This is not the date I wanted.

"And who is the boy you are talking about?"

"……Eh?"

Seeing everyone's questioning reactions without any pretense, Erya seemed very shaken.

"You don't remember, young man, Itsuka Shido."

"Itsuka Shido?"

"do not know."

There was no remorse or guilt, and no so-called malice. Everyone was just confused by Erya's questions.

"—!"

The chill spread from the soles of her feet to Erya's entire body, making her feel terrified in an instant.

Since she entered the command room, the crew members' reactions, conversations, and attitudes have made her feel an indescribable sense of disharmony. This disharmony accumulated layer by layer and eventually twisted into an abnormality that was presented to Erya.

The previously scattered and irregular clues are now connected by a cold "silk thread", turning into some kind of guess that appears in Erya's mind.

Thinking of this, Erya's body trembled slightly and his forehead was covered with cold sweat.

"...Hey? I want to ask you a question?"

Swallowing nervously, Erya asked the crew members in a dry voice.

"Do you know... Liang Yi Meng Yue? Or, have you ever heard of an elf codenamed 'Hacker'?"

"Liang Yi Meng Yue? Do you know Gan Ben?"

"I don't know...it shouldn't be the nickname of a nightclub girl."

"The database doesn't have any data on this elf either."

"Meng Yue...the name is a bit similar to my ex-wife."

"Mr. Kawagoe, isn't your ex-wife's name Misako?"

regret.

Ever since Shidou's death, she had regretted her powerlessness countless times.

And now, she still regrets her stupidity.

(Why...it's such a simple thing, but I just realized it now!)

Seeing that everyone still looked confused, Erya gritted his teeth unwillingly.

My worst guess had come true.

22 Erasure, Escape

==============================

"Bili-chan!?"

Rushing into the room where the life support capsule was placed, Erya saw Mengyue sitting on the sofa, intact.

"Hmm? What's wrong, Niya?"

Meng Yue turned to look at Erya and asked puzzledly.

"Huh... Bili-chan? Are you...are you okay?"

Erya looked out of breath and looked at Mengyue in confusion.

"Compared to me, you look worse, don't you? What happened?"

"...No, nothing happened."

After looking at Mengyue's face with an uncertain expression for a long time, Erya finally recovered, breathed a sigh of relief, shook his head, and answered calmly.

"By the way, what are you wearing?"

Erya looked at Mengyue and asked.

Unlike Erya's impression of her, Mengyue was wearing a white coat used by researchers, a pair of black square glasses, and her long hair, a mixture of brown and white, was tied into a high ponytail with a star-shaped headband. Although she no longer had the original heroic spirit, she had gained a more dignified and steady intellectual beauty.

"A mad scientist cosplay?"

"I've seen too much Stone Gate."

Mengyue stretched out her hand and tapped Erya's forehead lightly, explaining helplessly.

"Nothing, I just felt bored for too long, so I tried to change my mood. And I was surprisingly able to concentrate on my work like this."

"Work? Is it the treatment of the elves?"

Erya couldn't help but ask.

"No."

"what is that?"

Meng Yue pointed behind her and gave an intriguing smile.

"Varied--"

Subconsciously looking in the direction Mengyue pointed, Erya couldn't help but hold his breath in surprise.

There was a girl curled up in the life support cabin, sleeping like a baby.

She had skin as white as mutton fat, a figure with almost golden ratio, a delicate face, and long black hair that floated in the culture medium, as beautiful as the deep night.

Of course, this was not the reason why Erya was surprised. The real reason that shocked her was that the girl in the life-support cabin was exactly the same as a girl in Erya's memory.

"Ji-Jiuxiang?"

Erya excitedly called out the other person's name.

The girl in front of him was none other than Yatogami Tohka, who was killed by Mio after fighting with Meng Yue not long ago.

"What, what happened, Bili-chan? Didn't Tohka turn into light and disappear?"

"Well, Tohka's situation is a little different from other spirits. It's not that the spirit crystal is implanted into the human body to become a spirit, but the spirit crystal uses the spirit power to form a body. The soul is not in the brain, but in the spirit crystal."

Meng Yue explained,

"At that time, Tohka was not dead, she just turned into a spirit crystal and fell into my hands. So..."

"So... as long as we create a new body for Tohka, she can be resurrected?"

"That's it."

Seeing Mengyue nodded nonchalantly, Erya's eyes twitched slightly and he couldn't help but ask.

"How did you do it?"

"Well... I won't explain the specific method. Anyway, it's a technology similar to gene cloning that uses a manifestation device. Fortunately, the database here still retains Tohka's physical examination data and blood samples, so I can create a body that completely matches Tohka's spirit crystal."

(Human Transmutation... Sister Cloning Plan...)

"Gulu——"

The terrible lines from the two masterpieces came to his mind, and Erya swallowed his saliva with a grim face.

"Hey... Bili-chan, I can't explain it, but this isn't a good thing... It feels like violating a taboo. Also, why are the others gone?"

Only then did she notice that, except for Tohka, the life support cabins that originally housed other spirits were now empty.

"Could it be that Bili-chan, you——!?"

"how could it be possible!"

Mengyue woke up Erya, who was daydreaming, with a punch.

"I've already told you this in a message. Everyone has regained consciousness. I've arranged for them to be placed in a medical facility above ground. I'm not a fool to sacrifice everyone to save Tohka. How could I do something like this that puts the cart before the horse?"

"it hurts……"

Erya held his head and wailed.

"Well, as you said, this technology is indeed a bit shady."

Meng Yue sighed and explained.

"Using medical display devices, a person's genetic information can be cloned into bone marrow and organs for transplantation, or even the entire body. This is a technology that Westcott developed during the DEM period using human experiments, and was later banned by the board of directors in the name of morality and ethics. It must be said that although Westcott is an incurable scumbag in terms of personality, he is indeed a genius."

"So...you used his technology and spent two weeks to create Tohka's body? Are you a god?"

Erya complained speechlessly.

"Well, it's not as easy as you say. After all, it's an unknown technology, and I have no idea whether it will succeed. So I have been sneaking into the virtual world for a while, using the Sage of the Dawn to conduct simulation experiments continuously. Only after it succeeded a thousand times in a row did I dare to conduct experiments in the real world. I'll calculate the specific time..."

After a brief mental arithmetic, Meng Yue replied calmly.

"About seven or eight years."

"—!"

When Erya heard the number Mengyue said, his pupils suddenly contracted.

Virtual world. Erya had heard of this word before. It was a computer world similar to the "Spiritual Time Room" that could accelerate the mind by using the main computer of Fraxinus.

Now that Mariya and Maruna are gone, the only one who will sneak into the virtual world is Liangyi Mengyue. In other words, Mengyue spent more than seven years alone in an uninhabited world in order to rescue Shixiang.

To be honest, if it were Erya, he would have gone crazy long ago.

Erya couldn't imagine how many attempts Mengyue had made, how many failures she had experienced, and how much effort she had put in to get to this point in the past seven years.

But at this moment, Erya left Mengyue and chose to numb herself with monotonous work.

"Why... didn't you tell me?"

"Because you didn't ask me."

This obvious answer left Erya speechless.

Anger, self-blame, regret... countless emotions intertwined in Erya's mouth and became a bitter taste, making her purse her lips tightly and unable to utter a word.

(I am such a sucker...)

It was not until now that Erya finally realized that he had always said that he wanted to be Mengyue's pillar, but he had never opened his heart to her. He was just afraid of her abnormality and unconsciously drew a line between them. Then he kept being suspicious and doing meaningless things to kill time, and then told himself that he was trying so that he could feel at ease.

(But...even so.)

"Well, although she successfully fused with the spirit crystal, Tohka is now unable to use spirit energy and angels like before. Her body will age naturally, and her life span should be about the same as a normal person."

But this is also good, Meng Yue replied with a slightly bitter smile.

"Hey... Meng Yue."

Finally, Erya squeezed out a hoarse voice from his throat.

"…I have a few things I want to ask you."

"What? Tell me?"

"Mana... the boy's biological sister. I accidentally found her here before. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Ah... Really."

Hearing Erya's question, Mengyue thought for a moment and slowly answered,

"I can't remember the details. But it seems that before I assassinated Westcott, Mana was also seeking revenge on DEM. She killed all the DEM members without any discrimination. When I found her, she was covered with wounds due to excessive use of the manifestation device, so I subdued her and took her to the life support cabin for treatment."

"That's it..."

After muttering softly, Erya looked at Mengyue and continued to ask.

"Hey... Bili-chan. I actually have a question. Even if we successfully separate the spirit crystals and recover everyone from the reversal, it does not mean that the heartache caused by the boy's death can be healed. When they wake up, will they collapse because they can't bear the blow?"

"..."

In this regard, Meng Yue remained silent. Although she did not answer, this reaction undoubtedly told Erya that Meng Yue had thought about this issue before.

Erya skipped the question and continued.

"Bili-chan, after I arrived at the airship today, something strange happened."

"..."

"Fraxinus suddenly announced its disbandment, and everyone's reaction was a bit too cold. They also said nonsense like Kannozuki was the commander of the airship and that they didn't know the boy or Bilijiang."

"..."