Majo no Tabitabi - Volume 7 - Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

Many Years’ Journey: Blooming Memories

By the time we returned from the past, the Commonwealth of Latorita was already in shambles. Buildings had fallen, roofs had collapsed, and our school was absolutely devastated. It was bad enough that for a moment, we wondered if we’d actually made it back to our time and hadn’t flown off course into some kind of parallel dimension.

What on earth happened here?

“……”

It didn’t take long to figure out what had caused all this destruction. There, in front of the library, several teachers were furiously firing spells at a huge monster made of many tiny particles.

It was a golem.

“Oh, you two! So you’re finally back? You traveled quite far, didn’t you?”

There was someone sitting inside the ruins of a nearby school building and looking up at us.

“…Miss?” I called.

She must have been fighting the golem the whole time we were gone. Her robe was tattered and torn. She didn’t appear to be injured, but she sounded quite exhausted when she let out a big sigh and hung her head.

“Um…Miss, what…happened?”

At my words, the teacher frowned. “Oh, you wanna hear what happened while you were gone?”

Her gaze fell on the time-reversing watch.

Apparently, she had somehow figured out the reason why we had gone missing for a few days. That’s how it appeared, anyway.

“……”

Linaria and I kept silent, and the teacher let out another huge sigh. “All right, fine,” she said. “Let me give you the quick version.”

Then she told us about the disaster that occurred in our absence. A disaster of my own making.

The sand assembled itself into a roughly human-shaped monster. Its arms, legs, head, and everything else were all made of sand. After smashing its way through the library floor, it turned and slowly walked toward me.

It was about twice my height. Not colossal, but definitely not small, either. There was something powerfully frightening about it. I could tell at a glance that it was dangerous.

I didn’t have time to think. I immediately rained spells down on it, trying to break the golem back up into sand.

But…

“……”

It was useless. The golem immediately absorbed all of my spells—it consumed them. Whether I showered it with flames or tried to freeze it in ice, all of my spells got absorbed into the golem’s body.

I could tell right away that anything I tried would probably be useless. No matter what kind of spells I cast on it, they would just end up getting absorbed.

When the golem finally reached me…

“……!”

…it swung its sandy arm down with a thud, smashing it to bits on the library floor. Its body was large and slow, so it was easy to avoid, but I wouldn’t stand a chance if it landed a direct hit.

In order to save the library from further destruction, I led the golem outside. Happily, it didn’t show any interest in anything besides me, so when I retreated, it chased after me right away.

But leaving the library was also problematic.

“M-Miss! What is that monster?!”

Teachers and students alike had come running when they heard the thunderous roars from the library and were now gawking at the golem before their eyes.

They were all brilliant mages, but they had never encountered such a monster. Their response was to cast spells at it.

“I’ll exterminate it! You stand back!”

Of course, just as when I had tried, the spells evaporated the moment they touched the golem.

“……”

Then came our biggest error of all.

The students and teachers who had been giving it their all and continuously hitting the monster with spells paused for a moment to see if their attacks were having any effect, and in the space of that momentary reprieve, the golem again swung its massive fist down on the ground.

The earth’s surface crumbled. Together with smashed bits of earth, ice swirled and scattered around the golem. The pillars of ice that flew through the air like spears were attacking the mages.

The golem had gained the ability to use spells.

It had obviously been gaining strength from the very moment it broke through the library floor.

“……”

That’s when I realized something. The only time the golem paused, even for a moment, was when it was being bombarded with spells.

And the more magical energy we rained down upon it, the more its power would increase and drive it into a frenzy.

“Everyone! Don’t let up on your attacks, even for a second! Keep on hitting it with spells nonstop!”

After that, we did the best we could to continuously shower the golem with magic. There were a few times we had to stop to avoid its attacks, but we never gave up.

Of course, this was only a stopgap. We probably wouldn’t be able to land a decisive blow to take the golem down. But this was the best we could manage. The only thing we could do to keep the damage from spreading was to keep it temporarily immobile.

Even though I knew it would become stronger and harder to deal with the more we attacked, we didn’t have any alternatives.

So we continued launching spells at the golem. The students and teachers around me were doing their best, blasting off ice attacks, but everything was being endlessly absorbed, and no matter how many spells we fed the thing, there was no end in sight.

At this point, if we stopped attacking for even a single moment, it would mean certain doom.

“…So you’re saying that we can’t defeat the golem…?”

Alte was looking at me with a frown.

That’s not the case at all.

“We can’t defeat it here. But there is another way,” I said. “I actually defeated that golem once before.”

It was a very long time ago, so I hadn’t recognized it right away, but the longer I looked at it, the more certain I was that it was the golem I had faced before.

So in short, I knew how to take it down.

“You defeated it…? When was this?” Linaria seemed very skeptical.

I answered her clearly and concisely. “Seven years ago.”

Our teacher held an empty little vial up for us to see. “All right,” she said, “I hope you two are ready for a little extracurricular instruction.”

Then she scooped some sand up from the ground and put it in the vial.

What are we doing playing in the sand at a time like this…?

I was puzzled, but she didn’t pay me any mind and continued playing. “I’m filling this vial up completely with sand, all right? Like this.”

“…And what of it?” Linaria tilted her head.

The teacher looked up at her with a smug expression.

“Think of this as if it’s the golem. The golem is an aggregation of sand infused with magical energy. The annoying thing about it is that when the sand grains coalesce, they have the power to absorb the energy of our spells. No matter how much we attack, all the magic gets absorbed. Like this.”

The teacher waved her wand over the vial and showered it with water. The sand sealed in the vial sucked up the water and grew heavier.

“The more magical energy it receives, the stronger the golem becomes. If we continue supplying it with magical energy, it will eventually grow beyond our control.”

There seemed to be a slight contradiction between what she was saying and the fact that even now, the other mages were still continuing to bombard the monster with spells.

The teacher said, “By the way, do you know what happens to sand structures when you keep pouring water on them?” On and on, she poured water into the vial.

There was no need for us to answer. The answer came to us.

Muddy water overflowed from the vial.

In other words…

“They disintegrate. If we keep on applying magical energy, the golem won’t be able to maintain its form. That’s what happens. That’s why we keep raining spells on the golem. Of course, while it’s under attack, it can’t move, so that’s also a consideration.”

Oh-hoh! I see. So that means we can easily take down the golem, right? Hooray!

But our teacher frowned.

“But right now, there just aren’t enough mages, you see… We can manage for now, but it’s only a matter of time before everyone is exhausted. And even with your help, I don’t think we have enough power to make the golem disintegrate.”

“I see.” I nodded.

“Oh no.” Linaria put her index finger to her chin.

“In other words, to defeat that golem, we need the help of many more mages. But as you can see, there are hardly any witches left in fighting condition. And I’m just about out of magical energy myself. Right now, you two are probably the only people here who can call on your full magical powers.”

Long ago…when this institution was still divided into the mundane and the magical courses, it had been home to many powerful mages.

With our current collective powers, we were no match for the golem.

That’s what the teacher told us.

“If you can take the golem with you back in time, you could douse it with even more magical energy… Well? Linaria? Alte?” It was obvious that she already knew all about the time-reversing watch. “…You both know what I’m trying to say, don’t you?”

And those words told us that we had no right to turn her down.

“……”

“……”

Linaria and I looked at each other.

There was nothing to do but use the time-reversing watch to solve the disaster that the time-reversing watch had caused.

Alas, the two of them had no choice but to return to the past. Somehow, I had persuaded them to make the journey again.

Although, since we still had a little time to spare, I did as I had done in the library before and gave them ten minutes to get ready. I figured they would need it, considering the task ahead.

“Understood! All right, I’m off to write my last will and testament!” Alte bowed once to me, then ran off. “I might not make it back in ten minutes, so if that happens, you go on without me, Linaria!” she added worryingly.

Don’t tell me you’re thinking of running away?

“……”

While Alte ran off in a hurry, Linaria wore her usual flat expression.

It seemed like she was planning to waste the full ten minutes right here.

She fixed her gaze on the golem, which was still being bombarded with every spell we could throw at it. The monster was frozen in place, trembling slightly. She was just staring at it with emotionless eyes.

“Teacher?” Her eyes still on the golem, Linaria asked, “How much do you know?”

How much do I know?

“I know just about everything. I know that you have a time-reversing watch. I know that you were able to maintain your good grades because you kept going back in time to do extra work.”

“……”

“I’m warning you out of concern—it’s best if this is the last time you use that thing.”

Traveling through time—separating yourself from your native era—rarely resulted in anything good. Going back to try to correct past mistakes or to serve some selfish goal—these actions ultimately only became chains tying you to the past. You’d never be able to take even a single step into the future. You’d waste all the time you had been given without even realizing it, and eventually, you’d lose your ability to connect to the present.

“I’m worried,” Linaria said, though she certainly didn’t show it.

“Let me tell you a story from when I was young,” she continued. “On my birthday, my father and mother gave me a watch. They had happened upon it in an antique shop during their travels. It didn’t take me long to discover that the watch had a hidden power.”

“……”

“I was absolutely thrilled by my new ability. Again and again, I used the watch to travel into the past. It was amazing…addictive, even.”

“I guess it would be.”

The power to visit the past, even once, is something most people can only dream of. I’m not surprised she grew obsessed with it.

“I was the same as her,” Linaria said. “Just like Alte, I tried to win friends by bringing gifts back from the past. And when I was still very young, when I had a fight with a friend over something trivial, I even took that friend with me back in time… I showed them the scene of what had happened in the past, just to prove that I was right.”

“…What happened to those friends?”

She looked at me.

“They stopped being my friends. They left me. When you have the power to go back in time, no matter what you do, other people think you’re weird. I kept going back, over and over again, and eventually, people started avoiding me.”

“……”

“By the time I was totally isolated, I had forgotten how to interact with people.” She smiled. “Even so, I remained a prisoner to the watch. I couldn’t let it go. I thought that if I mastered its power, I could be the greatest mage in the world. Then other people would have to like me.”

Looking at her now, it was obvious just how misguided her hypothesis had been. She was still hopelessly lonely. But even after that had become clear, she still hadn’t been able to bring herself to give up the watch. Fearing isolation, she had continued relying on its power, which only made her more isolated. She had gotten her priorities backward.

“So are you still trying to decide whether to give it up?”

“…I am not.” She shook her head. “I want to give it up. But…well…” She began to squirm.

“……?”

Frowning suspiciously, I waited for her to speak.

Finally, she answered me, mumbling evasively like she had something stuck in her molars. “I feel like, thanks to this watch, I’ve met someone who I…might become friends with, maybe, so…um…”

Ah, that’s what you meant when you said you’re worried.

“And that’s what you really want? To enjoy visiting the past together? With a friend?”

“……”

She nodded wordlessly.

I let out a sigh.

“Acquaintanceships rarely blossom into friendships on their own, you know.”

“You sound awfully sure about that…”

“That’s my advice. Take it from someone who’s been around longer than you have.”

I don’t care whether she takes it to heart or lets it pass in one ear and out the other.

Though I did hope she would come to understand my meaning in due time. Whether it was today, tomorrow, or sometime in the distant future, I wanted her to understand that there was nothing she needed to rewind time for.

“I couldn’t write my will in ten minutes!”

Alte came running back just as Linaria and I had settled into silence. We both watched the girl wave her hands as she rushed over to us.

“Well then, I guess you should try not to die on the other side!”

Or maybe I should say this isn’t the sort of situation in which you need to prepare for death…

I said, “If you’re ready, then let’s go!”

We positioned ourselves behind the golem, which was still being bombarded with spells, and I quickly told the two girls, “When you arrive in the past, you have to sweep up the golem. There’s no need to go out of your way to explain the situation to the mages of the past. I’m certain that the mages on campus will come to your aid on their own when they see the golem going on a rampage—probably, myself included.”

However…

“Just to repeat myself, be careful, okay? You must absolutely not tell anyone that you have come from the future. Not others, and not me.” I took a deep breath. “I don’t want to know the future.”

Linaria and I held hands and stared at the golem.

It was as motionless as ever, still being showered with spells. If they stopped for even a second, there would be no escaping the catastrophe.

In order to safely send the monster back to the past, there was no other way but for us to weave through the constant barrage of magic and get close enough to touch it.

“…Are you ready, Linaria?” I asked, gripping the time-reversing watch tightly.

“Are you?” Linaria also grabbed hold of it.

The watch was warm from two people’s body heat.

I looked beside me and saw Linaria wearing her usual calm expression. Even at a time like this, she didn’t look nervous at all.

“…Let’s go.” It was a slight relief to see her like that.

The two of us, both gripping the watch, ran into the deluge of magic, reaching for the golem at the center of the dazzling display.

And then we were transported to seven years in the past.

“Are you listening? Once you get the golem back to the past, you need to get far away from it. You absolutely have to put some distance between it and yourself. If the golem hits you with all the power it’s absorbed, it could very well kill you.”

Recalling our teacher’s words, the moment we arrived on the campus of the past, I leaped onto my broom and flew straight up into the air.

Our teacher had devised a plan to seal the golem away seven years in the past, and Linaria and I each had our roles to play.

Once I had gone up about as high as the tallest buildings in the city, I stopped in midair and turned to look back down.

I could see that the entrance to the school library was entirely encased in ice.

“The golem will probably head for the library first, so freeze the door and seal it up.”

Those had been our teacher’s instructions, and just as I had, Linaria had sprung into action the moment we arrived, freezing over the library entrance with magic ice. Since the golem was made out of the sand that had been inside the library, it would obviously try to get to that sand once it arrived in the past.

“Once it realizes that it can’t get into the library, next, the golem should try to seek out the nearest source of magical energy. So you need to concentrate a ball of magical energy onto the tip of your wand and lead it away.”

“Lead it where?” Linaria had asked.

“Into town,” our teacher had answered.

To be precise, to the outskirts of town.

If we didn’t get it far enough away from campus, there was no telling when the golem might break into the library. For that reason, I bore the responsibility of leading the golem away all by myself. While I did, the other party to this plan—the one who had sealed the library with ice—would secure the cooperation of the other students and teachers.

And then we would all meet on the outskirts of town and strike at the golem.

That was the plan, anyway.

After she had finished explaining everything about the plan for the past, our teacher had said, “Leading the golem—it goes without saying that this role is extremely dangerous. You two should have a serious conversation about which of you will do it. You’ll be using your own life as a lure, so…”

So I had decided to accept the duty.

“Graaaaaaaaahhh!”

Floating a ball of magical energy on the tip of my wand, I urged my broom forward with all my strength. The light at the end of my wand wavered and swayed, and the golem made the ground rumble as it ran after me. All according to plan. It was following the bait—namely, me.

The golem leaped into the sky, the force of its movements sending cracks through the ground beneath its feet, and for a moment, it was right behind me in the air. But it just as quickly fell back down into the center of town.

Even if it could jump, it couldn’t actually fly.

The golem landed, destroying a chunk of the town’s main avenue in the process. Then, just as soon as it had touched down, it came flying up at me again. Over and over, it leaped into the air, trying to reach the end of my wand and shattering the ground with each landing.

On and on, we continued single-mindedly down the main road.

We couldn’t help but draw attention. Screams were rising from everywhere I could see below me. This was obviously a major catastrophe.

However, this was the only route I could travel.

“When you’re riding on your broom and leading the golem, you must follow the main avenue as you go. If you stick to where the road is broad, it’ll be much less likely to step on anybody. If it tramples on any homes or anything, there could be serious casualties.”

I was following my teacher’s instructions.

“…Ummm, I’m so sorry…”

But of course, the main avenue was the main avenue, and there was a lot of pedestrian traffic. I couldn’t help but feel guilty about all the people’s lives that were being destroyed down there.

Fortunately, I already knew that this incident was not supposed to result in any deaths, since nobody had died seven years ago. But still, I felt bad about all the damage being caused on our way to the edge of town.

At least, that’s what I thought.

“……”

But…

Just at that moment…

Directly behind me…

The golem grazed the brush end of my broom again, then plummeted back to the ground again.

I was focused on something in its path—a lone mage, sitting on a bench right where the golem was going to fall, loitering there absentmindedly.

A witch with ashen hair.

I had to look again, and yes, there she was. The woman who had always looked after me so closely, seven years in the past.

There was a lone witch loitering absentmindedly on a bench in the Commonwealth of Latorita.

Her hair was ash. Her eyes were lapis. She sat there in a daze, her bread and coffee beside her, with a map of the surrounding area spread across her lap.

She was a witch, and a traveler.

She had stayed more than long enough in this country, so she was trying to decide where she should go next.

“……”

As she stared at the map, she nodded knowingly and munched on bread.

This woman, who was just continuing along on her travels as always, who on earth could she be?

That’s right, she’s—

“Excuse me!”

My leisure time was rudely interrupted when suddenly, a girl came barreling toward me on a broom. With a frantic look on her face, she shouted and plowed right into me, and we tumbled to the ground together.

“Uuugh…!” The girl groaned, facedown on the street.

“What are you doing all of a sudden…?”

The piece of bread I had been enjoying was now, woefully, lying in the dirt. I pondered this terrible tragedy as I clambered to my feet.

The very next moment, an enormous foot descended from above and trampled the bench I was seated on into smithereens, along with the map and coffee I’d left there. With a crunch, a fragment of the bench landed right in front of me.

Looking up, I saw a massive creature. Its body was made out of some strange substance, but I could still tell that it was looking down at me.

“……”

That was when I realized that the girl who had swooped in from the side had apparently been trying to save me.

“Um…what is that monster?”

I looked at the girl beside me, who was whining to herself. “Um…that really hurt…” Her clothes told me that she was a student at the university here.

When she noticed me staring, the girl started rambling nonsensically. “Oh, Miss, um, this golem, it’s from seven years in the future…”

I cocked my head.

“…‘Miss’? ‘Seven years in the future’?”

I had been pretending to be a student here until just the other day, so I would understand if she mistook me for a student, but… What’s all this about “seven years in the future”?

I already had several questions concerning whatever was going on.

“Waaahhh…!” Without explaining the situation any further, the girl started to panic. “P-please don’t ask! I’ve been forbidden to speak about it by my teacher!” She covered her mouth with her hand.

Even that only raised more questions.

But it didn’t seem like I had the time to sit and think about the situation.

“……!”

I took out my broom and, just as she had done to me earlier, flew straight at her, plowing into this girl whose name I didn’t even know.

It wasn’t out of spite. I wasn’t trying to get revenge.

As I pushed her aside, I turned to look back just as the sand-colored monster’s fist slammed into the ground. My bread, which had fallen in that vicinity, was pulverized along with the red bricks that covered the main avenue.

Let me repeat myself so that you understand the significance of what had just happened. My bread was ruined. My delicious, delectable bread, which I had specially ordered from a fancy bakery with an attached café, was gone.

“……”

Maybe I didn’t entirely understand what was going on…

And maybe this whole situation had literally fallen on my head…

But there was one thing I knew with absolute clarity.

“That thing is my enemy.”

Ashen hair and lapis eyes. She was the right height and sounded the same. Without a doubt, the person I found there was my teacher, seven years in the past. There was no way it could have been anyone else.

However…

“………………”

The woman who had, without a word, begun to wave her wand and stayed silent as she rained spells of all kinds down on the golem—the woman with me now—was wearing an expression I had never seen on her before.

She looked furious.

“……” With eyes cold enough to send a chill down your spine, she glanced over at me. “What’s with this monster? It doesn’t move at all, no matter how many spells I hit it with.”

“Ummm…” I didn’t know how to answer.

I had been sworn to secrecy by my teacher in the future.

I had already let a little information slip out because I had gotten flustered, but certainly I shouldn’t say any more. If I gave in now, I would be breaking my promise.

So I would stick to my principles and maintain my silence—

“If you insist on staying silent, I’ll turn this wand on you.”

“I’m sorry, I’ll talk!”

I immediately folded.

After reminding my teacher to continue her barrage of spells, I explained what was going on. I told her that the monster was called a golem and that it was absorbing the magical energy of her spells, but also that she had to keep hitting it with magic, because that was the only way to defeat it. I even told her that I had come from the future to defeat the golem.

I told her all this while concealing the fact that she was my trusted teacher.

If I really, really thought about it, my teacher in the future had instructed me not to talk about it, but it didn’t seem like there would be any real problem with divulging that information.

When it came to the golem, I had only told her information that would soon become clear anyway as she fought against it, so she would have known sooner or later even if I didn’t reveal anything.

Regarding the fact that I had come from the future, I figured there was no way she would believe me anyway, even if I told her the truth. I mean, who would honestly believe that I had been sent back in time to defeat a monster…?

“I see. So that’s what happened.”

…This lady, that’s who.

“…You believe me…?” I stared dumbfounded at my teacher. “You don’t think that sounds absolutely crazy…?”

She shook her head. “I’ve got experience with traveling back in time, so I don’t really doubt you. Besides…,” she continued, “…I can tell, just by looking at your face, that you’re a terrible liar.”

“……”

“Honestly, your teacher or whomever probably knew you’d spill the truth even as she was making you swear to secrecy. She doesn’t sound like a very nice person to me.”

But my “teacher or whomever” is your future self…

After she finished listening to my explanation, my teacher from the past looked at me and said, “Well, I think I more or less understand the situation. For now, I’ll take charge here. Can you lead the evacuation of the city residents?”

Of course, she never stopped raining spells down on the golem, even as she calmly took charge.

“B-but…” I couldn’t just obediently nod and say, “All right, leave it to me!” “But if I don’t move the golem to the outskirts of the city—”

“I’ll handle that.”

My teacher from the past cut me off decisively.

Then, looking up into the distant sky, she said, “Leave the rest to your teacher.”

Then, from the other side of the street came flames, and arrows, and iron, and thunder, and ice…

The air crackled with the sheer might of the magical onslaught.

The witches who had come running were all university teachers.

They seemed to already know the golem’s special traits. They rained spells down on it endlessly, rooting it in place.

The teachers’ attacks were so overwhelming, and the fight was so one-sided, it seemed like I wouldn’t even have to assist them.

“So you haven’t left the country yet, I see.”

A woman brought her broom straight down beside me.

It was Vivian.

The woman with long green hair pushed her glasses up with a finger and told me, “As you can see, we’re a bit shorthanded. If you’ve got time, I’d like you to help us.”

“Even I couldn’t turn a blind eye to something like this, you know.”

Besides, I have a personal grudge against this golem. It ruined my special limited-availability bread. I’m going to teach it firsthand just how frightening food-based grudges can be.

“……”

Although reinforcements had arrived, the golem was still going strong. It was clear that if we didn’t come up with a new strategy, everyone would eventually run out of magic. And when that happened, the whole city would be destroyed.

It was going to be important to get everyone away from the main avenue as fast as possible.

“You, what are you doing? Quickly, go evacuate the citizens.” I threw a glance to the side and added, “I thought I told you, we’ll handle things here.”

“…But—”

The student who had come from the future, whose name I didn’t know, was just standing there in the middle of the street, wearing an indecisive expression.

She probably felt on some level like it was her personal duty to bear the dangerous role of leading the golem away. That’s how it looked.

Vivian grinned at the girl, who was still just standing there, stock-still. “I heard everything about the situation from your friend. Please relax. We’ll deal with this golem.”

The tension and drive that had characterized her expression until just a few days earlier were completely gone. Now she was simply a teacher looking out for a pupil.

Vivian said, “We teachers have our duties, and students have theirs. Hurry up, get going.”

Then she pointed her wand to the other side of the city, indicating the road that she and the others had just come down. Since the battle was unfolding in the very center of this wide avenue and cutting off the path of retreat, the residents who had been late to flee were still there. And there were students looking this way, gripping their wands, ready to protect the residents.

At last, the girl from the future looked back and forth between us and the students, then said, “…Sorry! And thank you!”

Finally, she ran off and left us to it.

With her departure, we were able to get ready to really bring down the golem. While there were students still around, they might have gotten caught up in the fight.

By the way…

“So do you still think that teaching magic to students who aren’t mages is part of a teacher’s duties?”

“Of course it’s not. Don’t be silly.”

“……”

If I were to go back in time, I would have liked to show past Vivian how she was acting today.

I gripped my wand and got on my broom.

“Could I get you to lead this monster to the outskirts of town now?” I asked. Apparently, that had been the duty of the girl who had brought it here from the future.

In that case, I’ll let the teachers like Vivian handle it.

“What are you going to do?” Vivian asked as she took a seat on her own broom.

I readied my wand. “I’m going to get things ready so that we can take it out in a single blow.”

And then I began gathering all of my magical energy into the tip of my wand, fueled by my hatred of the thing for ruining my bread.

Immediately after I ran off, the teachers started leading the golem away.

The deluge of spells pelting the golem suddenly ceased, and as soon as that happened, the monster split the ground as it leaped into the air.

Up in the sky, I could see many teachers holding balls of magic on the tips of their wands, as I had been doing until just a few minutes ago. They proceeded toward the outskirts of town, leading the golem away.

The glow from their magic quickly faded into the distance as the whole city shook with the thud, thud of the monster’s movements.

Once the golem was out of sight, I helped with the rescue operations.

“Are you all right? Can you stand?” Wherever there were injured people, I offered medical treatment and moved them somewhere safe.

“Grrraaah!” Wherever there was rubble, I cleared it away with magic.

“Everyone, please stay calm and keep moving forward slowly!” I guided the evacuation.

I did everything I could to help.

However, the golem’s sudden appearance had sent the city into a panic, and only a few people actually cooperated with our evacuation. The only sounds that made it to my ears were people’s shouting voices and the sound of their feet as they ran around trying to escape.

“Wait! Hey! Calm down! Please, calm down!”

I was flustered as I tried to lead the way, but everyone was running away in a panic.

I was at a loss for what to do as I gazed after the fleeing people.

I couldn’t tell whether the thud, thud sound that was reverberating came from the golem or from the feet of the fleeing city residents.

As I was watching the people fleeing the city, as well as the students guiding them, I looked for her—for Linaria.

I wondered where she could be. As I continued helping with the evacuation, I scanned the crowd for her figure.

And then, something made me look away.

There was a loud snap and the sound of something crumbling to pieces. I turned to see that one of the tall buildings lining the main avenue had started to collapse.

The golem must have damaged the structure when it came through. Or maybe one of the teachers had struck it with a stray spell. But I didn’t have time to ponder the exact reason, because there was a girl right in the path of the falling rubble.

She must have tripped. With her hands and knees on the ground, wearing a dumbfounded expression, she was looking up at the oncoming avalanche.

She had chestnut-colored hair.

She was young, maybe about eight years old.

Her face was very familiar.

In fact, the whole scene was all too familiar.

Without thinking, I pointed my wand at the rubble, ready to rescue the child.

I was going to split it in two. I was going to save the girl.

But…

“—Watch out!”

I didn’t make it to her, because before I could, another student used a spell to blast the falling rubble to pieces.

Crack!

“…Are you hurt?”

Linaria smiled at the girl.

After leading the golem on and on, we finally reached the outskirts of town.

In this place with no pedestrian traffic and no buildings to speak of, where the weather-beaten ground just stretched out before us, the witches confronted the golem.

They began bombarding it again with spell after spell.

However…

They couldn’t take it down. The golem absorbed every bit of magical energy they threw at it. Not only were the spells not effective, the golem looked quite unruffled as it shrugged off all attacks.

“What in the world is going on here…?!”

Unable to hide her frustration, one of the teachers cursed bitterly.

Someone answered her, “Keep hitting it with magic! I’m sure it’ll crumble sooner or later!”

But someone else let out a sigh. “It’s never going to end like this, no matter how long we keep at it! Our energy is just going to be absorbed!”

Though they were able to hold the golem in place, none of their spells had any real effect on the thing.

Gradually, anxiety began to set in among the teachers.

“……” Vivian, the teacher with long, green hair, was the same.

She must have wondered, if they kept going like this, wouldn’t they run out of magical energy? And wouldn’t the monster recover then? Wouldn’t the monster make a comeback? Her anxiety seemed to grow as she steadily kept up the magical bombardment.

“Are you ready yet?” she demanded nervously. “You’re really keeping us in suspense.”

“Please don’t put that on me,” I answered, continuing to gather magical energy at the tip of my wand. “I’m still going to try to take it down in one shot, so just hold out a little longer.”

“I have to wonder where on earth that confidence is coming from…”

“It’s coming from the tip of my wand…”

“……”

“……”

“Not yet?”

“Just a little longer.”

The light hovering at the tip of my wand was beginning to shine with dazzling brilliance. It was radiant and bright enough to color everything around it white.

This light, a manifestation of most of the magical energy in my body, finally lost its heat and began to take on a chill.

As it grew colder, my breaths came out white.

“Still not yet?” Vivian looked at me sidelong.

“All finished,” I answered.

Then I waved my wand.

The freezing ball of magical energy was released from my wand, bobbed unsteadily through the air like a soap bubble, brushed past the golem, and started rising into the air.

“……” Vivian paused to watch the bubble ascend, frowning. “…Doesn’t look like much of a secret weapon.”

Drifting with the wind, the ball of light steadily rose through the storm of spells being shot out by the other teachers and disappeared in the distant sky.

“All right, now watch.”

Then, with a small grunt, I pointed my wand at the golem and made a dramatic flourish.

Immediately after I did…

…an enormous icicle plummeted out of the sky.

It was taller and larger than most of the buildings in the city, a pillar that seemed to rise into the clear blue sky so high that you could never see the top, no matter how far up you looked.

This absolutely massive hunk of ice fell from the sky, aiming straight for the golem.

“……!”

The golem raised both arms and caught my icicle. It began absorbing the magical ice into its upraised palms. However, no matter how much power it absorbed, the ice was endless.

The pillar kept on plunging down from the sky, with no end in sight.

Gradually, the golem’s feet began to crack. Fissures carved their way through its arms. Even so, the ice didn’t stop.

Even when its face began to crumble, even when its legs broke beneath it, even then, the ice did not stop.

Even when the golem reached the limits of its absorption and toppled to the ground, the ice didn’t stop.

Even when the golem was flattened, its form no longer visible, the ice didn’t stop.

Still, my ice continued to relentlessly pummel the ground, eventually covering it completely with a layer of pure white as it poured down, smashing into pieces on impact.

In the midst of this sudden snap freeze, the warmth of the approaching summer had been replaced with the frigid depths of winter.

“…Well, that ought to do it.”

I blew on the tip of my wand, and a white puff of breath appeared, then disappeared.

I recalled what had happened seven years earlier.

“Watch out!”

By the time I heard her voice, the piece of rubble falling toward me had already been split in two. Standing between the halves was a beautiful mage with her purple hair done up in a single ponytail behind her head. I stared at her in blank amazement as she extended her hand and asked, “…Are you hurt?”

That was what she said to me, with a kind smile on her face.

I simply shook my head slowly as I straightened my clothes. I didn’t want to let anyone know that I was hurt. I put on a show of courage.

Maybe because she realized that, or maybe because she was simply a kind person, the mage smiled and gently patted the top of my head.

Her hand was soft and warm.

“I’m glad you’re all right.”

I had never met her before, but she looked like she was truly relieved to see that I was okay.

I was in a daze, still processing everything that had happened. By the time I realized that the mage patting me on the head had saved my life, I could only get out a few words.

“…Thank you very much.”

That was all I could manage.

“My pleasure,” the woman replied coolly. She withdrew her hand and turned on her heel, and with a few more waves of her wand, she cleared the rest of the falling rubble, rescuing other people with her magic.

The sensation of the mysterious hero’s warm hand lingered on top of my head. I absently rubbed the place where she had touched me.

I had kept her face, her physique, and everything else about her sealed in the depths of my memory until this moment. But as I gazed at her now, I fell in love with the idea of being a mage.

Linaria had already finished rescuing that pitiful girl by the time the giant pillar of ice appeared on the outskirts of town. The enormous column smashed into the ground like a sledgehammer, and the whole city shook with the impact.

“…Looks like it’s over, huh?”

Linaria stood gazing at the spectacle, her rescue efforts forgotten. I imagine everyone had stopped their evacuation to marvel at the massive icicle.

I stood next to Linaria, trying to look cool. “…Do the history books ever mention that the golem was defeated with a single attack?” I asked, staring at the pillar of ice.

Linaria glanced at me for a moment, then after a short silence, she nodded. “If I’m not mistaken, it’s written that one of the witches in town crushed the golem with a pillar of ice.”

If Linaria the history fanatic said so, then she probably wasn’t wrong.

“…That’s good. Everything will work out okay.”

“Sure will.”

I felt like I could relax now that the end of this whole awful mess was in sight. All the tension faded from my face, replaced by a carefree expression.

“Thank goodness…”

There was a smile on my face as I let out a sigh.

“……” Linaria looked at me quizzically. “…Did something good happen?”

What are you talking about?

“The golem is finally gone! Why shouldn’t I be happy?”

“…That’s not what I mean.” Linaria shook her head unexpectedly. “Just then, you looked like you had something else to be happy about.”

“Huh?”

Did I look that way?

I turned and looked at my face in the window of a shop facing the main avenue.

I saw a girl grinning foolishly, like a maiden who has just fallen in love for the first time.

No matter how I looked at her, she was me. There was no one else there.

But I suppose that couldn’t be helped.

There was a person I had always longed to meet. Even if I could never remember her face or the way she looked, I’d always wanted to be like her, from the moment I set out to become a mage. And it turned out that this mysterious person from my precious memories, the one I admired, whom I had been searching for all along, was right in front of my eyes.

Of course I was happy.

“Linaria?”

I turned back to face her.

The more we use the time-reversing watch, the more we’re going to want to keep using it.

Going back to try to correct our past mistakes or to serve our selfish goals, these actions would ultimately become chains shackling us to the past. We might never be able to take even one step into the future. We could end up wasting all the time we’d been given without even realizing it and, eventually, lose our ability to connect to the present.

But that was not going to be a problem for us anymore.

The one person I thought I’d never meet, the person I’d spent my whole life looking up to, had been with me all along.

After all our adventures in the past, I finally felt like I had found someone whom I could call a friend, and I knew that not a single moment leading up to now had been a waste.

So after taking a deep breath, I said, “Thank you very much.”

I repeated my words of gratitude from earlier once more.

Linaria looked at me, and her eyes widened, just a little, in surprise, and then finally, as if answering a question with a question, replied with the same words she had spoken before.

The same simple words.

The words she had spoken seven years ago, and today.