Kagerou Project Light Novel

Headphone Actor III

Headphone Actor III

 

There was no longer anyone else around me. 

Blocked by buildings, the sunset that had previously been hidden could be seen very well from this place. 

The light that dyed the world crimson red, I thought it to look almost like a fire that consumed everything. 

Dashing up the steep slope, breath faint, I reached the top of the hill. 

The owner of the voice in the headphones that led me here muttered something, but because I was fully concentrating on catching my breath, I couldn’t understand what was said. 

It was most likely already the time to say that everything was over. No, perhaps it already had been. 

However, upon arriving at the top of the hill, there was nothing there. 

To be more precise, there was only a huge wall that projected a huge sky. 

"…. This isn’t right." 

I felt a great sense of discomfort at something not being there, although I couldn’t remember what that was. 

My quickened breath slowly returned to its normal rhythm. 

Gradually, the meaning behind this sense of discomfort became clear. 

—-It wasn’t that something wasn’t here. 

"He" wasn’t here. 

"Even though I thought I’d finally be able to tell him ….." 

Those words came out from my mouth unconsciously. 

My extended shadow became thinner. 

Dusk had already ended. 

「…. As I thought, it was already … too late. Even though here— even though this place was the only place to tell him …..!」

Hearing those words from the headphones, even though I couldn’t remember, they seemed to speak for what was in my heart. 

「In the end, it was all over! Everything …. all of it— ….!!」

——Just give up already. 

I can’t meet with “him” anymore. 

I know that already. 

「If it’s … this kind of world, it’s better to just——!」

Don’t say something like that. 

Although I didn’t make it, 

at the very end, I— 

——realized my own feelings. 

When I turned around at that time, the town was already entering its final moments. 

From beyond the collapsed sky, I muttered my last words to the girl. 

"….. I’m sorry …. Takane."

 

I gazed out at the burnt wreckage of the program in my fading consciousness.  

The words that came from the headphones were words more than enough to invite me back into sleep.