*page0|
In short,[wait canskip=0 time=1300] this is what happened yesterday.
*page1|
“On moonless nights, you must never turn around—”[wait canskip=0 time=1200]
*page2|
Was it a precept, or an admonition?
Long, long ago, when my current way of life was something I never could have imagined even in my wildest dreams.
One night, without warning, I was suddenly filled with a dread so profound it made me want to cry, and ran to my grandfather in his workshop.
Softly, he put his hand on my head. His gentle smile was totally unlike the grandfather I knew.
*page3|
“—for the red death is watching you from behind.”[wait canskip=0 time=1000]
*page4|
Rather than comforting me, he left me with those hopeless words and sent me home.
That night, I definitely saw a shadow lurking behind me.
Somebody watching me from far, far away.
Little by little, year by year, the distance shortened.
Until, finally, what had started as a tiny dot was so close I could feel it breathing down my neck.
*page5|
Of course, it was only a hallucination.
Nobody was actually there.
Nevertheless, the night it all started...
What I felt at that time was, without a doubt, the indescribable dread of certain death.
*page6|
“[setdefaultmessageaction type=swing]...High diddle diddle, The cat and the fiddle,[r]
The cow jump'd over the moon;[r]
The little dog laugh'd...”[rf][resetdefaultmessageaction]
*page7|
How long ago was it?
That hazy, picture-book-like recollection buried deep within my distant childhood memories.
...Even now, on dark nights, my grandfather's foreboding words lingered in my ears.[l] No matter how loudly the wind roared, no matter how entrancingly the girl beside me sang, I could never drown them out.
*page8|
“...They've arrived.”
Beside me, Alice spoke.
Her inflectionless voice marked her as a bystander to the night's proceedings.
*page9|
Aside from us, the park was totally deserted.
We had come here to celebrate the birth of the new me.
Though I had to say, it wasn't the most inviting night for my big debut.
*page10|
Thick, heavy clouds blocked the stars like a black umbrella, carried along by a strong wind that tore the sky.[l] The hands on the clock in the center of the park pointed straight up, as if reaching for the moon.
Too bad for them, there was no moon to reach tonight.
*page11|
The ferocity of the winter air grew with each passing moment.
Every breath I took made me feel like I was being frozen from the inside out.
*page12|
The chill sank into my bones, ran up my spine, and stabbed straight into my brain.
So that my mind wouldn't be numbed,
So that my fingers wouldn't turn to stone,
I stoked a fire with my heartbeat and emotions.
*page13|
“I'll transfer the tactile response over to you. ...How fortunate. In that position, the will-o'-the-wisp will ignite.”
I answered Alice with a nod.
Right then, just for a moment, I could see the ground.
*page14|
My legs were trembling weakly.
It was probably just the cold, but I couldn't be sure. It could just as easily be fear.
...I sighed. If my emotions were working, that meant I was still human.
*page15|
I didn't have time to wallow in sentimentality, though, before the input from the barrier began to flow into me from Alice.
An invisible wall covering the entire park.
An imperceptible carpet rooted deep underground.
*page16|
...And, Alice's rhymes of Mother Goose ringing out through the night.
My body became one with those sensations.
My right arm broke out in goosebumps.[l] Someone had invaded it.
*page17|
The prickling sensation crawled up my arm like ants, slowly but surely aiming at my heart.
Squashing the urge to brush it away, I waited for a more decisive position, a more definitive opportunity.
*page18|
A moonless night.
The dim streetlights in the park did little to pierce the darkness.
*page19|
The ants stopped their march.
Far, far away from my right arm, near the very center of my being.
Even without using my eyes, I could see the invader lurking in the darkness.[l] Roughly thirty paces behind me, to the right. The figure crawling through the bushes on all fours raised its right hand as if to beckon me, and—
“There!”
I felt the enemy's movements almost as soon as they happened.
*page20|
My body spun around.
An arm raced toward me like a spear.
And, the high-speed lethal weapon fired at the back of my head sliced harmlessly through my hair.
Thanks to the omniscient view of the park granted by Alice's barrier, I was able to just barely dodge it.
*page21|
The savagery of the attack blew my hair back.
A small, sharp pain ran across my cheek.
I could swear that death had touched my soul.
*page22|
“Tch—”
I switched the bloodflow within me to a different cycle.
My blood, circulating at a meter per second, transformed into the imaginary element.[l] My heart became a completely different engine, using my entire body as a circuit.
*page23|
It was an unknowable motion that couldn't be measured in terms of heat or calories.
The mystery, still beyond the grasp of man, that made me what I am today.
The fire of life behind every miracle and fable.
We magi call it magical energy.
*page24|
“...Set.”
I turned, locked on to the enemy, and raised my arm.
It was the executor of my will.
Because I was still inexperienced, I could only activate magecraft with words and gestures.
*page25|
Formulas had been inscribed throughout the park in advance.
All I had to do was add the fuel.
Just pouring in the magical energy generated within my body was enough.
*page26|
Generally speaking, magi were conduits. It didn't matter if the connection was wired or wireless, as long as it injected magical energy into the formula.[l] Releasing. Shooting. Pouring. Every magus did it differently, but in my case...[wait canskip=0 time=400] it was this feeling of snapping my limbs...!
*page27|
“Burn!”
I countered speed with speed.
The enemy was engulfed. They didn't even have time to retract their arm.
Considering we were in the park at night, I couldn't help but be reminded of a campfire... though the shadow writhing in the flames was undeniably a human.
*page28|
The fire vanished just as unnaturally as it had appeared.
The sound and stench of burning faded away.
*page29|
“Here. I'll go check the corpse, so you take the barrier.”
I spoke to Alice, then started walking toward the now motionless figure lying on the ground.
I killed them.[l] I killed them.[l] I killed them.
Even if they were an enemy, I still stole away a person's life.
My throat was parched. It didn't feel real.[l] I knew I couldn't swallow away the hard, bitter truth of what I'd done, but I tried anyway.
*page30|
“...”
I was surprisingly calm. My heart was pounding and my breath was ragged, but my mind was crystal clear.
Before I knew it, the pile of cinders was at my feet.
I stared at it warily, half-expecting it to spring to life and attack again.
...Thankfully, everything seemed to be in order. They had completely burned to ash.
*page31|
“...?”
Something wasn't right.
Just glancing at them, the remains felt strangely inorganic.
My heart sank. Gingerly, I lifted the figure's head, and...
What greeted me was the white, featureless face of a mannequin.
*page32|
“Shit! They got us again!”
I kicked the mannequin and screamed.
Ash danced in the wind as the corpse disintegrated.[l] But then, it wasn't really a corpse at all, was it? It was just a puppet. Our carefully laid trap had once again come up empty.
...In other words, my true first battle was still yet to come.
*page33|
“Ugh...[wait canskip=0 time=1000] at this rate I'll never be a real—[clall][fg storage=青子私服aジャケット05(近) center=682 vcenter=201 index=1100 effect=屋外深夜 id=1][fg storage=青子私服aジャケット02a(中)|g center=336 vcenter=476 effect=屋外深夜 blur=1 index=1000 id=2][bg textoff=0 rule=crossfade time=400 storage=bg04三咲町07小さい公園-(夜) noclear=1 blur=2 noback=1]huh?”
Just then, something familiar caught my eye.
The shadow of the slide just a little ways away was strange, as if it was being puffed up by something that shouldn't be there.
*page34|
Maybe I was still caught up in the heat of battle, because it took me a second to realize what that “extra shadow” was.
*page35|
“Who's there!?”
Calling out was a mistake.
As soon as he heard my voice, the person wearing that all-too-familiar high school uniform nearly jumped out of his skin, turned around, and[se storage=se05070 volume=70 loop=1] took off running at an unbelievable pace.[sestop storage=se05070 time=3000 nowait=1]
It was like he was running for his life...
...Or rather, that's exactly what he was doing!
*page36|
“Catch him! We've been seen!”
I spoke hastily to Alice, but she hadn't even noticed the other presence in the park.
That said, I didn't make a move either. As embarrassing as it was to admit, the battle just now had left me unable to run...!
*page37|
“No, he's getting away![l] If we don't get rid of him, then...!”
There was no room for elegance.
For us, being seen here was a matter of life and death!
*page38|
“Wait, you...!”[r]
I shook off the numbness in my legs and dashed after him.
...It really was a magnificent escape.
The witness melted into the darkness of the residential district without a trace.
*page39|
“Dammit, why didn't the barrier pick him up...!?”
I vented my frustration to nobody in particular. He was gone, and there was nothing I could do about it.[l] I gave up the chase, cursing my own ineptitude.
*page40|
Though it was only temporary, right now the park was Alice's forest.
Inside, people's faces and voices became hazy and indistinct, like the plot of a fairy tale.
He might have seen everything that happened here, but there was no way he could have recognized me or Alice... in which case, there was still time to act.
*page41|
“It was a boy.”
I walked back to the park.
He had definitely been wearing my high school's uniform.
As far as clues went, that was more than enough. If he was one of my students, then there was no shortage of methods at my disposal to find him.
*page42|
“...Still, why does this sort of stuff keep happening to me?”
Grumbling aside, I knew what had to be done.
First things first, I needed to track down the witness and silence him before he had a chance to go around spreading weird rumors.
Quickly.[l] Ruthlessly.
*page43|
When I raised my head, Alice was there.
We were both in the same boat, being found out as magi.
But even so...
*page44|
“This is a real mess, huh?”
She stared out into the darkness indifferently. Her lack of emotion went beyond mere levelheadedness. It was like she was made of stone.
...It seriously pissed me off.[r]
Her monotonous voice suited this moonless night so well it made me want to scream.
*page45|
Originally Posted by Mcjon01
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