Misaligned Hearts
BOOOONG~!
A thunderous horn blast rolled across the sea, drifting far into the distance.
It was the kind of stirring call that brought to mind Xiang Yu's proud vow of a triumphant homecoming in glory.
I whistled at the familiar island scenery coming into view far ahead. "We finally made it."
Dilmun. The starting point of the mortal world. The land where Purity Academy, founded for the training of Guardians, stood. My long vacation had ended, and here I was, back again.
"So, did everyone enjoy their break?" I turned around and asked the group on the deck. Some faces I was genuinely glad to see after so long; others I'd seen so often lately that seeing them again felt almost tedious.
"Yes, there was a place I needed to visit, but the trip went wonderfully," Arlan said with a beaming smile. She had clearly wrapped up her planned journey to her satisfaction — her whole face was glowing with life. Whenever she mentioned it, memories of that day seemed to surface one by one, and the bright smile that followed was lovely to see. A trace of loneliness flickered across her now and then, but that was personal business, so I let it pass.
"I was happy because I got to stay with Solis," Marin said. She'd spent the entire vacation wandering all over creation with me — the time at the Amethyst estate included. I'd been curious myself about how this world's scenery differed from where I used to live, so we'd traveled diligently, pushing our feet as far as they'd take us. Days so peaceful I could yawn through them — but never boring. In short, a satisfying break.
"Do you really have to say that out loud? You know full well," came the reply.
"Uuuuh."
Eva and Chloe, by contrast, had been put through the wringer all vacation long, and they looked half dead. They swayed like they might lose their balance and collapse at any moment, barely keeping themselves upright by gripping the railing. Being the distinguished young ladies next in line for the family headship, playing around was out of the question — they'd been buried in heir training. And on top of that, the usual holiday interrogation: when are you taking over the family, when are you getting married — all that pressure resembling a family gathering's polite check-ins. It was all in the past now, but the aftermath was clearly rough, and seeing them heaving and gasping under the weight of it all was genuinely pitiful.
"Looks like everyone had a great time, from where I'm standing."
"Th-that is absolutely not true!"
"...Ha, annoying."
"If you've got the energy to scream or get annoyed, you've got energy to spare. That means you made it through just fine."
Chloe aside, the Writer had written in the book that Eva came back from vacation in a state close to being a complete wreck. Given that she'd spent an entire week burrowed in Chloe's arms, doing nothing but repeating that she never wanted to go home again, this was actually mild.
Anyway — a new semester had begun. There was still plenty of time before second year, when the Celestial Clan would properly begin making their move, so all I had to do was leisurely savor school life. And, as a bonus, have all the sex I wanted.
"Solis, why are you smiling?"
"I'm back at Purity Academy for the first time in a while. Doesn't it feel nostalgic?"
"Mm. Not at all," Marin said, shaking her head vigorously in denial. Confident with her body, hopeless with her head — for her, the school curriculum was pure agony. The way she shuddered looked exactly like someone convulsing under a stun gun's current.
"Really? I don't mind it."
"Solis is good at studying. You're only enjoying this because you don't worry about grades."
"Not necessarily. Relearning things you already know is secretly boring, you know."
"Then why are you happy?"
Because my lover, Yupi, is waiting for me with open arms, obviously?
We'd kept in touch now and then over the break through video calls and texts, but that hadn't been nearly enough to fill my heart. A man and a woman — two people in love — needed the heated conversation of bodies. I'd had plenty with Marin, but doing it with Yupi was a different matter entirely. The moment I pictured myself burying my face between those motherly breasts of hers, a smile crept onto my lips all on its own.
"Solis. Your face is lecherous."
"It's your imagination, ahem!" I still did my best not to show it in front of Marin. For all her deadpan exterior, the girl was prone to jealousy. If she found out I was thinking about another woman, her cheeks would puff up like balloons and her knee would come flying at me. The reaction was adorable, sure, but I hated being in pain — so I smoothed things over with an awkward cough and narrowly escaped the crisis.
While we'd been chatting, the ship had quietly docked at the harbor. We left the deck, whose railing still swayed with the current, and set our feet on the steady, grounded wood of the pier.
Normally, students walked from here to the Academy. It took a while, and there was no other route, so everyone else set off diligently on foot.
I, of course, had prepared a countermeasure in advance.
"Welcome back."
From the driver's seat of a limousine parked near the pier, a woman in a maid's uniform stepped down and bowed her head to greet me. Watching her long, pale-green hair ripple in the sea breeze, I returned the greeting warmly.
"Diana. Did you behave while I was gone?"
"I passed the days without incident. Unremarkable days, one after another — as placid as the surface of a lake at the heart of the forest."
"I'll take that as a yes."
The impeccable etiquette, the crisp, composed bearing — a world apart from when I'd first brought her here. Our Headmaster probably had his hands full. Before leaving the island for the break, I'd asked Pallad to take charge of her training. The two of them went way back, and he'd accepted readily enough, saying he was bored anyway. I could have taken her along to the Amethyst estate, but the odds of her slipping away the moment I let my guard down were far too high — hence this arrangement.
"We will depart for the Academy now. Please, get in."
"You heard her, everyone! Load it up, let's move!"
"...Pardon the intrusion."
At my word, the rest of the group loaded their luggage into the car while Diana attended to them. Now and then wary glances — from Arlan, Chloe, and the others who knew her true identity — bore into her, but she ignored them all.
"Thank you."
"Not at all."
Marin alone treated Diana with genuine warmth. Diana was still someone she'd known and interacted with often in the past, so she didn't scorn her or give her the cold shoulder. And when her distant ancestor acknowledged her, a small smile bloomed across Diana's face like a flower opening at dawn.
"Departing now. Everyone, don't forget your seatbelts."
Vrooom!
A vigorous engine roar split the silence as the car came to life. The limousine glided onto the road almost silently, like someone walking on tiptoe down a corridor. A car with that price tag delivered superb acceleration to match, and in the blink of an eye we arrived at Purity Academy, the heart of Dilmun.
"You drive well. Lots of practice, I take it?"
"Lord Pallad said it was an essential skill for living in this world, so I trained diligently."
"Good. Keep adapting to life here just like that."
I tossed her a short word of encouragement, then stepped out of the car. Partly to score some points with the other girls, I'd prepared to unload everyone's luggage for them too.
"Hey, hey, over there! Come on, let's go!"
"Let's go together!"
What's going on?
Somehow, the atmosphere inside the Academy had turned restless. Something had happened, and everyone was surging toward a single direction at once.
What kind of interesting thing happened that everyone's stampeding over there in a pack?
I was curious, sure, but I could always dig up the gossip later — so I turned to finish my own work first.
"Hey, did you just hear that? Instructor Yupi's apparently fighting someone!"
"What? Fighting who?"
"Ter Citrine. They say she's going at it with her own sister."
Wha—?!
At words I absolutely could not ignore, I threw luggage and priorities alike out the window and sprinted toward the gathering crowd.
Why on earth are they fighting?
Their relationship looked cold on the surface, but that was Ter's general hostility — Yupi herself had always been warm toward her sister. Even if Ter had committed some offense worth expelling her from the Academy over, Yupi would have shielded her all the same. She was the one who, despite aching to stay by my side, quietly slipped away and made herself scarce so that Ter — who trailed after me constantly — wouldn't feel uncomfortable. And now rumors were spreading among the students that a fight had broken out between those two.
If Ter were trying to unilaterally beat her sister down, I'd have shrugged and moved on. But a fight only happens when the other side takes the swing. As far as I knew, this was the worst-case scenario possible between those sisters.
KRA-KOOM!
"Holy—!"
Yellow lightning writhed through thunderclouds that blotted out the sky. Like branches spreading from a trunk to swallow a forest whole, lightning bolts laden with thunder carved lines of light across the great canvas called the heavens.
RUMBLE!
CRACKLE!
Ancient light, as if to illuminate the whole world — a flash exploded for an instant across the island, where shadows lay heavy under the storm clouds.
"Shouldn't we stop them?!"
"Somebody has to break that up!"
"Get out of my way."
"Ah—!"
I shoved my way through the crushing crowd toward the source of the light. When I finally flung my arms aside and reached the center of it all, a situation far graver than I'd imagined was unfolding before me.
"Aaargh!"
Ter rolled across the ground, moaning in agony. Half her body charred pitch black, she gasped for breath through a contorted face.
"Hhk! Hah!"
"...You need a beating."
Yupi was looking down at the crippled Ter with icy eyes. A verdict handed down without a shred of mercy. She swept her hand through the air.
KWAA-RUM!
The air trembled, sparks leaping from her fingertips. It was the moment the light of judgment descended upon the earth once more.