Ch.222On Being Forgotten (7)

“Lady…?”

Lezia turned around in a daze.

The one who had grabbed her sleeve was none other than the blue-haired girl.

Her hair hung in calm, drooping bun curls. Blue eyes shimmered.

The pilot stared blankly at the vain girl for a moment.

“Lady, what brings you here…?”

“I wonder. I should be asking you that question.”

“What? I was just passing by…”

“So was I. And the same goes for everyone else here.”

“Everyone else? What do you mean…?”

The girl expressing her confusion soon discovered those standing behind Amelia.

Girls with various colored hair stood in a row. They looked somewhat familiar.

They were faces she had encountered a few times during her academy life.

The first to greet her was the platinum-haired princess.

“Hello, Lezia.”

“Your Highness Sharlotte?”

“So you came too.”

“Came? I, I just took a wrong turn…”

“It’s okay. I’m the same. I was chasing after Elise who ran away, and when I came to my senses, I was here.”

“Stop saying nonsense, sister! Who ran away? I told you I was just taking a walk!”

“Yes. Nice to see you too, Elise. Welcome to the wanderers club.”

“What? Oh, um, thank you for the welcome…?”

“Lezia! Don’t encourage her!”

The sisters bickered as soon as they met.

Sharlotte and Elise.

Being in the same Class A, they had a connection with Lezia since their first year.

While entertaining the rose’s snarling, other faces soon came into view.

Perked fox ears and silver hair caught her attention.

“Miss Irene? Miss Neria?”

“What… more people are showing up.”

“It’s been a while, Lady Lezia.”

The fox’s response was rather indifferent.

In contrast, the lamplighter greeted her respectfully.

It seemed the two had also been wandering around here.

“We’re not much different. We were just going for a walk.”

“And I also had some matters to discuss with Lady Irene.”

“Discussion? You were just nagging the whole time…”

The two were in charge of security at Galimar Academy.

From what she’d heard, Neria was Irene’s superior.

But from their usual interactions, their relationship didn’t seem that hierarchical.

Lezia discreetly observed them.

“Student Lezia.”

“Ah… Professor Selena?”

Finally, the faculty member in charge of Lezia’s class appeared.

Selena, who also held the position of head professor.

It seemed like everyone she was somewhat acquainted with had shown up.

Lezia couldn’t help but be bewildered.

“This is strange. I never expected to run into everyone like this.”

“Pro-Professor, did you also come out for a… walk?”

“In my case, I came to inspect the dormitory. Given the timing, professors are doing it personally.”

“I see…”

Lezia nodded.

With timid glances, she observed the others’ expressions.

For some reason, everyone seemed to have a haggard look about them.

The pilot unconsciously averted her gaze.

“……”

Having just run out after crying, she was afraid they might notice her reddened eyes.

Yet her heart was racing. The familiar sense of déjà vu and emptiness stirred within her.

She felt a lump in her throat again, but she swallowed the creeping emotions.

Lezia thought.

‘Perhaps.’

It didn’t feel like a coincidence at all.

It was as if something had gathered them all here.

Perhaps it was chance, or maybe it was destiny.

Lezia wasn’t the only one lost in such thoughts.

For the past few days, the other girls had also suffered from a terrible sense of alienation.

And the affection and longing they felt in front of the dormitory building they had somehow arrived at.

The girls were confused.

“”……”

As the silence that had settled briefly passed,

The fox, who had been standing quietly, suddenly stepped forward.

Unlike her usual fierce demeanor, she maintained a solemn composure.

Approaching the entrance, she then grabbed the doorknob without hesitation.

She naturally opened the closed door.

“Miss Irene…?”

Click-

The door wasn’t locked.

The door opened smoothly.

Instead of saying anything, the fox simply walked inside.

Her black eyes were locked in sadness, exuding a strange sense of emptiness.

The rest of the girls couldn’t bring themselves to stop her.

“Ah…”

Just her drooping tail.

As if entranced, everyone quietly followed her.

One step, then another into the room.

With each step, the pounding in their hearts and the stirring grew more intense.

Their breaths, having already passed the critical point, only staggered back and forth.

Once again, they felt their eyes growing hot.

-■■ ■■■■■.

The creeping darkness was somehow familiar.

Past the long corridor, they reached the living room at the end.

Rustle-

Someone’s presence was felt.

The girls held their breath but soon entered the living room.

Immediately after, the figure of someone sitting on the sofa came into view.

The group, recognizing him, all expressed their confusion.

It was none other than…

“……Headmaster?”

Headmaster Gaston Galimar.

The old man gently closed the book he had been reading.

Then he raised his head to meet their gaze.

“You’ve come.”

A simple statement thrown out.

His tone suggested he had been waiting for them.

“Y-Yes…?”

Lezia stammered reflexively.

Yet there was no wavering in the old man’s blue eyes.

They simply flowed calmly, like a meteor.

His serene gaze sparkled.

“I believe I have much to tell you.”

The prophet parted his lips gently.

***

“I believe I have much to tell you.”

Gaston Galimar.

The old man calmly took in the sight of the girls.

Confused looks that seemed to say they didn’t understand what was happening.

It left a bitter taste in his mouth, but Gaston tried not to show it.

He merely caressed the book in his fingertips.

‘Already.’

To whom was that murmur directed?

Between the worn book covers, warmth resided.

As if a gently lit flame had seeped between those sentences.

While momentarily feeling his existence, a voice soon reached him.

It was none other than the pilot.

“Um… Headmaster?”

The green eyes were trembling.

In contrast to the old man’s calm eyes.

“Was this a place we shouldn’t have entered? I’m sorry, we didn’t know…”

“It’s alright. I was waiting for you to arrive from the beginning.”

“W-What?”

“Didn’t I say? That I have much to tell you.”

“Much to tell us? What do you mean…?”

The pink-haired girl tilted her head.

The other girls were also listening intently.

Gaston remained silent without continuing his words.

In such a situation, the one who stepped forward was…

“Master.”

“Selena.”

It was the old man’s disciple.

Once misguided, but ultimately saved.

Purple hair flowing along the curves.

No longer intoxicated, her red eyes were clear yet enchanting.

Even in this simple atmosphere, traces of that boy seemed to linger.

The headmaster couldn’t help but smile faintly.

“You look well, I’m glad.”

“What? Look well…?”

She probably doesn’t know herself.

The fact that she had almost destroyed the academy.

Intoxicated by her mistakes, betraying everyone, and then falling into despair…

Thus marked by mistakes and regrets, destined to exit the stage…

“It’s nothing.”

The prophet gazed at his disciple who had awakened from her hangover.

Transparent pupils, and the sense of loss beyond them.

Then he softly spoke.

“……I’d like to ask one thing.”

Words suddenly thrown before the girls.

Despite their questioning gazes, the prophet only asked.

No… perhaps it was a question he was asking himself.

The resonance spread gently.

“Feel free to answer comfortably.”

It was quite a sudden development, but the girls quietly listened.

Among them, his eyes met with the pink-haired girl. None other than the protagonist of this world.

The old man carefully continued his question.

Even though he already knew the answer that would come.

“A life that submits to fate without resistance, and a life that breaks while resisting fate…”

It didn’t matter.

Whether the same answer returned, or a completely different one.

There would be no change in the path the old man would take from now on.

‘Just.’

He wanted to know if he had left something behind in this life.

And about the meaning he had never realized throughout his life.

“Which do you think is more valuable?”

The prophet stood at the final threshold.

His hands hidden behind his back were slowly crumbling.

***

Meanwhile, at a ruin far from the academy.

Once the heart of the church, but now even that function was broken.

Only a boy’s shadow was cast over the collapsed cathedral.

Sitting among the debris, he looked up at the sky full of stars.

His usually closed eyes were particularly dark.

“Is it… the day of the final battle now?”

A muttered soliloquy.

The calendar, having already passed a day, was as close as a nightmare.

Tomorrow night, a lunar eclipse will arrive, and even the light of these stars will fade.

Beneath the weakened moon will be the primordial darkness, and the end of the story.

The boy carelessly brushed his dull blonde hair.

However, his atmosphere clearly seemed lonely.

“It’s okay.”

-Ding!

[A small amount of lies has been recovered.]

[Current remaining output: 100%]

“I’m satisfied with this.”

A lie that had been repeated several times.

The output had reached its end, and preparations to face the calamity were sufficient.

The snake clenched his fist under the stars adorning the sky.

His thoughts bloomed like smoke from a cigarette.

“Shall we go?”

Behind him, the jet-black depicting a night sky fluttered.

The boy waited for the dawning morning with his honed sword.

It was the day of the final battle.