Ch.162Wedding Ceremony (2)

The female guests stood within the boundary. All of them were unmarried women without partners.

The Chalice of the Wedding Dress Chime stepped onto the platform. She was holding a bouquet. When Chalice threw the bouquet, one of the guests was supposed to catch it.

There’s a superstition that the maiden who catches the bride’s bouquet will soon be married. Rustila Kersil moved faster than anyone else. She knew it was just a superstition. Still, there was something about the atmosphere.

Rustila secured the center position. The center was statistically the most advantageous.

“Is everyone ready?”

Seti and Ireh Hazlen also participated out of courtesy. The two stood at the edge. It meant they weren’t interested.

“I’m throwing it!”

Rustila gulped. Soon the bouquet drew an arc in the air. Her eyes focused intensely. Thanks to her enhanced dynamic vision through the power of the constellation, she could roughly see where the bouquet would fall.

The guests let out near-frantic cries. Some had already foreseen failure and given up. Not Rustila. There was hope. She stretched out her hands as far as she could.

“Ah…!”

She missed it!

So close.

That’s when it happened. A snow-white frilled headband jumped up.

“I caught it.”

A flat, monotone voice followed. The attention of all the guests focused on one spot.

“Who is it?”

“Who caught it?”

“It’s me.”

It was Sonia. She held the bouquet in one hand, waving it while making a peace sign with her other hand.

“This is my victory from perfectly understanding parabolic motion.”

Her tone was stiff. The guests looked as if they felt cheated. Rustila felt the same way.

Then someone shouted.

“Isn’t that an android?”

Sonia flinched.

“Her eyes aren’t human colors!”

“They’re contact lenses.”

“Come on. Androids are exceptions.”

“…Tch.”

Sonia came forward with the bouquet. Chalice ended up having to throw the bouquet a second time.

Another chance appeared. Rustila’s eyes sparkled.

“I’ll throw it again!”

Whoosh!

The bouquet soared high into the sky. Everyone stretched out their hands or jumped up and down to catch it.

Rustila was exceptional among them. She jumped twice as high as the others. The guests were surprised.

But it wasn’t Rustila who got the bouquet. The bouquet narrowly missed her hand and went behind her.

“Ah!”

The flower bouquet fell onto the head of Ireh, who had been standing with her arms crossed, lost in thought.

***

Sonia took in the wedding scene from beginning to end.

A ceremony uniting a loving man and woman. Human marriage was so beautiful and brilliant. Though she didn’t fully understand the concept of love, Sonia knew it had a significant impact on the prosperity of the species.

“Ah.”

Prosperity of the species.

A concept that doesn’t exist for androids. They’re simply assembled one day, and that’s their birth. Just implant suitable software into suitable hardware, and that’s it.

There’s no emotion in that process. Therefore, no moving sentiment. Sonia didn’t understand why humans shed tears when a new life is born.

But now.

She felt like she could understand.

“How fascinating.”

She had caught the bouquet out of simple curiosity. But at that moment, she felt an indescribable reconfiguration of her circuits.

The logical structure built through unsupervised learning was following some kind of trend. The weights were shifting toward a distinctly emotional tendency.

“You should get married soon too, young lady!”

“No, I don’t have any immediate plans…”

“You say that after catching the bouquet?”

Watching Ireh flustered by the guests’ congratulations and envious remarks, Sonia suddenly blurted out:

“…I would like to try marriage too.”

She wanted to learn something new. She wanted to understand human institutions. Sonia’s neural network was recalibrating itself in that direction.

But,

“…what am I thinking with this body.”

It was a dream that could never come true.

***

“Congratulations in advance on your marriage!”

“If you don’t hurry, all the good men will be taken!”

Ireh rolled her eyes. She felt dizzy. There were too many people, and too many pushing her to get married soon.

From the beginning, Ireh had no intention of getting married.

The idea of accepting a man still made her uncomfortable. Even with Eidel, the most trustworthy person in this iteration. It seemed she needed more time for her trauma to be completely washed away.

Even if she overcame her trauma, it would be the same. Marriage means happiness, and happiness was a distant story for her.

The “end” would come soon.

She couldn’t bear it if trusted colleagues, people she was fond of, or beloved partners were toyed with by outer gods and died. Ireh knew her own nature well. She was fragile at heart.

Ireh looked at the bouquet.

There’s a belief that the bride’s possessions carry luck, and throwing them to guests is a way of wishing them happiness.

‘Do I deserve to be happy?’

Currently, only two people know about the predetermined end: Ireh and Eidel. They knew too much to pursue momentary happiness.

So she turned her head to find an answer to that question.

There was Eidel, exchanging greetings with Professor Stranov. His face was composed, unobstructed, without a worry. Unlike hers.

How could they be so different?

Having confirmed the same desperate future where outer gods would launch a massive invasion, what gave him the confidence to wear such an expression?

“Let’s go now.”

“Thank you for your hard work!”

The wedding was coming to an end.

After sharing a final embrace with Professor Feynman, Eidel moved on. Ireh hurried to his side with small steps. Not too close, about four steps away.

She asked casually.

“…What are you going to do from now on?”

“Hm? Ah.”

Though there was no subject, he seemed to understand her meaning immediately.

“Are you anxious?”

“Well…”

“As soon as the new year begins, I’m going to research a containment device for non-resonance outer gods. I want to expand its range to contain Darwin-type outer gods too. Ireh, I need your help.”

“I’ll help with that, of course… but what’s next?”

“After that research is complete and we’ve completely blocked the possibility of scientists being consumed by madness, what’s left? Having built a sturdy shield, the next step is a spear. I mentioned it before, right? Graviton bombs. I’m going to make them.”

Eidel was confident.

As if he would never fail.

Ireh knew the plan too. The important thing was the possibility. What if they failed again despite all this struggle? There would be no more chances, and if everyone died this time, what then?

However.

“We’ll win. Without fail.”

“How can you…”

“Know that?”

Eidel said with a smile.

“Because you’re here.”

Ireh closed her mouth.

“Ireh Hazlen, because you’re here and I’m here. Not just one person, but two. Until now, in your worldline I wasn’t there, and in my worldline you weren’t there, but in this worldline, we’re both here.”

“…”

“So, this is the worldline where humanity wins.”

Eidel held out his fist. Solidarity. Ireh was impressed. This man saw her as a comrade.

She smiled and bumped her fist against his.

“Yes, let’s win.”

Her question was answered.

The right to happiness is something you must seize.

Ireh took one more step forward. The distance between them, three steps ahead.

***

Rustila was bothered by not catching the bouquet.

Though she clearly recognized it was just a superstition, she couldn’t help feeling displeased. There was the immediate threat of Zernya.

This wouldn’t do. She might lose him in the blink of an eye.

On the way back, Rustila casually asked Eidel.

“Are you having a New Year’s party?”

“I suppose I should?”

Eidel replied.

“I’m thinking of inviting all my friends who can make it.”

“Ah…”

“Why?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

Bad luck.

This all happened because she missed the bouquet. If she had caught it, she might have suggested they spend the New Year’s party just the two of them.

But she wasn’t going to give up. Happiness is something you have to seize for yourself. Rustila’s mind was working faster than usual.

“Eidel, the college acceptance results come out a few days after the new year begins.”

“That’s right. If you get in, we should have a celebration party.”

“Remember when you treated me last time? This time it’s my treat. Come to my house. If there’s anything you want to eat… let me know in advance.”

“Well, then…”

Success.

A smooth, natural change of topic. And she secured a date with Eidel at the same time. It was a good sign.

Everything started falling into place in her mind. Two adults. Rustila gets accepted to college, and Eidel visits the Kersil mansion alone to congratulate her.

They share drinks to celebrate her coming of age, becoming pleasantly tipsy. With orange mood lighting. Their eyes meet.

The conversation naturally turns to romance. “Do you have someone you like?” she asks, testing the waters, then at the right moment, she speaks up.

I like you.

Let’s date.

To this, Eidel asks. Is she serious? Would he be good enough for her? Rustila nods her head frantically. She lets down her tied-back hair.

And then, after that…

“Aaaah…!”

She couldn’t imagine beyond that point due to insufficient audiovisual reference material.

‘I need to mark him as mine quickly.’

Since she didn’t catch the wedding bouquet.

Rustila was feeling unnecessarily urgent.

***

The end of the world was approaching.

Ireh and Eidel weren’t the only ones who sensed it.

Though not at the level of foresight, the fragment of the constellation “Virgo,” which governed the Virgo constellation, was vaguely aware of the end.

It was a color from space.

No, it was the color of space itself.

“Dangerous, dangerous, it’s dangerous…”

An inexplicable sense of foreboding. To prepare for this, a new contractor was needed as soon as possible. The fragment of Virgo searched every corner of the galaxy cluster.

Virgo was a demanding constellation.

The contract target must be physically pure, mentally moderate, and pursue purity and justice. They must be a virgin, and must not lose that status until the contract is terminated.

These were conditions that made it difficult to find a contractor. But in return, it could grant powerful abilities to the contractor.

After filtering, there weren’t many candidates left.

Today too, after coming up empty-handed:

“Huh?”

She returned to the starting point. The galaxy where that madman who contracted with an outer god yet walked around unscathed lived.

“Let’s take a look after so long.”

Led by impulse, she entered a planet and was shocked.

A girl with a fleetingly pure heart. Fragile yet strong. The material for a sword star was right before her eyes.

“The light is darkest at the base of the lamp…”

She hadn’t noticed before because she fled in such a hurry.

Virgo observed the girl.

She seemed to admire someone, but hadn’t confessed yet. That was acceptable. She was untainted.

“Five stars. And sufficient resonance with the constellation. She has talent.”

She was immensely satisfying as a contractor. At least Virgo liked her, so all that remained was to get the girl’s consent.

“…Huh?”

But the object of the girl’s affection was someone she had seen before.

“…That madman!”

The crazy one who trapped her, an ally, in a resonance device.

Remembering it made her angry again.

Virgo descended to the ground, gritting her teeth. That’s how the meeting between Rustila and Virgo began.