Lin searched through a pile of redundant data. Fire Moth's database wasn't as disorganized as unmanaged databases; generally, one could find the desired data within their permission level by using a few keywords.
But that was the "general" case.
Fire Moth's inherent complexity caused some data to either be lost or intentionally deleted. The remnants left after deletion remained in a place similar to a recycle bin. To find them, one had to search through it manually, bit by bit.
What Lin wanted was data regarding Svatok 51...
"Lin, you come here every day. You're as regular as clockwork."
Ato leaned against the doorway, watching Lin search through the dense, deep-sea-like data. He shrugged helplessly. "It's been a year. Are you going to keep searching?"
"I've already searched for a year; of course I'm going to keep searching." Lin glanced at the progress in the upper right corner: 23.7%. This was the total amount of data in the recycle bin he had reviewed over the past year. Because new data was constantly being added, his progress was agonizingly slow.
"Do you really want to know the truth of that time so badly?"
"...What about you? Why don't you want to know?"
Lin stopped his hands. In the dark room filled with the low hum of machinery, he turned back and looked at Ato standing in the doorway.
Light shone from behind Ato, casting a shadow across Lin face.
"Lin, isn't life good now? Fire Moth's technology is developing faster and faster. There are more and more MANTIS who can fight against the Honkai. Even if a large-scale Honkai outbreak occurs again, humanity will surely win. Didn't we win a grand victory last time?" There was an indescribable quality in Ato's mature face. "We can just be like before, fighting when the Honkai arrives. Why bother touching things you definitely don't want to see?"
"..."
Lin and Ato stood at a distance, as if looking at each other across a chasm.
"Every day you can meet your friends and fool around together. You can sit with girls who like you. When there's nothing to do, you can go shopping or guide your juniors." His Adam's apple bobbed as he spoke. "Lin, this year you've spent at the Tenth Branch is the happiest and most relaxed year I've ever seen you have. I used to hope so much that you could have a life like this—living peacefully, getting married, having children, and finally taking off that helmet that binds you."
"I once imagined that one day I could sit on a sun-drenched street corner with Blanca and Griseo, order afternoon tea, and listen to the children's laughter. Then, I'd catch a glimpse of you walking past with a girl's hand in yours."
"Warm light resting on your shoulders, we'd meet each other's eyes and smile with a nod."
Then, they would each return to their own lives, living peacefully and happily like everyone else in the world.
Lin opened his mouth: "That kind of life will come. After the Honkai ends..."
"It won't," Ato laughed bitterly and numbly. "As long as you keep investigating, that kind of future will never arrive."
The man turned around. He seemed to be looking out, yet he also seemed to be just looking down at his toes.
"Lin, when will your helmet finally be taken off for good?"
"Ah, I wondered who it was. It's our popular and beloved Adjutant Lin. What made you think of visiting me today~"
The pink-haired girl placed two cups of hot cocoa on the table. She snuggled into a warm, soft beanbag chair, her head turned toward the snowy sky outside the window, leaving Lin with her flawless profile.
Is it snowing...
Flakes of icy snow fell one by one onto the windowsill, only to be gently blown away by the wind.
"Time flies. In the blink of an eye, we've been at the Tenth Branch for a year."
Lin exhaled the breath in his chest. He echoed her sentiment: "Yes. Even our age is nearing thirty."
Having walked step by step from an eighteen-year-old youth, he was already approaching thirty. This held a strange sense of theatricality for Lin.
"Mm—Lin, do you know that sometimes the way you talk..."
"I do it on purpose."
"..."
Perhaps Elysia puffed-out cheeks made Lin feel a bit better. His clenched hands relaxed.
"So, what does our Adjutant Lin want with this captain who has so little presence?"
"No... maybe I just wanted to see you." Lin looked at the same sky she was. "Perhaps it's because I've also grown used to certain things."
Elysia turned her head, the magnificent jewels in her eyes sparkling. "Did you have an argument with someone?"
"..."
"Was it Ato?"
Lin did not answer.
He felt as if his sense of taste had truly returned; a bitter flavor permeated his mouth.
"Have you heard of Zeno's Achilles Paradox?" Lin voice sounded as if it were echoing within his helmet. "Let a tortoise start 1,000 meters ahead of Achilles and have them race, assuming Achilles is 10 times faster than the tortoise. When Achilles runs forward, the tortoise also runs forward at the same time. Every time Achilles covers a distance, the tortoise has also moved a bit further."
Elysia listened quietly as Lin murmured in that flat voice.
"Achilles runs ten meters, the tortoise runs one meter. No matter how long he runs, he will always be an infinitesimally small distance behind the tortoise, and thus he can never catch up."
"It's a paradox. Time and space cannot be infinitely divided. There is always a smallest unit of time where Achilles and the tortoise advance by one unit of space together. Achilles will eventually surpass the tortoise."
"The events of the past are like the Achilles in the paradox. No matter how far they advance, no matter how close they get to the tortoise—even within reach—they can never be attained."
Elysia asked softly, "But didn't you say it? Achilles will surpass the tortoise."
"But in the theory Zeno spoke of, Achilles is destined never to surpass the tortoise. That was decided right at the beginning."
That tortoise was their current selves.
Always drawing closer, but... also forever unable to catch up.
The hot cocoa on the table had gone cold.
Elysia sat alone in the empty room. After a while, she reached out, her finger touching the cold rim of the cup, and she recoiled slightly.
Then she took the cups and silently finished both drinks before setting them back on the table.
"Lin... am I going to lie to you..."
"Am I going to lie to myself to convince myself that everything I say to you is the truth..."