We press the Time Keeper for answers as the five of us walk the empty hallways. Quietly, of course.
“Look, either you come clean about this, or it’s going to hurt,” threatens Nikeh, keeping a tight grip with both hands on the gnome after pulling him out of Benjamine’s chest.
“Hmph. Think I’m scared of you?”
The other students have classes at this very moment, so we mind our surroundings as we walk.
“So what exactly happened? And keep it brief,” she continues.
Before, he would say things like, “I don’t have any business with you people,” and, “Be more broad-minded,” and, “Talk to me when you have a bigger butt, girl,” to us (with the exception of Benjamine, of course), but he’s turned meek all of a sudden. His eyes wander all over the place as cold sweat beads on his face.
See? That’s what you get when Nikeh’s on the case. This beauty may not look like it, but she’s an actual knight. Even in a quiet voice, she can pressure someone better than your average bruiser.
“I-It’s true that it was some high-class lady who took me out of that freak show...”
By “freak show,” he must mean the black market.
“I simply don’t care to know more about these people. Not like she would tell me anything if I tried. You young’uns wouldn’t understand.”
“Drop the cliché old-man talk, would you?” retorts Nikeh.
Maybe he finds it cute, but he’s just being obnoxious.
“I’m surprised you’ve managed to stay out of trouble, if anything.”
I was just thinking the same thing. Being so careless and indiscriminate, he’d end up in jail, or even erased from existence if he was any less lucky. Being a doll wouldn’t save him.
“So you really didn’t try to find anything out about her?” adds Nikeh.
It seems he only finds out who you are by asking. If he asked me who I was , I could say I was Nikeh Brunel and he’d buy it. I’d expected a being with the power to bend time itself to be better disciplined, but the truth has turned out to be pretty scary. What if the past has already been changed without our knowing? It’s terrifying to think about.
It’s great that we happened to find him this time, though it was only by chance. And while he said you can’t change the past too much, we still would’ve had our memories overwritten had we not found out about this. Looking back on it, it was actually pretty crazy how Rockmann magically overwrote the memories of everyone in the world to grant my wish for a normal life.
Seeing me looking away from the Time Keeper with worry written on my face, Benjamine gives me a look that plainly says, What’s wrong?
“It’s nothing,” I reply, clearing my throat.
Still, Rockmann wasn’t being a nuisance to everyone—he had the king’s permission, and his spell didn’t change the future of those who had nothing to do with me. Unlike what this Time Keeper has been doing, Rockmann didn’t endanger people’s lives. It’s rude to compare such a menace to what Rockmann did.
“How many have you already—”
“Oh, you’re exploring too?”
As I start to ask him how many he’s already sent into the past or the future, a female student calls out to us from afar. Nikeh quickly hides the Time Keeper in her pocket and sneaks behind us.
Turning back, I spot three noble girls, including Maris, who I thought were trailing behind Rockmann and the prince right about now. I’d found it unusual when Maris didn’t follow him as he left the classroom, but when I went out into the hallway myself, I heard her say, “On second thought, I’ll go to Sir Alois after all!” and assumed she’d be with him by now. Each of the three girls is looking our way, maps in hand.
“Were you with him?” I ask.
“We got separated.” The three of them stare at the floor in dejection.
Some corridors split, and there’s a lot of corners to turn, so it’s not that hard to get lost in this place.
Maris’s large, reddish-brown eyes waver.
“Worry not, Miss Maris! Sir Alois is sure to find us!” says one of the girls all of a sudden.
That’s Sally, a good friend of Maris—her (by my understanding) close confidante and most committed cheerleader. As she speaks, she clenches a fist in front of her face.
“One must be patient in awaiting one’s prince. Shall we head to the top floor? Let us savor the mood of a princess waiting in a small room atop a tower!”
Her sorrowful expression gone in an instant, Sally starts appealing to the two other girls. Perhaps she’s trying to cheer Maris up, seeing her about to cry. She’s such a nice girl. That sort of mature thinking makes a child like her adorable.
“Y-You’re right!”
Sally’s words gradually stoking a fire under them, the two’s eyes change from almost crying to sparkling with excitement. That’s the Alois Rockmann I know—the guy trusted so much by so many girls. They put more faith in him than some gods.
Seeing all this is a real prince, a teacher by the name of Jupiter Torseter, aka Prince Zenon.
“Your prince is most likely in the art room on the second floor,” he says to them amicably, bending at the waist.
He probably remembers going there with him at the time.
“Thank you, sir!”
“Then let us head out at once!”
The three of them raise the hems of their skirts.
“What route shall we take? It would be most regrettable to encounter him on the way...” utters one of them.
At some point they forgot their original objective, now planning their route to the top floor, making sure not to run into Rockmann. Hey, you three.
“I suggest you take this staircase. They’re far in the back and are rarely used.”
“Really? Thank you, Miss!”
I watch their backs disappear into the distance.
“Why do you know a place like that?”
“I often used it to ambush Satanás,” replies Benjamine, answering my belated question.
Hearing that, Satanás covers his face with both hands.