Please Answer Me
“Achoo!”
I’d gone to the nurse’s office, only to be told my fever was too high and I should just go home.
“Mmngh…”
Because of that, I never even got to sit through first period. Now I was back home, lying down.
Aside from the entrance ceremony, this was basically the first real day of school… and I was the only one missing the first class. It was so unfair!
I worried that my classmates might start seeing me as some frail, sickly beauty…
Wait. Actually… that didn’t sound so bad?
A delicate beauty who’d been weak since childhood, constantly in and out of hospitals… A mysterious girl who spent more time in the nurse’s office than the classroom, always sitting quietly during gym while her friends ran around… And then, by pure chance, a tough-looking but secretly warm-hearted beauty of a girl would notice her… Wait. Tania?
“Hehehe…”
The silly fantasy made a weak little laugh slip out of me.
Lying around in a short-sleeved T-shirt was definitely more comfortable than being stuck in that stuffy school uniform… but still, just lying there on a damp blanket with nothing to do was boring.
My T-shirt was already soaked through with sweat and clinging stickily to my skin.
Maybe I should watch some cat videos on my phone…
I stretched out my hand and groped around on the floor.
“It should be… right around… here…”
My fingertips finally brushed against something that felt like a phone.
“Ah. Found—”
KRAAANG!
The front door exploded inward.
“Why won’t Ellie just tell me her address… She won’t even pick up the phone.”
After academy let out, Tania sat jiggling her leg, fidgeting with her phone.
“Ugh… If I dig it up through a background check, she’ll definitely hate that…”
“Obviously.”
Someone cut into Tania’s quiet muttering from behind.
She whipped her head around and saw a familiar face.
“…Adele.”
“Yep. It’s me.”
Adele answered with an annoyingly bright little smile.
“Since when do you talk to me?”
“I need you to come somewhere with me.”
Tania let out a short, scornful snort.
The two of them only ever ended up near each other because of Elysia; even as a polite lie, no one could call them friends.
“And why would I?”
“Elysia’s been kidnapped.”
“So again, why would I— wait, what?”
The casual way Adele said it made Tania’s mind go blank for a second.
Adele held out the phone she’d been looking at.
“Some organization broke into Elysia’s house and dragged her off somewhere.”
“How do you even know that?”
“I was checking the CCTV outside her place to make sure she got home safe, and there it was.”
Sure enough, the footage on the phone showed someone carrying an unconscious Ellie over their shoulder and hauling her away.
“…You know where Ellie’s house is?”
“I heard her talking in her sleep.”
“There’s no way someone just blurts out their address in their sleep.”
“I heard her talking in her sleep.”
Adele repeated the exact same line and smiled in a way that clearly meant don’t ask any more questions.
Tania glared at her for a moment, then sighed.
“…So where is Ellie now?”
“My guild members are tracking them. We can leave right away.”
Tania jerked her chin, telling Adele to lead the way.
Adele smiled once more and strode off. When they arrived, a black car was already waiting.
A guild member from Lucia, dressed in a suit, opened the door. Adele and Tania climbed in side by side.
Settling into the comfortable seat, Tania casually asked,
“So why tell me?”
“Because I’m scared.”
“…Why?”
Adele was the second daughter of the Lucia family—one of the three great guilds. If she felt like it, she could start a war with Tania’s Shamash Family and still come out on top.
For someone like that to deliberately pull Tania in…
“Don’t tell me it’s the Mors Family…!”
“No. It’s not.”
Adele cut her off with a quiet snicker.
“You know Luna. No matter how much she likes Elysia, she’s not the type to go full kidnapper.”
Tania relaxed the tension in her shoulders and leaned back against the seat.
“…Then who is it?”
“Mm… Not a particularly big family, honestly. I only heard the name for the first time today.”
“Then why are you scared?”
“My father doesn’t exactly approve of me getting swayed by things like friendship.”
Meaning the number of guild members she could freely mobilize was limited.
“Truth is, none of the people I can call on right now are combatants.”
“……”
That explained why Adele had come to Tania for help.
Tania was a Level 7 powerhouse just like Adele… and Adele herself was no ordinary Level 7.
Silence settled over the car for a while.
Tania, still jiggling her leg anxiously, finally asked,
“…How much longer?”
“We’re here.”
The car screeched to a stop the moment she finished speaking.
Adele stepped out first; Tania followed right behind her.
They had arrived at a bare, filthy mountain so ugly that even calling it “hideous” felt too generous.
“…Here?”
“Looks like their base is up on the summit.”
Tania looked where Adele pointed with her chin. Sure enough, something like a building was faintly visible.
She scowled at it, then muttered with a self-deprecating little laugh,
“They already came out to greet us. How thoughtful.”
Shhk.
Tania peeled off one glove and snapped her fingers with a sharp crack.
Fwoosh!
Blood-red flames bloomed above her hand.
Standing beside her, Adele toyed with the silver cube hanging at her waist.
“You know, right? Until we get up there, you’re the one who has to handle things.”
“…I know.”
Tania clicked her tongue and gave a light flick of her hand. A small flame shot forward gently—
FWOOOOOOSH!
—and melted everything in front of them.
Hot.
My body was burning hot.
That was the first thought that hit me the moment I came to.
Sweat dripped steadily from my skin, and the short-sleeved T-shirt I was wearing was already completely soaked through.
My throat was dry.
I needed to get up and drink some water…
Clink.
“Ah…”
To my surprise, I was sitting in a chair, bound by iron chains.
I preferred being the one doing the tying rather than being tied… though if the other person really wanted it, I wouldn’t mind being the one tied up either.
I managed to lift my heavy head. Unfamiliar walls filled my vision no matter which way I turned. Knives and saws even lay scattered across the floor.
Where was this? A warehouse?
Some kind of surprise? Was today my birthday or something?
“Ugh…”
I tried to call out to see if anyone was there, but my head was ringing so badly the words wouldn’t come out properly.
Just then the iron door in front of me slammed open and several men walked in.
“This the bitch?”
“Yes, sir. Word is she’s the one who’s been wiping out every organization in the area lately.”
“You sure? This scrawny little thing did all that by herself?”
“The information came from Old Moon. It’s solid.”
“Hah… Unbelievable.”
They were chatting away like I wasn’t even here. I felt a little left out.
A tiny bit hurt, even.
The skinny man beside him left, and a big, burly guy dropped heavily into the chair right in front of me.
“Hey.”
“……”
“Hey!”
“…Me?”
“Who else is here?”
If you just yell “hey,” how am I supposed to know you’re talking to me…
I felt even more hurt. I was about to cry…
Well, the tears were mostly from the headache, but still.
“You’re the one who’s been cleaning up the local outfits, right?”
“Ah… I think so?”
I’d checked the deposits this morning. Every single one of them had been such a grateful little friend.
The man in front of me clicked his tongue like he couldn’t believe it, then roughly grabbed my chin with his huge hand and forced my head up.
An uncomfortably close face filled my vision.
“That so? Then… I guess you’ve got nothing to say if I kill you right here.”
“……”
Could he maybe move his face a little? He reeked of cigarettes—he must have just smoked. And his teeth were yellow; he clearly didn’t brush them properly.
Honestly, this man had zero basic manners when dealing with people.
Haa… I was supposed to be lying in bed sick. Why did I have to be stuck here with someone like this?
The thought made sudden anger surge through me.
Right now I should have been watching cat videos and having a wonderful time!
I was so furious that the tears already welling in my eyes spilled over and rolled down my cheeks.
The tears that slid down my face pooled on the hand gripping my chin—
Puhak!
—and every one of the man’s fingers was sliced clean off.
“Aaaagh!”
“Ah…”
One of my cheeks stung fiercely.
I must have lost control of my power because I was so angry; it looked like I’d cut my own face.
What if it left a scar?
I really, really hated that…
The tears kept streaming, stinging as they ran over the wound.
“Mister… tell me… how does my face look right now?”
“Aaaagh…! What the hell is this crazy bitch saying?!”
The man clutched his severed hand and screamed curses.
One of the tears floating in the air stretched into a long thorn and shot forward with a sharp shuk, punching straight through his thigh.
“Aaaagh! Fuck!”
“Mister… Mister…”
A few more tears turned into thorns and pierced his hand, his shoulder, his stomach one after another.
“Ugh… uugh…”
“Mister… please tell me… okay? Please…”
Thud. Thud.
“Please? Mister… how does my face look right now?”
Thud. Thud. Thud.
“Mister…”
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
“Is it so ugly you don’t even want to answer…?”
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
“If you don’t answer, there’s no one else who can tell me…”
Splat. Splat.
Chunks of meat that had been dangling finally tore free under their own weight and slapped down into the pool of red blood on the floor.
The rippling blood gradually stilled, and in its surface I saw my own face reflected—completely unscarred, perfectly clean.
Ah.
Pretty.