Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: A New Opportunity☆ (1)
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Outside the open window.
Along with the early April breeze.
The voices of students trying to repair what was broken could be heard.
“Whoa, whoa, stop, stop! That’s good enough! Let it down!”
“We’re missing a pillar here! Who placed the order?! Get your ass over here before you get a beating!”
“Eek?! I-I’m sorry… boss…!”
“Hyaah! These new buildings are so sturdy, they’ll be hard to burn down.”
“You crazy bitch, why would you burn it?”
The scenery of the northern city, including Scarlet Academy, was disastrous. Countless buildings and roads were covered in the sticky fluid of the chaos bugs, and the smell of smoke had lingered for days from the fierce flames that had erupted overnight.
No matter how much of a powerhouse Scarlet Academy was in the north, it was ultimately just a group of slums united under a loose rule. The battle had lasted only a single night, but the haphazardly constructed slum buildings had crumbled all too easily in its wake.
The northern slum district was in a state of near ruin. The only silver lining was that the slum students who lived there were accustomed to infrastructure and living standards far inferior to the central district, so they were content as long as they had a place to lay their heads.
If it were only the students of Scarlet Academy.
They would have been satisfied living shabbily in tents and shelters.
But now, the area was filled with the boisterous sounds of construction.
A female student in a red uniform, busy carrying luggage, approached a group of tall girls.
“Hey! You lying beanpoles! Where does this box go?”
“W-What did you say?!”
The tall girls, who had been busy inspecting construction equipment, narrowed their eyes at the rude tone.
“What the hell is this crazy Red saying?”
“You’re the ones who tempted us into going to war and then pretended you didn’t! You lanky playgirls!”
“She’s completely nuts. Why are you telling us that?”
“No racism over there!”
A dark-skinned elf student, overhearing the petty squabble, came running over, her ears twitching. The armband on her slender arm read [Investigation Team Leader].
Her name was Sigrun.
The leader of Gjallarhorn’s investigation team and a problem child whose disciplinary period had just ended.
Sigrun, who had deserted her post at the garrison, had been let off with a light punishment in recognition of her contributions to resolving the Academy City’s corrosion incident. Upon her return to the field, she and her investigation team had voluntarily taken on the task of mediating all sorts of minor disputes.
“Hey! Students! No racist remarks allowed!”
“What’s this crazy knife-ear talking about?!”
“Go back to Svart Industrial High School!”
“Ugh, ‘knife-ear’… how disgusting. Hey, Red, come over here.”
“Hyaah! The only good knife-ear is a burnt knife-ear!”
“Ooh, words to live by.”
“Aah! Bad words! That’s two demerits for you! And I’m no longer with Svart Industrial High School, I’m with Gjallarhor—”
“Don’t care…”
It was the tenth day since the full-scale restoration work had begun.
The reconstruction of Scarlet Academy was proceeding on an unprecedented scale.
This was thanks to the massive support from the United Student Council and Mimir Industrial High School.
Eir, the representative of Scarlet Academy, had originally intended to refuse any help from the central district.
It was the school’s ethos to rebel against the hypocrisy and oppression of the central powers united around the World Tree, and she judged that the general student body would not readily accept their aid.
“…If it were just me, maybe, but I can't accept it when I think about the others.”
One school stepped in to bridge the irreconcilable gap. It was a school that had contributed significantly to resolving the corrosion incident and had stepped forward to help Scarlet Academy without any vested interests.
Central Prism Academy.
This entire reconstruction project was being carried out solely in their name.
The condition was that the support from the United Student Council and Mimir Industrial High School was exclusively for Central Prism Academy, which had stepped up to help Scarlet Academy. It was nothing more than a thinly veiled pretense, but the students of Scarlet Academy and the residents of the northern slums accepted it quickly on that justification alone.
Alvitt, as the student council president of Central Prism Academy—the institution nominally in charge of this restoration project—was staying in a temporary tent set up at the construction site.
In truth, she had a different reason for staying at Scarlet Academy, as she had no involvement in the actual construction…
“Haaah…”
Alvitt, hiding her complicated feelings, was inside the tent, signing various documents. Even though she was a representative in name only, she didn’t slack off, judging that this reputation would be a great help to Central Prism Academy.
The voices of numerous Scarlet Academy students reached Alvitt’s ears.
“Sob… To think The Pink Spiral would leave us so tragically…”
“A girl who burned through all her power, who lived a life like a flame… Ah! How can we not praise her?! Hyaaaah! Everyone! Chant the hero's name!”
“Clara!! Clara!!”
“Clara!! Clara!!”
“Clara!! Clara!!”
Their shouts were like those of cult fanatics.
Even amidst the noisy construction site, their cries were exceptionally loud.
“Are they at it again?”
“Sigh… How long are they going to keep that up?”
Passersby looked on in disgust at the ceremony being held by dozens of girls. Thanks to their theatrics, there wasn't a single person who came and went from this city who didn't know the story of The Faded Spiral.
But the girls with hearts of fire did not stop.
“Clara!! Clara!!”
“Clara!! Clara!!”
“Clara!! Clara!!”
Dozens of girls in uniforms emblazoned with red flames were all waving pink flags. They wept as they looked at a memorial portrait placed in front of the tent bearing the name of Central Prism Academy.
Mourning letters were piled high before the portrait.
Tough-looking female students were still arriving with countless gifts and bouquets.
They were mourning a single girl who had burned her own body to save them.
“From now on, anyone who calls her ‘The Faded Spiral’ in front of us from Scarlet Academy will get a Molotov cocktail shoved down their throat!”
“Clara was always the radiant Pink Spiral!”
“Mourn the honorary vice president of Scarlet Academy!”
“Hyaah! Who will be the sacrifice for her grave?!”
“Pink is the color of a hero who lived like a flame!”
“Pink!! Lemon!! Sherbeeeet!!”
Alvitt finally lost her patience, stepped out of the tent, and shouted.
“She's not dead!! This is just bad luck, so please stop!! And running around screaming like that is a nuisance, so stop that too!!”
“There she is!! It's Lady Clara's junior!!”
“Go and get her!!”
The group of mourning students from Scarlet Academy swarmed Alvitt.
They grabbed her, hoisted her onto their shoulders, and began to march. Alvitt’s face turned beet red with unbearable humiliation.
A mourning (?) procession that had been repeated for ten days.
Amidst the endless shame, Alvitt resented her classmates.
‘Those two…! Pretending to take on the troublesome tasks just to run away…!’
The Mimir Industrial High School airship had recently begun regular flights over the northern part of the Academy City.
Lotha and Kara had used it to travel back and forth from Central Prism Academy, using the excuse of fetching Alvitt’s belongings to slip away. Thanks to them, Alvitt, who was always present, was chosen as the star of the mourning procession.
Alvitt grabbed the collars of the rampaging Scarlet Academy students and yelled.
“Stop!! I said stop, you blockheads!!”
“Lady Clara's junior commands us to halt construction!”
“Everyone, fall back at once!”
“Hyaah! Burn it all down!”
“No, I mean you!!”
“…!”
“…!”
The Scarlet Academy students paused for a moment.
Then, they began to shout in solemn voices.
“Understood!! All units!! Prepare for arson!! Set yourselves on fire!!”
“That's not what I meant!! Why can't anyone at this damn school understand anything?!”
Even in the midst of the chaos.
Hearing the students chant Clara’s name.
The bruise that had formed in a corner of Alvitt’s heart throbbed with pain.
“…”
Alvitt quietly turned her head, looking toward the dozens of relief tents where the injured lay.
‘Senior…’
Clara was among them, in a tent directly managed by the United Student Council, under the strictest protection. Every day, Alvitt went to ask about her condition, and for ten days now, she had only heard that Clara had not yet woken up.
‘…Why is the United Student Council president personally overseeing her protection?’
The more Alvitt learned about Clara, the less she understood.
But…
Though they had only met a month ago, she was a senior who had become an irreplaceable hero in Alvitt’s life.
Alvitt wished she would just get up and make her usual silly jokes.
‘Senior… please wake up… If you just lie there like that… I can't ever repay you.’
She hadn’t apologized yet.
She hadn’t repaid her yet.
*I’m sorry…!*
What was she sorry for?
Even burying her past as The Faded Spiral.
She had been a hero who welcomed them with such kindness.
*Watch me… watch The Spiral move forward…!*
To protect the helpless.
Absorbing so much external ether.
A senior who pushed forward, even forcing herself out of being The Faded Spiral.
She could never forget that flash of light.
‘Mother… was right… My most steadfast companion was at that school.’
The last senior of Central Prism Academy.
That radiant girl was such a noble hero.
Why hadn't she realized it sooner?
‘I… failed to see it.’
And she herself had been so weak… as to hurt her.
*Throb—*
So…
Please…
*Throb—*
“…”
Alvitt clutched the darkening bruise in her heart, able to do nothing but pray earnestly.
***
In a relief tent, far enough away that none of the commotion could be heard. Only the breathing of two girls could be heard.
To be precise, only the faint breathing of one girl could be heard.
*Haaa—*
*Haaa—*
That faint breathing brought with it guilt and pain.
But it was also proof that Clara was still alive.
Brynhildr listened, caught between torment and relief.
“…”
Brynhildr held her own breath, trying to fully sense Clara’s. But it wasn’t difficult, because compared to the value of this moment of watching her, nothing else mattered.
“…”
For ten days, Brynhildr had stood motionless, watching Clara. The distinct footprints that had formed under the hospital bed had startled the United Student Council’s health committee students who came for regular check-ups.
But that didn’t matter either.
For ten days, she had ignored the urgent calls from her vice president, Sieglinde.
Just…
All of it…
None of it mattered.
“…”
The pain.
The joy.
Feeling it all.
She just watched.
“…”
“…Lara.”
Brynhildr gazed at Clara, who had grown so pale she was nearly translucent. She murmured endlessly, hoping her call would be heard and she would wake.
“…Lara.”
Like a wilting flower.
A girl who was no longer her original, vivid pink.
No ether could be felt from her.
Even using Apex, the World of the Moment, and cognition… all of it.
There was nothing.
The sight brought to mind the title that Brynhildr had so resolutely ignored every time it reached her ears for the past two years.
The Faded Spiral.
“…Lara.”
Brynhildr had now seen everything, and understood everything.
“…Lara.”
Now…
The Academy City…
The mission of the Aesir military…
The presidency of the United Student Council…
All of it.
All of it.
All of it.
All of it.
All of it.
All of it.
All of it.
All of it.
All of it.
All of it.
All of it.
All of it.
…None of it mattered.
“…Lara.”
Brynhildr remained standing stock-still.
“…Lara.”
The one she had waited for.
The cherry blossom of a spring day… had wilted.
And so, the spring day came to an end.
That was the story.
And so… none of it mattered.
***
In a hazy consciousness.
I heard a voice calling me.
“…Ugh.”
My eyes opened with effort.
And what I saw between them.
Was a girl with pink hair.
“…C…Lara?”
“Oh? I can't hear you~☆”
“…Clara?”
“Aww~☆”
A starry night sky.
In that mystical space, there were three chairs.
‘Clara’ was sitting in the one on the far left.
I looked at the other ‘Clara’ sitting in front of me and spoke.
“How…?”
At that, ‘Clara’ puffed out her cheeks and said.
“Hmph~☆ You're one to talk! It's so mean of you to use a girl's body so recklessly♪ Do you have any idea how nervous☆nervous I was watching you, hey~☆”
“…”
A single thought arose amidst the confusing situation.
‘That way of talking is really annoying…’
I made a mental note to tone down the Clara act in front of my juniors. Seeing it from an objective viewpoint, it was nauseating, no matter how cute the girl looked.
“Waaah~☆ So mean!!”