Chương 53: Worldline α: The Grand Wash

I threw myself straight into the dead-center of the tempest. From my right, the "red noise" of rage emitted by Saigo Takamori, and from my left, the "blue noise" of rejection blasted by Katsura Kogoro locked onto me, threatening to crush my very bones with pure physical pressure. My skin prickled with sharp pain, and the static threatened to burst my eardrums.

"Ugh... guuuh...!" Using the bamboo sword as a makeshift cane, I forced myself forward, one agonizing step at a time. I was terrified. My legs wanted to buckle. But there was no running away. Behind me, RYOMA and the other heroes were burning through their own operational lifespans—their very data—just to buy me these precious few seconds. 『■■■■■!! (Vanish, you insect!) 』 Saigo's massive, boulder-like arm swung out, aiming to swat me into oblivion.

"Look at me!!" I brought the shinai up, forcefully catching his monstrous forearm. Creeeeak...! The bamboo shrieked under the pressure. My skeletal frame groaned. Yet, I refused to yield even a single millimeter. I stared straight back into Saigo's hollow eyes.

"Look at me, Saigo Takamori! I am not noise! I am not an insect!... I am a human being!" Saigo's titanic movement frozen instantly. Seizing that split second of hesitation, I spun around and screamed at Katsura on the opposite side.

"And that goes for you too, Katsura-san! Stop plugging your ears! Don't turn on noise-canceling just to hide inside your own shell!... Are you really that terrified?! Is it truly that scary to admit that someone else is different from you?!" 『●●●●●...... (Incomprehensible... Illogical...) 』 Katsura's frozen, icy eyes trembled violently. They were profoundly shaken by the fact that the "anomaly" standing right before them—this weak, fragile human—was desperately trying to communicate something to their souls.

In their corrupted vision, I was supposed to be a mere glitch. But this glitch was too desperate. Too fiercely hot.

"Kataru...! Now's the time, get down!!" RYOMA's roar thundered from behind. He had thrown himself off the deck of the Irohamaru, executing a tight, spiraling corkscrew through the air as he leveled his Link Gun—loaded with its absolute last cell of energy. His target wasn't Saigo. Nor was it Katsura. It was pointed directly at the dead-center between them—straight at me.

"Wait... what?!"

"You've gotta become the 'knot'! Let your heart flood straight into those two stubborn fools!" Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. The exact millisecond RYOMA's strategy clicked in my brain, I tossed the bamboo sword aside and flung both of my arms wide open. That's right. I am a Translator. If I can act as the filter, their broken static will be compiled back into a language! BAM!! The projectile of condensed light struck me square in the chest.

There was zero physical pain. Instead, a wave of blinding brilliance completely saturated my field of vision. The entire world turned a flawless, spotless white. The howling digital noise, the viscous black mud, the rabid wolves of the Shinsengumi—everything vanished. It was an infinite, peaceful white space stretching into eternity. High above, clouds shaped like freshly washed linen floated lazily across the sky, bathed in a gentle, warm sunlight.

The unique systemic sub-routine deployed by RYOMA: [Telepathic Space: The Laundry].

"... Where... am I...?"

"... What has... become of me...?" Standing directly in front of me were the two men. Their terrifying armors of weaponised digital noise had completely melted away. On one side stood a colossal giant of a man with thick eyebrows and massive, gentle eyes—Saigo Takamori, looking utterly bewildered. On the other side was an elegant, sharp man with deeply intelligent, analytical eyes—Katsura Kogoro. The moment they looked each other in the face, they gasped in collective shock.

The illusions of the "red beast" and the "blue demon" that had blinded them moments ago were gone, revealing nothing but their raw, organic human selves.

"... Saigo-don," Katsura murmured. His voice was no longer a glass-shattering screech.

"... Katsura-sa," Saigo responded gently, his tone stripped of the bass-heavy static. I stood right between them. From my chest, twin cables of glowing light extended outward, hard-wiring themselves directly into their hearts. The raw, unfiltered emotions flowing through my own soul were being seamlessly shared with them. —I'm scared. —I'm so lonely. —I want to trust someone. —But I'm terrified of being betrayed again.

Those were my own vulnerabilities, but they were also the exact, hidden truths that both of these titans had buried deep within their chests.

"... Can you hear it?" I spoke softly to them both.

"This is the sound of the other person's heart.... The thing you were so terrified of wasn't a monster. It's a human being just like you—weak, fragile, and afraid." Saigo slowly covered his face with his massive hands.

"... I was terrified. After losing so many of my comrades in the Kinmon Incident... I closed off my heart, believing I could never trust a single soul again. That was why every word out of Katsura-sa's mouth sounded like a lethal trap to me." Katsura tightly bit his lower lip.

"... And I was simply impatient. I convinced myself that only Choshu was righteous, that I alone possessed the vision for the future... I was thoroughly drunk on my own self-absorbed justice. The truth is, Saigo-don... I envied your raw heat." The ice cracked. True synchronization was achieved. The suffocating "mud of division" that had cloaked their parameters was being scrubbed completely spotless by the radiant white light of RYOMA's sub-routine.

"... Kataru-dono." Saigo offered me a deep, respectful bow.

"Thanks to you, my eyes have finally opened.... Must have hurt terribly. You have my deepest apologies."

"... You are a truly fascinating man," Katsura added, a faint, genuine smile gracing his lips.

"You said you hailed from the far future.... Are all the future people of Japan as deeply kind as you?"

"... We're kind, we're weak, but we give it everything we've got," I replied with a small smile. Saigo and Katsura turned to face one another. There were no longer any firewalls or emotional walls dividing them. Saigo slowly extended his thick, calloused right hand. Katsura looked at it for a fraction of a second, then reached out and gripped it with absolute conviction.

[The Satsuma-Choshu Alliance: Formed] In that magnificent instant, the pristine white world was consumed by a torrential dawn of golden light, bursting wide open.