“I’m sorry, do I know you?” I asked.
“But it doesn’t seem like it’s worn off completely… Perhaps it was only half applied?” the girl mused aloud. I didn’t recognize her, but judging from her clothes, she was a student of the academy. She had a fairly average stature, hair that came down to her shoulders, and no stand-out features of any particular note. I looked to Lilly at my side, but it seemed she didn’t know her either.
“Do you have some business with us?” I asked.
“Something like that,” the girl said. “I just figured I should douse some embers before they have a chance to spread.”
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I ask that you not come any closer!” Lilly warned.
I didn’t know what the girl was talking about either, but it felt like an alarm was blaring in the back of my mind, warning me that this person was dangerous. I pulled out my wand. “Get behind me, Miss Lilly.”
“No, you should be getting behind me! You still haven’t recovered!” Lilly pulled a wand out as well. She didn’t have her shortswords with her, as bringing them to a party attended by royalty would have been a major faux pas.
“You two are so close. If only you’d forgotten everything, then you could live so happily together,” the girl said with a chuckle.
“What do you mean by that? How do you know I’ve forgotten something? Are you the one who took my memories?” I demanded.
“Yes, it was me. I’d finally found a magic to alter your memories, but unfortunately its user was irrecoverable. It was quite the challenge collecting data on his hypnosis magic.” The woman shrugged.
“Hypnosis magic… So you’re in league with Salas then?”
“Oops, slip of the tongue. But it doesn’t really matter, I suppose. I have no affiliation with Salas Lilium, although I did use his hypnosis magic on you. However, it seems it didn’t take fully, due to a lack of data.”
So Salas was getting in our way yet again. What was that she’d said about him being “irrecoverable” though? Was she talking about how Dole had finished him off?
“Well, you’ve spared me the effort of having to figure things out on my own,” I said. “If I defeat you, will my memories come back?”
“They will. But I’m afraid I’m not much of a fighter, so I’ll have to employ some other, more underhanded means.” The girl’s eyes glowed. In her sights was none other than Lilly.
“Ngh, Miss Lilly?!” I exclaimed. Lilly’s eyes had lost their luster, and her hands were around my neck.
Lilly was stronger than she looked. She had clearly trained a lot on her pilgrimage after the revolution.
Pilgrimage? No, she’s been with me this whole time, I thought, my memories a mess.
“This time for sure, Rae Taylor. I will have you forget everything about Claire François,” the girl said.
“Claire François?” The moment I heard that name, a flurry of memories exploded from within me. I remembered the moment I’d arrived in this world, my time as a maid, the Commoner Movement, the Scales of Love, our vacation together, all of it, and—“TAIM!”
“So you’ve remembered. You didn’t believe in eternal love for nothing, I suppose.”
“I’m not the Demon Queen!”
“But you are. A time will come when you’ll make a similar faulty decision. That is, unless I’m the administrator,” she said calmly.
I had to stop her. But how?
“Now, forget it all. This time, I’ll be using hypnosis with complete data. You will never remember Claire François again.”
“Why, you…!”
“There’s no need to worry. You’ve done enough for the world. You should enjoy the rest of your quiet life with Lilly Lilium.”
A bewitching glow shone from TAIM’s eyes, and my vision began to blur.
I mustn’t forget…like hell I’ll forget! There’s no way I’m letting my days with Miss Claire escape me! I tried my hardest to cling to consciousness, but my mind gradually grew hazy. No! Not like this…
“It’s pointless to resist. You’ll only prolong your suffering… What?!”
In an instant, my vision was back to normal. I checked and found my memories were intact. I could remember Claire.
“R-Rae? Huh? Wh-why was I—”
“Miss Lilly, you’re back! I’ll explain later, we need to restrain that girl for now!”
“O-okay!”
Lilly and I crossed the now unresponsive TAIM’s arms behind her back and forced her to the ground.
With a pained expression, TAIM muttered, “This is Dole François’s dream magic… It must have activated because I perfected hypnotic suggestion… I see. How foolish of me.”
“Surrender yourself, TAIM.”
“Have you forgotten, Rae Taylor? This human is nothing more than a puppet. There’s no meaning in capturing me. Farewell.” TAIM closed her eyes and lost consciousness.
“Shoot…”
“What’s going on, Rae?”
“That was the mastermind of all this. She can possess a bunch of different people, so there’s no point in capturing this girl.”
“The mastermind…? I don’t understand. What’s happening?”
“Well, that’ll take a while for me to explain.” I had one goal, now that I’d remembered everything: Defeat TAIM and take Claire back.
“Then should we return home first and—”
“I’m sorry, Miss Lilly. I can’t… No, I don’t want to return home yet, and for a reason.”
“Rae?”
“I made a promise. If I’m to return home, it has to be with my whole family.”
“That doesn’t include me, does it?” Lilly said with a faint smile.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Let’s split up temporarily for today. We can regroup and discuss things tomorrow.”
“Yeah. If possible, I’d like everyone who fought in the battle against the Demon Queen—er, the Three Great Archdemons to participate. Can you gather them for me?”
“That might be a little hard. Everyone’s busy with the aftermath of the fight. It seems tonight’s celebration was a rare exception.”
“I see.”
“Oh, but we could send letters to everyone. You’re a hero, so I’m sure they’d make sure to prioritize read—”
“We’d be too late by then!” I snapped.
“Rae…”
“I’m sorry, Miss Lilly—but I have to save Miss Claire, if even but a second faster. Who knows what she might be going through right now…?” TAIM would do anything to see her goals brought to fruition, even wipe out the world’s memory of Claire. There was no telling what TAIM might be doing to Claire herself.
I was mentally on edge, full of frustration at myself for forgetting, anger at TAIM, and fear for Claire. I thought I was about to sink under the weight of my negative emotions when I was lifted out by a soft embrace.
“Miss Lilly…?”
“Let’s calm down first, Rae, then think carefully about what needs to be done. I know you want to hurry, but that’s not like you.”
Lilly, despite being a full size smaller than me, calmed me like a mother would. I was reminded of how my mother had comforted me all those years ago in my past life, back when I refused to go to school and felt tears begin to fall down my cheeks.
“I…I forgot her! The one person I was never meant to forget! I forgot Miss Claire!”
“There, there…”
“I have to save her… But I don’t know what to do… A-and if TAIM wanted to, she could make me forget her for real!”
“It’s okay, Rae… It’s okay.”
I bared the contents of my heart to Lilly. From her perspective, it must have seemed like her lover had suddenly lost her mind—she’d even started calling out another woman’s name. There was no doubt I was hurting her. But nevertheless, she allowed it.
“I’m sure everything will be okay, Rae. Let’s do what we can, little by little. I’ll be there to help you, just like you’ve always been there for me.” I saw her smile at me and couldn’t help but think that she really was a saint. Despite how unreliable she usually seemed, she genuinely was strong of heart, deep down.
Once I’d calmed down, I said, “I’m sorry. I lost myself there for a bit.”
“Heh heh, I don’t mind. I got to see a whole new side of you.”
“Um, if you don’t mind, do you think we could keep this from Miss Claire?”
“Of course. It’ll be our little secret.”
“Thank you.”
It wasn’t like I had done anything really bad, but this was a bit too embarrassing for me to let Claire know about.
“I want you to tell me everything tomorrow,” Lilly said. “Tell me about who this Miss Claire is and what she means to you.”
“Of course.”
“Oh, and we should go see Her Holiness. I’m sure she’d be of help.”
“That’s a good idea.”
Until we parted on the way back, Lilly continued to cheer me up. I returned to my room at the clinic feeling much better than I had before.
Thank you, Miss Lilly…
I swore to myself that I would return the favor one day. But first, I had to get Claire back.
With renewed determination, I entered a deep slumber.