By Zephyria 
“Ophelia?”
It wasn’t a question about her name, but rather what she was.
I was annoyed thinking about how I almost died on the way here, but I held it in as much as possible. After all, she might know a way to heal Aska.
Just then, Aska helped me up and brushed the snow off my clothes. The string on the sleeve had come loose when I was rolling around, so I held out my hand to Aska and asked Ophelia,
“Where is this? Not just the general area, but the exact location.”
I clearly saw the world collapsing like peeling skin on the way here, and black smoke seeping through the cracks. Moreover, the smoke even chased us as if it had a will of its own.
“Somewhere around the boundary? I don’t know the exact location either.”
Aska had also mentioned the boundary earlier. Was she talking about the boundary of the world? The talk about rags also came to mind.
“Originally, you have to pass through numerous ritual gates to come here. In the first place, those with a physical body can’t even come. So, I used a shortcut, which is why it was dangerous, so don’t be too annoyed.”
“……”
I thought I was hiding my emotions as much as possible, but it seemed like she saw through everything. Aska, who had finished tidying up my clothes, finally looked at Ophelia and asked,
“Why did you appear in Kyle’s consciousness? You hardly ever came to me.”
“You two know each other?”
It sounded like that from her tone, but Aska shook his head. Ophelia looked back and forth between us with her clear, glass-like blue eyes and said,
“I was originally going to go to you, but I got confused.”
“Confused?”
Aska frowned, and Ophelia nodded.
“Right now, the two of you are practically one and the same. The rules are confusing, so how am I supposed to distinguish you?”
Rules? What rules all of a sudden? What on earth was she talking about? Aska also looked like he couldn’t understand what she was saying at all. Ophelia smiled as she looked at us.
“Let’s move to a different place first. It’s too cold here.”
With that, we followed behind Ophelia, who took the lead. She hadn’t even taken a few steps before she said something meaningful.
“If someone calls your name or anything, don’t answer. And don’t go if they beckon you to come. Just follow behind me.”
I couldn’t even ask what would happen if we did. I had already experienced so many unbelievable things that I couldn’t even think that it was nonsense.
“Should I give you a piggyback ride?”
Aska whispered softly in my ear.
“Why all of a sudden?”
“I feel like you’re the type to turn around if someone calls you.”
What did he think of me? Of course, if I were alone, I might have been curious enough to do so. But since I was with Aska, there was no reason to take the risk. Aska’s safety was more important than my curiosity.
“If I carry you on my back, I can run away quickly even if you happen to turn around.”
“……”
I couldn’t help but seriously consider his added words. I wasn’t planning on turning around or answering at all, but since he was offering to give me a piggyback ride, I wondered if there was any need to refuse.
I was about to nod, wanting to just get on his back and rub against him, when Ophelia muttered,
“He’s a unique one.”
Ophelia, who had been staring at me, turned around completely and smacked her lips with an awkward expression.
“Usually, when I say something like that, they get scared or really nervous.”
I frowned at her words, which I couldn’t understand the meaning of. And then, I asked, just in case.
“Are you lying?”
“Rather than lying, it’s more like a joke. Relax.”
“I wasn’t nervous.”
What was she, really? It wasn’t funny or interesting.
“After seeing that earlier, you’re not scared at all?”
“What? The black smoke?”
“You saw that?”
“……?”
What was she talking about since earlier? I even doubted if we were having a conversation about the same topic. As I tilted my head, Ophelia suddenly approached me abruptly.
It was such a fast movement that I couldn’t even react, and Aska pulled my arm towards him. Ophelia stroked her chin and observed me for a long time before muttering,
“It’s strange to say that his thinking is flexible in this case……”
Just then, the snow beneath our feet suddenly began to melt. I closed and opened my eyes once, and we were standing in the middle of a forest with lush trees. It was much easier to breathe in the warm and refreshing air.
“Your head is a little broken, isn’t it?”
Ophelia, who asked the question to herself and came to a conclusion on her own, nodded as if she understood and started walking again.
“It’s usually impossible with normal human perception. It’s only natural that they can’t see it, and just being near it would make their minds go crazy, but you must be fine because you have no intact parts.”
As I listened quietly, I felt strange. Wasn’t Aska the one who had no intact parts right now, not me?
I tilted my head with a sullen expression and walked a little further until we arrived in front of a huge old tree.
The tree was so big that I thought it was a cliff at first.
“Sit here.”
Ophelia said, pointing to an old stump. Aska sat down and asked as if he had been waiting for it.
“What do you mean by having no intact parts?”
Ophelia sat down across from us.
“It’s exactly what it sounds like. Don’t you know that best? In fact, you should have died a long time ago, but you forcibly kept him alive.”
Aska’s face turned pale at those words. He seemed overly surprised, but I vaguely knew about it. I had heard since I was young that I wouldn’t live past twenty.
“Because your blood and flesh were separated in the process, I was also confused. The rule that you can only be one at a time also became ambiguous. The confusion of memories must have been because of that.”
“What exactly is this rule?”
“To put it simply, it’s the same as saying that a dead person can’t come back to life. It’s an immutable law that makes up the world.”
The topic of the conversation suddenly became too lengthy. I just came to heal Aska, but what was all this talk about the laws of the world? I was flustered, but I didn’t show it and asked calmly.
“That’s great. More than that, Aska doesn’t have a heart right now because of me, so is there any way to make it again?”
“Aska’s memories must be inherited through blood and flesh, but you intervened in that. In other words, you can’t be called a human right now. Then what are you, who is no longer human?”
“……”
Ophelia didn’t listen to what I said and only said what she wanted to say. I glanced at Aska to ask for help, but he was mesmerized by Ophelia’s words.
“Not human? Then what am I?”
Aska asked with a serious expression.
“Hmm……. To be exact…….”
Ophelia stretched her head towards me and narrowed her eyes. She examined me thoroughly for a long time before straightening her back and shaking her head.
“I don’t know either. This is a first for me. If I had to give it a name, it would be a chimera? Because it’s mixed with this and that. Just like you were at the beginning.”
At those words, Aska looked at me with trembling eyes. I was puzzled by his overly anxious appearance. Aska was clenching his fist so tightly that his bones were protruding. I reached out and wrapped my hand around Aska’s fist.
And I asked Ophelia.
“Will I also gain great abilities like Aska? Like being able to survive even if my heart is taken out.”
Then there would be no need to go around trying to heal Aska. I could just take my time and wait for Aska to recover.
“He’s saying you’re not human anymore.”
It wasn’t Ophelia who answered my question, but Aska.
“Are you okay with that?”
His voice trembled as if his emotions were getting more and more intense as he spoke. I couldn’t understand why he was so agitated.
“With what?”
“He made you like this without even asking you.”
“It was an unavoidable situation. And if I’m not human, can’t I live longer? Right?”
“I guess so.”
Ophelia nodded at my question.
Just looking at this, it was unconditionally a win. The fact that I was no longer human was a minor problem.
“I didn’t know it would turn out like this either. I was just focused on saving you……”
“Stop it, it’s fine. It’s good because we can be together longer. I’ll be able to live for over 100 years.”
“……”
Aska, who was suffering, started to get more and more confused because I was so nonchalant. It looked like a question mark was floating above his distorted expression.
“Maybe it’s because my appearance is the same, but it doesn’t really feel real. If I had turned into an earthworm, I might have been a little upset, but anyway, all my limbs are still attached.”
“I would like you even if you were an earthworm.”
“I wouldn’t like that. Anyway, I’m fine, so please don’t feel sorry about this. I hate seeing you make that face even more.”
“……”
Aska was at a loss, unable to do anything with a complicated expression, and only moved his lips. Just then, Ophelia, who was looking at us with curiosity, said,
“Aska was also a chimera at first. He was like a final weapon that had undergone many modifications to create a body that could withstand even the outside of the boundary.”
At those words, I looked at Aska and smiled.
“Same here.”
“……”
“You kept wanting to be the same as me. Good for you.”
“……”
Aska didn’t know whether to be happy or not and hesitated before sighing.