The sunset smeared across the mountain peak was ethereal. The sky was dyed in mystical hues.
Wrapped as if in an aurora, I gazed at soliette.
Her outward appearance remained the same…
No, even her exterior was different.
Her soul summoned forth simple habits, and these habits formed expressions that were both familiar and unfamiliar, making her seem like someone else.
“…YOU.”
I called out to soliette. She nodded as she looked at me.
“What is it?”
Her brief reply was perplexing. It was as if her mouth had frozen over.
Could it really be an oxygen issue?
Was I passed out and dreaming?
“lt's not a dream.”
Even the talk of dreams was initiated by soliette. I pressed down on my throbbing temples.
I decided to relax my body to maintain consciousness.
I ended up slumping to the ground.
Soliette looked down at me and asked,
“Does it still hurt?”
I let out a hollow laugh.
“…How could it not hurt? It’s mental pain now.”
“lndeed. Something seems fucked up.”
“HOW… What happened?”
Soliette turned back to the horizon. Between the ridges, there were bursts of light spreading like fountains.
“I don’t know the details. But at this altitude, the magical energy itself becomes peculiar. Anything could happen.”
“Just ‘peculiar’ is your explanation?”
Soliette tilted her head.
“Yes. It is peculiar, isn’t it? Both Shion and I.”
“…”
I ran my fingers through my hair. Soliette continued softly,
“I thought I was dreaming all this while.”
“A dream.”
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})“Yes. In that dream, there was another me, not me, with the Shion I know.”
By now, it was clear.
She was soliette from before her regression. However, why she was here, how she ‘came’ to be here, I didn’t know.
The most likely hypothesis was hallucinations due to oxygen deprivation.
A fantasy invoked by my subconscious longing.
“Shion was experiencing things with a version of me that wasn’t me.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. Honestly, it still feels like a dream. I feel like I’ll return when I wake up.”
I got up.
If she was indeed the soliette from before her regression, regardless of the principles or reasons, if she was indeed the pre-regression soliette.
“Then. Do you know your future?”
I felt like I couldn’t let her die.
“Spoilers kill.”
Soliette narrowed her eyes sharply.
“…”
She was deadly serious. And it wasn’t even a joke. This soliette never joked in the first place.
I stood beside her.
“Then take a guess, damn it. Why are you here?”
“lt might be because of the Severing Sword.”
Severing Sword…
Indeed, even the Severing Sword is suspicious.
Could this ‘severing sword’ have cut through the ties of both before and after her regression?
“l’m not sure of the details, but one thing is certain.”
Soliette gazed into the open scenery. The mystical colors had faded into mere afterimages, and a deep navy began to fill the void.
“Something is pulling me.”
“Something? What is that something?”
“lf I knew, I’d be a god.”
“…Right now, you seem like a god to me.”
As a simple regressor, she was the first to have overcome regression.
“Don’t fuck around.”
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})“…Yes, of course.”
Soliette shrugged her shoulders.
“More importantly, is Shion okay?”
“…The same. Just repeating everything from the begin ning.”
“ls that so? Then, is your revenge going well?”
Soliette seemed curious about my illness and my revenge.
“lt’s going well.”
She nodded silently.
Now the world had completely darkened, and soliette quietly closed her eyes as if feeling that ‘something’.
“We might see each other often.”
“…What?”
Swoosh—
She quietly collapsed. I caught her.
She keeps dangerously teetering towards the edge of the cliff.
“…Uh.”
Soliette opened her eyes again. I scanned her face.
“Soliette. Are you okay?”
“Um… Yes.”
This innocent, frog-like expression wasn’t the soliette from just before.
It was the current soliette, not the one before regression.
“lt seems I fainted for a moment…”
Soliette struggled slightly, almost as if I was embracing her.
“Oh, sorry.”
I quickly let go. Soliette, who had stepped back a few paces, cleared her throat.
“So. Shall we head up to the peak now?”
“No. Let’s just plant the flag. Here or at the peak, it’s all top-tier anyway.”
“…Yes.”
Thump! Thump!
We planted the flag.
Then we sat down side by side on the ground.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})“Breathing is tough here.”
“Yeah. It really is.”
The sudden encounter ended just as abruptly.
Yet, I waited, wondering if ‘she’ might appear again, and yawned loudly—
Soliette leaned against my shoulder and fell asleep.
About three hours later, the first phase of the exam was over.
The order to descend the mountain had been issued.
Descending the mountain was as difficult as climbing it. We made our way down awkwardly, and the soliette from before the regression never returned.
But she had clearly said we would see each other often.
She’s not one to break a promise, so she’ll surely return someday…
… Regression.
Suddenly, I found myself deep in thought. It was all because of that sudden appearance.
What, really, was the reason for my regression?
Or rather, what does regression mean?
All linear events return to ‘a point’ in the past and start over from there.
That’s what I thought regression was.
However, if that's the case, the soliette from before the regression shouldn't exist. The current soliette and the soliette from before the regression shouldn’t be connected.
Regression is an event that erases all past occurrences and starts anew.
“Shion. What are you thinking so deeply about?”
“Uh, oh? Ah… nothing.”
Anyway.
We safely descended the mountain.
There was no need to go all the way down the mountain we had climbed; there was a proper base camp in the middle of the mountain where only the passers gathered.
There were already quite a few passers and instructors gathered there.
“Well done!”
An instructor shouted loudly.
“The passers of the first exam are the top 300 record holders! The list of passers is as follows!”
The instructor called out the names of the passers by mouth. Only Gerkhen, me, and soliette were first-year students.
“Shion. Look over there.”
Soliette pointed somewhere.
Bethon, whose face was still swollen. He, who had been beaten up by us, was grinning and enjoying his pass.
“The second exam is next week. Go home, recover from the journey, and come back in perfect condition!”
Yes—!
The aspiring knights responded loudly.
“Now, take your phones!”
The instructors distributed the phones that had been collected before the exam. I immediately pressed the message box as soon as I received mine.
There were quite a few messages from the Intelligence Agency.
It seemed that, rather than recovering, I would have to start working immediately.
The next morning at dawn.
I had only taken a short nap before heading straight to work.
However, the place of work wasn’t the Intelligence Agency. It was ‘the car’.
More precisely, the back seat of the car. I was glued to the floor mat, waiting for someone who would soon get into this car.
Beep—
The sound of unlocking.
Then the door opened, and ‘that person’ sat in the driver’s seat.
At that moment, I sprang up.
“Director Gedley.”
“!”
Gedley’s whole body flinched. I placed my hand on his shoulder.
“Calm down.”
“…You.”
Gedley looked at me with unsteady eyes.
“You’re being careless. Seems like you’re not having the best of times lately.”
No bodyguards, no secretary. This meant that Gedley’s current situation was extremely precarious.
“…”
He bit his lip. Probably, the ‘Chaser assassination case’ was flashing through his mind like a rapid slideshow.
It seemed like he was imagining himself as one of the victims.
“Do you think you’ll be safe like this?”
Gedley asked.
“Don’t misunderstand. I’m not here to harm you, D ire ctor.”
I patted his shoulder lightly to calm him down.
“ln this situation? You expect me to believe that?”
“Please forgive the rudeness. There simply was no other place for us to have this conversation.”
“You think I’d want to talk with you”
“I know you’re not the one who targeted Team Leader Bell.”
“…What?”
Gedley furrowed his brow.
“I don't believe you were behind the attempt on Bell's life.”
I smiled slightly as I looked at Gedley. He slapped my hand away.
“Obvious. Knowing that, you still dare to be this disrespectful?”
“lt’s precisely because I know that, Director, that I came to find you.”
Now, it was time to sow discord.
Removing Gedley wouldn’t guarantee Bell Moore becoming the Director. With the other team leaders still in place, Derek might parachute his own balancer into the position.
“We suspect your subordinates, Director.”
“…”
Gedley listened silently to my story.
“They attacked us and tried to pin the blame on you, Director.”
“Hmph. Baseless nonsense without evidence.”
I pulled out a portable cassette player from my coat and played the tape.
—No, it’s the opposite. Why would we assassinate Bell Moore in the first place? There’s no reason for that.
…What?
—Everyone knows yet keeps quiet. Let’s be frank. It’s obviously something Director Gedley would do. The Director has almost lost his entire fortune.
—Jensen. That’s too speculative-
—Yet the Director is trying to pin it on us. He’s declared it an internal investigation, claiming one of the team leaders is the culprit. He even went through my subordinates’ and my bank accounts. Is this speculative?
The recording of a highly confidential meeting of the team leaders.
Gedley’s expression changed moment by moment as he listened.
“…lt could be fabricated.”
Gedley gritted his teeth and responded. I smiled slightly.
“You really trust your subordinates. You can die that way too.”
“You bastard”
I threw the tape onto the passenger seat.
“lf you think it’s fabricated, listen to the whole thing, not just the context.”
“…Hey. Is this also Bell Moore’s doing?”
As I was about to get out of the car, Gedley grabbed my arm. I turned to face him, considering my next words carefully.
“lt's not a ‘scheme,’ it’s an ‘opportunity’ that Team Leader Bell is offering you.”
“Ha…”
A hollow laugh spread across Gedley’s face. Was it self-mockery about the situation he was in, or was it extreme anger?
“Think it over and let me know your decision, Director Gedley.”
I flashed a grin and left the parking lot.
“…Hmm.”
It was clear how Gedley would move forward.
Having already lost Derek’s trust and with the team leaders likely to betray him, the opportunist Gedley would surely cling to Bell Moore, or rather, to me, in an attempt to survive.
Then, Bell Moore would naturally become the next director, endorsed by the former di recto r…
Drrring—
My smartphone rang just as I was thinking about it.
Speak of the devil.
It was a call from Bell Moore.
“Hello?”
—Hey! Hey!
Bell Moore shouted as soon as I answered.
“What’s up?”
—Fuck, where are you? We’re screwed.
He cursed immediately. Had this lunatic gotten into some trouble?
I sighed.
“What happened now?”
—Just get to the team leader’s office now! We’ve been assigned some shitty mission.
“A mission?”
It seemed he hadn’t caused any accidents, fortunately.
—Yeah! Hurry up! I’m waiting!
Click-
“…”
Bell Moore had hung up abruptly.
“ls this really a team leader, this brat…”
I muttered to myself as I hailed a nearby taxi.
“Take a look. This is the setup mission we’ve been assign ed.”
In Bell Moore’s office.
He was biting his nails as he handed me the documents. I quickly scanned the contents.
“…Definitely. This is a big deal.”
I immediately understood why Bell Moore was acting like a dog desperate to shit.
I lifted the photo of the [operation target] from the file.
Hair as dark as obsidian. Pupils deep and unfathomable like darkness itself.
The woman with the bob cut, Theia Esil, suited it quite well.
“Yeah. The order came directly from above to target this woman. Directly!”
‘Directly’ meant it was from Derek.
“What should we do?”
“What’s the deadline for the mission?”
“…I haven’t accepted it yet.”
I looked at Bell Moore.
“Why haven’t you accepted it?”
“Hey. You think you can handle Theia Esil? She’s a real crazy bitch.”
“lf you don't accept, Derek will be disap pointed.”
“…”
“This isn’t the kind of operation you can just accept.”
“Damn it”
Then Bell Moore flung the file into the air, like a child throwing a tantrum over food.
He might as well start stomping his feet next.
“So what do you want me to do? Fight her? How? Even if we bring 100 Chasers, they'd all be butchered. You've never seen Theia Esil fight, have you?”
“We don’t have to fight.”
I set the report down.
“…Not fight?”
“Yes. Leave it to me.”
I'm aware of the scandals surrounding Theia Esil. Honestly, there’s not much to them, but they can be spun.
As they were before my regression.
“lt might take some time, but… I can definitely get her imprisoned.”
Imprisonment would surely be a better end than death.
