualia did not respond. His back just trembled.
He looked at himself in that reflection cracked like a spiderweb.
“Qualia, you are wrong.”
He looked on with indignation, as his normally robotic voice shook terribly.
“You are supposed to tell Ina ‘do your best’… You are supposed to be here, not me… Ina was watching you all that time. You are wrong. You should not have ceased your vital activities.”
But what he was looking at was clearly himself.
It was Qualia who the glass reflected. Him. With his right hand still on the glass, Qualia dropped his shoulders and looked down.
“If Qualia always stayed by Ina, the loss registered here wouldn’t have occurred… If Qualia was with Ina then…”
It was not just the Qualia from before an artificial intelligence was installed that he was angry at. The same went for the artificial intelligence that suffered more from regret than from the bloody hand that was wounded from the cracking glass.
He could not forgive himself for not protecting the girl that wrote this beautiful, loving, ‘tasty’ diary.
“…Analyzing situation.”
Qualia began to calculate. His thoughts started running, as if pushed by regret.
What could he do? Could he do anything for Ina?
He remembered the diary. There was a hint in it.
“Analyzing situation. Someone else should be here.”
There was one word that was written in it almost as much as ‘Qualia’. Brother.
“Liebe should be telling Ina ‘do your best’. Qualia will track Liebe for…”
■ ■
One of Zero Division’s members had already infiltrated Lobelia’s mansion.
Said group could use Shukuchi, and they specialized in covert operations. Even if thousands of people kept a watchful eye, they could lead others’ gazes to block their presences, and approach their targets’ throats. That was their bread and butter.
The targets never knew what hit them.
“…I’m the first one here.”
The member of Zero Division could already see Lobelia, who sat in her office facing the information she had gathered, with a serious expression on her face.
“Type GUN.”
As if in a critical state, Qualia’s eyes turned red as he faced nothing but the ceiling.
The beam pierced the ceiling and walls, and the intruder.
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