Sunset Glow

Wow…! It’s so pretty…

Yeah… It’s like something out of a movie.

Well, I do suppose this view is impossible to dislike.

…So this is what humans consider a beautiful sunset.

…The sun is…setting below the horizon…

(Almost like the end of a life…)

You can’t see a sunset like this unless the tides and the weather are perfect. The world must be congratulating you on a job well done.

I see… I must be luckier than I thought.

I wanna get closer! Let’s go down to the tidal flats!

Yeah, let’s go. You don’t get to see something like this every day.

Watch your step, everyone!

Phew… Seeing the sunset behind Ev3ns is amazing. It’s so picturesque. Thanks for driving us here, Nayuki-kun.

……

*sigh…* Why did I go this far? Am I an idiot?

…I didn’t want to be around him because stuff like this always happens when I am.

Hm…?

I always give in when he starts talking about his death. I end up trying so hard to help… It makes me look stupid.

When we were working at our metaverse company… And even after that… I always found myself working for his sake. It never sat well with me.

So I promised to never do it again.

(He must really care about Raito-san…)

When we walked home after hearing about his death prophecy, the sun was setting. Everything was covered in an orange glow, just like this…

Huh…?

It was the last time we walked together during sunset. The burning sun was at his back, and I couldn’t see his face behind the shadows it casted…

It was like he was walking towards his own death. I was scared that he wasn’t saying anything. I was…scared of him dying…

(Nayuki-kun…)

I didn’t want to be at the whims of his actions anymore, and I wanted him to behave until the day he died, so…I put him in prison.

……

Huh? You did what?

I said, I wanted him to behave. I took advantage of the rivalry within his gang to charge him with assault and get him put in prison.

Knowing him, I was sure that he would take the blame for his members.

So I lured him to the scene of the crime… I’m fairly certain he knows that I was the one behind the whole incident.

(I can’t believe what I’m hearing right now…)

…But even after he was thrown in jail, he never took anything seriously. I wasn’t a fan of that. He rose to the top of the prison hierarchy and started being known as the island’s king… *scoff*

Even prison didn’t stop him from being irritating…

(Nayuki-kun… Y-You’re usually kind and thoughtful, but…)

Aaagh, goddammit…

Let’s move on. We should take a promotional photo of the group while we’re here!

Uh… Yeah, you’re right!

(I’ll put the whole Kitakata conflict to the side for now…)

You can only see little bits of the sunset on the tidal flats. It’s not perf, kinda like us! ♪

Perf… Slang word from the 2010s… Meaning: perfect. Registration complete.

Yeah… We still got a lot of missing parts here and there…

But even I didn’t expect part C of our dance routine to go well today. We experienced a miracle.

I wasn’t sure if we’d do well at first, but being on stage was so literally so insanely fun!

What about you, Taotao? Really made you feel alive, right?

…Yeah. For the past three years here, I’ve been…feeling kinda half-dead.

So it’s like I’m finally feeling alive in this world…or something.

All thanks to Raitin, right?

Me…?

None of this would’ve happened if you weren’t so quick on your feet earlier.

I got a whole lotta love from our audience today. Like, Chii doesn’t really know what love is, but I big love the crowd when I’m performing.

You love them…

So Taotao finally feels like he’s alive, and I feel like I can love people, all thanks to you, Raitin.

Yeah, you’re right. We owe it all to you, Raito-san.

……

And now I feel like I’m starting to like sunsets too! I used to kinda hate them.

You did?

Yeah! Don’t tell anyone, but my parents weren’t really around when I was a kid. I’d always sit around and wait for them to come home around sunset.

It was like, I didn’t know when my next meal was coming. So sunsets kinda make me remember how helpless I felt back then.

But I won’t think that anymore!

Sunsets remind me of my walks home from school. I’d go to the arcade and karaoke…

But I stopped going to high school before I graduated.

Really? You still have plenty of time to go back to school.

Yeah… You’re right. I haven’t really felt like I was living in this world until now, so I haven’t thought about it, but… Yeah, I could do that.

I didn’t expect it, but there are a lot of things I can do to keep on living. I guess I could try to figure out my goals and do some fun things in the future…

That’s really nice and positive, Taotao. Chii’s good at video games, so let’s play some! ♪ We can make a ton of memories together!

Yeah.

You two are always so adorable. It’s like I’m watching two children playing house.

What does the sunset mean to you, Kuguri?

……

…Will-o’-the-wisp.

What’s that?

The Transcendental Études, by Franz Liszt.

Plüss, does the sunset hold any particular meaning to you as a machine?

I…recall my developer’s death.

…!

Dusk… My developer’s favorite time of day. He…wished to die at dusk.

When only a silhouette of myself was visible, he looked at me…and he believed I was truly his late son.

The sunset represents death and the end of love.

Death…and the end of love…

I see. Even you were able to feel love, Kinari. If your love came to an end, that must mean you felt it all along.

That is simply a word chosen from my vocabulary database to express my emotions regarding my developer.

Maybe so… But I’m still quite jealous of you.

Hm? Why’s that? What does the sunset mean to you, Raitin?

…I…