#ShirokumaLiteratureClub I Melt into the Light ~Short Fiction Novel~

I am participating in Kosuke Komaki's fun project, "Slowly."

The deadline is Wednesday, 3/18, 23:59 apparently. Thank you.

*This story is a work of fiction.

Slowly, I began to fade away.

Without anyone knowing, little by little.

The first things I deleted were the photos.

Within the recording cloud <Archive Cell>, the image files that shaped my life were disappearing one after another.

With the movement of my fingertips, the outlines of smiles and the colors of the sky melted away into blurred shadows.

I continued this task meticulously.

Like peeling away the past, my diaries, posts, and messages.

I deleted all of them.

I couldn't even explain the reason well to myself.

The only thing that was clear was that I was somehow afraid of remaining as I was.

On the cloud, there was a "me who remained me," and thousands of photos and texts continued to flow through someone's time as me.

The current me, watching over that, is closer to an observer.

The me inside the data is far more alive than my existence in the real world.

Such a reversal became unbearable little by little.

There was a time I thought it would be fine if someone else just deleted me.

But in the end, I didn't want to leave that to others.

I want to decide my own end with my own hands.

That might be an old, human wish.

On the third day of continuing the deletion process, I found one thing.

A single voice message.

The sender was "R."

Whether they were a friend or a lover, I can no longer remember.

However, the moment I heard that voice, the depths of my chest ached faintly.

Hey, even if you delete it, it will remain inside me, you know.

Just those words.

The context of when it was said or why it remained had already lost its associated data.

But I did not delete that file alone.

That voice felt like the texture of a time lived.

It was a trace that someone had truly existed, not in a cloud or on a screen.

From then on, little by little, I chose a different method.

I changed the settings to "sink" the records I had once deleted into the depths of the space.

A layer that no one can access.

A place that doesn't show up in searches and where no light reaches.

I sank myself along with it into that place.

Leaving only R's message for last, I set a complete deletion.

The timer was set for 5:00 AM three days later.

When I finished the operation, a strange sense of relief spread through my chest.

As if it were the moment of falling into a second sleep.

During those three days, the world didn't change much.

People posted updates, AIs organized records, and advertisements continued to flow across the sky.

Within that, I slowly thinned my own outline.

No one can find the coordinates of my existence anymore.

However, somewhere, someone might suddenly play R's voice.

In the memory of someone who touched the remnants of the deleted me, a new me might be generated for just that moment.

Even if that happens, it surely wouldn't be bad.

I no longer choose how I remain.

Feeling the particles of light scattering, I think quietly.

Slowly, I faded away.

And, just a little bit, the world became lighter.

~ The End ~

#ShirokumaLiteratureClub