Majo no Tabitabi - Volume 8 - Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Frederika

Long ago, in a certain wealthy household, a pair of healthy twin girls was born.

The parents were delighted as they looked upon their newborn daughters, but at the same time, they harbored complicated feelings.

Twins were traditionally considered an ill omen in their homeland. People with the same face, the same voice. This country placed special importance on the belief that every human was unique and one of a kind. So two people who shared a face like a reflection in a mirror certainly made people uncomfortable.

Though obviously the belief that twins are somehow the same person is an utterly ridiculous and outdated notion, the two girls were unfortunately born in a country that believed in such anachronistic ideas.

Whenever twins were born in that country, most parents would send one of them into exile. Twins were bad luck, and they couldn’t be raised together—that was what everyone there believed.

However, these parents couldn’t bring themselves to choose one baby over the other. They didn’t see the sisters as two halves of the same person.

Their neighbors were not kind toward the twin sisters. There were some who said right out that they were disgusting. There were even some who hounded the parents, telling them to hurry up and send both babies away.

Even so, the parents raised both of them. They knew that they didn’t have two of the same person; these children were completely different, each her own person. And saying so all the while, they ignored any criticism and raised them both.

In order that the two sisters would not grow to resemble each other, their parents tried very hard to make them different in every way.

“You mustn’t wear the same clothes.”

“You mustn’t read the same books.”

“You mustn’t have the same haircut.”

“You mustn’t play in the same places.”

They raised them strictly in that way.

As the girls grew, they developed such different personalities that there was no need to take the trouble to differentiate them by outward appearance.

The younger twin grew into a wonderful young girl, brilliant and considerate and beloved by many.

On the other hand, the older twin grew into a gloomy child who shut herself away at home and never did anything but play with her dolls.

In a certain sense, the two of them had indeed become different people, just as their parents had hoped. Even though in appearance they were as alike as could be, their countenances were completely different, one light and one dark.

The kindhearted younger sister was named Lunarik.

The gloomy older sister was named Frederika.

And then, after an incident when the girls were about fifteen years old, they were separated once and for all. Frederika deeply, deeply wounded her gentle sister’s heart.

Ultimately, the girls ended up living separate lives, like most twins in their country. The circumstances left them with no other choice.

“Elaina…” After confiding everything in me, she asked me, “Do you think that if Lunarik saw me as I am now, she would forgive me?”

Her hair was ashen, and her eyes were lapis. A single witch dressed in a black robe and triangular hat was enjoying dinner at a quiet restaurant attached to a high-class hotel.

She was sitting at a four-person table that was empty except for several pieces of plain bread. It was far too simple to be the dinner of a growing girl. It was certainly not a healthy and nutritionally balanced meal, but there was a reason why this girl was contenting herself with such simple fare.

“I…have no money…”

That’s right—she was broke.

She was a witch, and a traveler, but she was not a particularly good planner, and as she went through her daily life, she would say things like, “Heh-heh. Do you know what the purpose of having money is? That’s right, to spend it!” It was in her nature to get carried away and buy things she didn’t really need, so running out of money seemed to be something of a regular occurrence in her travels.

“Guh…why do I only have enough money to buy bread?!” The witch banged on the table.

She asked why, but surely her loose purse strings and taste for extravagant hotels were to blame. And yet for some reason she wanted to lay the blame anywhere else. She was just venting, though.

Anyway…

The witch sitting there like that, wallowing in her poverty in a high-class hotel restaurant, who could she be?

That’s right, she’s me.

“You blockhead!”

By the way, the abuse I was spitting was directed at myself.

First of all, I need to make some money quickly, before the single night I booked here is up. Let’s do that.

Apparently, my dinner table with only bread on it looked quite strange to the elegant tourists and wealthy travelers at the other tables, for I had seen people glancing repeatedly over at me since I sat down.

Each time I noticed them, I swallowed unbearable humiliation along with my bread.

Ah, delicious…

“……”

I’m sure that the dinner of an overextended poor person must look like quite a strange thing to the rich.

I was hounded through my whole meal by the feeling that someone somewhere was watching me.

I returned to my room and absentmindedly considered heading for my next destination as I gazed at a map of the surrounding region.

There didn’t seem to be very many cities in this area, and even the one closest to where I was now was quite a distance away. It would take me more than a day to reach by broom—a place called Parastomeire.

I would probably end up camping out.

I was greatly perplexed. This state of affairs was too unfavorable. I had nothing but problems. Problems with distance…problems with money…

Let’s think of a way to earn some money…

“Matches…does anyone need matches…?” I imagined myself shape-shifting into a young girl and selling matches.

“Eh-heh-heh… This oughta work just fine.” I imagined myself counting a pile of money, the result of men being lured in easily by a cute little girl.

“All right, let’s hurry up and say good-bye to this place.” I imagined myself fleeing the city in haste.

“It’s quite a long way to the next city…” I imagined myself camping out in the wilderness.

“Huh? Suspicion of fraud…I’m being arrested? No, please, wait a minute.” I imagined myself being dragged away by local mages once they realized my misdeeds.

“……”

There would be nowhere for me to hide out after I left. I would be stuck camping out in the woods. If that was the case, it would be fairly risky to get involved in any crooked business. On the other hand, finding honest work would take time, and I might just die by the roadside while I was hunting for a job anyway.

“Hmmm…”

What to do?

I sat down on the bed and was puzzling it over when—knock, knock! Someone knocked politely two times on the door to my room.

I don’t remember ordering any room service. Does that mean I have a visitor? I don’t remember making any friends at this hotel, so who on earth could it be?

Waiting on the other side of the door, which I opened without questioning it further, was a single beautiful girl.

She was about the same age as I was, or maybe a little older.

Her hair was golden blond, and wavy, and went down to about the middle of her back, with the front cut short. Her eyes were a clear blue. She seemed to have been injured in her left eye, which was covered with a diagonal bandage.

From her outward appearance, I could somehow tell that the girl before me was a traveler.

She wore a black cloak, and underneath that a black vest and a white blouse. Long boots showed below her long black skirt.

At her hip, she wore a gun and a short sword. They must have been so she could at least defend herself.

“Good evening,” she said with a smile. “You’re the witch who was eating bread alone in the restaurant earlier, right? I watched you the entire time.”

“A stalker, eh…?” I quickly tried to shut the half-open door.

“No, I’m not a stalker. How rude. I just watched you the whole time earlier in the restaurant. Then I followed you to your room, and when I estimated it to be a suitable time, I knocked on the door. That’s all.”

“So you are a stalker after all, aren’t you?”

I’ll just shut the door…

“I am not. How rude.” Spitting out the same words as before, the girl puffed her cheeks out, looking indignant. “I just came here to ask you a favor.”

“I decline.”

“You need money, right?”

“……”

If she had watched me the whole time I was in the restaurant, she must have heard me mumbling pitiful things to myself about not having any money. No, she wouldn’t have had to hear me—the fact that I was eating a lonesome dinner with only bread on the table made it clear as day that I was having money troubles.

“Look, if you don’t mind, would you listen to my request?”

I already had an idea of what she wanted—and how I was going to raise some cash.

“…What is it?” I stopped trying to close the door, reeled in by the scent of easy money.

She laughed gently at me. “Okay, I want you to escort me to a nearby city,” she answered concisely.

The specifics must have hinged on my reply.

So I opened the door.

“What’s your name?”

She answered concisely again, “Frederika.”

The single room where I was staying didn’t have a sofa or anything for relaxing, so I had Frederika sit in the single chair.

“How uncomfortable. The suite where I’m staying has a sofa for receiving visitors.”

If you’re gonna blame something, you should blame this room that barely has any furniture despite being in a high-class hotel.

“I already drank the coffee earlier, so please take this.” I halfheartedly poured two cups of the tea that came with the room and handed her one.

“Thank you. I like this tea.”

“It’s just the complimentary teabags.”

“That’s why I like it. No matter where you drink it, the taste doesn’t change, right?”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Long ago I found it too bitter to drink unless I put lots of sugar in it. But as I grew into an adult, I started drinking it without adding any sugar. The actual taste of the tea never changed, but the person drinking it did. Once I realized that, I could accept the bitter flavor for what it is, and that’s why I like it.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Well, I don’t suppose a child would understand,” Frederika said with a pointed glance down at my chest.

“Hey, keep your eyes up here! You looking for trouble or something?”

Frederika chuckled at my outburst.

“Well then, on to the request at hand.” After looking around restlessly, searching for a place to set her tea, she ended up plunking it down atop her knee, then told me, “I want you to escort me from here to another city nearby.”

I dragged over the only table in my high-class hotel room and placed it between us, then I sat down on the bed across from her. On the table was a map that I had been looking at just a moment ago; it showed the nearby region.

“Escort you how far?”

Frederika set her teacup down beside the map.

“Over to Parastomeire.” The city she pointed to was the one closest to our current location. “I have an appointment to meet someone.”

“I see.”

Though I said it was close, it would still take me a whole day to ride there on my broom alone. We wouldn’t be able to avoid the need to camp out. From what I could tell by looking at her, Frederika here didn’t seem like she could use magic, and I began to feel overwhelmed just thinking about how many hours it would take if we traveled on foot.

But…

“I don’t really mind escorting you, but—but why?” I asked.

“Why? What do you mean?”

“You don’t seem to be hard up for money.” It’s obvious that you’ve got cash to spare, since you’re staying in a suite room in an expensive hotel like this. “Surely there are all sorts of ways to get from this city to Parastomeire, by carriage or otherwise.”

“There are, yes. Apparently, there’s regular carriage service.”

“So wouldn’t that work?”

“A carriage moves sluggishly and would take a lot of time, wouldn’t it? I want to hurry if I can.”

“I see.”

In short, you’re impatient.

Well, I didn’t have any particular resistance to escorting a single woman to a neighboring city. There was no reason to refuse her request outright. Honestly, as I was currently at my wit’s end trying to figure out how to make money, I couldn’t have been more grateful for her proposal.

All right then, let’s get to the good stuff.

“By the way, concerning my remuneration… How much are you prepared to spend?” I put on a cheerful smile.

“About that… I actually wanted to ask you, how much to let me ride with you?”

“I think about thirty gold pieces should do it. If you can arrange to pay that much, I’ll fly very fast.”

“That’s quite the hefty price… How much if you fly at your usual speed?”

“About thirty gold pieces should do it.”

“It didn’t change at all.”

“Nothing I can do about that. The slower I go, the longer you’ll be sharing my broom, Frederika.”

“That’s a terrible pricing scheme.”

“Oh? I’m giving you a big discount.”

“……”

That was a joke, of course.

After making a show of clearing my throat, I just said, “Well, if you’ll pay me what you think is fair, that’ll be enough.”

In any case, I was already planning to go to Parastomeire. It was no trouble to add a bit of extra weight to the broom.

…After all, Frederika seems to have money to spare. She’s rather rich, I expect. So who can blame me for trying to weasel my way into a little extra cash?

“All right,” Frederika offered, “how about one copper piece?”

“You’re pretty stingy for someone staying in a luxury suite.”

In the end, after much badgering and grumbling, we struck a deal at five gold pieces.

The wilderness stretched out before us. Here and there, I could see just a little bit of green in the scenery that passed us by, but most of what was visible was withered and brown.

Almost like it had forgotten what it was to be green.

“This is my first time experiencing something like this.”

As we traveled toward Parastomeire, Frederika’s voice mixed with the rush of the wind.

I turned and looked back at her. “Do you mean your first time riding on a broom? That’s good. How does it feel to ride?” I smiled.

She gazed off into the distance somewhere as she answered me, “How does it feel…? It’s a pleasant sensation. I could do without the condescension, though.”

She answered me from behind—from inside a box that was tied to the back of my broom. A strange sense of sorrow was hanging in the air around Frederika, who was sitting with her knees pressed up against her chest inside a large box that I was floating along behind me using a spell.

Her cheeks were puffed up in dissatisfaction. “Normally, wouldn’t someone sit with you on the broom as you fly? Why are you making me sit in a box…?”

“As a precaution.”

“Are you trying to imply that I might attack you or something? I would never do such a thing.”

“There’s that, and the fact that my broom is not so promiscuous as to blithely allow a total stranger to ride.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand what you’re saying.”

“But the ride is comfortable, yes?”

“I’m afraid I have to admit that it is.”

As a practical matter, people who aren’t used to riding on brooms for a long time get tired rather quickly. This trip was already going to take long enough; there was no way I was going to let her ride with me. Also, she apparently couldn’t use any magic.

Though I would absolutely never say something so patronizing out loud.

Besides.

“There’s nothing more fascinating than a new experience, right?” I asked.

“……”

“They say that seeing is believing, don’t they?” I continued. “And that proof is better than theory? No matter how much knowledge you accumulate, no matter how many books you read, it will always be inferior to the experience of actually seeing and touching something. No matter how much knowledge you have, until you actually experience something, it’s the same as knowing nothing.”

“I’m not sure I really needed the experience of riding in a box…” Frederika let out a sigh.

By the way…

“Frederika?”

“Hmm?”

The girl who had until just a moment earlier been the picture of candid displeasure was now looking at me with her head tilted nonchalantly.

I looked back at her intently and tilted my own head. “About how long have you been living as a traveler?”

“Hmm…” She turned her gaze up at the vivid blue sky and said, “About four years…I think.”

“…A fairly long time, huh?”

About as long as I have.

“Yeah…and before I knew it, I’d turned nineteen.”

Which must mean, in other words, that you’ve been traveling since you were about fifteen?

“If you’ve been traveling this whole time, how do you usually get from place to place?”

“Oh, I’ve been traveling by horse.”

“Oh, by horse!” Quite a wild one, she is. “So where is that horse now?”

“By now, he’s probably living a peaceful life as a wild horse…” Frederika had a faraway look in her eyes.

“He ran away on you, huh…?”

“Yeah. Well…” Frederika nodded at me with a sigh, then stared at me. “You could say it’s adding insult to injury to be stuffed inside a box after losing my horse…”

“But the ride is comfortable, right?”

“I’m afraid I have to say yes.”

Sighing again with exasperation, she turned around and gazed out over the path we had followed thus far.

The city we had been in this morning was already out of sight.

“We’ve come quite a long way, huh?”

Her hair fluttered, fanned by the cool breeze.

“Are you tired?”

“I’m fine.”

She turned back around to face me and smiled as she smoothed down her hair with one hand.

Her eyes looked like they were lost in sadness.

Night had arrived.

Forgetting its afternoon warmth, an unpleasantly cold wind blew across the weather-beaten scenery, where I used spells to pitch a tent and light a bonfire. Branches were popping as they burned in the crackling fire. Feeling blessed to have magic to cut down on all the tedious labor, I took a seat in front of the dancing fire.

“Come to think of it, it’ll be comet season before long, huh?” Across from me, Frederika tossed a log onto the fire and looked up at the sky.

All the people of this region became restless whenever the comet was approaching.

Every twenty-two years, a very beautiful and solitary star appeared alone in the sky, then disappeared just as quickly. It had been almost twenty-two years since its last appearance. In fact, it was supposed to appear again in just ten days.

Everyone was looking forward to the comet’s reappearance.

Frederika probably was, too.

I followed her gaze and looked up into the dark sky.

A lovely night sky, with twinkling stars.

That was when a long, straight stream of light passed right overhead.

A shooting star.

“Ah—” In front of me, I could hear Frederika make an innocent sound, like a child. “Elaina, did you know? If you recite your wish three times while a shooting star is passing overhead, it’ll come true.” Her voice was suddenly more cheerful.

“How romantic,” I answered, continuing to look at the sky. “Did you wish for something?”

“……”

She was still looking up at the sky and was keeping silent.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t heard my question, and I don’t think she was embarrassed about her wish. Frederika looked like she was taking her time to gather her thoughts.

Between us, the fire crackled and swayed, and by the time the log that she had just thrown on it began to disappear, she finally looked back at me.

And then she said:

“That the incident four years ago never would have happened—that’s what I wished.”

That’s all she said.

Four years ago would coincide perfectly with when Frederika started her journey. “…Did something bad happen?”

“What happened back then is the reason I travel, Elaina. If it hadn’t been for the incident four years ago, I would be living a quiet life in my hometown right now.” She shrugged her shoulders.

“…What happened?”

She let my question hang in the air for a little while, then she pressed her left hand against her bandaged eye and opened her mouth.

“Something very, very sad.”

Then she told me.

She told me of her four years of repentance and prayers, and her memories of an early life so hopeless, it led her to entreat a star for help.

She told me the story of how she became Frederika the traveler.

The story started shortly after the two girls were born.

In outward appearance, the sisters resembled each other very closely but had one obvious difference, which their parents, who had come from a long line of mages, realized when they were young.

The older sister, Frederika, possessed an exceptional talent for magic, while her younger sister, Lunarik, never made much progress, no matter how much they tried to teach her.

Apparently, when Lunarik was young, she was a bit of a handful. Understandably, their parents started to pay far more attention to Lunarik than to Frederika. They struggled with what to do so that the younger sister with no magical talent would nevertheless grow up into a proper mage.

From an outside perspective, it looked like they were giving their love only to the younger sister, Lunarik.

But the neglected sister, Frederika, did not complain. Instead, she quietly began spending all of her time on her magic studies. If she studied hard and learned to use more advanced spells, then her parents would praise her like they did her sister.

Or so she thought.

But the more advanced her magic got, the less attention Frederika’s parents paid her. “This girl doesn’t need any looking after,” they said, and more and more, they only paid attention to Lunarik.

For their parents, the fact that there was a big difference between the girls was a good thing. They thought that the more different they were, the less they would seem like twins and the more they would seem like regular sisters.

Without realizing it, their parents came to see Frederika as a girl who could do anything without their help.

An uncrossable gulf developed between Frederika and her parents from a young age.

By the time the girls started going to school, that gulf had widened noticeably.

“What is this grade, Frederika?”

One day after coming home from school, Frederika and only Frederika was summoned by her parents and questioned about her grade on a recent test.

By no means had her score been bad. It was just a totally average grade. But from her parents’ perspective, it was unthinkable that Frederika, the girl who could do anything, had gotten an unremarkable score.

“This score is even worse than Lunarik’s. You’ve been slacking off recently, haven’t you?”

By this time, their parents’ handling of Lunarik and Frederika was completely different. Lunarik was usually praised no matter what she did. In contrast, their parents treated Frederika very strictly.

“If I study harder, if I excel more, they’ll praise me, too.”

Frederika became obsessive about her studies, devoting herself to them day after day as she grew up alongside Lunarik, who was being raised so permissively.

They were not yet ten years old.

Before long, Frederika’s efforts bore fruit, and she surpassed everyone at school. In magic as well as her regular studies, she became so outstanding that no one could match her.

However.

“Excellent, Lunarik, your grades went up again!”

“You figured out how to fly your broom, did you? Amazing! All right, now Mama will teach you a new spell.”

Frederika’s parents still ignored her.

Even though she had surpassed everyone, in the end, nothing changed, and they only praised her cute little sister, Lunarik.

She watched her father and mother stroke Lunarik’s head kindly.

Such kindness had never once been directed toward Frederika.

“Even though I can do more…,” Frederika muttered behind her parents’ backs. “Even though I’m better at school…” She crumpled up her answer sheet for a test she had gotten a perfect score on. “Why do they only praise Lunarik?”

Hatred filled her heart.

Hatred for her beloved sister.

“Papa, Mama, why won’t you look at me?”

When the girls were about twelve years old, their positions completely reversed.

Lunarik, who had taken her time learning all sorts of things, developed into a tenderhearted girl who was beloved by all. Her grades in school and magical skills were exceptional, and everyone had great expectations for her future.

Frederika, who had advanced more quickly than anyone else, shut herself away in her room and rarely spoke to anyone, developing a dark and miserable personality. But she used to be so exceptional. Her existence was so wretched that people whispered such cruel things.

“It’s fine, I don’t need any friends other than you.”

Shut up inside her room, she cast a spell on her homemade doll, made it move, and talked to it like it was her friend. Night after night, she spoke only with the doll, to distract herself from her loneliness.

Though the voices of her three family members engaged in pleasant conversation in the dining room made it to her ears, she pretended that she couldn’t hear them.

She pretended that her heart was satisfied.

She pretended that it wasn’t painful.

“What is this grade, Frederika?”

She was disciplined many times for her deteriorating grades.

“And you used to be such a capable child.” Her parents’ lectures were always a repetition of the same sort of words. “When did you turn into such a gloomy thing?” She had been scolded with the same words for the past few years. “Are you listening? We’re telling you that we expect better from you.” She remained silent.

She wanted them to look her way more; she wanted them to praise her more. But no matter what efforts she made, her parents never paid her any attention.

She wanted to be spoiled like her sister, but her parents wouldn’t indulge her for a moment, and she began to seriously resent them.

Only when they were lecturing her did her parents pay Frederika any attention.

That made her ever so slightly happy.

So in order to make the lectures last just a little bit longer, she kept silent and refused to answer.

Eventually, her father wasn’t able to hide his anger at her attitude anymore.

“I’ve had enough!”

When Frederika was thirteen years old, an ordinary lecture turned violent. She was just sitting there in silence when her father slapped her across the cheek.

She fell from her chair and lay on the floor. Her mother pacified her father and ended the lecture.

Frederika’s life began to fall apart.

She had not spoken to her younger sister, Lunarik, for several years. Not during meals, not when they passed in the hall, not when their eyes met during a scolding. Not even when Lunarik watched from the hallway as Frederika was struck and fell to the floor.

There was no way that Lunarik was coming to Frederika’s rescue.

She didn’t even speak to her afterward.

“Hey, listen! Today Papa and Mama spoke to me! I got hit, but they spoke to me for the first time in a long time, and that made me happy.”

The doll that she had animated with a magic spell gently stroked Frederika’s reddened cheek. The doll, which contained a bit of its owner’s consciousness, always did as Frederika wished.

In her heart, dark emotions were brewing.

By the time Frederika was fourteen, she had largely stopped being lectured by her parents. They had given up on her.

“Lunarik is amazing, isn’t she? Apparently, she got the top score in school on her magic test again.” Their father was in a good mood.

“You’re our pride and joy!” Their mother smiled, also in a good mood.

“You’re both exaggerating. I just got lucky this time, that’s all.” Lunarik was being humble in the face of their praise.

They were the very picture of a happy family, but the parents were acting like their older daughter, silently eating her meal, didn’t exist at all.

Whether she studied or didn’t, no one took any interest in Frederika anymore.

From the bottom of her heart, Frederika loathed the happy family scene unfolding before her.

How badly she wished that she were Lunarik.

How happy she would have been if she were the only girl living in this house.

Truly, though she wanted to be loved more than anyone, she was loved by no one.

“By the way…”

During the conversation, Lunarik glanced over at Frederika from time to time, but she never spoke to her sister and never brought her into the conversation. She only continued talking with their parents.

Frederika thought she was being made fun of.

It’s because of you that I turned out this way.

If only you weren’t here, Papa and Mama would love me.

If only you didn’t exist, I would be sitting where you are.

“If only you weren’t around, everything would be so much better.”

The dark emotions that had been growing inside Frederika spilled out as she snatched up her ragged doll, the only companion she’d had for so long, and stabbed it again and again with a kitchen knife until its stuffing was falling out.

They were fifteen years old.

The dining room in their home was spattered with blood. Everything was covered in red.

As to whose blood it was, that wasn’t yet clear to Frederika.

All she knew was that everything she could see was soaked in blood.

“You! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?! This—” Frederika’s father was straddling her on the floor, holding her by the front of her shirt as he struck her again and again.

She let out a sob. Still, her father did not stop. Her face was red and swollen. Still, her father did not stop. Her nose bled. Still, her father did not stop. Her left eye was crushed. Still, her father did not stop. His hands were sticky with blood. Still, he showed no sign of stopping.

Frederika never stopped smiling the whole time he was beating her.

“Ah…how awful…how cruel…!”

There beside him, her mother did not intervene; she did not challenge him. She had tears in her eyes. She looked desperate. “Are you all right? Stay with me, Lunarik! W-we’re going to get you all fixed up…!”

Lunarik, lying in her mother’s arms, said only, “I’m all right… I’m fine…,” and held a hand to her abdomen.

Blood was spilling out of her. Her lovely clothes were dyed scarlet. A knife, wet and red, lay on the floor.

If only my little sister weren’t here, I would be happier.

Frederika, who had been nursing a hatred within her heart for as long as she could remember, had finally turned a knife on Lunarik. She had stabbed her sister in the stomach.

That was the moment when the precarious balance that they had maintained in their family completely crumbled.

“We’d be better off without you—!”

Over and over again, Frederika’s father hit her.

Again and again, she took the blows.

On and on, she smiled.

By the time their mother had dressed Lunarik’s wound, Frederika had lost consciousness. Her face was red and swollen, her features unrecognizable.

“Get out. Never show your face here again.” With ragged breaths, as he wiped her blood from his hands, her father said, “You are no longer my daughter.”

She was allowed to gather what little she could carry and then was banished from her home.

“…Why?”

Only after she was driven from the city, banned from ever coming back or seeing her beloved parents again, did she realize that it was her own fault.

But by that time, it was already too late.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way, she thought. I just wanted to be loved.

She banged on the city gates many times, but once it became clear that they weren’t going to open for her, she left, battered and weeping.

That was how she became Frederika the traveler.

“Over the past four years, I’ve traveled to all sorts of places. I’ve visited many cities, observed many value systems, and reflected on my family’s past. I’ve thought about where we might have gone wrong.”

She brought a cup of the hotel tea to her lips, then after a short pause said, “In our case, you see, it was the place where we were born that was to blame. That’s all there is to it,” she said, as if it were nothing.

If only they’d been born somewhere else, surely the sisters would have been raised totally normally, as normal twins. Their parents never would have wanted so badly to make them into different people.

“And the place where you were born is called…”

Frederika nodded just as I was about to say it. “Parastomeire. Tomorrow, I’m going home.”

In that case, it was obvious who it was she had promised to meet.

Before I could get a word in, she said, “I’ve got an arrangement to meet Lunarik.”

“……”

“For four years, I’ve traveled without stopping, and finally, I’ve made up my mind to go home. I’ve come to want to see her and my parents again, and talk to them. That’s why I sent a letter ahead of me, from a neighboring city.”

She must have meant the city where she and I met.

I looked down the path that we had traveled so far.

I could no longer see any trace of the city behind us.

“…So how did they respond?” I asked, turning back to face her.

“I’ve sent several letters back and forth with my parents, but they said that they wouldn’t see me until I had Lunarik’s forgiveness. So I arranged to meet Lunarik in person. It sounded like our parents were very reluctant, but yesterday, just before I met you, Elaina, they finally gave me permission to see her. They arranged for me to temporarily be allowed back into the city. And they said that Lunarik wants to see me, too.”

When she had commissioned me to ferry her to the next city, she had seemed to be in quite a hurry. Now I understood why.

She had been waiting impatiently for this.

“By the way, can I ask you one thing?”

Now that I had heard her story, there was one thing that was bothering me. Frederika had touched on it only briefly during her long, long reminiscence. But there was something different about her now, compared to then, something I couldn’t overlook.

Staring hard at her, with perhaps a challenging look in my eyes, I said, “You used to be able to use magic, right?”

“Huh? Oh, yes. I still can,” Frederika answered me calmly. “Why?”

“I thought for sure that you couldn’t.”

“I don’t remember saying any such thing.”

“Well, you were definitely acting like it.”

“……” She looked away from me for a while, then eventually, after bringing her tea to her lips again, said, “I had a reason for that. Magic is how I ended up in this situation, so if that’s the cause of everything, wouldn’t it be better if I never used magic again?”

“……” At first glance, it seemed like a logical reason. “And is that also the reason you haven’t fixed that eye of yours?”

Her bandaged left eye.

All the other wounds she’d received when she was beaten by her father had surely healed by now, but…her left eye was still maimed.

Touching the bandages lightly, Frederika spoke quietly. “About that—I’ll tell you honestly. When I first started traveling, I left the wound as it was so that I would never forget my own hatred toward that girl.”

I see.

“And now?”

After a sigh, she said, “Now it’s so that I won’t forget my own wrongdoing.” She continued, “You see, I want to meet her, and apologize for everything that’s happened. On top of that, I want to try again, to start over—to understand each other. I’m sure that, because of me, she’s gone through some very painful times.”

There didn’t seem to be any falsehood in her words.

But if that’s true…

“We don’t need this box anymore, do we?”

I picked up the box that was sitting beside me, the box I had constructed to carry her, and tossed it into the fire. “Tomorrow, you’ll ride behind me.”

The fire, which had been wavering gently, flickered as if it were surprised by the large piece of kindling that had just fallen into it. Gradually, it engulfed the box and began to consume it.

As she watched it burn, Frederika said to me, “How kind.”

What do you mean?

“Are you stupid? It’s not for your sake. It’s just that, if you’re a mage, there’s no need to go to all the fuss of letting you ride in a box.”

It certainly wasn’t because I sympathized with Frederika and didn’t see her as a stranger anymore; don’t get me wrong.

That’s the truth.

…Isn’t it?

I’m not sure what was so funny, but Frederika started chuckling, and I let out a laugh, too, drawn in by her cheer, and the two of us sat around for a little while, enjoying some lighter conversation.

We grew sleepy after spending some pleasant time chatting together.

The light from the fire had died down, and we were enveloped in the dark of night. When we were finally almost asleep, lying in the pitch-darkness, Frederika must have been feeling anxious.

“Elaina?” Mumbling in a vanishingly quiet voice, this girl who had confided everything in me asked, “When today’s Lunarik sees me as I am now, do you think she’ll forgive me?”

It was a little after noon on the next day when we arrived in Parastomeire.

There was a single gate in the towering wall. Standing before it was a sentry, who bowed once and greeted us, “Welcome to Parastomeire! Happy to receive you!”

After we both got down off the broom that we were riding together and returned his greeting right away, the guard said, “Now then, there are several things I need to check upon your entry into our city,” and took out a piece of paper and a pen.

Yes, yes, let us begin the usual, perfectly ordinary immigration inspection.

Frederika and I, without any particular precautions, fluidly answered such simple questions as, “What are your names? What is your reason for visiting? How long will you stay?”

As the immigration inspection was continuing without a hitch, the guard turned to Frederika, who was standing beside me, and asked, “By the way, am I correct in assuming that you are Frederika the traveler?”

“Hmm? I am, but…” Frederika was wearing a fairly nervous expression as she nodded. She had been barred from returning to the city after all.

The guard questioned her further. “Older sister to Lunarik, if I’m not mistaken?”

“…Yes.”

“I have a letter from your sister.”

Apparently, Lunarik had known that Frederika was on her way. She had probably heard a certain amount from her parents.

As he handed Frederika the letter, which was sealed with wax, the guard said, “Well then, please enjoy your time in our city.” After bowing once more, he stepped back.

The city beyond the wall was no different from so many others, just a peaceful townscape stretching out before us.

“……”

Beside me, Frederika began to walk.

With very, very heavy steps.

Dear Frederika:

Have you been well? This is your little sister, Lunarik.

I can’t meet you in person, so please forgive me for sending this letter. I’ve already heard from Papa and Mama that you want to see me.

I would like to see you again, too.

Both Papa and Mama were opposed to it, but I feel the same way that you do. There is no falsehood in this feeling. If you would also like to see me again, I intend to respond in kind.

Thinking about it now, quite a lot of time has passed, hasn’t it? Four years, in fact.

Both of us have grown into adults.

I believe that, at this point, we’re certainly capable of meeting face-to-face, as different people than we used to be.

I’ll be waiting alone for you in the fountain plaza at noon. Not on any specific day.

Until you come, I’ll wait there every day. I’ll be waiting, believing that you will come.

A little ways down the main avenue in Parastomeire, there was a plaza with a fountain.

“…Too bad. Looks like today’s not the day.”

Frederika had probably been hoping to meet her sister right away. She must have wanted to see her and talk to her immediately.

But there was no one in the fountain plaza. She must have figured that she wasn’t coming today. The hands of the clock were already pointing to three.

“You’ll have another chance tomorrow. How about relaxing today?”

You must be tired from the long journey. Actually, I’m a little tired myself. I understand your eagerness, but compared to four years, waiting for one more day is nothing, surely.

“…You’re right.”

Frederika nodded.

With one eye, she gazed quietly at the water’s surface, wavering in the wind. Since it was in between busy periods, the fountain had been turned off, and the plaza around it was enveloped in a lonely feeling not unlike the one in her heart.

Then Frederika let out a short sigh and looked at me with determination in her one eye.

“…Thank you, Elaina, for bringing me this far.”

Those seemed like parting words.

Sure enough, now that we had arrived in the city, my duty was finished. I was just a guide, her transportation, so to speak, and had no business inserting myself beyond that.

“You really don’t need to thank me.” I held out my hand.

“It was just a short time, but I had fun traveling with you.” She smiled and shook my hand. “It’s strange. You have a way of getting me to talk more than I ever would otherwise. You’re the first person I’ve spoken to about my past in such detail.”

“…Is that so?”

“…Yeah.”

By the way…

“Hey, I’m really sorry to upset this pleasant atmosphere, but I wasn’t looking for a handshake. I was looking to get paid my fee.”

“How greedy…!” Frederika looked simply astonished. “What would your parents say if they heard you talk like that…?”

“Oh, would you like to extend your journey as far as my parents’ house? If you do, it will cost you quite a bit more. You know, I am somewhat interested in seeing the city where you were born…but I think I must decline. My journey ends here.”

If she was able to meet her sister and make amends, Frederika would no longer have any reason to be a traveler.

Perhaps she had told me all about her inner feelings because this was the last we would see of each other.

“Let’s meet again someday, Elaina.”

As she pressed five gold coins into my palm, Frederika squeezed my hand again and smiled.

“Yeah…see you.”

I smiled, too, drawn in by her cheer.

In this way, the two of us approached a relatively unremarkable parting.

That night I stayed at a nearby inn, but since those five gold pieces were all I had to my name, as before, I was almost broke. Never mind staying in a high-class hotel with an attached restaurant; sadly, I wasn’t even able to go to a high-class restaurant at all.

“For now, I’ll have the chef’s recommended pasta, please.”

I was having a simple dinner at a modest restaurant that didn’t seem to get many tourists. I’ve found that you basically can’t go wrong ordering the recommended special in a place like this.

The waitress said, “Yes, ma’am,” bowed her head, and took the menu with her when she left my table.

Now that I had nothing to do and nothing to look at, I looked around at the hustle and bustle of the restaurant for a while. There I saw the everyday lives of the residents of this city. People enjoying a date as a couple, friends having a drink on the way home from work—in the nearly full restaurant, there were all sorts of people, and a completely ordinary evening was unfolding.

This is a peaceful city.

If Frederika was really able to settle here, I was sure that she, too, would be happy. I was absentmindedly thinking such things when, before long, the waitress returned.

“Please enjoy this.”

With a clink, she set down on my table a glass of red wine. I didn’t remember ordering it.

Did I lose my mind, thinking the chef was recommending pasta?

I frowned with confusion, and the waitress politely indicated someone in a counter seat.

She said simply, “It’s from that customer over there.”

“……”

There was a girl sitting over there. She was about my age. After waving at me briefly, she walked over with a wineglass in one hand.

She looked familiar.

“Good evening.”

The girl had wavy blond hair and was dressed in black.

She was nothing if not familiar.

“Stalking me again?” I laughed at her.

I was looking at Frederika, whom I had just parted ways with that afternoon.

But…

“…What do you mean?”

She tilted her head, looking puzzled, and pointed at me, “You’re a witch with ashen hair, and you’re about my age. You’re the traveler, Elaina, aren’t you?” she asked.

As if it was the first time she had ever met me.

“……” That’s when I realized.

The girl before my eyes was not the Frederika that I knew. To begin with, her left eye, which should have been patched up, was uncovered, just like normal.

“I wonder, could I speak with you a little?”

She introduced herself as Lunarik.

“Ever since I heard from Papa and Mama that my big sister wanted to see me, I haven’t been able to sit still, you see, and I’ve gone to the fountain plaza every day. I haven’t even been able to go to work.”

On the table were two glasses of red wine and one empty plate. I had barely tasted my food because I wolfed it down so quickly.

“I heard from the sentry that my sister entered the city today. He also told me that you were accompanying her, Elaina.”

“The soldiers in this city sure are talkative, huh?”

Maybe the concept of privacy doesn’t exist here…

“Didn’t you know? The gate guards will do all sorts of things for you if you pay them enough money. Like giving that letter to my sister. Also, informing me of her arrival, and so on. My parents and I all work for the government, so favors like that are no trouble at all.”

“……”

I felt like cracking a joke about both sisters being stalkers, but I reminded myself that they only looked alike on the outside, and that this girl was not the Frederika I knew, so in the end, the complaint that was halfway out of my mouth turned into a sigh.

“I can see you’re shocked. I am sorry. But I’ve got my reasons for being so desperate.”

“I know.”

It was obvious why she was reaching out to me. “You probably want to know what she thinks about you?”

“…Yeah.” She nodded. “You nailed it.”

“She told me everything that happened between you two, so…,” I continued, trying to keep it vague, “Frederika did something really awful, didn’t she?”

“…I’ve never been able to forget what my sister did to me, though the wound is completely gone.”

As she spoke, she rubbed her own belly gently.

“……” I wasn’t quite sure how to respond, but eventually I told her frankly, “Your sister is very, very sorry about everything that’s happened.”

I knew that it definitely wasn’t something she was supposed to be hearing from me, since I had only traveled with her sister recently, but she had no idea what kind of person Frederika was now.

I simply thought that, if Lunarik was feeling apprehensive about taking the plunge on their reunion, I ought to do what I could to dispel some of that anxiety.

Though I was also curious about what the girl before me intended to do.

“……”

She was hanging her head, staring at her glass of bloodred wine.

And then, finally…

“I, too, feel very, very sorry about what happened four years ago.” Slowly, she spoke. “Just like my big sister, you see? That’s my only reason for wanting to see her.”

“…Is that so?”

She nodded and said, “That’s why, when Papa and Mama received a letter from her after four years, I ignored their apprehensions and decided I absolutely wanted to see my sister again. I didn’t want to cause Papa and Mama any trouble, but more importantly, I just had to see her.”

At the end of the day, it seemed both sisters shared the same feelings.

…Frankly, I had been rather anxious about whether Frederika was really going to be able to reunite with her sister the next day, and had considered sneaking over to have a look…and unfortunately, I’m not exactly the most honest person in the world, so I had been planning to do it without telling Frederika, but…

If this was the situation, it seemed like I didn’t have to worry.

It would be insensitive to throw cold water on the sisters’ emotional reunion.

“Say, Elaina? Just in case you were planning to be present tomorrow for our reunion, do you think I could ask you to refrain?”

“……” I was surprised and astonished by her request. “…Yes, of course. I had no intention of intruding.”

“Good. I want to take my time and talk with my sister tomorrow, just the two of us.”

“…Is that so?”

Remember, I’m not exactly the most honest person in the world.

And so the following day, I secretly made my way over to the fountain plaza.

The chimes of bells marking twelve noon filled the city. The fountain at the center of the plaza was continually shooting water up toward the sky, and right beside it was the figure of Frederika, whom I had been accompanying on a short journey just the day before.

She had bandages wound around one eye as always and was wearing her usual clothes.

“……”

Like a girl restlessly waiting for her sweetheart, she couldn’t calm down as she stood around, occasionally fussing with her hair. Her gaze swept left to right, and sometimes she turned to check behind her, constantly on the lookout for anyone who might recognize her.

I, too, watching from my hiding place, looked off somewhere else when I wanted to be looking at the fountain, feigning composure, and awaited the sisters’ meeting. I’m sure I looked awfully suspicious, too.

I was pretty anxious myself.

I wondered whether the sisters could really understand each other.

“……!”

Finally, Frederika, waiting in front of the fountain, broke into a smile.

I followed her gaze and saw a single girl with an almost identical face. Waving her hand slowly, that girl approached Frederika.

“Hello, big sister.”

Lunarik was there.

At the appointed time, exactly at twelve o’clock, she had appeared in the fountain plaza.

The sound of the chimes faded, and before long, only the sound of water filled the air around the two of them. Lunarik was wearing a smile, but Frederika had on a fairly nervous expression and was hanging her head, even as she stared at her sister.

“……” Finally, Frederika slowly opened her mouth. “Lunarik, um, well—”

She recounted everything that had happened during the four years they had been apart.

She spoke of how, when she had first started her travels, it had been unbearably painful. How, if she was being honest, her heart had been full of anger for all of the awful treatment she had received.

But then, her thinking had changed as she continued traveling.

She had come to realize that she wanted to live with her sister again.

And…

“For everything that’s happened, I’m truly sorry.”

She slowly hung her head as she said that to Lunarik, who had just been listening carefully to Frederika’s story the whole time, staying silent.

“……”

Lunarik was still wearing the same smile.

She was just standing there smiling, with her eyebrows furrowed as if in distress.

“Big sister. Look at me.”

“……”

And then Lunarik stepped closer to Frederika, who raised her head and embraced her.

She squeezed her tight, like she wasn’t going to let her go.

I thought my fears had been groundless.

Seems like it would have been a mistake to throw cold water on the sisters’ reunion. My presence isn’t needed here.

With that thought in mind, I turned my back on the fountain and started to walk away.

I’m sure that, after this, the two of them will live together just like old times, while building a relationship that is different and better than it used to be.

More than any other possibility, that seemed to be a very happy outcome.

And so I moved to take my leave of that place.

“Big sister…Frederika.”

But apparently I had been mistaken.

Even as they embraced each other, Lunarik’s hushed words were biting. Very, very cold and biting.

“Do you know why I came here today?”

By the time I realized that something was wrong and started to turn around, it was already too late.

“Ever since we got the first letter from you, I’ve hardly been able to contain myself. I also truly regret what happened four years ago.”

Frederika slumped over and then fell to the ground with an icicle stuck into her back, muttering sounds that were not words. Looking down at her, Lunarik wore the same unchanging smile, and said…

“I should have killed you four years ago, Lunarik.”

Two days earlier, when Frederika and I had been camping out, she had told me of her past.

She told me about how her parents had withheld their love ever since she was young.

She told me that they only concerned themselves with her younger sister, Lunarik, and hardly even looked Frederika’s way. After the two of them were born as twins, their parents had been shunned and avoided by all sorts of people, and as a result, they had tried all the more to differentiate between Frederika and Lunarik.

As a result, Frederika had turned to violence.

However…

“The truth is that I am Lunarik, and the one waiting in our hometown is Frederika.”

The two of them had changed places.

“I became Frederika four years ago. Four years ago, Frederika stabbed Lunarik, and ever since that day, I have been Frederika.”

Then she told me matter-of-factly what had happened on that day four years earlier.

The real Frederika had cast a spell on her younger sister, Lunarik.

It was a consciousness duplication spell.

Frederika had cast this advanced magic spell on her little sister.

With the spell, the real Frederika moved all the hatred she felt toward her sister into her sister’s mind. She filled her sister’s head with a copy of her own consciousness and memories.

After that, Lunarik, seized with deep loathing and despair, pointed a blade at her older sister, who looked the same as she did.

She wrongly assumed that she was Frederika, and that the girl before her eyes was her younger sister, Lunarik.

As planned, Lunarik stabbed Frederika and ended up being expelled from the house. Frederika played the pitiful victim and remained at home.

“It worked because her specialty was manipulating dolls.”

Everything went according to the original Frederika’s plan, and Lunarik was manipulated just like one of her dolls.

After Lunarik had stabbed the original Frederika, she was disowned by their parents and driven out of the house. And that’s how she became Frederika the traveler.

Frederika, who had been injured by the real Lunarik, on the other hand, lived at home with her family, posing as her tenderhearted yet pitiable sister. When her grades dropped slightly in comparison to before, or when she became a slightly gloomier person, there was no problem at all. There was no need to be the wonderful Lunarik that her sister had been before.

Everyone assumed that Lunarik had been traumatized by her awful older sister’s actions, so nobody thought it was unusual that her personality had changed a bit.

In this way, the two sisters switched places.

“For about a year after I started traveling, I was convinced I was Frederika.”

When she had first started her travels, she had been fixated on revenge. Day in and day out, as she endured the pain in her eye while moving from place to place, and during spare moments, too, the whole time she thought of nothing but her hatred for her younger sister. That’s how she spent her days.

However…

“But you see, I understand now. Knowledge and experience are two different things.”

It had been over a year. Once she had been away from her hometown for quite some time, the new Frederika noticed she was feeling out of place.

She said that, at first, it was only a slight discomfort. She wondered why she wasn’t able to use spells that she should have been able to use, and why she could use spells that she shouldn’t have been able to use. She wondered why she didn’t have any strong feelings toward the doll she was supposed to love so much, and why she could converse cheerfully with anyone when she supposedly couldn’t look a stranger in the eye, much less speak to one.

Supposedly, in the past she had used her doll as a conversation partner in order to distract herself from her loneliness. But now that Frederika was traveling, even if she animated the doll with a spell, she wasn’t able to control it so skillfully.

That was when she started to question whether she was really the real Frederika, she told me.

And then, as she continued her travels, her doubts turned to certainty.

“After a little over a year of continuous traveling, my real memories came back to me. I realized the other memories had been implanted.”

The real name of the girl who was traveling was Lunarik.

The girl who was beloved by everyone, and tenderhearted, she was the one who became Frederika the traveler.

“Frederika probably wanted me to experience the suffering she went through while living in Parastomeire. By switching places with me like that, she probably thought she could have our parents’ love all to herself.”

And her plan had actually gone off without a hitch.

Although there was a fake Lunarik living in their hometown now—the emotionally damaged Frederika, who had remained at home—no one had realized that the two girls had switched.

Not even their parents.

“But you know, that’s a story from four years ago.” Frederika smiled gently. “I think it’s about time we came to an understanding, isn’t it?”

“……”

“It’s clear that it was my fault that my big sister turned out so strange. The version of me that lives in her memories is a very unpleasant girl, so I understand.”

Apparently, the memories that had been transplanted from the original Frederika still remained inside the present Frederika.

“I wish we had talked more. I wish I had looked up to her more. The truth is, I should have been able to offer her my support, but…”

But four years earlier, the two of them had parted.

The current Frederika possessed two sets of memories, those belonging to Frederika up to age fifteen, and all of Lunarik’s.

Experiencing the pain of both of them, she had traveled for four years.

“Ever since that day four years ago, and from now on, I’m satisfied being Frederika, so—”

So she wanted to live together as a family once more.

That was the wish of Lunarik, who four years earlier had left to travel the outside world as Frederika.

“I’m certain in my belief that, now that four years have passed, we’ll be able to understand each other. And I believe that my sister has also changed, just like I have.”

Frederika had grown and changed over the course of her four-year journey.

She was certain, now that four years had passed—now that the two of them had become adults—they could reach a different conclusion than they had four years earlier.

The current Frederika said, “So I’ve got a request, Elaina. I wonder if, tomorrow, you would let me and Lunarik meet alone, just the two of us?”

I didn’t want to discourage her, so…

“I see… All right then, tomorrow, once we arrive in the city, we’ll part there, shall we?”

And then…

The girl who was wrapping up a journey of four years brought her story of the past, which had gone quite long, to an end with a single sentence.

She said…

“In our case, the city where we were born is to blame.”

Sure enough, the current Frederika had achieved her reunion after four years and apologized to the current Lunarik for everything that had happened during that time.

“I remember everything that you did four years ago.”

Then, standing in front of the fountain, the current Frederika told the story of everything that had happened during the four years they had been apart.

She spoke of how, when she had first started her travels, it had been unbearably painful. How, if she was being honest, her heart had been full of anger for all the awful treatment she had received.

But then, her thinking had changed as she continued traveling.

She had come to realize that she wanted to live with her sister again.

She said she regretted neglecting her older sister.

The current Frederika told her all of this.

But the current Lunarik didn’t hear a word of it.

Frederika had fallen on the ground with an icicle piercing her back. Her blood was spilling out, and her whole body was trembling.

“Why…? Why don’t you understand me…?! Big sister… I, I—”

“I really despised you from the bottom of my heart. You, who were Papa and Mama’s favorite. I hated you. They loved you, even though I was actually better in every way.” The current Lunarik interrupted the words of her younger sister and pointed her wand down at her. “When I heard that you wanted to see me again, I really couldn’t believe it… I mean, I thought I was the daughter that Papa and Mama called selfish. Why now, after four years had passed, would you want to see us again? I was really stumped, but…now I see. Your memories came back, huh?”

As she stared down at her sister, there was not the slightest trace of familial affection in her eyes. “But you know, if your memories came back, then I’m even less able to live with you. Because I loathe you now just as I did back then, from the bottom of my heart.”

Then she waved her wand.

To the little sister who bore her own name, she said…

“Good-bye, Frederika.”

They were parting words.

But…

A lone witch intervened, stepping between the two of them. Some fool, who was there to throw cold water on the sisters’ four-year reunion.

“Wait a minute.”

I was there.

At the end of the day, I’m not exactly the most honest person in the world, so even though both the real Frederika and the fake one had asked me not to interfere, I just couldn’t help myself.

Using a spell, I sent the wand belonging to Frederika—now calling herself Lunarik—flying and, in the same movement, pointed my own wand at her throat, stopping her in her tracks.

“…Ah!”

Her wand flew through the air before landing on the ground, and the current Lunarik laughed coldly. “Of course, you were watching from nearby…”

She must have known that I was going to intervene like this. The current Lunarik didn’t seem particularly surprised, and she readily raised both hands.

“Stop, don’t attack! I surrender. I’m no match for a witch. And besides, I don’t want to die.”

“……”

How can you ask that? You were just about to kill your own sister.

“I don’t feel like dirtying my hands with you, and you’ve got to live to atone for your crimes,” I said.

I knew she was probably concealing some other weapon, so I kept her restrained. I conjured a rope using a spell, tied her up with it, and immobilized her.

I thought I’d tied her up fairly tightly, but Lunarik maintained a composed expression.

“I’ve got nothing to atone for,” she said, smiling. “I was just protecting myself.”

At the time, I didn’t understand what those words were supposed to mean…

With that, the two sisters’ reunion came to an end.

“Are you all right, Frederika?”

“……”

She didn’t answer me, but the Frederika that I knew was unharmed. She was fully conscious, and her eyes were looking at me. It was just one very vacant, hazy eye, actually, without any life in it, but…Frederika was definitely breathing.

After I had extracted the icicle and cast a healing spell on Frederika, I delivered Lunarik to the city guard.

Pulling the limp Frederika by the hand, I forcefully dragged Lunarik away. As I pulled them both along, neither of them said a word.

“……”

But unlike her sister, Lunarik was smiling the whole time.

When I handed Lunarik over to the city guard, I told him the whole story, from beginning to end.

I told him everything, without exception, from start to finish. The story of the two sisters reuniting after four years apart—and how they weren’t able to understand each other after all.

However…

“I can’t believe a story like that.”

Even as the guard accepted Lunarik from me, he shook his head. “I’ve already heard all about what kind of person Frederika is…from her younger sister, Lunarik. The guard was given all the details about her entering Parastomeire this time and about the sisters’ relationship.”

“…Huh?”

I didn’t understand what he was saying.

I was dumbfounded.

The soldier continued, “I’ll be taking custody of Frederika.”

As he spoke, he grabbed ahold of Frederika.

“Wait, what are you…”

I raised my voice and tried to hold on to her hand.

But her hand had lost all its strength and slipped right out of mine, so in the end, she was taken away.

That was when I realized that all of this had been planned by the current Lunarik from the very beginning.

From her perspective, she didn’t really care whether I jumped in to stop her or not.

Four years earlier, Frederika had tried to kill her little sister and gotten expelled from the city. After four years, she had come back into the city to try to reunite with her little sister, and that courageous little sister had gone to the fountain plaza to grant her foolish older sister’s wish.

To the people of this city, that was the truth, which meant that even if the Frederika I knew had lost her life—even if someone like me hadn’t intervened to stop things—there wasn’t a single person in this city who would suspect the current Lunarik.

In this city, Lunarik was known as an admirable girl who possessed a kind heart that was wonderful beyond compare.

And Frederika was known as a girl with a heart as black as they come.

I wondered how it would have looked to bystanders if they had seen the current Frederika collapsed in front of the fountain spitting up blood—and the current Lunarik standing in front of her gripping her wand.

They probably would have seen an inhuman older sister who was trying to take her younger sister’s life for the second time, and a courageous younger sister who was trying to protect herself.

No matter what the current Lunarik did to Frederika when she returned, she must have known that she wouldn’t be accused of any crime.

She had known that it would be considered legitimate self-defense.

“Frederika is sentenced to exile from the city.”

Several days had passed before her sentence was announced.

Frederika was to be cast out. As her companion, I, too, was thrown out of the city alongside her. I wasn’t told that I was exactly banned from ever entering, but…the meaning was the same.

I’m sure I will never come back to this city again.

Looking up at the closed gate with her one eye, Frederika was in a daze.

The past few days, which had flown by in a blur, must have seemed just like an illusion to her. She was wearing an expression that said she still didn’t really comprehend what had just happened and looked awfully stiff.

“…Frederika?”

She noticed my voice and looked over at me.

She was smiling.

A very lonesome smile.

“I’m sorry, Elaina. You got expelled because of me…”

“……” It was heartbreaking to see Frederika concerned about others even at a time like this, and I turned away. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong…”

I couldn’t look her in the eye. I didn’t know what kind of expression she might be wearing. I hung my head and mumbled, “I’m the one who should be apologizing. I wasn’t able to keep my promise to you.”

I don’t want you to get involved—both Frederikas had told me that.

But I hadn’t been able to let them be, no matter how I tried. Most travelers would not have interfered, but I’d had no choice except to meddle. Despite my better judgment, I couldn’t stand by and watch as Frederika was murdered right in front of me.

Even if she was someone I had spent only one night with, I didn’t want her to die.

“It’s fine.” She shook her head. Dropping her gaze, she said, “I should be thanking you for helping me out.”

“……”

“I’m sorry for showing you such an ugly part of my life.”

I was surprised she had enough energy even to think about that, much less apologize for it.

“Elaina, what are you going to do now? I’m thinking of returning to my travels, but…”

“…Me too.”

“I see.”

She was probably putting on a brave front.

She was probably holding back on my account.

“……”

“……”

The two of us stood there silently in front of the city gate, and time passed quietly between us.

We really do have to part ways here.

“…Is there anything I can do?” I asked as I searched for the right words to say to her.

She had been hanging her head, and she slowly turned her eyes up toward me. Her blue eye, the one not obscured by bandages, looked like it had lost all of its light.

That’s how much vitality had gone out of her gaze.

“…All right, will you let me make one request?” she asked, and tilted her head inquisitively.

“What is it?” I replied, also tilting my head in the same way.

“…I want you to stroke my head,” she said falteringly, hesitantly, in a somber tone of voice. “I want you to tell me that I tried my best.” Her request sounded like the kind of modest pleading that a child might use toward a parent. “I want you to praise me. Tell me I’ve done well enduring for so long.”

That was all she asked for; that was her last request.

“……”

And so instead of answering with words, I placed my hand on Frederika’s head.

I mussed her hair, running my fingers through it. Then, to fix the hair that I had disturbed, I slowly, over and over again, stroked Frederika’s hair, which was warm and soft like sunshine.

As my hand touched her head, her eye darted back and forth in bewilderment, and her lip suddenly started quivering. She intertwined her fingers on both hands and gripped her skirt tightly as she started to tremble.

She wasn’t behaving like a traveler, or like an adult.

The person with me was just a hurt little girl.

“……”

As she had wished for, I said, “You’ve really tried your best, haven’t you?”

I’m sure this is what she also wished for all along.

“You’ve endured for so long, it’s very admirable.”

This is probably what the real Frederika, the one transplanted into the Frederika I know, the one full of deep-seated hatred, had wanted all along.

When they were young, if their parents had done this—if anyone had recognized the efforts of the real Frederika—if only someone had done just that much, I’m sure none of this would have ever happened.

She never would have laid a hand on her sister.

She never would have forced her memories on her and transformed into Lunarik.

It never should have happened.

If only someone had done this much, she could have been saved.

But no one could do this sort of thing.

Because the place where they were born was simply a bad place.

“……”

My chest felt like it would burst.

I couldn’t help but find it heartbreaking that even after being hurt this much, even after going through such an awful ordeal, this girl was still trying to save the specter of her older sister that now lived inside her.

I couldn’t help but feel sad for this girl, who wasn’t even trying to save herself.

And so…

“You can live for yourself now, you know.” With one hand still on her head, I used my unoccupied hand to embrace her. “Even if the people of this city don’t see you, even if your parents don’t see you—even if no one sees you as you are now.”

Even if they don’t…

“I see you. I know you,” I told her.

“…Sniff…”

Her trembling fingers clung to my robe. I felt her hot tears on my chest.

“…Can we stay like this for just a little bit longer?” a trembling voice asked.

And so I said…

“Yeah…”

I squeezed her even tighter.

Even when she could no longer hold back her sobbing, I held her tightly enough that no one could hear.

I held her tightly enough that I would never forget her, even after we’d parted.

And that she would never forget me.