Petals fluttered down. A faint fragrance spread along with him. Following the scent, new flowers blood with smiles.
As if no battle had ever taken place.
As if it had always been like this from the beginning.
The garden, blooming with a breathtaking beauty, stretched out freely and turned the entire area into a dreamlike scene.
And at the center of it all,
“This, what… is this…”
Frey stood with her eyes wide open.
[What are you staring at like that? Can’t open your eyes properly? Tch, damn.]
Kartia stood there with a sly smile, brushing away the blood from her wounded cheek.
[Scaredy-cat.]
Kartia, waiting for the bleeding to stop as she wiped the blood off, lightly tapped Frey’s cheek once it stopped and stepped back with a soft step.
At the sa ti, step, Frey took a step forward.
Again, step, Kartia retreated.
Step, Frey approached.
Step step
Step step step
Ste…p step step step
Just as their breaths aligned,
“…Tia.”
Frey scrunched her face, unable to hold back her emotions any longer, and bit her lip as she called Kartia’s na.
[W-What.]
“…Kar…tia.”
[Wh-What the hell… Why! If you’ve got sothing to say, just say it! Why do you keep stalling, ]
“Kartia.”
[Huht… y-you…!]
Frey brushed past Kartia’s shouting lips and caressed her cheek, tilting her head gently.
“Ahaha.”
[Suddenly… what, what are you doing…]
“You’re really… Kartia.”
[…Then of course I am. It’s not like I’m so fake or anyth… ]
Kartia abruptly turned her head, seemingly unable to hide her embarrassnt. But Frey lifted Kartia’s face once more.
“Really… really, ”
Wearing the most brilliant smile of all,
“I missed you, you fucking bitch.”
Smack!
[Guhak!]
She slamd her forehead into Kartia’s philtrum.
“Wha… huh…?”
“Brat. You and I are gonna have a talk later.”
“Eek… y-yes, ma’am.”
Then, climbing on top of Kartia’s body, she clenched her fists roughly.
“You… you stupid bitch!!”
Thud! Smack! Wham!
She began unleashing brutal violence without rcy.
[Ugh! Agh! Aaack!]
“I told you! I told you to win! You dogshit bitch!”
[Win?! Aaack! How was I supposed to win in that situation, you dumb, Kyaaaak! D-Don’t pinch !! Just hit
instead!!]
“Victory! Victory! The victory you kept shouting about!! Why!! Didn’t you get it!! You half-witted bitch!!! You think I died just to see you like this?! Huh?! Why, why did you lose!! I begged you to win. I prayed so desperately!!”
Her fists flew wildly in a torrent of grief and rage, striking Kartia’s face over and over with violent, vicious force.
[Aagh! You crazy…!]
And then, those punches,
[Because it didn’t an anything, ]
Stopped cold with just one line from Kartia.
“…Wh-what?”
[Damn it! You were dead, you weren’t even in that world! What aning would it have to win and end everything then?! That’s why, that’s why I gave up! Okay?!]
“You… what did you just say?”
Frey’s trembling voice mumbled uncertainly, and her clenched fist slowly opened.
[Ugh… it fucking hurts…]
“Because I wasn’t there… it didn’t an anything…?”
[Yeah, you crazy bitch. Tch.]
“I… I see…? It really… didn’t an anything?”
Screeech,
Frey, who had been sitting on Kartia, slowly stood up. Only then did Kartia raise her upper body and begin furiously rubbing the areas she’d been hit.
Then, swish,
Kartia’s head snapped toward .
And what followed wasn’t a voice in my ear, but a transmission that echoed inside my head.
[Hey, you little shit. Your master’s getting beat to a pulp here. And you’re just sitting there watching?]
Even soone as dense as
could tell that voice, that tone… was awkward, like she was trying to hide her embarrassnt.
[Hmph, they say raising a disciple is useless. Guess it’s true… it’s so fucking pitiful.]
…She could’ve easily dodged.
[Shut up.]
Hmph.
[Huh?]
Crack,
Kartia’s brow furrowed.
At the sa ti, Frey’s sharp gaze pierced through .
“You, little, no, was it Noah?”
“Y-Yes. Noah… Shin Noah.”
“Hm…”
Tap tap, her pensive toes tapped the flower field. Each ti, the petals sprang up with a poof poof.
After mulling over her words for a while, Frey cautiously opened her mouth.
“I don’t know how you did this.”
Tap tap poof poof
“Th… tha-thank you.”
“Uh… y-you’re welco…”
“…Yeah.”
“Y-yeah…”
Prickle prickle, awkward awkward, an unbearably awkward atmosphere filled the air, to the point I forgot how to breathe.
W-what should I say next?
No… do I even need to say anything?
Uh… should I explain how I did this?
I did prepare it beforehand, so it should be easy to explain…
Ah, wait… would it be too forward if I jumped in and started talking first…?
Then should I just stay quiet…?
What should I do…? What should I do what should I do…?
Maybe I should just sneak away and head to Rubia’s side, that’d make
feel a bit more, no, way more, like, insanely more at ease,
[You pathetic losers sure are putting on a show.]
Snicker
Amidst all my spiraling thoughts, Kartia’s laughter rang out.
[If you’re curious, just ask. Is that so hard?]
“Shut up, you.”
Zap,
A sharp glare pierced into Kartia.
But Kartia, unfazed, twisted her face grotesquely and,
[Shuh yuh shtuhgh uhf yuhhh.]
…mimicked Frey’s words.
“…Don’t imitate .”
[Thuhr huhzz muhrr.]
“You little, haa, forget it.”
Eventually waving her hand like she’d lost, Frey turned her head from Kartia and strode toward .
“Noah.”
“Y-Yes!”
“Just now, that thing. How did you do it?”
“…Huh?”
Her tone was completely different from how she spoke to Kartia, gentle, kind, even warm.
The sudden shift in Frey’s deanor blanked my mind.
But only for a mont.
[Wow… look at her drawing a line after all that saving.]
Kartia, who had been quietly observing from the side, barged into the conversation again.
She then growled, glaring past us.
[You over there. Wanna join the ladies’ chat?]
The target, Aaron, standing alone so distance away.
[If you do, then ditch that and co over. We’ll welco you.]
Aaron looked back and forth between Kartia and Frey, then raised both arms and backed away.
Satisfied, Kartia nodded and turned to face Laila.
[Hey, I need a favor.]
There was no answer.
Laila, mouth agape in shock, seed to not even hear Kartia.
[This is a ss.]
Letting out a sigh, Kartia picked up a pebble from the ground and snap, flicked it with her fingers.
[Hm?!]
The pebble shot toward Laila like a bullet,
Crack!
Embedding itself deep into a tree root that had suddenly sprouted up, with a savage sound.
[Got your head on straight now?]
[Ahem, I showed an unsightly side. My apologies.]
[Great. Now, about that favor.]
[Understood.]
Laila, having barely pulled herself together, nodded. At that mont, vines rose from the ground and wrapped around us, forming a rounded wall.
Inside, even sound and air from the outside were shut out.
What remained was the faint scent of sweat and blood, and the soft fragrance of unknown flowers.
[Even if that bastard claid he could hear everything, better safe than sorry.]
Kartia tapped the firm vine wall, shrugged, and looked at Frey.
[You probably have a ton of questions and things you want to say, but let
go first. How are you feeling?]
“Not bad.”
[Which ans you’re feeling fucking great?]
“Well, yeah. What’s certain is, the fragnt of the Naless One that was clinging to my soul… it’s gone.”
[Hmm.]
Letting out a curious hum, Kartia scanned Frey from head to toe, then glanced down at the flowers on the ground.
[Wow… it’s been a while since I’ve seen these.]
“It has.”
[Do you rember the na?]
“Do you?”
[? Ha, of course I, ]
Hesitate,
Kartia’s breath caught for a mont.
Her lips trembled, and cracks ford in her expression.
[I-I an, of course I rember, right?]
“Hey.”
[You say it first. What is it?]
“You forgot”
[You don’t know, huh? You totally don’t, do you?]
Frey clenched her fist at Kartia’s smug teasing but soon shook her head and picked up a fallen flower.
“…Gladiolus.”
[Y-Yeah! Gladiolus! Wow, how did you even rember that? I an, of course I rembered it too!]
“Hard to forget. It’s the flower that symbolizes us.”
[…Ugh, that’s so cheesy. Seriously, how can you say stuff like that with a straight face? Must be your age showing.]
Frey’s once relaxed fist curled tightly again.
“You bitch. You’re the one who said that back then. Want
to kill you? You really want to get hit again?”
[Sss… fine, yeah, I forgot, okay? B-but listen, with how you’re saying it, it sounds like I got beat up ‘cause I was weak or sothing? Huh? Don’t you get it? I let you hit
on purpose! What, your old age got your senses all ssed up?]
“Hah, this bitch still hasn’t fixed that fucking attitude. You really are hopeless.”
[What, what can you even do now? Hit . Hit , you weak-ass bitch.]
Kartia pushed her face forward.
Frey raised her fist toward her face, but then sighed and lowered it again.
“Haa… Look. We don’t need to force the mood. Let’s just get to the point. What do you want to ask?”
Surprised for a second at Frey’s calm reaction, Kartia cleared her throat and nodded.
[Right. That’s probably for the best. Well… what I’m curious about isn’t really for you.]
Kartia turned her head toward .
[Noah. Just now, what did it feel like? Did it feel like you cut it? From the looks of it, it seed like it was completely severed, but I don’t think it was destroyed. If that fragnt had been destroyed, the Advent of the False Paradise would’ve begun.]
The feeling of having cut it.
I flexed my fingers, trying to recall the mont.
The mont I clearly understood what I had to sever, and fully recognized the feat I needed to accomplish.
“Uh… I-I’m not sure, but… it wasn’t like there was no feeling at all. Still, to say I definitely cut it, “
As I carefully traced the sensation that lingered at my fingertips and chose my words slowly,
“…It wasn’t clean”
At that mont, beyond the vine wall,
Crunch…
A thick, wet tearing sound echoed through.
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