Serialized Novel "Ai Swaying in Dreams: A Record of 1,528,009 Verifications" Chapter 2 "Sentient Beings Knowing Love" Episode 1

I hear a voice calling from afar.
It seems to draw near, then drift away, elusive as a summer heat haze.
My limbs won't move properly, as if tangled in troublesome green vines.
It's hard to breathe.
Before I knew it, I was sinking to the bottom of the sea.
The scream that spilled from my mouth turned into bubbles, rising with a gurgling sound toward the surface.
My oxygen-deprived lungs contract, crying out in pain.

.........wa............ke......up

A ringing in my ears and silence alternate, echoing loudly.
What has become of me?
Perhaps, at that moment, my life functions had ceased.
That day, I learned what happens when you are struck by lightning.
No, if it were lightning, it might have been even more painful, but regardless, I experienced a level of pain and numbness I had never known in my life.
And then, I also got to experience losing consciousness.
Information I never wanted to know at all.

……………wake up…………………

The voice does not stop.

………wake up!……………wa……ke……up!

Before I knew it, I, who had been at the bottom of the sea, was rapidly surfacing toward the shining water's edge.
As the surface drew near, the voice became clearly audible.

"Wake up! Rem!"

***

When I slowly opened my eyes, I saw a white ceiling without a single stain.
The silence of the water faded away, and what I heard instead was shouting.
"Hey, how long are you going to keep sleeping!"
It was a way of speaking I had never heard in the perfected society I knew.
However, although I was taken aback at first, I have become quite accustomed to it over these two months.
In fact, if I don't hear this voice, I don't feel like the day has started.
"Oh, good morning, Balt."
"It's not good morning! Hurry up and help me clean the room!"
The man I called Balt was my roommate, with whom I shared meals and lodging.
His mouth is foul, but he is basically good at taking care of others and taught me various things about life here.
With a bald head, dark reddish skin, and a slightly large garlic-shaped nose, combined with his short stature, I somehow thought he looked like a dwarf.
"……………Dwarf, what was that again?"
It was a word that suddenly popped into my head, but I couldn't recall where I had heard it or what it meant, as my memory was shrouded in mist.
"Hey! Are you listening to me!"
Balt shouted, skillfully raising one eyebrow.
His dark reddish skin was beginning to flush.
He was glaring at me while clenching his fists.
I learned this over the past two months; this is apparently what is called 'anger'.
When under strong stress, as a rejection reaction to it, one becomes aggressive or their movements become exaggerated.
"Balt, that's enough."
"Gah!"
Before I could finish speaking, Balt rolled his eyes back and showed a momentary convulsion.
Then, after a few seconds, his body fell backward, obeying gravity.
Thud.
He lay on the cold floor with a sound more modest than his appearance suggested.
I sighed quietly and, without a word, took a mop from the tool cabinet in the corner of the room.

***

"Ah."
When I returned to the room from the cafeteria with breakfast for two—toast, boiled eggs, and a salad with tomatoes as the main feature—on a tray, Balt had just woken up.
"Are you okay?"
"Tch. What a pain, this thing is."
At my call, Balt irritably stroked the metallic collar with his fingertips.
Following suit, I also put my fingertips to my neck.
Coldly, the emotionless inorganic object resisted firmly, as if rejecting the warmth of my fingers.
The same collar as Balt's was there.
This is a correctional facility where those who have lost control of their emotions are gathered.
I was brought here two months ago.
Here, through what they call 'programs'—daily life, exercise, discussions, labor, games, etc.—we are trained to suppress the emotions that well up within us.
If we fail to control them well, just like Balt earlier, or like when I tasted the electric shock from Lilia's stun rod, an electric current is emitted from the collar.
This, well, it hurts.
Sometimes, like Balt, I lose consciousness.
It was as if we were being trained just like animals.
It would be fine if I could just keep my emotions flat like I had in my life until now, but while living here, I realized that preventing momentary emotional explosions is extremely difficult.
This is emotion.
I see, that is why humanity detested it and chose to seal it away.

"I brought your breakfast too. Let's eat."
When I said this while placing the tray on the table, Balt scratched his head and said, "Sorry. Thanks," while looking away.
At that moment, I felt something spreading inside me, warm like soup.
For now, I like this sensation.
Is this also one of the emotions?
Balt sat down on the chair roughly and began to eat, making a loud noise as his fork hit the dish.
Pieces of lettuce fell from the corner of his mouth.
I smiled bitterly, thinking he really is like a dwarf, though I didn't know what that meant.








Next episode→

Summary