Chapter 319 - What Rika Saw

The sight of a Japanese girl in a school uniform, with her torso ripped open and metal wires spilling out, was probably not the best way of revisiting an old friend. But Saki didn’t care as she ran up to Rika, who was propped up on a rack due to her limbs, save for the right arm, being torn off.

“Rika-chan!”

“Saki-chan? Douyatte iru no?”

Saki embraced her friend tightly, tears in her eyes. And then, an exchange of Japanese followed, nothing of which I could understand with my limited otaku speech.

“Uhhh, translation please?”

“Wait, just one moment. Let me switch the settings to the English option,” Katalina replied, typing furiously on her holographic keyboard. It was surprising to see how quickly she adapted to technology, incorporating such techniques into her magic crafting.

With a ping, the Rika robot stiffened for a moment to reboot, before perking up again.

“What do you mean that you’re happy to see me? Don’t you remember, how I tried to kill you?”

Saki backed away in confusion as Rika, now in English, dropped a bomb on all of us. Rika looked around at the three of us in the room. Her face shifted, like someone who had realized that no one else knew of the secret she spoke of.

“Perhaps, you should start explaining what you mean by that.”

I brandished my knife, watching to make sure that there was no ill intent directed toward Saki. Even with no legs and only one arm, I half-expected some kind of laser beam or something to fire from her.

Saki just stared at her friend, not sure of how to respond. But after a few deep breaths, she walked forward.

“You must have had some reason for it. After all, I betrayed you first. I think that it’s time that I face the truth. Tell me, what really happened after we both fell from that hole. No matter what I do, I can’t remember. All I know is that I woke up as a summoned person in another world. But then, you’re here as well, so I can’t wrap my head around what is even happening…”

Rika bit her lip. Even with her being an android, her expressions seemed so human-like. The hesitation, the doubt, they were displayed on a face that was synthetic. There was no wonder Saki couldn’t tell at all that she wasn’t human.

“Very well. The fault lies in me as well, for not telling you the purpose of this site, the place you indeed called home once.”

“The purpose of this site? You mean, this isn’t Tokyo?”

“It is a model of the original Tokyo, made to suit your growth. To raise Apostles to a certain degree before sending them off to do the bidding of the Divine Beings. But to you, it is no different than home.”

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A lone girl woke up in a solitary room with a terminal, her eyes lighting up for the first time ever. Instantly, she knew what she was: a creation constructed with the intention of guiding a designated target toward a path of growth.

She looked down at her body, clothing in a school uniform. Even though she knew it was all artificial, the feel of possessing a body that moved with her thoughts was an enriching experience. She spent several moments looking at herself upon a reflective surface, seeing the face of a charming middle school girl.

She knew that her target, Saki Himejima, would take an instant liking to her. The terminal behind her made sure to input all the data needed to align with Saki’s tastes. She would be the perfect companion to a girl that sunk under the pressures of society, fading from existence.

Normally, an ‘Apostle’ was given free rein to grow within one’s established environment. But when results dipped below a certain threshold, ‘agents’ were often employed specifically to correct that trajectory.

This city, one of many constructed by the Divine Beings, gave an Apostle purpose until ready for departure. And as such, everyone that lived in its boundaries were artificial, save for that single entity. It was unique, tailored by the gods, and nurtured for that very reason.

When Rika Saionji, her given name, first caught sight of the girl named Saki, the current incarnation of the Apostle of Attack, it was clear why she was sent.

The atmosphere around the girl was frigid, like as if a ghost sat there. All the other students actively avoided her. They shunned her and created this zone of isolation. And throughout the years, Saki had simply let them.

The girl before Rika felt like a hollow shell, simply existing. The data on her revealed no lofty ambitions, no strong preferences to her own life. It was like she didn’t care if she died right then and there. Even Rika had more purpose despite it being provided for her.

In a way, Saki resembled a doll sitting upon a shelf. Perhaps, it was the programming given to her, but Rika wanted to reach out and play with such a person. To have her not remain as nothing more than a decoration that others showed no favor for.

“Hey, that’s cute. Aren’t those the headphones from that one show? You know, the one that Kumi wears in ‘Superlative Sextuplets’?”

Using the database of information on Saki, a relationship began where Rika became close friends with Saki and drew her out of inactivity.

A person who was destined to become a ‘hero’ needed self-ambition and dreams. A light post to guide oneself and motivate actions taken. If Saki merely drifted about with no real aim, then Rika would be the goal for Saki to move towards.

They spent years together. All the while, Rika knew the secret feelings Saki possessed for her. The way Saki shone with cheerfulness. The way they gently held hands. Sleepovers with Saki snuggled up to her. It was love at first sight. Fitting entirely within expectations.

And Rika was fine with that. It was her mission after all. To become the pillar for Saki’s inner strength. There were even times where she wanted to indulge herself, but society had been built up in a peculiar way. Even if they were special entities in this artificial world, the ‘fake people’ inhabiting this place ran under their own norms. Not even the powerful terminal could realign such preferences.

Those years were nonetheless blissful, even to the fake heart that Rika possessed. But things always seemed to change when they were at their best.

Saki Himejima was growing of age. The terminal had decided that she had progressed far enough to be harvested. And at that first notification shortly after the beginning of high school, Rika became conflicted with her mission for the first time.

Saki had to die, her soul held in stasis until called upon by a hero summon. But Rika had found herself attached to her. Sometimes, she wondered if it hadn’t been better if her ‘fake heart’ were purely mechanical, rather than a simulated personality conveniently chosen to be implanted into this core.

Given the conflict of her feelings and her given mission, she found a need to distance herself from Saki, to lessen the pain of the eventual separation.

“Suou, go out with me. Let’s have some fun together,” she approached the rumored playboy one day.

“Isn’t that a surprise? I thought you and that Saki chick were an item or something.”

“Please, I like her fine enough, but what I need is a bit ‘different’. Wouldn’t you like to give it a try?”

Lies – Rika was good at making them. She knew perfectly well how dishonest Suou was. The laundry list of girl’s hearts that he had crushed made that clear. But perhaps, he was the exact person needed to make her lose such emotions that were held for Saki.

Even as Suou toyed with her and sullied her, Rika only found it just, as punishment for future intentions. She kept herself from Saki, drowning in acts that betrayed her feelings, hoping that the deluge of depravity would somehow sink her affections to the very bottom where she couldn’t reach it.

And she also knew it too.

That Suou would eventually betray her – toss her aside like she was nothing and set his sights on another. How she wished that her feelings could be discarded so simply as well.

Of course, Suou went after Saki next. That betrayal would be the perfect trigger to end her life at. The bitterness of being powerless to save her friend and suffer the consequences, while twisted, gave Saki the regret needed to unlock her powers after being summoned.

Rika stared at the horrified face of her friend, biting back any words. She couldn’t rescue her. It had been all her plan after all. She cursed the gods silently instead, wondering why she had to be given such a role. She hated the very existence that she was created to be.

But then, red splattered on the face of the girl that her heart tried to grow cold to. And moments later, Suou’s body buckled to the ground, writhing in pain. Before anyone else could react, Saki pounced upon the other two boys, Suou’s friends, and smashed them with a heavy iron pipe.

Saki’s thin arms, delicate from hardly doing any sports, should not have been able to swing such a thing so easily. However, the aura around her instantly told Rika how she had overcome such a hurdle. The purple glow in her eyes made Rika freeze.

‘Impossible! She has awakened?!’

Normally, an Apostle’s powers were sealed, giving one the chance to blend in as a normal person. Such abilities were unneeded while in a controlled environment.

But Saki’s anger, her will to save her friend – it had broken that seal somehow. And now, Saki ambled forward, able to deliver ‘justice’ to the fiends that harmed them.

Rika had failed in her mission. She had to personally slay her to harvest her soul!

A quick glance behind gave her one idea. Feigning that she was afraid of her friend’s new state, she slowly backpedaled until there was only air to step upon.

“RIKA-CHAN!!!”

Saki’s scream echoed throughout the room, and it gave Rika the confidence that Saki would follow wherever she went. A fall from this height was fatal, even for an Apostle with newly awoken powers.

That was how it should have ended. The system would have taken care of the rest, and Rika’s job would finally be over. But then…

“How did you survive…?”

Saki hadn’t given up, even with metal stabbed into her body. A normal person wouldn’t have had the strength to pull away from a metal rod that stabbed cleanly through her torso. A normal person wouldn’t have the endurance to crawl over with broken legs. Saki collapsed right before her, clutching her hand while struggling to breath.

“Why? Why didn’t you just die…?”

Rika sat up and petted Saki on the head.

“You ruined my plans, you know? To find some convenient way to be rid of you.” Rika’s voice grew shaky. She grabbed a sharp piece of debris and held it over Saki. “All this time, I just didn’t want to be the one to do it. B-Because… I hate you, Saki. You ruined my purpose.”

Lies. More lies. But she would say them until the very end. There was no need for mercy with this cruel fate. Rika brought the shard down toward Saki’s bare neck.

But then, her hand was stopped; Saki had grabbed her wrist. Her head tilted up with glowing eyes, power emanating from them. An expression of darkness clouded her face, like she had just lost everything. With a simple tug, Rika’s left arm was torn off, fake blood spewed out, and thin metal wires hung from the socket where her arm once was.

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“Your power fully awoke at that point, and there was no choice but to kill you. But even with your body hurt so badly, I was hardly a match. You chased me, all around the city, laying waste to it in your rampage. A single swing of your fist could level an entire building, and as a result, this city became the ruins that you see now.”

Saki clenched her eyes shut, trying to recall such a past. But nothing came to her. Part of her couldn’t believe that Rika’s betrayal had led to her going berserk and destroying her home.

“Eventually, I was able to deal a fatal blow, but not until I became the state that you see before me. And that is why, I am prepared. For you to deal the final blow. End my existence, Saki. I don’t deserve to be with you. Everything I did, it was for the sake of preparing you to become a summoned being.”

Some of us murmured all throughout the story, realizing a few key things that opened our eyes to the very concept of Electi.

I stepped between the two of them, with one major question that needed to be answered.

“Tell us, Rika. Please. Are all of us Electi, us summoned beings – are we all raised in a similar manner?” I looked over to Katalina as she quickly typed on her computer to take in all this information

“Yes. The very homes that you experienced were nothing more than fabrications. Conveniences, if you will.”

It was a hard pill to swallow. The fact that we were never isekai-ed to begin with. Our previous lives, our memories, the people we knew and loved – illusions for the sake of raising each of us. My view of the Divine Beings took a nosedive, now seeing them as puppet masters stringing us along for their whims. I had gotten inklings of it in the past, but not until now did such a conspiracy theory seem believable.

“But then, what do the gods want with us? Are we just some tools to change the world?”

“That, I cannot say. I was never told much more than their purpose as Apostles.” Rika shook her head in resignation. Her eyes begged for no more. She needed no more hatred directed at her before her existence was extinguished. She turned toward Saki, silently asking her to complete a task that had been stalled for over 600 years.

But then, Katalina interrupted the room. “That would wrap things up quite nicely if what you had told us was the truth.”

We perked up at this sudden accusation, but Katalina simply smiled as she brought up some screens. Recorded video footage of the events played out a bit differently at the end, not lining up with how Rika ended the story.

“How did you-”

“I figured out how to break through the defenses inscribed in the terminal files. You didn’t think that everyone would just take you word for it, did you?”

“There’s my ‘Super Hacker’!” I complimented Katalina. During the story, she was secretly prying open the hidden files that the terminal was holding out on.

“Looks like there’s a few details altered in your little drama. How about we fix those before Miss Saki decides what to do with you?”

The look of astonishment on Rika’s face felt truly human in that moment.