Intermission 1

After being left behind in the Namidare household, Satsuki just sat there for a while before slowly standing up and taking Harissa back to her house next door. She went up to her room on the second floor so that her parents wouldn’t notice. Satsuki put the sleeping girl in her bed, then brought over a chair from her desk and sat down next to her.

“...”

She knew that Harissa had been put to sleep with magic, but she needed to confirm that there was nothing else going on. She was silent as she began to work. It was as if her mind was somewhere else entirely as she checked Harissa’s pulse and other vitals. In fact, the only reason Satsuki was functional at all was that she had work to do. Taking care of Harissa was the one thing that he had asked her to do.

“Rekka...”

She softly called the name of her childhood friend and looked down. She tried to recall the last time he’d yelled at her like that, but couldn’t.

She could remember plenty of fights. She could remember him being angry because he was worried about her, like when she’d gone with Tetra Metra Retra to fight the Monster. He’d told her that it was dangerous and insisted she stay behind on the surface. But even then, he’d relented in the end.

This was the first time he’d outright rejected her. She still couldn’t believe that he’d spoken to her like that. And the way he’d looked at her...

In his eyes was a mixture of sadness and anger. He was clenching his jaw so hard that Satsuki couldn’t tell if he despised her or if he was terrified of her. There was a violent animosity that was a mix of those emotions, and worse.

Rekka had been her friend since she could remember, and she’d never felt that kind of hatred from him before. It was... It was like he was rejecting the whole world, and everything it had to offer. She still couldn’t believe Rekka was harboring that kind of darkness inside him.

No, it would have been better if that’s all it was.

Rekka was a normal person. He wasn’t necessarily like other people, but he was still normal. Even he would lose control of his emotions sometimes.

But...

Satsuki had always thought that it would be her job to comfort him if he was ever forced to face catastrophe or carry some unbearable burden.

“Why...?” she couldn’t help but whisper.

Why... Why didn’t Rekka take her?

Why... Why did he take that Hibiki girl?

“...”

Had she done something to make him hate her without realizing it? Was that why he left with that girl she’d never seen before?

Is it really that much of a bother to have me around?

Satsuki tried her best not to cry. She felt like if she did, she would be letting something beat her. She didn’t want to let her heart break when she didn’t even know why Rekka had left her.

Before the tears could fall, she rubbed her wet eyes with her sleeve. Her eyes quickly turned red. They started to hurt like they were burning. But she jerked her head upwards, enduring the pain, and put the palm of her hand over Harissa’s forehead.

“Blue Wind of Purification...”

As she recited the spell, a pale blue light started to fall from her hand, gently landing on the bed like newly fallen snow. It was a spell to break curses.

The sleeping magic placed on Harissa was exceptionally strong. With Satsuki’s level of power, she would have to use a lot of her strength, and even then it might not work. There was a good chance she’d be wasting her time.

“——·—·····——·”

But she kept up the spell anyway. She wanted something to concentrate on. Anything. Without that, her heart really would break, and there would be no stopping the tears.