Ascension: Online

When I walked in the door, Hina-nee had just finished showering. She had nothing but a bath towel on.

"Er… bad timing?" I said hesitantly.

She shook her head, then sat down on the bed. "No no, come in. Where did you go anyway?"

"I went to see Nadeshiko," I replied truthfully.

Immediately, Hina-nee's expression soured.

"To warn her not to ever try anything like what she did at the tournament again," I quickly added before Hina-nee got pissed.

She instantly began smiling again, pulling me into a hug.

"Hehe, that's my Kaze-kun. You already have me, there's no need for any other girls~"

"But apart from that… there's something else," I said, and Hina-nee let go of me.

"Hm?"

"Come out," I said, seemingly to no one.

Then, to Hina-nee's surprise, a short humanoid figure suddenly materialized in front of us.

"Aisa!" Hina-nee cried, her face lighting up. She quickly pulled the supercomputer into a tight embrace, much to Aisa's dismay.

"…" Aisa was clearly uncomfortable and annoyed, but she didn't say anything, surprisingly.

"Be careful not to accidentally hurt her anywhere," I warned. "You probably won't, but just saying."

"Mm, don't worry, Kaze-kun~" Hina-nee said dreamily as she rubbed her cheek against Aisa's, creating a cute display of family, almost.

A good few minutes later, Hina-nee finally let go of Aisa, who then stood up from the bed and moved to a chair instead, probably to avoid the risk of suffocation from Hina-nee's hugs.

"Before anything else, human, bring the other two here as well," Aisa said emotionlessly, looking to me.

"Uh… even Nadeshiko?" I raised an eyebrow.

She nodded. "Yes. Especially her, since she still does not know anything about the situation she is currently in, no?"

I sighed. "Fine… that makes sense. I'll be back in a bit."

Saying this, I stood up and headed out of the room to get Furuwa and Nadeshiko to join our little meeting.

*****

Once all four of us were present, Aisa began her speech.

"First of all, allow me to express my… gratitude," she said quietly, closing her eyes. "Thank you, Igarashi Kaze, Sakura Hina, Chiaki Furuwa, and Nadeshiko Nakano. You have saved me this time around."

I blinked a few times in surprise. "H-Hold on, am I hearing this right? You, giving thanks?"

"Is there a problem?" Aisa eyed me in unamusement.

"Hm…? Who is this~?" Nadeshiko asked, tilting her head and licking her lips. "Another competitor? Kaze, Kaze, can I kill this one?"

"She's Aisa. The one I told you about," I explained. "I am being dead serious. Do not even think about harming her. If you do… all of reality will go with her. Me, you, everyone — we'll all be purged, forever erased."

"Huh…? She's that powerful? Can I fight her?" Nadeshiko asked again, clearly not believing my words.

"Can you shut up and listen for once?" Furuwa muttered, annoyed.

Nadeshiko giggled. "Fine, fine. Whatever."

Once everyone was quiet again, Aisa continued.

"I am sure you four have many questions regarding what happened to me, reality rifts, the Creator, and whatnot. But before that, human, I believe an explanation to the new member of your group is necessary."

I sighed. Whenever she said 'human', she was referring to me, despite all of us being human here.

"Okay, Nadeshiko. Listen closely, since I'm only going to be saying all of this once…"

Several minutes later, I was done explaining everything to her. She asked a bunch of questions in the middle of my explanation which took up quite a bit of time, but Aisa took care of those, saving me the trouble.

"So. Any more questions?" I concluded, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, this all seems really unbelievable, but… I'll take your word for it since it's you saying it, Kaze~" she winked at me, caressing her own cheek.

"Stop trying to seduce Kaze-kun every chance you get!" Hina-nee demanded angrily, sitting in between Nadeshiko and I.

Nadeshiko's eyes bulged in a yandere-like expression, then laughed like a maniac. "AHAHAHA… you'll be mine soon, Kaze…"

"Aisa… do you see the trouble you've caused me?" I facepalmed, shaking my head in frustration.

"Relax, human. The strength she brings will be enough to cover up for her… twisted personality. You just have to know how to deal with it."

"Easier said than done," I muttered.

"Is that so? To me, it seems you have captured her heart quite well, from the long conversation you had with her earlie-"

"Can you just explain to us what happened a few days ago?" I cut her off, not wanting to be led astray from the original course of this conversation.

Hina-nee looked over at me curiously as Nadeshiko smirked smugly.

"Very well," Aisa sighed. "It is about time I inform you of my true motive."

"Your true motive?"

"Indeed. What I said about using you as a source of entertainment… that was a lie. The truth is, I need you for a certain task. You just happened to encounter me right when I was thinking of this, so I chose you as the candidate. That is all."

"Okay…" I said hesitantly. "What task?"

"Destroy the Creator."

"… You're kidding, right?"

"I am not," she replied immediately. "I will not interfere in your wish to return home, and I cannot force you to do as I want either. However… I believe once you hear of his goal, you will want to stop him as well."

I narrowed my eyes. "What's he planning?"

Aisa folded her arms and closed her eyes.

"The Creator seeks to create a perfect world. A world without sin, malevolence, and all evil."

"Isn't that… good?" Hina-nee frowned, slightly confused.

"No… sin stems from human emotion," Furuwa analyzed, deep in thought. "Mistakes are part of what makes us human. If everybody was a 'perfect' being… we could hardly be called humans at all."

"I don't like this Creator guy," Nadeshiko giggled. "He wants to get in the way of my killing… I'll have to slaughter him first, it seems~"

"Unfortunately, you cannot," Aisa replied coldly.

"Hm~? And who are you to decide that for me?"

"The Creator is a perfect being, the prime example of what all lifeforms should strive to become. In order to fight against such an existence, you must become a perfect being yourself first. That is the only way to match his level."

Then, turning to Nadeshiko, Aisa continued. "Nadeshiko Nakano, you may be psychopathic and have an unhealthy addiction to killing, but you still hold emotions. You being attracted to Igarashi Kaze is proof of that."

"So, what, to become a perfect being, we have to get rid of all our emotions? Is that it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Humans are flawed creatures. By nature, they cannot be perfect. Therefore, to change that, you must alter yourself at the root," Aisa explained. "Human, you are already beginning to take that path. It seems choosing you was the correct judgment."

"What…? How am I starting to take that path?"

"You consumed those tetrahedrons in the reality rifts, did you not?" Aisa asked rhetorically. "Those objects are called 'Blights'. Every time you come into contact with one, your heart gets corrupted further. Did you not feel it? An emptiness in your chest… as if something was missing, but you could not quite tell what."

My eyes widened. "Now that you mention it… that hollow feeling…"

"It seems you know what I am talking about. The others with you were not affected since their physical bodies are not here in this reality, but yours is. Every time you consumed a Blight, you lost one emotion - one step closer to becoming a perfect entity, unbound by frail concepts such as feelings."

"I've consumed six Blights so far since the second reality rift only held three, so does that mean… I lost six emotions respectively?" I murmured, sinking into thought.

"Correct. As far as I can tell, the emotions you lost were Pity, Pride, Sadness, Empathy, Envy, and… Fear."

"Pride, Envy, Fear… I guess losing these three isn't actually that bad, huh?" I chuckled.

"That may be so, but they are, like any other emotion, part of your humanity," Aisa replied stoically.

"How many 'emotions' are there in total?" Hina-nee interjected.

"Sixteen."

"… Just how does the Creator plan on pulling this off?" Furuwa frowned in confusion. "What, is he going to wipe out the emotions inside of everyone's minds?"

Aisa slowly shook her head. "That is not effective. Doing that will leave behind effects of mistakes humans have made in the past, before they were cleansed of imperfection. What the Creator seeks to do is something far worse and ruthless."

"Don't tell me…" I muttered, not liking where this was going.

"Yes… just like I said, he seeks to create a brand new reality. However, in order to do that, this current one — must go."

"That's bullshit!" Hina-nee cried in shock. "He wants to cleanse the world of evil, so he goes and purges all of reality? If that is what this 'perfect being' is willing to do all for the sake of satisfying his own selfish delusions, then I would rather not be perfect!"

"Yeah… his philosophy and plan-of-action are contradictory to one another," Furuwa muttered. "Killing is the biggest sin there is — yet he is doing exactly that. Perfect, my ass."

"What this Creator guy is doing isn't even killing," Nadeshiko giggled. "It's called genocide."

"And I'm guessing you're on his side, huh?" Hina-nee gritted her teeth. "You know, since you enjoy killing without a second thought as well."

"Actually, no~" Nadeshiko replied nonchalantly. "What he is doing is purging everyone all at once. That's so boring~ the best part about killing is the look on their faces when you end their life."

"… You disgust me," Furuwa glared at her.

"So, Aisa, why are you resisting against this 'Creator'? And what is his relationship with you?" I asked, steering the conversation back on track.

"I am doing so because his ideals do not match with my own. That is all," Aisa replied emotionlessly. "And as for his relationship with me, just like his title suggests…"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"… He is my creator."