Ch.51 The Price of Musical Arts
"Today was tough huh, Kaede."
"Hmm... I wonder why he keeps coming at me like that."
"Does this happen all the time?"
"I wouldn't say it happens all the time, but it happens quite often. It's extremely annoying."
The next day after school.
As we were on our way home consoling Kaede for her minor mishap, a luxurious looking streamlined car stopped a short distance up the road.
The window opened and Kaguya-senpai's face peeked out.
"Oh, Kaguya-senpai!"
I smile as she waves gently at me and I run over to her.
Licia was in the driver's seat.
"Hello."
"Hey, please get in. I'll give that child a lift home too."
The car door automatically slid diagonally upwards.
Cool.
Um, what was it?
Gullwing... No, it was scissor doors.
"You hear her, Kaede, come in too."
"...No, I'mー"
"Don't be shy. Come in."
I go behind Kaede and push her back.
"Hey, please don't push me. I get it."
Kaede gets in the car with her eyes wide open and feeling scared.
I followed behind and the door closed automatically.
Once we fasten our seat belt, the car starts moving quietly.
"Thanks. But are you both okay? Today is your debut stream."
"Yeah, it's okay. It was just about time for us to go home."
"We've already made the arrangements. There's no need for Alpheria - Aria - to worry."
When Licia corrected my name, I suddenly noticed something strange.
"Now that I think about it, Licia, you changed your pronoun."
Right, just as my name is now Aria, Licia now refers to herself as "I".
Before, she called herself by her own name.
"Of course. I'm 19 years old right now, you know? Calling myself by my own names at this age is pretty pathetic."
"I see. So that's why you sometimes mixes up your pronouns in VR space."
"Since the avatar is based on my old appearance, it is necessary to intentionally switch."
I agree.
The appearance of the Licia in the VR space was like the Licia I knew at the time, transformed into a two-dimensional character.
But in real life, she looks like this.
She already stepped one foot into adulthood.
Her trademark was once her curly twin tails.
However, while her hair is still curled, the style has been changed to a half-up.
Her height, which was once a head shorter than the average, had grown dramatically.
With her slender body, dress shirt, tight skirt with slits, and jacket in place, she looks exactly like a capable career woman.
On the other hand, Kaguya-senpai has always had a mature appearance, so she didn't seem to have changed much.
"Hey"
Kaede tugs on my sleeve.
She looks uneasy,
"Is it okay for me to hear that story?"
"Isn't it fine? Kaede is my family, and Prisma Ark seems to be in partnership with Shin-nii too. Besides, you're not the type to reveal this kind of confidential information to others, are you? You also said that you have no one to reveal it to."
"...That last part was unnecessary."
Kaede looks away in dissatisfaction.
I see, I'm right on the mark.
"Really?"
"I'm the type of person who is very selective about my friends."
That's a common phrase used by people who have no friends.
"I think it's a good thing. If you carelessly trust people, you'll end up being completely betrayed when the time comes."
""So heavy...""
Licia and I looked away.
These are the words of someone who, after her father's arrest, had everyone around her turn on her, and who was then thrown into the dangerous world of Valkyrie, where she was then subjected to brutal bullying.
The weight is something else.
"Umm... you two... um... came from another world, right?"
Kaede asked very hesitantly.
"Why is your face so red?"
"I-Isn't that inevitable? There's no way I could ask such a question normally!"
Lol. That's right.
It must have been a particularly high hurdle for a serious girl like Kaede.
"That's right. We came from the world where Aria was born in her previous life - the Blue Sphere."
"...Is it that easy to transcend worlds?"
"Not at all. It's true that the musical arts we use has the power of a wish device. But miracles require an equal price."
"Price?"
"It's called equivalent exchange. The one you hear many times in the Fullmetal Alchemist opening."
"What is Fullmetal Alchemist?"
"Guhaa!"
The generation gap!
The woman left behind in the Heisei era has collapsed!
But I will keep saying it.
I'd say that subculture from 2000 to 2015 was the most fun I've ever had!
"Very few people remember us anymore."
"Eh?"
Then Kaede looks this way.
“…The energy used in music arts is like magical power in magic. But the source of that energy is the feelings of the people directed towards us. You could also say it’s the passion they feel for their idol.”
Although I feel like I've explained this somewhere before, I'll start by going over the basics again.
"That's why Valkyrie was also doing the idol business. But of course there are limits. And if you have to pay the price for your fans' feelings, that means you'll lose that number of fans."
It's not a source of funds that just springs up like water.
It's not uncommon to see fans who are excited and saying, "I'm going to support that girl for the rest of my life!" sell off all their merchandise a week later.
That's what it means to give up your feelings.
The more powerful the musical arts we use, the more our fans will drift away.
That being said, to be honest, this is still better.
The wirst thing about this system is that it applies to friendships and romantic relationships as well.
Other Valkyries would have some resistance, but that wasn't the case for ordinary people.
This is the result of using musical arts to protect people, so it's really a point of no return.
"Magic ends in failure when the magical power runs out, but in the case of musical arts, there is also a substitute such as existence or life."
Let's get back to the main topic.
"I can vaguely understand what life is, but existence? ... You mean, very few people would remember you?"
I nodded in agreement to Kaede, who opened her eyes wide in surprise.
"As expected of an honor student. As you can imagine, you can even use the proof of your existence as payment. And the more great a feat you accomplish, the greater the amount of energy you can generate."
The feelings people have for Trinity, who has become a top idol group.
And our achievement in accomplishing the great task of saving the world.
If those two things were the price to pay, it would certainly be possible to transcend the world.
"...That's terrible. Does that mean that no one even remembers that you guys saved the world?"
"That's right... At least, right before we came to this world, no one remembered Aria except for us."
Kaguya-senpai exuded regret and fear as she said this.
"That woman paid both her existence and her life."
My eyes met with Licia's in the rearview mirror.
Unable to bear her half-closed eyes, I broke out into a cold sweat and quietly looked away.
Sorry.
I'm truly sorry.
"That's why Licia and I were prepared to throw everything away. And we won the bet. And that's all we need."
Fleeting, yet powerful at the same time.
Kaguya-senpai smiled softly as if embracing the happiness in her heart.
――――――――――
Author's note :
Because Alpheria gave her existence and life as a price, her great achievements became Kaguya and Licia's.
And even Valkyries have limits to their resistance,
Kaguya and Licia are deeply terrified by the fact that their memories and recollections of Alpheria are slowly disappearing, and Kaguya even resorts to self-harm at times.
As a result of Kaguya and Licia giving their existence as a price, the great achievements the three of them achieved became someone else's.