”…… How did you know Sherva wasn’t the perpetrator, Ouga-kun?”
“The blood on Sherva’s robe. It had dried too much for someone who’d just died. The reason his body was wrecked like that was probably this.”
I pulled from my pocket the test tube of [Body-Strengthening Doping Extract] I’d found by Sherva’s body.
“I have knowledge of this stuff. If it doesn’t match the user’s body, the result is horrific.”
”…… That was outside my anticipation.”
Sure. Since the Aliban incident, House Veret’s research on [Body-Strengthening Extract] has been top secret.
“But that alone doesn’t make me the perpetrator, even if Sherva isn’t.”
“The smell.”
”…… Smell?”
Reina sniffed at her own body but cocked her head, not understanding.
”…… I don’t smell bad, do I?”
“I didn’t say bad. It was a good smell — that’s how I knew. To you it’s ordinary; to me, it’s a particular scent.”
“I see…… so that’s it.”
When I said it, she figured it out, and her expression turned slightly mortified.
“That’s right. The scent of Lamdarb-produced tea leaves.”
To be precise — the scent of the leaves mixed with Reina’s own.
The reason I’d felt something off when grappling the black robe was that I’d already smelled the scent.
…… That my smelling your hand had paid off was a clutch play.
“When I patted your head, I was certain. The exact same scent.”
”…… To think the smell was the deciding factor…… Ouga-kun, you really are a pervert.”
“Stop looking at me like a suspect. ……Assuming you were the perpetrator, everything fit without friction.”
The Headmasters — those veterans — were taken down by a surprise attack from someone considered an ally.
The black robe touched the door to make us think Reina was inside.
He blocked entry to the room obsessively to keep us from noticing it was empty.
“Firing [Flame Bomb] the moment before Alice’s attack landed was to block sight temporarily. In that gap, you dropped a burning robe from above so it looked like he’d fallen after being hit. Place Sherva’s body there beforehand, and you have the scene of his fall to death.”
Sherva’s hair is black, and the robe was black. Color-wise, hard to notice at night.
Students were shut in rooms, faculty’s attention was inside — even more so.
“After that, you entered the room, pretended to be unconscious, and waited for our charge…… all perfect.”
When I’d explained it all, Reina clapped softly.
“Ouga-kun might be better suited as a mystery author than as the heir of a ducal house.”
“Sarcasm? There’s a part I haven’t solved. How did you, who aren’t a Dual Magic Caster, use a fire-element spell?”
“Oh, true. What will you do, Ouga-kun?”
”…… A guess: if a [Body-Strengthening] drug exists, then a magic-enhancement drug surely exists too.”
”…… Correct. Now I have nothing to argue back. What do you intend, Ouga-kun?”
“For someone saying that, you don’t seem to care?”
”…… You’re right. As you say.”
Her voice was extremely weak.
But her expression — at odds — was wearing a smile.
“Because I’m going to kill you here.”
“Because Floné asked?”
“No. Sensei has nothing to do with it.”
“Reina. I want to hear your real feelings.”
“Fufu, you say funny things. I am, properly, of my own will——”
“——Then why are you backing away from me?”
”…… Eh?”
Until I’d pointed it out, she hadn’t realized she’d been retreating.
In other words — an unconscious action.
Her true feelings, sunken to the bottom of her heart, had moved her legs.
My actions so far hadn’t been wasted. They were reaching her properly.
To have her open her heart, I can’t hold anything back.
I’ll deliver my real feelings without a shred of lie.
“Reina — I want you.”
”…… Don’t lie. There’s no reason you’d want me.”
“Then I’ll explain, one piece at a time.”
I’d been thinking all last night.
What I should do to acquire her.
Two conclusions:
One — free her from the curse called Floné.
Two — affirm and accept the existence that is Reina Milfonti.
“I like your considerate nature. You’re always paying attention to those around you. I know you carry that kind of kindness.”
She could have phoned in her duties — and yet she taught us thoroughly.
At our induction she watched over Mashiro, and once at Lamdarb, she even tried to drag us along.
“That’s all an act. To gain your trust — a mask.”
“What if it is an act? The mask made by your acting is still part of you. So I affirm it.”
The acting personality, too, was born of necessity — she needed it to live.
Then it is unmistakably part of Reina Milfonti.
I’d like to punch the past me who unconsciously rejected the acting Reina as unwanted.
“I love the smile-and-snicker face you sometimes show. The blushing face at the sleepover party was cute.”
”…… No, that was also pretending to be having fun……”
“Then this time I’ll draw out the real smile. Want you even more now.”
I stepped toward Reina one step at a time.
For each, she retreated one step.
The distance didn’t close. But the limit comes eventually.
“Ah.”
After many exchanges of words, her back finally touched the wall.
“I love the tea you brew, Reina. It warms the heart. Even daily, it doesn’t get old.”
”…… Anyone could do that quickly. You’re easily fooled, Ouga-kun, so I figured saying that would earn me sympathy.”
“Even an idiot can tell that’s a lie, Reina.”
So saying, I took her trembling hand.
The hand into which the tea scent had soaked.
“Because you’ve kept loving tea, Reina, I’m here. I can stand here and talk to you.”
”…… I can’t, Ouga-kun. I — no longer can……”
“No, now is the start. We start now.”
“——It’s already too late!!”
A scream-like cry from deep in her belly pierced my ear.
“Gh……!?”
A kick — she slapped my hand away — slammed into my ribs.
I couldn’t bear the leg strength impossible from that thin body and tumbled across the ground, kicking up dust.
…… I see. Now I’m certain. The secret of her body.
“Reina, you……”
”…… Even seeing this, can you still say you want me?”
Discarding the robe, Reina unfastened her uniform buttons one by one.
And what came into view — the eerie embedded machinery and the tangle of tubes.
The machine connected to her chest held vials of a familiar green liquid and an unfamiliar red one.
“Ugly, isn’t it? Disgusting, isn’t it? A woman like this.”
Her finger traced the machine, ran along a tube, struck her own chest.
A metallic sound — impossible from a human body — rang out.
“My body is wrecked. Iron rods have been put in so I don’t break, flesh was carved out, growth and aging are arrested. I’m not human. I’m a doll.”
A trembling voice. Suppressing a sob, she put her index finger to her cheek.
”…… I can’t walk an ordinary life…… I’ve known forever…… but because of the time with you, I’m suffering this much……”
Even with the mask in tatters, Reina was trying to wear it.
“If you truly think of me, Ouga-kun…… please die here.”
”…… If I die, will you be happy, Reina?”
“Yes. Sensei will praise me, and I’ll be——”
“——Then kill me, if you can.”
”…… [Thunder]!”
Reina fired a brilliant [Thunder] in a straight line at me.
“Guoo……!”
Current ran through my entire body.
A sensation of being burned from the inside; my vision blurred.
…… Grit your teeth! It’s a man’s moment, Ouga Veret!!
”…… A good hit.”
”…… Why……?”
“You want to ask why I don’t use [Magecraft Funeral (Delete)].”
There’s only one answer.
“I don’t intend to dodge your attacks.”
This attack is her feelings.
To accept her, I can’t run from those feelings.
So I’ve learned one more thing about her.
“Thanks to it, I’m certain again. Reina is kind.”
“What nonsense…… I’m attacking you.”
“Yes. With magic. So that [Magecraft Funeral] would absorb the damage for me.”
She knows about my [Magecraft Funeral].
If she really wanted to kill me, she should have used a physical attack like that kick.
“One more reason I want you, Reina.”
So saying, I stepped forward again.
Because I want to close the distance she’d opened.
”……! [Thunder Arrows]!”
“Aaaa——!!”
Lightning arrows pierced me, a heat burning through my muscle fibers.
I dug nails into skin to suppress the urge to collapse and writhe.
…… If the me of when I’d met Reina saw the current me, what would he think?
He’d surely scoff, just leave her and live freely.
But the current me has decided — in his heart — to save her.
Unlike my past life, I aimed to be a villain, to do whatever I wanted.
Then this, too, is what I want.
I’ll follow my own creed and save Reina……!!
“Don’t stand up! I really will kill you!”
“Heh heh heh…… bring it. Try.”
”…… [Thunder Rondo]!”
”——!!”
I clenched until my back teeth ground down, refusing to make a sound.
In place of my voice, my body screamed and sent danger signals to my brain.
Even the body the world had given me was reaching its limit.
Which foot was I stepping with — right or left?
Even that recognition blurred; only don’t fall drove me.
That single thought carried me forward toward Reina.
“Why do you keep getting up……? Really…… at this rate you’ll die……”
”…… Because…… I want…… you, Reina.”
“You’re still saying that…… I’m a woman who committed crimes, who tried to deceive everyone.”
“What I feel — only I decide.”
”…… People won’t be silent. If you shelter me, your reputation will suffer too.”
“Even if society won’t forgive you, I will. Even if the world becomes the enemy, I…… am your ally.”
”…… No more…… with words like that…… with your kindness……”
Reina’s shoulders shook.
She drew back a tightly clenched fist and swung it down.
“Don’t show me hope……!!”
—— A dry slap echoed.
The sound of my outstretched palm meeting her fist.
“Wha——!?”
”…… You finally stepped toward me, Reina.”
The girl who’d been retreating had taken her first step forward.
Eyes that hadn’t met overlapped at last.
“No matter how much you deny yourself, I’ll affirm you. That body too — I accept all of it.”
”……Really?”
“By the name of Ouga Veret.”
”…… Then——”
”…… Ouga-kun. Will you accept all of my past, too?”
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