As Shizuku wandered aimlessly through the school building, she stopped in front of a certain door.
“It’s the music room. Something wrong?”
“……”
Ignoring Cklares’s words, she pushed open the heavy, soundproofed door and stepped inside.
The music room was eerily empty.
The first thing that caught her eye was the long student desks. A blackboard stood at the front, with a grand piano beside it. Portraits of past musicians hung on the walls, and shelves near the windows held various instrument cases.
“…………”
Unintentionally, her breath hitched. She steadied herself and walked over to the row of instrument cases.
“Shizuku-chan?”
“Cklares-san’s room had a cello. Do you play?”
For some reason, there was a pause before the reply.
“…Well, yeah. It’s not unusual to perform during classes or events.”
“I started playing the violin because of Sisel.”
The moment she said it, she regretted it.
She hadn’t even told Norman this. Saying it to Cklares left a bad taste in her mouth. If Cklares responded with her usual flippant remarks, Shizuku planned to shut her down with sarcasm and leave it at that. But—
“……”
Behind her, Cklares was unusually silent.
So, despite it feeling unlike her, Shizuku continued.
“Back then, I couldn’t play the violin at all. But she invited me to perform with her at concerts. Of course, I made ridiculous demands, like ‘If you compose something, I’ll do it.’”
Shizuku ran her fingers over the instrument cases in front of her.
The pale light from the window cast a cold glow over them.
“Did you not want to do it?”
“…That’s not it. It’s just… if she went through the effort of composing something, I’d have to give it my all too, wouldn’t I?”
“I see.”
She could practically hear Cklares’s wry smile, but she ignored it. Still, Shizuku found the whole thing bothersome.
Back then, she had demanded others give their all—because she herself was prepared to do the same.
Because—
“She was strong.”
Ordinary, yet unshakably so. That was the kind of strength Shizuku admired. At the very least, it felt more genuine than the way other students at the academy changed their attitudes based on lineage or appearance.
“…Strong, huh?”
When she turned around, Cklares had melted into the shadows. The moonlight from the window didn’t reach her. In the darkness, only her eyes gleamed unnervingly.
“——!”
Shizuku instinctively held her breath.
Cklares was always wearing a smile.
Even in just one day at the academy, Shizuku had seen it more than enough.
But now—
Her eyes, stark against the darkness, held no trace of amusement.
They were sharp—as if piercing through Shizuku’s very core.
“Shizuku-chan, you——”
The fairy seemed about to ask something of the Tear Flower, but—
“——!”
Suddenly, her gaze snapped toward the music room door.
“W-What is it?”
“…………Someone just entered the school.”
“——《Unlaw》?”
Clack. Cklares tapped her staff.
“No doubt. My [Hands] picked it up. Feels like a [latent state]-type, just as I thought.”
“What kind of feeling is that?”
“Same as you, probably. To me, [latent state]-type abilities targeting others feel like ripples in the air. That part’s probably just me, though. Against a [Distorted State]-type, it’s more like… fighting over territory, I guess?”
“Hah. ……To me, your [Hands] just sound like violent dissonance.”
“Hmm. Interesting. How do other types sound to you?”
“All dissonant noise.”
“You know what dissonance means, right?”
“Unpleasant sounds. Obviously.”
“…………Well, then. Let’s check on the [Weeping Woman].”
●
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
Shizuku walked down the hallway with Cklares.
Cklares said the [Weeping Woman] was in the courtyard.
When Shizuku asked how she could tell,
“I read the air currents. Even in closed spaces, there’s almost always some flow. It’s just silhouettes, though—if it’s someone I don’t know, or someone dressed differently than usual, I can’t tell who it is. But I can at least sense if something’s there, even from a distance. You can do something similar, can’t you?”
“Ah… [Wave Ripple Pulse]?”
The question made Shizuku think about her own ability.
[Lingering Echoes – Tears of the Flowers – Wave Ripple Pulse] was a weaker activation of [Lingering Echoes – Tears of the Flowers], directed at a single target.
“In your terms, I guess it’s just provocation through [sound]. It’s not really detection. Against 《Unlaw》, it seems our abilities interfere with each other, creating static.”
“Hmm. Maybe it’s a matter of perception? You could probably use it for reconnaissance.”
“Sensei said if I could sense the static from [Wave Ripple Pulse], maybe I could use it that way. But without clear examples, it’s hard to say.”
“Hmm… Like a tuning fork? You know, how sound waves resonate?”
“That’s… Wait, isn’t that only for close-range vibrations?”
“Is it? Well, that part’s probably up to personal interpretation.”
“Yeah.”
Nodding, Shizuku felt an odd discomfort.
She never imagined she’d be discussing abilities with Cklares.
The fairy’s usual flippancy was still there, but today—no, right now—she seemed oddly considerate.
The image of Cklares’s eyes in the music room flashed through Shizuku’s mind.
She had always thought of Cklares as elusive, but now, it felt different.
What had the fairy been thinking? What had she been about to say?
Shizuku didn’t know.
Understanding others had never been her strong suit. She hadn’t even noticed Sisel being bullied.
“…Hah.”
Her thoughts tangled, and Shizuku grew tired of thinking.
Then—
She heard it. A sound.
“——!?”
Unlike anything she’d ever heard before—not in her ears, but piercing straight into her skull.
Her chest tightened.
“Shizuku-chan, did you feel that too?”
“…Yeah. What was that sound?”
“Sound?”
Cklares stopped walking.
“I didn’t hear anything.”
“Huh? There was a huge noise just now!”
“Not at all. Though I did feel a strange tremor in the air for a second.”
“……”
Their perceptions differed.
She couldn’t explain it—but something was there.
Which meant—
“——《Unlaw》.”
“Hmm. Either we’ve just been attacked, or an attack is coming.”
And then, it came.
●
Shizuku couldn’t immediately recognize it as an attack.
Because the figure standing at the end of the hallway was—
“——Huh?”
A girl in the academy’s uniform, her only distinguishing feature her pale orange hair.
Someone who shouldn’t be here. Someone who was dead. Shizuku’s best friend—Sisel Barker.
At the end of the hallway, she stared blankly at Shizuku and Cklares.
“Why——”
The moment she spoke, Shizuku realized how stupid it was.
This had to be 《Unlaw》’s doing. Whether Rebecca’s suspicions were correct or not, if the enemy was a [latent state], then this was some kind of hallucination. What Shizuku had heard and Cklares had sensed must have been the [Weeping Woman]’s attack.
Experience told her that much.
“……!”
But her body refused to move.
“《——Tiana.》”
This time, the voice came from behind. Before she knew it, something was there—arms wrapping around her from behind.
Silver hair filled her vision. The voice was familiar. When she turned her head—
“——Mom?”
A woman who resembled her, but older—her mother from when she was still Tiana.
This can’t be real, her mind screamed.
Unlike Sisel, her mother was still alive. But after being caught in the rampage of [Lingering Echoes – Tears of the Flowers] a year and a half ago, she now lived in the royal capital. There was no way she could be here. This had to be an illusion. And yet—
“I can… feel her?”
The sensation of being hugged from behind was undeniably real.
“《Tiana. How could you do such a thing?》”
“——!”
A strangled sound escaped Shizuku’s throat as she wrenched herself free. She spun around, rifle raised—
“…This is worse than I thought, Shizuku-chan.”
Cklares stood beside her, staff at the ready.
Next to Shizuku’s mother stood an elderly man.
“Who… are you?”
“My dad.”
“…………He’s quite the silver fox.”
“Your mom’s a beauty too. ……Troubling. Neither of us is being very sharp with our comebacks.”
“This isn’t the time for jokes. What is this?”
It had to be an illusion.
And strangely, they seemed to be sharing the same hallucination.
“I could feel her touching me.”
“Me too. So it’s not just an illusion.”
Even as they spoke, the visions changed.
Shizuku’s mother now held a kitchen knife. Cklares’s father gripped a rapier.
But that wasn’t all.
“…Behind us.”
“Yeah.”
Footsteps. When they turned, new illusions stood there.
“…Dad.”
“My mom’s here too.”
Shizuku’s father. Cklares’s mother. They, too, stood armed—one with an axe, the other with a long rifle.
“Uh………… Are there more of them?”
It wasn’t just the two of them. Not just their parents.
Dozens now filled the hallway, blocking their path. Shizuku recognized about half.
“Half of them are people from my old neighborhood. All armed, with these hollow eyes…”
“The other half are probably my family’s servants and relatives. Not that they’re dead or anything, but there’s no way they’d be here, at this hour.”
“…I’ve gotten used to weird phenomena, but this is too creepy.”
“Absolutely. So next should be——”
[——————!]
The illusions lunged at them all at once.
●
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