“I’ve only ever thought about becoming a hero. Everything else was irrelevant. And I thought it was fine that way. But—”
“But?”
As I encouraged her to go on, Leonie fell into thought for a bit before continuing:
“But after meeting you, I think my way of thinking has started to change. I’m starting to come around to the idea that maybe I should have been doing more pointless things along the way.”
She assured me she meant that in a good way, and I nodded back.
“After being so fixated on becoming a hero, I think I had become a rather flimsy person. So at that time—when my lack of fighting ability was pointed out, and my accomplishments were brought into question—I was easily bent and broken.”
“No, Aliza was just being too—”
As I started to deny what she said, Leonie gave me a look that reined me in and made me shut up. I waited for her to talk.
“Professor Aliza is partially to blame as well. But that’s definitely not the only thing. I needed to be more thick-skinned. I needed a solid sense of determination that wouldn’t be destroyed by a little bit of criticism. I needed conviction. Especially if I want to become a hero.”
“‘Conviction,’ huh…”
I didn’t really get that part. To me, wanting to become a hero had always been simple. I just wanted to be strong—and that was that. All that other stuff, like saving people, would come after. So I didn’t entirely understand what Leonie was saying. But—
—the way she’d talked about it was really cool.
“But maybe I’m just thinking too hard about everything.”
“I don’t think that’s true. Hearing you say all that, I was really reminded that you’re the daughter of the Almighty Hero, who defeated my mama.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I’m not totally sure, but I bet there’s no one who’s thought about what it really means to be a hero more than you have. And because of that, I don’t think anyone has a better instinct for what it means to be a hero than you.”
And she had arrived this mindset precisely because she had been born the daughter of a hero and hadn’t always taken it for granted that she was.
“You’re exaggerating. I’m really just a little girl striving to become a hero someday.”
“Heh-heh, okay then. In that case, so am I.”
With that, we exchanged smiles.
—Ruchika. If you don’t sleep soon, it’ll affect your performance tomorrow.
Yeah, okay. Just a little longer.
Proto chimed in to give me a helpful warning, but I wanted to chat with Leonie a bit more. At least until we reached a good stopping point—and this beautiful starry sky was too good to give up.
“Ruchika, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“I am the daughter of a hero. That means I’m the enemy of your mother. Don’t you have any resentment toward me?”
“Oh, that?”
I wasn’t sure if I could really make her understand, but keeping that in mind, I did my best.
“My mama said she was exhausted by the never-ending, fruitless war with the human race. And the last human she ever fought with was the strongest in all humanity, the Almighty Hero. My mama was proud of her noble end, and I wouldn’t ever want you to feel bad about that.”
I hadn’t been born yet when it happened, but even my nanny, who hated heroes, told me that my mama had seemed happy with how she met her end. I think, for her, it was a satisfying death.
“I see…but I’m sorry. Honestly, I wish my own mother had made it out alive.”
“Then do you resent us demons?”
“…I believe that is a different conversation.”
Leonie seemed unsure of how to respond to that.
“There will be things about each other that we understand and things we can’t understand—I know it comes as part of the package, and I love you anyway,” I said.
“There you go again, making declarations of love like it’s nothing…”
“That’s just how demon love goes. The way humans do it can be so frustrating.”
“I wish you would consider the emotions at play a little more delicately.”
“Oh? Then will you finally turn my way?”
“That’s also a different conversation.”
“Aw, man…”
I laughed, and Leonie laughed back.
“Sorry for keeping you up like this. We should sleep soon.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Night, Leonie.”
“Good night.”
I closed my eyes and was soon overtaken by sleepiness. I let myself drift off without resistance and fell into a deep sleep.
“…What a mysterious person. Our origins are as different as oil and water, yet I can feel so close to you… I wonder why.”
I heard someone whisper this. But it just barely reached my fading consciousness, and the meaning of those words failed to register in my mind as I faded back to sleep.
On the fourth day of the test, we reached the goal: the island’s northern mountain peak.
—Ruchika, there’s something strange here.
Yeah, I noticed it, too.
Instead of returning to the Institute as expected, the students who had reached the goal before we had were grouped together at the spot, camping out.
“Leonie! Ruchika!”
“Oh, Nor!”
“Nor, what exactly is going on here…?”
There, we found Nor, who had arrived before us. She had a fretful look on her face.
“Come over here for a minute.”
We did as she told us and followed after her. There, at the mountain’s peak, was what appeared to be a kind of altar.
“Look at this.”
Nor pointed to a large spell circle engraved upon the ground. But there were scratches here and there all over it.
“Is this…a teleportation circle?”
“Yes. But it appears to be broken, so none of us can return to the Institute.”
“Whaaat…?”
“So that’s why everyone is camped out here like this.”
“Yeah.”
Since the expectation was that the students would each return to the school on their own via this teleportation circle, there were no instructors present on the island. If no one had come back by the expected time, the school would surely notice soon enough. But since this essential teleportation spell had now been damaged, the teachers and staff would have to arrive through another route, and that would take few days.