Author: 猫夜叉 (Nekoyasha)
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The first things I felt were unease and regret.
“Why… just why…?”
Alone.
He had run off into the forest all on his own.
I couldn’t get the sight of his rapidly retreating figure out of my mind.
Why didn’t I move?
We may have had a fight, but I still should have stopped him.
But I didn’t.
No, that’s not right either. I couldn’t.
My still-shaking hands were ice-cold.
I should have stopped him.
I had to stop him.
…Even if I wouldn’t have been able to stop him.
I had only seen Yuno make a face like that once before.
Usually, he acted quite silly and airheaded.
But whenever he was really determined to do something, he would make a completely abnormal expression.
The first time was when he made a contract with the goddess Athena.
And this time… was the same.
I glanced over at Athena, who was gazing up at the sky worriedly.
“……”
––If I had asked in the same way… would he have done the same?
…Now is not the time to think about that.
I walked over to Luna-sama and asked her the question that had been eating at me.
“…Why did you allow him to go?”
Letting a human intervene in a fight between gods would lead to nothing.
On the contrary, in fact, getting involved would likely lead to death.
“…It would have been a wasted effort. Did you not think the same?”
“…Well”
…Huh. It seems like, it wasn’t just me.
“He’ll… come back. I didn’t give him the order to die,” said Luna-sama, her eyes momentarily shaking with worry.
I guessed we probably felt the same.
But still, even then–
“Heey, Alice. Why do you even worry about that idiot. He’ll come back. Whether he’ll be moving or not is a different matter though,” Maro said smirking, and I could feel the blood in my veins begin to boil.
But then, noticing his words had a certain relatable ring to them, my regret deepened.
Yuno… please come back alive.
Then we can–
I looked up at the sky again.
The two flashes of light collided again.
The goddess Astaroth and the Divine Beast Fenrir.
Someone as commonplace as me could not even fathom for what reason they might have been fighting.
But, if something were to happen to Yuno–
I would regret this day with all my being till the end of my life.
“Don’t worry. He’ll be fine.”
Kraim’s words made me somehow feel even more uncomfortable than Maro’s.
“…Don’t say it so lightly… you know right? He’s going over there!” I shouted so loudly even I was surprised, pointing at the colliding gods in the distance.
Instantly feeling embarrassed by my outburst, I looked away from Kraim.
…It’s no use. I just can’t calm down.
“…Right. You are correct. I would probably have thought the same way if I didn’t know him. Or perhaps I would have disliked him for going,” said Kraim, a small smile appearing on his face as he looked up at the night sky.
“…I’m not convinced either. Still, he’ll probably return alive–”
––The dazzling night sky lit up.
Suddenly, a blue light appeared and crashed into the red one, after which both of them disappeared off into the forest at a speed my eyes could hardly follow.
…They had probably crashed into the ground.
Right as the shockwave from that impact reached the ground beneath us, I was engulfed by an irrepressible anxiousness.
What……was that……?
I couldn’t stop trembling.
All I could think of at that moment was that this situation that was entirely out of our hands had turned worse.
“…!”
I heard a small gasp.
I wasn’t the only one who had seen that happen.
“…No way… you’re…”
Kraim’s eyes were wide in astonishment as he hurriedly put his hand in front of his mouth, seemingly even more shaken than I was.
“…Fufu”
In complete contrast to that, Luna-sama was smiling.
Her purple eyes, filled with mirth, turned towards me.
“…Isn’t it pretty? That blue. He has good taste, that one.”
…It’s no use. Someone like me can’t tell what you mean by that.
“Mr. Soleil! What was that just now?” one of the girls asked excitedly.
Wanting to know the answer myself, I also turned towards our teacher.
He had his hand over his ear, as if trying to block out sounds from his environment.
“…According to the information from the knights’ observers… it’s an unknown god. It was so fast they apparently couldn’t get a lock on it. However, it’s magical power exceeds that of Fenrir, and–” his orange eyes flared, “– is on par with that of the goddess Astaroth.”
I gulped.
The goddess of love and beauty, the goddess Astaroth was a hero.
A new god with an equivalent amount of magical power to her had appeared…!
“Daaamn! Am I witnessing a new legend in the flesh?”
Ignoring the excited Maro’s exclamation, I decided to myself.
That no longer would I just watch, but–
“…No way” I mumbled in reaction to the sight that was unfolding in front of us.
A large number of lights had lit up the forest. There were more than before, or rather, there were incomparable many more than before.
Having noticed that, I immediately shouted to our teacher.
“Mr. Soleil!”
“…I know. It seems like the main body’s arrived.”
The stampede. It’s main part was right in front of us.
Up until then, we had somehow managed to hold out thanks to Mr. Soleil’s magic barrier.
However, with those numbers…
“Come, o Light! Holy Shield!”
The speed-cast magic deployed around us.
…I did it.
I had practised casting this barrier magic, Holy Shield, hundreds of times.
It was the most difficult spell I could use.
However––
“…No way…”
My barrier was torn apart as if it hadn’t even been there in the first place.
Goblins, wargs, orcs, and even–
“Holy Shield! Holy Shield…”
Again and again, I cast the spell.
I just wanted to live. That was the only thought on my mind.
However, my magic disappeared almost as soon as it was cast.
Not even Mr. Soleil’s magic would––
I dropped to my knees…
I’m out of magical power. I… can’t fight any more.
“…Ha, ha” I began laughing for some reason.
…I’m so powerless.
Best student in our grade… don’t make me laugh.
What I wanted to be, what I wanted to be like was––
I saw her silver hair from the corner of my eyes.
Luna Flame.
The person I had set as my goal and hadn’t reached.
She was so strong and beautiful.
I wanted to be like you.
If I was, then surely, ––
“……Yuno. Help.”
A tear made its way down my cheek.
Where are you.
I’m here––
The monsters drew closer.
Yuno’s silly grin made its way to the forefront of my mind.
“…Yuno!”
“––There is no need to cry,” came a strong, beautiful voice.
Luna-sama…? No, not her. Luna-sama is staring straight ahead silently.
“See. They can’t do anything.”
…I looked up. The thousands of monsters in front of us, unable to progress any further, had simply stopped in their tracks.
“…How?” I asked in surprise as the person, accompanied by a familiar, nice scent came to stand next to me.
“…Honestly. It’s some impeccable, wonderful magic,” the girl said in an amused voice as her black eyes looked down at me.
I knew her very well.
“Rei-…onee-sama”
She was the sword saint, Rei Astorio.
Her black hair swaying slightly in the wind, she smiled at me and stretched out her hand to pat me on the head.
“Hello, Alice. Your magic was wonderful as well, of course.”
I once again burst out in tears.
Ah.
––We’re saved.
“Thank you for coming, sword saint Rei Astorio,” Mr. Soleil said, scratching his head as he turned towards her.
“You seem the same as always, Mr. Soleil. I’m just curious, was it you who set up that barrier?” Rei-onee-sama asked, making our teacher sigh and shake his head in response.
“…?”
I gasped at the shocking turn of events.
There was barrier magic in front of me. I had thought it had been cast by Mr. Soleil.
No, I had no time to be surprised!
“Onee-sama! Yuno is–”
“Yes. Right. Don’t you worry about that,” came the confusing response.
The fact that she was a doting sister made it all the more confusing.
“So she’s the goddess Athena?” said Onee-sama, elegantly walking over to Athena-sama and giving her a beautiful bow.
“It is a pleasure to meet you. I am the eldest daughter of the Astorio family, Rei Astorio. Thank you for taking care of my younger brother.”
“Yuno-san’s…big sister…!”
Panicking, Athena-sama seemed to be at a loss for what to do for a moment, then she bowed and returned the greeting.
“I-I’m A-Athena..! Nice to meet you!”
Onee-sama smiled at that amusing figure.
“…How beautiful. Yuno’s lucky to have made a contract with you, Athena-sama,” Onee-sama said, turning towards Luna-sama.
Mirroring her, Luna-sama did the same.
““………””
They stared at each other in silence.
Rei-onee-sama was the first to break that silence, completely ignoring proper greetings.
“…I’ll lend him to you until graduation.”
“…I wonder about that. Who knows what may yet happen.”
…What’s up with this atmosphere.
“You have a good pair of eyes, I’ll give you that. But don’t forget. Yuno likes his big sister a lot.”
“…Is that so. On a different note, while I don’t have blood relations to him, we still live under the same roof. He was quite delighted when he heard.”
The two of the stared at each other in silence for a while, then looked away at the same time.
I had known they were similar, but to think that similarity would go that far.
…I’m his childhood friend, and we sit next to each other too… no, that’s not enough…
Wait, what am I even thinking!
“Rei-sama, whenever you’re ready,” said a knight in silver armour, making me wonder how long the knights had been there for.
“…I know, I know,” Onee-sama said, drawing her sword hanging at the waist of her beautiful, red armour with a metallic clink.
Its blade shone silvery-white, and we all turned towards the monsters as if in a trance.
“Onee-chan has to show Yuno how cool she is,” I thought I heard her mutter under her breath, which was followed by––
––a violent wind swept across us.
Howling, the wind wrapped itself around her sword into a vortex of swirling air.
It was a truly stunning sight.
And then, with a flash of her sword–
At first, I didn’t even know what had happened.
There was only one thing I could comprehend.
––Onee-sama had cut apart the clump of monsters.
Listening to their dying screams, I thought to myself.
That onee-sama would definitely be able to save Yuno.
––So please, be safe.
“…Yuno”
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