["You're going there as well?"]
[He nodded: "I will reach there someday too. But not now. There will come a day when rain falls from the sky once more, and I will hear the Mother Goddess's call, knowing that the fated moment has arrived, and I should go reunite with my family."]
["So before that moment arrives… I should make [preparations]."]
["Prepare for what?"]
["Prepare to face them, Kakavasha, and become their pride."]
["Mm. I think you will manage it. Good luck." Kakavasha nodded at him.]
["Of course. Because I am a child blessed by the Mother Goddess."]
[Kakavasha suddenly smiled shyly: "But you still look very nervous…"]
["I think so too. Perhaps only you can help me with one last favor…" Aventurine slowly approached him and looked at him solemnly. "…One last time, shall we [palm to palm]?"]
[Aventurine slowly removed that hat and gently set it aside. He knelt on one knee, crouching in front of the young Kakavasha so that their eyes were level with this reluctant little child.]
[He extended his hand, palm facing the boy, the motion very gentle. Kakavasha also reluctantly stretched out his small hand and pressed it tightly against Aventurine's palm.]
[Aventurine slowly closed his eyes: "May the Mother Goddess thrice close her eyes for you…"]
[The boy's immature voice overlapped with his. Though they were separated by a long stretch of time, at this moment they briefly overlapped.]
["May your bloodline forever pulse…"]
["May your journey forever be smooth…"]
["…May your schemes never be exposed."]
[Aventurine waved and left, striding toward that distant black hole without looking back.]
["We shall reunite under the aurora of [Kakava]."]
[Kakavasha tightly hugged the top hat that still carried residual warmth, watching Aventurine's departing figure. When the first breeze blew past, his body gradually turned transparent and transformed into countless particles of light that flew toward the high sky—]
["Goodbye, Kakavasha."]
——
Kaguya-sama: Love is War.
"Kakavasha… disappeared."
"My Kakavasha, what a good child he was…"
"Wuwuwu…"
The student council room was completely silent except for Secretary Fujiwara's soft sobbing.
Shirogane Kaguya lightly sighed: "Secretary Fujiwara, Kakavasha only disappeared. He represents Aventurine's past and is also his emotional knot. Now that he has disappeared, it is a good thing—it means Aventurine has completely walked out of the depression of the past."
But the secretary still could not help wiping away a tear: "I-I of course understand the reasoning! But it is still so sad! Such a good, pure child will never be seen again—it is simply a loss!"
"Secretary Fujiwara, you need to change your way of thinking." Ishigami removed the earphones from his ears and looked at the pink-haired girl who was lying weakly on the desk. "Such a cute, pure child has already grown into an adult like Aventurine, you know? From a certain perspective, that can also be considered a pretty good result."
"That's true…" Secretary Fujiwara slowly climbed up from the desk and looked at Aventurine's figure as he resolutely headed toward the black hole. "But he is planning to go to the world after death in the dreamscape? Can his colleagues from the Ten Stonehearts pull him out from there? I'm so afraid he won't be able to return… That place isn't full of memoria memes everywhere, is it?"
Although she had never seen the world of Penacony after "Death," Fujiwara Chika still immediately associated it with the primordial dreamscape that Stelle and Firefly had been in. She knew full well how sinister and eerie that place was.
Stelle had only been able to get out back then thanks to Black Swan's intervention. With Aventurine's current state, could he really return from a place like that completely unscathed?
——
["I carry expectations for tomorrow as I sink into tonight's land of sleep; until the end of one tomorrow after another, I welcome peaceful death."]
["But this man is different. He lives in the present. Every night of sinking, every all-or-nothing gamble, the form of tomorrow has never appeared in his dreams."]
["His life has never had any connection with peace, and fate still demands that he win everything, wading through one violent storm after another until the mud covers his nasal cavity."]
["And now, in this bottomless dream, that falling die… has finally landed."]
["Silently… calmly… it has landed."]
[...]
[Topaz's voice, carrying a slight electric crackle, rang out in the darkness.]
["The light of the Aventurine Cornerstone… has disappeared. This represents only one result..."]
[Jade: "He fulfilled his promise… and also got what he wished for."]
[Topaz seemed somewhat melancholy as she lightly sighed: "According to the plan, your [Cornerstone] has been successfully delivered into the Family's territory. Then—"]
["—Fulfill our duty and begin the [harvest]."]
[...]
[Afterward, in the cradle of the sleepers, in the depths of the sweet dream of the [Star of Festivities]—another piece of jade began to bloom with light.]
[Jade smiled deeply.]
["I come to pay homage, I come to add wine, I come to take possession."]
["I bestow poisoned wine upon the sweet dew, sow in spring and harvest in autumn, quietly waiting for the withered fruits to fill the branches."]
["Everything is dedicated to… the Amber Lord."]
——
Naruto.
"This voice... isn't this the pink-haired woman who brought Aventurine into the Company back then?"
Terumi Mei's heart suddenly skipped a beat. This woman did not look like any kind of good person. From the content of her conversation now, she seemed to be a woman whose methods were even more forceful than Aventurine's.
For some reason, she inexplicably associated her with Kafka. Although these two had no connection whatsoever, she always felt there were certain common points between them.
...Perhaps the danger?
As the Fifth Mizukage, her intuition told her that this was a woman even more dangerous than Aventurine.
"Her Cornerstone and Topaz's are both being held by Sunday. No matter how capable this woman is, can she be stronger than Aventurine in his transformed state?" The Raikage crossed his arms, his tone rather disdainful. "If she cannot, then she cannot pose much of a threat to the Family."
"That is not the case. Her level within the Company is higher than Aventurine's. At her status... force is often only a last resort. Unless absolutely necessary, she will not act lightly." Ōnoki gently stroked his long beard. "Do you still remember the scene when Topaz reclaimed Belobog back then? The Company's methods have always been to offer courtesy first and force later. When Jade acts, she is probably only trying to secure the best possible outcome."
"What kind of character is the Company? Everything for the Amber Lord? Hmph… it sounds nicer than it actually is. Once this transaction cannot be negotiated, hehe..." Ōnoki closed his eyes and lightly shook his head. "...The Family can only wait for the muzzles of ten thousand fleets."
——
[At the same time, in the depths of the memoria.]
[Stelle tried to open her eyes, but all she could see was pitch blackness.]
[She rubbed her head: "Where is this?"]
[Memories gradually surfaced, time reversing to a few minutes earlier: Aventurine launched his final offensive, a rain of glittering chips pouring down, Acheron immediately drew her blade, and then—"Bang"—]
——