chapter02 · 037-ep37

Episode 37: "Humanity's First"

I'd decided I wouldn't say "Nice to meet you."

It would be a lie to greet someone I'd known for three years that way.

◇

Breakfast was rations. I did hand out one pickled plum each. On a morning you know will be long, nothing beats them.

"Pops, what about the pit?"

"Don't swallow it. Bring it home. For luck."

We descended single file along the road that had opened from the other side. Yagarasu-kun's markers lit up at even intervals, and the sounds of the world grew another step fainter. The other lights dotted along the path multiplied as we descended. They belonged to none of us. If I had to say—they were the porch lights our host had left on.

"Additional note. It would be rude for invited guests to turn back at the front door. That is all."

"Mio-san, are you trying to encourage us?"

"It's a fact."

6:50 a.m. The descent ended.

◇

The deepest level was quiet.

A vast circular cavern. The floor was polished like a black mirror; the ceiling was invisible. At the far end of the hall stood one lonely stone pedestal.

And the darkness in front of it—rose.

An immense body like ink spilled across the sky. Its outline wouldn't settle. A dimly glowing core shone near its chest. One enormous eye slowly looked at us.

There was no name for it in the official records. No one had defeated it.

"...It's been two years," Rei-kun said. "It beat me on my initial speed. Crushed my fastest step before I could take it."

"Additional note. It beat my calculations. Before I finished forming a spell, it had already prepared a counter for the completed spell. That is all."

"It blew me and my shield away. I didn't even feel the impact."

"Beat me at sensing things. The moment I hid, it looked where I was going to hide."

"I... had no one to protect, and I lost."

All five had lost in five different ways. That had bothered me for three years. A creature that could perfectly counter five of the strongest people alive, each in a different way? What kind of monster could do that?

Only one kind.

"That thing—is observing us."

I opened my notebook. "Abyss — Clearing Hypothesis." The last volume of three years' work.

"It observes its opponent, learns, and returns the best possible 'counter.' You didn't lose because you weren't strong enough. You lost because it read you. ...In other words, it's in the same line of work as me."

【What?】

【An observing monster vs. humanity's greatest observation nerd】

【World, behold the ultimate showdown】

"Twenty-one points before we enter."

I placed likely events in the order they were likely to happen, in everyone's heads. End every offensive after three moves. It would read the fourth. Assume a move that worked once would never work again. Today, we would use the retreat procedure we'd drilled for nine days as a "technique."

"Last: Hina-chan handles the relay and the log. Don't draw your sword until I tell you to."

"...Yes!"

"Roll call. Your next step?"

"Forward." "Forward." "Additional note. Forward." "Forward, then." "...Forward." "Forward!"

6:58 a.m. Combat began.

◇

In the first thirty seconds, I saw all five defeats again.

The floor crushed Rei-kun's initial burst before he could step in, and a flicker of the core erased Mio-san's spell a heartbeat before activation. A replay of two years ago. —But this time there was more to the story. After he was stopped, Rei-kun used Maru-kun's shield as his clock. After her blueprint was erased, Mio-san redrew it using Yagarasu-kun's eyes.

"Move noon!"

The shield planted itself, and the circle turned. No one was lost.

【They won't stop. Even when it counters them, they won't stop】

【Each would be finished alone, but together the six keep rotating】

9:12 a.m. The first opening.

"Maru-kun—straight above the clock!"

The slanted shield rang, and humanity's fastest kicked off humanity's hardest, leaping vertically. The stepping stone that had felled the two-headed dragon. A blade fell from the eye's blind spot, sliced through the ink-black giant down to its shoulder, and exposed the core for the first time.

Just before the blade reached it—the ink closed as though laughing.

Rei-kun landed and clicked his tongue. "...It read us."

"No, that confirmed it. It learns after one look. A move it's seen once won't work twice. —Which means an unfamiliar move will always work once. It's a question of how many moves we have. We're using every formation we practiced for those nine days."

◇

From there, it was a war of attrition.

At noon, we pulled back in our third "clean retreat" and caught our breath. The pursuing giant lost its prey past the severed markers and narrowed its eye.

"Additional note. The enemy stops pursuing an average of four seconds after retreat begins. It doesn't overextend. That is all."

"Smart, isn't it? ...But remember this: the smarter an observer, the deeper they commit the moment they become certain."

At three, the center of Kokoro-chan's circle still hadn't been breached once. She caught every graze and every sign of exhaustion within her radius. No one had died; no one had even fallen and failed to stand.

【Who chose where that Saint stands?】

The team had. We hadn't left it to her reluctance to put herself first.

Meanwhile, I gave three instructions that had nothing to do with the fighting.

"Hina-chan, move the relay to the second marker."

"Relay to the fifth marker."

"—To the seventh marker."

The smallest figure on the battlefield, holding the log and the relay unit, moved little by little along its edge. The eye never followed her once.

Of course not. It was an observer, and observers rank threats. A person who hadn't drawn her sword once in nearly half a day of fighting ranked—zero.

【Come to think of it, Hina-chan's only carried things and called out updates today】

【Sensei, why are you leaving your favorite student on the sidelines?】

Sorry, Hina-chan. It's a secret for just a little longer.

◇

6:10 p.m. Both sides were almost out of moves.

We'd used every unfamiliar formation. The giant cycled through its learned counters perfectly; we ended our attacks after three moves and retreated cleanly, avoiding only fatal blows. A stalemate—but not an even one. The humans were the side with limited stamina.

"Sensei," Yagarasu-kun said from the shadows. "About time to make that big withdrawal, isn't it? ...From your account."

"Yeah. —Here comes the last move."

The final page of three years of hypotheses. When that creature felt certain, it committed deeply. Five victories had taught it one thing: "Once this prey breaks formation, it's finished." So we'd show it the best-looking "break" in the world.

"Attention, everyone. After the next attack, perform the final result of our nine days of training—the cleanest retreat in the world, at full speed. Make it look real."

"Additional note. ...Bait. That is all."

"Right. We'll let it believe it's won."

6:23 p.m. Rei-kun's third move ended, Maru-kun drew back his shield, and the circle turned. Perfect footwork. Even the order we abandoned our gear was perfect. To anyone watching, it was unmistakably a retreat—and we looked like prey on its last legs.

The eye opened wide.

For the first time, the ink-black giant lunged forward with all its strength to pursue—and its core descended to just below its eye.

It had won that way five times. Its certainty ran deep.

"—Everyone, fall back for a moment."

And I spoke to the move I'd been planning half a day ahead.

"Hina-chan. Your turn."

The seventh marker. In line with the retreating circle. Directly in front of the descending core.

The smallest figure had been standing there all along. For the first time, she drew her sword.

The eye didn't follow her. A threat ranked zero didn't register.

Hina-chan stepped back half a pace as she'd been taught. Counted her breaths. Inside her shoes, her toes gripped the floor. Half a step to the left and forward.

Her stance faced front, just like the textbook. The habit was gone. Someone had helped her fix it.

"—Don't underestimate Sensei's fundamentals!!"

One straight thrust.

The slowest strike on the battlefield that day, and the most accurate, pierced the unguarded core.

◇

There was no sound.

The ink dissolved, and I thought the eye looked at me one last time. Out of respect for a fellow practitioner, I bowed my head slightly. I'd known you for three years. You were strong.

6:25 p.m. Combat duration: eleven hours and twenty-seven minutes.

"Report."

"Everyone's standing!"

"Additional note. Zero dead. Zero seriously injured. ...Humanity's first clearing of the Abyss. That is all."

After one second of silence, the comment section burst its banks.

【Zero dead】

【Humanity's first】

【11 hours 27 minutes】

【The last blow came from a girl who was E-rank until recently】

【Every move of the relay was for this... I can't stop shaking】

【Chief Commander Hiiragi Shinichi. That name will go down in history】

Hina-chan dropped her sword, threw herself around Kokoro-chan, and sobbed. Maru-kun set down his shield and roared. Rei-kun and Yagarasu-kun silently bumped fists. Mio-san was already writing something on the page that had been blank last night.

I watched it all and decided not to put it into words. Some numbers are better left out of the log.

I closed my notebook and called roll one last time.

"Your next step?"

"Let's go home." "Home to finish that drink, Pops." "Additional note. Beginning our return. That is all." "Heading home. ...Not a bad sound to it." "Let's go home. Together." "Home for dinner!"

Six voices, wonderfully out of sync.

The best roll call we'd had in eight years.

◇

While we prepared to leave, Hina-chan pointed to the far end of the hall.

On the stone pedestal—it looked almost like an altar—lay a single weathered, leather-bound journal. Bound in a style far older than any of ours. Its first page read:

"The ones who can go beyond this point are not the strongest individuals, but the best group."

An explorer from hundreds of years ago had reached this place and left those words behind. Not the strongest individuals.

I read them aloud. The broadcast carried them to the world.

How would the world above read that sentence?

—We'd find out when we got home.