Chapter 40

Four years had already flown by since she lost A. A fairly grand amount of time had passed, yet whenever she thought of A, she still felt a sensation as if a hole had opened up squarely in the center of her chest.

Back then, what would it have been like if she had been able to persuade A, who stubbornly insisted, ‘This is the only method left’? If that had been the case, many things would be different from now.

‘A, you liar.’

Shuri thought to herself as she felt a deep melancholy rush in.

‘You explicitly promised to always stay by my side.’

A massive hand approached and firmly grasped hers as if enveloping it. It was Adam.

“Shuri, do not worry.”

He spoke in a soft voice.

“I am by your side, you see.”

His hand was large and warm. It was a hand that could be relied upon, and a hand one could hold to summon courage once more.

Taking a deep huff-puff breath, Shuri firmly held his hand in return. The robust power and hot warmth felt like they were driving away the sad memories. Wearing a slight smile, she spoke resolutely.

“Alright. We can pull it off!”

“That is a magnificent fighting spirit, Shuri. Fortuitously, Caulfield is drawing close.”

Shuri raised her body and looked toward the front.

Exactly as Adam said, a small village was visible beneath the desolate land and the painted-like, vivid blue sky.

Caulfield was once a mining village that produced coal. Along with the decline of the coal industry, the village had shrunk as well, but now that the energy infrastructure had collapsed and the re-extraction of fossil fuels had commenced, it was a place revived, albeit as a slum.

“Since it is a coal extraction site, the air is murky, correct? Therefore, I have prepared a mask! Because Shuri’s respiratory system is precious, you see.”

Pulling out a mask from his inner pocket, Adam very carefully placed it over Shuri’s face. Tucking her hair behind her ears strand by strand with his fingertips, and caressing her cheeks multiple times.

Touching the mask placed over her face, Shuri asked.

“It’s been a while since I wore a mask. How does it look?”

Adam held her tightly in a bunch.

“You are exceedingly lovely!”

Beholding that sight, Jiss asked with an expectant face.

“Is there none for mine?”

Keeping Shuri tightly in his embrace, Adam answered in a businesslike tone.

“There is none.”

“Uh, as expected, that would be the case, right?”

Rendered awkward, Jiss scratched his head and headed toward the back of the truck.

Soon, the door of the cargo bed opened, and Nightingale cautiously stepped down.

Nightingale was at a loss for what to do.

“I do not know if it is alright to behave like this. Although I deemed that I must return the doll to Riley, I harbored no intention of seeking that child out. What will that child think regarding this matter? Won’t they be startled?”

“They’ll be startled. They’ll probably be terribly startled. And they’ll be very, very glad.”

Shuri stared up at Nightingale’s pure white face and spoke with genuine sincerity.

“Riley must have loved you. They are meeting such an existence again, so there’s no way they wouldn’t be glad.”

“Is that so?”

Nightingale spoke in a calmed voice.

“I desire for it to be so as well.”

Jiss called out to them.

“Miss Shuri, Nightingale. It’s over that way!”

Locating Riley Dalton was not a difficult matter.

To one side of the village, trailers that mine workers utilized as temporary residences were erected. Riley Dalton was perched like a doll on a makeshift chair in front of one of those trailers.

Riley was clad in filthy thermal underwear that looked as if it hadn’t been changed in heaven knows when, and one of their legs was in a cast. The cast, which must have originally been blue, looked almost black from being covered heavily in grime.

Nightingale slowly approached that child. Riley did not even raise their head despite a massive shadow casting over them. Nightingale cautiously called out to the child.

“Riley.”

Riley raised their head. Their hair was completely tangled up, and their cheeks were completely chapped red. The child blinked their blue bead-like eyes once, then shrieked loudly.

“Mom!”

Right after, with a vigor unbelievable for a child who had been slouching like a rag doll, they leaped down from the chair and clung tightly to Nightingale.

“Mom, Mom!”

Amidst Riley’s voice ringing loudly across the empty lot of the trailers, Nightingale explained the situation in a calm voice.

“Riley, I came to return the doll.”

“Mom…!”

Riley shrieked while extending their two arms toward Nightingale.

“Why did you only come now? I waited!”

The rabbit doll tumbled down from Nightingale’s hand. Nightingale lifted Riley up with both arms and held them tightly. Shuri caught Nightingale’s voice trembling thinly.

“Riley.”

As the empty lot that had been steeped in quietude grew noisy, a trailer door opened and a woman stepped out. She appeared exceedingly drained and fatigued.

The two who absolutely never wished to be suspected as kidnappers rapidly ran over.

“Ah, hello! We aren’t suspicious people!”

“Indeed. I am the first-class inspector of the Robotics System Evaluation Bureau at UH, Jiss Walker!”

The woman spoke with an immensely fatigued face.

“Take them away.”

Shuri and Jiss stiffened completely.

“Pardon?”

“If you are someone who knows that brat, I’m telling you to take them away.”

The woman waved her hand while shuddering, identical to a person shooing away a giant moth lunging toward them.

“I brought them here to receive the insurance payout, but they say the insurance company vanished, don’t they? Then where on earth did all that insurance money go! In any case, it means it’s a total failure. I do not wish to feed and harbor that failure any longer. Therefore, take them away.”

Jiss’s face turned pale.

“No, we didn’t intend to…”

Shuri’s face was pale as well. Stripping off her mask, she stepped forward.

“How can you be like that?”

Staring straight at the woman to show how furious she was, she spoke.

“A failure? What did that child do wrong? Riley has absolutely no reason to hear such words!”

The woman stared at Shuri with a nonchalant face. Not a single expression surfaced on the woman’s face. Neither guilt toward the child nor embarrassment resulting from this dispute could be felt. The only thing present there was mere annoyance at wanting to conclude this troublesome matter rapidly.

The woman spoke.

“So what?”

“……!”

Jiss and Adam dragged away Shuri, who was just about to explode.

“Whoa, whoa, Miss Shuri. Let us calm down for now!”

“Shuri, calm down.”

Pointing roughly at Shuri and Jiss with her finger, the woman spoke.

“You two appear like a married couple. You guys can just take them and raise them.”

Shuri, who was barely suppressing her rage at the restraint of the two men, flared up once more.

‘Treating a person as if they’re telling me to pick up a stray cat…!’

It was right when she was just about to snap back like that.

Adam naturally pulled Shuri close. His touch was gentle, but the strength confining her small body inside his embrace was tight enough to be somewhat breathless.

“That is precisely.”

Adam let out a low chuckling sound.

“An illusion generated by bias.”

The woman did not appear to understand Adam’s words well. However, she didn’t seem to care particularly either. Shrugging her plumply fat shoulders, she spoke.

“In any case, I’m telling whoever wants to take them to just take them. If you guys don’t take them, someone will pick them up soon enough. In a world like this, there’s no one who’s going to say anything to me.”

Right after, she slammed the trailer door thud and walked inside.

“Mom, I shall draw Mom for you.”

“Riley, may I verify the condition of your leg?”

“After I finish drawing the picture!”

“Understood.”

Riley sat flat on the concrete floor with a plop and began drawing something akin to an amoeba with a piece of coal. Nightingale stood tall beside that version of Riley, waiting for the child to finish drawing the picture.

Jiss lamented.

“Ah, what on earth should we do about this?”

“Sigh.”

Letting out a brief sigh, Shuri stood up from her seat.

“Miss Shuri, where are you going?”

“I’ll go make a quick phone call and come back. I’m going to try finding a place to entrust the kid.”

Shuri pulled out her smartphone from her bag. Yet unexpectedly, two missed calls were stamped on it. Furthermore, it was a video call that arrived from an undisplayed number.

“What is this? I have all such things blocked. Did the block get released?”

It was right when she was peering into her smartphone with a troubled face. The video call arrived once more.

“What truly is this?”

She really did not wish to answer, but she couldn’t ignore an incoming call. Left with no choice, Shuri answered the call.

Soon, the counterparty’s face surfaced. However, even at a glance, it was a completely unfamiliar face.

Rendered bewildered, Shuri asked.

“Who are you?”

-Hello, honey. I called because I missed you.

“I believe you dialed the wrong number.”

-What the fuck, I dialed honey explicitly, so why do I have to hear a sound like ‘I believe you dialed the wrong number’?

This exact sensation of her ears being defiled…!

Shuri shrieked.

“Titan?”