The scenery on both sides of the corridor flew past Nia's eyes. The wall at the corner rapidly enlarged in her vision.
"——!"
Without slowing down in the slightest, Nia rushed to the corner, turned, and continued sprinting.
If this had been any normal day, with Nia's weak, exercise-starved body, she would have already collapsed on the ground from exhaustion. But now, perhaps because adrenaline had erupted inside her, she moved as if aided by divine intervention, her steps swift and powerful.
No exaggeration, Nia was confident that right now she could win gold at the Olympics.
"Wah! That was close!"
"What happened, Nia-san!? Why are you running so fast!?"
Seeing Nia flying down the corridor, the employees on the way all showed shocked expressions.
However, Nia paid them no attention. While recalling the structure and routes of this airship, she lowered her head and kept running.
No, more accurately, "escaping" would be the better word.
As if fleeing from the grasp of an invisible god of death, even though no one was chasing her from behind, she did not dare slow down at all.
"Fraxinus! Activate the spatial transfer device and send to the ground!"
After rushing into the Realizer transfer room, Nia rapidly tapped the keyboard with her fingers and anxiously urged the system.
[Error! Error! The system has been locked by the administrator. Command cannot be executed!]
(Tch, you really would do this, Biri-chan!)
Seeing the warning window pop up on the screen, Nia clicked her tongue.
But this situation had also been within Nia's expectations to so degree. Seeing the transfer device fail, Nia did not hesitate. She picked up the ergency parachute she had hidden in advance and ran toward the deck.
At that mont, a piercing alarm rang throughout the airship.
[Warning. Fire detected inside the airship. Preparing to isolate the designated area.]
"——!?"
Boom! Boom! Low rumbling sounds ca continuously from behind. Nia turned and saw isolation walls dropping from the ceiling one after another, sealing off the path segnt by segnt.
(This is way too clichéd!?)
Nia wailed in her heart and pushed her nearly numb legs to accelerate again.
Just as Nia was about to reach the exit, the isolation wall reacted before she did. The thick alloy wall rapidly descended.
Nia gritted her teeth and, imitating a soccer ani she had seen before, slid sideways across the floor.
"Let make ittttttt!!!!!!"
At the last possible mont, one second before the isolation wall closed, Nia slipped through the gap by the narrowest of margins.
"Haa... haa... Looks... like... being flat-chested isn't all bad..."
Wiping the sweat from her face, Nia smiled while gasping for breath.
However, her inner excitent did not last long. The cold wind blowing across the deck quickly cooled her head.
(This is no ti to rest.)
And so, after reaching the outside of the airship, Nia continued forward and finally stopped at the edge of the deck.
"——Gulp."
She involuntarily swallowed and lowered her head to look below.
An endless sea of clouds stretched across her field of vision. She could see mountains, forests, and towns that had shrunk countless tis.
After staring for less than two seconds, Nia felt dizzy. It was her body's instinctive rejection of fear. If her legs had not already gone numb to the point of losing sensation, Nia probably would have collapsed right there.
(But——)
"OK! Deep breath——calm down——Honjou Nia. You're wearing a parachute, so you'll be fine. No need to be afraid. It's just a leap of faith. You've done this countless tis in gas. Piece of cake! Ready?! Ready! OK! Three! Two! One——"
With her eyes closed, she hypnotized herself. Then, before her heart could chicken out, Nia committed fully, rushed forward, crossed the railing, and threw herself into the sky.
"I can flyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"
After that spirited declaration, less than a second later, Nia's body fell straight downward under Earth's gravity.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die——————————————————"
Feeling her body constantly plumt toward the ground, Nia burst into tears and scread.
(Parachute! Parachute!)
Nia frantically tried to open the ergency parachute. However, whether it had broken or she was using it wrong, the canopy simply would not deploy.
(No way...)
Nia's face instantly turned from ashen to paper-white.
"My life is overrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr————————————"
...
...
...
(Huh?)
Nia slowly opened her tightly shut eyes, unable to process what had happened.
(I'm actually not dead?)
She looked around in confusion and found that, for so reason, she had returned to the airship deck.
"Don't tell ... that was just a daydream?"
"As if, idiot Nia."
The familiar voice made Nia stiffen. She turned around, and there stood the girl in a black coat, silently watching her from behind.
"Biri-chan..."
Nia let out a bitter voice.
Yutsuki only sighed helplessly.
"Seriously. You don't have a shred of spirit power left, yet you expected to descend from fifteen thousand ters with a single ergency parachute? If it hadn't been , you would already be dead."
"..."
Ignoring Yutsuki, Nia spun around and charged toward the edge of the deck again.
However, this ti, an enormous wall of ice blocked her path, forming a cage that enclosed both her and Yutsuki.
"Why are you running?"
Yutsuki quietly asked.
"Why am I running? Biri-chan, aren't you asking what you already know?"
With her back against the indestructible ice wall, Nia smiled bitterly.
"Aren't you planning to erase both you and Shido from everyone's mories?"
"What's wrong with that? It's not as if I'm killing you."
"I don't want that! If you want to forget Biri-chan and Shido, I'd rather die!"
"Sorry. I won't let you do that."
Rasiel——Yutsuki softly summoned a black leather book and lightly drew across its page with a pen.
The next second, Nia felt her body beco unable to move.
(This is... Future Entry?)
Nia thought in shock. What Yutsuki had used was the ultimate move of Nia's original Angel.
She had probably written an order that made Nia unable to kill herself. Although Nia could still speak normally, the mont she tried anything like biting her tongue, an unknown force stopped her.
Seeing her final bargaining chip so easily neutralized by Yutsuki, Nia felt frustration and helplessness well up inside her.
No, in truth, she had understood from the mont she fled that no matter how she ran, she could never escape from Yutsuki's palm.
"Michael."
At Yutsuki's call, the key shaped Angel representing the authority of sealing appeared in her hand.
And so, Yutsuki walked toward Nia with slow steps.
"Wait! Wait, Biri-chan!"
Yutsuki ignored Nia's voice and continued forward.
"Do you really think this is okay? Being forgotten by everyone like this, watching everyone forget the person they loved most... Isn't that way too cruel?"
"..."
"B-because this makes no sense. I clearly didn't do anything. You were the one who worked hard, Biri-chan. So why do you have to be forgotten?"
"..."
"I swear! I won't tell anyone about Shido or you. I'll take this secret with to the grave. So please, please don't seal my mories."
Drip.
The sound of a water droplet hitting the floor made Nia freeze.
"Biri-chan...are you crying?"
"..."
Looking at Yutsuki, who stood before her with her head lowered and said nothing, Nia first looked blank. Then she frowned in confusion. Finally, as if she had understood sothing, she gave Yutsuki a guilty smile.
"Ah... I see... The one who got it wrong... was ..."
Nia slowly closed her eyes, like a nun awaiting judgnt.
And then, Yutsuki held Michael and stabbed it into Nia's chest.
At that mont, Nia seed to see her mories of Shido and Yutsuki like a roll of film, flashing before her eyes like a revolving lantern.
Warm, happy, and yet sowhat sad and helpless——they were the most precious treasures Nia had ever encountered in her life.
But soon, those colors filled with happiness began to fade, gradually turning into plain white sheets of paper.
In her daze, Nia could not help thinking.
If, when Yutsuki had asked her whether she would continue drawing manga, she had chosen not to be bound by the sorrowful past and instead thought positively about the future...
If, when Yutsuki asked about Maria and Marina's deaths, she had not chosen to run away, but had found the courage to face the cruel reality and tell Yutsuki the truth...
If she had not drawn a line between them because of the abnormality Yutsuki displayed, but had more honestly asked about her worries and wholeheartedly supported her...Maybe... the ending would have been slightly different.
However, Nia understood that unlike a ga, this world did not have an "if" option.
(Seriously... reality... really is a trash ga...)
With a faint bitter smile, Nia's lips moved.
"Sorry... Biri-chan..."
"I couldn't... beco your support... like Shido..."
"I'm really... really sorry..."
After saying that, Nia collapsed into Yutsuki's arms like a puppet with its strings cut, falling into a peaceful sleep.
"...You idiot, why are you apologizing..."
Holding Nia tightly, Yutsuki clenched her teeth and cried out.
"I did sothing terrible!"
"I denied all of everyone's mories!"
"I trampled on everyone's feelings!"
"I was the one who killed Shido!!"
"So bla !!!"
Powerlessly sinking to her knees, Yutsuki sobbed.
"...Bla ... as harshly as you can..."
Ti passed bit by bit. The sun hanging high in the sky gradually sank. After passing through twilight and dusk, the world welcod the deep night.
Looking up at the night sky, the stars had lost their brilliance. Only a lone moon remained, shining with gentle light within the empty black curtain.
TL:Author you're such a snake AAAAAAAAAAA
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