Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

“What do you mean by that? You were hostile toward us not long ago.”
“Ain’t that the truth. But look, I’m just followin’ the algorithms they programmed into me. Weren’t no one expectin’ an irregular like this.”

Freed from his bindings, Mr. Icarus stretched his body wide, his joints popping and clicking as he rolled his shoulders.

It wouldn’t be strange for a person—but for a robot, the sound was oddly human.

“Heave-ho… hey, you there, pal. Mind droppin’ a little blood here? You’re the only genuine human around, right?”
“Oh? You require the blood of kings? Very well!”
“Why’s this guy gotta be so damn loud all the time…”

The king bit the pad of his thumb, letting a bead of blood fall onto the metal plate Mr. Icarus was holding.

The plate’s surface seemed to have faint grooves carved into it—the single drop spread slowly outward, forming a pattern like a magic circle.

“Master, what is this thing?”
“…A key. It’s designed to read information from blood and open a gate based on the match.”
“Hoo, ya figured that out just by lookin’. Not bad. Aight then, slide that hunk o’ metal into that notch in the wall, would ya?”
“You’re a demanding golem, aren’t you? Nnghh…!”
“Oh, come on, don’t strain yourself, Master!”

I took the metal plate from Master and fit it into the hollow in the wall instead.

It was about the size of a school bag but dense as solid iron—there was no way Master could have lifted it easily.

“Man, you’re pretty puny for someone supposed to wipe out humanity. You sure you got the muscle for that?”
“For the last… haah… time, you’ve got the wrong person… haah…!”
“Yeah, yeah, sounds real convincing. Anyway, step back a sec.”

Once he confirmed the plate was securely in place, Mr. Icarus started hammering away at a keyboard that jutted out from the wall.

His fingers moved so fast they left afterimages—no human could possibly keep up.
Finally, he slammed what was probably the Enter key with a dramatic taaan, and the wall split open to either side, revealing what had been hidden behind it.

“Lemme say this first—don’t give ‘this thing’ a name, don’t call it nothin’. We’re already skatin’ on thin ice with Babel’s sensors, ya got me?”
“…Hoh. I do not sense any magical energy from it. Looks broken, too.”
“And what exactly is it supposed to be? A failed golem prototype?”
“Wrong again! …But, huh. Guess you really don’t know.”
“Um… Mr. Icarus, I know what this is.”

When I timidly raised my hand, both Master and the King turned their eyes toward me at once.

In the next instant, Master darted behind me and locked my arms in place, while the King covered my eyes with his hand.

“All right, first things first—calm down, Momo. Don’t say a word. You might be mistaken, but even the slightest chance is too risky.”
“Pink-haired one, close your eyes and take a deep breath. You did not see anything, got it?”
“Hold up, I’ll grab a blindfold and a gag! Y’all keep that gal restrained till then!!”
“Why does nobody trust me!?”
“You’ve got too many priors, Momo.”
“That’s so mean!!”

Even Master aside, the King and Mr. Icarus moved in perfect sync, like they’d trained for this exact scenario.

Still, I wasn’t that reckless—I could at least be careful not to blurt out any taboo words by accident.

…But how far did that list even go? The more I thought about it, the more nervous I got.

“Momo, just answer yes or no. Do you know what this… strange object is?”
“Yes!”
“I see. Then, is it something we would know as well?”
“U-uh… probably not?”
“Then it’s something from your world?”
“……Yes.”

I’d never seen one in person, but it was famous enough that I recognized it instantly.
Its blackish blue rectangular wings were crumpled and scorched, its parabolic antenna cracked in half.

Clumsy as it looked, the design was brimming with ingenuity and purpose. In my world, we called machines like this artificial satellites.

“Icarus. Calling it ‘this thing’ or ‘that thing’ feels cumbersome. May we grant it a temporary name?”
“Sure, but don’t go pickin’ anything that might trigger a taboo flag, ya hear?”
“Momo, I’ll leave it to you. We don’t even know what counts as dangerous anymore.”
“Then… let’s call it Kogorou.”
“Who the heck is Kogorou!?”

Names like Hayabusa or Himawari ¹ felt risky, so I just blurted out the first thing that popped into my head, but they didn’t seem to get it.

It came from Daigorou, so Kogorou felt like a cute spin on it².

“Well, fine. So, Kogorou drifted here from the Outlanders’ world?”
“Nah, nah. This is somethin’ made by folks from this world. The Outlanders only started driftin’ over more often after them Calamities started makin’ a mess of things.”
“What? That’s news to me. Was the cause Theo? Or Ragna?”
“Don’t know the name. But accordin’ to the archives, it was some shady brat ridin’ a silver disk.”
“Silver… silver, huh? Doesn’t ring a bell.”
“……I see. So, Null, then.”

Unlike me, Master seemed to have an idea. She touched her chin, slipping into her deep-thinking mode.

Once she got like that, interrupting her only put her in a foul mood—better to leave her be for now.

“So, Mr. Icarus, is this Kogorou what you wanted us to see?”
“That’s right. Sadly, we can’t tell y’all straight out what caused our downfall. So this is how we leave clues instead. Roundabout, sure, but it’s all we can do.”
“Hm. May I bring it back to my castle and display it?”
“The hell you can, dumbass! You plannin’ to end the world all over again?!”
“‘All over again,’ you say? Icarus, you claimed humanity once perished. Yet here we are, living peaceful lives. Why is that?”
“Couldn’t tell ya. I wasn’t around to observe what happened after. But I’ll say this—the world today ain’t as peaceful as it looks.”
“What do you mean by that…?”
“As long as the Calamities still live, it’s only a matter of time before history repeats itself. That’s all I can say.”

Mr. Icarus began typing again. The open door shut, sealing Kogorou from view.

Then a monitor fixed to the wall flickered to life, showing a map that connected this desert to somewhere far away.

“Follow the trail. There’re other places like this one. I’m tired now… lemme rest now.”

With those final words, Mr. Icarus’s body went limp and slumped over.

No matter how much we shook or struck him, he probably wouldn’t wake again. Until someone like us came along someday, he would spend another long, silent age asleep.