Am I hearing things, or was that the voice of a certain class president?
From the corner of her eye, she saw the brownie jumping for joy as it discovered the magic stone she had buried.
The rain finally lifted around evening. That was enough for Brigitte to breathe more easily.
I’ve always hated rainy days…
The memory of that awful day came back to her so vividly. Somehow, though, she managed to push down the indelible afterimages that still tormented her and look out at their surroundings.
The sky was already dark, and she could hardly see into the forest. Searching for magic stones in an unfamiliar environment could be dangerous. She glanced back at Kira. She didn’t see the brownie in the cave anymore. Appearing in the human world consumed an enormous amount of magical energy. Brigitte guessed it had returned to the spirit world to recover its strength. Maybe that was why Kira looked slightly tired herself… But more likely, she was worn down from the test. She hadn’t said much for a while.
“Should we camp here for the night?” Brigitte asked.
“Y-yes, I suppose. We should probably make a fire, don’t you think?”
Brigitte shook her head. “…I don’t think we need one. We have food and water.” Kira nodded, and Brigitte remembered something she’d wanted to tell her. As she took her rations out of her knapsack, she said casually, “By the way, Kira, I think you’d look good with your bangs pulled back.”
“Huh?”
“Your eyes are quite pretty,” she said candidly.
“…!” Kira gasped. “…You really think so?”
“Yes—at least in my opinion.”
“Thank you, Miss Brigitte.”
There was something stiff about her response. Brigitte wondered if she’d said something wrong. But when she looked up, something else caught her attention.
A light was flickering at the mouth of the cave.
The long shadow that covered Brigitte and Kira wavered. When Brigitte turned around in surprise, her breath stopped.
Miss Selmin…?
Lisa was standing in the entrance, holding a torch. She must have gotten drenched in the rain, because water was dripping from her hair and clothes. Brigitte couldn’t see the expression on her downturned face, but something was clearly different from usual.
“Lisa…?” Kira called uneasily.
Brigitte noticed that Lisa’s mouth was moving.
“It’s all your fault… Yes, you…” She was mumbling something, but the echoes in the narrow cave made it hard to hear clearly.
“…Kira, I’ll distract her. Will you find someone and ask them to come here?”
“What? B-but…”
“Something seems wrong. I would be very grateful if you could go for help.”
Kira nodded hesitantly. Brigitte called to Lisa, keeping her voice calm to avoid agitating her.
“Miss Selmin, do you need something?”
“!”
Her reaction was dramatic.
“Brigitte…Brigitte Meidell!!”
Brigitte and Kira froze at Lisa’s terrible expression. Her bloodshot eyes were bulging, and her lips were bleeding from being chewed. Her normally neat hair was plastered to her forehead and cheeks.
What in the world happened…?
Brigitte had felt Lisa’s animosity many times, but she had never feared for her life before. Brigitte was stunned, but she pushed Kira’s back gently forward. Kira jumped, then slipped past Lisa.
“…Be careful, Miss Brigitte!” she called before vanishing into the darkness. Left alone, Brigitte tried to keep her face blank as she turned to Lisa, but—
“…Why?” Lisa muttered, like she was talking to herself.
Brigitte frowned.
“Why are Sir Nival and even Kira suddenly your slaves?”
Brigitte wasn’t sure how to answer. “They’re not my slaves,” she said. “Nival and Kira are my friends.”
At least I think they are…
Lisa couldn’t have heard the anxious voice in her mind, but she brandished her torch and screamed, “The Red Fairy will never have friends!”
Brigitte stumbled backward. Lisa’s shadow wavered ominously, like a giant about to swallow her up.
“…Oh, I see,” Lisa growled.
Goose bumps rose all over Brigitte’s body.
“You’re scared of fire, aren’t you, Brigitte?”
“…!”
She stiffened, and Lisa seemed to recognize her nervous fear.
“It does make sense. Your own father burned your hand, after all!” She cackled. “Ah-ha-ha, how funny. Poor Brigitte! You really are a miserable, shameful person!”
Before she knew what she was doing, her right hand was pressing her gloved left hand protectively. Although she was drenched with cold sweat, she smiled defiantly.
“…Yes, you’re right, Miss Selmin.”
“…What?”
Lisa must not have expected her to accept these insults, and she narrowed her eyes threateningly.
Brigitte looked straight at her and smiled again. She was afraid her voice would waver or tears would spill from her eyes, but she refused to be defeated by someone who used words like knives to mock people.
I can’t let her win…
“Imagine, the daughter of the Fire Clan being afraid of fire! I agree, it’s laughable. So laugh as much as you please,” she said.
“…What, are you bluffing?”
“No, I’m telling you the truth. Like you said—it’s laughable, isn’t it?” she declared. “So go on and laugh. I don’t care.”
Lisa looked taken aback, but the violent hatred in her eyes only intensified.
“Oh, ha-ha, I just had a lovely idea…”
There was a twisted elation growing in the ugly smile on her face. She raised her torch like a sword.
“Red Fairy, how would you like to burn your hand one more time with this flame?”
She heard the footsteps behind her and saw the flickering flame. Brigitte was running through the forest, glancing over her shoulder again and again.
“Huff…”
Everything had gone well until she was out of the cave. But Lisa was surprisingly fast, and the distance between them wasn’t growing.
—No, the truth was, Brigitte’s body wasn’t moving how she wanted it to. That was why she couldn’t get away from Lisa.
Those flames…
All the cottage servants knew Brigitte’s past and kept her away from fire. And she herself never went near places where it was used, like the kitchen or the incinerator. The same was true at school. She took great care not to witness fire spirits performing magic when she saw them on the street or at school.
That was why now—
The flames chasing her looked like enormous waves. Sometimes they reached out like her father’s arm and tried to consume her.
“…!”
She clenched her jaw and ran desperately forward. Each time her feet hit the damp ground, mud splattered around them. Her strength was draining away. But she couldn’t stop because she didn’t know what Lisa would do to her if she did.
She had underestimated Lisa, however. Maybe she was annoyed at not being able to catch up. Whatever the reason, she threw her torch—and it came flying toward Brigitte’s head.
“No—”
Brigitte couldn’t move. She could only stare at the flames raging madly as they fell toward her. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t run.
Crash!!
But a second later, the torch was repelled backward and fell at Lisa’s feet.
Only then did Brigitte remember. Though her vision was clouded by sweat dripping into her eyes, his handsome face seemed to glow before her.
Yuri…
Her hair was fastened at the back of her head by the ornament he’d given her. It was a magic item of the finest quality, said to repel any type of magic one time. Of the nine jewels on the ornament, the red one would have lost its glow. It had repelled Lisa’s attack, serving its purpose.
Did that mean he had foreseen something like this happening—and given her the ornament for that reason?
It’s like Yuri protected me…
But even as a faint wave of relief and courage washed over her, she realized something else. The fire of Lisa’s torch had not been lit by her but rather bestowed by fire magic.
That was odd.
I’m sure the type of magic Lisa uses is—
“—How is this possible?!”
Her train of thought was cut off by Lisa’s scream slicing through the blackness.
“Y-you’re contracted with a no-name, aren’t you…?! You shouldn’t have that kind of power!!”
She seemed to be assuming that Brigitte’s contracted spirit had repulsed her attack. Brigitte was going to say something—but then pressed her lips shut.
If I tell her the truth—that a magic item protected me—she’ll attack me again…
Although attacks on other students during the magic-stone hunt were forbidden, Lisa had broken the rule openly. And the torch at her feet was still burning weakly. It would be foolish to give away her secret right now.
But as she stood there silently, fury swelled inside Lisa.
“Why?! You’re a stupid, useless dunce, and everyone hates you! So how did you do that?! Tell me!!”
“Miss Selmin…”
“Shut up!”
She grabbed the fallen torch. Brigitte braced herself, but Lisa did not brandish it at her. Instead, she carelessly touched it to her own right arm.
“What are you doing?!”
Brigitte had no time to stop her. The terrifying sound of sizzling skin was all she could hear.
“Ahhhh!”
“…!”
As Brigitte watched, Lisa screamed in agony. But she did not stop until she was severely burned, and then the torch fell from her hand.
“Ah, ah-ha-ha. It’s so hot…”
As she writhed in pain, large tears splashed from her eyes, and snot poured from her nose. When Brigitte saw her face, she sank to the ground.
“It hurts! You’re burning me! Please stop!”
“Please, please! Please, Father, forgive me…!”
The distant memory sprang back to life. A cold sweat froze her body. The image of her own young self crying and screaming layered on top of Lisa as she cried and cackled.
“What are you doing?”
At that moment, several students and Marjory Naha came running toward them. Brigitte had assumed that Ms. Naha and her many korpukkur helpers were overseeing the test, and it seemed her guess had been right.
Behind her were Kira, Nival, and…Yuri. Kira must have asked them to help as Brigitte had requested. She was panting and looking worriedly at Brigitte. But Brigitte said nothing.
Ms. Naha looked back and forth between Lisa and Brigitte, who was sitting dazed in the muddy road.
“What is going on here? Brigitte? Lisa?” she asked, her expression confused but stern.