Raising his Gaschacon Bugvisor, Dan Kuroto pressed a button on the machine, holding the injection port to Serika Kuromi's body.
"Cultivate."
The Bugster virus surged from the machine, infecting and devouring the girl's body, absorbing her memories, restoring her emotions, and recreating her mind.
From the very beginning, light flickered.
Orange lightning flashed through the clouds of cells, the river of blood flowed upstream, the earth of muscles trembled, the forest of nerves howled in the wind, and the sequence of genetic factors changed.
A girl named "Kuromi Serika" transformed from human to data, and then from data back to human.
A man's voice called to her.
"Open your eyes, Kuromi Serika."
'Huh? Who's calling me?'
'So sleepy… I'm still in bed… I just finished working all night yesterday. Don't wake me up so early…'
The voice came again.
"Time to wake up, Kuromi Serika."
'A part-time job?'
'I...wait, today's supposed to be my part-time job at Shibaseki Ramen?'
A sudden sense of unease washed over her, and the girl named Serika Kuromi abruptly sat up.
'I'm not late!!!'
Sitting up abruptly, Serika realized she wasn't in her bed at home, but in a desert. Besides Shiroko, whom she knew, there were two other people she didn't recognize.
An unfamiliar girl, and...an unfamiliar adult?
'Shiroko?'
Serika turned to Shiroko. The girl, who usually maintained a detached expression, had dried tears on her face. She nervously reached out and touched her fingers.
'Shiroko-senpai, why the expression?'
Serika didn't understand why Shiroko was crying, but her instinctive reaction was to grab Shiroko's hand and ask, "Who bullied you? Was it Kaiser again?! Didn't you already pay off this month's debt?!"
"Serika, waah... Serika... waah..."
Shiroko stammered, only calling Serika's name, making Serika blush with embarrassment for a while.
"W-What's wrong, Shiroko-senpai? This is so embarrassing..."
Ayane's voice came through to Dan Kuroto, who could hear her sniffle: "...Dan Kuroto-san, how... how did you do that?"
"The same thing as Hanemi," Dan Kuroto replied in his mind. "Don't tell anyone else. I also deleted a small part of Serika Kuromi's memory."
After being transformed into a data lifeform, Dan Kuroto could manipulate more of her. He simply used administrator privileges to delete the recent memories from the memory of the Bugster named "Kuromi Serika," retaining only her memories up to that morning.
Without God Maximum as his foundation, even Kuroto couldn't have performed such a precise task in just a few dozen seconds.
Normally, even a Bugster couldn't so easily interfere with another Bugster, but with the added computing power of *God Maximum Mighty X*, Dan Kuroto used computing power that easily crushed other Bugsters to forcibly modify Kuromi Serika's memories—those painful memories were better left untouched. It was precisely by deleting that part of her memory that the reborn Serika regained her original cheerful personality.
"That's... fine."
As the first witness to the scene, Ayane felt that those nightmarish memory shouldn't be burdened on Serika. Seeing the revitalized Serika finally helped Ayane suppress some of the pain she had just witnessed.
"Mr. Dan Kuroto-san, please allow me... to once again express my sincerest gratitude."
Ayane tried to keep her voice calm, but how could she so easily suppress the emotion in her words?
"Without you… I, Shiroko, and Serika—none of us would have been saved. It's a miracle we couldn't have accomplished… Really, thank you so much…"
"Hmph! With my godly abilities, nothing is impossible!"
Dan Kuroto snorted proudly, hands on his hips. "No need for empty words of thanks; if you want to thank me, you need to show your sincerity!"
"Yes, Mr. Dan Kuroto." Ayane smiled slightly. "Once we've rescued Hoshino, we'll repay your kindness with all our might."
A reassuring strength.
That was Ayane's feeling.
Lying in her hospital bed, Ayane prayed constantly, hoping for a miracle for Abydos.
And now, the miracle had truly arrived.
"Hmm... is that laboratory in the very center of the desert all that's left?"
Dan Kuroto's gaze pierced through the desert, reaching the laboratory's roof, like a steel pyramid.
Another gaze, "staring," met his.
"Looks like the owner of that laboratory," Dan Kuroto said, shifting his position, "is just staying here, trying to confront me head-on."
After meeting that gaze, the figure vanished. When Dan Kuroto looked again, only the laboratory remained.
Athough Dan Kuroto's magnifying glasses could locate the laboratory, the saying "looking at a mountain makes one's horse run itself to death" applied. With over two hundred kilometers of desert to travel, it was truly unbelievable how this laboratory could have been built there.
Perhaps this laboratory has always been here?
...
At Abydos School, Ayane was composing an email. It was for a certain young lady who had left Abydos but still held a special place in her heart.
"Nonomi-san, how have you been lately? This is Ayane, and I'm perfectly healthy."
The light from the computer screen reflected off her glasses as she typed rapidly, lines of text appearing on the screen.
"A man named Dan Kuroto came to Abydos. According to him, he came at a request from the internet. Just when I was hoping for a miracle, he arrived like one."
"Not only did he help Shiroko repel the Kaiser PMC and Helmet Gang forces, but he also healed me. Serika was found too; she's perfectly healthy, as if she's forgotten all her sorrows."
The typing paused briefly, then Ayane typed again.
"Now, we've found Hoshino's location. We're going to bring her back."
"Afterwards, we'll give Hoshino a good scolding, make her say 'I'm back,' and tell her 'Welcome back.'"
"If Nomiya can come, everyone will be very happy."
"Hoshino will be very happy too."
"These are Hoshino's coordinates. If you have time, come along."
"—Everyone misses you so much."
Click~
'Email sent.'
.
.
At the same time, at Schale Central Hospital.
"Sir! You can't get up! Your body is in such a sorry a state—!"
"Move aside."
He could not see.
He could not speak.
He could not hear.
His whole body ached; every step felt like walking on fire. But he still had to get up and go to that place.
His student was still waiting for him.
He had to thank the being who had come at his prayer's call, breaking this miserable situation.
Leaving him with this mess was truly… unfortunate.
"Sir, where are you going? You were supposed to be under special care—"
Ignoring the sounds behind him, he sat in the electric wheelchair he'd stumbled upon, traveling at 100 miles per hour, and headed towards the coordinates that had popped into his mind.