EPILOGUE

Silas Norman dragged himself desperately through the back alleys of the redevelopment area.

He had managed to break his fall by gathering the remains of his dolls into a sort of cushion, but of course that did little to actually prevent injury. He did not know how many bones he had broken, but there was plenty of pain, shooting through his body like lightning.

Still, he could not slow down.

He knew they were looking for him—Shadowstar, the special operations unit under the direct command of Seidoukan Academy’s integrated enterprise foundation. No matter what it took, he must not let himself be captured. They would use any and all means necessary to extract all the information he had. And after that…

“Damn it! Why won’t they pick up!?”

He had to get himself into Allekant’s protective custody as soon as possible, but the mobile device he had for the purpose of contacting them was of no avail.

“If I’m captured, they’ll be in trouble, too…!” he spat.

“Aren’t you overestimating your own value a little bit, Mr. Norman?”

Silas yelped in surprise as a golden-haired girl stepped from the darkness to block his path.

“P-president…!”

In each hand she held an eerie-looking sword. The motif on the guards resembled eyeballs, and when held out as a pair, the swords called to mind the eyes of a terrible monster.

It was the Orga Lux Pan-Dora. Silas had never seen the notorious weapon in person, but rumors of its power had reached him.

“Poor boy,” said Claudia. “To them you were no more than a pawn to be sacrificed.”

“How about a deal, Miss Enfield?” he said in a rush.

“A deal? With me?”

“Everything—I’ll tell you everything I know! And in exchange, I want you to guarantee my safety! Hand me over to the disciplinary committee and not Shadowstar!”

She cocked her head. “And why should I do that?” she asked curtly.

Silas gloated to himself. I still have a chance if she’s willing to negotiate.

“Shadowstar would get rid of me in total secrecy,” he explained. “But if the disciplinary committee got involved, all of this would have to be public record. Then you could use me as a chip against Allekant…!”

“Hmm…” Claudia closed her eyes in thought.

Taking that as a good sign, he went on. “We’re alike, you and I. We think of others only as pieces in a game. The fools around us might criticize us for it, but using the pieces you have to their highest advantage is simply how you win the game. I know you understand that!”

“I see… You do have a point.”

Silas’s expression brightened at her words. I knew this Claudia was a pragmatic girl. That sort of cleverness is so easy to manipulate.

Claudia, however, smiled sweetly. “But there is one big difference between you and me, Mr. Norman.”

“Huh…?”

“You seem to fancy yourself the player in control of the pieces, but I think of myself as a piece, too. The game isn’t any fun otherwise, in my opinion.” She let out a giggle as if she really were enjoying herself. “Now, I could publicize this case for some political leverage, but it’s more beneficial for me to deal with it secretly and let Allekant owe me one.”

His face twitched and his knees shook. With a long, furious howl, Silas used his last trump card. He drew the knife hidden in his clothes and hurled it at Claudia. She could not dodge it from this distance. The timing was perfect, he thought, completely self-assured.

“Oh, dear—surely you must know about my little one’s power.”

Claudia sent the knife flying with her blade as if she’d already known the attack was coming. It was no use.

As he was about to take a step back, the knife embedded itself into the ground at his feet. Silas cried out in fear.

“There’s no need to be afraid. You’re still of some value to me. For the time being, anyway.” Claudia wore her usual smile, but her gaze was icy, detached.

Silas couldn’t move.

“Farewell,” she said in a clear voice, and the twin swords danced.

Silas saw an uncanny glint in the eyes on the hand guards, just as blood began to spurt from all over his body.

“So this…this is the Pan-Dora…”

His knees buckled and he collapsed on the spot.

It was a pair of magic swords that granted the power of foresight—one of the most potent Orga Luxes in the possession of Seidoukan Academy.

Silas’s school crest snapped into pieces. As his consciousness faded, he felt someone approach.

“Oh, man. You didn’t kill him, did you?”

The boy, who seemed to seep out from the shadows behind a streetlamp, spoke to Claudia in a cheery tone that was rather out of place with what he’d just witnessed.

“Don’t worry. You can toss him into a holding cell for a bit. I’ll leave the rest to you at Shadowstar, but please be sure to get out what information he has.”

“But of course. That is our job, after all.” The boy looked at Silas lying on the ground and shrugged, barely interested. “What happened with the other two?”

“I just heard from Julis. Everything went well.”

“But you don’t look too happy about it.”

“Oops… I guess I’ll have to work on my poker face, if you can tell.”

“If you were going to regret it so much, why didn’t you go with them?” the boy asked, exasperated.

“Things aren’t so simple. I have the duties of my office to uphold.”

“Oh, is that it?” He smirked.

Without the hint of a break in her smile, Claudia thrust the point of a blade in front of his eyes. “Do you have orders to look into my affairs, Eishirou Yabuki?”

“No! None at all!” The boy shook his head in panicked denial, but there was something clownish in his mannerisms. “I was speaking out of pure curiosity. I just wondered if it was right to leave everything to them, that’s all.”

Claudia let her shoulders fall. “Well, there’s nothing for it now,” she murmured with a sigh. “I’ll let Julis have this one. The main event is just beginning.”

Absorbing the report in a dimly lit laboratory, the girl rested her hands for a moment and let out a tiny sigh.

“Well, I guess it’s time to pull out. I got plenty of data, and he actually did a good job ambushing all those students.”

She had countless air-windows open around her, displaying a constantly changing array of numbers and plots.

“Oh, but maybe that’s just because my pretty dolls were so good!” She laughed aloud in high spirits and pulled up an optical keyboard. “I like the halfway-clever ones—so easy to manipulate!”

With an indomitable smile on her lips, she continued her work.

Her industrious gaze focused on two dolls in quiet slumber.