...Is it something that makes people uncomfortable? Maybe it’s filled with slurs or lewd phrases—things you’d never say out loud.
“But hey, we can’t read it anyway, so it doesn’t really matter, right?”
“I hope that’s true.”
Suddenly, a ringing sound pierced my ears.The letters were producing pressure—like sound itself.
The letters floating in the sky... they were alive.
The sound grew stronger and stronger.I pressed my ears shut and lifted my head slightly to check on the others.
Even Ululu had both hands over his ears, eyes tightly shut.
The two Harvesters had looks of distaste on their faces, as if saying, “Ugh, I hate this,”but neither turned their gaze nor moved a muscle.
“What the hell are those letters?!”
I shouted, as if trying to shake the ringing out of my head.
The Harvester turned toward me, his sharply chiseled face illuminated by the growing brightness of the second line.
“That second line, which stands out to you and me—it’s mirrored text. I can’t tell you what it says.You’ll have to decipher it yourself now, or try again in the next world.”
“What about mine?” Aochi shouted.So he’d been hearing it too.
“Yours is written in sand. It gets blown away by the wind and rewritten again and again, doesn’t it?”
“What about mine?” Oomi asked.Of course he’d be curious too.
“The fifth line is stone text. Not engraved in stone, but letters carved into the sky by the stones themselves.That should give you a clue about Silent-chan’s line, right?”
“There’s no way I’d know.”
“It’s water. Her letters keep flowing through the sky.”
I had a swirl of questions about what the sky was even made of, but Rhone cut in before I could speak.
“Mine’s fire. The letters are constantly being scorched, so even I can’t see them clearly. But that kind of thing—don’t you find it thrilling?”
He always gets excited about the weirdest things.
“Mamoru really is incredible, being able to see all of them. Maybe he could even read the remaining five lines.”
“There’s more?”
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The Harvester nodded proudly as he patted Mamoru’s head.
Mamoru didn’t seem bothered by the ringing at all. Maybe because he’s a ghost.
“Yeah. God has ten kinds of letters. He speaks in countless combinations of them.Right now, he’s using five that are easier to see for the people here.”
“What’s the point if we can’t read them?”
The Harvester stood instead of answering.
“You all stay down. Glasses, take care of Mamoru.”
“Wait—where are you going?”
The moment he said not to get up, I almost chased after him.
“Oze-kun, listen to him. I’m going too,” Rhone said,springing up from the cold floor and following the Harvester.
Is this when the letters finally attack?
“Everyone, close the gaps. Let’s hold hands,” Aochi said, taking mine.
That’s right—we got through the memory fog by holding hands too.
As I watched the Harvesters walk toward the bow with sharp, echoing steps, the sky suddenly grew bright.
Were the letters glowing brighter?
I looked up—and saw five massive triangles hanging in the sky.Equilateral, isosceles, obtuse, acute... all sorts of triangles were pressing down in place of the five lines.
To me, every triangle looked like it was glowing a neutral white.The second one, as expected, was especially blinding.I wondered if the others saw it differently.
The “gyuun gyuun” noise in my ears kept intensifying.
Could this be the voice of God, speaking directly into my ear?
The thought made my blood drain like I’d fallen from a high place.
What is it? What’s he saying?
“...Come...”
Huh? The noise made it hard to catch.
“Come back!”
The voice sounded like a speaker turned up too loud, distorted and crackling. I turned my face away from the sky.
“Please... come back...”
Come back where?!The repeated words in my ear were unbearable.I lifted my head to look toward the Harvester, hoping for help.
He was looking back at me—with a sorrowful expression.
“...Eh?”
The next moment, I caught sight of his hand,just after he looked away from me and back at the sky,and let out a small gasp.
A mirrored shield?From his right hand, a massive shield had emerged—large enough to easily cover three Harvesters.
The triangles in the sky began to tremble.He was reflecting the words back at them with that shield.
I had no idea where it came from or how he was holding it with one arm.
And then something even more shocking happened.
The triangles, which I’d assumed were flat, became three-dimensional.They rotated, groaning in distress.
Hey... we didn’t just piss off God, did we?
Suddenly, every triangle turned its sharp corners toward us.
…Yep. Definitely pissed him off.
“Everyone, huddle up!”
There was no lying around anymore.We leapt up and clung to each other like a single creature.
Maybe that’s what God was aiming for all along?The thought flashed through my mind for a moment.
“Oze-san, look!”
Oomi, his head resting on my shoulder, shouted.
I turned to the sky.
...It’s over.
I saw the triangles flying at us all at once.
I turned my face away—and then came a cold, metallic “clink.”I didn’t even need to look.I could picture it clearly: Rhone slicing through the triangle.
I turned back just to confirm it.
Of course—there he was,cutting down the next triangle cleanly in half.
With a silver sword extending from his palm.
The sharp, slicing sound rang out four more times in the blink of an eye,and by the time I took my next breath, there was nothing left in the air.
“You better take responsibility.”
Rhone said with a cheerful smile that didn’t match his words at all.
“I cut off God’s words. He’s probably furious.No—he doesn’t get angry. He’s disappointed.Either way, there’s no way I can go back into his body without consequences. What are you gonna do about it?”
The Harvester, who had just stored away the mirrored shield—a moment I, unfortunately, missed—responded without even looking at Rhone, clearly annoyed.
“I didn’t ask you to.”
He muttered and started walking back into the ship.
“Wait up. We’re stuck together now, forever, aren’t we?”
Rhone skipped after him, and we followed.