Ch.121121. Inertia.

121.

“Now that you’ve changed your clothes, let’s start exercising in earnest.”

“…I really don’t want to today.”

No sooner had my bandages been removed than I was dragged straight to the rehabilitation room.

Is it right to start exercising the very day the bandages come off? Wouldn’t it be better to rest for a day to get used to my lighter legs?

I pleaded with the robots, pointing out that I still needed a wheelchair, but—

“Then you’ll just keep putting it off and never do it! I’m not falling for that anymore!”

Perhaps it was because I’d been making excuses like “I’ll sleep after reading just one more page” for the past few months.

My friend insisted that if I postponed it once, I’d obviously keep postponing it, and I couldn’t argue against that.

“Well, since I’m here, I might as well give it my best.”

Despite everything, this friend cares more about my health than I do, so I should listen sometimes. It’s not bad for me anyway.

“Just put your legs in here and move them back and forth as much as you can without pain.”

“Is that really all?”

“We’re not going to make it difficult from the start.”

I climbed onto the rectangular exercise machine laid on its side and inserted my lower body into the circular opening.

When the robot activated the machine, a strange sensation began to flow through my legs.

It felt peculiar, like countless veils gently brushing against me, yet also like walking through a highly viscous liquid. I moved my legs back and forth in that environment.

Since my feet weren’t touching the ground, there was no weight on them, so it didn’t hurt.

But perhaps because I’d been sitting for so long, I quickly became short of breath.

“Whew, I used to be able to walk all day without problems.”

If I’d always been like this, I would have walked without giving it much thought.

But the gap between the memory of being able to do something easily and now being unable to brought a deeper fatigue than I’d expected.

It’s easy to leave what’s lost as lost.

But facing it and trying to regain it is this difficult.

How many more losses will I experience in the future?

And will I be able to smile and let them all go, accepting them as inevitable?

Clinging to what I can’t lose only brings pain in return.

If I can’t hold onto it for certain, wouldn’t it be better to smile and let it go?

…Ah. I hate this. Whenever I’m not reading something with someone’s words, thoughts, or soul in it, I fall into this deep lake again.

I forced myself to smile to avoid sinking into my emotions.

Even if it was self-deprecating, I smiled to forget how difficult it was.

The 30 minutes until the robot called “stop” felt longer than any other time I’d spent here.

“Haa… haa…”

“Good work. First, hydrate yourself. Now, shall we try walking slowly while holding onto the bar on the wall?”

“…Huh?”

I was out of breath even though I’d only stood and moved my legs for about 30 minutes.

I couldn’t tell if the moisture making my body damp was sweat or cold sweat, but even I could see how exhausted I was.

Naturally, I thought we were finished, so I was surprised by the doctor’s words.

“Isn’t this the end? Do I have to do more?”

“Since it’s the first day, we need to see how much you can do. If it’s too difficult, we can stop here.”

I suppose they want to check if I can walk on my own, even with assistance.

I looked down at my legs. The muscles were quite tense, but not to the point where I couldn’t move them.

“Ugh… alright.”

Besides, when someone says I don’t have to do something, it makes me want to prove I can.

I gathered my resolve, slowly stood up, and grabbed the bar attached to the wall.

Then I carefully took one step, then another.

“Huk, hek…”

I thought walking would be fine since it was something I’d always done. In fact, I could take a few steps while holding the bar.

But was it because I was already weakened? Or was it because the scars on my legs kept catching my attention?

With each step, I either put too much force into my legs or suddenly lost all strength.

My gait was as unsteady as a newborn foal’s.

It was frustrating that I couldn’t control my own body as I wanted.

“O-okay, let’s stop here for today.”

I eventually lost my balance and fell forward onto the floor. Had I taken ten steps? I was completely out of breath. My legs were in considerable pain, and sweat was pouring down like it would form puddles.

…I didn’t struggle this much even when carrying a backpack larger than myself.

But it wasn’t all bad.

When I pushed my body to its limit, all the random thoughts I’d been having earlier completely disappeared from my mind.

“That was quite strenuous for the first day. Good job. Rest well today, and let’s try again at this time tomorrow.”

“Oh my…”

“Fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with your legs themselves, so we can focus on gradually increasing the intensity of exercise while relieving tension. Also, there seems to be a psychological component when you walk—but that usually improves with practice.”

I thought the robot seemed to love exercise excessively for something that couldn’t exercise itself, but I kept that to myself. After all, exercise was exactly what I needed right now.

“First priority is nutrition and sleep. Exercise. Meals. Sleep. If you maintain these three well, your health will naturally improve. There’s no need to overdo it, so let’s take it slow while following these principles.”

“Right…”

My legs were in good enough condition, and I had nowhere urgent to go.

I nodded at the suggestion to take it slow without overdoing it.

“Huu, huk, c-can we stop soon?”

“Just 10 more minutes!”

“I’m really struggling now…”

“You can do it! Just 6 minutes and 33 seconds more!”

“That oddly specific time makes me even more annoyed…!”

And so, exercise was added to my previously monotonous routine.

Exercising with an incredibly diligent and energetic friend was absolute hell.

Just when I thought I’d done enough, they would arbitrarily activate another machine, increase the repetitions, and push me further.

I wished I would just black out and collapse so I could use that as an excuse to rest, but the robot pushed me precisely to the edge of what my body and stamina could handle.

“Haa… haa… I want to go to sleep now…”

As a result, I was completely exhausted after exercising and had no choice but to go straight to bed.

Even if I sat at my desk, I couldn’t absorb anything I read, so what else could I do?

And the robot seemed pleased that I was going to bed early.

Today too, looking at me sprawled on the floor catching my breath, it said with a smile:

“You’ll continue even after rehabilitation is over, right?”

“……”

I wanted to kill it.

If I had the strength to speak, I would have shouted, “Why would I!”

“They say sitting all day causes diseases you didn’t even have before.”

“That’s correct.”

“Haaa…”

How could they lecture someone who was about to get sick from their exercise regimen?

Truly, neither of them understood human feelings.

* * *

Repetitive days. Today, no different from yesterday, and tomorrow will be the same.

Time was flowing, but my perception remained stuck in yesterday. And that perception of yesterday was stuck in a day long before.

The only changes were the books stacking up next to my desk and the words written on paper. As the tower of books grew taller, new knowledge settled on top of past sentences, allowing me to glimpse realms I hadn’t been able to reach before.

But even that process now felt monotonous. I couldn’t understand why I felt increasingly lost, despite spending solid days in this perfect place—perfect except for the absence of people.

I had long forgotten my sense of time. Truly long ago. If the robot hadn’t reminded me, I would have stayed cooped up in the library until I collapsed, unaware of the beginning and end of each day.

I probably would have only gone to the cafeteria after collapsing and getting up, realizing I was hungry.

Then one day, as I was studying as usual, a message appeared before my eyes.

[Did you know? It’s already been a year since this broadcast started.]

It was a message saying that it had been a year since my broadcast had restarted.

In reality, I had first launched the drone and started broadcasting much earlier than that.

But the people watching the broadcast now believed that the day I was trapped under the debris was the beginning.

Which meant that it had been almost a year since I came to Paradise.

“…A year, huh. It’s already been that long. How nostalgic. This time last year, I was just an ignorant fool.”

I quietly voiced the pointless sentiment that suddenly came to mind.

A year. Despite several seasons passing and the Earth completing one orbit around the sun, it was still winter.

Only I had changed. The familiar feel of paper and pen at my fingertips. The numerous shapes and logic I could now easily visualize in my mind.

When I first came to the library, I could barely read the titles of books, but now I could confidently say I had built a solid foundation in numerous academic fields.

Of course, knowledge is like an endless maze—sometimes problems appear that require starting from scratch, and there are still walls that are difficult to overcome.

But I think I’ve climbed quite high during this past year.

“To be honest, it’s hard to be purely happy about this time. Our meeting may be romantic—but it’s not exactly positive.”

If I had been a person living in the same era as them, I would have been genuinely happy about meeting consistently without major incidents for a year.

But as everyone knows, we had the great wall of time between us, along with the mission to escape extinction.

Yet during this year, there had been no disruption to the broadcast.

It’s still unclear how the machine that fixed two presents would affect the broadcast when it became distorted due to causality.

Unless it stopped abruptly, there would surely be signs like time delays or distorted messages.

So far, there had been no such indications.

That must mean I’m still lacking. Thinking about that, I couldn’t be completely happy.

“Still—maybe it’s good to think a bit more positively, just for today. If I count slowly, starting with surviving this past year without major incidents, there have been many things to be happy about.”

Come to think of it, I think there was a large cake in the corner of the storage room. Should I get up early today and have a small party?

I closed the book I was reading and stood up.

With legs that could now walk well on their own after long rehabilitation, I walked to the food storage and carefully picked up the cake with both hands.

The plain cream cake was incredibly large.

It seemed to have been made big enough for everyone here to eat when there was something to celebrate. There were no signs that anyone had touched it.

Was there nothing happy enough to warrant taking out the cake?

“It’s still lonely here. This is why I don’t like coming here.”

The cafeteria, which I hadn’t needed to visit since the robot brought meals to the library, remained unchanged.

The air was certainly warm, but the large, open space with no one in it made it feel like cold air was swirling around.

I should be used to it by now. Maybe the cold air is more familiar to me.

“I brought some tableware.”

“Ah. Thank you.”

I placed the cake on the table where I first sat when I came here.

I cut a small piece and moved it to the plate the robot brought.

“Hmm, since this is a cake to celebrate one year, I’d like to sing a song… but nothing comes to mind.”

It wouldn’t be right to sing a birthday song, would it?

Singing a happy, cheerful song in a place like this would only make me feel more depressed.

“Then shall I play some appropriate music for you?”

“Yes. That would be better. Something calm but bright, you know?”

♪♩—♪♪♩♩

[Oh. I know this song. It’s a famous classical piece.]

[It doesn’t seem like music for a celebratory occasion…]

The gentle piano sound flowing from the robot. According to the messages, it seemed to be Nocturne No. 2, a piece I wasn’t familiar with.

I felt like I’d heard it somewhere before, but it was too distant for me.

“It’s nice.”

Still, perhaps because it was a classic, I was satisfied with the sense of stability I felt in the soft music, and made a small wish befitting a celebratory occasion.

For such a modest gathering, a small wish like hoping for continued safety in the future would be just right.

So I made a modest yet impossible wish that everyone would remain safe in the future, and put the cake in my mouth.

One piece of the large cake.

And just a small bite of that piece.

“…Hmm.”

It was clearly sweet, fluffy, and well-made cake.

But I didn’t particularly want to eat it.

Thud.

A brief friction sound suddenly appeared amidst the beautiful piano music. The robot looked at me in surprise.

Why are you looking at me like that? Because I don’t want to eat something sweet and delicious?

I guess I used to really enjoy sweet things on the rare occasions I got them.

I stood up from the chair. I told myself that I’d already celebrated and eaten cake, so that was enough.

“That’s enough exercise for today.”

My body had definitely become healthier than before, thanks to eating well.

While my stamina couldn’t compare to when I used to walk all day, there’s a certain overall balance to consider.

I could say I’m healthier now that I’m eating well.

“What were you doing alone today? You seemed to be sleeping the whole time. Should I make another puppy for you to play with?”

“Heh heh.”

After washing my sweat-soaked body, I sat on the bed in my pajamas, petting the puppy.

“……”

Then suddenly, as if the power had been cut off.

I lost both my train of thought and the will to think, and just sat there blankly.

“Mori. How have you been feeling lately?”

The robot approached me and asked in a careful tone.

“Hm? Just ordinary, I guess.”

Why would it ask such a thing? I stared at the robot.

“It might be needless worry, but lately you seem a bit… rigid, or perhaps desolate.”

There was clear concern in its voice as it suggested my emotions had become dulled.

“Really? I feel fine.”

Not wanting to worry my friend, I shrugged and smiled.

While it’s true that I don’t laugh as naturally as I used to, as the robot said.

I could still smile.