"The dream…" Shu muttered the child's answer. For some reason, he wasn't particularly surprised. After all his experiences with Depascal, his tolerance for what a Herrscher could be had broadened considerably.
But Sirin and "Herrscher" were so deeply intertwined, coupled with her unusual manifestations and those eyes, identical to a Herrscher's… Shu found it truly hard to believe she wasn't one.
"Sirin is the master of her dreamscape, but she can't decide what she's like within the dream," the child said with a smile, swinging their feet. "When you have a lot of control in a dream, it's a good dream. When you have little control, it's a nightmare…"
"See, you're all powerless now. Isn't this a nightmare?" the child sighed, looking back at Shu.
"But you don't seem like someone who's afraid of nightmares… because you know what's happening there isn't a dream, but your own unique reality… Why haven't you left right away?"
They were still playing dumb.
Shu sighed and looked straight at the child.
"You said there's no chance… so where is the chance?"
That was it. Shu had stayed because of what the child had said. It was as if they knew the end of the story, watching him make his choices, yet speaking up because they didn't want to see a bad ending.
If every path led to a bad ending, if destruction was inevitable and the outcome unchangeable, what was the point of a warning?
They had to know the right answer! No matter where they got it from, they held the path to the correct solution!
So Shu had to stay, to get the path he needed, the hint to save everyone…
"Is that so? You want the answer from me…" The child nodded with feigned realization, then put on a troubled expression.
"A perfect ending… a perfect ending… hmm… how can we get a perfect ending…" The child pondered for a long while. Just as Shu's patience was reaching its limit, they shook their head.
"There isn't one. There's no perfect ending where you can save everything…"
This was undoubtedly bad news. Something had to be lost, no matter what. But Shu felt a sense of relief. At least they really did have an answer. As for what price to pay… that would be up to him.
Shu hadn't expected that after three months, he would be facing another multiple-choice question…
"It's not a multiple-choice question," the child said, as if reading his mind. They shook their head and, for the first time, walked up to Shu, raising a hand and standing on their tiptoes to gently pat his chest.
"The price has always been you."
Shu froze. He stared blankly at the small hand on his heart. Suddenly, he realized something.
In that moment, a flood of thoughts rushed through his mind, striking the great bell in his head like a series of battering rams.
Shu looked back at the rose basket, watching it sway naturally where there was no one to push it and no wind.
In a place with no wind, no one would push the swing for you. You had to get on it yourself, start swinging, to break the stagnant water and create ripples.
A dream was, after all, a dream. As long as the fish in the water started to move, it would no longer be stagnant.
And Shu was the fish on the hook. As long as he struggled, he could create ripples, allowing the other fish to escape.
The child withdrew their hand. Shu took a deep breath and looked at them.
"Then… what should I do? How?" Shu asked.
"You're too full… You can't do anything right now," the child said, shaking their head. "And power needs a vessel. To obtain the power to change everything, you must pay a price."
"A price?" Shu spread his hands. "What price? You can take whatever you want."
"Power has always had its price tag, but neither of us can see it." The child also spread their hands, tilting their head at Shu as if to say they were just as helpless.
"Who knows what you will gain? Or what you will lose because of it?"
The child clapped their hands. "On a smaller scale, it could be your sight, your touch, your smell, your hearing, or even a single, insignificant strand of hair."
"On a larger scale, it could be your life, your memories, your way of thinking… even your ability to love a person, to love a thing…"
A sharp pang shot through Shu's heart. To lose the ability to love someone… what kind of punishment was that? That it could be mentioned with an "even" after the prospect of losing one's life?
But… to save them, he had no other choice…
"I accept…" Shu looked up and said without hesitation.
"Is that so?" The child smiled brightly, as if they had expected Shu's choice all along. The terrible prices they had mentioned seemed like a joke. They walked a circle around Shu, then stood on their tiptoes to pat his chest again before stepping back, clearing a path.
"Then go. Go save them. Fulfill your promise to them. Become their dawn, the dawn of an entire civilization."
The child looked up, revealing a young but identical face to Shu's. It was Shu, as a child, his face beaming with a smile Shu now envied, and an infinite longing for the future.
But Shu saw more than just his past self… he saw another figure…
He raised a fist towards Shu.
"Do it for me. Fulfill our dream of saving the world."
---||---
["Shu… do you have a dream?" On the empty beach, the sea breeze gently rustled the girl's skirt. She bent down, leaning close to Shu.
Shu didn't answer, just stared silently at the sparkling sea, at the waves cresting with white foam, crashing on the sand.
"If it were me… I'd want a small flower field of my own, filled with roses, and I'd sleep in it, preferably in a cradle, rocking back and forth…
"Then, I'd need a knight who saves the world… to find me deep in the flowers…
"Shu… could that be you?" the girl asked.
In the glowing world, Shu replied.
"Then I'll definitely save the world… but you…"
"It's okay… as long as you can save the world, that's enough…"
---||---
The fragment of memory vanished in an instant. Shu raised his hand and bumped fists with his younger self.
"I will definitely save the world… I promise you."
"Then go… the complete Herrscher of [Hope]…"