V5. Prologue part 3
Translator: Soafp
[Claire Side]
“I’ll never forgive him!”
Claire Kagenou puffed her cheeks out in her room in the girls’ dormitory.
“How many times do you have to break your promise, Sid? Even though we promised to go home together during the winter break…”
The lamp light shines on her somewhat sulky face.
She had a steel collar for some reason.
“I’ll never, ever forgive him. I will drag him home for spring break.”
She fiddled with the collar, making sure it locked properly, and laughed.
“Next time he won’t get away with it.”
At that, she frowned.
“—-Tsu”
A heavy thump sounded and the collar fell to the floor.
“My right hand… it hurts…”
She held her right hand and her face contorted.
“Why …… Lately it has gone away.”
Since that day when the magic circle was engraved on her right hand, she had been tingling a few times.
But it must have calmed down recently.
“What is this …… Aurora, answer me.”
Even though she asked, Aurora never responded to her question from that day on.
It also occurred to her that perhaps it was all a dream.
However, under the bandage wrapped around her right hand, a magic circle was indeed engraved.
Claire opened the drawer of her desk and spread out the documents on it.
“I did my research. I found that the same magic circle as mine is engraved in the archives of the Diabolos”
The magic circle on the spread out document and the one engraved on her right hand are very similar.
“What does this mean….. What does this have to do with me and Diabolos? What is going to happen to me? Hey please, answer me …….”
Then she thought she heard something.
Claire looked up and looked around.
“Eh, just now…….”
[……R]
“! Aurora?! Is that you, Aurora?”
A voice that seems to echo directly into her head.
[…..R…..u…….]
Little by little, she hears it clearly.
[Ru…….n………]
“Eh……? Run?”
At the moment Claire’s expression of bewilderment turned to puzzlement, a cracking sound like something snapping was heard.
“What is this….!”
The view reflected in her eyes was cracked.
Like a broken mirror shattering, the world was collapsing.
The desk that she had tried to grab on the spur of the moment also shattered.
And beyond the shattered surface, a new world opened up.
“It’s my room ……, right?”
It was definitely her room.
But for some reason, a strange white fog was drifting in the air.
The only sound was Claire’s breathing.
No──there was a faint sound of her robe being rubbed from behind her.
“—Sweet.”
The next moment, Claire turns around and fires an elbow that shatters the attacker’s jaw.
“Ggagh!”
The assailant almost collapsed to his knees, but he barely managed to stay on his feet.
But that proved to be her undoing.
Claire’s knee slammed into his face, which was in the right place.
“Sid’s imitation, I guess”
With a flutter, the skirt of her uniform fluttered.
The man on the floor is fainting, his eyes flaring white.
His face was unfamiliar.
“Who is he?”
Claire crouched down to examine the man.
Suddenly, the man’s body cracks and shatters.
“Wha, the same as before…… !”
All traces of the man were gone.
“What the hell……… hey, somebody! Is anyone there?!”
Claire went out into the hallway and opened the door to the next room.
But the familiar schoolmate was nowhere to be found.
And the one next to it, and the one next to it.
No one was there.
Claire was the only one left behind in this world.
“What’s going on …… Hey Aurora, you’re here, aren’t you?”
[I’m not]
A troublesome voice.
“There you are. This is no time for jokes.’
[I told you to run.]
“Can’t be helped. There’s no way I could move on the spur of the moment like that.”
[So reluctant]
“This is an emergency!”
[I also have my circumstances.]
“What kind?”
[I don’t want to involve you.]
“—! It’s a little late for that, after all these magic circles!”
Claire glared at the magic circle in her right hand.
[It was to protect you.]
“I know ……but you could at least tell me why.”
“I was going to tell you. But now I can’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“Because he’s trying to protect you.”
“He……?”
[He’s trying to protect you. He’s trying to keep you out of harm’s way. That’s why I can’t talk to you.]
“You said it before, who is he? I don’t think I’m being protected by anyone.”
[No. You have always been protected. You always have been and always will be. I’m soooo envious of you.]
“….I’ll say it again. I don’t know who he is, but I have no intention of being protected by anyone.”
Claire’s voice was oozing with anger.
[That’s fine with him. As long as you are in a safe place and don’t know anything about it. That’s probably what he wants…]
“—–Enough already! I don’t want that!”
[I can’t talk about it. I owe him a great debt of gratitude.]
Aurora’s voice sounded somewhat displeased.
“I will make you talk.”
[How?]
“Uhm…….”
Claire suddenly became calm.
She wondered what she could do to the person whose voice was the only one echoing in her head.
“Uhm……… uhm. I’ll just keep yelling at the top of my lungs until Aurora speaks.”
[Be my guest.]
“…… I’ll cut you off.”
[Go ahead.]
“……I’m gonna go around saying bad things about you.”
[And then?]
Claire bit her lip.
[I hope you’ve had enough.]
“My frustration is only growing.”
[Don’t worry, I’ll show you how to get out of this space.]
“What is this place anyway?”
[I’m not going to tell you that.]
“Aah, God, I’m so frustrated.”
[Just go straight for now.]
“Don’t want.”
[You’re gonna be stuck in here forever if you don’t move on.]
“Yes, yes, yes, I understand. Just keep going, right?”
[Yes, yes, continue forward and make three turns.]
“Three turns?!”
[I’m kidding.]
“I’ll blow you away someday.”
The black-haired girl started walking in a world of white fog.
The woman with violet eyes could be seen behind her, overlapping her dimly.