Majo no Tabitabi - Volume 9 - Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

The Resurrection Lily That Blooms in Solitude

This happened back when I was still an apprentice witch.

Before I became Saya the Charcoal Witch, I met a certain girl.

New recruits who have been accepted into the United Magic Association must first take lessons from Association witches for several months in order to become fully qualified members.

They study how to handle magic, hear explanations of the kinds of jobs the Association will commission them for, see examples of how the Association has resolved cases in the past, and learn basic skills for coping with situations until they are brought to resolution. Generally speaking, those several months are a period of intense learning in almost every field.

The girl and I first exchanged words around the beginning of this period. It really did happen by complete chance, but if I hadn’t met her then, I doubt I would have ever spoken to her or made friends with her in my life.

I clearly remember the first day I ever spoke to her.

I was studying so I could work at the Association and training so I could become a witch at the same time, so after lectures were over for the day, I would stay behind at the branch office to learn magic from my instructor, Sheila.

I had repeated the same routine every day since arriving in the city, studying and training without a moment’s rest. Accordingly, when it was time for me to go home for the day, the sun was always about to sink below the horizon. Studying made up the entirety of my daily existence.

I spotted the girl right as I was heading back to my lodging, exhausted from my demanding routine.

She had her purple hair tied up in a ponytail on one side of her head, and in spite of the bright color of her hair, there was a shadow hanging over her. She gave off the impression that she had left her mind behind somewhere. She always seemed to be searching for something. She seemed detached from reality. I had never seen her chatting pleasantly with anyone, not at the lectures and not during break times either.

Her name was Monica.

When I came upon her then, she seemed to be in a daze as always, crouching down silently, looking at a flower blooming by the side of the road.

The stem was growing straight up out of the ground. At the top was a red blossom, brighter than the setting sun, its petals spread out in a burst of color.

Monica was just staring at it, fixated.

Staring at the resurrection lily.

“Do you like those flowers?”

Even though I had never spoken to her, I recognized her face, so I stopped walking and addressed her.

“I do,” she answered curtly, without even looking my way.

That was the first time that I heard her surprisingly clear and lovely voice.

“…What are you doing in a place like this?” I had stayed behind late because I had my special training to attend, but usually most of the new recruits dispersed around lunchtime. No one would have stayed at the branch office without a good reason.

“I was studying.” As before, she answered without looking at me.

“Working overtime?”

“……” Monica nodded sharply.

Let me see now, can she really be so dense that she has to stay for extra lessons?

I had my doubts. I had known her for only a few weeks at that point, and this was our first time really meeting—actually, we had never even exchanged words before now—but I knew she always scored highly on our weekly exams.

Surely there’s no need for her to work late? I thought. But immediately after I thought that, I realized something. Maybe the reason she does so well on the exams is because she works late all the time? Wow, such a serious student.

“I can’t concentrate during the lectures, so I stay after class and study.”

This time, she finally turned to look at me. Her purple eyes, the same color as her hair, seemed to sparkle in the evening sun.

“…Is it really that noisy during the lectures?”

The only people taking the lecture courses were the mages who were set to enter the Association as new recruits. We weren’t actually students or anything; it was more like we were receiving training for the posts where we would each be working.

Sure enough, there were some girls who wouldn’t think twice about quietly exchanging a few words with the person sitting next to them during the lectures, but that sort of chatting never got loud or anything. Truthfully, I had never noticed it or been bothered by it.

So I didn’t really understand the meaning behind her words.

“……”

But she didn’t offer any further explanation as I stood there with my head cocked. In her mind, she seemed to have decided that her conversation with me was over. Her eyes had already shifted from me back to the flower.

The resurrection lily.

In my homeland, it was regarded as a sinister, ominous flower.

Monica just kept staring at it.

“It’s so beautiful, but there are people who hate it,” she mumbled.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard anyone call it beautiful.”

“Oh?” As she spoke, she extended a hand toward the resurrection lily.

Oh my, uh-oh!

“Uh, you shouldn’t touch that. It’s poisonous.”

She wouldn’t actually be in any danger just from touching it, but it was the truth that the flower was toxic. I stopped her in somewhat of a panic.

In the bulb, and stem, and leaves, and even the vivid blossom—the resurrection lily had poison in every part of it. The whole thing was chock-full of poison. The reason why it was so hated was probably because it was toxic from root to tip, while having such a lovely appearance.

“…I see.”

She withdrew her hand and stood up.

“It’s so beautiful on the outside, but it does nothing but cause harm. Just like a human.”

As before, I didn’t really understand the meaning behind her words. Probably because I didn’t think that the flower was especially beautiful in the first place.

Even so, I remember that day well, the day that I first spoke to Monica.

That’s because her eyes, the eyes of the girl who had called the resurrection lily beautiful, were hopelessly steeped in sorrow.

I am a traveler who is at the same time affiliated with the United Magic Association, so my reason for hopping from country to country usually has something to do with my job.

Because of my experience traveling to so many places, or maybe because I am burdened with the unwieldy witch name of the Charcoal Witch, the Association often really takes advantage of me, and pressures me to accept jobs that the local registered witches don’t want to do.

In the end, that was the main reason why I had come to this particular city on this particular day. A branch office agent of the United Magic Association had contacted me with an appeal for assistance from a nearby city. So there I was, knocking at the gate.

Emadestrin, a Town Where People Live.

Deep in the gloomy forest, the city seemed to have been there since antiquity, long enough for thick ivy to creep up over the outer wall.

It was a plain, inconspicuous city, a place I probably never would have visited if I didn’t have some business there.

As soon as I passed through the gate, a city official appeared before me. “You must be Lady Saya, the Charcoal Witch. We’ve been awaiting your arrival. Thank you very much for accepting this commission from our city.”

Since I have a very petite frame, people often look puzzled when they first meet me. Many even doubt my abilities as a witch, despite my record handling various urgent matters. The official standing before me here, however, didn’t react like that at all.

“Lady Saya, did you read the documents we sent concerning the incidents?”

Or maybe he simply had no interest in me personally. The official plowed straight through the formalities and, still wearing a stiff smile, immediately launched into the topic of the job at hand.

“…I read them on the way, mostly.”

I nodded.

The Association had provided me with a dossier.

“Well then, my apologies for getting straight to it, but…” The official turned on his heel and urged me to follow. “I don’t know whether your timing was good or bad, but this morning we had another incident, so I decided that I’d like to have a witch take a look at the scene. If you please.”

I nodded and followed the official.

The simple, modest scenery of a city lined with old brick houses spread out before my eyes. It did not seem like the kind of town that would play host to any gruesome affairs or bloody incidents.

But, of course, that wasn’t the case, which was why I had been summoned.

“It was apparently spotted this morning by a restaurant worker who was taking out the trash.”

In a back alley.

The city official matter-of-factly explained the ghastly scene to me. The victim was an unmarried woman who had lived nearby. From the state of the remains, the conclusion was that she had died sometime the previous night.

“First of all, there can be no doubt that this was the work of the bloodthirsty serial killer who has been terrorizing our city. We’ve been seeing the same thing all across town. The killer leaves no external wounds and lays the victim’s body out in an alleyway.”

According to the request that was sent over to the United Magic Association, the killer had appeared about half a year earlier.

At first, everyone thought that victims were just collapsing in the street.

Then, one cold winter night…

Someone reported an awful smell outside their home, and when officials rushed over to investigate, they discovered a man was dead in a nearby alley. He was a homeless man who had been loitering around the area for a while, so no one had paid any attention when they saw him lying on the ground. No one had imagined that he was dead, and that had delayed the discovery. His body had no external wounds, his clothes weren’t torn or ruffled, and there was a stolen bottle of alcohol lying nearby. From this evidence, city officials concluded that the man had simply collapsed and died.

But there was one peculiar thing about the scene: the position of his corpse.

His hands were tightly clasped, almost as if he were offering prayers to some deity, and he had died looking upward, face to the sky.

What on earth could he have been praying for?

Then, several days later, it became clear that this unfortunate homeless man had not, in fact, simply dropped dead all on his own.

Another corpse turned up in another alley.

This time, it was a young man in his thirties. He was a shopkeeper who had just opened a store nearby. A man who didn’t seem to be having any difficulties in life. And there he lay, dead.

Just like the homeless man, he was found on his back, facing the sky, hands clasped as if in prayer.

The third victim was a teenage girl. She was an upstanding young woman who had never caused any trouble at home or at school, and she, too, was discovered in an alleyway, praying to the sky.

More bodies were discovered after that.

One victim was an elderly person. Another, a young person. Another, a man. A woman, too.

There was no connection to the weather, or the phases of the moon, and nothing seemed to connect the victims. The frequency of the murders was also scattered. Sometimes, two bodies would show up, one after another, and other times, half a month would go by without an incident. But over the past six months, too many people had been discovered lying discarded in back alleys.

“The only thing I can assume is that the killer is somehow mocking the customs of our city,” the official spit coldly as he stared down at a woman’s corpse praying to the dark but cloudless sky.

Here in Emadestrin, a Town Where People Live, the death of a human was regarded as the greatest of tragedies. Whether by murder or suicide, the act of snatching away a human life for any reason was considered the worst thing a person could do. So a series of murders like this was perhaps the most shocking thing imaginable.

So that was the sequence of events that led the city to request assistance from the United Magic Association.

However…

“…I thought there was a mage in this city who was affiliated with the United Magic Association. What’s become of her?”

As soon as I’d gotten the request from this city, there had been no doubt about it. This city—Emadestrin, a Town Where People Live, was her hometown.

Monica.

The girl who always stayed late studying, who always got top marks on her exams and kept her grades up—she should have been working here.

That brilliant girl, much more capable than someone like me, was supposed to be here.

“……”

The official was silent for a while, then slowly nodded. “Yes…as you say, there is a mage in our city who is affiliated with the United Magic Association. I expect she is headed here as we speak. I believe you will be collaborating with her on this investigation.”

“…Is that so?” I nodded.

Then the official added, “But listen, Lady Witch, please don’t rely too heavily on her. We summoned you because it didn’t seem like she could solve this on her own.”

Walking through town, I could hear people mourning. I was not surprised, considering another gruesome incident had occurred.

I dropped my gaze to the brick-paved road as I walked, and all that reached my ears were voices full of disgust for the person who had let the culprit escape again.

“It’s Monica.”

“What is she doing in a place like this?”

“Even though she’s a mage, she can’t solve these crimes.”

“What a useless mage she is…”

“She used to be much better, brilliant even…”

“At any rate, I don’t suppose she’s managed to find any clues today either.”

I had been told that a witch was coming from the United Magic Association to help me today. Whether because of the difficulty of the case or my own incompetence in finding any leads, the city had apparently decided to enlist the help of someone else.

It was an unusual move for a place that didn’t like to deal with outsiders, proof of the desperation and fear gripping the city in the wake of these serial murders.

“……”

I was sure that the city would have preferred to deal with the problem on its own rather than recruit outside help. However, I was apparently completely incapable of handling the matter.

When I’d first started working at the government office, there was no case I couldn’t solve. But this case was different. Far from solving it, I couldn’t even find any clues. So everyone thought I was totally incompetent.

Despite going to the trouble of taking myself to a foreign country and becoming an Association-affiliated mage, if I couldn’t manage to produce some results in this case, then what good was the moon-shaped brooch on my chest anyway? That question had been hurled at me many times over these six months.

I didn’t have any experience with people getting angry at me, so each time I just answered, “I’ll get it right next time.”

But the city had apparently finally given up on me.

The result was an appeal for assistance.

I was almost certainly finished here.

“Tomorrow, a witch is coming from the head office of the United Magic Association to help us. You will act as her assistant.”

When I had been informed of that the day before, I finally understood. I knew that there wouldn’t be a next case, not for me, not if I couldn’t solve this one.

Pretending not to hear the scathing criticism that people hurled at me freely, I turned a corner and ducked into a back alley.

I didn’t want to meet her.

I would know what she thought of me as soon as I saw her, so I really, really didn’t want to.

After all, any witch from the Association would surely ridicule me, just like the people of this city.

I would be exposed as a pathetic mage who had accomplished nothing despite dressing myself in a robe—the formal uniform.

So I really didn’t want to meet her.

“……”

From the darkness of the alley, the witch turned to look at me.

But—

What I saw on her face was not disgust or scornful laughter.

Instead, there was joy and affection.

“…Monica.”

She called my name.

I saw a very familiar face before me.

“…Saya.”

My one and only friend was standing there.

I remember it like it was yesterday.

“Basically, the United Magic Association gets requests to solve cases and incidents that have something to do with magic, and sometimes we get called in when it’s still unclear whether the situation was originally caused by a mage or not. That’s my area of responsibility. Nice to meet you all.”

My teacher, Sheila, was also a lecturer for the new recruits.

Her specific area of responsibility was murder cases.

She spoke matter-of-factly, standing at the lectern in front of the new-recruit mages, who were seated in rows of chairs.

“You could say that murder cases are the most troublesome among all the commissions that the United Magic Association receives. Because at the time the request is made, we don’t even know whether the culprit is a mage or not, you see?”

Mm-hmm, I see. I nodded with a know-it-all look on my face.

“By the way, what do you think is the first thing we have to do when we get a request to work on a murder case? Saya.”

“Huh? Why are you calling on me?”

“You were nodding along.”

“……”

I shouldn’t have had that know-it-all look on… She surprised me with a question, and I don’t know the answer… This is the first lecture…

I started to panic under Sheila’s fixed gaze. But she kept staring. The look in her eyes was threatening—Hurry up and answer, hey, if you can’t answer, it must mean you don’t know—and grew ever sharper. I kept on panicking. Before long, my eyes filled with tears. I was done for.

Eventually, a pen on my desk started to rattle around. At first, I thought that my own trembling was shaking the desk, but when the pen floated up in the air and started to scrawl out letters, I realized that it was moving because of magic.

The pen began writing words in thin air.

“…‘Learn about the area’?”

I read out exactly what it wrote, and Sheila nodded.

“That’s right. When an incident has occurred, the most important thing to do first is to learn about the region where the incident took place. For example, if a series of murders have occurred in a country where there are no magic users, most of the time, the culprit is probably not a mage. That’s because a mage would stand out in a place without any other mages. The opposite is also true. When it comes to murder cases—especially serial murders—it’s rare that a visitor is the one doing the killing. It’s best to think of the culprit as someone who’s local.”

Continuing from there, Sheila launched into her lecture proper.

The pen that had written words on its own fell with a clatter onto my notebook. Someone had apparently given me a helping hand.

Sitting in the seat next to me was Monica.

“……” She sneakily tucked away her wand so that I wouldn’t see it. But the truth was obvious. I leaned over and whispered into her ear quietly enough that no one else could hear.

“…Did you prepare for the lesson?”

“More or less,” she said with a nod.

“Thank you for helping me.”

“Whatever.” She immediately turned away.

Generally, that’s about how it went with her. Somehow, she and I started talking to each other after that and started doing things together, too.

“Monica! Want to eat lunch together?”

“Whatever.”

“That means we can eat together, right? I get it!”

After that, we started eating lunch together regularly.

“Monica! It’s break time; do you want to chat?”

“Whatever.”

“That means you do, right? I get it! By the way, what do you do on the weekends?”

“Nothing.”

She and I also started spending our breaks together.

“Monica, where are you from?”

“Emadestrin, a Town Where People Live.”

“When our training period is over, will you go back to your hometown to get a job?”

“I have no plans to return.”

“Oh, so you’ll work in some other country or something?”

“I haven’t thought about it.”

“……”

“……”

Coincidentally, we also started heading home together more frequently.

……

Actually, it’s possible that I was just developing a one-sided connection with her.

But just because she didn’t particularly want to talk to anyone, that didn’t mean that she had to be alone. And just because she wasn’t inclined to make friends with anyone, that didn’t mean that she had to just stare out the window.

As time passed, her attitude gradually softened up.

“Monica, what do you do on the weekends?”

“I get up, read a book, study, and go to bed. In short, I do nothing,” she answered.

“Is that so…?” I struggled to respond.

About a month had gone by since we started taking courses at the United Magic Association, and I had kept up with both my lectures and my training to become a witch, every day without pause, whether it was a weekday or a weekend. But suddenly, I had an actual break coming up, for the first time in a long while.

My teacher Sheila had received a request for aid from a nearby country. She’d told me, along with a snarky comment about it being “a real pain in the ass,” that we would be taking a break from training that weekend. In other words, since my training plans for the weekend were now wiped clean, and an unexpected gap had suddenly opened in my normally jam-packed schedule.

So since this was such a rare occurrence, I thought I might try walking around someplace other than the Magic Association branch campus, but…it occurred to me that Monica was in the same boat as me, and only ever went between her lodgings and the branch campus and back again.

“…I don’t normally do anything on the weekends, but if I do happen to have some free time, I go out into town and wander around.” Surprisingly, Monica seemed to read my mind, and suggested, “…If you want to go sightseeing around town, I’ll go with you.”

I was delighted.

Both with the suggestion itself, and the fact that Monica had proposed something like that, when she was always so cold.

“All right, then, would you please show me around a bit?”

So I took her up on her offer.

And I depended on her in the days after that as well.

She wore a grumpy expression, but she accepted my request.

She might be cold, but she’s a good person.

After we’d turned the corpse in the alley over to the custody of the city’s medical experts, Monica and I headed for city hall.

There didn’t seem to be a branch office of the United Magic Association here, and in its absence, the government apparently handled cases and incidents related to magic in a department in city hall.

Well, I say “department,” but…

“Basically, I alone am responsible for dealing with all cases and incidents related to magic. As you can see.”

The room I was shown to contained a sofa for receiving visitors and a desk scattered with papers. There were apparently quite a few magic users in the city, but it didn’t seem like any of them were keen on working for the government.

“Most mages work at the hospital… It’s rare for one of us to take this kind of employment.”

Apparently, Monica had been sleeping in her office because there were blankets on the sofa and a pile of discarded clothes nearby. For a room in a government building, it had a real lived-in feel.

“…Can you manage the job on your own?”

“I could, at least until these past six months.”

Huh? Reeeally?

I couldn’t help narrowing my eyes intently, given the state of the room…

“They told me I could use the office however I wanted…”

Monica averted her eyes, seeming a little ashamed under my gaze.

“…Are you doing all right? Have you been sleeping?”

“Not much lately.”

The incidents had probably cut into her sleeping time.

“I hope the incidents are over soon.”

“No kidding.” Monica yawned once, then sat down on the sofa. “Please.” She urged me to sit, too. I sat down facing her.

Then, taking another long, hard look at me, she said, “But to think the witch they sent us turned out to be you. What a surprise!”

The fact that she didn’t actually look all that surprised was probably because she had never been very expressive. She didn’t seem to have changed a bit from when we were new recruits.

“I was surprised, too. I heard that a request for aid had come in from your hometown, so—”

I had figured the situation must really be dire if Monica couldn’t deal with it. She was an excellent mage, much more talented than someone like me.

She was certainly more cut out for the work than stumpy little Saya, even if I did carry the title of “witch.”

“…………” After a very solemn silence, Monica said, “…It’s a case that I just couldn’t solve.” She averted her eyes.

“I’ve already read the details in the files they sent over. Seems like a really troublesome serial murderer, huh?”

“If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t have called for backup.”

I knew we had learned some general information about murder cases and the strategies for solving them in our training courses when she and I were new recruits, but even so, this case was daunting.

Speaking boldly and honestly, I hadn’t been enthusiastic about coming to this city, both because it was Monica’s hometown and because I had had a hunch that this case would be difficult to untangle.

“What do we do now?” Monica tilted her head inquisitively.

“Well, we’re in a situation with no clues, but…still, we know what we have to do.”

“…What’s that?”

Let’s recall what we learned in our lectures. When we come across a murder case, as members of the United Magic Association, we know what the first thing to do is.

Namely, we must learn about the area.

In other words…

“Would you please show me around town a little?”

Considering I was currently quite unpopular around town, I had hoped to avoid walking around with Saya. But since she had asked, I figured it couldn’t be helped.

I took her to many places throughout the city.

We started with the spot where the first incident had taken place. It was an ordinary back alley, sandwiched between two houses. Our next stop was the alley near the restaurant. Then an alley near the bakery. After that, another alley between houses. And another alley. Then we went to an alley, and another alley after that.

“What’s up with all the alleys?!” After walking through more than ten of them, Saya expressed her frustration at yet another alley. “Jeez!”

I shook my head and answered simply, “The incidents all happened in places like this.”

“Are there no places we could visit other than the crime scenes?”

If we were going to follow what we learned when we were new recruits, we needed to tour the city in order to get to know the area. I knew that was why she’d asked me to show her around town. However…

“This tour has been back-alley-focused, but you should have gotten a clear idea of the atmosphere of the city,” I said. “Our city isn’t an especially dangerous place, you see. And there are a fair number of mages, but it’s mostly non–magic users.”

“……” As Saya listened to what I was saying, she stared at the people coming and going down the main thoroughfare that was visible from the darkness of the alley. “But the wealth disparity is pretty extreme, huh?”

Walking out there in the sunlight were the city’s valued citizens.

Saya had probably noticed the disparity while we were walking through town, and she was exactly right.

“It’s probably more accurate to say that it’s easy for mages to become rich.”

Every one of the mages mixed into the crowd looked like they were dressed in resplendent fashion. Their triangular hats were decorated with golden ornaments, and some wore necklaces of jewels on their chests. It was obvious they had more money than they knew what to do with.

But that didn’t seem out of place to me. It was only natural that mages had an easier time making money.

Because there are lots of things that mages can do better.

And there are some things that only mages can do.

So it was unavoidable.

“…So are there no places we could visit other than the crime scenes?” Saya was still staring at the road.

I nodded. “Just one place.”

The place where most of the mages living in the city worked. The hospital.

The hospital was the only place that treated injuries and illnesses and developed new medicines. It was also where corpses were taken for autopsy. In many ways, the hospital was the heart of the city.

Most mages worked there, to help the citizens of Emadestrin. They were indispensable to the community, and I had no doubt that the people placed more confidence in them than in someone like me.

At the same time, I knew that the mages at the hospital were less than pleased every time I came in with the fresh corpse of yet another murder victim.

So if I’d had any way to refuse, I would have avoided taking Saya there at all.

“Take me there, please.” But she turned around and smiled at me. “Let’s hurry up and finish our work for the day, and then go get something good to eat together!”

I felt my chest tighten.

The largest, oldest building in Emadestrin, a Town Where People Live, was the hospital. There wasn’t even any need for me to show Saya the way. I just said, “That’s the hospital over there,” and started walking, with her accompanying me. We didn’t even talk on the way, and it didn’t take much time before we arrived.

When we went inside, a doctor rushed over to us as soon as she saw me. “We finished the autopsy,” she said icily.

She was the physician in charge of autopsies, Frauze.

The doctor led the two of us to the morgue. “Though I doubt you’ll figure anything out by seeing it,” Frauze whispered bitterly, so that Saya wouldn’t hear, and then she showed us the body of a girl who had collapsed in an alleyway.

“As you can see, there are no external wounds. And no toxic substances were detected. It’s likely that healing magic was used on her after she was killed. There were no clues left behind on this corpse.”

“……” Saya, who had stayed about three steps behind me ever since we arrived at the hospital, frowned and looked away from the body. “In other words, it fits the motive of the murderer in question?”

For some reason, her voice sounded pained. It was obvious that she was not used to looking at dead bodies, and her breathing had become a little ragged, as if she had forgotten how to breathe.

“That’s correct.” Frauze nodded. “She was most likely killed in her sleep, and then her body was restored to its normal state… It’s a small mercy that she was able to meet her end without suffering.”

The killer’s victims were abandoned in back alleys, looking like beautiful dolls that had never had life in them to begin with. No matter how well the culprit fixed up the corpses, even if they knit every wound, it didn’t change the fact that the victims would never return to life.

“I wonder why the culprit leaves the bodies in alleyways? If killing people is the goal, then it seems like going to all the trouble of fixing them up just to dump them outside would be a big waste of effort.”

Frauze shook her head at Saya’s question. “My job is examining the corpses. I really have no idea.”

“……”

“I shall cooperate with you to the best of my ability, so that this case can be solved as promptly as possible.” As she spoke, Frauze covered the body up with a sheet. “However, aside from the fact that the perpetrator was the same killer as before, there is nothing else I can learn from this corpse. I’m terribly sorry that I can’t be of more assistance…”

Then she bowed once politely and, in a detached, formal tone, said stiffly, “Again, you have our full cooperation, that you may solve these cases as quickly as possible.”

This came as no surprise to me. It would have been nice if the most recent body had provided any clues, but I’d known it was a long shot. Our investigation was immediately at a standstill.

“No clues again, huh…? I thought maybe we would learn something by looking at the body, but…”

Walking briskly in front of me, Saya was trying to get out of the hospital quickly.

If there weren’t any clues, then we no longer had any business there.

“Let’s go back to city hall. There’s nothing for us here.”

“…You’re right.”

I couldn’t stand the hospital. I had never wanted to go there in the first place, partially because I knew that there wouldn’t be any clues for us, but that wasn’t the only reason I had been so reluctant.

The real reason I hated the hospital was the awful sense of despair that seemed to envelop the place.

“…This is the infirmary, isn’t it?” As Saya walked down the hallway, she peered into the rooms one by one.

Inside were rows of feeble patients laid out on cots.

“Lycoris Disease.”

“…What?”

“It’s an illness that has been spreading through our city for some time,” I explained from behind her. “People get infected without knowing it, and once the illness takes hold, the first symptom to appear is a high fever. When the fever dies down, next they lose the ability to move, then gradually lose all control over their bodies, lose consciousness, and then finally, they fall into a vegetative state.”

“……”

“Even when we’re able to detect it early, before fever symptoms start to show, we haven’t been able to slow the progression of the disease.”

By the time the illness was detected in a patient’s body, they were faced with an awful choice. They could either leave the city and die someplace else, or they could die here after being burdened with immense medical expenses. But in order to leave the city, they had to deal with equally immense departure costs. In the end, normal people without any money had little choice but to stay.

However, taking a life in any capacity was a serious crime in the city. That applied to euthanasia as well. Even stopping the administration of medication to someone who was riddled with disease and possibly unconscious was considered no different than premeditated murder.

For that reason, the mages working at the hospital could not stop treating these patients. And that’s why despair ran rampant through the place.

“…In other words, as soon as someone contracts the disease, their grim fate is sealed?”

“Right.” I nodded. “All they can do is lie in bed and endure the suffering until they die.”

It was a miserable thought, but there was nothing anyone could do. So the mages continued their treatments, prolonging the lives of people who were never going to recover.

I couldn’t stand this place.

Because the contradictions of this city were on display at every turn.

“Oh, Monica came by, huh?”

“She must be investigating another case.”

“What an unpleasant sight she is.”

“She can’t do anything.”

Besides that, voices criticizing my incompetence echoed freely down the halls.

“She’ll never live up to her father’s legacy, I guess,” someone uttered.

I stopped in my tracks and turned around, but nobody was looking my way. As if they had all conspired together, everyone had their back to me and was walking away.

“…What’s wrong, Monica?”

“…No, it’s nothing.”

I shook my head and followed Saya out.

At least I could consider it a silver lining that the voices hadn’t seemed to reach Saya’s ears.

Saya and I stuck together for a while even after I’d finished showing her around.

“Say, Monica? Let’s interview witnesses for the investigation this afternoon!”

“…I don’t think we’re going to find any clues, though.”

“Come on, don’t say that!”

Saya dragged me outside, and we started to interview various people. From afternoon until night, we wandered around town, even though I knew perfectly well that it wouldn’t yield any results no matter how long we kept at it, since I had already long since investigated whether or not there were any eyewitnesses among the citizens.

Yet Saya walked around town the following day, and the day after that, pulling me along behind her.

Nearly every day, she would visit various places with me, buy some snacks, go watch a show, and do other, similar leisure activities. Then she would conduct some interviews about the incidents almost as an afterthought.

“All right, Monica, where should we go next?” Saya smiled at me as we walked through a crowd. She was carrying an armful of bread that she had purchased at a nearby street stall.

“…You’ve got to be kidding?”

To start with, the place that we were visiting now was a main street that had nothing at all to do with the incidents. It was an utterly inappropriate place to conduct witness interviews, and it was obvious that coming here was a wasted effort.

There was no meaning to it at all.

“I’m doing my job, more or less,” Saya said to me as I frowned suspiciously at her. “I’ve come to a place that has nothing to do with the incidents, and I’m watching the reactions of the townspeople.”

“…For what purpose?” I tilted my head.

Saya answered matter-of-factly, “Humans are selfish creatures, so no matter how many others are suffering, they can ignore it as long as it’s happening somewhere else.” Pressing a piece of bread into my hands, she continued, “And at least around here, there aren’t that many people who are upset with you. If anything, there are too many people around to tell who might hate you, right, Monica?” Saya said, as if it was a matter of course.

I thought I had managed to keep my troubles hidden from her, but she had obviously guessed what was going on with no difficulty.

“…………” So I was surprised. “You noticed?”

I felt just like she had read my mind.

“I knew right away. You had such a pained look on your face.”

“…I thought I had on the same expression as I always do, but—”

“That’s not what it looked like to me, not at all.”

“Oh?”

“No. When someone is in pain, sometimes it’s all they can think about. They don’t have the energy to think about anything else.” Saya took another bite of bread, swallowed it, and continued, “You may think you’re acting normally, but everyone else can see that that’s not true at all.”

“…………”

“When you’re having a tough time, the best thing to do is to cast aside everything in your head and wander around absentmindedly in an unfamiliar place, thinking about nothing. So now that we’re somewhere that has nothing to do with the incidents, will you wander awhile like this with me?”

It seemed like I was even more exhausted than I had realized.

The bread that Saya had given to me was unbelievably delicious. As it passed my lips and dropped into my empty belly, I remembered that I had hardly eaten anything in the past few days.

“It’s good, right? Well, it is bread that I bought, after all!”

Bossy Saya was there by my side, spouting logic that I hardly understood.

I smiled.

“That’s what I like about you.”

“Aw, I’m blushing.”

I wanted this peaceful time to continue forever, just like this.

But…

“Saya, don’t forget that we have a mission… We have to solve this case as quickly as possible.”

“There’s no problem there,” snorted the bossy Saya proudly. “After all, visiting a place that has no connection to the incidents is also the thing to do when an investigation gets tough.”

Then she pointed to the edge of the street.

This was a place with lots of pedestrian traffic, so there were all sorts of folks coming and going. People shopping. The fragrance of delicious-smelling food. Carts carrying heavy loads. Adults on their way to work. Mages buying snacks. People passing up and down the street on all sorts of business.

We also noticed a homeless man on the side of the broad street, someone who had nowhere else to go. Saya was pointing at the man, who I could see was sitting on a wooden crate, begging for money from passersby.

“If I remember correctly, the first victim was a homeless man, right?” She looked excited as she gazed at the man by the side of the road. “And look, the pose that he’s in, doesn’t it resemble the way that all the victims were praying?”

In other words, she seemed to have discovered a connection between the incidents and this homeless man, who was begging for money.

I let out a sigh.

“…He’s not praying.”

“Hm? Then what is that pose?”

I answered, “He’s begging for salvation.”

Up until now, I had never asked anyone for help, or expected anything from anyone.

I had always believed that it was pointless to do so.

My mother left us before I was old enough to understand, and my father, who was a doctor, worked late every night, so I was always left at home alone. Even when my father did come home, all he did was drink. I had no memories of playing with my father when I was young.

I always did all the cooking and housework by myself. Other adults would frown and say, “Poor thing,” as they watched me do the shopping when I was a child, not yet ten years old. But I knew perfectly well that my father loved me from the bottom of his heart. Much more than the strangers who just pitied me from a distance. He loved me deeply.

From the time I was very small, my father wanted to get me out of the city.

“You’re a magical genius,” he told me. “It would be a waste for you to use your powers in a narrow-minded place like this.”

He said such things to me often. Eventually I found myself wanting to meet my father’s expectations and get out of the city.

So I worked hard, harder than anyone else. All the other kids who had been born into magical families aspired to become local doctors, but I alone began to study to join the United Magic Association. Everyone looked at me like I was some kind of freak. Some people thought I was just eccentric, and other people looked down on me, calling me my father’s puppet.

Despite all that, I continued studying, trying to live up to my father’s expectations.

I easily passed my mage exams (either because I studied so hard, or maybe just because nobody else in my hometown was interested in working for the United Magic Association) and was all ready to leave the city.

My father paid the unbelievably expensive departure costs for me, and I set off. He’d been too busy with work to see me off in person. The last words I ever exchanged with him were earlier the day of my departure, when he’d suddenly told me, “Don’t ever come back here.”

That was the only thing he ever said to me that resembled a farewell.

In his eyes as he looked at me then, I could see his feelings for my mother, whose face I had never known.

In truth, I had always wanted to save lives, just like my father. But I had never admitted it out loud.

I had known everything since I was young.

I had known, better than anyone, that my father hoped I wouldn’t live my life as he had.

And yet in the end, I had returned to the city.

Once I was accepted into the United Magic Association, I was supposed to spend the first few months attending lectures with all the other new recruits.

Personally, I thought it would be a waste of time.

All my fellow students were confident, outgoing girls, and when lessons were over, they would stand around the lecture hall asking each other if they wanted to go get something to eat or hang out elsewhere. It seemed like they were only interested in having a good time.

Rather than concern themselves with their future responsibilities, all they worried about was having fun and goofing off when they should have been studying. From what I could see, there was only one other girl there who was earnestly trying to learn anything.

“I will definitely become a witch, I will definitely become a witch, I will become a witch, I will become a witch, I will become a witch, I will become a witch, I will become a witch, I will become a witch…”

She was the odd one out, mumbling her mantra in the seat next to mine.

“…………”

Her face was stiff with nervousness when she first introduced herself and told me her name was Saya. There was definitely something strange about her. She said she wanted to work with the Association while traveling.

Most of the new recruits in our class were planning to return to their hometowns as soon as their training was over, so that they could work for their local branch offices. Someone like Saya, who wasn’t planning to go back home, really stood out.

She and I had that in common.

Maybe that was why I noticed her. Every day, she showed up to class looking like she was at death’s door, and during breaks she just studied. She didn’t speak to anyone. Once the lectures for the day had ended, she would immediately run off somewhere. There were times that other girls attempted to invite her to go hang out, but in the end, she barely seemed to acknowledge them. Eventually, everyone began to think of her as an oddball, but she didn’t seem to even notice.

The other mages back in my hometown had looked at me the same way. Maybe that explained the strange affinity I felt for her.

I decided at some point that I would like to try to talk to her sometime. But even though I was interested, I hadn’t actually spoken to anyone either, and I strongly doubted that I would ever get the chance.

Even now, I remember our first conversation quite well. We ran into each other on the way home from studying.

From that day on—actually, from the next day on—she made a point to come talk to me during every break and after every lecture. Probably because I had caught her attention during class.

When she did, I gave her only cold, short responses. Which was the opposite of how I really felt.

When other girls approached me, they didn’t even try to hide their intentions. They were only interested because I was a good student. So it took me a long time to let my guard down.

Even so, Saya kept talking to me.

I was so happy.

Eventually, she and I became friends.

“And then, see, the witch who helped me out back then, Elaina is her name, she’s generally a pretty good person, and—”

Saya often talked about the witch who’d rescued her.

Really, really often.

Enough that I was completely sick of hearing about her.

“…I’ve heard this story ten times already.”

“Great, I’ll tell you a hundred more times!”

“……”

According to Saya, this Elaina person was the witch who had inspired her to become a witch herself.

Even though I made terribly bored faces at Saya whenever she repeated the same stories over and over, I really felt jealous that she knew a witch who had had such an influence on her.

I thought about how nice it would be to mean that much to someone.

Saya and I talked about a lot during that time together, but none of it was worth noting. Our time together as students was not particularly exciting.

However, I loved the time that I spent with Saya. Even though I always wore a sullen expression, I loved hearing her tell me about herself, and I loved every minute that she spent with me.

We began walking home together after lectures each day.

“She’s as merciless as ever…”

Miss Sheila, Saya’s teacher, must have been very strict, because Saya was always completely exhausted. I didn’t know why she put up with it, maybe because of how badly she wanted to become a witch, or because she wanted to catch up with Elaina or whoever. Whatever the case, Saya was completely absorbed in her training. She certainly didn’t balk at hard work. Compared to the other girls, who were just going through the motions of taking the lectures, Saya seemed much engaged.

“…Sorry to hear that. If you’d like, we could go get something to eat.”

“Yes, please!”

Saya was the kind of girl whose intentions were always written plainly on her face. As soon as I looked at her, I could tell what she was thinking. She did not seem to have a single underhanded bone in her body. If she was happy, she smiled broadly; if she was sad, she frowned; and if she felt hungry, you could read it on her face.

She always said what was really on her mind, and I felt like I could trust her more than anyone else. That was why we could spend time together.

“You’re a really honest person, aren’t you?”

“Well, there’s no reason to lie, is there? I’m hungry!” Saya answered coolly. She added, “Actually, I lied once a long time ago, but I got found out.”

“By Elaina, right? I know.”

“Did I tell you about this already?”

“Only about ten times or so.”

“Well, I’ll just have to tell you a hundred times, then!”

“Please don’t. My ears will fall off.”

Saya was always repeating the stories she told me about herself.

One day during a break, as she was animatedly telling me some trivial tale, I’d asked her for the first and only time: “…Why do you tell me these stories about yourself?”

Saya had looked at me with a curious expression, then, as expected, answered me truthfully, “Hm? Isn’t it normal to want your friends to know more about you?”

“…………”

I wondered just how normal that was.

I had never made a friend before, I had never wanted anyone to know about me, and I had never met anyone whom I cared to get to know.

In my case…

I had also never been able to trust anyone else.

“…And is it normal to accept your friends for who they are?”

Even I had to wonder what I was asking. I would have been utterly bewildered if anyone had suddenly asked me such a thing.

Saya tilted her head curiously. I could tell that she was wondering what I was getting at. But then she laughed easily and said, “Well, I’m not sure, but I think that would be a normal thing to do, right?”

Of course, these words, too, contained no lies, only her true feelings.

“…………”

That was when a foolish thought came to me. I thought that maybe, if anyone could understand me, it would be Saya. That this girl in front of me might somehow choose to stay with me even after she knew about my past.

And so…

“The thing is, I…,” I started to tell her.

To tell her my truth.

The truth about me.

But…

“Break’s over. Lecture’s starting, so take your seats.”

…I had really bad timing. As soon as I opened my mouth to speak, Miss Sheila casually strolled through the door to the lecture hall.

“Ah! Sorry! We’ll talk later!” Saya hurriedly returned to her own seat. She seemed particularly intimidated by her teacher.

In the end, I didn’t get the chance to tell her my secret.

I kept that secret, which I had never told anyone, not even my father, hidden in my heart, as the lecture began.

“Generally speaking, serial killers can be divided into two criminal categories.”

My teacher Sheila was giving a lecture about how serial killers can be sorted into the predatory hunter type and the impulsive type.

“One category contains the people who kill because they enjoy it. These are typically intelligent people who understand that murder flies in the face of morality. Fundamentally, this variety of killer is smart, and proficient at communicating with others. Often both of their parents are alive and well, and they were born into the upper social classes. Killers with these characteristics frequently think of murder as a hobby. In other words, these are the hunters.”

Sheila continued, “But the other major type of killer is the opposite of the hunter. They don’t actually enjoy killing, and they’re not capable of understanding that it is wrong. Typically, killers of this type are less intellectual and have difficulty communicating with other people. Oftentimes they have only one parent. Poverty may also be a factor. Killers with these characteristics often suffer from visual and auditory hallucinations, and that suffering leads them to commit murder. In short, to these impulsive types, killing people is simply a means to an end…but there are those serial killers who do not fit either of these classifications. Do you know why that might be? Monica?”

Sheila suddenly called on Monica, but Monica didn’t look worried at all. With a very cool expression, she answered, “Because those people likely possess characteristics of both classifications.”

Sheila nodded. Monica had apparently answered correctly.

“That’s right. And this type of serial killer is considered to be even more difficult to catch. Hunters tend to be very selective about their prey. Most of them also use weapons that they have prepared beforehand, so if you base your investigation on the victims and the tools used to kill them, it’s easy to narrow down a suspect. Impulsive killers aren’t too picky and kill at random—on impulse—but since they often improvise weapons and tend to make a mess of the crime scene, they usually leave plenty of physical evidence, and you can narrow down a suspect if you start your investigation from the scene of the crime. But people who have both types of characteristics are a different story.”

Sheila explained that, basically, they leave no evidence behind at the scene, and it’s extremely difficult to figure out how they choose their victims.

“Killers who fall outside the two major categories are almost impossible to profile. If you find yourself on the trail of one of those, you can expect a difficult investigation.”

She must have confronted such a killer in the past. Sheila stood in front of the lectern, shrugged her shoulders, and let out a sigh.

“It might take you a long time to catch them, which can sometimes lead the community you’re working in to doubt your abilities. This can be…difficult.”

At the time, Sheila had warned us, almost like a threat—

“You’d better be prepared if you ever have to deal with that type of killer.”

And then we found out that it really was just like Sheila had said.

All that I knew, after entering this city and investigating for several days, was that the culprit left no clues to speak of. The killer appeared out of nowhere, committed the murder, and disappeared without leaving behind any evidence. We didn’t even know the killer’s age or gender, let alone any defining characteristics, and all we had done was waste precious time.

Monica and I had started going on patrol together, hoping to at least prevent any more murders from occurring. Even though the city’s soldiers were supposed to be keeping watch, we felt that only mages like us were fit to take on another mage, so with Monica by my side, I walked around the city every night until it was late.

A week passed.

As always, there were no developments in our investigation.

And so the curtain fell on another day, free of death.

How pleasant it would be if we could just spend our time like this. How joyous if things would stay like this, with no murders.

“So what it comes down to is that a serial killer who is both impulsive and a hunter is someone who is very intelligent yet feels compelled to kill people—is that what it means?”

“If they possess characteristics of both types, then I think that’s what it means.”

“I wonder why they have to kill people.”

“Who knows?” Monica’s voice was cold. “I wonder why, myself.”

It wasn’t something I often heard Monica say. Ordinarily, Monica just knew things; her knowledge seemed boundless. For instance, during our lessons, whenever there had been something I hadn’t been able to understand, she had always quickly explained things for me.

It always seemed like there was nothing that Monica didn’t know.

I smiled at her. “Monica, where should we go tomorrow?”

As I looked at her from the side, her expression seemed wracked with distress.

I had been thinking that she must be wearing herself out again, and that we ought to go somewhere to relax.

I wanted to see Monica smile again, even just a little.

But she seemed to see right through me and shook her head.

“We have work tomorrow, too. I’m not going anywhere unrelated to the case, like we did before.”

“But—”

“I’m not going.”

Then she came to a sudden halt.

“……”

A moment later, I stopped, too. When I turned around, I saw Monica standing beneath a streetlight, hanging her head.

She stood in the light, but her expression was dark, as if she might dissolve into the shadows at any moment.

I spoke to her.

“…All right, at the very least, if something’s bothering you, won’t you discuss it with me? You’re my friend, Monica. Why are you suffering alone? Why won’t you tell me anything? Something is causing you pain, isn’t it? So why…?”

Why are you hanging your head like that?

As soon as I saw her face, I knew the answer.

No matter how unreadable her expression was, or how little her emotions fluctuated, I knew. It had been many years since we last met, but I had seen Monica make a face like that once during the time we’d spent together as new recruits.

So when I saw it, I knew.

I’d known as soon as I’d arrived in this city and saw Monica again.

She was being tormented by some intractable problem.

I stared her straight in the face.

But Monica averted her eyes.

“Let’s work separately from tomorrow on. We shouldn’t be together.”

“…No way. We’re sticking together.”

“Why?”

“……” I answered, “I can’t let you go off on your own, Monica. In your state, if you’re by yourself, you might get attacked by the killer—”

“I’m fine. I won’t get attacked.”

“But…”

“Or are you saying that because you’ll be at a disadvantage if you let me go off on my own?”

“……”

Monica looked at me with eyes that felt like they were looking right through me, and I couldn’t help averting my gaze.

It was as if my whole world had gone dark. From somewhere on the edges of my perception, I heard a sigh, and then a sorrowful voice, filled with disappointment.

“You’re not how you used to be anymore, are you?”

After the day’s lectures were over…

Saya had her witch training and I stayed behind to study, so we would often each be heading home at the same time, and as the days of lectures wore on, we walked home together more often.

On the day in question, we were walking down the road, side by side, as the sun set.

“Come to think of it, what were you trying to tell me this afternoon?”

As I was staring at a resurrection lily blooming along the side of the road, Saya suddenly intruded on my field of vision, her head tilting to the side inquisitively.

I immediately understood that she wanted to know the rest of what I had been about to say before Sheila had started her lecture.

But I was too embarrassed to say it again.

“What do you mean?” I feigned ignorance.

“You were about to tell me something, weren’t you? What was it that you wanted to say?”

“Nothing in particular.”

“Huh? You’re lying. You were definitely going to tell me something. What was it? Love troubles?”

“No.”

“All right, what then?”

“I told you, nothing in particular.”

“…Hmm, is that so?” Based on her personality, I was on my guard, expecting Saya to try to draw the secret out of me by force, if necessary. But she backed off immediately. “Well, if you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine, but…”

But she continued.

“…If you do want to tell me, don’t hold back, okay? I might not be very dependable, but if something’s troubling you, I’d like to help you.”

I want to know more about you, Monica. Those words that Saya had said to me were not a lie or a falsehood.

What she really thought had just come straight out of her mouth.

That’s why…

“…You definitely won’t tell anybody?” My mouth was moving before I realized. “I’ve never told this secret to anyone before. Not any acquaintances, not my parents, no one.”

“I won’t tell. Of course I won’t.” Saya nodded readily, her face brimming with trust.

I got the feeling that if it was Saya, she would accept me even if she knew the truth.

I felt like I wanted her to know the real me.

“I…”

And then…

On that day, I spilled my secret to her.

With just a few words, I revealed the secret that I had never told anyone, all these years.

“……”

In the twilight, Saya was quiet for a little while. Then, after a pause, she frowned as if wondering whether I might be joking. But she looked at my face and understood that it was no joke, and then finally, her cheeks flushed just a little.

“Is…that so…? That’s…I’m a little…embarrassed…”

She didn’t seem to find me repulsive. She simply believed my words and smiled.

I was happy.

“I like you.” The words rushed out impatiently, and I smiled to try to cover my embarrassment. “And I like lots of things about you.”

She was a hard worker. Diligent. Kind. She couldn’t stand hurting others. She never lied. She didn’t even tell little white lies. She just lived honestly in the moment, and I was dazzled by her.

I admired her so much, and I wished from the bottom of my heart I could live like she did.

So much so that I hoped—begged—to become the most important person in her world.

“Never change, okay, Saya?”

But I knew that there was

someone else who already occupied the deepest reaches of her heart. I knew that there was no place for me there.

I had known everything from the time I was very small.

I had always been painfully aware.

Immediately after I had arrived in this place—in Emadestrin, a Town Where People Live, I had come face-to-face with Monica, and I was very surprised to see her.

The fact that the problems in her hometown hadn’t been resolved yet had led me to believe that either Monica had left some time ago, or there was some other set of circumstances in play keeping her from addressing the problem.

When I had initially accepted the commission, concern for her well-being had been the biggest thing on my mind.

That’s why I was surprised to see her.

I found it strange that Monica was still here in the city and hadn’t cracked the case yet. It was unthinkable.

Because she knew everything.

Because the Monica that I knew could solve any problem.

Because several years earlier, she had told me a secret that she had never revealed to anyone else.

“I can read people’s minds.”

Because she had told me, and only me, the truth about herself.

When I’d arrived at Emadestrin and met up with Monica, I had immediately and intentionally closed my mind off.

I had forced myself to forget about the case and had gone to the main avenue that had absolutely nothing to do with it, where I had put on a show of wild, disordered reasoning.

At any rate, I had endeavored to think about nothing at all.

I had lied, too, and manipulated.

Even if it went against Monica’s wishes, I couldn’t allow her to read my thoughts.

“The reason why you’ve been dragging me around all day and night is that you think I might kill someone if you leave me alone…right?”

“……”

If Monica was still in this city but hadn’t solved the murder cases, the truth was one of two options.

Either she was unable to catch the culprit for some reason, like, for example, they were threatening her, or were an acquaintance of hers, or something, or she herself was the killer. One of these had to be true.

But I had ruled out the former option. After a brief investigation, it became clear that there was way too little information about the killer.

It’s almost as if they can see right through into the minds of all the townsfolk and can sneak around without anyone suspecting them.

It was strange that, despite the incidents happening for the past six months, not a single eyewitness could be found. The soldiers were supposed to be on patrol, and if they had spotted anyone suspicious, we certainly would have heard about it.

But I hadn’t picked up on a single rumor.

This was not something that even a hunter-type murderer could have pulled off, let alone an impulsive type.

No one could have, except for Monica.

“…You’ve got some sort of problem, don’t you? Some reason why you feel you have to kill…?”

I was positive she had a reason. I was certain that she had been driven into a corner, to the point where there was no way she could avoid doing it.

That was why I had begged her to let me help her.

“It’s got nothing to do with you.”

Unfortunately, my feelings didn’t get through to her.

Monica was already gripping her wand, pointing it right at my face.

“If you leave me alone, I can let you go.”

In other words, she meant…

“…So if I get in your way, you’ll kill me?”

“You’re quick on the uptake. That’s a big help.”

“……”

Since Monica could easily read anyone’s mind, she was probably perfectly aware of what I was thinking at that moment.

She knew that I had absolutely no intention of backing down.

“…I see.” Sorrow surfaced on her face. “…That’s unfortunate.”

Then she waved her wand.

Countless balls of fire appeared around her. Along with their radiance, I could feel their heat on my skin.

Before I could get my wand out, Monica flicked her wrist. That slight movement sent the fireballs flying toward me, one after another.

“Tch—!”

Just before they hit my face, I deflected the fireballs with water conjured from my own wand.

“Wait, please…Monica…! I—”

One by one, I extinguished the flames with orbs of water, countering her attack.

My mind was racing, wondering if there was anything I could say or do to get her to stop. I began to walk toward her, and to block my approach, Monica waved her wand again.

I had no intention of hurting her, and certainly no intention of killing her. So I wasn’t able to use any highly lethal spells.

When Monica shot icicles at me, I shattered them. When she uprooted a streetlight and threw it at me, I changed its trajectory and dropped it onto the road.

I made almost no offensive moves myself.

The most I did was pull up garbage cans and flower beds from houses nearby and fling them at her in halfhearted attacks that were not even threatening.

But that didn’t stop her.

“For someone who managed to become a witch, you use awfully unbecoming spells, don’t you?”

“Is that what it looks like?”

“Yeah.” Monica chuckled, then proceeded to smash every single object I had hurled at her into tiny pieces. “If you’re not willing to cast real, lethal magic, you’ll never stop me, Saya.”

I tried to gather up all the scrap wood and bind her with it, but the moment the thought occurred to me, she had already set fire to the materials scattered all around us.

No matter what I attempted, she countered my spells.

“……”

But…

By no means was I at a disadvantage.

“…I didn’t want to have to do something like this to you, Monica.”

I gathered power into my fingertips and pointed my wand at her.

Since she could read her opponent’s mind and was thus fully aware of the kinds of spells I was trying to cast, it was probably going to be difficult to stop her using superficial magic.

But that didn’t mean that I couldn’t stand up to her.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

Then I fired a spell from my wand.

The first thing I fired off was a volley of fireballs, which she easily extinguished with balls of water, but immediately after the fire, a blast of wind pressed in on her. Of course, she had been able to anticipate that attack, too, and easily dodged it, but her reaction to the shower of icicles that loomed overhead was a little slow. Just then, there came the sound of an explosion from behind her, where the wind had destroyed the wall of a house, sending countless pieces of rubble to strike her in the back. Before her face could even distort with the pain, the next attack, an artless clump of raw magical energy, approached before her eyes, but she hit it with an identical clump of spell energy and they negated each other. In the momentary distraction that that provided, ivy broke through the red bricks that covered the ground and stretched upward until it seized Monica, but even this she calmly tore away. I launched the broken bricks directly at her face, but there couldn’t have been much damage where they hit her, and all she did was look slightly displeased. But even so, I knew it would take a little bit of time before she noticed that the bricks had been a distraction just like the magical energy blast.

Because she released the tension from her arm, just for a moment, and when she extended it to make a counterattack, she was already no longer gripping her wand.

“……!”

That was the first time I had ever seen her look surprised.

In between hitting her gently in the face with ordinary bricks, I had managed to knock the wand out of her hand. Ivy wound around her feet again as she stood there, bewildered, after realizing that she had no wand, and this time I restrained her completely.

“…I’m sorry,” I apologized again.

I had known from the beginning that she was able to read my mind. I had also known how to stop her if we ever got into a fight.

It was quite simple.

I just had to bombard her with so many spells that she couldn’t keep up with all of them even if she could read my mind.

I had always known that I could stop her that way. I had been reluctant to do so only because I hadn’t wanted to injure her.

“……”

I figured that she probably knew what I was thinking at that moment.

Restrained, unable to move a muscle, she surrendered.

“I guess I was no match for a witch,” she said with resignation, and smiled.

Word that Monica, the mage who was supposed to be working to protect the public peace, was actually the serial killer spread through the city immediately.

Everyone either shuddered with fear or shook with naked rage. This was only natural coming from the bereaved family members of her victims, but other related parties, as well as people who had, up until then, never spared a thought for the incidents, all attacked her without exception. It was not a surprising response to the news that the city’s protector had actually been preying upon it.

The city was overflowing with animosity for Monica.

“Thank you so much for what you did, Lady Saya.”

Even the government official who offered me a businesslike expression of thanks in a composed tone of voice probably felt the same.

“If you hadn’t been here, she would probably still be going around killing people. I would truly like to express my gratitude…”

I’m sure that if I had been able to read minds like Monica, I wouldn’t have been able to even look him squarely in the face.

“I was just doing my job,” I said, shaking my head. “As for Monica…what will become of her now?”

“I suppose she’ll receive punishment in accordance with the laws of our city.”

“……”

“It goes without saying that the crimes she committed were of the utmost seriousness. She’s a murderer. It might be appropriate to sentence her to capital punishment.”

When a mage affiliated with the United Magic Association resolved a case and captured the culprit, one of two things happened.

Either the mage returned to the Association head office with the culprit in tow and a suitable punishment was meted out there, or the culprit received punishment in accordance with the laws of the country where the crime took place.

The former option was a special exemption that applied in countries where no laws had been established regarding mages, so as a general rule, the fate of the culprit was usually left to the local authorities. This was also beneficial for Association mages because it allowed them to finish up their cases quickly. However, considering the circumstances, I felt really, really reluctant to leave Monica in the hands of these people.

“…Will she be sentenced to death?”

I had discovered her true identity as a murderer.

I was even able to apprehend her.

But as for why she kept on killing people…when it came to that one point, she had stubbornly kept her mouth shut. I still had no idea why.

“Capital punishment in our city is not the death penalty.” The official shook his head. Apparently, I had been mistaken. “We do not approve of any sort of killing here. Both suicide and homicide are, without exception, considered to be the most serious offenses. That goes for the death penalty as well. Issuing the death penalty for killing someone would seem to contradict our laws, don’t you agree?”

“……”

But in that case…

“So what is the capital punishment here?”

The official answered me readily.

“Exile.”

I walked through the city in a daze.

My business here was concluded. I had no other reason to remain in this city. I had finished everything I had come to do, so the logical thing to do would be to hurry up and fly my broom to the next place.

But for some reason, I couldn’t leave.

Monica.

Ultimately, I still had no idea why she’d felt compelled to kill people, or what her goal was.

I wanted to see her just one more time.

That was why I was walking around the city in a daze.

“…You’re Saya, right?”

And then…

Someone called out to me. When I turned around, a mage was standing there alone.

I had met her only once, but I remembered her.

Let’s see, her name is…

“It’s…Frauze…is that right?”

I was pretty sure she was the doctor who had performed the autopsies on the murder victims. I had met her only briefly when Monica and I had visited the hospital, so I wasn’t entirely confident that I’d gotten her name right.

“Yes. I’m the coroner, Frauze.” Apparently, I had gotten it right. “Do you have some time to spare right now?”

“……”

Her expression was cloudy.

I could tell that she was holding on to feelings that were completely different from those of most of the people living in the city.

“I’ve got something to tell you…about Monica.”

“…What is it?”

She answered me briefly, “We knew the motive of the killer the whole time.”

They knew yet stayed silent, she told me.

This was a weighty confession indeed.

Once I’d left the city, like my father had always wanted, I thought I would never go back again. I thought I would probably never see my father again.

That was why I answered with the same words every time, whenever Saya asked me whether I was planning to go back home after our training period was over.

“I have no intention of returning to my hometown.”

Those words were not a lie.

Around the time our training came to an end, Saya, who had stayed with me even after learning that I could read people’s minds, seemed to have forgotten our exchange not long after meeting, because she asked me in the same words as back then, “Once our training is over, are you going back home, Monica?”

I answered her honestly, “…It looks like I have no choice but to return.”

Just before our training ended, a correspondence had reached me from Emadestrin, a Town Where People Live.

Written on the piece of paper was a long, businesslike message. But in summary, it basically said, Your father has killed someone. He has received the punishment of exile. We need to discuss the issue of damages. Please return to the city promptly.

That was all it said.

I had never expected to go back to my hometown again.

And yet in some part of my mind, the thought had occurred to me.

The idea that a day like this might come sometime.

Awaiting me when I got back to the city were suspicious gazes for the only daughter of a criminal.

As soon as I got back, a city official told me just what kind of person my father had been. “Your father was a doctor, but he purposely administered dangerous drugs to his patients and ended their lives. He was a serial killer, I’m sorry to say. He must have been doing it the entire time that your family was living in this city; long enough that there were many, many victims. And as for the financial damages…”

The sum of money that was then presented to me was an amount that I could never possibly hope to pay off on my own.

The official told me that the city was going to use the money to ease the pain in the hearts of the families of the victims killed by my criminal father. And since my father had already been punished with exile, there was no other way than for me to pay it myself. They had already seized everything my father had saved up, and sold his house, but it wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy his debt, which would now be forced upon me.

Then the official made a proposal.

“How about going to work for the city? Until the debt is repaid, you could devote yourself to the maintenance of public safety.”

Since most of the local mages worked at the hospital, they had apparently been looking for someone to work for the city for a while.

What’s more, I had a United Magic Association brooch hanging on my breast. Having me work for the city was probably ideal for them.

“Most of the people in this city know that you were on bad terms with your father. He abused you, and you got out when you couldn’t stand it anymore, right? There are many who sympathize with your circumstances. I don’t think anyone will object to your presence.”

The official touched my shoulder as he spoke.

But I knew the truth.

I knew that my father had loved me more deeply than anyone else ever had.

I had never once been grateful for the ability to read people’s minds.

As I walked around town, the animosity and discontent of other people echoed incessantly in my head. For example, two people exchanging words with smiles on their faces might secretly despise each other, or two lovers walking along hand in hand might not love each other at all. If I walked close enough, I could learn everything.

There was nothing that I didn’t know.

Everything was perfectly clear to me, all the anger, pain, joy, and sadness that people were hiding deep in their hearts.

Of course, I also knew that my father had been killing people while working as a doctor.

But at the same time, I knew that he suffered more than anyone else in the city.

My father certainly had not been killing people for his twisted amusement. And he wasn’t mad or cruel. He was neither an impulsive person, nor a hunter.

It was simply that he had no other choice but to end their lives.

The Lycoris Disease had ravaged the city for a long time, ever since I was a child, but no one had ever found a way to treat it. Once someone contracted the disease, the only thing the doctors could do was put the patient on magical life support, which was incredibly expensive.

These daunting sums, greater than any normal person could hope to pay, loomed over the patients’ families. But in this city, euthanasia was as unforgivable as homicide or suicide. The doctors had to keep the patients on life support, which only drove their families further into debt. But euthanasia was forbidden, and so for the patient and their family, waiting for the end was nothing but endless suffering.

In order to save these people from their awful fates, my father had slipped certain lethal drugs into the patients’ normal medications. He kept his actions a secret, bottling up the pain and refusing to confide in anyone as he thanklessly laid his patients to rest once and for all.

Every day, my father’s spirit was worn away by his work. When he came home, he would lose himself in alcohol, and occasionally he even raised a hand to me. But I never once fell into despair.

Because I knew that my father’s heart hurt worse than my cheek ever did.

Just as he had spent his life battling his own demons, I, too, stifled my own secrets. I lived by turning a deaf ear to people’s grief.

When I was fifteen, my father said to me, “You’re a magical genius. It would be a waste for you to use your powers in a narrow-minded place like this.”

But his true feelings were different.

My father knew. He knew that at some point his actions would come to light, and that the city would not be happy about it. My father was choosing a surface-level reason to drive me out of the city. But it wasn’t because he hated me, or because I was a burden.

It was simply because he could see no point in me remaining here in this joyless city.

“Don’t ever come back here.”

Even the words that he said to me right before I left were a lie.

I knew what he really felt. I knew that my father wished he could be with me, that in his heart he hoped I would, in fact, return someday. But he was suppressing all these feelings.

So in the end…

When a letter arrived at the Association from Emadestrin, I resolved to return to the city.

The truth is that everyone thinks this city is strange.

They all have their doubts about the place, but they never say anything. They look away, choosing to believe that they themselves are the strange ones for having those doubts.

So they shut their mouths and put up with anything, no matter how unreasonable.

But I could hear everything.

My mind was filled with the anguished thoughts of the victims of Lycoris Disease, who still had no hope for recovery, and of the mages who had yet to discover a single successful treatment for the epidemic.

Someone has to tell them. Tell them that what they’re doing is wrong.

Someone has to save them. Save these people from their endless suffering.

Someone has to become a martyr.

I know that.

And I know that revealing the truth does not always end in tragedy.

Even though I was the one who could hear the thoughts in people’s minds, Saya was the one who had taught me that lesson, by not treating me any differently.

So even though I knew that my father hadn’t wanted me to live the same kind of life he did, in the end, I walked down the same path.

“It’s a famous story among the mages who work at the hospital.”

Frauze told me the tale of Monica’s father.

“Her father administered euthanasia to his patients, fully aware that it went against the laws of the city. He’s been painted as someone who killed for pleasure, while ostensibly disposing of the dangerous drugs, but…at least among the mages who work at the hospital, Monica’s father is something of a hero. That’s because he accomplished something that no one else was able to do. Up to now, we have seen countless families destroyed by enormous medical expenses that drown them in debt. Your father saved people before it got to that point. We’re under a strict gag order from the higher-ups in the city government, and this truth has never surfaced before, but…”

“……”

I answered her with silence, and she continued, “I can see most everything when I perform the autopsy. I’ve always known that all the victims to date were afflicted with Lycoris Disease.”

“…Are you saying you kept quiet?”

There is nothing else that I can learn from this corpse. She had said something like that. I seemed to remember her also saying that she would do anything she could do to help.

“It’s not just me.” Raising her voice ever so slightly, Frauze stared back at me. “Most of the mages in this city are aware that every single murder victim was a Lycoris Disease patient.”

“…In that case…”

Why didn’t you tell me anything?

Frauze interrupted these words before they made it out of my mouth.

“We didn’t want Monica to solve the case. Even though we knew that the government leaders had hung their hopes on her.”

If Monica solved the case, the patients suffering from Lycoris Disease would be left without any relief again and would just have to suffer on in despair.

So the mages had decided to stay silent. That must have been why they found it so unpleasant when Monica came sniffing around trying to resolve the incidents.

But the person who had been saving the Lycoris Disease patients had been none other than Monica herself. Even when the people of the city called her incompetent for not being able to solve the case, and no matter how the mages at the hospital despised her, Monica had never revealed the secrets of her own heart to anyone. She had struggled on alone.

“Saya…”

By the time both of us knew all the details, Monica was already beyond our grasp.

“We’ve done something horrible to her…”

She fell down in a fit of unbearable remorse, and tears ran down her face.

“Recently, among the people I’ve met along my travels, there was someone a bit strange.”

I recalled an earlier meeting I had with Elaina, a witch whom I hold in the highest regard. She told me one story from her travels.

A story about an amazing girl she’d met in a certain city.

“She could apparently see what was going to happen in the future, the next day, and the day after that. She could even see further, and she knew what was going to happen to the city, and how the people’s lives would change, and things like that.”

“Wow, that’s a useful ability to have. If I had that kind of power, I’d probably use it to make lots of money.”

I nodded noncommittally, and Elaina continued telling the story in an even tone of voice.

“But this girl never used her power to fulfill such selfish desires. Instead, she put her power to use by going around telling people’s fortunes. She told one person, ‘You’ll have an accident tomorrow,’ and another, ‘Your partner is cheating on you,’ and another, ‘You will die in one month.’ And all her predictions came true, just like she said. Though that was only to be expected, of course, since she could see the future.”

“…So in short, she was going around harassing people?”

“Pretty much, yeah. That’s what most people said about her.”

“……”

“Why do you think she did it?” I had more questions. I wondered why on earth she would go around incurring people’s anger like that.

There didn’t seem to be any meaning behind it. Who on earth would choose for everyone to hate them, I’d wondered. Apparently, my inner thoughts were plain on my face, because Elaina answered my unspoken question.

“Well, you see, she wasn’t just mindlessly getting involved in other people’s affairs. Helping people avoid terrible fates meant dealing with their resentment. The girl knew that she couldn’t ward off the unhappy futures that awaited them, but in order to keep their suffering to a minimum, she deliberately went around issuing prophecies that seemed like harassment.”

Then Elaina said…

She told me…

“That girl…”

I wonder why I’m remembering that now?

And why is my chest tightening up like this, at what should be nothing more than a fun memory?

As I was running down the street, out of breath, I shook free of the memories of my conversation with Elaina that were flickering through my head. I was cursing myself for my own foolishness as I sprinted toward Monica.

The Monica that I knew was not the kind of person who would kill for pleasure. In fact, I was fairly certain she wasn’t the sort of person who could do something like that lightly, even when compelled by absolute necessity.

Because she was much smarter than me, and a kind person.

“Excuse me!” I shouted as I ran.

I caught sight of the government official walking down the road ahead. He stopped, and without even waiting to catch my breath, I grabbed ahold of him.

The official’s eyes opened wide with surprise at my sudden appearance. “Oh, Lady Saya…what’s the matter?” He tilted his head quizzically.

I gripped him tighter and said, “Listen…! About Monica…! Where is she right now…!?”

I have to talk to her. I’ve got a duty to discover her true motives.

If what Frauze said is true… If Monica was actually driven to that path in order to save the people living in this city…

If that’s what happened, then it would be completely wrong for the city to condemn her, wouldn’t it?

Monica didn’t do anything wrong, did she?

“Unfortunately, she is no longer in the city.”

The official shook his head and tried to brush me off. “A short while ago, her exile was officially declared. She’s probably already been escorted outside the city walls,” he said readily and indifferently, then turned his eyes toward the borders of the city.

She’s not here anymore…

That was simply the truth, but it set my heart pounding.

Elaina’s words flashed through my mind.

“That girl understood the pain of others all too well.”

I had a bad premonition.

In this city where killing people was not allowed, murderers were sentenced to exile. Apparently, the city didn’t abide people who broke the law.

But no one knows.

They don’t know what the punishment of exile really means.

“Stop.”

I was bound with chains down to my fingertips, so that I couldn’t even get my wand out. From behind my back, someone called out to me, and I did as they ordered.

There were two soldiers behind me. They were traveling with me, escorting me outside the city walls. They didn’t see fit to exchange words with me, the criminal; they just hurled them at me, one-sided.

And since I could see what was in their hearts, and even knew the fate that awaited me, I didn’t go out of my way to speak to them either.

“……”

Before me spread a bank of red flowers.

Their stalks stretched straight up out of the ground. Atop the stems were brilliant red blossoms, with petals spread out like fireworks. Here in the forest, with the blue sky stretching out overhead, the resurrection lilies were in full bloom all around us, completely blanketing the ground.

It looked like a lake of flowers, or perhaps like a sea of blood.

I figured that my father had probably also come here once, and the thought that I was standing in the same place where my father had met the end of his life filled me with complicated emotions.

Did you really think that monsters who killed other people would be permitted to go on with their lives outside the city walls? That just exiling them would be enough to make up for their crimes?

Of course not.

My father, and probably anyone else who committed a serious crime in Emadestrin, had surely met this same end. Punishing someone with exile was simply a means to an end in a country where all killing was prohibited.

I knew all this.

I even knew what my own final moments would be like.

“Do you have any last words?”

Behind my back, one of the soldiers hurled this emotionless question at me.

I looked back over my shoulder and shook my head.

“No.”

“All right then.”

Then the two soldiers started walking.

They trampled the resurrection lilies underfoot.

While pointing the tips of their spears at me.

My first victim was the homeless man.

His mind had told me that his body was afflicted with the illness. Knowing that he had contracted Lycoris Disease, he had abandoned his family, thrown away his social standing, and chosen the path of loneliness for himself. All this, he had told me without saying a word.

So I made him a proposal. I would put him to sleep with a spell and then end his life.

He had immediately accepted.

My second victim was the shop owner, for whom life was supposedly going smoothly. The discovery of Lycoris Disease during a checkup at the hospital had put him on the precipice of despair. I made my proposal. And he had immediately accepted.

My third victim was a very earnest student. She had become afflicted with Lycoris Disease and had chosen to kill herself. I’d stopped her and made her a promise to end her life painlessly instead.

Person after person had allowed me to bring their lives to an end with my own hands.

Those crimes had to be atoned for.

“Thank you.”

Even though they had all worn smiles on their faces at the end, even though they had spoken words of gratitude to me as they died, these facts ultimately amounted to nothing.

“I’m sorry.”

Even these words could be no comfort to all those people who had already taken their last breaths. Even the tears of remorse streaming down my face didn’t change the fact that I had killed people.

I had to accept my punishment.

So I welcomed the blade that was thrust into me.

Before I realized it, the blue sky stretched out before my eyes.

The sounds of footsteps grew distant.

The two soldiers had not finished me off; they had just dealt me a fatal wound and then left. I was certain that this was what “exile” really meant.

Murderers were not allowed to die quickly, without suffering.

Suffering on and on, as much as possible.

The soldiers had left me only half dead.

With everyone else gone, now all alone, I extended a hand toward the sky, in the same position as all the people whose lives I’d ended.

And then…

“…Help me… Someone—Saya, help me…”

I let out the words that I had been keeping in my heart all along.

But with my hands bound by chains, I couldn’t even beg for salvation.

In a place a short distance from Emadestrin, a Town Where People Live, there is a stretch of forest where the resurrection lilies bloom in great numbers.

And there was one particular place that was brimming with those blossoms, which Monica so loved.

I left the city and flew my broom around searching for her. I didn’t know where she was, or if she had already long since gone off to another city, but when I found that spot, that bouquet of red blossoms, I was convinced that she must be there, too.

And sure enough, I spotted her there among the flowers.

“…Monica.”

She was lying in the middle of a pool of crimson blossoms, staring up at the bright blue sky.

She was just lying there, her eyes open wide, as if absorbing the view.

The red flowers were wet with blood.

“…Saya.”

She was still breathing. She turned her head heavily and looked at me with eyes wet with tears. “…You came.”

I quickly cradled her in my arms.

If she’s still breathing…

“Hang in there! I’ll cast a spell right now!”

I can save her.

I pulled out my wand. If it was still possible to save her, then I thought I had a duty to do so, even if she was considered a criminal in her own city.

Because I was her friend.

“Don’t…”

But she refused my help. She brushed aside my wand with hands bound and bloody.

“What are you—”

What are you doing? Do you want to die?

“You can’t…,” she answered resolutely. “No matter what you do, I don’t have long…”

“…Huh?”

“Lycoris Disease.”

She spoke those words shortly and concisely. Just two words. With only that, I knew the reason that she refused my help.

She said, “I don’t have long.”

The disease must have already eaten into her body. The same disease that had afflicted so many people living in Emadestrin was inside her, too.

“…But I want you to live. Even one second longer. So…”

So I picked up my wand, ready to try to cure her, even if she didn’t want me to. With a hand now wet with her blood, I gripped my wand again. My fingers were trembling, and my aim was unsteady. My vision was also unusually blurry, and that’s when I realized that I was sobbing.

Monica shook her head slowly at me.

Then she said, “Let me rest for now.”

I replied, “…I can’t. Please keep going. From now on, forever and ever…”

I wanted her to live forever. I wanted her to stay alive and keep on living. I begged her to stay by my side.

Through teary eyes, I watched her shake her head.

“…This is fine.”

Then, stroking my cheek gently with fingers that were also bound by tiny chains, she said, “To be surrounded by the things I love in my final moments…there can be no greater happiness than this. It really is fine. Thank you.”

With that, she smiled one last time.

I was about to say something more to her. I was about to cast a spell, but by the time I extended my hand, she was no longer with me.

She had fallen into a sleep from which she would never awaken.

Her face looked somewhat peaceful once she had entered her long rest.

I would never hear her voice again.

“…Say something…”

Yet still I spoke to her.

“…Say something, please…”

Even though she wasn’t there anymore.

“Monica…”

Even though she was never coming back.

“Don’t leave me…”

Even so, I kept on speaking to her, clasping tightly to the hands of the girl I adored.

The rest of the story I heard only secondhand, so I don’t know how much of it is true.

I heard that not long after Monica’s death, Emadestrin, a Town Where People Live, began to collapse. All the mages staged an insurrection and began euthanizing the people who had fallen ill, in imitation of Monica, and the disease spread out of control. These rumors and more made it to my ears, but unfortunately, I never got the chance to learn the real reason why the city fell to ruin.

That was because I never went anywhere near that place again.

“We’ve got a request from a country along the coast. You can read it on your way but be sure to look over their application form.”

As always, the United Magic Association received requests from countries all over the world. And as always, convenient witches like me often got the troublesome jobs foisted upon us. That day, the request I looked over seemed like a real pain.

My teacher, Sheila, seemed to understand that, and she cursed the sender as she handed over the form. “Good grief, they always make such unreasonable requests…”

“…Understood.”

After glancing quickly over the paper, I tucked it away in my pocket. As Sheila had said, I could read it through in more detail on my way.

I had a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it, so I immediately turned on my heel and walked off.

That behavior must have seemed unusual for me, considering I ordinarily had nothing but complaints.

“…Are you okay?”

I heard Sheila call out to me from behind my back.

“……”

Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure that I was okay.

But I didn’t want to make my teacher worry…

“Yep.”

…so I turned around and smiled.

“I’m fine.”

Compared to the pain that Monica had held on to for so long, being busy with work was nothing.

So of course I was all right.

I left the United Magic Association branch office, and soon I left the city.

Small flowers bloomed beside the city gate.

Their stalks stretched straight up out of the ground. Atop the stems were brilliant red blossoms, with petals spread out like fireworks.

Resurrection lilies.

The ubiquitous flowers were poking out from the gaps in the cobblestones that covered the ground, swaying in the wind.

I’m sure that I’ll remember every time I see those flowers.

I’ll remember the girl who blossomed in solitude, more beautiful than anyone else.