I had to chuckle with how spontaneous it all sounded.
“If you get tired of traveling, find a place you like and protect it. Become a demon king. Live the way you want to live. Or you could travel your whole life… Just get out there and interact with people, Setsuna.”
At that moment, I felt as if Kyle was more of a family member than just a friend. If I had an older brother, that’s what he would be like.
“What about you, Kyle? How did you spend your days for two thousand five hundred years?”
For some reason, his gaze darted back and forth. “Th-that’s a secret for now. But I saw your memories, so I’ll make it so that you can view my past as well… I’ll just lock up two of them, though. Once you fulfill certain requirements throughout the world, they’ll unlock. Good luck finding the keys to them!”
Is he really that uncomfortable with me knowing about his past? What in the world have you done here?
There were many things I was curious about, but for the time being, I decided to agree. I suspected he wouldn’t answer me even if asked anyway.
We continued talking for a long time. But I knew it would have to end eventually. Kyle closed his eyes, then slowly opened them. He looked at me with a hint of sadness and of lingering reluctance. I had a feeling I knew what he was going to say, and I felt my fingertips growing cold. Even when he looked at me like that, his resolve did not waver.
“Are you ready, Setsuna?”
I didn’t think I could ever be ready for something like this. My heart began to fill with sadness. I wanted to scream “No! I don’t want to leave you!” but something got in the way, and I couldn’t utter a sound. Even if I could, I knew he wouldn’t change his mind. He wouldn’t change…he wouldn’t…
That’s what his eyes were telling me.
“……”
I looked down briefly, trying to hide my expression.
If you won’t change your mind…
…then I promise to go on a journey, since you were so kind to me. You wished for my future and made me believe it was okay for me to wish for it, too. I will never forget my first and final encounter with you.
And so I put on a brave face and gave him these words:
“Farewell, Kanade.”
All he did was smile and quietly nod.
“See ya, Setsuna. Live like the camellias.” The corners of his mouth curled up into a smile. He rose to his feet and intoned something, casting a magic spell.
I clenched my fists tightly, fighting against my desire to stop him. I was certain I wasn’t the only one feeling conflicted. I watched as Kyle’s expression changed many times in that brief moment.
First, he nodded in agreement, then he looked apologetic, happy, and finally a bit troubled as he stretched his hand out to me. The moment his hand touched my forehead…
I lost my bearing, my vision, my weight, my size. I was pulled in by something and sank down in it before I even had time to feel afraid. I was within something I couldn’t describe in words. My instincts whispered at me to start kicking my legs before I drowned.
Before the whispering ended, that something swallowed me up and flowed into me from all directions. It didn’t take long for it to completely settle inside me. Now I knew what Kyle meant when he said I would inherit his and Hanai’s life experiences. I took all of it—every last drop.
I slowly opened my eyes.
I was standing beside the bed, looking down at the me who still lay in it—the familiar figure I’d grown accustomed to seeing in the mirror for twenty-four—no, for twenty-five years. The black hair and the black eyes—even though right now they were closed.
When I was summoned here, I was younger than I had been in my previous life, but it was still me.
I just stood there and watched the Hero’s Testament slowly fade away from my gaunt right wrist.
And then…the human known as Setsuna Sugimoto died once again, disappearing from this otherworld along with Kanade Tokito.
“I’m going to abandon everything, right here.”
My quiet whisper filled the silent room and then vanished.
I wasn’t sure how long I lost myself in sorrow after that. But suddenly, I heard a flurry of activity in the distance, which pulled me back to reality. Up until now, I’d never sensed the presence of another human before. The new sensation bewildered me, but I began thinking about how I should escape from this room.
I’m sure they were alerted that I had died. I couldn’t afford for them to find me, so I knew I needed to leave. I searched for the way Kyle had entered the room. Everything he had talked to me about before now felt vividly real. It was like some kind of network had been established inside my brain.
At any rate, it seemed he had come here using teleportation magic. I only vaguely understood how he had found me. Perhaps I would understand more later?
I didn’t feel any kind of uncertainty about whether I’d be able to use magic; it just felt as if it was naturally flowing through my body.
I didn’t feel like myself, but I figured I would get used to it. Then I noticed someone’s presence inside the building. I wondered what the sensation was and tried to focus on it. I learned that I could sense very detailed things, such as where people were and how many of them there were. I focused a little harder, sharpening my senses toward the outside of the building, too. There was a place away from here, where a large number of people were gathered.
Was it the castle town?
In my mind’s eye, I found a spot away from where anyone else was gathered and used magic for the very first time to teleport myself there. All I had to do was think of the word Teleport. At the same time, another spell activated, which would conceal my mana. I wondered if Kyle had cast a spell on this body to make that happen. Perhaps he had done so because he, too, had sensed all those people nearby.
I escaped from the place where I had been both summoned to and imprisoned, and I finally gained freedom.
“Live like the camellias.”
I tucked the memories of Kanade inside of my heart, engraving his words upon it. I took the first step of my third life, filled with a mixture of sadness and excitement.