Majo no Tabitabi - Volume 10 - Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

On the Road: Inside the Lighthouse

Let’s turn back the hands of the clock, just a little.

“…Miss?”

It was just after Miss Fran had gotten herself trapped in the book.

No matter where I looked in the room, my teacher, who had disappeared while I was in the bath, was nowhere to be found. Well, since she was actually stuck inside the book, I obviously wasn’t going to find her anywhere, but at the time, I didn’t have that information, so I looked around everywhere for her.

“Miss?” I looked in her bed.

“Miss Fran?” I looked under her bed.

“Miss Fraaan?” I looked in the crevices of the bookshelf.

“Where aaare you?” And I looked in the desk.

“…………”

Honestly, the room’s furnishings were very simple, so partway through my search, I started checking places where no human could possibly fit, but at the time, I had lost my cool, so I can’t be blamed for acting strangely.

“…Achoo!”

Eventually, after I sneezed once in the breeze blowing in through the open window, I realized that I had been wandering around the room wearing nothing but a bath towel.

And the fact that Miss Fran was nowhere in the room really sank in.

Where on earth could she have gone?

The black book sitting beside the window was obviously quite suspicious, but I changed into my robe, got on my broom, and flew outdoors, where the curtain of night had fallen.

I didn’t have any conclusive evidence.

But more than anything, the black book gave me very bad vibes, so I decided not to open it recklessly.

And it was still possible that the black book had been tossed into our room and then Miss Fran had flown off somewhere.

So I flew through the night sky.

The wind chilled my warm body.

Clouds parted to reveal a sea of stars, and if I looked down, the lights of the city looked like they were floating. Millions of little lights flickered everywhere in the darkness.

The night was studded with brilliance that would have been captivating at any other time.

I flew around town, searching for Miss Fran amid the twinkling of stardust.

I was starting to panic.

I looked everywhere, but I had no idea what had happened or why my teacher had disappeared.

I wandered through the darkened city. From time to time, I alighted on a rooftop to have a look around or left the main avenues to walk around the back alleys. It was during one such exploration that I met her again.

“…Elaina?”

While I was walking down a gloomy back alley, a voice called my name.

A fondly remembered voice.

When I turned around, there was a fondly remembered face.

Black hair, a black robe, and a black pointy hat. Upon her breast, a star-shaped brooch and a moon-shaped brooch.

I knew her.

“…Saya?”

One of my few friends was standing there.

I arrived in the city three days ago.

“In this city, we’ve been using dolls to help people.”

According to the dolls’ manufacturer, Wassily, the city had had a major mage shortage lately. Actually, the mages were losing their powers one after another, and because of that, the city wanted to borrow mages from the United Magic Association in order to operate the dolls.

Wassily told me that all I needed to do was apply magical energy to the lighthouse on the outskirts of town. I worried about whether I was fit for the role without any experience.

“…Understood.”

I accepted the job.

Normally, it would take several mages to shoulder the duty of supplying the necessary magical energy, but I was the only mage anywhere nearby with any time to spare, so, at least until the Lantern Festival, I would apparently have to work alone—there was no helping it.

Miss Sheila was out on a job to collect and dispose of some mysterious, dangerous book, and of all the mages at the United Magic Association, I was the only one who had the time to drift aimlessly from place to place.

Starting the following day, I shut myself up in the lighthouse.

Inside the towering lighthouse was a single huge sphere of burning bluish-white light, hovering in midair.

Apparently, the sphere of energy in the lighthouse served two purposes.

The first, totally normal purpose was as a light to show the location of the city.

And the second purpose was as a mass of magical energy to power the dolls all over the city.

According to Wassily, my main job was to continually pour magical energy into the sphere without stopping so that it would never die out. In addition to that, I was also to handle the collection of dolls that ran out of magical energy and collapsed in the city, on top of some intelligence gathering around town, as well as other various duties. But since my chief task was just to burn magical energy, I figured it wasn’t going to be extremely hard labor.

Though it did sound like I would be working long hours.

“Well, there’s work to be done! Better do my best.”

Inside the lighthouse, I studied a map of the city. Then I read the latest news and checked out the many upcoming events. I also noted the cafés and restaurants that were popular with tourists.

I did all of this for the sake of the bluish-white ball that was suspended inside the lighthouse—and by extension, for the sake of the dolls walking around everywhere throughout town.

Along with using my magical energy, the dolls would also, apparently, express my memories and thought patterns. In other words, the dolls would turn into my alter egos.

To put it simply, if I wasn’t familiar with the city, the dolls wouldn’t be able to lend a helping hand to those in trouble.

“…Hmmmm.”

I devoted myself to reading as many documents as I could get my hands on for as long as time permitted.

I did this on the first day and the day after that.

And then the next evening.

“…I’m exhausted.”

I was dragging my heavy body back toward the inn where I was staying. My job didn’t allow for any breaks, from morning until evening. The day’s exhaustion clung to me the whole time I was walking.

I’ve got to keep doing this for who knows how many days, but…I wonder if I have it in me…

Honestly speaking, I was almost at my limit after just three days.

However…

I mustn’t complain.

This is nothing to gripe about, is it? I know someone who never so much as frowned, who clung to her convictions even as she suffered through much worse than this.

Compared to her suffering, this is nothing.

Just then…

“…………”

I saw her.

Ash-gray hair and lapis-blue eyes. I saw a lone witch with a star-shaped brooch on her breast walking through town.

A fondly remembered face was there before me.

“Elaina?”

She turned around at the sound of my voice.

There she was, the same as always.

“I see…so you were commissioned for a job?”

Apparently, Saya had been staying in this city for the past few days.

When I ran into her for the first time in a long time, she pointed toward the outskirts of town and said, “I’ve been working nonstop, from morning till night, shut away in that lighthouse.”

The night was pitch-black.

“…Where?”

It’s dark as far as I can see.

“The light’s gone out already, but it’s basically somewhere around there.”

“That’s not very specific.”

“So basically, I’ve been holed up in there, passing the time reading all sorts of books and stuff.”

“That’s not very specific.”

“So that’s pretty much what I’ve been up to!”

“Vague from start to finish…”

That was a very flimsy job description…

“So what are you doing out here late at night, Elaina?” Saya tilted her head and looked my way as she walked along beside me. She didn’t seem to have changed a bit.

“…………” I hesitated a little, but answered, “…Actually, right now I’m searching for my teacher.”

I explained to Saya that Miss Fran would be leaving the region the day after next, at the same time as the Lantern Festival. But despite her plans, she had suddenly disappeared.

“Mm-hmm.” Saya nodded and knit her brows. “That is a difficult situation…” After which she offered, “Shall I search with you?”

No, no.

“I’m fine, thanks. You must be tired.”

You were just telling me about how you’ve been shut inside the lighthouse all day, from morning to night. I couldn’t possibly involve you in this when you’re in such an exhausted condition, Saya.

Even I have a conscience.

“Go get a good night’s sleep. You’ve got work tomorrow, too, after all. I’ll be fine searching for her on my own.” I waved my hand in front of my face and declined her offer.

However, she was not satisfied with my response. “Not a chance! Elaina, I’ve taken up the job of helping people here in this city, you know? If someone is in trouble, I mustn’t fail to extend them a helping hand.”

“…………”

It was at that point that I realized I had made an error in telling her about my circumstances.

“And to that end, I will help you, Elaina!”

Saya boldly threw out her chest.

“…No, but—”

“I won’t take no for an answer now that I’ve said I’ll team up with you! And we are teaming up, even if you say you don’t want to! Resign yourself to it and prepare to be teamed up with by me!”

“‘Teamed up with by me’? What a strange way to put that…”

At this point, I doubt she’s going to give up on assisting me.

Saya said, “Luckily for us, I’m currently controlling all the dolls in town, so something as simple as finding someone ought to be a walk in the park!”

As she said this, she started walking, pulling me along somewhat forcefully by the hand.

Her hand was cool to the touch.

“Let’s strike while the iron is hot!” Walking ahead of me, Saya had her triangular hat pulled down low on her head just like me as she headed for the darkened lighthouse.

I looked absently up at the sky as I followed along behind her.

Come to think of it, the day I first met Saya, we also spent that night searching for something under a starry sky, just like this one.

As soon as we arrived at the lighthouse, Saya waved her wand with a grunt and lit the light.

The sphere that I could see far above our heads gave off a bluish-white light when it was turned on. It cast shadows around the inside of the lighthouse.

Perhaps because the light was meant to spill outside, the slight glow that reached us was dim and gloomy.

Viewed from afar, I’m sure that the light was beautiful, dazzling, and shining. But looking up from directly below, the light in the lighthouse was only bright enough to barely see from one end of the room to the other.

“…Whoa.”

I hadn’t realized until just then, but the interior of the lighthouse was apparently being used to store an immense number of dolls. As the light hit them, the army of dolls stood up of their own free will and began walking.

Wassily’s handmade dolls featured a rich variety of designs. Some had pale complexions, while others were darker. Some had blue hair, others had red. Some had green eyes, others had yellow. Some wore fashionable clothes, while others were dressed simply.

There was not a single duplicate among them.

Those dolls started marching in perfect order, walking toward the outside of the lighthouse.

The sight of them might have been adorable if viewed during the afternoon or in the morning. But it was the middle of the night.

“It’s kind of spooky, isn’t it? This spectacle.”

Saya seemed to be used to it. She chuckled. “For now, they should be on their way to search for Fran throughout the city in our stead. Let’s wait here for a little while, shall we?”

“I suppose so…”

I looked around the interior of the lighthouse, illuminated in bluish white.

It was a very plain space, undecorated and cold. Dozens of travel guide magazines were piled up in a corner of the room. Saya must have drilled the contents of the travel guides into her head over and over again while she was confined in the lighthouse. Even looking at them from a distance, I could clearly see signs that they had been thoroughly read.

“…………”

My eyes came to a rest right in front of the magazines.

There was a single doll.

“They left this one behind.”

“Huh? Oh, so they did.”

The doll was crouched down, trembling violently. It didn’t look like it was having trouble moving. Neither did it look injured.

It just didn’t seem to have the willpower to move.

The way it was acting, it almost looked like it was…

“…Crying? Maybe?”

“Hmm? Huh…? I wonder why?”

Staring at the doll in puzzlement, Saya tilted her head. She looked like she didn’t have the slightest idea why that one doll might be crying.

Then she placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about one doll being out of order! But it’s fine! Dozens more of them should be searching the city for Fran as we speak! Leave it to them!”

She sounded extremely optimistic.

“…………”

But I let her words go in one ear and out the other.

Apologies to Saya, but at the moment, I was thinking about something else. I looked up at the bluish-white sphere loading above our heads. “So all you have to do to control the dolls is to supply magical energy to that thing?”

Saya followed my gaze and nodded.

“Yeah, that’s about it.”

“I see.”

Interesting, very interesting.

I nodded as well as I took out my wand.

“Well then, allow me to help, too.” I fired off magical energy from the tip of my wand. The energy emitted from my wand blended with the light that Saya was producing and flowed up into the sphere.

“…Elaina?”

She stared at me, as if to ask, “What are you doing?”

“Now listen, I can’t expect you alone to do all the work.”

“This is my job, so it’s only natural for me to overwork myself, heh-heh!” For some reason, she puffed up her chest proudly.

“That might be what you’re supposed to do when there’s no one by your side.”

Maybe you’re expected to push yourself when you’re desperate and you have no one to depend on.

“But right now, you have me.”

“…………”

“And anyway, isn’t it natural for me to help out, when I’m the reason why you’re working overtime in the first place?”

“…………”

For a second time, she answered me with silence.

Saya stared at me and me alone in the meager light. And then she said, “…Elaina, you’re being pretty nice to me today, huh? You’re not an imposter, by any chance, are you?”

What are you saying, all solemnly?

“I’m always nice.”

“Oh…?”

“What’s with that iffy response?”

How rude.

“Whenever you see me, Elaina, you’re always more, like…you frown, and you glare at me, and you tell me to shut up whenever I do anything. I feel like that’s the kind of person you’ve always been…”

“That’s because your usual behavior is kind of, well, you know.”

“Can you be more specific?”

“Basically, you throw your arms around me whenever you get the chance, and you’re always calmly telling me that you like me, or you’re in love with me, or asking me to marry you.”

“I don’t remember doing any of that.”

“You’re not an imposter, by any chance, are you?”

I frowned. Saya, on the other hand, snickered and smiled slightly in the darkness as she answered, “I’m the same me I always am.”

I did not even ask what she considered to be “the same as always.”

Because I’d met Saya countless times before. There’s nothing I didn’t know about her—well, I wouldn’t go that far, but I didn’t need to go out of my way to ask.

Not about what kind of person she usually was.

“Ah, come to think of it, Elaina, have you already done your sightseeing in this city? If you like, how about I show you around?”

No matter when we met, or where I saw her, for some reason, there had always been a dialogue between us.

That evening was no exception.

“I’m grateful for the offer, but…aren’t you tired? Will you be all right?”

“Don’t worry. It’s part of my job.”

“…Overdoing it comes with the territory?”

“No, no.” She shook her head quickly and said, “I simply want a chance to talk with you, Elaina.”

“…I see.”

Well then, I’ll take you up on it—I nodded at her and then got her to tell me about the tourist attractions in the city.

I can use this later when I’m looking around with Miss Fran. Though I don’t know if she’s going to come back.

“This place is a café run by a mage named Wassily. The food is so-so, but it’s definitely a unique business, where stuffed bears serve the customers.”

Then Saya told me about all sorts of different things. Opening up the sticky-note-covered sightseeing guides, which she must have read over and over again, she told me things like “This place is supposed to be delicious!” and “This restaurant is supposedly famous for its seafood dishes!”

I was pretty sure she had been inside the lighthouse the whole time, so she had probably never been to any of those restaurants, not even once. And yet she talked to me about the city with incredible enthusiasm.

“If you go, I want to hear what you think of it, okay?”

She added comments like that.

So I answered her simply, “If I remember, I’ll report back.”

Saya continued dispensing her modest sightseeing advice. Steadily burning our magical energy, we waited for the dolls to locate Miss Fran, even though I didn’t actually think it was going to happen. Saya did her best to ensure that we didn’t get bored.

“And, um…the restaurants in this area are recommended…”

But sure enough, she couldn’t fight off the fatigue.

Eventually, she flopped her head over onto my shoulder and fell fast asleep. Her finger trailed across the page of an open brochure. Her hand lost the strength to grip her wand, and it clattered to the floor. Her consciousness was no longer with me, and I heard nothing but quiet sleeping breaths at my side.

I chuckled as I stealthily stroked her hair.

“So you were overdoing it after all, huh?”

I knew you were.

After that, I kept on supplying magical energy to the lighthouse on my own. After Saya’s voice stopped echoing through the interior of the lighthouse, the space was dominated by nothing but lonely, empty, disheartening solitude.

There was nothing to do, and the time passed slowly.

“…This is so boring.”

When I looked up, I saw the single light of the lighthouse.

As before, it was dark and cloudy.

Now then, I don’t believe I need to go over what happened after that again.

I visited Wassily’s shop, and after a little nap, I went to save Miss Fran.

It was evening when we got back.

My original plan had been to spend the day sightseeing with Miss Fran, and maybe take some time for myself, but before I knew it, the majority of the day was over.

The cityscape looked dreary in the slanting sunlight.

“It’s this late already, huh…?”

My sigh was swallowed by the silence of the city.

I was feeling disappointed that I had lost so much precious time, but a different line of thought must have crossed Miss Fran’s mind.

“I’m sorry, it’s my fault.”

She frowned and bobbed her head in a little bow in my direction.

No, no.

“I didn’t mean to direct that at you, Miss Fran.”

“But even so, I was the reason we were inside the book until so late in the day, so isn’t it only natural that I should apologize to you?”

“I don’t think you’re really to blame for it, though…”

I’m not particularly sorry about entering the world of the book.

Because inside the book, I was able to see my teacher’s memories.

Even if we didn’t make it back here until twilight, I really didn’t have a bad time.

As I paused, Miss Fran took one step after another into the slanting sunlight.

I chased after her receding shadow, and she muttered a few words.

“I think most people would feel remorseful and blame themselves if something they did made things go awry or if their actions caused trouble for others, don’t you?”

“…………”

“Only the most rigid person would insist from start to finish that they weren’t to blame and that the outcome had nothing to do with them, despite evidence to the contrary.”

Either that, or someone who’s overly narcissistic.

I had a feeling that I more or less understood what she was trying to say.

But I didn’t really know how to deal with it.

“…And what do you think a person should do at such a time?”

And so I asked directly.

What should someone actually do when their wishes don’t come true, and they’re headed for a heartbreaking ending?

Miss Fran came to a stop in the shadows.

And then…

“I would tell them to stay by someone’s side. Because if someone is alone for a long time, they’re bound to keep getting themselves into trouble, right?” Miss Fran turned around. “And, well, that’s why I’m still such a happy person!”

She was wearing her usual smile.

And, well, at that point—

Maybe she suddenly felt embarrassed now that we were having a slightly serious conversation. Or perhaps she wasn’t sure how to react after making direct eye contact with me.

She quickly shifted her eyes elsewhere.

“By the way, Elaina, how about a little dinner? I’ve got a restaurant recommendation. My treat!” she suggested hastily.

My, my…

By the way, I think I’ve heard that line before.

Specifically, sometime yesterday.

So…

“Sounds great.” I nodded enthusiastically. “But it’s rare for you to treat me to a meal. Is there some reason for it?” I asked.

Miss Fran chuckled at my question.

“There’s no deeper meaning behind it. I just want to eat together, that’s all,” she told me calmly.

…………

The person I was the day before would have blithely accepted with a “Yay! Can’t wait!” as soon as she said those words, but—

“If you’re going to treat me, I have one condition.”

I came abreast of my teacher and fixed my eyes on her.

Since I had spent the previous night reading endless sightseeing guides in the lighthouse until daybreak, I had a certain degree of knowledge about popular restaurants around the city.

And so…

“Actually, there happens to be a delicious restaurant just nearby. If you don’t mind, would you treat me to a meal there?”

“…………” Miss Fran seemed to guess something from my expression. “Um, it’s not…an expensive restaurant, is it?”

“Oh-hoh-hoh…”

“Elaina…”

“Wouldn’t you agree that when someone has done something bad, it’s important that they offer a concrete demonstration of remorse?”

“Can I rescind my offer?”

“Not a chance.”

Then I grabbed my teacher’s hand and started walking.

Far ahead of us was the single light of the lighthouse.

It was shining very brightly and proudly.

After dinner, I headed for the lighthouse alone, and of course I found Saya there.

Inside the gloomy lighthouse, she was sitting on the floor.

As soon as she saw me, Saya immediately straightened up and raised her head, calling my name with a complicated mixture of joy and confusion on her face. “Elaina!”

She pressed her hands against the floor. “I’m sorry about last night! I fell asleep before I knew it…and I was in the middle of a job, too…”

It’s not something you need to be so worried about, though…

It was late at night, and you were working yourself to exhaustion for my sake.

“Don’t worry about it, please.”

I walked over to her, kneeled down, and placed a hand on her shoulder. It was a skinny, somewhat fragile shoulder.

No different than when we first met.

“Besides, I’m the one who should apologize. I left you alone while you were sleeping and went back to my room, after all. So please don’t worry about it,” I said.

Saya stared at my hand, and after a brief silence, she turned her face toward me.

Finally, in a serious voice, she told me, “…You really are being kind, Elaina.”

What are you talking about?

“I’m always kind!”

“Ehhh…?”

Sure enough, Saya had an exaggerated grimace on her face.

So I took my wand in my hand and poked her repeatedly in the cheek. “What is it? You want to say something, don’t you?”

Saya made an angry noise and narrowed her eyes.

“Though I doubt any outsider would think you were a very kind person, at least not if they saw this situation…”

“How rude.”

“By the way, what are your plans for today?”

“I came to help you with your job.”

“But poking people in the cheek isn’t part of my duties?”

“Oh, this is just for my own entertainment.”

“You’ve got very strange taste in entertainment…”

“Oh-hoh-hoh!”

“That wasn’t a compliment.”

Saya puffed up her cheeks. I immediately poked them with my wand and deflated them. A rush of breath escaped from her mouth.

Of course, I hadn’t gone there to do things like that.

“I’m just having fun since I’m already here. Actually, I came today to talk to you for a little bit.”

“You came to talk to me?”

“Can I sit next to you?”

“If you don’t mind sitting on the dirty floor.”

Instead of answering, I took a seat beside her and held out my wand.

“The light of the lighthouse was very pretty when seen from afar.”

“But when you view it from directly beneath, it’s not all that pretty, is it?”

“I don’t dislike a view like this, though.”

The way you see things is altered by distance, so sometimes something that looks beautiful when you gaze at it from far away turns out to be filthy when you approach and view it up close—it’s a warning you’ll hear many times over if you travel.

“What a joy it is to be near something that so many people love but which they cannot see for themselves,” I said.

Then I held up my wand and let out some magical energy. Just like the day before, the dazzling glow at the tip of my wand blended with the magical energy that Saya was giving off and dissolved into the big light.

She just gazed at the sight.

“Elaina…”

Then she addressed me, almost in a whisper. “Really, I’m okay working this job by myself. Even without your help, I can fulfill my duties on my own.”

I did not turn to look at her.

I just watched the light rising up to the ceiling as I answered, “Last night, I tried to stay up all night, too, but this is really hard work, isn’t it?”

“But I can do it on my own.”

Oh my, so stubborn.

“You don’t want help?”

“…………”

There was no answer.

Well then, allow me to change the question.

“Is there a reason you have to do it alone?”

“…………”

As before, there was no answer.

Taking your silence as confirmation—

“There is a reason, isn’t there?

Then I turned to face her.

Her face was illuminated by the rising blue light, but her expression was very, very gloomy and dull.

Just like the lighthouse light when viewed from directly below.

Though she sparkled beautifully and proudly when admired from a distance, looking up at her from directly below, she was very, very forlorn.

But I knew that already.

“Is it because you’re sorry for not being able to help Monica?”

I had known that long before I arrived.

“Emadestrin, a Town Where People Live.”

Once, when I ran into Sheila in Ballad, the City of Silence, she suddenly said, “Come with me,” and took me outside, where she started telling me the following story.

“It’s a really strange place, you know. Their culture takes an extreme view against human death. They never invoke the death penalty even for their most atrocious villains, and even though that awful disease runs rampant, the city does everything it can to preserve life. The whole place is extremely sensitive about human death.”

The reason Saya had gone to visit that city was because a series of murders had taken place there.

In other words, she had been dispatched by the United Magic Association in order to resolve the incident.

As for the reason Sheila went out of her way to get me alone and tell me all of this—

“…Is she dealing with a tough conflict?”

That’s what I thought. But Sheila shook her head slowly.

“No. The incident has already been resolved. They caught the culprit and sentenced her to exile.”

“Exile, you say?”

“It means she was killed outside the city.”

“…Ah.”

Because it’s a place where killing inside the city itself is forbidden. I see, their cultural prohibition against death only applies inside their borders, huh?

“The incident was resolved successfully, and Saya came back safely.”

And then…

Sheila sighed deeply and told me, “But she’s been kind of depressed ever since she came back—apparently, she had a friend in Emadestrin. A girl about her age who she spent a lot of time with when they were new recruits to the United Magic Association.”

Apparently, the girl’s name was Monica.

Quite a lot of time had elapsed since their training, so it wasn’t until after Saya got there to investigate the incidents that she learned Monica was still working in her hometown.

“So what happened to that friend of hers?”

I could deduce from the way the story was going that something had undoubtedly happened to this Monica.

Maybe she had gotten caught up in the murders. Or maybe she and Saya had had a falling out.

But the words Sheila spoke next were far removed from my shallow conjectures.

She said…

“They sentenced her to exile.” She answered bluntly.

“…………”

So that means—

Saya’s friend had been killing people for half a year or more, and she got caught and ended up being exiled.

There was no other way to interpret it.

“I imagine that unbearable memory cast a shadow over Saya’s heart.” Sheila gazed up at the sky, as if her eyes were following the line of her rising smoke.

Eventually, she pulled a book from her breast pocket. Written on the cover of the battered book in neat handwriting was simply the name Monica.

That looks like a diary.

“You’re headed for Trocolio by the Sea after this, right?” Sheila asked as she shoved Monica’s diary toward me. “Would you mind giving this to Saya?”

“…What’s written in it?”

“Read it and you’ll see.”

“…………”

I felt like I was being admonished to read between the lines, and after a brief silence, I opened the diary.

Written there in neat, fine handwriting were many memories belonging to Monica, whom I had never even met. The pages were filled with her memories of meeting her friend again, and the times right after she joined the United Magic Association, and then a detailed record of what happened after she returned to her hometown.

And it also contained a very gloomy, painful story that made me want to look away.

So after skimming it over, I quickly closed the book.

“Don’t you think you ought to be the one to give Saya something like this?”

“I can’t go to Trocolio by the Sea. I’ve still got work to do.”

I felt as if Sheila’s expression was much more stern than usual. It didn’t seem like she had become separated from Saya by choice.

“It’s such a pain how your duties multiply as you age.”

Even if she wanted to be with Saya, that probably wasn’t an option for her.

Sheila had many duties to perform.

The duties of an adult who worked for the United Magic Association. The duties of an instructor to educate her students. All of that, plus her duty to Saya as her mentor.

Undoubtedly, she felt a great pressure to choose between her many responsibilities.

She had to make a difficult choice.

So I also chose.

I made a difficult choice.

I held the battered notebook in my hands.

It was obvious that Saya could guess the whole story just by tracing the girl’s name that was written on the cover.

She was smiling.

A weary smile.

“…That was mean. You knew, but you kept quiet about it?”

I felt her deep, heavy sigh on the back of my hand.

“I was looking for the right time to talk to you about it. I was busy searching for Miss Fran yesterday, so—”

“…Did you find her?”

“Yes. Thanks to your help.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“…………”

“I couldn’t do anything. I just fell asleep.”

Then, just a few seconds later, while I was searching for the right words to answer her, Saya looked at me with her usual cheerful expression, through the bluish-white stream of light.

“You heard about me from Sheila, didn’t you? She told you I was depressed. But I’m fine! I’m completely recovered already. I’m able to work now, no problem. Look, I’m operating all the dolls in the city, no problem!”

“…………”

“So, Elaina, please don’t worry about me. I can make it on my own.”

“…………”

“Elaina, did you know this? Apparently, the mages who lived in this city used to take turns doing this job. But I can do it alone. I’m not the old Saya anymore. I can take care of a job like this, even by myself.”

“…………”

“I’m all right. There’s nothing, nothing at all you need to worry about. So…”

“…………”

“So please don’t make that face when you look at me.”

I have no idea what kind of face I was making.

I was sure that I was listening earnestly to what she was saying. I was sure that I was looking straight at her, without turning my eyes away.

But Saya turned her face away from me.

Her expression was sorrowful.

“Saya.”

I reached out toward her.

Her shoulders shook. She stiffened.

I didn’t let that stop me. I touched her shoulder. Her quietly trembling shoulder was as slender as always.

“It wasn’t your fault that Monica died.”

“…………”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“…………”

I knew it probably didn’t make any impression to hear me say something like that. And yet I kept on talking.

“Please let me see your smiling face.”

I kept right on talking to her.

“Let me see the Saya I know.”

Please go back to being your usual self.

I spoke to her over and over again. But no matter how much I said, she never answered me once. Her words remained stuck in the back of her throat, and all that made it out were faint sighs.

She had been keeping her painful feelings locked away for so long.

I was at a loss.

She didn’t respond to me, no matter what I did.

Something about the way she had built up layers of armor until she was about to collapse reminded me somehow of my past self.

“…Saya.”

So I embraced her.

“…Please stop.”

I squeezed the girl in my arms tightly.

I could feel her trying with all her might to reject my embrace. But I didn’t let her go. Every time she struggled, I hugged her tighter and tighter.

“Stop being so nice to me…!”

She grasped my robe tightly. A slight pain wound its way around my arm. Even so, I didn’t let her go.

I had a feeling that if I let her go now, I would never see her again.

She kept on struggling in my arms. When her head pressed against my chest, the triangular hat that I had once given her tumbled off and fell on the floor.

From under a curtain of swaying black hair, Saya whispered in a trembling voice, “Things can’t stay the way they are. I can’t stay the way I am. Everyone leaves me because I still can’t do anything on my own. They just leave me behind. I have to become stronger. If I stay like I am, everyone will always, always go off and leave me—”

I remembered when we first met.

She had been left behind by her younger sister, her heart broken by loneliness. She had probably felt like she had been abandoned.

After begging me to teach her magic, she had taken the witch apprentice exams on her own and had passed. I had thought she was independent after that.

She had joined the United Magic Association and made friends. She hadn’t been alone anymore.

And then, the other day, she had been reunited with a friend.

That friend had stood up alone to oppose the laws of her city, and it had cost her life.

Maybe when that happened, Saya had felt a familiar feeling.

Maybe she had felt like she was all alone again.

“Why is it like this…? Why does everyone leave me behind and go off somewhere…?”

Her voice came out weakly, so weakly. All the force I had put into my embrace was long gone, and the only remaining feeling was pain.

The always cheerful Saya. The girl I knew was always smiling, even when she was doing something a little foolish. Even when she was begrudgingly completing a job, she smiled through it all.

But actually, she had probably always been afraid of being alone.

She had probably always been fighting those feelings.

“It’s painful to become separated from people we love, I know.”

I knew the feeling so well it hurt.

But—

“Saya.”

I relaxed my arms and let her go. The face of the girl who had been gripping my robe with trembling hands was wet with tears.

Her pretty face was all crumpled up.

So I placed my hand on her cheek—

“You are not alone,” I told her as I wiped her tears. “I’ll always be with you.”

I’m here now, and I always will be.

I know everything.

The diary began with that sentence. If that had been written by some random person, it would have come off as extremely arrogant, but this Monica girl really did seem to know everything there was to know.

I am able to read people’s minds. I can read what they’re thinking and how they feel as they go about their lives, everything.

All her life, Monica had been able to understand the minds of others better than anyone else. But at the same time, she had been hiding a great feeling of loneliness. It seemed that since she could tell what people were feeling, she had trouble getting close to anyone.

Even people who can’t read minds understand that when you get to know someone, you also begin to see that they are not perfect.

So we choose. On an unconscious level, we sort people into those we want to get close to and those whom we do not.

But for Monica, it only took a single glance to read what was inside someone’s mind, so she could never allow anyone to get close to her. Observing people from afar or seeing them close up didn’t change a thing for her.

Monica didn’t make any friends until she was a teenager, after she had lived with loneliness for many years.

Today, I made a friend. Her name is Saya. She’s kind, and good, and doesn’t lie. She’s wonderful.

Monica really seemed to treasure Saya, the girl she met at the United Magic Association. In her diary, the entries written for the days after she joined the Association all feature Saya.

I had lunch with Saya today in a neighborhood café.

It sounds like her teacher is very strict. She’s always tired.

She was really happy when I treated her to a parfait. She’s a simple-minded girl.

Today, we went to the library together.

She was only reading children’s books, so I handed her a book on philosophy.

She told me she couldn’t read something so difficult.

We walked home together today.

It’s so fun to chat about nothing in particular.

We walked home together today again.

Today, we—

Of course, Monica knew that Saya also harbored feelings of loneliness behind her naive smile.

Monica must have continued to think fondly of Saya even after she returned to her home city. Her diary was filled with entries about work and nothing else, but even so, she sometimes mentioned Saya.

Then one day, the content of the diary completely changed.

No one is interested in saving this city. No one is interested in doing the right thing. So I have no choice but to act.

That entry was six months old.

Monica couldn’t stand the enormous contradiction consuming her city, so she began killing the people stricken by the plague with her own hands. Even knowing that she was committing the worst possible offense, she continued ending the lives of sick people.

It must have taken a lot of conviction.

Monica obviously realized that the actions she had chosen were by no means something to be praised. Even so, she was unable to avert her eyes from the suffering people.

Because she understood others better than anyone else.

I’m sure she wouldn’t have wanted her best friend to see her like that.

Saya has been dispatched from the Association.

But then Saya had appeared. Monica hadn’t wanted to see her precisely because she cared about her so much, yet there she was.

She had suffered terrible anguish over it.

Why did you have to come here?

Monica had been planning to sacrifice her own life to save her city. She had been planning to throw her life away. But then her best friend had shown up, and her resolution had wavered.

However, by then, she was already at the point of no return.

I’m sorry.

She knew Saya would be deeply hurt if she found out about Monica’s actions. At the same time, she was confident that if Saya was the one investigating, she was sure to arrive at the truth.

There was only one alternative left to Monica.

She wrote her feelings in her final diary entry, addressed to Saya.

Written clearly there on the page were the feelings that Monica, who knew everything everyone else was thinking, had always kept concealed in her own heart.

Once we got Miss Fran back from inside the book…

After we finished eating, I asked Miss Fran to read the diary. After reading to the very end, all the way through to Monica’s feelings, she said, “What a kind person she was.”

That was all she mumbled, and then she closed the book.

“…………”

I had been puzzling over what to do ever since Sheila entrusted me with the diary and since I learned Saya’s story. I had been struggling with the question of whether it was all right for me to have accepted the diary and what I should do with it.

I wasn’t sure how I should go about handing over the diary.

I didn’t have any idea what I could do for Saya.

I just don’t know.

I had never lost someone important before.

“You’re struggling with this, aren’t you?” Miss Fran said to me matter-of-factly as she sipped her after-meal tea. She seemed to see right through me.

“You can tell?”

It felt like she was looking straight through into my mind.

“I can tell. I’m your teacher, after all.”

“…………”

I cast my eyes downward. A moment of silence descended on us. Miss Fran set her teacup down close at hand with a clink. Steam rose from the cup as the liquid sloshed, and the fragrance whirled up into the air.

“There’s just one thing you can do for her,” Miss Fran said. She sounded extremely calm to me in my distress.

Sounding as she always did, my teacher said to me…

“Go be with her,” she said with a gentle smile.

Inside the lighthouse, where magical energy was streaming from our two wands.

Right in front of me, Saya was hiding her face and crying.

She must have felt very lonely. She must have felt like she had been left behind. Surely she would need more time to come to terms with Monica’s death.

But there was something I didn’t want Saya to forget.

Something I had told her long ago when we first met.

I decided to tell her one more time.

“You are not alone.”

I picked up her triangular hat off the dirty floor, dusted it off, and held it in both hands. The hat felt natural in my grip.

This is the hat that I gave to her once.

So it’s not mine.

I guess I’d better put it back where it belongs.

“Did you forget?”

I placed the hat on her head.

“Go be with her.”

Miss Fran’s words echoed in my mind.

“Haven’t I always been right here by your side, ever since we first met?”

“Just like when you snuggled up beside her as she cried years ago.”

“Just like when you gave her her own triangular hat.”

“I have always been with you, and I always will be.”

Make sure never to forget that.

I simply told her that, and nothing else.

In order to say that to her, I had followed the light of the lighthouse.

She probably didn’t want me to see her weepy face. She tightly grasped the brim of the hat I had placed on her and hung her head.

I continued to snuggle up beside the forlorn, frail girl.

After that, we spent the rest of the night together.

Saya finished crying, and as the light from our wands streamed upward, we told each other stories of what had happened while we were apart.

I told her about the strange people I had encountered on my travels, and Saya told me about her assignments. She also told me about Monica. We exchanged a steady stream of all sorts of stories there inside the lighthouse.

We could have talked forever.

It felt like the night would never end.

We didn’t leave the lighthouse until the sun had already begun to rise. But strangely, I didn’t feel tired.

I felt like we hadn’t talked nearly enough yet.

Admiring the view of the lighthouse with the morning sun behind it, Saya turned to face me.

“You are nice, Elaina. I knew it.”

Oh? What are you talking about?

“I’ve always been nice!”

How rude!

I puffed out my cheeks dramatically.

Saya said, “You’re right.”

She nodded. “I knew that.”

She smiled.

She smiled, like always.

“I’ve always known that.”

It was the evening of the third day of our stay in Trocolio by the Sea.

As we headed toward the port, we saw all sorts of vendor stalls standing side by side, and there were lanterns everywhere. Everyone, from children to adults and even the elderly, was holding a lit lantern carefully in their hands.

Lanterns were already floating softly skyward here and there.

The whole place was brimming with wishes.

“You don’t need to be at work?” Miss Fran asked Saya abruptly.

Saya, who normally would be performing her job inside the lighthouse operating the dolls, was there with us.

There beside me.

“I’m taking time off for the festival.”

As she answered, Saya gazed at the lighthouse towering in the distance. The delicate bluish-white light was visible from the harbor, however faintly.

“…Did someone take over the job for you?”

Miss Fran gazed at that light quizzically.

“Well, something like that.” I nodded.

Though it would be misleading to say someone.

“We found stand-ins to do the work for a few hours.”

“……?”

Miss Fran tilted her head, looking slightly puzzled, and then opened her mouth as if she had just remembered something. “Oh, come to think of it, Elaina, did you return all the dolls that borrowed traits from you while we were inside the book, like you were supposed to? I saw Wassily earlier, and she was complaining that she never got the dolls in the casual clothes back.”

“I’ll go give them back after the festival is over, so don’t worry.”

“……?”

Miss Fran looked puzzled again.

I averted my eyes.

Something had happened the night before.

While Saya and I had been talking, a thought had come to mind. I remembered that some of the dolls Wassily made were incapable of consciousness and were just vessels that could store magical energy—like the dolls in casual clothes we had borrowed when we went into the book.

I figured that maybe, if we handled these dolls right, they could take the place of a person in the lighthouse.

So we’d spent the night testing it out.

And now we were seeing the result.

The lighthouse was still shining.

Of course, there was a limit to the amount of magical energy that could be stored in a doll, so we couldn’t get them to fill in for us on the job for a whole day. But for just a few hours, they could handle the work instead of us.

So I said to Saya, “For now, let’s enjoy the festival.”

It would be too sad for someone to spend the night of the long-awaited festival inside the lighthouse, gazing up at that light all alone.

Throughout the festival grounds, the townspeople were handing out lanterns.

Following the example of others, we also each accepted a lantern.

Three faint little lights.

Lined up by the harbor.

“The purpose of this city’s Lantern Festival is to put your feelings for the people you can no longer see into the lanterns and send them up into the sky,” Miss Fran told us while gazing at the small light she was holding in her hands.

According to Miss Fran…

“The Lantern Festival was first held in this city in ancient times. Apparently, it started a custom in which the townspeople entrust their feelings for those who have passed away and for loved ones whom they have become separated from to the lanterns and launch them into the heavens every year around this time.”

At first, the custom was started by just one person in the city.

But people were mesmerized by the beauty of the lanterns being pulled up into the sky.

Over time, more and more people began entrusting their feelings to the lanterns, and the event became so popular that sightseers went out of their way to visit the city during this time, and many lanterns full of feelings were sent up to the sky.

Something started by just one individual gradually transformed into a spectacle that holds great meaning for many people.

An enthralling spectacle held in this city.

I asked, “Who are you going to send your feelings to, Saya?”

I knew she heard what I said, but she was silent.

“…………”

In her silence, she stared at the warm, gentle lights.

She stared at the lanterns, which were still beautiful even when viewed from afar, or concealed between someone’s hands.

And then, finally.

“I’m not sending a lantern.”

She shook her head slowly.

“The person who matters most to me is always by my side, so…so I don’t have any need to send out my feelings.”

If we were going to follow the traditions of the city, we would use our lanterns to carry our feelings to loved ones who were far away.

But we had never been apart.

Not yet.

Not ever.

That’s what I had said to her.

To my beloved Saya— began the final entry in Monica’s diary.

Monica must have assumed that at some point, her diary would make its way into Saya’s hands. Because even though she couldn’t see the future, she knew everything.

She must have been able to predict something as obvious as that.

I’m sure the truth will find its way to you soon. In fact, you may have already realized it.

Written at the end of the diary was the truth about all of her actions and her feelings toward Saya.

I always loved you. You’re a terrible liar, and you’re always smiling. You’re wonderful, and I loved you. You were dazzling. I wished time and time again that I could be like you.

I could tell that she had been crying while she wrote it.

The letters were smeared.

The way things are going, it doesn’t seem I have much time left. I will have to leave you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for making you sad.

The final words that Monica had written in her diary.

For some reason, I found them quite lovely.

But please don’t forget…

Most likely, that was because they were exactly the same as the words I had spoken earlier.

…Don’t forget that I am always by your side.

Wearing a familiar pointy hat on her head, Saya whispered, “I won’t forget.”

She whispered it almost as if she was making a vow to herself.

“I’ll never forget.”

The diary with the name of someone important to her written on it was tucked away near her heart.

The person who thought so much of her would be with her forever.

Her little light was still shining beside Saya’s heart.

Shining proudly, close to her dear friend.