ghost

And only Suzuran could make us, or anyone, believe this was genuine passion and concern.

Specter wouldn't be familiar with this, the holiday gift exchange... and has no way of preparing in time.

Do you feel sorry for Suzuran?

I'm just...

To be clear, I didn't say what I just said for the fun of it.

Come the time, I'll have Suzuran give the sewn-up present over to me, and I'll think of some way to have Specter receive it.

But if we allow Dr. Kal'tsit to find out about this—

Didn't you just say? For Suzuran's sake, you wouldn't balk at using a little 'tiny bit of prerogative.'

To be factual, it's for Specter's sake as well.

How will she respond when she receives this gift...? That should have some experimental value, no?

But still... I have this feeling, the one apologizing to Dr. Kal'tsit in the end's going to be me!

Well, it certainly won't be me—

Twenty days later...

Mmn...

(Yawn—)

It's already morning. My coat... phew, alright!

Today I need to go to Folinic's for a health checkup, I need to find Kal'tsit for tutoring... ah, and there's a tea party and a tailoring expert giving lessons this afternoon. I need to keep my spirits up all day.

If I start learning how to sew in earnest now, maybe one day I could become just like Aosta, able to make presents everyone will love.

Hehe. I've already given Dr. Warfarin the doll I asked him to make so she could pass it on to Specter for Christmas.

Dr. Warfarin said Specter probably doesn't know who signed her up to the gift exchange, but when she got her present, her state seemed to improve a bit.

Ah, Christmas was already six days ago... it was so much fun, I'm still giddy even now.

I hope Specter got to enjoy some Christmasy feeling too.

After she gets better, I wonder if we'll have the chance to chat, and eat together, hehe...

Alright, I need my schoolbag, schoolbag...

Huh?

What's this gift box on the table...? This wasn't here last night, was it?

C-Could it be there were too many people to give gifts to, and Father Christmas missed a gift by mistake—

Wow.

This is...

'A present from the abyssal deep sea'...

It's a music box!

The scent.

Fluid without the scent of seawater. Foul nutritional fluid, or completely scentless distilled water. It maddens, drives mad.

The noise.

There is no singing. There is no dancing. Only an endless, drawn-out clamoring remains. A horrific murmur, bringing craze.

It's not all like that. Sometimes, in the momentarily returned quiet, there are voices to hear too. Clear voices.

...Is it 'I' who hears them? Not for sure. How should 'I' respond? Not important.

This ragged, dilapidated body... here and now lacks, beyond maintaining silence, any use.

...She's...

...Shark... no... Lauren... Laurentina!

Don't rush, Skadi. You're far more familiar with her past than I am. But as for her present, you do not necessarily know her more thoroughly than I do.

I know you've been emotionally excited by the prospect of seeing one of your colleagues, but do not make contact with her. Her slumber is the product of tremendous effort.

Shark... Shark of the Second. It really is you.

You're still alive... I'm not the only Abyssal Hunter still alive...

Of course you're not.

What do you mean...?

I wandered dry land for so many years, and she was the first one I ever saw. Rhodes Island, exactly how did you find her?

A deal, of no small cost, but thankfully enough for me to find out where the Church hid her.

When we brought her back, she still held the last of her clarity, but very rapidly fell into confusion.

Shark... can you not hear my voice? You should still remember me... no matter if it's me with you, or you with me, there's still so much for us to talk about.

But in her conversations with us... while her confusion hasn't relapsed, she only calls herself 'Specter.'

'Specter?' She wasn't called that before. She's an Abyssal Hunter, one of the fiercest, cruelest 'executioners' of the Second...

But she is presently Specter. Infected, has fled the Church of the Deep, and proclaims herself 'Specter.'

Skadi, no matter her past, in her final waking moments, this is all as she told me. As to her capacity as an Abyssal Hunter, she mentioned not even a word.

Why...?

Shark... no, Specter. She was taken away by a church on the land? They must have carried out so many cruel experiments on her.

They wanted to learn the secrets... Specter's secrets, the Abyssal Hunters' secrets. And you...

Isn't that your reason too?

You know this is no easy topic. But exactly as per my attitude regarding you, the Abyssal Hunters' secrets are in no way the ultimate truth I seek to learn.

I regard Specter the same way. She is first and foremost my patient, and then one of Rhodes Island's personnel. As for anything prior—anything she hasn't mentioned before, I have no need to investigate deeper.

I want to ask... when she'll wake up.

Keeping an empty nest only wastes time. That miniscule chance of a miracle is not something you'd be willing to stop in your own tracks for.

We are sustaining her life. Her outlook is neutral; whether or not she can recover entirely depends on her. Here on dry land, this is all we can accomplish.

I'll come back.

I want to meet her, speak with her, hear her singing. I've already... we've already been apart from our colleagues for far too long.

Your and her callings, significances at Rhodes Island are not the same. But provided she awakens, Skadi, she should be able to address your and my confusions alike.

I hope... we won't have to wait too long.

Somewhere outside Sal Viento

...Are we still hanging back, Captain? That's Skadi. She won't NOT find the way.

No harm in waiting. She's more familiar with Rhodes Island's other operators.

I see now. Aaaaall you need is to make a deal with Dame Kal'tsit, and that's why she's the only one you got in touch with.

But I've been stuck in there for ages. There's so much that can take the same answer, and be done the same way.

The situation is provisionally stable, but not completely secured. When the time comes, either myself or Skadi will be confirming whether we can take you back.

Hah. I'm not withered enough to collapse before I make it to Rhodes Island. Yet.

On that note, Captain, do you have any idea what kind of place it is? They don't even have auto-flush smart toilets!

I know.

So I'm not aaaaall in a hurry to get back to that landship. Skadi's got her worries to settle, and we can chit-chat over ours.

Speak what you feel.

Saying this now might be way, way too late... But I can't help but say it. Captain, relax. I haven't leaked anything about us to anyone, not once, not ever.

Those Church idiots wanted to find our secrets. They tried prising open my mouth, digging the words out from inside my throat.

I wasn't willing. Then they went and thought to find any hint, whisper, indication from within my flesh, from inside my brain. But... you've seen where that got them.

They never got their wish.

I saw. Were this the past, I would have to honor you... but at present, no one has the qualifications to do it for you, to officially and formally assess your conduct.

No, Captain, you have those qualifications. Let's go back to the past for just a bit... we both have the memories to talk the talk.

Very well, then. Shark... your judgment was proper. You protected our secrets with your life. Very well done.

Heh... hah, hahah, that soothes me.

Nothing else from me, Captain. I suppose you got to know everything going on with me all by yourself. It's a stupidly drier tale than what you've dealt with.

I just want to know, actually. If it's not you skittering everywhere by yourself, but rather 'us' now...

The Abyssal Hunters, back together again. What will we get up to, then?

My mission has never changed. But, Shark, who are you now?

Me?

Those dry-landers aboard Rhodes Island all say it, let alone Dame Kal'tsit. Now, even Skadi calls you 'Specter.'

You have chosen to accept this identity, and have had no need to continue being 'Shark.'

I'm still same as ever, Captain... I do something when I can do it. I have others to think about the rest for me. I'm Laurentina, I'm Shark, and I'm Specter.

Not a bad way to be.

And is there nothing else? Captain, it's been so long since we saw each other, we've gone through so much. Why did it take so few words for us to become like we were before?

But you never did care about much. Same then, same now.

There is something. But you have no need to recall it.

Something you want to know? What is it, then?

When were you captured?