Chapter 28: Who Are You?

“Shamayim? You’re saying you came from Shamayim?”
—Your mother.

That firm, confident voice.

I wondered if she was joking. But based on what I know of Semolina, she’s not the kind of girl to joke about something

like this.

Besides, even hearing a word like Shamayim, which is barely used, is strange—especially for someone her age.

Shamayim, or rather D!py, is Hebrew.

The literal meaning is sky or universe.

But in the Kyro Society, the religion that uses Hebrew most, it also means heaven.

Unless she was some kind of AI from space who just came down to Earth, Semolina was obviously referring to heaven.

“Semolina, when you say ‘Shamayim’… which Shamayim do you mean?”

—Which Shamayim? There’s only one.

“Only one? So you really mean you came from heaven, not the sky or space?”

“If heaven exists… then is ‘God’ there too?”

Suddenly, Semolina went quiet.

Why? She’s never gone silent like this when talking to me.

“Semolina?”

—Mother, what do you think?

“Me? You mean what I think?”

—Do you believe in God, Mother? And do you believe Shamayim exists?

“I’m not sure about God. But Shamayim—didn’t you just say it exists? Then I guess it does.”

Another silence.

What is it? Why is she acting like this?

I kept calling her name, trying to push her to respond, but she stayed completely quiet for almost three minutes.

Then suddenly…

—Shamayim doesn’t exist, Mother.

“What?”

—I lied about coming from Shamayim. I made it up to trick you. So if I said it, does that mean Shamayim exists? You said

you believed it because I told you so.

“Why are you saying this all of a sudden, Semolina? I’m not in the mood for jokes.”

—I’m not joking. Mother, all existence is born from doubt, grows through thinking, and blooms in belief. But you don’t

have any of those three.

“I don’t really get what you mean. Are you saying I did something wrong?”

 Not having doubt, thought, or belief doesn’t make someone wrong. What I find strange is… how could someone

who has none of those call to me? How could I hear your voice if you don’t believe in God or Shamayim?

So…

She’s saying she’s a deeply religious or mythical being.

And what confuses her is how I, someone who doesn’t believe in any religion—not even the Kyro Society—was able to call

her.

Now that I think of it like that… this is kind of infuriating.

“Semolina.”

—41.

“So, do you not like me anymore?”

—What?

“Now that you know your mom is someone who doesn’t just not believe in religion but actively rejects it… does that make

you dislike me?”

 referring to myself in third person as “mother” makes me cringe so hard.

Even after living as Leilia for over 20 years, is my male self still stronger inside me?

Is there still a damn giga-alpha male wriggling in my core or what?

While I was silently freaking out about how I talked, Semolina seemed to reach a conclusion and answered cheerfully with

a bright tone.

—Of course not! I like you, Mother. No— I love you!

“……Me too. So Semolina, don’t worry about weird things. Just think about how you can live happily with Victor, alright?”

—Yes!

Nice, energetic answer.

“Then let’s talk again later. Say hi to Victor for me.”

—Okay, Mother. Like you said, I’ll try finding a place to stay in a mega city in Europe or Asia. See you next time.

The call ended.

I felt a bit shaken.

It’s not like I ever rejected religion because I doubted the existence of God.

It’s because I couldn’t stand those human bastards who used faith to stuff their pockets.

But still… when Semolina said she came from heaven, my belief wavered just a little.

Is my belief really shaking just because someone said heaven exists?

Could I have unknowingly believed in God all along?

In heaven? Maybe even in the Kyro Society?

I probably can’t answer because I don’t know what I truly believe.

“Ah, shit.”

Thud.

Thinking about this isn’t going to get me anywhere.

I flopped back on the surgery bed.

Even though I told myself I needed to rest after that major operation…

Just one call with Semolina messed my mind up again.

“Kyro Society…”

The golden rosary ring glowing on my right index finger.

It’s supposed to be used for praying, but I’ve never once used it for that in ten years.

And I won’t be starting now.

Even back in the orphanage, through my combat nun training, my QPD days, and now—

Not once did I pray…

Wait.

I did.

Just a few days ago.

“I’m gonna die. So make room up there. I won’t be the boss, but I’ll be the second-in-command. Amen.”

That stupid prayer I mumbled right before giving Victor my kidney and nearly dying.

Would a real priest even consider that a prayer?

Probably not—they’d probably cough up blood and call it heresy.

So let’s just call it invalid and move on.

Yeah. Reasonable enough.

With my usual military mindset of “no incidents today either”, I casually wiped away that unpleasant memory and closed my eyes.

“Hey.”

“Let me ask you something.”

Next morning.

I didn’t even know when I fell asleep, but I had.

I parted ways with Olbi, who somehow was already energetic after just one nap.

Meanwhile, Way—who slept the same amount of time—was yawning nonstop, still groggy.

We were on our way to Zone 9 in an old junky car.

“Do you know what the ‘Saint Chip’ is?”

“Saint Chip?”

“You know, the one our Wolfhild guy paid a ton for. Said it had the miracle of a saint or something.”

“Oh, that? Yeah, I know it. We drained most of Circuit Rams’ emergency funds to buy it. I even tried contacting big

corporations to see if they’d buy it off us.”

Would I have preferred it if Way didn’t know about that chip?

Or would I have just gotten more suspicious and thought he was lying?

Complicated.

“Come to think of it, Wolfhild hasn’t been ranting about that thing lately. He was throwing tantrums, building stuff, losing

his mind over it for nearly a month.”

“And you didn’t help him?”

“Me? Are you nuts? Back in Circuit Rams, all I did every day was wake up, turn on the computer, and do mindless

paperwork until I passed out from exhaustion. You think I had time to play with his stupid toy?”

“…Do you know the name Yuna Chevalier?”

“Yuna? Chevalier? Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’m usually good at remembering names, but both Yuna and Chevalier are unfamiliar. Why are you asking?”

“Just curious.”

‘And here I am answering seriously like an idiot.’

“What did you say?”

“Ah! Don’t yell like that! You’ll make the driver crash!”

This brat…

Is he getting bolder?

Or was he always like this and just held back because he thought I’d beat him up?

“If you don’t know, then fine.”

To be honest, it left a bitter taste.

Even if I don’t know all the details about Circuit Rams, I’m sure they’re the kind of bastards who would kidnap a 9-year-

old and stuff machines into their body without any moral hesitation.

I’m not some saint who gets angry over kids being kidnapped.

But if Way had actually been part of something that deranged?

That’s different.

This was a test to see if I could really trust him.

“By the way, Leilia?”

“What.”

“Didn’t you say if you reset all your implants, the Kyro Society would come after you?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Then they’d probably start searching near where you used to live, right?”

“Makes sense.”

“Not just makes sense! Then shouldn’t we not go back to your old place? Especially since the address you gave me is close

to your old home!”

“Wait. How do you know my address?”

“Well… I kinda hacked the Kyro Society and stalked you pretty hard, remember?”

Is this stalker really bragging about his crimes to my face?

To the actual victim?

“You proud of that?”

“Sorry… wait, no! That’s not the point! It’s dangerous to go back home!”

“We’re here. Pull over.”

I got out about 1km away from my house—Love Motel.

“I’ll be about 30 minutes. Entertain yourself until then.”

“Don’t call me until I contact you first.”

“Wait—”

His last words got cut off by the door slamming.

Not like I don’t know what he was going to say, though.

‘We’re near the Circuit Rams hideout. Why are you leaving me alone here?’

That’s probably it.

If he just goes 20 more minutes by car, he’ll reach his old hideout—the one I wrecked.

Meaning… he could run back to his gang any time.

Of course, I did this on purpose.

If he’s the kind of guy who’d run back just because he got the chance, then I’d rather not have him by my side.

He’ll decide for himself.

Now, what I have to do isn’t something I can do while distracted.

I cleared Way from my mind, pulled my hood and cap low over my face, and changed the color of my eyes from blood red

to a dull brown.

My appearance changed drastically.

They’d still figure out I’m Leilia if they looked closely, but it should help a bit.

Tap, tap tap!

I entered a dark alley and checked that no one was around, then used the walls of two old buildings to leap straight up to

the rooftop.

There.

[MOTEL ‘LOVE’]

[No Vacancy]

The neon sign was off since it was morning, but the giant heart-shaped sculpture made the place easy to spot.

—Circuit Sight.

My normal vision flipped, and now I could see electromagnetic waves and streams of data flowing like rivers.

Even among hundreds of data streams, the area around Love Motel glowed intensely.

This happens when tons of people with implants are gathered.

With light that bright, there must be at least 30 heavily modified people inside.

Paladins from the Kyro Society…

Even from this distance, I could tell—one of them stood out, shining way more than the rest.

Only one kind of person can glow like that from implant overload and survive it.

QPD…

A former colleague.

One of those bastards is here now.