Chapter 757: The Story That Was Losing Its Way

The attacks continued.

But Zero no longer looked at them the same way.

Before, every incident had appeared to be part of Earth Zero’s attempt to destroy the peace treaty.

Now Zero saw another pattern beneath the chaos.

Hiro.

It was always connected to Hiro.

The attacks threatened civilians.

Hiro appeared.

The situation became dangerous.

Hiro responded.

People witnessed his actions.

Then his name spread further through the human domain.

At first, Zero believed it was simply a coincidence created by Earth Zero’s manipulation.

But the more he watched, the less convincing that explanation became.

Earth Zero wasn’t merely creating opportunities.

He was arranging them.

Zero sat alone inside his room.

Several reports were spread across the table.

A map of the human domain covered the center.

Beside it were newspapers.

Each one carried Hiro’s name.

HIRO LEADS SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE

HERO RESPONDS TO BORDER CRISIS

CITIZENS PRAISE HIRO’S COURAGE

Zero stared at them silently.

There was nothing wrong with it.

Hiro deserved recognition.

That much was obvious.

But Zero couldn’t forget Earth Zero’s expression.

The other version of himself hadn’t been watching the attacks.

He had been watching Hiro.

As if every successful response brought something closer to completion.

Zero leaned back.

"What are you trying to restore?"

The question remained unanswered.

********************************************

Across the capital, Hiro’s life was beginning to change.

People stopped him in the streets.

Adventurers approached him at guild halls.

Military commanders asked for his opinion.

Even members of the War Council began treating him differently.

He was becoming important again.

Not because of a title.

Not because someone officially declared it.

The people themselves were beginning to choose him.

And Zero noticed something else.

Hiro had changed.

Not dramatically.

He was still uncomfortable when people praised him.

Still quick to redirect attention toward others.

Still unwilling to speak about himself.

But he had begun accepting responsibility more naturally.

When people looked toward him, he no longer immediately stepped away.

When someone asked him what should be done, he answered.

When adventurers waited for instructions, he gave them.

It was as if something inside him had slowly awakened again.

Zero watched from a distance.

And the feeling inside him grew more complicated.

Hiro was finally receiving the recognition he deserved.

Yet the person responsible for creating the circumstances was Earth Zero.

Zero didn’t know whether to be grateful or angry.

Perhaps both.

**********************************************

One evening, Hiro found Zero standing outside the War Council building.

"You’re following me."

Zero glanced at him.

"I was nearby."

Hiro gave him a flat look.

"You’ve been ’nearby’ a lot recently."

Zero said nothing.

Hiro leaned against the wall beside him.

The two remained silent for several seconds.

Then Hiro spoke.

"Something strange is happening."

Zero looked toward him.

"What?"

"People."

Zero waited.

Hiro looked toward the street.

"I know that sounds stupid."

"It does."

Hiro gave him an annoyed look.

Zero remained expressionless.

Hiro sighed.

"Before, people looked at me like I was part of the group."

He paused.

"Now they look at me like they’re waiting for something."

Zero’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"Waiting for what?"

"I don’t know."

Hiro shook his head.

"That’s the problem."

The silence returned.

Then Hiro continued.

"During the ceremony, I thought I didn’t care."

Zero remembered.

The medals.

The cheers.

The statues.

Mia standing at the center of the public image.

Hiro beside the others.

"You didn’t?"

"I told myself I didn’t."

Hiro looked down.

"But I think I did."

Zero didn’t interrupt.

"I watched everything happen after the battle. People talked about Mia. Her name was everywhere. She was the strongest person people could understand. The person they could point at and say she saved them."

His voice wasn’t angry.

It was quieter than that.

"And I was fine with it."

Hiro laughed faintly.

"At least I thought I was."

Zero looked at him.

"You were still recognized."

"Yes."

"But not enough?"

Hiro remained silent.

That silence answered the question.

Zero looked toward the street.

There was nothing wrong with Mia receiving recognition.

She deserved recognition too.

But somewhere along the way, Hiro’s presence had become smaller.

Not because he had failed.

Not because he was weak.

The attention had simply moved away from him.

And Zero had never considered what that meant.

Until now.

***************************************

"Do you think I’m changing?"

Hiro suddenly asked.

Zero looked at him.

"No."

"That’s reassuring."

"I think people are changing how they see you."

Hiro stared at him.

"Is there a difference?"

"Yes."

Hiro waited.

Zero looked forward.

"You’ve always been capable."

Hiro’s expression became quiet.

"The difference is that people are finally paying attention."

For a moment, Hiro didn’t respond.

Then he smiled slightly.

"That sounds more like something Aidan would say."

"Don’t tell him."

Hiro laughed.

The moment passed.

But Zero remained thoughtful.

Because the conversation had confirmed something.

Hiro himself could feel the change.

The world around him was changing.

Slowly.

Naturally.

Almost as if events were pulling him toward a position he had once occupied.

Zero’s eyes narrowed.

A position.

That word remained in his mind.

******************************************

Later that night, Zero returned to the roof of Tech Genesis.

The city stretched before him.

His communicator remained silent.

No message.

No coordinates.

Earth Zero hadn’t contacted him.

Which meant Zero had to make the next move.

He removed the strange metallic object he had found earlier.

The object still contained no mana.

Zero examined it again.

Then another thought appeared.

The technology wasn’t simply foreign to Edolas.

It was familiar.

Not completely.

But enough.

He had seen objects like it before.

Not in Edolas.

On Earth.

A fragment of memory surfaced.

A screen filled with text.

Rows.

Names.

Numbers.

A white page surrounded by a dark interface.

Then—

another fragment.

Someone reading.

Pages turning.

Words appearing.

A large number beneath them.

Zero’s eyes narrowed.

The memory vanished before he could understand it.

"What was that?"

He closed his fingers around the object.

The image didn’t return.

But something about it felt connected to Earth Zero’s actions.

Not the attacks themselves.

The attention.

The reactions.

The way people were beginning to speak about Hiro.

It reminded Zero of something.

Something from Earth.

Something he couldn’t remember clearly.

************************************************

The next morning, Zero received reports from one of Tech Genesis’s information departments.

He had instructed them to collect public reactions to the recent attacks.

Not military reports.

Not investigation records.

Public reactions.

Aidan had questioned the request.

Zero hadn’t explained.

Now he sat inside his office reading the results.

The reports were strange.

At first, people had been terrified.

But after Hiro began responding repeatedly, the tone changed.

Fear was still present.

Yet people were becoming more interested in what happened next.

They wanted to know whether Hiro would respond.

They discussed his decisions.

They argued about what he should do.

They followed reports of his movements.

Zero’s eyes moved through the information.

One statement caught his attention.

Public attention has increasingly centered around Hiro’s involvement rather than the attacks themselves.

Zero stopped.

He read it again.

The attacks were becoming less important than the response.

Less important than Hiro.

The mysterious enemy remained unknown.

But Hiro’s name was becoming familiar everywhere.

Zero slowly leaned back.

"You’re not creating fear."

Aidan, standing nearby, looked toward him.

"What?"

Zero ignored him.

Earth Zero was creating something else.

Attention.

Focus.

Aidan frowned.

"Zero?"

"Nothing."

But Zero’s thoughts were moving quickly.

Why did Earth Zero need people to focus on Hiro?

Why did his actions seem to pull attention toward one person?

And why did it feel like Earth Zero was measuring something?

********************************************

That evening, Zero finally found him.

Earth Zero stood alone beside a river outside the capital.

He didn’t appear surprised when Zero arrived.

"I was wondering how long it would take."

Zero stopped several meters away.

"What are you doing?"

Earth Zero looked toward the river.

"Working."

"At what?"

"Something that should have been done earlier."

Zero’s eyes narrowed.

"Hiro."

The other Zero smiled faintly.

"You’re learning."

"What does Hiro have to do with any of this?"

"More than you realize."

Zero stepped forward.

"You’ve been creating these situations for him."

"Yes."

"Why?"

Earth Zero didn’t answer.

Zero’s expression hardened.

"People are starting to look at him again."

"I know."

"You wanted that."

"I did."

"Why?"

Earth Zero finally looked toward him.

For several seconds, his expression remained unreadable.

Then he spoke.

"Have you ever wondered what happens when the wrong person becomes the center of everything?"

Zero’s eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?"

Earth Zero looked away.

"Nothing."

"That’s not an answer."

"No."

"It isn’t."

Zero’s mana began rising slightly.

Earth Zero didn’t react.

"You said you were correcting mistakes."

"I am."

"Then is Hiro one of them?"

For the first time, Earth Zero’s expression changed.

Not anger.

Something closer to frustration.

"No."

Zero watched him carefully.

"Then what is he?"

Earth Zero remained silent.

The river moved quietly beside them.

Finally, he spoke.

"A missing piece."

Zero’s eyes narrowed.

"Of what?"

Earth Zero smiled faintly.

"That’s the question you should be asking."

Then he stepped backward.

Space distorted around him.

Zero immediately moved.

But Earth Zero was already gone.

Zero stopped beside the river.

Only the sound of moving water remained.

"A missing piece..."

He repeated the words quiet.

The following days brought a change that Zero couldn’t explain.

The mysterious attacks continued, but public attention was shifting.

People no longer spoke only about fear.

They spoke about Hiro.

Where would he go next?

Would he respond?

What would he do?

The more the mysterious force acted, the more Hiro’s name spread.

And Zero began noticing another strange detail.

Events that once would have naturally drawn attention toward Mia no longer did.

Mia was still respected.

Still powerful.

Still recognized as one of the heroes.

But conversations were changing.

Reports were changing.

People were looking elsewhere.

Zero didn’t understand why that disturbed him.

Mia deserved recognition.

Hiro deserved recognition.

There was no reason they couldn’t both stand as heroes.

Yet Earth Zero was deliberately shifting something.

Not strength.

Not power.

Attention.

Focus.

The place people looked when something happened.

Zero watched the city from above.

Below him, a group of children were arguing over who they believed would stop the mysterious enemy.

One shouted Mia’s name.

Another immediately disagreed.

"Hiro would get there first!"

The others joined the argument.

Zero remained silent.

It was such a small thing.

But for some reason, it felt important.

Too important.

As though the world itself was beginning to move in a different direction.

That night, Earth Zero stood alone inside an unfamiliar room.

Several sheets of paper covered the table.

Some contained names.

Some contained events.

Some contained dates.

At the center of everything was one name.

Hiro.

Earth Zero stared at it silently.

Then he crossed out another name.

Mia.

He stopped.

His expression became complicated.

Not hatred.

Not resentment.

Regret.

"You were never supposed to disappear."

He looked toward the window.

Far away, the lights of the capital continued shining.

Earth Zero closed his eyes.

For a moment, fragments of another place appeared in his mind.

A screen.

Words.

Pages.

A number slowly decreasing.

Then—

nothing.

The image vanished.

Earth Zero opened his eyes.

His expression became calm again.

"Not this time."

He gathered the papers.

One by one, he placed them into a small case.

Tomorrow, another move would be made.

Not because Hiro needed more praise.

Not because Mia needed to disappear.

And not because Earth Zero wanted attention for himself.

There was something else.

Something Zero Elea had unknowingly changed.

Something that had slowly pushed the world away from the path it was supposed to follow.

And Earth Zero intended to bring it back.

No matter how much Zero Elea stood in his way.