3. AIR AND ATHLY IN THE BATH

“Phew…”

It was 2:00 AM. Everyone aside from the people out on night patrol was fast asleep, but Athly made her way over to the bath.

There really isn’t anyone around at this time of night.

That day’s surprise attack had ended in victory for the East. The cadets, who’d served as reserve troops, got sent back to rest in a nearby satellite base. Luckily, they didn’t have to assist with any cleanup.

They’d arrived late at night, so most went straight to bed. But after lying awake for some time, Athly realized she couldn’t sleep and headed for the bathhouse located in the base’s annex.

The hot water had already been turned off, but what little remained in the tub felt lukewarm enough. She used the girls’ bathroom, which seemed fairly hygienic and well-maintained.

“……”

After taking off her clothes, Athly looked down at her body and noticed that she was covered in more soot and mud than she’d initially thought. A man might’ve ignored the sight and gone to bed, but the idea of staying dirty made her uncomfortable. And so, she scooped up water from the tub and washed herself off, then tied her hair back. A second later, she thoroughly scrubbed the filth off her body and submerged herself.

“Aaah…” A sigh escaped her lips as all the tension drained from her body.

When was the last time she’d relaxed in a bath? Satellite bases usually only had shower stalls, so this was a rare treat. As her body relaxed, the tension that had built up melted away.

……

Unfortunately, that also meant her mind wandered to matters she’d intentionally tried to avoid.

We won…

O’ltmenia had emerged victorious for once. They’d accomplished their goal while suffering zero casualties. Athly had gotten everything she could have ever wanted, which filled her heart with joy, but something still didn’t add up.

This is wrong… Athly knew the truth. The East hadn’t truly earned their victory. Is this world even real?

She had no answer to that question. She could have been dreaming, delusional, or even psychotic because of trauma. Those felt like far more realistic options than the alternative. What she’d experienced seemed that absurd.

This world I’m in right now… It wasn’t the real world. Or rather, it definitely was real, but it wasn’t hers. It’s not the world I’m from.

Athly knew that seemed insane. But while she normally would have laughed off the idea, she had to accept it as fact because of what she’d experienced thus far.

She’d experienced the same odd headache many times over the last few months. Time and again, her head would hurt, her field of vision would darken, and then the world would change.

“……”

She vividly remembered the first time it had happened. It was the day she’d first shot a person—the day she’d killed Kirlilith. The bullet she’d fired had torn into Kirlilith’s heart. Then, a second later, everything went black…and the world around her changed.

That was the first time… Athly had encountered Kirlilith in a burning forest, but the very next moment, she’d found herself in her barracks’ cafeteria, eating a leisurely lunch.

Later, after some digging, she discovered an astonishing fact.

The girl she’d shot, Kirlilith, never even existed in the first place.

…Was that all a dream?

When she’d tried to convince herself of that, she found a bullet casing with Kirlilith’s name etched onto it. That served as undeniable proof that she’d killed the one who’d murdered her parents, so how could she write it off as a mere daydream?

Everything she’d gone through was real. She’d definitely experienced all that.

And it didn’t happen just once.

Since that day when she shot Kirlilith, she’d felt the world change multiple times. Regardless of whether she was resting at home, in the middle of a supplementary class, or walking around town…the world trembled and morphed before her very eyes.

Of course, there were also times when the changes weren’t noticeable. If anything, that happened more often than not, which helped her pretend nothing had actually happened. Still, she couldn’t lie to herself anymore. Athly refused to ignore the truth any longer.

The day’s events had confirmed one of her long-held suspicions.

Rain… The boy who was once her partner, who should have been an ordinary, O’ltmenian cadet, rose to the forefront of her mind.

He’s experiencing the exact same thing I am… I’m sure of it.

Now that she knew she wasn’t alone, she finally accepted her fate. When the world had changed earlier, Rain suddenly asked her where they were. There were a few other times he’d asked peculiar questions, but that was the final nail in the coffin. A soldier wouldn’t have forgotten such a basic fact.

Like her, Rain had appeared in an unknown situation. That was why he needed information. And the one to blame for all that…was likely the mysterious silver-haired transfer student.

I bet it happens to Air as well…

Athly had no proof, but her intuition led her to that answer. Ever since she’d transferred in a few months ago, Air had started working alongside Rain. No one knew the specifics of their relationship, but that wasn’t because of a lack of curiosity.

Those two clearly shared a secret. And it was something they couldn’t afford to let anyone else discover.

Air, huh…?

Athly scooped up some water and scrubbed her face as if to scrub away the thoughts of that enigmatic girl of silver.

And then, it happened… The bathroom door opened with a loud clank, and someone walked in. Apparently, another girl had the same idea as Athly, which was all well and good. However—

“Ugh!” Athly exclaimed unintentionally. The one who showed up was Air, the very person she’d been thinking about. And Air noticed it was already occupied only after walking in.

“Oh…,” Air mumbled hesitantly, stopping in her tracks. She clearly hadn’t expected anyone else to be there at that time of night. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to take a bath, just like you. Obviously…”

“……” Air looked conflicted. Some part of her wanted to turn around and leave, but she’d already waited long enough to clean the dirt and sweat that clung to her. Air was a girl, too, after all, so she found the urge to wash herself hard to ignore.

“……” Air eventually gave in to that impulse. Remaining speechless, she dipped a bucket into the water and started washing herself off. She rinsed her body gently, scrubbing away the grime, and then slipped into the water, sitting as far away from Athly as possible.

Air had decided to turn her face away and blatantly ignore Athy, it seemed.

Talk about being blunt…

“Don’t talk to me,” Air suddenly said, as if she’d read Athly’s mind. But for all her attempts to keep her distance, the bath was by no means large. The girls sat across from each other diagonally, with only six or so feet separating them, so Athly could see Air clearly. She simply sat in the water, regarding the silver girl with a sidelong glance.

This isn’t my first time thinking about it, but she’s…really pretty…, Athly thought, remembering her first impression of Air as she stared at her. She truly was beautiful. And while Athly usually took great care to maintain her looks, seeing Air in the hot water made it clear that most of it was still natural. Her hair was tied up and her skin, although a bit sweaty, was exposed. Had Athly been a boy, her heart would have exploded.

The silver girl was incredibly attractive.

And ever since he’d met her, Rain had grown distant from Athly.

“Hey, Air,” Athly called out to her. Normally, she’d have elected to ignore her back, but she wanted to discuss something.

“……” Air, however, remained silent, ignoring her entirely.

“I know you can hear me, Air. Come on.”

Air didn’t so much as look at her. Instead, she decided to keep ignoring Athly and defiantly turned her face away.

“……”

That royally pissed off Athly. She felt she’d done nothing wrong, so she moved toward the other girl. But even as she leaned within arm’s reach, Air didn’t so much as spare her a glance.

“……” Air remained as still and silent as a statue. And so, Athly decided to resort to drastic measures.

“Take this!” Athly roared and cupped her hands around Air’s breasts.

“Eek!” The silver girl let out an adorable yelp. “What the hell are you doing?!”

“Bfah!” Athly screamed as she took a good splash to the face.

“What the hell was that?! Why did you touch my boobs?!”

“Well, uh, because you kept ignoring me… You left me with no other choice!”

“What kind of screwed up logic is that?!”

“Come on. We can talk a little, right?”

“…No,” Air said, taking a frightened step back, covering her chest with her arms. Her guard was up now.

“Aww, don’t be a spoilsport. Running into each other here must have been fate, so cut me some slack. We know each other, but we’ve hardly ever spoken.”

“That’s because we’ve got nothing to say to each other.”

“Well, that’s not true. I’ve got tons of stuff I want to tell you.”

“And I couldn’t care less!” Air scoffed unpleasantly and looked away.

Another period of silence emerged as Air went back to actively ignoring Athly. She started to pretend Athly wasn’t even there.

“Oh, don’t say that,” Athly mumbled and raised her hand again.

In response, Air twitched and moved back, guarding her chest with both arms from a second strike. The skittish reaction sparked a desire in Athly to do it a second time.

…Time to cop another feel.

Deciding that another go would be more fun, Athly extended her hand toward Air. But then she got a better look at Air’s body, and she froze.

Air’s torso was wrapped in a towel. Normally, a person removed that before entering a bathhouse, but Air had kept it on the whole time.

……

When Athly fondled her, she’d groped over the towel, which had made the fabric shift a little, exposing parts of her chest.

And thanks to that, she saw that countless old scars were etched onto Air’s skin.

Ah…!

Bullet wounds. Lacerations. Including some of the smaller ones, there were countless blemishes all over her limbs. Athly realized, a moment too late, why Air had walked into the tub in a towel. Perhaps she would’ve figured it out sooner if she’d thought a bit more, but it was too late for regrets.

Hmm… Athly understood that Air must’ve lived a rather difficult life. The scars were proof of that fact. But saying sorry at this point felt wrong, so she didn’t. Instead, she thought it best to pretend she didn’t see anything. Some soldiers had suffered even more severe injuries, after all. Her past wounds didn’t mean she needed pity.

“Um…” Athly decided to change the topic. Turning to face Air, she tried to say something that’d pique her interest… “Your boobs are way bigger than I thought.”

“Okay, I’m going to knock you out now,” Air replied, clearly enraged.

Well, I definitely just put my foot in my mouth.

Air rose to her feet and approached Athly angrily.

“Whoa, h-hold up! Um…” Athly racked her brain, trying desperately to come up with something to say to prevent any violence.

For all her joking, she really did have things she wished to discuss with Air. A lot of questions about the mysterious phenomenon Athly had experienced floated to her mind, but would Air answer those questions honestly? Did Athly have any guarantee that Air would tell her the full, honest truth?

I don’t…

Even if all of Athly’s suspicions were correct, this girl would never confirm them. She could tell Air harbored a deep darkness in her heart. And her apparent dignity was perhaps nothing more than a lack of trust. That was why everyone else sensed that she was far stronger than her appearance implied.

She let no one approach her…with one exception.

Rain.

……

Over the course of the last few months, she’d seen Air fool everyone in Alestra Academy. She walked around with a cheap, fake smile on her face, caring nothing for the other students.

She clearly didn’t even see them as her classmates. She merely considered social interactions a “duty” she had to fulfill. That was the kind of person she was. She realized the importance of human relations, so she didn’t neglect them, but in truth, she trusted almost no one. She refused to close the gap between herself and others and kept anyone from trying to do so themselves.

However, her attitude seemed completely different when she interacted with Rain. Air herself probably didn’t realize it…and Rain, as dense as he was, likely failed to notice it as well. But from the outside, the difference was night and day.

Air rarely smiled when she was with him. The mask she wore around everyone else disappeared when they were together. She acted moody and bored, but despite her cheerlessness, she refused to leave his side. She simply spent time with him, forming a seemingly casual relationship.

They always spoke in hushed whispers, and they never exchanged any jokes, but every now and then, Air teased him with a cynical smile on her face. And the amusement there was real.

The silver girl stood by Rain, while Athly watched them from the side.

……

Instead of focusing on a complicated question, Athly decided to simply ask her about herself.

“Where are you from, Air?”

“……”

“I’ll keep asking until you answer, by the way.”

“…The eastern edge of O’ltmenia,” Air muttered bitterly, seemingly giving up. “A small town called Linbell. There’s nothing special about the place. It’s just a rural town.”

That was the first time Athly had ever heard the name. Yet what mattered wasn’t the answer, but the fact that Air had actually responded. She’d shown no interest in her thus far, so Athly thought she’d ignore her questions altogether. Hearing an actual answer made relief wash over her.

“If you’re from a small town, you must’ve studied at some other training facility before getting into Alestra Academy, right? I mean, I’d imagine transferring in from the countryside is hard. I live near the capital, and even I had a tough time.”

“If you have the talent, you’ll succeed no matter where you are.”

Athly knew next to nothing about Air. She’d appeared in Alestra Academy at an odd time, long after the semester started, and she seemed detached from the rest of the world. But she was still human. She couldn’t have simply popped out of the ether, so Athly wanted to know more about her.

I have to keep pushing… Athly asked Air more questions after that: what she majored in, what her hometown and family were like, and other things along those lines…

Air, for her part, answered every single one, never pausing to even think. And because of that, Athly couldn’t shake the feeling that all these answers were lies she’d thought up beforehand.

……

Eventually, she realized her roundabout approach was pointless. She had no way of figuring out anything by tracing Air’s origins. Air seemed clever, so even if she was lying, she’d have fail-safes in place. Athly had to try something else.

She had to ask the more serious questions on her mind.

The image of the silver bullet flashed through her mind. She needed an explanation for the bullet casing in her possession that had Kirlilith’s name etched onto it and the countless incomprehensible phenomena it caused. She had to ask Air about them.

Of course, she had no proof that Air knew anything about it. The probability of that seemed low, and even if she did, she’d probably avoid the question. Still, Athly couldn’t bear not knowing any longer. She had to ask. However, she failed to act in time.

“Phew,” Air exclaimed as she broke eye contact and rose to her feet. “Bye.”

Athly got up as well and exclaimed, “W-wait!”

She then reached out toward Air in an attempt to keep her from leaving. And when her hand neared Air’s shoulder…

Splash! …she found herself crashing into the water.

“Ow!”

Her field of vision flipped, and before she knew it, she was looking at the ceiling.

“Ugh…,” she moaned.

“Don’t touch me.”

Athly couldn’t immediately piece together what had happened. She understood she’d been thrown, but that was all. And she only figured out the truth when she sat up…and a dull pain ran down her back.

“Ugh…”

It hurt. She couldn’t breathe. She’d been knocked into the water, but for some reason, it felt like she’d been slammed against the floor. Had it actually been a hard, stone floor, the shock might have broken her waist or a limb. She hadn’t just been fended off; she’d been attacked.

“Ah, haaah… Ngh…”

The pain ran deep enough that she couldn’t inhale properly, so she found it hard to form proper words. She could only moan and struggle to catch her breath.

“Seems I knocked you down pretty hard,” the silver girl said, not even turning around to look at her. “It might hurt a little, but it’ll get better in a minute. Just cool your head and wait.”

After saying that, she began walking out of the bathroom. Athly realized then that she had been completely rejected, making it clear that she had no right to approach her.

“Wh-what…?”

It hurt to breathe, and her thoughts were disjointed, but she still desperately tried to speak. A question different from what she wanted to ask earlier left her lips.

“Wh-what are…you and Rain?”

“…Rain?” Air reacted to the name. Perhaps it was because he was the one thing they really had in common. She stopped in her tracks and turned around, her expression dubious. She apparently hadn’t expected him to come up.

That was the one question Athly didn’t wish to delay. She’d decided, time and again, that she’d ask it as soon as possible.

“Yes, Rain. Air… What are you and Rain doing?”

Athly’s question sounded simple enough. What exactly did Rain and Air do as a team? What secrets were they hiding? Those questions had weighed on her mind for months. Honestly speaking, she had little to no accurate information. She could only surmise what happened based on her own experiences, so she needed firm answers.

The silver bullet wasn’t normal Bullet Magic. It harbored a special power. But as for what that bullet actually did, and whether Rain actually knew of it, Athly was completely in the dark. And so she simply asked about it, point-blank, to get a reaction she could gauge.

If Air was entirely disconnected from the matter, she’d give a confused response, since she’d have no time to falsify a reaction. But if she had something to hide, she would show a flash of terror.

“What do you…?” Air reacted in surprise to Athly’s sudden question, which made the situation abundantly clear. For the first time that night, her detached expression distorted and her expressionless facade crumpled. “…How much do you know?”

But it was more than just that. Athly saw it. She noticed Air had bent over ever so slightly and positioned her right hand behind her waist.

No way…!

A cold, chilling surge of bloodlust struck Athly.

Sh-she… She just…!

Air had moved on reflex. A mage’s automatic instinct was to reach for their pistol in times of danger. But of course, Air didn’t have any weapon to draw, so she quickly moved her arm back. It was a swift gesture that lasted less than a second, a movement so smooth that most would’ve missed it altogether. But Athly saw it.

Did she just…try to kill me?!

When asked the question, Air’s first reaction was to try to draw a gun on her. The girl quickly pulled her arm back when she remembered where they were, but Athly had been on many battlefields, so she recognized the intentions all the same.

Air had thought of killing her. If she had had her gun, she’d have shot Athly dead, and all because of a simple question. She wished to protect her secret that badly.

“……”

“…Tell me, Athly, how much do you know?”

For a long moment, the two of them kept their gazes locked. They were both naked and unarmed for a deadly battle. Knowing that, Air did her best to seem docile, but she couldn’t hide the bloodlust she’d let show mere moments ago. She’d made a huge mistake. And that momentary lapse confirmed Athly’s suspicions.

I knew it… This girl and Rain are hiding something big!

It was an important enough secret that they’d choose to kill whoever learned of it, even someone from their own army. The gazes of the two girls remained locked on each other in strained tension for another minute or so.

“……”

“……”

Air and Athly looked at each other, not moving a muscle. Neither of them wanted to let the other casually walk out of the bathroom any longer. Athly was afraid of letting Air go, since she could return with a gun, while Air refused to let someone who knew about her secret walk around freely. They both wanted to finish things right then and there.

A minute or so passed, though it felt like much longer to their anxious minds, before something broke the deadlock between the two naked girls.

A shrill siren blared.

“Ah…!”

This wasn’t a typical alarm; this one alerted the soldiers in the base of an emergency.

“We’ve detected a western Exelia near the base! There’s a high probability of an attack! All hands, prepare to intercept!”