Chapter 7:

Amending Rancour

Silver Heart


I tied up the last trash bag tightly and placed it along with a few others. They weren’t that big so in the end, I had to use four bags…

All the bottles, cans, clothes, and everything else have been picked up from the ground. When was the last time I had cleaned this place…?

I moved in four years ago… I must have cleaned once every few months…

I sat on the black couch and relaxed my body. I was sweating all over. I forgot cleaning is a lot of work. All this work for a visit by Mana… what a waste of effort, but it's better this way than to let her see my mess of an apartment.

I grabbed two trash bags, one in each hand, and went over to the door. I opened it and prepared to go throw out the trash, when Mana was suddenly there, her hand already extended to ring the doorbell, a sports bag over her shoulder, and Akihiro behind her.

“Oh… I was just throwing some trash away…” I said to Mana.

“I can see that… that’s a lot of trash,” she said as she looked over my shoulder to see a few more bags, “Akihiro was right…”

“I was just… tidying up…”

“I guess tonight hell has frozen over…” Akihiro said from behind Mana.

I sighed and stepped aside, signaling the two of them to come in. I told them to make themselves comfortable while I throw away the trash bags, but before I could leave, Mana told me to wait and walked to me with the remaining two bags. She insisted on helping, so the two of us walked to the elevator. Beside it, was a trash shoot where we could throw everything in.

We went back to the apartment and saw Akihiro pouring himself some tea with a kettle of mine… But I don’t have tea here…

“Aren’t you making yourself a bit too comfortable?”

“I knew you would have nothing to offer in terms of drinks, so I brought some tea bags myself.”

I placed my left hand on my forehead, rubbing it slightly, and told Mana to sit on the black couch. I sat beside her and told Akihiro to bring a chair over since there was no other place for him to sit.

He complied, though not without voicing his objections about being a guest.

Besides the chair I asked for, he had brought over three glasses. One glass already had some tea, he handed that one to Mana and poured himself tea soon afterward. He grabbed the last glass and poured some water, handing it to me.

“So,” I started talking, “why are you here?” I said to Akihiro.

“Sorry,” Mana responded, “I asked him to come since there was something I needed to show him.”

“It's fine, you don’t need to apologize. I was just wondering.”

“What did you want to talk about, Mana?”

“I… wanted to put the past behind me…” she said as she lowered her gaze to the floor.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve already said this before, but Erity, I’m truly sorry for my actions up until now. I hated you for something that was just…. It’s difficult…”

“Take your time explaining. And I never really said this, but it's impressive that you managed to put your feelings aside…”

“Thank you. I… Can I ask you for a favor?” Mana asked as she looked at me with a sad gaze.

“If it's something I can do, then of course.”

“Could you listen to the story behind my old hatred? I want you to remember them…”

“If it brings you closure then I will.”

“You’ve changed you know?” Mana said to me, “what do you think Akihiro?”

“Erity… I don’t know… I feel like she was always this way. Cold to anyone she first meets, even colder to those she dislikes, yet kind to those who she is acquainted with.”

“Kind?” I said

“You don’t think you are?” Mana asked me.

“I… Everything I’ve done is just basic human decency. Helping someone who asks kindly, treating people the same way they treat you, saying thank you when someone gives you something… it's all the same to me. I’m not kind…at all.”

“Is that so…?” Akihiro asked softly, his right hand on his chin.

“Then I’m curious about what happened back then… If you remember… will you tell me your side of the story?”

“I will.”

“Thank you. Ten years ago… back at the orphanage, we were given a test,” Mana started, her eyes lowered and lifeless. “The test consisted of forming groups of three at random and fighting holographic enemies in endless waves to see how much we could hold them off. The top team would gain an enormous amount of points, necessary to buy everything at the orphanage. Clothing, food, a job… You were placed in a group with Yukako and Mieko, two girls my age who I was best friends with. Yukako had shoulder-length brown hair with a mole under her right eye. Mieko had long luscious red hair and at the time a metallic hand… do they sound familiar?”

“...The situation does…” I said as I closed my eyes, trying to imagine the situation, “Yukako and Mieko… I can recall something… if you tell me more, I might be able to fully recall.”

“...Mieko and Yukako wanted to work as security guards, along with me. We had promised each other we would guard the home that so graciously took us in… Then that test arrived… It was a great chance for all of us. If we managed to claim a high-ranking spot, we would have been well on our way. The three of you were doing so well. Mieko and Yukako had your back, though most of the time, you guarded theirs,” Mana said, slightly laughing, “but somewhere along the line, the test changed. The three of you had reached wave ten… And you were all told to shoot each other. It was a situation that considered if someone would betray CLEAR and if the others would still be able to shoot no matter what... Mieko and Yukako couldn’t of course. They hugged one another to show each other they wouldn’t do anything, but they were… shot in the back by you…”

“...ah…” I said softly. I do remember something like that….

“Why did you shoot?” Mana said, holding on to her tears.

“There are a few reasons,” I started, looking back at that day. “One, if I remember correctly, if we didn’t shoot each other until one remained, we would all get last place. The penalty for last place… was being a test subject for an experiment they deemed ‘dangerous’ along with getting sent to the lower levels… I’m afraid of that place. It holds memories I would rather forget about… My second reason is that someone asked me to… They were in a bad position, failing constantly. Their body was already more cyborg than human. They were scared and asked me to save them… in the end, they ended up failing the very next test… it was worthless and useless…”

“...I… understand,” Mana said as she turned away from me and wiped her eyes with the white shirt she was wearing.

I stood up and went over to the kitchen cabinets. Rummaging around, I managed to find an unopen tissue box. Tearing it open, I walked to Mana and handed it to her.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” I said monotonously.

I could have expressed my empathy more…

I left her alone for a while longer, unsure of what to do while her back was turned away. After a bit of waiting, she turned around again, her eyes puffy. She remained silent.

“...Can I… Is it okay if I ask why Akihiro is here?” I said.

“I wanted him to see that I finally let everything go…”

“And you’ve done great. Your absolutely wonderful Mana,” Akihiro said.

“That grin on your face, it’s… maybe not the best time to grin gleefully, Akihiro.”

“Am I doing it again?”

“It's a bad habit of his…” Mana said slightly smiling.

“More like a personality trait of his,” I finished, smiling a bit myself.

“Very funny… its good to see that you two are besties now.”

“There’s still something I want to ask,” I said with my eyes on Mana.

“If I can also ask one more question,” she said, her smile fading. “If you had the opportunity to redo that situation, would you choose something else instead of shooting them in the back?”

“I– it's hard to say… If I could have done something differently, it would be probably to teach the person, who asked me to betray Mieko and Yukako, how to aim or fight hand-to-hand…”

“...That’s good to hear…”

“My turn then. You said you wanted Akihiro to see you’ve let everything go, but why him specifically?”

“Because if it wasn’t for him, I would still hate you.”

“Let me guess then…” I said, turning to face Akihiro, “he was verbally abusing you until you cracked and then gave you some advice.”

“You don’t have to make me sound like some demon,” Akihiro voiced his objection. “I did say some mean things… yes… but I didn’t do it until she broke, I gave her an ultimatum. If she won a competition between the two of you, I would resign my position to her, allowing her to be closer to her revenge. If she lost, she would have to try and move on.”

“Remember that time at the party where we talked privately?”

“I remember. Soon after Mythical attacked and we had to fight.”

“I said how I wanted to challenge you, remember that too?”

“Yes, but you never did say what the challenge was.”

“The challenge was originally to fight against endless waves of enemies in a simulation, like that test ten years ago. Akihiro was the one that suggested it, saying something along the lines of ‘you can either wait until an opportunity to challenge her naturally comes, like at the monthly meetings, or an intruder or whatever, or challenge her whenever and fight in a simulation.’ In the end, taking out the most intruders was the challenge I decided upon. I had a security tablet and EMP pistol on me and went around defeating intruders.”

“You defeated five, I defeated seven…”

“Yeah… Akihiro told me that my hate was nothing more than something that burdened my growth, and everyone around me and that I was just a little girl. When I fought those intruders, there was one with cybernetic arms like me, but they could electrify their opponents, which ended up destroying a Cyber you sent to scout. I was nearly killed by them and the other intruders that shot at me. Nearly killed by my will to take revenge… Back then, I thought it was stupid to hate you. Yukako and Mieko wouldn’t want me killed for their sake.”

“And when she realized that, she called me to the hospital that same night after she regained consciousness,” Akihiro added. “She asked me for tips on how to fix your relationship.”

“You truly broke me…” Mana said whilst chuckling a little. She placed her hand on her mouth quickly and went silent.

Something rang and vibrated in her pocket. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She looked at the screen for a few seconds and then slightly grinned. Her eyes seemed lonely.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“Just confirmation. There was a traitor at my locale. She talked about Mieko and Yukako, which reminded me I never really told you why I hated you. She insinuated they were alive, but with this, I now know she was lying,” she said as she showed us her screen.

Message from Isao:

Yukako - 283919 status: dead

Mieko - 850284 status: dead

“That also reminds me… Erity… be careful,” she said, almost unsure about her words.

“What do you mean?”

“That same traitor said that you will break at the hands of MINX, whatever or whoever that is.”

“Break? By MINX? Not Mythical or that black Expansion Suit?” Akihiro asked.

Meanwhile, I remained indifferent.

“I don’t know. But please be careful.”

“I will. By the way…,” I continued, “what’s up with that sports bag you brought with you?”

“Some personal belongings of mine. I’m going to sleep here,” Mana said, not asking but saying as if it was a fact.

“...” I remained silent and just sighed.

“If everything is done here, I’ll be going,” Akihiro said, a wide smile on his face.

“Follow me…” I said as I grabbed Mana’s sports bag. “How do you want to do this, I sleep on the couch, you sleep on the couch, or do we both sleep in the bed?”

“I’ll let you decide, host,” she said with a bright laugh.

It looked good on her…

“By the way, what is this?” she said as she grabbed the phoenix pendant I had placed on a kitchen counter.

“An apology gift from someone I don’t trust.”

“Did you get it checked out for spyware?”

“Isao did for me. There’s nothing wrong with it so don’t worry.”

“Then you should wear it, it looks cute,” she said as she placed the necklace in my hand

I sighed and slightly smiled.

“I’ll wear it, I’ll wear it.”