An Affectionate Challenge for the Vampire Princess

Hajime let out a sigh in the Hour Crystal workshop within Oscar's hidden house at the

bottom of the Great Orcus Labyrinth.

"This isn't good enough…" he muttered, the crimson light of his mana fading away.

"I'm sorry, Hajime-kun," I said, feeling bad that I wasn't being of much use. He stared

down at his workbench, which had a big hole in the middle. There had been a huge

pile of raw ore where that hole was a second ago.

I was the one who'd destroyed that pile of ore and made the hole in his workbench.

"It's not your fault, Kaori. I knew from the start that disintegration magic would be

hard to work with," Hajime replied, smiling wanly and patting my shoulder. He was

trying to incorporate my disintegration magic into an artifact so he could neutralize

the apostles' disintegration magic and nullify their biggest advantage.

I was doing my best to fire off as weak and slow shots as possible so Hajime could

synthesize his ore with my magic, but none of the materials he tried so far were able

to withstand disintegration magic.

Sealstone and divinity stone could survive for a little bit, but even if Hajime enchanted

sealstone with disintegration magic, sealstone's own properties would make it

impossible to use. On the other hand, divinity stone was too rare and valuable to be

suitable for a mass-produced artifact.

"Also… there's a crap-ton of magical protections on disintegration magic that make it

hard to copy."

"Is it really that hard to deal with?"

"Yeah. It's like wrapping a treasure chest in so many chains you can't even see the

actual chest anymore, then slapping a dozen padlocks on the chains. The amount of

copy protection on this magic is insane."

"Wow."

According to Hajime, whenever anyone tried to interact with or analyze disintegration

magic, they were stopped by a series of complex magical links that were baked into

the disintegration spells themselves. The only reason I could use it so easily was

because I had the innate knowledge the original owner of this body had, but other

people wouldn't be able to replicate disintegration magic in the same way.

Hajime was a good enough synergist that he could bypass the protections with enough

time, but…

"It's almost like Ehit predicted that someone might try this… or maybe someone

already succeeded in copying disintegration magic, which is why he went so ham on

protecting it? But if that's the case, does that mean contemporary disintegration magic

is stronger than older disintegration magic?"

Hajime fell silent as he lapsed into thought. Then, after a few seconds, he looked up at

the ceiling and muttered, "Did you try the same thing as me? You really made my life

harder, you know that?" with a faint smile.

He seemed to have thought of something. It was really vexing not being able to follow

Hajime's thought processes at times like this.

"Hajime-kun, what are you thinking?"

"It's too inefficient to try to make disintegration magic-enchanted artifacts. We've got

other countermeasures, so let's stop trying to get disintegration magic to work."

He immediately abandoned his current strategy and started thinking up a new plan.

I love how decisive you always are! I also love that look on your face when you're

grappling with a really hard problem!

I gazed raptly at him as he sat down and started drawing and redrawing new lines on

his magic circle.

"Kaori? What's wrong? Are you getting tired?"

"Huh?! Oh, sorry, I wasn't paying attention. What did you say?"

Shoot, I was so captivated by Hajime-kun that I almost hugged him.

If Yue saw me, she'd have teased me so much… though she wasn't exactly around at

the moment. But if she was, I just know she'd say something like, "You're like a moth

drawn to a flame," or something. She'd never miss an opportunity to tease me.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm totally fine! Anyway, what were you saying?"

Hajime's face was inches from mine, so I blushed furiously as I backed away.

"I was saying that if you can draw on the experiences of the apostle that used to be in

this body, maybe you can access her memories too, but… maybe we should rest a bit

before trying that."

Hajime gave me a slightly worried look, and I smiled reassuringly at him and replied,

"I'm fine, really."

"Well, if you say so. In that case, think you can try accessing the apostle's memories?"

"Let's see…"

Hajime's plan made sense. There were tons of apostles, and they all had a shared

memory bank, meaning their memories were a huge repository of historical

knowledge. Thus, if we sifted through their memories, we'd surely be able to find some

countermeasures against them.

Unfortunately, there was a problem. Apostles' memories weren't stored in their brains

like they were with regular people. At the very least, I'd never once been able to access

any of this apostle's memories. I'd actually tried to look at the apostle's memories

before out of curiosity, but I hadn't been able to find anything.

This body remembered how to use dual claymores, disintegration magic, and how to

fly, so I'd just had to get used to that before I could fight like an apostle, but knowing

what they knew had proven harder to do. It was kind of like how people with amnesia

still knew how to eat and put on clothes and other common things but couldn't

remember their past. Honestly, even these apostles' bodies were like dolls, built to be

incredibly sturdy, but also completely generic and uniform.

That aside, it was worth giving the memory accessing plan another shot. We had

access to a lot more ancient magic now, after all. In order to concentrate, I sat down

on an aged leather sofa in the corner of the room. Hajime came over as well and knelt

down in front of me.

Wait, he's kneeling? Oh my god, and now he's taking my hand! He even pulled out a ring?!

H-Hang on, is he about to propose to me?! You can't do that, Hajime-kun! You can't cheat

on Yue while she's gone! Besides, I can't have my first time on a sofa! That's just too lewd!

Most importantly, though, we can't do this until we get Yue back and I officially become

a part of—

"I don't really know what the apostles' memoryscape is like. I may get hit by some kind

of counter when I try to access it, so I'm sorry, but I'm gonna need to do this just in

case."

As he said that, Hajime deployed a barrier at my feet.

Oh god, I was just about to say something horrible.

"Don't worry, Kaori; I already knew you were a huge pervert. You don't have to feel

bad about it."

"Did you just read my mind?!"

"Come on, we both need to use evolution magic together here to try to analyze as much

information as we can. That ring should help you with casting, since I know your base

affinity for it isn't high," Hajime said as he stuck the ring he'd brought out on my pinky

finger.

I wish you'd put it on my ring finger instead… but maybe I can still show this off to Yue

when she gets back. Oh no, I'm doing it again. Maybe I really am getting a little tired. Not

physically, but emotionally.

Because time in the Hour Crystal workshop was stretched out so much, I'd lost all

sense of time. According to Myu-chan, it had only been a few minutes outside, but it

felt like hours had passed in here. It felt like we were being completely left behind by

the rest of the world, which just made me dwell on our one party member that wasn't

here. I'd been focusing for so long that I was starting to let slip every now and then,

and, of course, every time my mind would wander to thoughts of Yue.

Still, I knew Hajime had it way harder than I did. After all, he'd been spending every

waking—and sleeping—moment in this workshop. He'd spent the most time away

from Yue out of all of us, in terms of his sensation of the passage of time, so I didn't

have any right to complain.

I slapped my cheeks to bring my attention back to the task at hand. Just then, the door

to the workshop burst open. Shea, who'd gone out collecting materials and completing

miscellaneous tasks for Hajime in my place, had just returned.

"I brought the stuff you asked— Wait, are you proposing?! How can you do that when

Yue-san's not even here?! Don't tell me you're planning on having your first time here

and now on the so—!"

"Get over here, you lewd bunny."

"Who are you calling a lewd bunny?! Wait, isn't that even more of an insult than

'worthless bunny'?!"

Oh god, I'm so embarrassed. I was thinking the same thing as Shea, the girl who wears

those revealing clothes 24/7!

"You're thinking something really rude about my clothes right now, aren't you?" Shea

said, glaring at me.

"Is it really that easy to read my expressions?! How much of what I'm thinking leaks

through?!"

"All of it," Shea and Hajime replied at the exact same time.

Why couldn't I have learned how to look expressionless like the apostles when I was able

to copy all of their other abilities…?

While I hung my head in disappointment, Hajime explained his plan to Shea.

Apparently, he wanted Shea to help restrain me on the off chance that accessing the

apostles' memories caused me to go berserk and revert to being an apostle. He also

wanted to see if there were any other glaring weaknesses this body had, since I'd been

so easily stopped by Ehit back at the Demon Lord's castle. That was why he was using

evolution magic's information analysis spells.

It was my job to stay back and protect everyone on Tortus, so if anything happened to

me, Hajime wouldn't be around to help. Thus, he wanted to do everything he could

ahead of time so I'd be fine no matter what happened during the battle on the ground.

Hajime really was good at preparing for every single eventuality. More than anything,

though, I could tell how much he cared about me by how thorough he was.

"Aye, aye! All right, Kaori-san, stop drooling over Hajime-san and start accessing those

memories!"

"I… I wasn't drooling over him!"

Unfortunately, when I put my hands to my cheeks, I realized I had been grinning like

an idiot and probably drooling a little too. I once again brought my focus back on what

I needed to do and activated the information analyzing spell, then dived into this

body's depths. I tried honing in on the sensation I felt when trying to draw on the

experiences of this body's memories of moving and fighting. Hopefully, that would get

us some new information. Because I needed to stay back, I wouldn't be able to directly

rescue Yue, which was precisely why I wanted to help Hajime and the others as much

as I could by doing things like this.

"What is this? It feels like I'm getting scattered fragments… like trying to watch TV

through a bunch of static noise."

I could just barely make out images flitting behind my closed eyelids. Or rather, they

were coming up from somewhere deep in my brain.

"Does it look like they're protected in the same way as disintegration magic?" Hajime

asked.

"No, it's more like there's just bits and pieces left of a shattered whole."

"I guess most of them were deleted when the apostle herself died."

"The ability to use disintegration magic and my fighting skills were baked into the

body rather than the mind, so maybe some fragments of memories are left within the

body as well."

"Those might be the moments that left the biggest impressions on the apostle. What

kind of stuff are you getting, Kaori?"

I wasn't able to give Hajime a reply immediately. It was like going through a slideshow

of tattered pictures. Most of what I got were horribly tragic scenes of tons of people

dying in terrible ways. They were similar to the scenes we'd seen in the Sunken Ruins

of Melusine. People fighting for peace, people fighting for their loved ones, suddenly

went crazy or were killed by others who'd gone crazy. Meanwhile, the apostle that

caused all this insanity just watched impassively from her perch in the skies.

I covered my mouth with my hands as a sudden urge to vomit came over me. But

Hajime and Shea gently rubbed my back and offered me words of encouragement. The

nausea slowly went away. I could do this, as long as I had them supporting me.

Hajime took my hand in his and squeezed it tightly.

"You don't have to force yourself," he said gently, and I nodded.

Reinvigorated, I once again dived into the sea of scattered memories. As I sifted

through them, I began to realize why it was these memories specifically that had

survived the death of the apostle.

Some of them were scenes of dragonmen fighting valiantly despite being betrayed by

all the other mortal races and losing their homeland. Others were of vampires

struggling against Ehit solely to protect their loved ones. And yet others were of

knights of the church joining forces with their hated enemies, demons, to protect a

group of heretics. Then, I saw an unfamiliar race fight to the last to protect the

beastmen under their care. And finally, I saw a scene of a weak rabbitman girl standing

defiantly against an apostle.

"A bunny girl… the future? Inevitability?"

"Kaori-san?"

"I saw a bunny girl the same age as you fighting alone against an apostle, Shea."

"Ah—!"

She'd chosen to fight to the death to protect her family and her comrades. Despite

being on the verge of death, the words the girl said with a defiant smile were so

powerful that even I was overwhelmed despite knowing it was just a memory and only

being able to see fragments of it.

Shea looked pensive for a few seconds, then grinned and replied, "He he he… Looks

like there was a heroic bunny girl in the distant past too! Well, no one's stronger than

us rabbits, after all!"

Her ears flopped excitedly back and forth, as did her tail.

Of course, this was precisely why those memories had been burned so vividly into this

apostle's body. Every person in them had fought on proudly, resolutely, for the sake of

what they believed in, even knowing they would die. They'd struggled to the last,

never once losing the will to fight. Despite the overwhelming despair of their situation

and the harsh cruelty of reality, they'd burned brightly until their flames were

extinguished. That was why the apostle had never been able to forget those moments.

Everyone said the apostles were emotionless, but I was starting to doubt that. At the

very least, they'd clearly felt something when they'd encountered these people.

"Miledi Reisen-san… was probably the first person in Tortus to ever beat an apostle."

She had created the Reisen Gorge and had been the leader of the Liberators. Moreover,

she'd fought the apostles head-on and thoroughly trashed them. That had likely been

the greatest shock they had ever received.

"How did she do it?"

"W-Well, I'm having a hard time getting the details. There's too much static. Plus, from

the apostle's perspective, Miledi held her hand out to her, and then she was suddenly

swallowed up by a dark energy."

"So she overwhelmed them with gravity magic? Tch, that's not gonna help us."

"I mean, even now, she's strong enough to beat the shit out of apostles. Who knows

how strong she was in her prime?" Shea said.

It was reassuring to know someone that strong would be on our side during the

decisive battle. I'd heard that she'd transferred her soul into a golem to keep on living

past her natural lifespan.

"Oh yes, apparently, when she was still human, Miledi was super cute and—"

"She definitely wasn't," Hajime and Shea said at the same time, cutting me off.

"What?!"

Why are they so adamant about that?

"Listen up, Kaori-san. It's true that she's really strong, but her personality is the

absolute worst. Like, unbelievably bad," Shea explained.

"Hence why there's no way she could have been cute. QED," Hajime added.

"But I'm telling you the truth! When she killed one of the apostles, she looked really

cool and her hair was—"

"Noooooo, I don't wanna hear it! There's no way that Miledi was cool or cute!"

"Miledi's nothing more than an annoying pain in the ass with a smiley-face mask! Stop

trying to convince us otherwise!"

"Is she really that bad?!"

What in the world happened to them in the Reisen Gorge? I was kind of looking forward

to meeting Miledi, but now I'm getting scared…

"Anyway, did you see anything else?" Hajime asked, clearly trying to change the

subject.

"I'll try searching a bit deeper."

I dived in deeper. Most of the details on the fights the apostles had had in the past had

been deleted, but just like that small fragment with Miledi, it was possible I'd catch a

glimpse of some other useful information. I put even more power into my information

analysis spell and tried searching specifically for any wounds this body had received

in the past. And as I did so, my senses dulled and the warmth of Hajime's and Shea's

hands started to grow distant, as did their reassuring voices. It felt like I was diving

into the TV static I was watching, and while it was a little scary, I didn't falter.

Slowly but surely, I started seeing new scenes. Mostly scenes of past battles.

Throughout the apostles' long history, only a small fraction of people had managed to

even scratch them. I couldn't tell exactly who'd given the apostles these injuries, but I

did learn a lot about the wounds themselves. Whether they'd been burned, crushed,

sliced, shattered, diced, or flattened. I also learned about the dozens of… me's(?) that

had been sucked into a swirling vortex of gravity and obliterated.

Oh no. I can't get out. I can't destroy it either. This black whirlpool is going to consign me

to oblivion. I—

"Kaori."

I heard a gentle whisper… and suddenly my vision shifted.

Crap, I nearly synced fully with the memories of the apostles. I nearly accepted their

wounds as my own!

Cold sweat… didn't pour down my back, and my breath… wasn't coming in short

gasps! But I also couldn't move an inch.

"Yue, what're you doing out here at this time of night?"

My mouth was moving on its own too! I had no idea what was going on. The panic only

lasted for a few seconds, however. The moment I saw that flowing blonde hair, I calmed

down immediately. And once I calmed down, I realized what was happening.

I could hear the sound of waves in the distance, and there was a starry sky above me

that stretched all the way out to the horizon. A familiar girl's blonde hair gleamed like

golden threads in the starlight.

This… This is one of my own memories.

After we cleared the Sunken Ruins of Melusine, Yue had gone out late one night after

everyone had gone to sleep, and I'd chased after her. I'd found her sitting on the pier,

so I'd called out to her.

I must have delved too deep into the apostle's memories and instinctively fled back to

one of my own before I got swallowed up. But why this memory? It was also a rather

disconcerting feeling to have slipped into a past version of myself. However, I had no

idea how I could make it back to reality, nor did I particularly feel like returning at the

moment. I wanted to experience this memory for a little bit longer, to relive it as vividly

as possible.

"Mmm? I came here because it looked like you wanted to talk to me, Kaori," Yue

replied, turning back to me with a playful smile. That smile was so bewitching that my

heart skipped a beat.

It was actually true I'd been looking for a chance to talk to Yue alone, but I couldn't

believe she'd just gone and surreptitiously left without saying anything to make that

opportunity for me. It was times like this that reminded me she was so much older

than me, despite looking younger. I felt a mix of admiration and frustration as I sat

down next to her. Of course, I'd never tell her I admired her, no matter what!

"I just… wanted to know a bit more about you, Yue."

Seeing my past self blush as she said that made me blush too.

God, why did I say that like I was about to confess to her?!

"Hmmm? You want to know about me, not Hajime?"

"I already know everything there is to know about Hajime-kun!"

"You really are cocky…" Yue said with a small smile, then patted the ground next to her.

"Mmm…" I said, sounding just like Yue, then sat down by her side. I remembered how

embarrassed I'd been about acting like a shy child around her. However, Yue hadn't

been bothered at all. In fact, she'd found it kind of cute and laughed.

Seeing this memory again now, I could tell that Yue had probably seen right through

me from the start… including the fact that I'd developed an inferiority complex after

seeing how much stronger she was than me.

Still, it was precisely because I'd been able to get over that inferiority complex that

Yue had finally accepted me as her rival in love. It was when I'd worked up the courage

to face her properly and ask her about herself that Yue had first taken me seriously.

After that, Yue told me tons of stories. Both from her time as a former queen, and from

when she'd traveled with Hajime in the abyss. She told me about how she'd felt when

Hajime had first opened the door to her seal, and when he'd given her a new name.

She'd opened up completely to me. And in return, Yue had asked me about myself.

She'd listened intently to all of my stories, never once making fun of my feelings or

what I'd thought about any particular event.

I think that was the moment I'd felt a kinship with Yue. It was extremely fun swapping

stories about Hajime, like we were showing off our treasures to one another. We talked

for so long we didn't even notice the sky gradually getting lighter. But when dawn

finally broke, it was so dazzling we both fell silent and admired it for a few moments.

It was at that point we decided we should probably go back, and I got to my feet. At

that point in time, I was feeling surprisingly refreshed despite all that had happened.

"You know, I'm sure you and Hajime-kun are soulmates, Yue."

"Soul… mate?"

"Yeah. It's like when branches of two different trees entwine around each other and it

looks like they've become one. It means you two can't ever be separated."

Yue looked silently up at me for a few seconds.

"Does that mean you're giving up on him?" she asked finally.

With my back to the rising sun, I said in a cheerful voice, "Nope! It just means I'm

gonna work harder than ever to stick close to Hajime-kun! One way or another, I'm

gonna worm my way into his heart! There's no way I'm letting you have him all to

yourself!"

Yue narrowed her eyes, looking almost impressed. At the time, I thought she'd just

been squinting because of the sun, but now I could identify Yue's expression for what

it really was.

The light of the rising sun blotted out my vision, and before I knew it, I was in a

different place. It was night once again, but the moon and the stars were much closer.

For this memory, I was looking down at myself from above. I was lying down with my

eyes closed, and Yue was gently brushing my hair. Noint's body was next to mine.

This is… the Divine Cathedral.

This was a memory from when I'd decided to transfer my soul to the apostle's body.

"You're such an idiot, Kaori. A stupid, dumb idiot."

Oh yeah, this was when she kept insulting me a bunch.

Yue and Tio were taking turns casting spirit magic on me so I wouldn't die, and right

now, Tio was the one resting. Hajime and Shea had transferred all their mana to Yue

and Tio, so they were resting as well. And it was because the two of them were

together that Yue was in such a bad mood.

"Oh, give it a rest already!"

"You're so noisy… Even though you died so easily, idiot Kaori."

I'd been legitimately annoyed back then, but as I looked back on it now, I felt rather

embarrassed.

"I tried my best, you know?! I kept healing everyone even after getting stabbed

through the heart! I didn't give up until—!"

"You got lucky!"

This was the first time Yue had legitimately gotten mad at me. That outburst had been

super surprising at the time. Until then, I hadn't even been able to imagine Yue raising

her voice, let alone yelling. Even though I was just a spirit floating in the air, I stiffened

up as I heard it.

"Had the conditions for beating the labyrinth in the Divine Mountain been even

slightly different, had it taken any longer for me to beat it, had literally anything just

been a little different, you would have died for good!"

"B-But…"

"Why weren't you more careful?! Why didn't you protect yourself better?! Why did you

prioritize healing other people over yourself?! If Tio hadn't cleared the labyrinth…

you'd be gone forever…"

Those last few words echoed ominously through the mountains. I was at a loss for

words. Not because I was scared or confused, but because I could tell just how much

Yue cared about me.

While Tio had been keeping me alive with spirit magic, Yue and Shea had both

challenged the labyrinth normally, and Yue had cleared it in record time. I'd asked Shea

about it later, and apparently, Yue had fought so desperately that she'd outpaced even

Shea's monstrous strength. Yue had tanked her way through all attacks and relied on

her regenerative powers to push through. While that had been Yue's fighting style

from the start, she hadn't needed to take as many injuries as she had. As a result,

though, she'd blitzed through the labyrinth in just one hour.

Hajime had told me afterward that she'd been panting and barely able to stand when

she'd returned to the summit.

At the time, I hadn't known any of that and had just been excited that I'd be able to get

a new, stronger body. Thinking back on it, I really had been an idiot. I wished I could

tell my old self that.

For a while, the two of us said nothing. My sense of time had been pretty messed up

when I was just a soul, but I could tell now that quite a bit of time passed. Eventually,

though, the weight of Yue's words sank in.

"Yeah, you're right… I'm sorry."

Looking back on it now, I couldn't believe how pathetic I'd been. A crappy apology was

all I'd been able to give her. And yet, Yue shook her head and apologized in return.

"Don't apologize, idiot Kaori. I was just venting. If anything, I'm the one who should

apologize. I let my emotions get the better of me and left you to fight alone. Sorry."

"It's fine. You thought I'd be fine because I had Lily and my classmates with me, right?

Besides, taking down the enemy commander was the right tactical move. Though, I

guess you had a personal grudge against him too… but that's fine. If I'd had more

strength, I would have done the same thing."

"Mmm…"

An awkward silence formed between the two of us as we struggled to express

ourselves.

Eventually, I floated down to Yue, who refused to meet my gaze, and stared at the side

of her face. I wanted to talk to her, but I didn't know about what. In the end, I blurted

out, "Umm, oh yeah, tell me about the labyrinth in the Divine Mountain. I want to try

clearing it too."

Oh my god, Kaori, you could have at least thanked her for saving your life first!

Of course, the me from that time had been grateful, but she hadn't been able to say

thanks. Probably because I'd known that wasn't what Yue wanted to hear at the

moment. We'd become proper comrades, so Yue didn't want me to think I owed her or

anything. Though obviously, that might have been arrogant of me, but thinking back

on it now, I was probably right.

"If you end up being able to use the apostle's powers, you can probably do it easily."

"Really?"

"Mmm… Even if you can't, we'll help you. It'll be a good way of warming up and seeing

how well your soul's settled in the new body, and if it's causing any problems in

combat."

"That makes sense. I hope I can use the apostle's powers. Plus, if I manage to clear the

labyrinth, I'll be able to revive myself, and you won't have to worry as much!"

"You make it sound like you're bound to die again! Also, I wasn't worried about you!"

"I won't lose to you when we fight anymore either!"

"Do you ever listen…?"

Later on, I did manage to clear the labyrinth, and in only three hours too. Unlike most

other labyrinths, this one hadn't been a maze. Instead, you went down a series of floors

and had to fight the revived spirits of ancient Templar Knights on each one. They'd

been way stronger than any of the knights I knew from the present. Not only did they

all have their own special magic, but they were armed with replica Holy Swords and

Sacred Armors. It had been pretty eye-opening seeing just how strong the church had

been in the past.

The hardest part hadn't been fighting them though; it had been fending off the

constant brainwashing. Throughout the labyrinth, I'd constantly been assaulted by

mental attacks trying to make me a believer in Ehit. Anyone with even an ounce of

faith would have probably been unable to make it through. Fortunately, we didn't

worship Ehit at all. In fact, we knew he was our enemy, so I'd been able to push away

the brainwashing through force of will.

From what I could tell, the main conceit of that labyrinth had been to test your resolve.

It was meant to be a labyrinth of the mind, rather than a physical one. Anyone from

Tortus would probably have been lost in that maze for a while, wavering between their

faith and the true nature of the world.

Anyway, I should probably stop distracting myself by reminiscing about the labyrinth

and pay attention to this memory again.

Past me was currently engrossed in Yue's story, and she totally didn't notice what I

did.

Hajime-kun, Shea, and Tio were all peeking out from behind the ruins of the cathedral

and watching us. Honestly, that made sense, considering Yue had shouted so loudly.

There was no way they wouldn't have woken up. Still, they didn't have to be grinning

like that while they watched us!

I can't believe I never even realized they'd been watching us!

We'd just been having a normal conversation, but I was still extremely embarrassed. I

didn't have much time to dwell on my embarrassment though, as the sun rose and my

vision shifted again.

At this point, I'd figured out that I was reliving all of my most memorable moments

with Yue. The ones that had left the deepest impressions on me. I'd gotten completely

sidetracked from my original goal of searching for the apostles' weakness, but one last

memory wouldn't hurt. I wanted to see one more in this strange mindscape that

showed things more vividly than when I normally recalled these moments.

It seemed my wish was heard, and as my vision settled I saw a verdant, moonlit forest.

This was the night after we'd conquered Haltina's labyrinth. I was sitting on a small

stump in one of Verbergen's plazas, looking up at the moon, when Yue walked over to

me.

"Why are you trying so hard to look pensive?" Yue asked.

"Can't you read the mood?!"

"I can, but who cares about the mood you're trying to make? Anyway, let's talk about

that face Hajime made."

"Seriously?! You're just gonna force a new topic?"

"You say that, but I know you want to talk about it too…"

"Mrrrgh… Well… yes, fine, you're right."

Grinning, Yue sat down on the stump next to me. I knew exactly what Yue meant by

"that face Hajime made." After we'd conquered Haltina's labyrinth and learned about

concept magic, learned of a way home, Hajime had made an expression I hadn't seen

in a long time. It was the same gentle expression he used to make back in Japan.

However, that smile had an iron core behind it, consisting of the strength he'd gained

since coming here. It was definitely something I'd wanted to discuss with Yue.

The two of us had a fun time talking, arguing, and then talking again. Afterward, Yue

showed me the real reason she'd come to meet me. She got up, walked over to me, and

patted me on the head. As I looked at her, confused, she asked, "Do you want to

reminisce about your home alone?"

Indeed, I had gotten quite homesick that night. After discovering there really was a

way back, and seeing Hajime's old self for a few seconds, I'd gotten quite nostalgic.

And at the same time, I'd started missing my mom and dad dearly.

"You noticed?"

Yue shrugged her shoulders as if to say "of course," but she didn't tease me about it.

"None of your other friends from Earth, including Hajime, were the right person to

talk to about your homesickness, which is why you're brooding over it alone. But you

didn't actually want to be alone, did you?"

Yue was right on the mark. I would have actually been fine talking to Hajime about it,

but I'd wanted to let Shea have him for the night. Plus, I didn't think I would have been

able to have a proper conversation with Shizuku-chan or the others. Suzu-chan still

hadn't gotten over Eri-chan, and Shizuku-chan got all restless whenever the topic of

Hajime came up. And, of course, there was no way I was going to talk to Kouki-kun or

Ryutarou-kun alone! I didn't want weird rumors to spread, after all, so instead, I'd

been thinking about my family alone, but that had definitely made me feel lonely.

As always, it had been Yue who'd picked up on all of that.

"What are your parents like?"

"Hmm… well, dad's super overprotective, while mom's a cooking teacher at—"

Yue patted my head again, then sat down on the stump next to me and motioned for

me to continue. I knew I was letting her spoil me, but at the time, that was exactly what

I needed.

I told Yue all about my hometown and my family. She didn't say much and mostly

listened. Normally, she would have teased me at every turn, but for some reason, she

knew how to be quiet at times like this. I could see why Hajime had fallen for Yue's

kindness. Moreover, she was the first—and probably only—person I'd ever get into a

slapping fight with. My one and only rival in love. It wasn't fair how amazing she was.

And yet, she was no longer here because Ehit had—

"Ka… ri… Ri!"

The fact that she was gone hit me all over again, and I could feel my chest tightening

up. I fully believed that we'd be able to bring her back, but that didn't stop me from

feeling worried every time I relaxed my focus for even a second.

"Kao—san! Wake up!"

The knowledge that the smiling Yue in front of me would disappear the moment the

sun rose made me terribly afraid.

Please, let me just stay in this world of memories for a little long—

"Kaori! Open your eyes!"

"Kaori-san!"

There was a sharp pain on my cheek, which forced my eyes open with a jolt. Hajime

and Shea were looking worriedly down at me. The moonlit forest and Yue were

nowhere to be found.

"I… I'm sorry… I got lost in my own memories."

As I apologized, my vision grew blurry. I could feel something streaming down my

cheeks… and when I touched them, my fingers came away wet.

"It's not fair… You're the one who said I should have been more careful… but then you

went and got kidnapped… I want to yell at you, but you're not even here!"

My thoughts were coming out in a jumbled mess. Unfortunately, now that the dam had

burst, I couldn't hold my feelings back, so I continued my incoherent rambling.

Suddenly, my vision went dark and I felt a warm sensation all around me. Hajime and

Shea had both hugged me.

"I'm sorry. Because I went berserk back then, you never even got a chance to vent your

feelings, Kaori," Hajime said.

"You must have felt so alone… I do too."

Hajime gently patted my head the way Yue used to, while Shea brushed her ears

against my cheek.

"We're gonna bring her back, no matter what. Then, you can fight with her again all

you want."

"Yue-san's really obsessed with you, you know that? I'm honestly a little jealous."

The two of them smiled at me, prompting fresh tears to spill from my eyes.

"Yeah… yeah."

All I could do was nod. But while I couldn't find the words to express myself, I put all

my feelings into my smile. The pain that had been leaking through my cracked heart

started to fade, and I could feel my burning resolve return.

Yue…

She was the person who annoyed me most in the world, but she was also the only

person I could share everything with. She was my one and only rival in love.

Please come back soon. I can't wait to talk with you and fight with you again. But first

things first, the moment you get back, I'm gonna beat you to a pulp for making me worry

so much!