Young Juniors in the Dead of Night
In the dead of night, beneath a crescent moon curved so gracefully…
“Heh-heh-heung~.”
A beautiful girl walked along, humming a nasal tune so mangled that no one could have guessed the original song. Her hair shone like moonlight itself, and her eyes glowed with the clear brilliance of rubies. Skin white as polished jade, lips soft as flower petals, and the crimson-stained tips of her sleeves drew every eye.
If beauty itself had ever taken human form, would it not look exactly like this?
That was the thought that crossed my mind as I gazed at my own reflection shimmering on the river’s surface.
Yes. That beautiful girl was me!
For reasons I couldn’t explain, my mind always grew sharp and my mood turned strangely light at this hour. Was this what people called the “late-night feeling”?
“Come to think of it… this is the place.”
The very spot where Yi Siyun and I had fallen into the water.
“Already a memory…”
That romantic stretch of time we had spent submerged together… Recalling it filled me with a wistful ache I couldn’t quite name.
Part of me wanted to linger here a little longer, lost in the mood. But the stronger urge right now was simply to get home and rest. I was on my way back after accepting a “request” from the Association just a short while ago.
“Maybe I should wear something else when I’m working…?”
The school uniform was cute and comfortable, so I had been wearing it even on jobs. But one look at the blood-soaked cuffs of my white shirt made it clear that if I kept this up, I would soon have no uniforms left.
My closet was stuffed with uniforms Tania had bought for me, true… but there was no reason to keep staining perfectly good white shirts with blood and throwing them away.
I would toss this one in the wash the moment I got home… and if the stains wouldn’t come out, well, then it was trash.
With that decision made, I was about to hurry toward home when a familiar voice called from behind me.
“Elysia-sunbaenim.”
“Hm?”
I spun around in surprise and found Yi Siyun standing there, looking oddly tense.
“Ah, Siyun. What’s up?”
“Well… I heard you caught a cold last time… I was wondering if it might have been because of me.”
As she spoke, her eyes drifted to the bloodstains on my sleeve.
Mm. Not exactly appropriate for a kid to see.
I casually hid my hands behind my back. Siyun’s eyes narrowed just a fraction.
“No, it wasn’t because of you. I just wasn’t taking proper care of myself, that’s all.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah.”
When I smiled brightly, Siyun managed a slightly awkward smile of her own. She fidgeted with her hands for a moment, as if choosing her next words carefully, then called out to me again.
“But, sunbaenim…”
“You can call me unnie if you want. What is it?”
Honestly, I preferred that. I had already heard Rina call me unnie, and the destructive power of that word was considerable…
“Where are you coming from at this hour?”
“Why do you ask?”
“…It’s just… every time we meet it’s this late, so I got curious.”
“Ahh.”
I had just finished “cleaning” one of the Bind terrorist syndicate’s bases so that Siyun and her companions could follow the story a little more comfortably.
“Hmm…”
Should I tell her? That a terrorist group was out for revenge against her and I had gone to teach them a lesson?
I tilted my head, thinking it over, then realized there was no need to be that honest. To anyone else, I had simply completed a request from the Association.
“I just finished a request and I’m heading home. Why?”
“…A ‘request’?”
I nodded cheerfully, but for some reason Siyun’s expression only grew darker.
Had I said something wrong?
While I was tilting my head in confusion, Siyun opened her mouth in a slightly trembling voice.
“Could I… ask what kind of request it was?”
“Hm? I don’t mind telling you, but…”
On the surface, all I had done was rough up some criminals. Any Awakener attending the Academy with the goal of becoming a “hero” could have done the same.
“I just taught some bad people a little lesson.”
“…How?”
“Well…”
I had turned them into crystals, all nice and friendly. Some crystals were blue, some were red… but the important part was that they had all become crystals together in the same building. And since they had gone with their comrades, it couldn’t have been all that bad for them, right?
“Siyun!”
Just like last time, Carmen appeared out of nowhere and inserted herself between us. For some reason she called Siyun’s name with her mouth while turning her back on her and staring straight at me.
Carmen fixed me with openly wary eyes and demanded,
“Why are you talking to Siyun again?”
“Academy seniors and juniors are allowed to chat, you know.”
And Siyun was the one who came up to me first, thank you very much.
“Seniors and juniors who aren’t even close, meeting and chatting at this hour?”
“We ran into each other by chance…”
I let the sentence trail off, and Carmen’s eyes flared.
“You… stay away from Siyun.”
“Carmen…”
“You stay quiet.”
Siyun, standing behind her, looked ready to say something, but Carmen refused to let her open her mouth.
This was seriously unfair… Last time when we fell in the water I had spoken first, but this time Siyun really had approached me on her own.
I still had no idea why Carmen hated me this much.
Ah—wait a second!
“Did you catch a cold last time, by any chance?”
Had she been really sick because of me? If that was the case, I could understand her not liking me very much.
Unfortunately that guess was wrong; Carmen growled in a low voice,
“Are you joking right now?”
“Huh? I was just worried.”
“……”
She made a thoroughly exasperated face, pointed a finger straight at me, and repeated herself.
“Anyway, from now on stay away from Siyun!”
That was a bit of a problem… One of my goals was to help Siyun and Carmen and become friends with them. If this mysterious misunderstanding kept piling up, it might take a long time to get close.
I was about to answer when Carmen, without waiting to hear a word, grabbed Siyun and dragged her off somewhere. Left alone so abruptly, I felt a tiny bit lonely.
Originally she had no intention of speaking to her.
But the inability to ignore injustice was a flaw she could not correct by sheer willpower. By the time she came to her senses, Yi Siyun was already calling out to Elysia.
“Elysia-sunbaenim.”
Rumors about the girl were rampant throughout the Academy. Stories that even Tania and Adele—names that made ordinary people tremble—could not move an inch against her. Stories that even Luna of the Mors Family had taken a liking to her. Rumors had even begun circulating that she could freely control the underworld if she wished.
Of course Yi Siyun was not stupid enough to swallow those claims whole. Tania and Adele she could accept, but Luna was on an entirely different level. Unlike the youngest, Tania, or the second daughter, Adele, Luna was a true “boss.” Her ability level was a full LV.8. Awakeners of that rank were so rare you could count them on one hand in any given era. That very strength was what had allowed Luna to become the boss of the Mors Family.
And yet she had won even Luna’s favor?
Impossible.
If it truly were possible… then the woman standing before her could, if she so desired, plunge the entire country into war at any moment. If the Lucia Guild, the Shamash Family, and the Luna Family all united under Elysia’s will, toppling a nation would not even be difficult.
The thought made her hands clench involuntarily.
She did not believe the rumors, of course, but the simple fact that Elysia was close to Tania and Adele already proved she was no ordinary person.
And then… look at her sleeves.
A thick, metallic scent of blood had drawn her gaze, and she saw the fabric soaked a deep crimson.
Swish.
Sensing the stare, Elysia hid her hands behind her back and gave an awkward little laugh.
Had she… killed someone?
“No, it wasn’t because of you. I just wasn’t taking proper care of myself, that’s all.”
That was her answer to the careless remark Siyun had thrown out to hide the fact that she was wary of her.
“…Really?”
“Yeah.”
Elysia smiled radiantly.
Siyun had noticed it before: this dangerous woman was excessively beautiful. Every time she smiled, Siyun’s eyes were stolen against her will. That smile and the strange atmosphere surrounding her kept loosening Siyun’s guard without her realizing it. Each time it happened, Siyun forced herself to remember that the woman in front of her was dangerous and tried to snap back to her senses.
If she kept staring at that face, she would never manage to say what she needed to say, so she deliberately looked away. Sweat had begun to bead on her palms from the tension, making them slick.
“But, sunbaenim…”
“You can call me unnie if you want. What is it?”
She closed the distance so casually. No matter how many times Siyun reminded herself that the woman was dangerous, every little gesture and action kept shaking her resolve.
“Where are you coming from at this hour?”
“Why do you ask?”
“…It’s just… every time we meet it’s this late, so I got curious.”
“Ahh.”
Elysia nodded as if she accepted the half-baked excuse, then hummed thoughtfully for a moment before answering.
“I just finished a request and I’m heading home. Why?”
The moment those words reached her, Yi Siyun’s mind briefly stopped working.
A request?
Could she have accepted an assassination contract from someone, or perhaps just finished massacring an entire organization and was on her way back?
Had she heard that correctly?
No—more importantly, was that even something she was allowed to hear? If she had heard it, she might be eliminated.
Her breath caught in her throat.
“Could I… ask what kind of request it was?”
“Hm? I don’t mind telling you, but…”
Even as she spoke, Siyun could feel how pathetically her own voice was trembling. But if she had already heard this much, hearing more would not change anything. If she was already in danger of being eliminated, she might as well dig up everything she was curious about.
And to that question, Elysia answered,
“I just taught some bad people a little lesson.”
Just as she was about to open her mouth again and explain exactly what she had done—
“Siyun!”
Her childhood friend appeared.
In that instant, the breath she had been unable to release—like someone who had been underwater and finally broken the surface—began to flow again.
Carmen soon started arguing loudly with Elysia, but the exact words of their conversation never reached her. She only remembered calling Carmen’s name once and being told to stay quiet. By the time she came back to herself, she was once again being dragged away by Carmen’s hand, just like last time.