Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: The Way the Spiral Advances☆ (1)
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It was a few months after I had first come to the Academy City.
A time when wearing a girls' school uniform no longer felt embarrassing.
In my more student-like attire, I would return after spending the night traversing countless wastelands and other schools. In the early morning, I would see the three upperclassmen waiting for me in front of the school's main gate.
I greeted them.
“I’m back―☆”
“Welcome back―!”
On mornings when I returned after staying out all night, the three of them would lead me to their old, cherished hideout. Taking a short, sweet nap together in that dusty space had become part of our routine.
An empty classroom where countless students once spent their time, now a hideout for three girls. Lying down on a few old blankets spread haphazardly on the floor, you could see the cracked and shabby ceiling. The scratches that had watched over so much growth were now filled with the breath of new memories.
The breathing of the upperclassmen lying beside me.
Drifting off to sleep while listening to their occasional bursts of laughter.
And within my eyelids, steeped in quiet darkness, dreams would drift by like shadows.
The sweet nap time passed.
I opened my eyes again.
“…”
Time had flown by as if someone had hidden the minute and second hands of a clock.
The faint morning sunlight was now racing toward its midday finale. A midday breeze blew in, causing the faded curtains to flutter this way and that, urging the girls who had fallen into an untimely nap to wake.
In the silent performance, a shadow was cast by the faded fabric's gesture.
Turning my head in that cool shade, I found peace.
*Swoosh—*
*Hooo…*
“…”
Nina and Selma.
Quiet breaths and mumbling lips escaped from the two upperclassmen sleeping on either side of me. Their pink lips, blooming on their pale faces, moved as they tasted the sweetness of their dreams.
“Ehehe, I can’t eat anymore…”
“Mmm… The reincarnated princess pulls an SSS-rank magic sword… No… that’s lame…”
It seemed they were thoroughly enjoying their dream-world writing and tea parties.
I watched them blankly.
‘…Frida isn’t here.’
With a slight fogginess still lingering in my head, I got up from my spot.
Leaving behind the warmth and silence of noon that had settled in the empty classroom, I walked through a corner of the school grounds overgrown with untended weeds. There, I saw Frida, sitting on the edge of a flowerbed, unconcerned about her skirt getting dirty.
I quietly made my presence known from behind her.
She, who had been doing something while sitting by the flowerbed, turned to face me.
“…?”
“Frida―♪”
“Haha, it’s you, Clara.”
In Frida’s hands were a small sketchbook and a pencil. On its small pages were sketches of the many flowers that bloom just before early summer.
A girl’s record, capturing and engraving the beauty of the flowing time and seasons.
Some lines were intentionally drawn crooked and misaligned, revealing the vitality of the tough thorns and stems, while other lines were left faint, mere traces, expressing the delicate transience of the petals. Even to me, a complete novice in art, they looked like drawings made with considerable skill and care.
‘…She’s really good.’
I peered intently at the sketchbook and spoke.
“Frida, is your dream to be a painter? It would suit you so well―☆ Could it be…?! Were you born with the talent of a genius beauty painter♪”
“Hahaha… I’m still inexperienced. I just got this way by drawing a lot. You’d be surprised if you saw the work of truly talented people.”
“Are you saying they’d be surprised because their art is worse than yours, Frida―♪”
“What are you talking about… Hahaha.”
But it seemed my compliment had pleased her.
The movement of the pencil in Frida’s hand seemed to become a little more cheerful.
“…”
“…”
Frida was a good artist.
Selma stayed up all night writing novels.
Nina loved to eat, and she loved to cook.
‘…My seniors had their own lives.’
All three of them weren't just extras in a game; they were ordinary students, each with their own dreams they were pursuing. I felt a sense of guilt that these three upperclassmen were always conscious of me, always waiting for me.
‘…Why do they always wait for me?’
When my three seniors were doing things they loved, they didn't disturb each other, spending time on their own. But when I did what I loved… returning after wandering outside to get stronger, all three of them would make time to welcome me.
“…”
Deep down, this was starting to bother me.
Not because they were a nuisance… but because I felt like I was being a hindrance.
Because I felt like I myself was disrupting their peace and their daily lives.
So, in the quiet flowerbed, I gently revealed my thoughts to Frida as she drew. That I didn't want to be a bother to them anymore.
“…”
Hearing my words, Frida paused her hand for a moment. She seemed lost in thought, then drew a few lines in her sketchbook.
*Swoosh—*
One was a straight line across the sketchbook.
The other was a line that curved outward and back around… a ‘spiral.’
Frida pointed to them and spoke.
“…Yes. It’s true that since we’ve been looking out for you, Clara, the time we spend alone has decreased. And there are often times when we can’t do everything we originally wanted to do.”
“…”
“Our daily lives, where we each pursued the things we loved, were like a clean, straight line. But after meeting you, it changed, just like this spiral. A path that would have been efficient and straightforward has become much more winding and twisted.”
“…”
“But…”
Frida spoke as she added small lines around the spiral.
“Did you know, Clara?”
*Sketch, sketch*
“Among all the beautiful flowers that exist in this world, none of them bloom in a straight line.”
*Sketch, sketch*
“All flowers bloom with their petals overlapping in a spiral, turning little by little.”
Frida turned the completed drawing to show me again.
The lines that had been added around the spiral had become petals. Curved, twisted, irregular petals. But they followed a single spiral, blooming into a flower bud.
And the straight line that had crossed the page had become a sturdy stem supporting that bud.
The past and the present.
The things that change and the things that don't.
Everything merges into one to become a memory.
“…”
To me, that flower looked like… a single, beautiful rose.
Frida held up the drawing of the rose and said.
“What do you think? Does this picture look ugly, or does the spiral look like a hindrance to the straight line?”
I shook my head at her words.
Frida smiled, pleased.
“The time we spend detouring and changing isn’t inefficient or pointless. It becomes a beautiful memory, like a single flower blooming from our meeting.”
“…”
“To leisurely look back at each other's faces, something we couldn't have done if we'd only moved in a straight line, and to change little by little… you have no idea how much joy that brings us.”
“…”
Frida’s smile.
The memory in the earthy-smelling flowerbed.
She spoke again with a gentle smile.
“So, Clara, if you come to cherish these memories, I hope that one day you too, like this beautiful spiral… can become a senior who can leave behind beautiful memories and lessons for someone else.”
＊
“…Senior?”
“…Hm?”
I snapped out of my recollection.
Under the dark sky, in front of the ominous dungeon gate.
Alvitt was looking at me with worried eyes.
*Screeeech――!!*
*Hiiiisss――!!*
The sounds made by the numerous larval chaos bugs passing beneath the large rock we were hiding behind. All three of my juniors seemed unsettled by the noise coming from those disgusting grubs.
“…”
From a distance, Vel, who was stroking her crimson dagger, glanced over and said.
“…Don’t you worry. This cute secretary will protect your juniors just fine.”
Was it out of guilt for having blabbered on so excitedly about The Faded Spiral in front of everyone? For some reason, I could feel that Vel’s attitude had softened considerably.
‘Or maybe she’s just lost her nerve after almost getting roasted whole by Eir.’
I recalled the image of Vel whining while holding out her Central Prism Academy tracksuit and let out a chuckle.
“Hahaha―☆”
“W-what! I’m being serious here!”
“Yup―♪ If our cute 2nd-year junior from Central Prism Academy, Vel, is protecting the 1st-years, then I can rest easy―☆”
“Huh? What are you talking about! Why am I the pink-haired girl’s junior?”
“Hmm? Then who was it that was claiming to be a student of Central Prism Academy in front of a furious Eir―♪”
“Ugh?! Th-that was! Ugh…!”
Vel’s face instantly turned red.
It was as if a ‘Poof!’ sound effect would have appeared in a manga.
It was visible even in the darkness of the night.
‘She looks just like Guan Yu.’
Was the real Guan Yu not Kara, but Vel?
The way she tries to keep up appearances in front of others, and how she’s surprisingly thin-skinned…
‘No, if I had to say, she’s more like Wei Yan. She has the face of a traitor, after all.’
I nodded to myself, recalling Vel’s desperate declaration of changing schools.
『Look at this tracksuit!! I’m a student at Central Prism Academyyyy――!!』
It was an embarrassing display that could only be called a dark part of her history. Recalling that miserable memory, Vel couldn’t say a word and hung her head.
“…I-I couldn’t help it.”
Vel, who always wanted to appear strong in front of others. The sight of her begging so desperately for her life must have been a humiliation she would never experience again. At that, the three juniors, who had been tense all this time, let out quiet laughs.
“Pfft…”
“Heheh…”
“Pffft.”
“D-don’t laugh―!! If you spread rumors about this, I’ll never forgive you―!!”
“Oh my―♪ Doesn’t that sound just like a setup for us to spread rumors―☆”
“Don’t―!! I’m begging you, please don’t tell anyone――!!”
*Rub, rub, rub—*
Vel rubbed her hands together obsequiously, like a fly. Seeing this, the three juniors finally started shaking with laughter.
“Pffftahaha…! Oh, really…!”
“Heheheheheh…”
“Gulp… Pfft…!”
The juniors laughed, choking back sobs as they clung to their last bit of composure. The pressure they had been feeling from the unusual situation seemed to have vanished into thin air.
Once the laughter had finally subsided.
Vel and I returned to our spots, silent once more.
“…”
“…”
I sent Vel a look of gratitude. She raised her chin slightly and winked one eye in a silent reply.
—Just leave it to this cute secretary!
We were perfectly in sync.
She truly seemed like a competent secretary.
Watching her, I revised my assessment of Vel upwards.
‘Her combat prowess, which is second to none except for the Five Colors, and her perceptiveness in moments like this. It seems she’s not an executive of the United Student Council for nothing, based on her usual abilities.’
She was perceptive, she knew how to lead the students who followed her, and most importantly, I wanted to give her major bonus points for having a kind heart.
‘But that persona she puts on and her tendency to get easily flustered…’
Just as my evaluation of Vel was being moderately adjusted, a large, crimson-pink flame shot up near the distant horizon.
*Fwoooosh—!*
And from another horizon, several kilometers away, the red ether sent by the Gjallarhorn investigation team shone.
*Fwoooosh—!*
It was the signal we had agreed upon.
Seeing it, I said.
“Yup―♪ Looks like Eir and Sigrun have arrived, too―☆”
“Hoo… It’s about to start, isn’t it.”
*Clatter, clatter, clatter…*
Alvitt’s hands were trembling so much that the scabbard she was holding was clattering against the ground.
“Oh, Alvitt―♪ You’re so tense~ If you’re scared, should this senior give you a hug―☆”
“…”
I playfully extended my arms toward Alvitt and wiggled them.
It was just a joke to ease my junior’s nerves.
But surprisingly…
“Oh my―♪”
“…”
*Embrace*
Alvitt really did come into my arms. Her shoulders were trembling like a small child’s, and cold sweat beaded on her neck and forehead before dripping down.
‘As I thought, experiencing a dungeon for the first time in a bizarre situation like this is still putting a lot of pressure on her.’
I patted Alvitt’s back reassuringly.
“…Can I do it?”
“Yup―♪”
“…Is that something you know because you’re The Faded Spiral?”
“Nope―♪”
I took the cold hands of Kara and Lotha, who had come up beside me.
“I know because I’m your senior―☆”
“…”
“…”
“…Senior.”
“We can definitely do this♪”
Something The Pink Spiral, who grew strong alone, could never teach them: how to overcome fear together. As The Faded Spiral, I held their hands and taught them.
That method was endless faith in one another.
“…”
I recalled the words Frida had spoken to me in the flowerbed long ago.
‘I hope this… becomes a memory and a lesson, just like the spiral my senior told me about.’