Volume 4—Chapter 75: The Aftermath
Minami Kotori…
That name. It echoed in my mind like a whisper caught on the edge of memory.
Minami family… weren’t they a noble household? Wait… did they even have a daughter?
I furrowed my brows. Why did I immediately think that? Did they or didn’t they? My thoughts tangled themselves into knots the harder I tried to pull them apart.
“Seems like that name rings a bell in your head,” Yukari-senpai said, her tone seemed calm, but her eyes didn’t reflect that.
“Senpai, I…” I hesitated, confused by my own thoughts. “I’m not sure. I feel like I know it. But I don’t. It’s strange.”
“You’re not alone,” she replied quietly. “Honestly, if you hadn’t reacted like that, I might’ve started thinking I’m losing my mind.”
She gave a short, dry laugh, though it didn’t reach her eyes.
“I remember that name so clearly just yesterday,” she said, lifting the notebook again and glancing at the scribbled words. “And now? It’s like someone came in and rewrote my memory while I was sleeping. If I hadn’t written it down, I don’t think I’d even believe I ever knew it.”
She closed the notebook with a soft snap.
“You know…” Yukari continued, voice lower, slower. “It feels like my reality is shifting while I’m still in it. Like the world is rearranging itself one detail at a time, right in front of me. I almost don’t know what’s real anymore… and what’s just leftover traces from a version of life that got erased.”
Her eyes met mine again. They weren’t wide with fear, but calm, as if she’d already accepted it. That scared me more.
“Uh… Senpai…” I started, unsure of what I even wanted to say.
Yukari-senpai didn’t look at me. She kept walking.
“Meet me at the rooftop later,” she said softly, almost like a whisper carried on the breeze. “There are too many eyes and ears here. It’s not safe to talk about this out in the open.”
Then, without another word, she stepped ahead, blending effortlessly into the slow-moving crowd of students funnelling toward the cafeteria doors.
We had arrived at the cafeteria.
Well… let’s think about that later.
For now, my stomach was louder than my thoughts. Whatever strange thing Yukari-senpai was hinting at, it could wait until after breakfast. One mystery at a time, please.
~~~
On the completely opposite side of the city, a girl with shoulder-length hair woke up from her slumber.
“Ugh… it feels like I’ve been asleep for a decade,” she groaned, rubbing her eyes as she reluctantly sat up. Her name was Aneira, and this morning felt just as surreal as yesterday.
She stretched lazily and let out a yawn before dragging herself out of bed. As she shuffled around the small apartment preparing for the day, her gaze drifted to the uniform neatly hung on the wall. The badge of the Association glinted faintly under the morning light.
“I should be in school right now…” she muttered to herself. “But well, public safety is number one, I guess.”
She stared at her reflection in the mirror for a moment, unsure whether to laugh or sigh. “I still can’t believe I’m actually an Association agent now.”
She pulled on her coat, adjusted the strap of her gear belt, and gave herself a firm nod.
“Even though I don’t remember how or why I ended up here… it just kind of happened. Like I blinked, and suddenly, this was my life.”
She paused by the door, hand resting on the knob.
“Still… I get the feeling this isn’t something I chose. More like… something that was chosen for me.”
Her phone then rang… the name of the caller is Ichiro, her colleague.
She answered with a sigh.
“Morning, Ichiro.”
“Aneira, where are you?! We need you here, fast!” his voice came through.
“I’m on it, I just woke up,” she said, stifling another yawn as she picked up her pace.
“You just woke up? Do you even know what time it is?!”
“I know, I know,” she replied, “Is it an emergency?”
There was a pause on the other end, then a grumbled response, “Kinda… well, not really. The situation’s under control now, but we need you right now. The Captain’s asking for you specifically.”
Aneira rolled her eyes.
“Then just wait for me,” she said flatly. “I’m already on the way. Tell the Captain to chill. Unless the sky is falling, I’m not running in heels.”
“I swear one day you’re gonna get fired for this,” Ichiro muttered.
“One day,” Aneira repeated playfully, “but not today.”
Aneira ended the call with a tap and let out a sigh. The apartment was quiet, but she barely noticed as she made her way toward the back room. Her step echoed lightly against the wooden floor as she stepped in front of the tall mirror by the wall.
She stared at her reflection.
Her shoulder-length hair was still messy from sleep, but what caught her eye wasn’t the disarray. It was the faint silver streak woven into her bangs.
"Still there," she muttered.
Her fingers curled into a fist. A soft sound followed, like air catching flame, and a silvery fire flickered to life in her palm. It hovered gently above her skin, casting a pale glow across the mirror.
“Everything feels like a dream,” she whispered. “But I know that incident wasn’t a dream.”
The fire shimmered, then slowly vanished as she opened her hand again.
She furrowed her brow, trying to dig through the haze in her memory.
“What was that girl’s name again?”
Her lips parted slightly when the answer finally came.
“Oh right… Aria.”
~~~
Inside an office at the Association headquarters, a man sat alone, flipping through a worn-out notebook. The pages were creased, the ink faded in places, as if it had been read and rewritten too many times.
"This rewrite is not as clean as the last one," he murmured, his brows furrowed. "I wonder why."
He closed the notebook gently and leaned back in his chair, eyes shutting for a brief moment.
"The surveillance was meant to stop her from doing it again. But somehow, it didn’t work. No, it’s not that it failed. Something else interfered. An external force."
He opened the notebook again and began to write. Slowly and deliberately, he added three names to the list:
Minami Kotori
Ariana Fresia
Syena Fiolera
He paused at the last one, then circled it.
"Fiolera huh... It has been a long time. Maybe I should pay them a visit."
A knock came at the door.
“Overseer Miyazaki. The head of the North American division, Michael Henrickson, is in the lobby. He says it’s urgent.”
The man, Miyazaki Takeru, opened his eyes and answered without hesitation, "Tell him to wait."
His hand lingered on the circled name, as if the ink itself could reveal the next step.
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