Ch.110110. Kairos Anchor.

# 110.

It’s a dark night. The sky is draped in a deep blue curtain, and within it, white snowflakes dance like butterflies.

A familiar winter night scene. Below it, light spreads outward.

The bright light extends so widely that you can’t tell where it begins or ends.

As far as this light reaches is human territory.

As if declaring this, the spreading light holds back the cold season.

Like those who believed and hoped for paradise at the end of death. Hoping for spring to return after winter ends, they cling to spring.

Daylight and night’s darkness. Winter’s cold and spring’s warmth.

This space, where elements that shouldn’t coexist mingle without boundaries, displays remarkably diverse colors.

“…It’s beautiful.”

Released from the ropes that had bound my body, I raised my upper body and marveled at the garden unfolding before me.

Trees swaying in the breeze proudly displayed their freshness, bearing fruits I’d never seen before, while colorful flowers accompanied the gently flowing river.

This place overflowed with natural colors to the point it was hard to believe it was artificially created—truly an Eden.

“I wonder if those floating in the sky were modeled after angels from the Bible?”

While this place resembled nature more closely than anywhere else I’d been, it wasn’t just natural elements like grass and trees that existed here.

“The wings, and all those eyes too. They’re made so well they look like they’re really moving. They look a bit scary though. …I guess that’s why they said not to be afraid.”

Perhaps they wanted to emphasize that this paradise was created by humanity?

In the sky, “angels” with eyes and wings that moved as if alive floated near the ground, while white pillars rose from the earth at regular intervals.

To be honest, the angelic figures and artificial pillars didn’t harmonize well with the landscape.

It was mysterious and impressive, but… it gave the feeling of being unnecessarily placed there.

Yet strangely, I liked that sense of incongruity, that feeling of detachment from reality. It felt like stepping into a work of art.

“Oh! There! Take me to that pillar over there.”

“Yes, alright. Please stay still. If you fall, you’ll be the only one getting hurt, Mori.”

Like a rose blooming between concrete buildings that particularly catches the eye, structures I normally wouldn’t notice kept drawing my attention.

Those flying angels would naturally stand out anywhere with their mysterious appearance, but I’d seen these round pillars many times before.

I fidgeted and pointed to a nearby pillar. The Robot carrying me nagged that I should please stay still, but I couldn’t control my racing heart, having never imagined paradise could be such an impressive place.

“What is this? ‘Phenomenon Fixation Device?'”

As I approached the humming pillar and focused on it, the knowledge in my mind revealed the identity of the pillar before me.

A device that uses variable matter created by humanity to fix the form of paradise created by human perception.

“I thought it was strange that everything remained intact despite what happened. It was all fabricated.”

“It would be stranger if real trees existed in a place like this.”

“That’s true.”

Having seen and experienced so much, I had secretly thought upon seeing the green landscape that it might all be fake, but I never expected it to actually be true.

The device that maintains the current state no matter what happens is impressive, but as someone who had long hoped there might be real plants in paradise, I couldn’t help feeling disappointed.

Phew. I sighed softly and looked around. The natural landscape that had seemed beautiful just moments ago now looked somewhat rigid. Even though nothing had changed.

“But I wonder if this is fascinating to you?”

Unlike me, the Drone seemed fascinated by it all, flying around and eagerly capturing the scenery with its camera.

Since the Drone was inactive when we visited the Underground City and the Spaceport, this must naturally be interesting to it.

“Watch this. I’ll show you something fun.”

I reached out to a nearby tree and, using only my will, twisted it around—changing its properties to make it wobble like jelly.

The tree that had been standing firmly just seconds ago suddenly melted like jelly, causing the Drone to dart around as if startled.

I smirked at the sight. I had reacted the same way when I first saw something like this.

I wonder if the people watching my footage have their eyes wide open by now?

I hope so.

“Looks like there’s only one building here, right?”

“Yes.”

Everything in the garden returned to its original form not long after I changed its properties at will.

So while showing my friends beyond the Drone various transformations as we wandered around, we eventually arrived at the entrance of the only building on the hill.

The door of the massive building was firmly closed, as if it couldn’t be opened to just anyone, but I already had the authority to enter paradise.

Sure enough, when I asked the Robot to approach the door, a window related to door access permissions appeared before me.

“Yap.”

Since I was opening the door anyway, I dramatically swept my arm to unlock it, trying to look cool for anyone watching.

…The Robot shook its head as if it couldn’t understand me.

Maybe it’s because it’s a robot? It doesn’t understand style.

“It’s quite quiet here.”

“Yeah. Is nobody here?”

As we entered through the door, a spacious and splendid space greeted us.

If the space outside represented the most beautiful natural landscape, this place felt like the most beautiful interior humans could create.

But with our interests elsewhere, the Robot and I merely looked around blankly despite the sparkling decorations.

“…I never thought there would be nobody here.”

I didn’t expect to be surrounded by people clapping and welcoming me to paradise!

—I didn’t have such expectations, but I did think there might be some survivors remaining.

Yet what awaited me was just an absurdly vast space.

“Oh. Something’s coming from over there.”

“Where? Where?”

Even when I called out “Is anyone there—?” all that returned was the echo of my own voice.

So just as I was about to give up hope and consider where to go next.

Something could be seen approaching us from the far end of the long corridor.

“It’s a wheelchair.”

“…So this really exists.”

“It was inconvenient to carry you around, so that’s fortunate.”

It was indeed a wheelchair. A wheelchair that moved by itself without anyone controlling it.

While I was looking up at the Drone wondering if you had prepared this, the Robot naturally placed me in the approaching wheelchair.

“First—I should find a place to stay here, right? Like a bedroom or dining room.”

If this building was the end of the places I could reach, I would have to live here until I died, so there was much I needed to check in advance.

How much useful space was available to me in this vast area and where it was located. Also, how much food there was, what condition the building was in, and so on.

So while I was wiggling my fingers trying to decide which of the many corridors to take first.

Whoooosh—

“…Huh? What?”

“Mori? Where are you going!”

“I don’t know! I didn’t touch anything but it’s moving on its own!”

The wheelchair carrying me started moving by itself.

Where on earth is it taking me?

Though not particularly fast, I panicked at its unsolicited movement and frantically pressed whatever levers and buttons I could reach, but the wheelchair showed no intention of stopping.

Screech,

“…It’s a library.”

The wheelchair that had been moving non-stop finally halted in front of a library filled with countless shelves and books.

“It feels like I’ve entered a universe of knowledge. Right. Come to think of it, I did want to visit the library. I had completely forgotten.”

I found myself muttering this because the library was beyond imagination—vast and containing numerous books.

As if all the knowledge remaining in this world had been gathered here.

…Indeed, what kind of knowledge did humanity want to leave behind at the end?

“—Aah!”

Just as I was admiring this treasure trove of knowledge and about to pull out a book, the wheelchair started moving again as if to say it wasn’t time for that yet.

Considering that the first place it took me was the library, and despite its sudden movements it drove carefully, it seemed like it wanted to show me something since I had just arrived in paradise.

I understand, so please move a little slower and give me some warning before moving, can’t you?

My body is fine, but it’s not good for my heart…

Following the wheelchair’s not-so-friendly guidance, I traveled around various facilities and soon reached the end of the facility.

A vast, empty dining hall.

A food storage room piled with more food than I had imagined.

After passing through a bedroom with soft beds and a strange room lined with egg-shaped machines, we arrived at… a place whose purpose I couldn’t understand.

“What is this place? There’s nothing here.”

Unlike other spaces, the room was dark without even lighting.

The only thing in the room was a rectangular pillar in the center.

While I tilted my head at this strange place, the wheelchair guided me right in front of the pillar.

“Oh, this shape…”

Up close, the structure—more like a display stand than a pillar—had a groove that looked like it could hold something.

The front of the groove was thick, but the back was thin.

Seeing this very familiar shaped groove, I slowly looked down at my arm.

The Controller—thick at the front where the buttons to operate the Drone were located, but unbelievably thin in other parts.

The entity that brought me here seemed to want me to insert the Controller into this groove.

“…”

I used my authority to check what was in front of me.

The name of the device that looked like an ordinary display stand was none other than the “Time Fixation Device.”

And the name of the Controller, which I had always thought was simply a tool for controlling the Drone and displaying messages, was—

—the “Kairos Anchor.”