Side Story 3: Satsuki Feature (July 24th)

Three days had passed since the alliance with Nartessia had been formed. She’d invited the group to a Margaret family mansion outside Japan. Since they’d be working together now, it seemed like a good idea to get to know each other a little better.

Yang’s organization was a group of psychics. Of course, preparations would be needed to take them down. But...

“How long is she going to keep me waiting?!”

“Mistress, calm down.”

“How can I stay calm? It’s been three days! I keep asking when we’re going on the attack, and I keep getting vague answers! She’s insulting us!”

Suzuran was trying her best to calm her down, but Rosalind’s patience was at its limit. She sat back down on the sofa, but kept complaining.

“Wouldn’t it be better for us to just get Ellicia back on our own?”

“If we run off now, we might end up making an enemy out of the Margarets. Can we save Ellicia with both groups after us?”

Hibiki sighed, but she was tapping her fingers against her crossed arms, too. She was upset, as well.

There are servants and mages everywhere here, so I haven’t been able to use my magic. Nartessia wants her treasure back, so there’s no reason for her to betray us, but...

But it didn’t feel right to just sit around doing nothing. When she was caught up in stories with Rekka, there was never time for anything like this. It was incredibly rare to spend days preparing for something in this fashion.

Maybe this was what the norm was supposed to be like rather than the chaos that surrounded Rekka, but... the fate of the world hinged on this story. Satsuki was uneasy. She would feel much better to have this solved already.

What’s Rekka doing now, I wonder...?

Her thoughts wandered to her absent childhood friend. It had been four days since he left, and he still wasn’t back.

If I can’t use my Magic of Omniscience, I can’t tell what’s happening to him. I had Tetra stay home in case there was a problem and he needed to come back another way than using Hibiki’s gloves... but I’ve heard nothing. Shirley will be back tomorrow, I guess, but...

In the end, the Margarets spent yet another day “preparing,” and night fell without the group having a good idea of where things stood. They all went to their rooms hoping that tomorrow would be the day something happened.

Satsuki laid down on the bed and sighed. There was a Margaret family maid outside her room, and chances were good she knew magic. If Satsuki tried to cast a spell, she would surely act quickly. Or perhaps she’d just observe to see what she was doing.

Maybe I should’ve stayed in Japan with Tetra. But Chelsea’s probably in an awkward position here after running away from home. She probably couldn’t stop anything Nartessia wanted to do. If Nartessia’s up to no good, then everyone who doesn’t know magic is in danger.

Satsuki reminded herself of the reason she’d come. She’d been doing that every night before she went to bed lately. She’d come with the others in order to protect them... and that was probably the right move, but...

Had she made a mistake somewhere? Was there another choice she could’ve made? Such doubts kept running through her mind.

“I wonder if Rekka worries like this...”

If he made a mistake and screwed up, tragedy could befall him and everyone he was helping. A few days of worrying like this had been enough to wear away at Satsuki and keep her up at night. When she thought about the pressure her childhood friend must be under... Satsuki bit her lip unconsciously.

“I need to at least do what I can.”

She reminded herself of that, but still couldn’t think of anything she could do. Lying in bed wrestling with such thoughts rather than sleeping, Satsuki suddenly caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. It was the first time she’d ever seen it before, but Satsuki recognized the purple mark like a windmill under the person’s left eye.

“Elli...!” She almost yelled, but put her hand over her mouth.

This was enemy territory for Ellicia. Of course, she’d told Nartessia that they wanted to protect Ellicia, but that didn’t mean it was a good idea to announce her presence. Satsuki got out of bed as quietly as she could manage and approached the girl.

“Um... Ellicia?”

“That’s right.”

“Good. I’m glad you’re safe,” Satsuki said with a sigh of relief.

She had lots of questions, but she needed to let the other girls know about this first.

“Can you wait here? I’ll go get the others.”

“No, there’s no need for that.”

“Huh?”

Before she could ask what was going on, Ellicia grabbed her wrist.

“You’re Satsuki, aren’t you?”

“How... did you know my name?”

Satsuki knew about Ellicia, but she’d never met her before. Of course, Ellicia hadn’t met her, either. Even if Hibiki had told Ellicia about her, she shouldn’t have been able to recognize her like that.

“Yang showed me your name and appearance with his telepathy.”

“Huh?”

“Yang read the memories of that Hibiki girl, so he knows that you’re childhood friends with Rekka, the boy I gave the earring to.”

“Um...”

For a moment, Satsuki had trouble keeping up. Ellicia had gotten her personal information from Yang... Why? Yang had captured her and taken her back, so how was she even here?

“What did you...”

“...come here for?” was what she meant to ask, but before she could finish, a swift fist struck her in the solar plexus. It was Ellicia who hit her.

“Why...?”

“The organization is gone. The Margaret clan’s magic destroyed our headquarters.”

“Ah...”

Satsuki tried to say something, but the darkness was coming so fast that she couldn’t. But before everything turned black...

“So I’m going to follow Yang’s plan... and destroy the world.”

The last thing Satsuki heard was Ellicia’s emotionless declaration.