Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 538 - 465: The Same Future

Chapter 538: Chapter 465: The Same Future

Kirino Reisei and Nanase Kizuna, both having fallen into the hands of Nestor Corporation, now awaited the endpoint of their lives.

"I want to drink coffee," Nanase Kizuna said. She sat on the tatami, her gaze unnaturally drifting about.

This was a clean, quiet office; outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was the ambiance of Shangjing. The cityscape was crowded with buildings, with pale office towers and azure skyscrapers visible everywhere, interspersed with advertising airships and giant animated billboards, composing a splendid, dazzling artificial landscape.

The war had lightly slashed the cheek of this gigantic city, only to heal itself in a few nights, leaving no scars. The modern corporate city was simply too vast—it could be destroyed but never occupied.

"Coffee is not allowed; it’s bad for your health," Kirino Reisei walked back and forth in the office, wearing fashionable attire Nanase Kizuna had never seen before. Her pale fingers swiftly skimmed over kettle, tea pot, cups, tea caddy, porcelain bowls, and solid wood tea tray, "Drink the tea I brewed for you!"

"I don’t want to," Nanase Kizuna drew her legs in, clad in light green traditional attire, strung together with pink ribbons, "Tea leaves are troublesome to clean up."

Her feet were beautiful; Nanase Kizuna never liked wearing shoes, as from her fox state, her feet were always meant to be seen, hence they were always well cared for.

Her toes were nimble, fair, and smooth, and in her human state, she always walked around the office, never touching the wild ground, thus remaining immaculately clean.

"I’ll clean it up," Kirino Reisei said in an incontestable tone.

Nanase Kizuna rolled over, lying deeper on the tatami. It was only after Kirino Reisei brought the tea over and knelt on the tatami to offer her a cup that she turned her head to reluctantly drink a little.

"How will Nestor Corporation dispose of us?" Nanase Kizuna whispered.

"I don’t know." Kirino Reisei’s gaze too began drifting aimlessly like Nanase Kizuna’s earlier, lacking a focal point.

Kirino Reisei stood up, setting the empty tea cup down, feeling a suffocating heaviness in her heart, these days resembling tumultuous waves. They had lost their status, assets, and guards, left only with each other, without anyone caring about their future.

Aside from Kizuna, she didn’t really know anyone. Kirino Reisei thought silently, lost in complicated thoughts.

Myriad Forms Magic Power inherently had no fixed appearance, changing its face for different onlookers, replacing its visage endlessly.

After all, isn’t identity distinguished by face among people? Through magic, with every new form she assumed, the one she left behind died completely. She was a person who had died seven times in succession; no social ties could endure, repeatedly reset.

Only Kizuna remained, Nanase Kizuna.

She smelled the scent of the fox and turned her head to see Nanase Kizuna had already transformed into a large fox, using her sharp teeth to pick up the tea cup and bring it to her hands. She reached out to stroke the white fluff on Nanase Kizuna’s face gently, the large fox adorned with beautiful pink eyeshadow that Kirino Reisei had painted on.

"Why transform back?" Kirino Reisei whispered softly, "You, always showing a monster’s appearance... Isn’t it even harder for people to accept you? They will shoot you."

"You haven’t seen me like this for a long time," Nanase Kizuna’s head gently rubbed against Kirino Reisei’s face, "Back in the Kamibayashi Family’s bamboo forest, there was a witch who took your form to lure me in, ensnaring me in an instant. Indeed, I still miss you, always have."

Kirino Reisei gently lay on the ground, beside Nanase Kizuna’s soft, warm neck, repeatedly smoothing Nanase Kizuna’s fur with her hands.

It was such familiar fur, long and easy to groom, feeling wonderful to the touch.

Those who have touched animals would have this kind of sensation at their fingertips, subtle yet insufficient, because beneath those fine hairs was their scorching body, the blood pulsating, the bones and muscles beneath the skin palpable.

The mixture of firm, fervent touch and the softness of the fur was irresistibly lovely.

But it was all coming to an end soon.

Kirino Reisei could feel everything moving inexorably towards decay and collapse; they were the last remnants of an old era, Kyoto Infinity’s last pair symbol, with only their blood able to put a period to the past era.

All that was left to do was to tell Nanase Kizuna their last thoughts.

"I have wronged you," Kirino Reisei closed her eyes, "So arrogantly leaving the company, leaving the mess for you to endure alone."

"It doesn’t matter," Nanase Kizuna closed her eyes too.

"I am about to die of old age. Witches live in perpetual youth but at a cost, my hair will wither, skin will wrinkle, eyes will become unsightly, body will shrink, a witch’s old age is both ugly and pitiful."

"It doesn’t matter."

"I am now in the clutches of an evil witch, forced to work for her, always in pain, incessantly laboring under her orders. It’s truly uncomfortable to be by her side."

"It’s okay; now we’re together again."

Kirino Reisei remained silent.

"Let them kill us," Kirino Reisei wished to die beside Nanase Kizuna.

"Fine," Nanase Kizuna said without opening her eyes. "Let’s end our lives together."

"I’m just afraid they might only kill one of us and leave the other," Kirino Reisei stood up, knelt in front of Nanase Kizuna, lifted its head, and kissed Nanase Kizuna over and over again. "I’m scared. If that happens, please, you must survive. Please, live on for both of us."

"Reisei... Reisei..." Nanase Kizuna whispered with a voice as thin as a mosquito’s, without opening her eyes, "...I just want you to know, from a long time ago until now, I’ve not regretted it even once."

The shadow cast by the sun in the room slowly shifted.

She would take all her secrets and rituals to the grave. Kirino Reisei watched the sun’s shadows.

She lay down beside Nanase Kizuna and fell asleep without realizing it. When she woke, she heard the sound of gunfire from somewhere – Nestor Corporation’s staff were executing death row inmates. The gunfire dragged her from a dream-like state back to reality, a reality as ash-gray as her true appearance.

Turning her head, she found the large fox had disappeared; she scrambled up in panic, her mind filled with images of its corpse, only to then see the electric light on, with Nanase Kizuna back in human form, head bowed, absorbed in drawing manga at the table. It was the 22nd episode of "Siphon!", which should have been updated two weeks ago.

"I’ve turned our story into a manga," Nanase Kizuna said, turning the storyboard draft towards Kirino Reisei to show her their experience playing in the amusement park.

Kirino Reisei studied the panels closely. On the roller coaster seat, Nanase Kizuna was stuffing a green pastry into Kirino Reisei’s mouth. How long ago was that? She could hardly remember.

"Feeding each other snacks while riding a roller coaster doesn’t pack enough visual punch," Kirino Reisei said as she approached and held down the draft. "If you want to attract more readers, you have to make them kiss on the roller coaster. Otherwise, this episode won’t have enough appeal."

"But we didn’t kiss that day. It wouldn’t be true to reality if I drew that," Nanase Kizuna gazed at the draft with distress. "I don’t want to alter my work for the sake of reader feedback."

"You’re a mature commercial manga artist now," Kirino Reisei said in a tone that brooked no argument, "creating based on the market’s feedback is your duty. Besides, this is fiction; you don’t need to consider reality. Have you ever received extremely detailed feedback and guidance on your work? I wrote that for you."

"I did receive it." Nanase Kizuna sketched on the storyboard, reworking the layout. "I always wondered who would read a manga so closely. It was really you."

Kirino Reisei scrutinized the draft.

She intended to say, "I’ll help you draw the storyboard tomorrow," but then she remembered they had no tomorrow, so she silently looked down, waiting for the execution squad’s directions.

"What if we can’t finish the drawing?" Kirino Reisei felt dazed.

"I never planned on finishing it," Nanase Kizuna said, focusing intently on her artwork. "I always knew we wouldn’t live to see it completed under normal circumstances."

Later, when the first batch of trials had concluded, Kirino Reisei saw Xu Yang walk upstairs into the office. She knew the end was near, that this man could easily decide their future.

After looking around the room and seeing the sketches on the table, Xu Yang asked what they needed. Nanase Kizuna requested a drawing tablet, and Kirino Reisei wanted a brush and cleaner. After collecting their wish list, Xu Yang set off to leave.

"What will our future be like?" Kirino Reisei asked as he left, unable to restrain herself. "You can decide that, can’t you? Your word can decide. What exactly will Nestor Corporation do to us—please tell me now?"

"Your future," Xu Yang said as he left, "has already been decided by yourselves."

Kirino Reisei stood in place, holding her breath.

They had survived. She spun around quickly, shooing Nanase Kizuna from the seat, grabbed her pen, and fiercely revised the content of "Siphon!"

"You have too many bad habits when drawing storyboards! I told you this a hundred years ago," Kirino Reisei murmured, head bowed. "Honestly... show some improvement."

"Yes, yes," Nanase Kizuna replied.

"Also, next time we have a holiday and go to the amusement park, let’s kiss on the roller coaster; then this episode’s content won’t be considered haphazard," Kirino Reisei said as she sketched lines on the draft paper.

Nanase Kizuna stood in the corner, simply looking down and smiling.