Episode 4. Meeting Monika

When I came to, all I saw was a white ceiling.

'Ah, right—I was swept up in the current, used Reverse Flow, and passed out.'

When I gathered my senses, there were no soldiers, no mages.

Inside the small hospital room, there was only myself and one woman.

"Are you with me?"

I stared at the woman before me, dazed.

"……!"

She was one of the handful of Level 7 mages in the entire world—Monika Newell.

Retired now, she was essentially unemployed, but word had it she enjoyed enormous popularity back in her home country of America.

'Why would someone like her be here?'

I swallowed hard, feeling as though I'd run into the final boss at the very start.

"Just who are you, exactly?"

"Hmm…."

The word *exactly* sent a sudden jolt of tension through me.

She seemed to have noticed something about me.

"Be honest. That magic-reflection technique of yours—I've never seen anything like it, not even in the latest research from the Magic Towers."

"Well, that's…."

"And furthermore! A seven-year-old girl wandering around between contract killers and an organ-trafficking ring, carrying a pistol!"

"……."

I frantically patted myself down, only to find that the dagger I'd secured between my thighs was gone as well.

"If you're looking for that terrifying murder implement, it's right here."

Monika sighed and held up the dagger.

It was unmistakably the sharp plastic dagger I'd had on me.

"Good heavens—a plastic dagger that slips through security checks, and a subcompact pistol sized for a child's body!"

Her eyes lit up.

"Could you be some famous little assassin from the underworld? Or perhaps an undercover spy from the National Intelligence Service?"

Her words left me momentarily speechless.

"Have you been reading too many comics…?"

"You—you! How dare you say that!"

Monika stared at me with the eyes of someone who'd been betrayed.

"Don't make me laugh! So you're saying it's perfectly normal for a seven-year-old to reflect high-level magic and walk around with a pistol?"

"……."

I averted my gaze, then spoke.

"I don't… remember what I did."

Monika's eyes narrowed.

"Your parents?"

"I don't know."

"What were you doing before this?"

"I don't know."

"Where did you live?"

"I cannot recall."

"Who taught you that magic-reflection technique?"

"I told thee, I cannot recall…."

At my words, Monika scratched her head.

"Ha. That's a remarkably convenient setup, isn't it? Isn't it?"

"It seems I have lost my memories. The only thing I remember is being caught up in some magic while walking down the street."

Monika looked back and forth between me and the plastic dagger, as though she couldn't quite believe what I was saying.

"In any case, I would appreciate being released now. I am a busy person, as it happens."

At my words, Monika shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but while you were sleeping, I ran an identity check. Nothing came up."

"……."

"And on top of that, your bag contained some thoroughly soaked for-ged doc-u-ments."

Monika looked at me with an expression that demanded an explanation, then let out a sigh.

"No, never mind—what am I doing, interrogating a child who's lost her memories. It was probably something like a test subject for an unlicensed Magic Tower, or a child soldier from a trafficking ring."

"……."

I turned the situation over rapidly in my mind and gave a nod.

"Ugh, dark underground rooms, ugh, mad mages, ugh…."

As I spoke, Monika's expression grew somber.

"…As I thought."

She pulled an ice cream from the refrigerator and pressed it into my hand.

"Look here, I am not a child."

When I tried to hand it back, Monika peeled off the wrapper and placed it back in my hand.

"No, that's not what I meant—"

"I'm not asking anything of you. Just eat that for a moment. I'll see what I can do to help."