Chapter 354 - Stardust

When Egostic retired, Stardust was devastated.

Only then did she realize.

How much she had depended on Egostic.

Though she always claimed to be a villain, he was always the first to rush to her side when she was in danger. His presence and smile had always been a source of comfort in a corner of her heart.

And.

...And she had wished that Egostic would stay by her side forever.

But Egostic left.

Suddenly one day, saying she wouldn't need him anymore.

It made no sense.

She still needed Egostic.

She couldn't even imagine him not being by her side.

Too suddenly, he was gone.

Because of this, Stardust was in great shock for a while.

Why did he leave so suddenly? Did I do something wrong? Did something happen?

Even while anxiously wondering, deep down she believed.

That Egostic would return someday. That they would surely meet again.

That's when it happened.

When she heard the news.

'Egostic, he's terminally ill.'

...What?

At first, she couldn't believe it.

No, she couldn't accept it. How could someone so seemingly fine suddenly...

...Wait.

Fine?

At that moment, she remembered.

Come to think of it, Egostic had never been fine.

He had his stomach pierced by a monster for her sake, staining the floor with his blood.

He had been beaten inside a mechanical device due to her misunderstanding.

...And from the beginning.

He would occasionally cough up blood.

Why hadn't she noticed?

Looking back, there were always signs.

How he would struggle after teleporting just a few times, and how he acted so recklessly as if he had nothing to lose.

Only someone who was dying, someone certain of their death, could act that way.

If he was terminally ill.

All his previously incomprehensible actions suddenly made sense.

Why he retired so abruptly? He didn't want to reveal his impending death.

...In prison, despite everything they'd been through together, why did he act like he'd forgotten it all? Because he knew he was leaving soon and didn't want to hurt her.

Thinking about it that way, everything made more sense.

And.

Upon this realization, Stardust was overwhelmed by profound despair.

"Ah... ah, ah..."

And from that moment on.

Something seemed to break inside her.

Each day began as usual.

Putting on her tight red suit.

Arranging her blonde hair, then flying through the sky to fight enemies.

Nothing seemed different.

...Except for the moments when she questioned why she was doing any of this.

'I killed him.'

Such hallucinations.

Would occasionally echo in Stardust's ears.

If she had known he was sick from the beginning, she would have treated him better.

Instead of being snippy, she would have confessed her feelings.

She would have honestly told him she wanted to spend more time together.

She had done nothing.

...Egostic had done everything for her.

What had she done for him?

Only this growing anguish.

She wanted to apologize.

If she could meet him again, she wanted to tell him she was sorry. That she had been wrong.

'I killed him.'

If only she had done better.

If things could have been different.

...If she could meet him just one more time.

She shouldn't have been jealous in the first place.

What would have been wrong with spending time together with others? She should have just focused on him when they were together.

She regretted everything.

So mentally exhausted, regretting everything.

To the point where she thought she had killed Egostic.

And such thoughts.

Led to extreme directions.

'...Do I deserve to live after killing Egostic?'

At dawn.

Sometimes when feeling dizzy, she would unconsciously think such thoughts.

Feeling the wind blow through her hair, staring blankly at her fist with blue eyes.

She had resolved to spend her life protecting people.

But what did it matter?

She couldn't even think about the one person who loved her, whom she loved.

...That was.

The reason she had cut ties with everyone and devoted herself solely to hero work.

It had been six months since Egostic died.

Now, she was working as recklessly as Egostic had, as if she had nothing to live for.

Because she could no longer find a reason to live.

"Sigh..."

And so the next day.

After spending the entire day getting injured while defeating villains, she was leaning against the railing of a nearby rooftop.

...It's hard.

Egostic must have had it even harder than me.

As usual, Stardust was thinking about Egostic, sighing with lifeless eyes as she leaned against the rooftop.

Then, suddenly feeling something, she turned her head.

There, an orange sunset was slowly setting, dyeing the sky yellow.

And seeing that sight.

She suddenly felt a forgotten emotion rising within her.

Somehow.

She seemed to have seen such a scene with Egostic before.

The moment she thought this.

Suddenly, with a splitting headache, she remembered something.

Zzzzing

"Ugh...!"

'...This won't be the end.'

Suddenly, a voice echoed in her ears.

Along with it, she unconsciously remembered something.

Somehow, something that wasn't clearly in her memory.

'Even if ■■ goes back. In the end, it's just the two of us.'

'People don't change.'

'Someday, we'll be able to talk like this again.'

"Uuugh...!"

What is this? What's going on?

What kind of memory is this? I've never experienced anything like this.

Why are these scenes in my head?

As she clutched her head, lost in pain.

Along with his face, somehow faintly smiling.

She remembered his last words.

'Don't cry.'

"Ah..."

And when she fully recalled that memory.

She found herself standing before the sunset.

Unknowingly, she discovered herself shedding tears.

***

Although she recalled strange, dreamlike scenes that weren't in her memory.

Her daily life remained unchanged.

Only her desire to stop living grew stronger.

But reality wouldn't leave her alone.

[S-Stardust! It's an emergency! A massive monster is currently covering all of Seoul...!]

"I'm on my way."

With that brief response, she took off with the frozen, cold expression that had become all too familiar to her.

What had appeared in Seoul this time was a massive monster.

Hearing that it was as large as an entire district, resembling a dragon and devouring several cities, she moved quietly but quickly to the area.

She didn't need to go far before seeing it.

'...It really is huge.'

Grrrrrrrrrr-

It was like a long dragon with half its body buried in the ground.

With a semi-transparent body, it was passing through the city, glowing in various colors like colored fog.

Although it wasn't causing direct harm, perhaps due to its transparency, its size—towering higher than mountains visible from afar and with a body larger than several cities combined—made it look dangerous to anyone.

With a transparent, spiky hedgehog-like appearance, mixing light yellow-pink and blue colors in a fantastical form, with dozens of jewel-like eyes in front.

Even she had never seen such a bizarre sight.

Stardust frowned slightly but wasn't particularly moved.

Her heart had already been worn down to the point where she could no longer show much emotion toward anything.

'Where should I strike?'

As she flew closer to it in the sky, quietly assessing the situation while flying around it.

KRAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

'...What's happening?'

Suddenly, the transparent monster that had been moving quietly began to writhe in agony.

Then, with a terrible scream.

-CRASH!

Its body began to shatter like breaking glass.

Transparent, fluorescent fragments of various colors began to break apart from the center of the creature.

In this absurd situation where a monster suddenly appeared and then spontaneously shattered.

She instinctively realized that someone ahead had destroyed the monster.

After all, the monster's body had started breaking from its head.

'...Who could it be?'

Was there someone besides herself here with the ability to defeat such a monster?

That couldn't be. If there was, they surely wouldn't be on the Association's side.

She needed to check who it was.

With that thought, she flew forward with a cold expression.

And there, in the blue and pink mist, what she witnessed.

So suddenly, what she saw was.

"Ugh. Phew... Ah."

"Huh...?"

It was the person she thought she would never see again.

"Haa... this thing is really sticky. Had a hard time dealing with it. Haha."

The person she thought about every night, yet was certain had died.

Someone she desperately wanted to see, yet whose absence had caused her so much anguish.

"Ah..."

"...Haha. Why are you looking at me like that? Ahem, hrm. I said I'd stop being a terrorist, not that I'd stop being active. Hahaha..."

The person whose smiling face she thought she would do anything to see just one more time.

That person.

Was now right in front of her.

So suddenly.

So abruptly, looking the same as always.

Wearing his mask, smiling.

Like that.

The man she had been waiting for all this time.

Egostic greeted her with a smile.

"Hello, Stardust. It's been a while."

"Hic..."

She finally broke down in tears.