Dorothy's Past Unveiled
"Then let's leave that place to them... Oppa, are you coming with me?"
Leaving the two girls still clinging to each other in confusion behind, Founder pulled me by the wrist. She had finally returned to her original form. Seeing that familiar figure with her glossy black hair cascading down to the floor finally calmed my shaken heart.
"But where are we going..."
"Since we're already here, let's take a look around before we go."
"...?"
From the way she phrased it, I guessed she meant memories, but I couldn't answer right away because I was utterly exhausted. After a month of torment, I desperately needed rest. And now this new shock had just been thrown at me.
"Do you know that what Oppa endured was only a very short time for that little mold girl?"
"I... know that."
Still, it was hard to put into words just how difficult it had been. The darkness in her heart that I had felt and fled from before was far deeper than this. From the childlike Scarlet I had seen to the woman she was now, over more than ten long years, she had lived in the deep underground of this place, subjected to experiments and torture, unlike Scarlet who had been given a name and role and allowed to roam outside.
The single difference that had drawn Gabriel's eye had sent them down completely different paths.
"The little mold girl was born in the Inquisition's underground prison. This... is her memory from the moment she first opened her eyes."
At Founder's gesture, we had suddenly moved from the previous space to somewhere else. The surroundings darkened, and a narrow interrogation room appeared. The cry of a baby echoed. A woman lying on an operating table and a tiny bloodied newborn whose umbilical cord had just been cut were about to be taken outside by priests in robes. The mother, drained after giving birth, reached out desperately toward her departing child, but they ignored her and carried the baby away.
"Why take the child... from its mother?"
"Let's just keep watching for now."
Founder tightened her grip on my wrist to stop me, her gaze fixed ahead as she calmly suggested we continue observing. Thinking about it, this was merely her recreating the childhood memories she thought she had forgotten. No matter what I did here, the present wouldn't change.
"...Understood."
The ability-user mother had been dragged to the Inquisition while pregnant with her. Knowing that abilities weren't always passed down through blood, they couldn't immediately label the newborn a prisoner, so she was sent straight to an orphanage supported by the Vatican. Before the mother could even hold her child once or give her a name, they were separated.
After that, she lived in the orphanage believing, like the other children, that her parents were dead or had abandoned her. Eventually her ability manifested, and at the age of twelve she was imprisoned just like her mother. Her mother had apparently died in the meantime, but because she possessed the rare spatial ability, she was given high expectations and assigned the highest available number among the empty ones—Number 13—marked on her chest before being sent to compatibility tests.
After being assigned under Scarlet, she had lived the same life until she was sent to where I was. The reason she had been allowed out this time was because her physical condition had been deteriorating day by day and the experiments were no longer yielding results, so she was sent to the field for the first time for a practical test. They probably wanted to see how much power she could display against a betrayed angel.
"What I did for the little mold girl was a small adjustment to her consciousness."
Consciousness adjustment. Founder explained that she had made me witness, from a third-person perspective, the first month when misalignment had begun to take root in her heart. In other words, she had shown the girl her own appearance using my consciousness. I had been inside her original consciousness in her place, buying us time.
Fixing a misaligned first button becomes very difficult once things have progressed far, but thanks to my ability and, above all, Founder's help, we were able to make a small change to her consciousness. In reality, she had denied the brainwashing and powerful self-suggestion she had accepted over more than ten years and acknowledged that she had committed no crime. It was clearly a meaningful attempt.
"Looks like we've seen everything. Shall we head back?"
"Ah..."
Now that I thought about it, I had just witnessed most of her entire life from the beginning, yet it didn't feel like that much time had passed. Just like how recalling the past doesn't take as long as living it.
"Oppa? What's wrong?"
Seeing Founder tilt her head cutely, her long hair swaying as she smiled brightly, I finally felt my deeply sunken mind awaken.
"No... Thank you. Thanks to you, I understand a lot more now."
"Right? I did say I'd help, hehe."
Whether it was because I had returned to my original form or not, I no longer confused my sense of self, but now I felt like I understood Number 13 as well as I understood myself. Of course, what I had directly experienced was only a small part; the rest I had only watched through her memories. Still, I would be able to approach her more honestly than before.
Ah, it wasn't Number 13 anymore. It was Dorothy. I had kept hearing her called Number 13 by Sarakael and the priests, and even in the memories I had just watched she had always been Number 13. The new name still felt awkward, like it had just been given to me, but I would have to get used to it quickly. She seemed to like the name Dorothy quite a bit, after all.
"Looks like we've done everything we can here."
"I suppose so."
As the surrounding objects began to blur and disappear one by one, and eventually even the walls and floor vanished, leaving us floating in a pure white space, Founder spoke.
"Yeah. It's time to wake up now."
I suddenly felt a drowsy haze wash over me, and my eyes closed on their own. When I opened them again, I realized the ceiling above me was very familiar.
"..."
Even though it should have been familiar, it didn't come to mind right away. It felt like it had been a very long time. Looking around, I quickly realized this was a room at the hot spring inn—my room, to be precise. Last night we had all gathered to play board games, and then... Right, that was it. We had awakened from the memories like that. It felt like we had dreamed a very long dream, yet not even a full day had passed. It was a strange feeling.
"Mmm..."
Scarlet and Dorothy were also slowly waking up, rubbing their eyes. Founder was nowhere to be seen. Instead, I saw the Team Leader leaning against the open door with her arms crossed, looking toward me.
"Team Leader??"
"I guess there was no need for me to worry? Yesterday you brought alcohol and had a blast, and now you're waking up in broad daylight lying between two women."
"Ah...? Aah, this isn't what it looks like...?"
Poof.
"Huh?"
I had been about to explain the seemingly indecent scene, but someone suddenly threw themselves into my arms, completely against my intentions. The pleasant sensation pressing firmly against my chest told me immediately who it was.
"Scarlet...?"
"I... really had a hard time, you know?"
I had been about to push her away in confusion when her suddenly weakened voice made me freeze. Instead of grabbing her shoulders, my hands lowered, and even with the Team Leader watching, I had no choice but to hug her tightly.
"When I opened my eyes, my body was back to how it was when I was first captured... I didn't know where you were, and it was cold and hungry and painful, all so real that I..."
"..."
"Huuu... But it's okay now."
Huh...? I soon felt her arms that had been hugging me wrap around my head instead.
"Ugh...?"
I was pulled straight into her cleavage. Soft, warm, carrying a faint hot-spring scent and something else pleasant, my face was buried between those two mounds and felt extremely happy. Her yukata was already loosely undone, so what was touching my face now was definitely bare skin.
"Hurry... Make up for the month we couldn't meet. Leave your affection for me."
"A-Ah, no, Scarlet. The kiss marks are still..."
"...Just suck already. You like it anyway."
That shut me up instantly, but regardless, having my head buried between Scarlet's large breasts made all the stress and fatigue from before melt away into a happy feeling. It was like the cozy sensation of returning home after a long journey...
"Hey, traitor, move aside. The Counselor seems too embarrassed to properly express his affection for me."
The moment we returned to reality, she was already picking a fight with someone new. I had been worried when she showed a moment of weakness, but it was definitely still Scarlet.
"If we're being precise, you're a traitor now too, aren't you? And I'm the one who decides your disposition from now on, so you might want to choose your words more carefully."
But her opponent was the Team Leader. There was no way she stood a chance.
"...Counselor, was that for real?"
Well, she was the Management Team Leader. It wouldn't be strange if she held actual decision-making power. When I nodded with a bit of selfishness, rubbing my cheek against that soft skin while still nestled in her deep cleavage, she slowly pushed me out of that valley of happiness.
"...Well, now that I think about it, yeah."
"You tamed her quite thoroughly. No, rather than taming, I'd say you put a solid collar on her?"
At the pride-stinging remark, Scarlet clenched her fists tightly, but she didn't lash out further. The Team Leader looked even more surprised.
"Ahem. I ran into Founder on the way and heard the gist. It seems both of your counseling sessions ended successfully?"
"Ah... In Dorothy's case, the Stigma binding should still be there, though."
I had seen the sight of the modified dog collar shattering as the demonic power rampaged along with her ability in response to unstable emotions. More than anything, I still hadn't given her the final command for freedom. But the answer I received was rather shocking.
"Ah, I heard that the Fire Chicken over there took care of that instead."
"Me...? And more importantly, why do you keep calling me Fire Chicken?!"
Scarlet looked just as confused, but the Team Leader continued.
"Before the collar broke and the suggestion was almost completely lifted, Number 13 apparently used Fire Chicken as the trigger to refuse the command she had been given."
So that was what Founder had meant when she said to leave the rest to these two? It felt like my role had been stolen, but if this meant she would no longer suffer from having to obey commands, then it didn't matter.
"Enough, stop calling me that! I have a name—Scarlet. And this one...! Ah, no... This is Dorothy unni!"
Unni...?
"...Did you just say 'unni'?"
"Y-Yes... Probably."
The Team Leader and I reacted almost identically. Dorothy, watching Scarlet get angry on her behalf, blushed shyly.
"Why... What... Why are you all reacting like that..."
She trailed off, perhaps realizing the reason herself, and her face flushed just like the others beside her. That cute reaction made me want to tease her a little, but provoking her at a time like this wouldn't lead to anything good...
"Pfft... Puhahaha! Unni... Unni, of all words, coming from someone it suits so little... Pfft... Uhuhuhu..."
"..."
Provoking her wouldn't lead to anything good, but the one doing the teasing was the Team Leader, and I realized too late that she was right here with us. Feeling the air around us heat up just as much as Scarlet's face was turning red, I grabbed Dorothy's shoulders and pulled her toward me to keep her out of harm's way.
"Huaa... Hahaha, it's not easy to make me laugh this much."
Grind— The sound of muscles twitching at the corners of her mouth before her molars ground together reached my ears. Scarlet finally cast aside the virtue of patience that didn't suit her and flames erupted hotly in its place.
Fwoooooosh...!!
"...You annoying bitch. Let's see you try and decide my disposition or whatever as you please."