**
My eyes opened.
...I want to close them again. Is that allowed?
"...Th-thank you..."
Sinclair, who had come to before me, gave Dante a small bow and said that, then staggered back to his seat.
I...
"You've had a rough time of it in more ways than one... Are you all right, Dante?"
"Hm...? Oh, yes."
Maybe he hadn't expected someone who had died to worry about him. Or maybe he was just too dazed from the pain. Dante, who had briefly lost himself, answered that way.
Why did I even ask something like that?
...Maybe the personality of my previous body is gradually being overlaid onto me.
Feeling that unease, I returned to my seat.
As I lay back and stared out the window, I think it was around then that I heard a small sigh from Vergilius. That was when Dante spoke to me.
"Th... was it Saramago? Are you really all right? You've looked pale ever since earlier."
Maybe it was the memory of dying... or maybe the fear that I might stop being "me."
"Yes, I'm fine. I'm just a little prone to motion sickness..."
I had that thought, but I forced it down and offered some excuse.
"..."
Dante stared at me for a moment, then...
Tap tap tap
Quietly returned to his seat.
I got a little time to myself.
Was it because I felt like I was drifting farther and farther away from myself? Memories from my old world came back to me. The memory of downloading Limbus Company before I came here.
So I let myself sink into those old memories for a while.
**
When the atmosphere on the bus had loosened up a little, Don Quixote suddenly shot a hand into the air.
"May I speak."
After receiving Vergilius's permission, Don Quixote said, "I have understood the first rule! Then what is the second?"
The first rule? A word I didn't know came up. It must have been something they said while I was dead earlier. I'll have to ask later.
"Honestly... why go out of your way to ask that?"
Gregor said that, apparently unable to understand why she'd even raised her hand to ask.
Could I understand someone who suddenly claimed to be enforcing justice and then blew apart an ally's head? I'd probably never know.
Anyway, while Vergilius was thinking over the question, his gaze shifted to Ryoshu.
Ryoshu, who had just lit a new cigarette, looked back at him with an inscrutable expression.
"The second rule..."
"Don't toss cigarette butts on the bus floor. They leave marks."
For once, it was a rather modest rule. Ryoshu let out a laugh at the rule that had clearly targeted two people at once.
"Hah..."
Nothing else followed. Even so, it seemed she didn't have the will to openly defy Vergilius.
And then silence fell over the bus.
"Hold on, the bus can't be silent. Where did the engine noise go?"
Right. The bus shouldn't be silent.
"Charon, why aren't you speeding up?"
"No food. Mefe is hungry."
If I had to interpret that, it meant there was no fuel. Then it made sense for the bus to be silent.
"Good. Let's liven things up a bit."
There was no way we were going to some normal place like a gas station.
For a moment, the image of Vergilius refueling the bus flashed through my head, but no matter how I looked at it, that didn't seem likely.
"You need fuel to move a car."
"Charon, blink the headlights. Like stage lights."
"Okay, it's dance time."
No way...
"Wait, if you turn on the headlights too, that's just asking to get ambushed."
Ishmael, who had sensed something off in their conversation, asked that.
"So that was the plan."
As if he'd found the answer in Ishmael's words, Meursault finally spoke up after a very long time.
"...What?"
Ishmael still didn't seem to understand Meursault, but there was no more time for idle chatter.
Clang!
From outside came the sound of metal being smashed against the side of the bus.
"Hey! Drop everything you've got and get off! You've got 30 seconds! 10! 9!"
"Hey, you skipped 20."
"Uh... uh... then spend those 20 seconds praying!"
Yeah, that figures.
When my suspicion turned into certainty, I picked up my weapon and got ready to disembark.
"Haa, why are there so many idiots around me?"
"...What did you say?"
...It was the usual bickering, but it was grating to hear.
"Both of you, shut up. You're seriously going to start fighting each other right before battle?"
Hah. That's a little more reassuring.
The two of them, hearing me, stared blankly as if they'd never expected me to say something like that.
"What are you staring at? Aren't you going to stop those guys?"
They didn't come to their senses until I pointed at the assailants with my spear.
...Isn't that reaction a little much, even if I do have a weak image?
"Oh~ honey, you've got some bite after all?"
"If I'm looked down on, I'll kill them, so I have to do this much."
"All right, everyone off."
"And listen, do your best to not die. Got it?"
So there really wasn't time for any more chatter.
We stepped outside at Vergilius's urging.
**
Hah, was that the last one?
I wiped the sweat running down my head.
Not long after, under Faust's guidance, Ryoshu moved the assailants in front of Mephistopheles.
Then the side of the bus twitched, split in two with a nauseating sound, and opened wide.
Before long, the bus's maw opened and began chewing the assailants up.
Quite the grotesque sight.
"Hmph..."
Ryoshu watched it with a satisfied expression.
And Sinclair was the opposite.
"Everyone... seems completely insane. Isn't that right?"
"By any chance... there isn't anyone here who was forced to join, right?"
Here. Right here. I'm here.
Of course, I couldn't say it out loud. The original owner of this body would look the same to the company anyway.
"Ah..."
Sinclair lowered his head as if I'd hit the mark.
...You really came here of your own free will? Unbelievable.
"Yes, that's right. This is my choice. I'll get used to all of it... right?"
...I'm scared by how I feel myself getting used to this world too.
These days, it feels like the boundary between the me here and the me from before is gradually disappearing.
That feeling is frightening, like I'm vanishing... and yet...
It isn't exactly unpleasant. It's frightening, like I'm losing the ability to understand myself.
"If I hadn't joined, I'd still have done it! Look, another horde of evil is charging at us!"
I'm a little envious of Don Quixote for being able to say something like that.
If my body hadn't joined here, I probably wouldn't be having these strange thoughts right now.
...I don't think I have time for idle thoughts. Next up is another fight.
**
"When was the last time I ate until I was full? Being a lump of machinery sounds better..."
"All meals provided are in standard rations."
Faust countered Rodion's grumbling.
"Even so, metabolic rates differ from person to person. If the ration is based on an average, wouldn't that leave some people a little short?"
"..."
At my words, Faust fell silent.
So the meal plan hadn't been thought through that far.
"We'll take that into consideration next time."
"Yes!"
As if something in our conversation had reminded him of something, Dante asked:
"So this bus's fuel is blood or protein?"
"It's Enkephalin. The energy extracted by Lobotomy Corporation."
Enkephalin, the core energy source of Limbus Company's predecessor, Lobotomy Corporation.
Even in the memories from this side, there was information that L Corp extracted energy.
"You mean the old L Corp. I heard it was a company that produced energy through a Singularity. Now that L Corp has fallen, there's nothing left but ruins."
The old L Corp? Fallen? What's that supposed to mean? Memories up to two years ago... damn, so it collapsed in the meantime.
Wait, L Corp, meaning Lobotomy Corporation, fell? Was the game's true ending actually a bad ending?
Tch, I should've played the game.
I should've at least read a story summary.
"That's right. So it's quite hard to get now."
From the outdated memories I had up to two years ago, L Corp had been handling a huge portion of the City's energy by itself.
I remembered that there were also quite a few Wings that had signed agreements with L Corp, so they must have somehow replaced it.
"But Mephistopheles can forcibly extract Enkephalin from the body."
To think a Wing's Singularity could extract energy from the body. That's an incredible technology.
"The body?"
"Yes. Enkephalin is extracted only from the brain and spinal nerves. It's especially efficient when there's still life activity."
"Then..."
"If you're asking, 'Then wouldn't it be enough to feed it only those parts?' blood and muscle can also be used as fuel."
"If Enkephalin is needed for ignition and thrust, the remaining biological material is used during cruising. It's designed so that Enkephalin is consumed as slowly as possible."
In other words...
"It's a hybrid."
...That's what it means, right? I completely get it.
"But most of the fuel is supplied from the old L Corp branches."
"Meaning we can't always refuel it this way."
"...What a complicated issue. I don't really understand it, but it sounds like you'll have a hard time from here on out too."
"Not at all. Faust does not have a hard time."
The ones having a hard time are those prisoners over there.
Since I've been sitting out of the fighting and just listening to the explanation, my conscience is starting to prick at me.
"We're the ones having a hard time... Hey! Manager! They're coming again!"
Looks like I'll have to join the fight too.
Tch. I wanted to rest a little longer.