Originally, the man named Minamijuuji Sei was not possessed of a personality suited for combat. Put nicely, he was kind, but it could also be said that he was just naive. Even though he had a strong sense of justice, he didn’t have the drive to match. He just didn’t have the initiative to make his dreams and wishes a reality at the expense of others. He always ended up being considerate of his opponent and tended to simply take a step back to allow them some leeway. Compromise is a virtue, they say, and they would be right. However, that also depended on the situation. Those who compromised with someone trying to take their girl were just considered cowardly.
Sei’s kindness was what had attracted Virgo, but in order to protect her, Sei couldn’t allow himself to only be kind. If he didn’t learn to follow his desires a little, if he didn’t learn to be even a little more selfish, Sei would never be able to protect anyone.
“I won’t make her cry anymore! I swore that!”
“Then show me! Show me your mettle!”
“I don’t need you to tell me that... I was already going to!”
Sei forced their swords up, breaking their prolonged clash.
In this space, what decides the outcome of our showdown is the strength of our hearts. Our feelings for Virgo specifically will be the critical factor, so I won’t lose. There’s no way I can lose. Even if I’m not as powerful, even if I’m not as beautiful, I’m still confident that my heart will lose to no one.
Such determination hardened Sei’s fist as he slammed a punch into Sanieve’s sword. The sword bit into Sei’s hand, drawing blood, but he didn’t mind. He had decided to stop relying on his sword. Instead, Sei made his feelings for Virgo his weapon and struck out with his fist as hard as he could.
“DDAAAAAARRRAAAGGHHHH!!!”
Even though Sanieve’s sword was cutting into Sei’s fist, it didn’t stop until it forced itself into Sanieve’s face, sending the man flying. Sanieve tumbled continuously across the floor until he stopped, spread-eagled. Thinking that he would get up immediately, Sei readied himself. However, Sanieve was making no such moves.
“Hmph, you pass,” Sanieve said after a moment of silence. “I suppose.”
It was an anticlimactic end, but this was a fight of the heart. Things would always be decided in an instant, as soon as someone saw the end coming. Sei’s feelings had overcome Sanieve’s. That was all. As long as this fact remained true, Sanieve would never be able to claim victory over Sei. Power relationships worked here much in the same way as they did in the Endpoint between Lufas and Alovenus after their fight.
“Ah, how regrettable. In the end, I was just a jester to be used as a stalking horse. The Goddess was right. I’m just a foolish puppet who came up to the stage because of a misunderstanding,” Sanieve said quietly, unable to hide the regret seeping through his voice.
In the end, he was a clown, a buffoon full of misunderstandings. Virgo and Sei’s feelings were mutual, and there had been no room for Sanieve to interfere in the first place. All he managed to do was become the villain who had stolen Virgo from under everyone’s noses, and in the end, that had only served to bring the two closer. He lost, just as he was supposed to, and was about to disappear, again, just like he was supposed to... That was all.
“Sanieve...”
“Virgo...? Heh heh. Look at me. I’m just an unsightly loser. I underestimated some weakling who didn’t have the guts to accept your noble feelings and tried to take you by force, but this is all I was able to do in the end... Go ahead and laugh.”
Virgo shook her head after hearing Sanieve’s verbal self-flagellation. Seeing that, Sanieve couldn’t help but smile.
“You won’t even hold a grudge now, huh...? It is as you see, Minamijuuji Sei. This girl is too kind. With no one by her side to protect her, that kindness will hurt her and leave her to be food for villains like me. So... Though I hate to do this, I leave her to you. Use your short life to protect her. Support her. If you don’t... Someday, there will be another misunderstanding idiot like me.”
After a weighty pause, Sei eventually replied. “Yeah. All this made me realize just how much of an idiot I was. I don’t like you, but I’ll remember your words.”
“That’s fine.”
Sanieve closed his eyes, satisfied.
Seeing someone go to sleep in the world of dreams was strange. However, he would no longer surface in the waking world. This was the place Sanieve would meet his end, the place he would sleep forever. However, Sanieve found that he was strangely calm. Though regretful and far from a satisfying ending, this was far better than the death he’d been heading towards before, at least, where all he could have done was run from the Goddess and despair at the state of the world.
While he burned the image of Virgo and Sei together in his mind as the world crumbled—or rather, returned to reality—Sanieve quietly muttered, “I’m in no position to say this but...I wish you a long...and happy...”
Then, the man named Sanieve completely disappeared.
ＥＸ－11
Four years had passed since the battle with Sanieve. The events of that day had ended as a dream, just as Alovenus had said they would, and no one but Sei and the other participants remembered any of it. One might think that this in itself might cause an uproar, because everyone had seen the same dream, but dreams only tended to stay in the minds of people who had just woken up. In the end, everybody eventually forgot that they had even seen such a dream, and by the time Sei had woken up, everybody was back to living their normal daily lives, completely unchanged from before. Even Sei himself had wondered whether it had really been a dream or not. Lufas, Virgo, and the others remembered the events of that day, however, and they understood that they had been both a dream and not a dream.
“I’ll be off then.”
Sei had turned twenty-two and had successfully found employment as a police officer upon entering society, becoming a deputy officer after passing the state employment exam required for general employment. Originally, he never wanted to try to qualify for some elite course and was fine with being a simple policeman, carrying out his duties as one of the police while being helped by his seniors. However, he started to desire higher pay because he wanted to make things as easy as possible for his wife and child.
“Yes. See you later, dear.”
Sei’s wife was there to see him off, looking just as young as when they’d first met—his wife by the name of Virgo. In her arms was their newborn baby, already making sounds.
The couple finally made it to the “goal” all couples had after being pushed forward in their relationship by Sanieve, though rather unintentionally, and now lived together on Earth. Virgo had left the Imperial Thirteen Heavenly Stars and was considered the former Maiden seat. There was no way for someone with a child to be a Maiden, after all.
As an aside, there was no candidate for the third generation of the seat, so in the end, Parthenos had been reinstated for the time being. Parthenos reacted to this news by falling into a slight depression, saying, “So my grandchild’s already got children, and I’m still here without any experience...” As one might expect from someone who was literally a “Maiden” until her death, she was on another level.
“Okay, Akemi, let’s say goodbye to papa.”
“Bwahh!”
Minamijuuji Akemi—the baby girl born to Virgo and Sei. Her name was written with the characters for “bright light” and “water.” She was named after Sanieve. They had taken the first character from the traditional Japanese name for Venus, one of the more famous Metal element spells which was under his purview, as well as the character for water, his other element. By connecting them together, they got Akemi.
Sanieve had been an enemy, but he was also the one who got Sei to realize his love for Virgo. This was the least they felt they could do for the man who had died while unfulfilled like that, so they entrusted his name to their daughter.
“Sei, just so you know, I’m very happy right now.”
“Yeah... Me too.”
Someday they would be forced to part. Even so, they had decided to hold the short time they had together all the more dear. Sei would walk through life together with Virgo and Akemi, swearing to love them both until the breath of life left his body. Even if Virgo was forever young, even if he had grown old, even then, they would continue through life together. They were sure they would never regret anything, no matter how things ended. That was what the two of them had decided, after all.
Virgo and Sei exchanged a kiss before Sei went off to work.
“Looks like the two of them will be just fine,” Lufas said.
“Seriously. Getting all steamy right from the start of the day...” Dina trailed off.
Lufas and Dina were watching this scene out of a slice-of-life romance from the top of the next building. Will Virgo really be able to get used to the other world, to Japan? Will those two be all right? Those worries had driven Lufas to drop in every once in a while to observe them, but it turned out that her worries were unfounded.
“But their trials are just beginning. Sei, kid... Well, I suppose I should stop with that... Sei, from now on you’ll have to protect your family. That’s a far harder task than protecting the world.”
“It is, isn’t it? But those two will be able to overcome any obstacle. I’m sure of it.”
Lufas nodded before turning back to watch Sei. He no longer looked like the unreliable boy she’d first met. Now, he looked like a man who had overcome many a hardship.
He’ll be fine. He’s no longer that weak boy who needed protecting. I’m sure he’ll manage to protect Virgo and his child from now on in the battlefield of daily life. With that conviction, Lufas flew away.
A single feather from her black wings fell, eventually reaching the ground after brushing past Sei’s head. Seeing that, Sei stopped for a moment and looked up at the sky before laughing. The look on his face was powerful and reliable, as if to say, “Leave it to me.”