Silent Talk

by Shūsuke Amagi

  Just when annoyance at the conversation came through......

  (The Locker Room......That's a good place.)

  Nobody would find out if she placed the letter in the Locker Room. In other words, it was enough that nobody knew Felli was the one who put the letter there.

  (Yes.)

  Felli hurried to the training facility. She had decided on the method, but she didn't relax.

  (How annoying.)

  She found herself getting irritated for having to lie and take up this troublesome burden. But it wasn't just that, she also wanted to get rid of the letter from her schoolbag.

  (Why did this thing come to me?)

  She was annoyed because she thought too much of it, too much of the person who sent this letter, of what Meishen was thinking when she picked it up, of whether Meishen had looked at the letter, of the expression Layfon would have when he received the letter......

  And the expression she herself showed after reading the letter......

  (I'll put this letter back quickly!)

  She wanted this impatience gone.

  Felli's hand pushed open the door to the training arena.

  This thing was huge. Too huge.

  "So what is it?" Sharnid asked.

  In the room were Layfon, Harley and Sharnid. It wasn't that Sharnid came on time to train, which was rare for him, but that Nina was late again.

  Felli's lateness was usual though.

  "Well, this is for my research."

  What came with Harley's trolley was a sword.

  A huge sword.

  The sword was removed from a niche on the trolley, and the sword's handle now rested near Layfon's chest. It was as long as Layfon was tall. It was a sword, but just a wooden sword. A few wires were twisted around the blade.

  "Layfon, can you try wielding it?"

  "Oh......"

  Flabbergasted at the huge blade, Layfon took up the handle and lifted the sword with one hand.

  The heavy weight pressed down on his wrist.

  "How does it feel?"

  "A bit heavy, but I can use this......"

  He waited for the two others to retreat to the wall and then swung down the blade.

  The weight of the sword and the centrifugal force of the swing caused him to lose his balance.

  "Um......"

  He took a deep breath again and let internal Kei run through his body.

  This strengthened his flesh, increased the density of his muscles and lightened his body in a way different from the lightness of the air. He swung again.

  A low howl rumbled through the air. Not the same as the usual tearing.

  "Woah!" Harley called as the gale swept past his position.

  Layfon's consciousness had already drifted away from the outside world after Harley's outburst. He tried different moves. An upward strike. Left to right. Sudden stab. The howling of the raging wind dominated his eardrums. A feeling of himself separating from the sword rose in him. He felt his body swaying thanks to the centrifugal force. He immediately knew he had to handle this weapon differently, but it wasn't possible to use that move in this narrow space.

  "Hu......"

  Layfon stopped moving and breathed out the remaining Kei and heat inside him.

  "......Are you satisfied?"

  Layfon almost swallowed back his breath at that icy voice.

  Felli stood at the door. Her elegant brow furrowed. Her cold gaze pierced him.

  "......Thank you for all your hard work."

  "Yeah! It was hard!"

  The silver hair that seemed to melt at a touch was tangled up like a typhoon.

  "This long hair......"

  "Ah, yes?"

  At the edge of his vision, Layfon saw Sharnid and Harley running as far away as they could from the door, as if this had nothing to do with them.

  Sharnid was bold enough to whistle deliberately.

  No, forget Sharnid, even Harley ran away. Just what was going on......

  "......Were you listening?"

  "Sure."

  "Really? This hair......It's hard work to comb it everyday. Yes, very, very hard......"

  "Uh......Is that so......That must be tiring."

  "Yes, very tiring."

  "Ha! Hahaha......" All he could do was laugh dryly. What else should he say? Nothing.

  No, there was something.

  "......I'm sorry."

  "I don't accept your apology."

  No hesitation at all.

  "Aaaah, isn't this fine? Look, Layfon regrets what he did."

  "......No matter how I look at it, you were the one who brought this thing in, weren't you?"

  "......Sorry," Harley lowered his head, shot down in an instant.

  Felli sighed. "Never mind, there's something more important. I met the captain on the way here. She said she got permission to use the battle arena, so we'll be training over there today."

  "Wow, that's sudden."

  "I don't get it either."

  Without changing her foul mood, she disappeared to the other side of the door.

  Released from the tense atmosphere, Layfon and Harley sighed at the same time.

  (Oh...the battle arena.)

  "Senpai......"

  "Yes."

  Layfon spoke softly to him.

  "Oh, so you do have to do that? Right, I'll ask."

  "Thanks."

  "What're you two talking about?"

  "Just talking about the sword."

  "Oh......"

  Sharnid looked at the huge sword without much of an interest as it was placed back on the trolley.

  "But......Why did you have to make this sword so ridiculously big?"

  "Ah......It's the issue with the density of the foundation. No matter how it's calculated, the size comes out the same. Once this is completed, it should be lighter."

  "Oh, so you're making a new type of Dite? If I remember correctly, inventing isn't your specialty, is it Harley?"

  "Yeah, my roommate came up with this idea. Well, I'm better at organizing information and adjusting settings, but my roommate isn't the only one inventing. Our budget was only approved on the condition that we work on this project with three people."

  "Right......Sounds annoying."

  "That's mean."

  "I'm not saying you're stupid. I just don't know much about this kind of thing," Sharnid waved and left the room. Layfon and Harley caught up with him and together, they headed for the battle arena.

  Training ended without incident. Layfon thought the cooperation of the team as a whole was better than when he first joined. He could feel Sharnid's eyes when he was providing support from the rear, and Felli's speed at conveying intelligence, though not as fast as the time when the filth monsters attacked Zuellni, it wasn't as slow as before either.

  They had three rounds of mock training against the drones. They won all three matches, and there was nothing they could comment on about their timing. Even so, Nina's distant expression remained.

  "Well, we'll stop here for today."

  "Uh, thanks for the hard work, everyone."

  "Thanks for the hard work."

  The review session in the Locker Room ended sloppily under Nina's announcement. As usual, Sharnid headed instantly for the bathroom, and Felli, who hadn't even sweat a single drop, took up her bag and left the room.

  As usual, Layfon prepared to return to the training complex to train with Nina.

  This was because the team needed its two primary attackers to work closely. If they couldn't develop a chemistry between them and coordinate intuitively, then everything was just talk......

  "Layfon."

  "Yes?"

  "You can go back today."

  "Huh?"

  "We'll stop training together for a while."

  "Why?"

  "Because there's no need to."

  He was dumbstruck at how easy she gave voice to that thought.

  It was easy for him to say "Definitely not." In truth, they did coordi
nate in the mock training just then, but that was because their movements matched. He wouldn't call that the perfect intuitive coordination.

  He thought Nina wanted him to coordinate well with her, so their current situation wasn't too good.

  But she said "There's no need to."

  What was going on?

  "Anyway, we'll stop training. You can go back," she said and turned from him.

  He felt like he was just rejected.

  "Nina......" Harley said.

  Harley had easily entered the area of rejection that Layfon, wondering whether he should step in, failed to enter. This was the free relationship of childhood friends, a relationship not bound by anything.

  This feeling was different from the distant feeling he had, of standing on the other side of the glass. He was dumbfounded at her refusal to train with him.

  "I'm going then," Layfon said. Aghast at himself for saying this without resistance, he left the Locker Room.

  The closing of the door seemed to seal off their relationship. The simple tone of the voice cut through her chest.

  Nina shook her head to disperse that pain.

  "What am I doing?"

  She knew.

  She knew, but what was she doing? Asking herself this question?

  "Don't be confused."

  As always, when she failed to find the exit to the maze of her thoughts, she stopped thinking.

  Even if one could speculate about the future, predicting it wasn't possible. The only predictable thing was death, but no one knew when they'd die.

  (My future's at a state where even speculating over it makes it sound strange.)

  So she could only do what she thought was right.

  "Should I return to the training complex?"

  She had been clear in her refusal to train. Layfon probably wasn't in the training complex now.

  ......If he was there, she had to move somewhere else.

  "......Hm?"

  Something had fallen beside the chair.

  (Success.)

  Felli had placed the letter beneath Layfon's bag. This way, Layfon might think he had misplaced it in his bag and hadn't realized it.

  She had resealed the letter, albeit a bit clumsily. Layfon might not discover the letter had been opened though, since he really was slow. Her heart snickered, but her expression remained cold as usual. She raised her fist a bit to compliment herself, then left the battle arena with sprightly steps.

  Night came. The sky turned dark.

  Layfon stepped into the battle arena again.

  In the darkness of the night, the bugs sheltered in the bushes called, their sound sending ripples through the air.

  In Layfon's hand was the sword Harley had brought over. Holding the wooden handle of the clumsy and huge sword that had iron wires wrapped around it, Layfon waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.

  "Fu!" He let out a breath, waited for Internal Kei to flow through his body, then began his movements.

  First he repeated the basic moves he had used in the training complex. Strong wind blasted the war field, the sword's weight unbalancing Layfon's center of gravity. He adjusted his center of gravity as he swung the sword.

  Instead of using force to control the swaying of his body caused by the sword, he adjusted his movements to follow the direction of the sword's weight.

  And used that power.

  After some time, Layfon was no longer staying at one place. He was moving constantly in the confines of the arena, following the direction that the weight led him.

  And not long after, he was controlling that direction.

  Moving without a pattern, he propelled himself forward in the arena. His movements were different from before. Very different from the basic moves of handling a sword.

  He leaped from the ground as he swung. Spinning in the air, he used the weight of the sword to shoot out his Kei. The force generated by the attack that pulled him forward was then turned into the force of his next attack.

  His repeated this process numerous times, his feet not even touching the ground.

  "......"

  The sword penetrated the ground, and Layfon stopped moving. As numerous soil particles rained down on him, Internal Kei gathered in his feet.

  Internal-type Kei – Whirl Kei.

  And he leaped upward, pulling the sword out from the ground and swinging it.

  Touching the ground, he leaped up again to swing the sword. It was much harder to control the weight of the sword in midair than on solid earth. Layfon continued to practice, trying to find a way to control the blade.

  At last, he stopped his leaping movements and breathed out slowly to disperse his Kei.

  Light flooded the arena.

  "I no longer know......how to describe it," Harley said in a low voice as he approached with Felli and Karian.

  "How's it doing?"

  Harley jotted down notes on a notepad as Layfon told him his thoughts.

  "How're you doing with the invention?" Karian asked when Harley finished writing down everything.

  The alchemy student replied, his face dimming. "No problem at all. The basic theory was completed at the time Layfon started here. The only issue left is whether the thing would work after it's manufactured. Yeah, just a few adjustments would do. There aren't many people who can use this, so I never thought I'd have a chance to make it."

  The fact that filth monsters were near Zuellni was top secret, but it wouldn't make sense to hide that from the alchemists, so Karian had divulged it to Harley and his camp of inventors.

  But not everyone in the 17th platoon knew – not Nina and Sharnid. Layfon had also asked Harley to keep it a secret from them.

  "We can only give up if that's the fate of the city."

  "......True, but I don't want that kind of fate," Harley sighed, clearing the cloudy look on his face.

  "Is it really all right for the guy who came up with the basic theory to miss this?" Karian said.

  "He's a weirdo. He's got incredible skill and wrists as a sword maker, but he himself is pretty annoying."

  "That's the sign of an artist."

  "Really? I think weirdo is enough to describe him."

  "Hahaha."

  "You'll feel the same if you meet him."

  Karian left them to lock up the battle arena. At the exit, Harley also left for the alchemy lab, saying the weirdo might still be there.

  Layfon and Felli stayed to wait for Karian.

  The streetlights dimly chased away the darkness of the empty road leading to the war field.

  "You're accommodating," Felli said.

  "I can't let others do this, right?" Layfon smiled bitterly.

  Felli lifted her face. "Perhaps......I can't help but feel that you've given up."

  "Given up?"

  "Your purpose for coming here."

  "......"

  "Don't you want to live a normal life?"

  "I'm not giving it up."

  "Then why did you agree to this?"

  Layfon moved his gaze away.

  "Well......I can't do anything about it. A man's instinct is strong."

  "Yes, but the problem won't end just by getting rid of filth monsters."

  "......I suppose."

  Unable to argue against Felli, his smile turned weak.

  A huge number of filth monsters were outside the city.

  "Won't it be too late if something happens to humanity because of your foolish act?"

  "I don't know about something that big. But if that's what I can do, then I can only do that. Isn't that right?"

  "......Has it got to be you?"

  "Huh?"

  "We can win if we aren't afraid of sacrifice. You said that before, 'We can still win if we are willing to sacrifice.'"

  "Yes, but I don't think it's good to not do what I'm capable of doing."

  "......"

  "......I'm sorry."

  "That's fine, I know I'm the type who can but won't do things."

  La
yfon watched Felli.

  "I don't find that despicable. That is my determination. It's a path I chose for myself. No matter what others think, I won't regret it when I die."

  Layfon admired her determination. She tried hard to confront her fate, and she kept trying even though it wasn't successful. Her way wasn't bad either.

  "But I hate myself for doing nothing and causing people to die, especially if it happens to senpai and everyone I know."

  "Hm?"

  "Even in Grendan, I tried to solve everything alone. I didn't care that others found my way base and despicable. On the contrary, I really don't understand why they had to say those things."

  Had the people at the orphanage wanted him to do that? He didn't know. He had never thought to ask. He knew the answer even if he didn't ask. On the other hand, perhaps that wasn't the truth. Layfon had left Grendan to come to Zuellni.

  He didn't hate them.

  But even if he didn't earn money that way, he would have found similar means as he didn't want the orphanage Head and Leerin to worry about poverty.

  He attempted to solve everything through his own strength.

  "I'm really naive."

  "You are."

  "That's mean!"

  "......Anyway, I dislike the traditional title of 'senpai'. Call me something else."

  "Huh?"

  "Don't your classmates call you Layton?"

  Her sudden change of topic was perplexing.

  "Yes, but......I don't think I'd be happy if that name got out, uh, how should I put it......"

  "Then let me find something else to call you. Lay, Layton-kun, Layfon-kun, Lay-chin, Lay-san......Which is better?"

  "Uh? Can I only choose from that list?"

  "Have you got any other suggestions?"

  "Hmm, it's hard to come up with a nickname for myself."

  "Then I'll call you Lay-chin."

  "......Please let me think on it more."

  "Why? Isn't Lay-chin cute?"

  "No, if there's a cooler way......"

  Being called 'Lay-chin♪' by an emotionless voice just sounded strange. Not that he wanted her to use it in a cute voice.

  ......Just thinking of that sent a chill down his spine.

  "How about 'Lay the Flash'? Everyday, when I see you, I'll say "Good morning 'Lay the Flash', 'Hello, Lay the Flash', 'Goodnight, Lay the Flash.' In any situation when I need to use your name, I'll call you 'Lay the Flash'."