Chapter 4: The Former Hero, the Demon King, and Their Battle (July 21st-24th)

Our trip through the sky to the capital city of Arbast was oddly awkward. There were several reasons for this. For starters, we were running low on food, which meant we had to ration how much everyone got for the day. And as we drew closer to the capital, Corona got more and more on edge. I tried casually asking her what was up, but she wouldn’t answer me.

After what had happened to her home, Lyun was outright depressed, too. We’d managed to get out of the valley, but her story wouldn’t reach its happy ending until we met the Spirit King and got him to send a team to handle the Ghostdemon sickness outbreak or something. The one thing that seemed to lift her spirits was talking to Mio. Maybe she was just trying to take her mind of things, but Lyun really seemed to have taken a shine to her.

“Hey, Mio, what kind of game is that?”

Mio sung a song to lighten the mood after dinner, and Lyun approached her when she was done. She seemed to have enjoyed the song more than anyone.

“It’s a song. Lyun, you don’t sing?”

“What’s that?”

It seemed like the spirit world didn’t have a whole lot going on for it in the way of music.

“Wow, Earth does some interesting stuff for fun, huh?”

After that, Mio had taught Lyun several basic songs, and they spent quite some time singing together. Lyun seemed to enjoy it, perhaps since it made for a pleasant distraction.

Lyun had gotten especially close with Mio, but she was being really nice to all of us even though we were from another world. Everyone except Harissa, that is.

“Um... Lyun?”

“...”

“Um...”

“...”

Whenever Harissa tried to talk to her, Lyun would turn away and give her the silent treatment. And just like with Corona, she wouldn’t tell me the reason why. I resorted to asking Harissa if she had any clue.

“It’s probably because I’m a sorcerer from Aburaamu...”

That was all she said on the matter. She looked so glum about it that I didn’t want to push her.

If we at least had some warm food and warm beds, would that make everybody feel better? I spent two days thinking that before we finally reached the capital city of Arbast.

▽

By the time we reached the city, it was almost nightfall. The red light of the setting sun shone down on groups of homes all made out of wood and mud. Apart from the inns, there were very few buildings taller than two stories.

“I’ve never been to Arbast myself, but a lot of different spirits from around the country come here, so it’s divided into four sections.”

Apparently there was a section each for the four main types of spirits in this world: water, fire, air, and earth. I’d heard of this before. Those were normally called the four elements. Both fairies and spirits had bodies like we did (material ones), but fairies lived out in the wild. Water spirits lived in rivers and lakes, so only fire, earth, and air spirits made houses. Most of them were simple earthen structures.

After entering the city, we decided we’d find an inn before we met the Spirit King. Mio and Harissa were hanging in there, but they were reaching their limits. Even Tsumiki, though she wasn’t saying it, was getting tired. To be honest, so was I.

I was worried about Ellicia and Hibiki’s group, but if we collapsed from pushing ourselves too hard, it wouldn’t do anyone any good. Once we’d made the preparations for Lyun to go to the Spirit King’s palace to get a medical team to head to Windsong Valley, we would rest for the night. The problem was that we didn’t have any money from the spirit world, but Lyun kindly offered to pay.

“It’s my way of thanking you. I’m really grateful for you helping me,” she said.

There was no point in refusing such a generous offer, so we decided to take her up on it.

“I think you’d be best off at an inn run by sylpheeds,” she said.

“Yeah, probably.”

A fire spirit inn would be really hot, and an earth spirit inn would probably be dirty. From what we’d seen in Windsong Valley, the sylpheeds liked to make cottages, and that kind of taste suited all of us just fine. We rented three rooms on the second floor of an inn run by a sylpheed couple, and gathered to eat supper on the first floor.

“They don’t use any seasonings, do they? It’s a very natural taste,” Tsumiki said as she bit into a fruit that looked and tasted like white fish.

She seemed especially interested in the food here, just like she’d been when we went to outer space. If only her cooking ability was commensurate with her enthusiasm for food...

“I prefer stuff with a little more flavor to it,” Lea said.

“Yeah, you like stuff with strong flavors. Oh, right. I’ll borrow the kitchen and make something for you later.”

“That would be great.”

Lea smiled at Tsumiki’s plan. It might not have been right for Lea, but I liked the simple flavor of the dishes. The other girls mostly seemed to agree. I didn’t get to hear what Corona thought, though. She was still keeping to herself.

“...”

Once we got to the inn, she’d gone into her room and hadn’t come out since. According to Harissa, her bunkmate, she’d said she was tired and had gone to sleep almost immediately.

I took it upon myself to stop by after dinner.

“Hey, are you sure you don’t want to eat anything?” I asked from the door.

All I got in response was a quiet, “Yes.”

She didn’t sound like she’d been asleep. But it didn’t seem right to force her to come out and join us, so I let her be.

“All right, I guess it’s time to head to the palace.”

“Yes,” said Lyun.

“Everyone else, stay here and get some rest.”

With that, Lyun and I left the inn.

▽

The “palace” wasn’t, strictly speaking, a building. It was really the inside of a massive, 500- or 600-meter tall tree called the World Tree. It had everything you could possibly need to govern a country on the inside. So, even if it wasn’t a real building, it was certainly a real castle. It certainly seemed as functional as Aburaamu’s castle.

Lyun told one of the water spirits who worked there what she needed, and they told her to wait for a while before leaving for another room. Without much choice or anything else to do, the two of us just sat in some kind of waiting room.

“...”

“...”

Time always passes slowly when you’re waiting for something. It must’ve been especially hard for Lyun. Her homeland was in terrible peril right now. If it were me, I might’ve just shaken the water spirit when they told me to wait. When I told Lyun that...

“Things are really bad, yes. That’s why I can’t afford to mess this up.”

“Honestly, I didn’t think you’d be so clear-headed right now.”

“That’s a little rude, don’t you think?”

“Oh, um... Sorry.”

Maybe it was her dress, the color of fresh green leaves, or maybe it was that she was a fairy, a creature of fantasy, but Lyun struck me as rather young. But when we first met in the valley, she wasn’t panicking at all. And even what happened after that... I wasn’t really sure how to describe it, but she seemed to be carrying a very serious weight. It was probably just her desire to save the valley, but...

“I apologize for the wait. Please come this way.”

The water spirit from before finally returned, and it guided the two of us to a staircase further into the palace. The staircase led up several floors before passing through what looked like some kind of government office. When we reached the end of it, we were led to a meeting room. There, we were finally able to meet with what appeared to be a very important spirit. However...

“I’m sorry, but we can’t send a medical team to your valley immediately.”

It wasn’t the news we wanted to hear.

▽

By the time we got back to the inn, it was already late at night.

“What? Why won’t they help?” Harissa asked when I told her what had happened. She was looking a little pale.

“Apparently it’s not just Windsong Valley where the mana spring has dried up.”

Getting right down to it, that was the heart of the problem. The mana spring, the source of the mana that formed the souls of the spirits and fairies of this world, was drying up all over the country.

Huge amounts of mana would be needed to cure the Ghostdemon sickness plague. The infected parts of a spirit’s astral body would need to be purged, then healed with new mana. And that was for each person affected. But even healthy spirits needed the mana-filled fruit of the land to live. The government couldn’t take away limited food resources from people to try and heal the sick.

In a sense, you could say that the spirit world was in the middle of a great famine. An infection that created zombies. A famine. It was pretty common in zombie movies for the survivors to struggle to find food in an apocalyptic world, but this was on a totally different level.

There was a moment of silence in the room as everyone thought about the sheer scale of the problem.

“...I have an idea. Could you use dark matter to cure the fairies and spirits who are sick?” Tsumiki asked, unable to bear the silence any longer. “You know, the food I cook makes Lea really powerful, right? It may not be good for humans to eat, but maybe spirits could...”

“Even if that were true, they need to purge the mana that’s been infected from their astral bodies. But once someone’s been completely overtaken by Ghostdemon sickness, they can’t do that themselves anymore. What they told me was that you need a doctor with special skills to perform surgery at that point.”

So, not only was there a shortage of mana, there was also a shortage of doctors.

“Maybe you could’ve restored their mana with dark matter before the disease took over, but...”

“I see...”

This time, nobody said anything.

“I’ll go tell Corona, I guess,” I said, and then headed to the room she’d locked herself in. “Corona, can I come in?”

“...Fine.”

A cold voice answered from the other side of the door. I opened it hesitantly. Corona was sitting on the bed with her arms wrapped around her knees. She looked at me when I came in.

“Do you need something?”

“Well, um... I went to the palace.”

I told her what I’d just told the others.

“I see... So? What are you going to do?”

“What am I going to do?”

“You wanted to go to Aburaamu and then back to your ‘Earth,’ right?”

“That’s true, but...”

We’d spent three days in this world. That meant that back home, it was just about to become July 24th. I was curious as to what Satsuki’s group was up to, but they were probably worried about me too since I hadn’t come home. I knew I should get back as soon as possible, but...

“I can’t just leave Lyun here... I’d like to find some solution for this.”

“...Why?”

“Huh?”

At some point, Corona had turned towards me, and she was staring deep into my eyes.

“Why are you so intent on trying to help others? That Mio girl’s got problems of her own, right? And you’ve also got other things to do back in your home world. So why are you so willing to get involved in the problems of this world and these people you barely even know? It’s insane.”

“Oh... Yeah, I guess I never had a chance to tell you.”

On our way to Windsong Valley, Corona had essentially been in a coma, and she’d been so standoffish on the way to the capital that we hadn’t had a chance to talk much. She didn’t know about the bloodline of the Namidare yet. It was a long story, no matter how short I tried to make it, so I asked permission to sit down on her bed before I told her all about who I was.

“You’ve got a pretty tough destiny, huh?”

“Not as bad as it was. Now I’ve got friends I can count on. And you were a hero in Aburaamu, weren’t you? So you’re not really in a position to talk.”

“I don’t know... I didn’t exactly volunteer to try and save the world,” she whispered before falling silent.

She was looking at the Hero’s Sword, which was leaning up against the wall in a corner of the room.

“But you managed to seal the Demon King and save Aburaamu, right?”

“Yeah, I guess. At first, I really didn’t want to. The person who summoned me, her name was Pastel... She was just this awful person. I told her to send me home over and over, and she just refused. When I didn’t want to do something, she’d hit me with her staff or kick me. She dragged me all across the land, and before I knew it, I’d saved the world.”

“I-I see...”

Wow. Being the original hero sounded rough. But when Corona talked about Pastel, she...

“Sheesh. Just remembering her ticks me off.”

She had a tiny smile on her face, like she’d kind of enjoyed it. She must not have really hated this Pastel person. Or maybe she’d decided to slay the Demon King for Pastel’s sake, just like I’d done with Harissa. There was not a doubt in my mind that Corona was the real deal when it came to being a hero. But that also made me curious.

“Corona.”

“What?”

“Why were you... Why were you sealed inside the Ruler’s Dungeon?”

It had been on my mind since we first met Corona. Why had she been sealed down there like someone never wanted her to come out again?

“I told you about my bloodline, right?”

“...”

“If there’s some secret you’re keeping—something that’s keeping your story from being over—can you please tell me about it? I’m sure it’s something I’m supposed to help you with...”

If Corona still had a problem, I wanted to help. Sane or not, it was what I’d decided to do, and I was going to follow through on that.

“I...” Corona started to say something for a moment, but then choked it back and shook her head. “I don’t have any secrets.”

“Corona...”

“I was sealed in the Ruler’s Dungeon of my own free will. But...” She cut herself off and smiled bitterly. “The loneliness I felt down there in that cold, dark place all alone... It was beyond what I imagined. All I could do was sleep. I lost count of how many times I would dream of the past and awake to disappointment. Perhaps it’s fully my fault for getting myself into that situation... but I’m deeply grateful that you got me out.”

“...”

“You truly saved me, young man.”

I didn’t even know what to say to that, so I decided to draw our talk to an end there.

“Okay... I’m heading back to my room. I need to think about what comes next.”

“All right.”

Clatter...

When I got up, I thought I heard something strange outside. When I went to check, however, there was nobody there. It was strange, but I had plenty of other things on my mind and went to my room anyway. I laid down on the bed and tried to think, but I must’ve been more tired than I thought. I started to doze off immediately...

▽

“...Huh?!”

Crap... I must’ve fallen asleep. I was planning on getting some rest, but I was still annoyed with myself for conking out at a time like this. The room was pitch black. Where was the light again?

“R, what time is it?”

“About 5:00 AM, I think.”

I was the only one in the room, so I could talk to R freely without having to worry. If it was morning, did that mean it was July 24th already?

“I wonder if everybody’s awake.”

The girls had split up into two other rooms: Harissa, Lea, and Corona in one, and Tsumiki, Lyun, and Mio in another. I wanted to check on them, but I wasn’t sure if it was okay to visit a girl’s room at this hour. Just as I was thinking about what to do, the door to my room burst violently open and several spirits came flooding in.

“What?!”

“Stay quiet!” one of them yelled, and then pushed me to the floor before I could respond.

“Who are you people?”

I was yelling, but they just yelled back louder.

“Silence, servant of the Demon King!”

Needless to say, I had no idea what they were talking about.

“Huh? What...?”

All I could do was lie there in shock.

▽

We were taken by the spirit soldiers to a cage made from vines and wood, and from there, we were carted off to the palace. It looked like it would be simple to tear through the woven vine bars, but they were enhanced with some kind of magic. It wasn’t going to be easy to escape.

All our belongings were confiscated, and we were given what the spirits called mana handcuffs. They were shackles that drained all the energy from our bodies, leaving us with just enough strength to move our eyes and mouths. When I looked around, I realized Lyun and Mio weren’t with us.

“Where are they...?” I whispered to Tsumiki, who’d been in the room with them.

“I don’t know...”

She was apparently just as clueless as I was. Maybe they’d stepped out to go to the bathroom and escaped...? I didn’t know, but I assumed it was better to stay focused on our situation for the time being.

All the soldiers around us were on edge, and it looked like they were ready to kill us at any time. I hadn’t done anything that would make them mad, as far as I knew. I racked my brain trying to figure out what these spirits could have meant by calling me a servant of the Demon King.

“Funnily enough, we actually defeated the Demon King... Two of us have, no less.”

I thought I’d try and lighten the mood a little bit, but Corona said nothing. Maybe this wasn’t the time for jokes...

“What’s going to happen to us?”

“They’ll probably let us go once they realize there’s been a misunderstanding... But I don’t know why this happened in the first place.”

And we didn’t know where Lyun and Mio were, either. Even if we did manage to bust our way out, it would be hard to find them in the capital. We would essentially be abandoning their stories.

My biggest priority now was finding out what was happening. When we got to the World Tree palace, the cage we were in was magically lifted to the top. There was nothing in sight but a door that led further in and a staircase that led up. There were more soldiers present, though, as well as an older man who was dressed quite different from the others.

“Sire, we’ve brought them here.”

“Good work,” the man said as he motioned for the soldiers to step back.

Wait, if the soldiers were calling him “sire,” then...

“Are you the Spirit King?”

“That’s right.”

The man nodded. His dignified bearing suggested both great age and authority. He was looking at the lot of us with strange eyes that were four colors: red, blue, yellow, and green. I couldn’t tell exactly which one of us it was, but he seemed to have fixated on someone in particular.

“Are you the Demon King and his servants?”

“No,” I said.

“....”

The Spirit King didn’t seem particularly perturbed by my denial.

“There’s no sense in trying to fool me,” he said.

“I’m sorry, but what...? I don’t know who this Demon King you’re talking about is, but have you ever seen him?”

The Demon King I knew was a giant dragon. I thought it was pretty obvious just looking at us that none of us had anyone like that in our family tree. Well, maybe Lea’s Leviathan form was pretty spot-on, but of course she wasn’t the Demon King.

“True... There are many stories of the Demon King who once invaded the spirit world, but there are so many different stories about him that it’s impossible to know what he truly looks like.”

“Then you’re mistaken about this whole thing. I don’t know why you’re doing this, but it’s got nothing to do with us.”

“No, that’s impossible.” Now it was his turn to tell me I was wrong. “There may be no reliable accounts of what the Demon King looks like, but there are two things we know for sure.”

With that, he beckoned to the soldiers to bring something forward.

“This is one of them.”

It was the Hero’s Sword, now unwrapped. They must have taken it from our room at the inn.

“But what does the sword prove?”

The Spirit King responded by summoning a small ball of fire with one hand and flinging it at the sword in his other. Of course, the fireball was split in two by the blade and disappeared.

“A sword that cuts through magic. This is the Demon King’s sword, the Demon Blade that once terrified our world.”

“...Huh?”

I knew that the sword could cut through magic, or really anything that used mana. But... “Demon Blade”?

“Wait a second! That’s called the Hero’s Sword...”

“Nonsense. This fearsome weapon nullifies even our strongest magic, and tears mercilessly through our astral bodies! There is no defending from it! You would suggest this is a hero’s weapon? Impossible!”

We were just talking past each other... What in the world was going on? Desperate, I looked to R.

“There’re two possibilities. One is that the Demon King who once attacked this world had a weapon identical to the Hero’s Sword. The other is much simpler...”

As usual, R assessed the situation in a completely deadpan fashion.

“The ‘Hero’s Sword’ and the ‘Demon Blade’ are just two names for the same thing. And...” In a flat voice, she said, “In that case, it’s likely that the hero and the Demon King are the same person.”

That was certainly a possibility I hadn’t considered... Naturally, my gaze turned to Corona, who’d been silent this whole time.

“...”

She didn’t seem particularly upset, but her face was pale, and her gaze was downcast.

“And there’s one more thing I know for certain about the Demon King,” the Spirit King added. “The Ruler’s Dungeon was made by one of the ancient Spirit Kings to seal away the Demon King. What’s more, someone tells me you’ve just escaped from there.”

As the king spoke, the door behind him opened, and two girls emerged.

“Lyun... Mio...”

“...”

“Rekka...”

Lyun said nothing, but Mio called my name in a concerned voice. For some reason, she and Lyun were wearing the same outfit now. But more importantly, she was shaking in fear.

“These two sisters told me about you.”

“...?”

The two were both wearing the same outfit, and Lyun’s halo was gone—evidently she could hide it like Iris could hide her tail—so they did kind of look alike, but I knew they weren’t related. I knew saying that, however, would just get both of them arrested, too. There was no way that would help, so I said nothing.

“I heard yesterday... that you came out from the Ruler’s Dungeon,” Lyun declared. Mio was hiding behind her back, looking at us like she wanted to say something.

Wait, Lyun heard that yesterday? Was it her that I’d heard outside of Corona’s door? The Spirit King must have taken our silence as affirmation, because his stern gaze grew even sharper.

“If the Demon King and his servants are behind the mana springs drying up, that would explain things.”

“Whoa, wait a second... Corona was in the Ruler’s Dungeon until just a few days ago! She can’t be responsible.”

Maybe that made it sound like I was admitting Corona was the Demon King, but if they were accusing us of something so ridiculous, I had to defend us.

“How could we trust the servants of the Demon King? Even if what you say is true, you subordinates could have done it.”

“We only arrived in this world four days ago.”

“It’s true that you wear strange clothes. Is this typical demon garb?”

Demons... So, the people here seemed to think we’d come from the demon world? With Corona in borrowed clothes from Tsumiki, we were all dressed in what we could consider normal for Earth. But to them, we were all wearing the same unusual thing. That was probably why they’d lumped us together like that and thought that we were the servants of the “Demon King.”

“I have many questions for the Demon King. Take them all to prison. See that they never leave it alive.”

The king ordered us to be taken away.

▽

I’d always thought of castle prisons as underground dungeons, but instead, we were kept up at the top of the palace. We were taken up another floor from where we met the king, but there was no staircase leading down anywhere.

Wait, I get it. Unless you could fly, you couldn’t escape. But with the mana handcuffs on, Lea couldn’t fly and neither could any normal sylpheed. They’d really thought this through, unfortunately.

We were separated from Corona and each given dingy prisoner’s clothes. Then we were all put in separate cells. Since we still had the mana handcuffs on, we could barely move. All there was to do was lie on the floor.

“Man... I always have the craziest experiences with you,” Tsumiki said.

“Sorry.”

“I wasn’t really asking for an apology.”

Then why did it sound like it?

“Still, what do we do now?”

“Hmm...”

I wasn’t sure what to tell Lea, who was talking to me from beyond the wall separating our cells. Really, there were two problems. One: how were we going to get out of here? Two: what were we going to do about Corona?

It seemed Corona was indeed the Demon King... That was a shocking reveal, but given the state we’d found her in, there was simply no way she’d had anything to do with what they were accusing her of with the mana spring. But even though I knew that, it didn’t look like there was much of a point in trying to convince the king and the soldiers. They didn’t really seem interested in evidence. There was no way they’d believe the Demon King wasn’t at fault.

So, should I just save her and run? It was the only option I seemed to have right now... but even if we did escape, what would happen to Lyun’s story? I couldn’t come up with an answer.

My thoughts, however, were interrupted when someone entered the prison and walked up to my cell.

“Is that you, Lyun?”

I could barely manage to move my head to look up at her through the bars. She was looking down at me with disgust in her eyes.

“...”

She was pulling Mio along behind her, and she still looked scared.

“Did you put your own clothes on Mio and say she was your sister so that they wouldn’t put her in prison?”

“That’s right,” Lyun said defiantly, as if trying to get a rise out of me.

That wasn’t really what I was mad about, though...

“Lyun... Mio... Why did you do this?”

“I learned that the Demon King had revived, so I told the Spirit King. That’s all.” She looked away a little. “Mio told me that you broke the Demon King’s seal. You deserved to be arrested.”

“We’re not from the demon world, and we’re not demons. We came from the same world Mio did. If you talked to her, you should know that, right?”

“I did... But she’s lost her memories, right? So maybe you lied to her. And if you can travel between worlds, maybe you could just go between the demon world and Earth as you please.”

“That’s...”

What Lyun was saying was crazy, but I didn’t have any way to disprove it.

“Either way, that woman really is the Demon King, right? If you really have nothing to do with her, you’ll be released eventually...”

Lyun sounded like she suspected us, but wasn’t entirely convinced. I could see it in the way she protected Mio, too. She didn’t really seem to think we were actually servants of the Demon King.

Corona, however, was a different matter. Lyun was absolutely sure she was the one responsible for drying up the mana spring and causing the Ghostdemon sickness to run rampant in Windsong Valley.

“Lyun?”

“...What?”

“Even if Corona was the Demon King, there’s no way she could have caused the mana spring to dry up.”

I then told her exactly how we’d found Corona and escaped the Ruler’s Dungeon.

“...See? Corona couldn’t have left, and she was so weak when we broke the seal that she collapsed. She didn’t have the energy to walk, much less do something evil like dry up the spring.”

“Shut up.” Lyun cut me off coldly. “She’s the Demon King. How can you believe her?”

The Demon King... The Demon King, huh? That was the problem. All the Demon King stood for to these people was pure evil. They were judging Corona off of that alone, without bothering to get to know her or anything about her. Granted, if someone had tried to introduce me to the Demon King and I didn’t know any better, I would’ve been just as quick to judge.

“Corona saved the world once.”

“What?”

“You know that Harissa is a sorcerer from Aburaamu, right?” I looked over towards Harissa’s cell. “Corona was summoned to Aburaamu by one of their summoners, and she saved their world. If the Demon King is pure evil, she isn’t the Demon King... She’s a hero.”

Maybe she was the Demon King who’d once threatened the spirit world. But that was a long time ago. She’d changed. Corona had become a hero.

She’d come back here after saving Aburaamu, and she hadn’t destroyed the world then. She even said she’d volunteered herself to be sealed away in the dungeon. If she’d been summoned to Aburaamu during the middle of her invasion of the spirit world, then maybe she’d agreed to be sealed away in order to stop the war? Half of that was just a guess on my part, but if nothing else...

“The Corona I know isn’t a bad person. I believe in what I saw.”

“Then what are you saying caused this?!” Lyun was yelling. “Are you saying it’s nobody’s fault? That the mana springs dried up on their own?! That the Ghostdemon sickness in Windsong Valley is natural? That my...!”

Lyun abruptly cut herself off and burst into tears. I was caught off guard by her sudden outburst, but at the same time, I could see why both she and the Spirit King were so eager to blame things on the Demon King.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know a lot about how this world worked. I knew on Earth, for instance, water traveled from rivers into the ocean, where it evaporated under the sun. That water vapor rose up into the sky, collected as clouds, and then tumbled back down to earth as rain. It collected in rivers, and then the whole process started over again.

But what if mana in this world wasn’t like that? Lyun had talked about purging mana in order to cure the sickness. There was also talk of “expending” mana to use magic. Even the plants also used mana to grow. But did they create mana via photosynthesis? Either way, the plants used mana to grow, make fruit, and spread seeds. And each of those seeds would need mana, too.

So, what happened if the mana here didn’t move in a cycle? What if it was used up forever once it came from the spring? That wouldn’t matter as long as there was an infinite supply coming from the spring. But now the spring had dried up. If that was because the spring had just run out of mana, what would become of the spirit world? There was only one answer: destruction.

This world couldn’t exist without the mana coming from the spring. The spirits’ astral bodies required it, and so did the plant life. If the basis of their whole food chain vanished, they’d have bigger problems than Ghostdemon sickness. It would be the end of the world.

And faced with that kind of crisis, they needed a reason for it. The Demon King dried up the spring. So, if they did something about the Demon King, the springs would come back to life. That’s what they believed because they needed hope. Maybe it was too easy to say that they were being selfish.

“...”

But I couldn’t do it.

“I don’t want to hear anything else you have to say.” Lyun looked away and pulled Mio closer. “Come on, Mio. I brought you here because you wanted to see Rekka. Hurry up and say what you need to so we can get back to the inn, okay?”

“Okay...”

Mio hesitantly stepped forward and kneeled down in front of my cell. She grabbed the vine bars and brought her face as close to mine as she could get it.

“I’m sorry... I didn’t realize this would happen... I told her about Corona when she asked me...”

“No, it’s okay. There was no way you would’ve known this would happen.”

I shook my head and told her not to let it bother her.

“...”

Mio then cast a quick glance back at Lyun. When she saw that she was looking the other way, she quickly slipped something through the bars into the shadows of my cell. It was Ellicia’s earring, which the guards had taken from me.

“...!”

With that earring, I could pass through walls!

“I told them it was mine, and they gave it back.”

Even if it was an item that gave you superpowers, it still just looked like normal jewelry. If Mio had said she’d lent it to me, or that I’d stolen it, and begged for it back, no one would have doubted her.

“Corona’s above... Your things are below...”

Mio whispered the bare minimum amount of information to me so that Corona wouldn’t hear, then stood up. When she saw that we were done, Lyun grabbed her by the hand and left the prison.

“Ngh... Rr...”

I forced my unresponsive limbs to move. I crawled my way to the earring and picked it up in my mouth. I wondered if it would really work if I wasn’t holding it properly... But thinking back on it, it had activated while it was in my pocket before.

All I could do was hope. This was my chance to escape.

But if we were all crawling on the ground like worms, they’d catch us and just drag us back. If we wanted a serious shot at this, I’d have to do something about the mana handcuffs that were sapping my energy.

But the only card I had to play was the wall walking ability the earring gave me. Without her strength, Lea couldn’t turn into Leviathan, so she couldn’t break them off... Wait, wall walking... When I’d passed through the wall in the Lord’s Dungeon, my legs had been in one room, my bottom torso in the wall, and my top half all the way out in the hallway... In other words, it was possible to pass body parts through a wall and not necessarily your whole body.

Could I try that? We’d used the wall walking ability to pass through ceilings and floors in the dungeon, too. We’d been calling it “wall walking” because it was convenient, but maybe you could use it to pass through anything? So, with any luck, I could just pass my wrists through the handcuffs...

Clatter!

The mana handcuffs fell to the floor.

“I’m so glad that worked...”

I sighed in relief. After waiting a few seconds for the strength to come back to my limbs, I stood up. Without a sound, I passed through the bars of my cell the same way and walked over to Lea’s.

“Rekka? How...”

“Shh...”

One by one, I removed everyone else’s handcuffs quietly so that the guards outside wouldn’t notice. I then explained that Mio had brought the earring to me.

“I see... So, Mio helped us out. What do we do now?”

“I guess we’ll have to escape first...”

It wouldn’t be easy to clear our names.

“For now, there’s just too much we don’t know. Like why the springs dried up, or what caused the Ghostdemon sickness... But we won’t be able to learn any of that in here.”

All I knew for sure was that the Namidares were the last hope for stories like this. If I didn’t act, this would come to a bad ending. And I couldn’t allow that. I didn’t know how I was supposed to save Windsong Valley or the spirit world, but knew I didn’t have time to waste in this cell.

For now, I needed to get out of the palace and away from the capital. I needed to keep going forward until I found a way to save the stories I’d gotten involved in. But there were two things that had to happen before that. No, three.

“First of all, we need to get our stuff back. Without Harissa’s staff, we won’t be able to leave this world. Then we need to save Corona... and if possible, take Lyun and Mio with us.”

It might be hard to persuade Lyun, though...

“Okay, off we go.”

There was no time to waste worrying about it. We quickly and stealthily got to work.

▽

Being able to partially pass through walls was surprisingly useful. I could poke my head through the floor and see what was below without anyone seeing me. If the room was empty, it was a breeze to take everyone with me to the floor below. And since I could look outside a room without being spotted, it made it easy to remain hidden. It also made it easy to take people by surprise.

The first place we headed was the room past the prison. That was where they kept prisoners’ belongings, as well as the interrogation tools they were going to use. Lea knocked out the guards as we searched for our stuff.

“Here we go,” I said.

Harissa’s staff, everyone’s clothes... even Hibiki’s glove. It was all there. These were the critical items we needed to return home. The only thing that was missing was the Hero’s Sword.

“You’d better not turn around, okay?”

“Right.”

Given the situation, we couldn’t exactly split up to go change, so we all changed out of our prisoner’s uniforms in the same room. Tsumiki, I’m really not going to turn around. You don’t need to tell me.

“Come on, turn around already!”

Shut up, you predatory preschooler! Someone really needs to teach R to shut up one of these days. The sound of rustling clothing was already bad for my heart... No, it’s not like I was trying to listen!

Anyway, once we were all dressed and ready to go again, the next thing we did was use a combination of Harissa’s invisibility magic and my wall walking power to get to the top floor. It worked well, and we just knocked out the guards who seemed to notice anything suspicious. So between force and stealth, we managed to get to a heavily guarded cell on the top floor without raising any alarm. That was where we found Corona.

“Corona!”

“...Rekka?”

Harissa then dismissed the invisibility spell, so it must have looked to Corona like we’d appeared out of thin air. She sounded like she was pretty surprised.

“I’m impressed you made it out of your cell.”

“Mio helped. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“...No, leave me here.”

“Okay, just hold on while I get you out... Wait, leave you here?!”

I shouted in bewilderment at what she said, and was immediately shushed by all the other girls. I quickly put my hand over my mouth and then turned back to Corona, making sure to speak in a whisper this time.

“What did you just say?”

“I said leave me here... I can’t cause any more trouble for you.” Corona looked down as she said that like she couldn’t meet my eyes.

“What are you talking about?! You’re not causing us any trouble!”

“I am the Demon King,” she whispered in a soft voice. “The Spirit King only suspected you because I hid who I really was.”

“...”

The fact that she’d been sealed in the Ruler’s Dungeon. The fact that she possessed the Demon Blade. Between what the Spirit King had said and Corona’s apology just now, I really had to accept at this point that she was the Demon King after all.

“Before you were a hero... you were the Demon King. Was that your secret?”

“Yes...”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

I didn’t mean for it to, but it probably sounded like I was blaming her. But still, I wanted to know what she was really feeling.

“I didn’t want you to know who I really was... and be afraid of me,” Corona said heavily, as if she were confessing a grave sin.

I remembered what she’d told me the night before: “You saved me when you rescued me from that lonely labyrinth.” I finally realized the fragility hidden behind the arrogant words and attitude of the former Demon King.

“I guess I should’ve just disappeared when you said you were going to the capital. I didn’t want to say goodbye, and this is what came of it. It’s my fault...”

“It’s not your fault, Corona.” I cut her off. “Whether you were a Demon King or a hero, what’s happening in this world isn’t your fault, is it?”

“That’s... true... But who would believe me? I’m the Demon King!”

“That doesn’t matter. I believe you.”

“!”

Corona looked up at me once more.

“If you don’t have anything to do with Ghostdemon sickness or the mana spring, then it’s not your fault we were captured. They’re the ones who are in the wrong.”

There was no reason to blame herself for everything. I couldn’t say what had happened in the past, but at least she was innocent when it came to this.

“...Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why are you defending me? You know I’m the Demon King, right? You fought a Demon King once... Aren’t you scared of me?”

“Well, I guess Demon Kings in general are pretty scary...”

The one I’d fought in Aburaamu was incredibly scary. I’d managed to win by cheating, but I never wanted to do anything like that again.

“But I’m not scared of you. You’re just, well... you.”

“But... if you escape with me, the Spirit King’s men will work harder to find you. If I stay here, he’ll need to keep more guards here to hold me, so he won’t be able to send them after you. So you need to leave me here regardless...”

“I won’t.”

Don’t be stupid, Corona.

“I told you about my bloodline, right? If I abandon you here, your story will meet a bad end. And I can’t let that happen.”

“And remember what I told you? I was saved when you let me out of that dungeon. So my story is already over—”

“Even if that’s true...”

I used my power to pass through the bars of her cell and reached my hand out towards Corona.

“I can’t just leave you to loneliness in yet another prison.”

“...!”

▽

“The guards are unconscious!”

“Are the prisoners in the cells?!”

“Did they do this? How did they get out of the mana handcuffs?!”

“The Demon King and her servants have escaped!”

I could hear the solders shouting below. We’d hidden the unconscious guards in the shadows, but they must have been found by now.

“Lea!”

“Right! Leave it to me!”

Lea nodded firmly and blew out an outer palace wall in a flash with her water magic. We all looked at the hole in the wall and then at each other.

“Go!”

Right on cue, we all jumped out. Of course, there was a significant drop on the other side. We began to freefall from hundreds of meters up, but...

“GYAAAOH!”

A few dozen meters down, Lea transformed into her Leviathan form and caught us all on her back.

“Let’s head to the inn where Mio and Lyun are staying before the guards catch up!” Lea spoke directly into our brains via telepathy.

“Do it!”

It was a race against time. We would have to escape the Spirit King’s men, get Mio and Lyun, and then escape through the gate to Corona’s home world.

“The things from Aburaamu are in my castle in the demon world... If it’s still there. Either way, as long as we’re in the spirit world, we’ll be followed wherever we go. If we want to escape, we have to get to my world instead.”

I didn’t have any other ideas. If the one way we had to get to Aburaamu was in the Demon World, then it was our only real option.

I could see the spirits on the ground panicking at the sight of the massive white snake that had appeared out of nowhere in the sky. Some of the braver ones attacked us with magic, but Lea merely twisted her long body to dodge their attacks. We sped forward to our destination: the inn in the sylpheed district.

“I’m going in for a landing.”

“Right.”

I took a moment to check behind us. I could see little silhouettes swarming out of the palace. They were probably spirit soldiers, but they didn’t seem to be organized yet. We had the Demon King with us. They wouldn’t try to charge us in small groups. When they came, it would be with the whole army.

But that would only take a few minutes. If they managed to surround the capital with soldiers, we’d also be trapped. I wouldn’t have much time to persuade Mio and Lyun. I kept that in mind as I hopped off of Lea’s back in front of the inn and walked right through the wall to the second floor.

“Mio should be in here, right...?!”

“Yeah, I think they were on the second room on the other side of the hall.”

“Right! Thanks, R!”

“...You didn’t remember? Ah, crap, I accidentally gave you useful advice. I underestimated how stupid you were.”

“I thank you for once, and this is what I get?”

In this case, I really didn’t care if this girl from the future had screwed up. I didn’t have a moment to lose. Compared to losing precious seconds, being insulted to my face was nothing. I wasn’t even wasting time opening doors; I walked straight through one into the girls’ room.

“Mio! Lyun!”

“Rekka!”

“Kyah! H-How did you get here?”

Mio ran over to me when she saw me, but Lyun just screamed. I put my arms around Mio and looked at Lyun.

“Lyun! Please come with me!”

“...Why? There’s no reason for me to go with you, is there?”

“I know that so much has happened you might not believe me, but think about it! What did Corona do to you? Even when she was attacked by the infected sylpheeds, she didn’t kill them, right?”

“...”

“I don’t have time to explain, but... I think I’m the only one who can save Windsong Valley! Please give me another chance!”

“...Is that because of all that stuff you said about your ‘bloodline’ and ‘stories’?”

Oh, that’s right. She’d been listening outside Corona’s door last night. I’d told Corona about my lineage then.

“You may not believe it, but consider that just the fact that you met me is proof of who I say I am. That’s how the bloodline of the Namidare works. I want to help you! So, please... come with me...”

I was going to say more, but...

“What could you possibly save?” Lyun’s icy voice cut me off.

“Huh...?”

Suddenly an invisible wall shot up between us. A wall called rejection that even Ellicia’s earring would let me pass through. Lyun looked at me with a mix of rage and despair.

“Save my story...? Do you really think you can?”

“Yes! There’s still a lot we don’t know about the Ghostdemon sickness and the mana spring, but we can find out...”

“It won’t make a difference,” she said bluntly.

Sure, I didn’t have a lot to go off of right now. Maybe I just sounded like a lunatic to her. As I tried to think of another way to convince her...

“My little sister is gone.”

“What...?”

I felt the words being choked out of my throat. Lyun’s little sister was... gone?

“I lived in that valley with my sister.”

When we’d met her, Lyun was alone. Did that mean...

“D-Did she get bitten? Then there’s still...”

“No. When we were running, she slipped on a slope and hit her head on a tree stump.”

Then... there was nothing we could do? Wasn’t my bloodline only supposed to get me caught up in stories before they reached bad endings?

“Wh-When did your lit... When did this happen?”

“The day before you came. It was dark, and we couldn’t see, and my sister...”

That would’ve been July 20th, the day before we reached Windsong Valley. We’d escaped the Ruler’s Dungeon and were camping that night...

But that didn’t make sense! If I had to save her sister to save her story, then shouldn’t I have met her before that happened? I mean, there wasn’t a hundred percent chance I would have made it in time, but the bloodline of the Namidare was supposed to only work if there was some chance of the story being saved, right?!

“...What’s going on here? Isn’t Lyun one of my heroines?”

I was so shocked that I yelled at R—the girl who knew more about my bloodline than I did—even though Mio and Lyun were right there. R’s voice, however, was as calm and even as ever.

“It’s simple,” she began. “Life is a series of stories. The curtain doesn’t fall just because you solve one problem. You’ve been caught up in so many stories that you should know that better than anyone, right? Well, in Lyun’s case, the scale of the story is much smaller than yours, but...”

R fell silent for a moment.

“In this case, a happy ending for Lyun’s first story would have been escaping the valley with her sister unharmed. That first story ended with her little sister’s death. But that doesn’t mean her life is over. She was still alive, and still being chased by the zombie fairies. That’s where her next story began. A story where the happy ending was escaping from that valley alive. That’s the story you were caught up in.”

So I had helped Lyun get a happy ending... But not for the story she wanted? That story, the one where she could have a happy ending with her sister, was already written and done by the time I’d arrived.

“Even you, even the Namidare, can’t save a story that’s already ended. That should be so obvious it goes without saying.”

“I can’t save her...”

I’d been in bad spots before. Plenty of times. But... I thought that if I didn’t give up, if I kept thinking, that things would work out. And with the help of my friends... that I could save them... And now...

A finished story. One that’s already been written. One that couldn’t be saved.

I didn’t know that that could happen. No, maybe R was right and that should have been obvious, but...

“If you really do have that bloodline, then why...? Why didn’t you make it in time? Why didn’t you save my sister...? Why didn’t you save Sophie?!” Lyun screamed. Her voice threatened to blast away my soul.

This was something I probably could have foreseen if I’d thought about it, but I never did. And faced with the weight of it now, my legs froze and my hands started to shake. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t even think about how to persuade Lyun to come with us.

“Rekka! They’re here! Hurry!” Lea’s telepathic voice echoed in my head.

If they were here, I had to run, but...

I looked at Lyun. She was glaring at me.

“I...”

I went to say something, but couldn’t. Her story had already ended in a tragedy, and there was nothing I could do for her.

“Rekka! Hurry up!”

I ran. I ran from Lyun, using Lea’s warning as an excuse.

▽

I took Mio back to everyone else and got back on Lea.

“Where’s Lyun?”

“...”

“I see....”

Tsumiki didn’t ask anything else.

“The soldiers are surrounding us, but they’re keeping their distance.”

“They’re probably scared of my power,” Corona said as she looked out at them.

“...”

“...Young man?”

“Rekka, what’s wrong?”

“Sir Rekka, are you okay?”

“...Huh? Oh, no. Sorry.”

Everyone was worried when they saw how much trouble I was having focusing. I was shocked by what Lyun had told me, but for now, I needed to get my head together.

“Corona, what do you think they’re after?” I hadn’t totally switched gears yet, but I decided to start with that. “They’re afraid, but they’re not going to let us get away, right? They wouldn’t be following us otherwise. That must mean they have some plan to capture or neutralize us.”

“I don’t know what they think this Demon King is capable of, but... Yeah. If they’re not going to just charge in with no regard for casualties, they’ll probably go straight to using their greatest weapon—the Spirit King’s magic. And we don’t have the Hero’s Sword now.”

“But we have some powerful water magic of our own,” Lea said. “Tsumiki gave me some more dark matter, so I won’t be shot down so easily this time.”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

Corona started to say something else when a huge light flared up behind us.

“W-What is that?”

“That can’t be... light magic?!” Harissa screamed when she saw the torrents of light gathering at the palace.

Wasn’t light magic something created to defeat the Demon King in Aburaamu? Why did the Spirit King have that?!

“Tch...! It’ll take more than that...!”

“It’s useless. Don’t even try.”

Lea created several spears of water, but Corona stopped her.

“A massive spell that concentrates the four elements of water, earth, wind, and fire... It’s the ultimate magic that only the Spirit King can use. Its force isn’t the only thing to be reckoned with. What makes it unique...” Corona stood up on Lea’s back to face the spell. “Since it contains all four elements, it absorbs any magic that’s used against it. It doesn’t matter how strong the spell is. Even if it’s a simple destructive spell, as long as it belongs to one of the four elements, the light magic will absorb its power and grow stronger.”

“Seriously...?”

So, no matter how powerful Lea’s water magic was, it would be used against us if she fired it at the Spirit King? That meant that he could neutralize our magic, but still attack... This ultimate spell of his really was something. There was probably no running from that huge ball of light, either. And our one way to stop it for sure, the Hero’s Sword, had been taken from us. This was definitely a dire situation, but for some reason Corona chuckled like she was remembering something fondly.

“Only the Spirit King should be able to wield that spell... but that sorcerer was a human, and she did it anyway. She just kept spouting off some nonsense about being a genius...” she whispered, and then her expression changed. “Young man, you said you don’t care if I’m the Demon King, right?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Then I shall show you my true form.”

The air around her changed. It was like a hidden power being unleashed. An invisible pressure rose up around her, and her body was instantly wreathed in black flame.

“Ah... Aaah!”

I could hear her voice from within the darkness. And just a few seconds later... The darkness was gone, and there stood Corona in the form of the Demon King.

She now had two twisted horns growing from either side of her head. The prisoner’s uniform she’d been wearing was nowhere to be seen. Instead, she was decked out in clothes truly befitting, well... a demon queen. Then there was the pointed tail sprouting from her lower back, twisting in the air like a whip. She was a fearsome sight to behold. This was the visage of the real Demon King.

“This is my true form.”

“...What? You’re still you.”

Nothing on the inside had changed.

“Heh...” Corona laughed for a moment, then turned towards the palace.

The Spirit King’s ultimate magic—the spell to slay the Demon King—was almost ready to cast.

“There are only two ways to stop that spell. One is the Demon Blade. The other is...”

Before Corona could even finish...

ROAR!

The air around us shook as the Spirit King fired his magic.

“...the darkness magic of the Demon King!”

Just as the light had nearly enveloped us all, pure darkness sprung forth from Corona’s arms. It was like day and night colliding.

Corona had said that no elemental magic could stop his spell. It would only be absorbed and make the spell stronger. That probably meant her darkness magic was special. This looked like it would come down to a contest of sheer power.

“Graaah...!”

Her feet began to slide on Lea’s scales as she was pushed back. She’d been recovering ever since she left the labyrinth, but she still wasn’t in good shape. It was probably incredibly dangerous to have her fighting like this. Yet there she was... What in the world was I doing?!

“...”

“...Young man?”

The next thing I knew, I was supporting her body from behind. I pressed my back up against hers to help her stand and dug my heels in.

“Sorry, this is all I can do. I don’t think I was being arrogant, but I really did think that if I tried my best, things would work out. But now I know how wrong I was.”

“...”

When I’d reached Windsong Valley, Lyun’s sister was already dead. In the end, I only had two arms and legs. There was only one of me. My two eyes couldn’t watch over the whole world. I couldn’t save every story. But...

“I’m still not giving up, though. If you give up, that’s when it’s really all over. Even if I can’t save them all, I can’t give up on saving what’s right in front of me, can I? No matter how pathetic I might be, I won’t stop going until things work out.”

I’d decided I wouldn’t stop even when confronted with despair. As long as my hands could reach out, as long as my legs could move, I would save all the stories I could!

“I couldn’t save Lyun’s sister! But she’s still my heroine, and her story isn’t over! I’m the only one who can save her! I’m not saving her because I want to be thanked! Mio, Corona, Ellicia... their stories aren’t over yet! So, please! Give me another chance, Corona!”

“...Leave it to me!”

Corona answered me, and her magic grew more powerful. The two spells were equally matched now, light against darkness. We were so close! If only there was something else we could do...

“Rekka! Listen to me!”

Tsumiki ran over, being careful not to fall off Lea’s back, and took a Tupperware container out of her backpack. She opened the lid, and a horrible darkness swirled up from inside like a monster.

“Is that dark matter?”

Evidently Lea had left some leftovers.

“Can you use this to replenish Corona’s magic?”

“Huh?”

I was astonished at Tsumiki’s sudden suggestion.

“Lea always used this to restore her strength. Corona’s not human, so I thought maybe...”

“But Satsuki said your dark matter was powerful cursed poison, right?”

“Wolfsbane is deadly poison, too! But if you use it right, it can be medicine. Energy that’s too powerful is bad for the human body, but I think Lea can eat it because she can handle much more energy than the average person!”

Wow, I hadn’t ever thought of that. Every time you got a prescription, it came with specific instructions. And she was right. Taking too much medicine or taking it the wrong way was basically poison. Maybe they were more related than I’d thought.

For one thing, if it was pure poison, how could it really restore Lea’s energy? That couldn’t be explained away by her having bad taste in food. There had to be some reason that the dark matter had that effect on her.

The Spirit King and Corona were at a standoff right now, but considering her condition, Corona was at a disadvantage. If I was going to make a decision, if I was going to do something to help her, it had to be now.

“Corona!”

“What?!”

“This’ll probably be the most shocking thing that’s ever happened to you, but please don’t let it drive you insane!”

“What?!”

“Did you really have to go that far?!” Tsumiki screamed as I shoved the dark matter into Corona’s mouth.

The next moment...

“GWWAAARRGHH!”

Corona let out an unearthly scream as flaming dark energy burst forth from her hands. Everything went black for a minute, but then the darkness and the light were both gone.

“Lea! Now!”

“Right!”

Lea had been flying even as the Spirit King and Corona were fighting. The soldiers had kept their distance from the magic, so they were a good distance away from us, too. And now that we had the chance, Lea accelerated to make a break for it.

Before long, the spirit soldiers broke formation and began to chase after us. Since their plan to destroy us with the light magic had failed, they’d switched to attempting to capture us.

“If they have sylpheeds with them, won’t they catch us?”

The sylpheeds were faster than Lea was.

“Maybe, but I can deal with normal spirits with my water magic. The problem is the Spirit King.”

As Lea shared her concerns via telepathy, Corona woke up from the faint she’d fallen into after eating the dark matter.

“...We won’t have to worry about that for a while. That spell takes an enormous amount of mana. With the mana spring dried up, if the Spirit King falls prey to Ghostdemon sickness, this whole world is doomed. He can’t take any risks... Gah! I can still taste it!”

Between the magical showdown and the dark matter in Corona’s stomach... I wonder which duel was worse. I felt pretty bad.

“Corona, thank you. You saved me. And I’m sorry.”

“No, we were lucky... The Spirit King was probably holding back so I would survive. I’m sure he wants to question me about the spring. Of course, I didn’t honestly expect to survive that taste...”

Corona’s face was paler than I’d ever seen it before, and she let out a dry laugh. The whole experience had probably left a bad taste in her mouth, in more ways than one.

“Jeez... You could give me a little credit,” Tsumiki said.

“You saved us. Thanks, Tsumiki.”

This time, her idea had saved us. If it hadn’t been for that, who knows what would’ve happened...?

Just as I was trying to find a way to make her feel better... Mio suddenly fell forward, collapsing at my side like she was in serious pain.

“All these people... All these people chasing me...”

“W-What’s wrong, Mio?”

“My head...”

“Another headache?”

Hmm, Mio had said she’d had a headache once before... That’s right, it was when I’d asked her if she knew my name. That was when she’d recalled some of her sealed memories. But when she’d remembered things about being an idol after talking with Tsumiki, that hadn’t happened. There was no headache then.

No, wait... When I’d asked her about my name, she’d remembered being pushed off a building. That was one of the things about her story that didn’t make sense. But the fact that Mio Kotozuka was the idol MIO wasn’t exactly a big secret.

Maybe her headaches were related to the significance of what she was remembering? Mio had lost her memories because of Yang. We knew that much. So it made sense that he would choose the most important or incriminating memories to seal away. In other words, what she was about to remember was...

“Uwaaaaah!”

“Mio!”

She grabbed her head with her hands and passed out against me.