Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: A New Opportunity☆ (2)
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In the vast expanse of space, where countless shooting stars fell, three chairs sat alone.
On the leftmost of the three chairs.
A pink-haired girl in a white dress was seated.
Her appearance was all too familiar.
Clara, sitting in the chair, spoke to me with a smug expression.
“Heehee~☆ What are your thoughts on seeing the face of the most beautiful lady who once saved the Academy City from a wicked organization♪ Feel free to applaud with all your limbs in adoration~☆”
As someone who knew the original story, I had no choice but to point something out.
“Um… you didn’t do anything back then.”
“Ughh…♪”
“At some point, you didn’t even come out of your corner.”
“Aww…☆”
Her pink hair drooped along with her slumped shoulders.
Clara wilted, knowing that I was aware of the entire main story.
Aside from being a kind girl who loved her school, she wouldn’t be ‘Clara’ without the incompetence.
In any case, it was surprising.
This Clara was ‘Clara from the point of the main story’s completion.’
I asked her how much she knew.
“I don’t really know either~♪ My memories only go up to the moment Alvitt saved ~☆ And even those have holes all over the place~☆”
“What about the 1500-year-old prophecy or the changed actions of ?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know~☆”
“What about the truth of this world or [The Dragon Crouching in the Abyss]?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know~☆”
“Why did you turn back time and come here? How could you perform such a miracle?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know~☆”
“What’s the current state of the underclassmen or ?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know~☆ I can’t see what you can’t see~☆”
“What do you know?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know~☆”
Clara said, shaking her head from side to side.
She looked so cheerful, almost as if she were dancing, which was infuriating.
“Haaah…”
The Clara from the end of the main story knew nothing about the altered narrative. In fact, it seemed she didn't even properly know the story of her own time.
*It’s as if I’m seeing things from the perspective of a character who only ever appeared in gag scenes…*
I also asked why I had come to , but again, the only answer was that she didn’t know.
*She probably won't know what happened to the upperclassmen after the ending either.*
I asked just in case, but as expected, she didn’t know.
I fell silent, feeling a sense of futility. Clara, too, hesitated and closed her mouth.
“…”
“…”
Finally breaking the silence, Clara burst into an innocent laugh again and spoke.
“I’ve started to feel something vaguely since ‘you’ arrived~☆ But I don’t really know~♪ Most of my memories and consciousness have weakened since you came~☆ Ahaha! It’s like I’m a sleeping princess, isn’t it♡”
“Why did you summon me, who died from overwork in my past life, to this place? Why is this world so similar to the game I played?”
Clara shook her head vigorously at my words.
“I want to tell you, but… I forgot~☆”
“…”
Then why on earth did she summon me to this space?
Just as the question arose, Clara clapped her hands and said.
“More importantly, tell me your story now~☆ Yep♪ The penalty for treating a girl’s body so roughly is a ‘girls’ talk’ session~♪”
“You’ll be bored if you hear it.”
“No way♪ I’m really curious about you~☆ I want to hear about the things you’ve accomplished, you who know so much that I don’t♪ You came to this Academy City and came to love the same things as me, didn’t you~☆”
“…”
I truly had nothing to say to that.
I had used her body as I pleased.
And it was only when I was on the brink of death that I arrived in this space.
Yet, she didn’t blame me for it. How could I not grant her this small request?
“…”
For some reason, I felt that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to share my unimpressive life story with Clara.
“Well, where should I begin? For starters, I was always frail.”
And so.
The story that began awkwardly gradually grew longer.
Was it because of her pink eyes, filled with pure curiosity and positivity?
Was it due to the charm of the mystical night sky with its endless cascade of shooting stars?
Or was it the refreshing feeling of being freed from the pretty filter and speaking in my original tone?
Unlike my usual self, I found myself continuing the story for hours.
Thus began my life story.
The tale soon passed through my previous life.
It was now heading toward the time just before I became [The Pink Spiral], after the entrance ceremony.
Clara’s sparkling eyes were still wide open, focused on my words.
“So I decided to use that in reverse. If the area-of-effect skill always deals 10 damage regardless of the enemy, then all I have to do is hit them with a heart once to deal a guaranteed 10 damage, right?”
“Uh-huh~☆”
“If I can ignore all the stat bonuses and enemy elemental resistances, and just mindlessly raise my ether capacity and skill proficiency to use it a hundred, a thousand times… then it’s already a finishing move in its own right.”
“Ooooh~♪ A finishing move~☆ How fatal~♪ The scent of a fatal maiden☆ A truly dangerous lady~☆ When did I become such a dangerous princess♡”
Unable to contain her excitement, Clara flapped her small, bare feet and cheered.
*Swish, swish—*
At the same time.
Her arms and legs were visible beneath the loose hem of her dress.
In the original story, Clara’s limbs were slender and soft, perhaps because she neglected her training. And her dazzlingly white skin was so pristine it looked as if it had never seen the sun.
She truly had the appearance of a princess, just as she said.
“…”
Looking at ‘my’ current form, I felt a mix of complicated emotions.
The scars on my body from harsh training and real combat.
My skin, roughened by the harsh life of traversing the wilderness.
My limbs were still slender, but now they were defined and toned.
I felt a little sorry that I had been the one to change her like this.
“…”
“And then~?”
“Hmm?”
“What did you do next~☆”
Clara broke out of her own world and prompted me to continue.
She hadn’t responded much to the stories of my original world, aside from the main points, but she seemed to be feeling a kind of vicarious satisfaction from hearing about the conquest of the Academy City accomplished with her body.
*I wonder if it feels like reading an alternate history novel.*
Watching her, I inwardly gave a bitter smile.
*She really is the real Clara…*
Seeing Clara’s overly pure and innocent demeanor, I felt I understood the source of all the trolling she did in the main story.
*Oh, right, Clara can sort of read my mind in this space…*
I quickly continued the story before she could become conscious of my inner thoughts.
“Besides, Clara, your skills had almost no ether consumption, so I decided to draw them out to their limit, condense them, and use them in a different form. I called them the [Secret Arts].”
“Woah~☆ You’re so smart~!! I never would have dreamed of such a thing in my life♪ I couldn’t even use [Basic Ether] properly~☆”
“It’s a simple application. You would have been able to use it in no time, Clara.”
“Actually, I still don’t get it even after hearing it~☆ Yep♪ But it’s amazing~☆”
“Using those, I competed with the Five Colors of the Academy City starting from my first year… and I beat them all.”
“Waaaaah!!! Eir too? Don’t tell me…! Even President Brynhildr…?!”
“Yes. I beat them all.”
“Waaaaah!!! Amazing~☆ I’m the strongest in the Academy City~♪”
“That’s what I said after beating the [Priest of Corruption] recently. Though I killed him without much of a proper conversation.”
“Waaaah~!! You won? You beat that creepy, perverted, gloomy, ether-stealing centipede lizard already~?! Without letting him say a word? Ahahahaha~☆ You really put the most persistent executive of in his place♪ So many kids were hurt by that guy~!!”
Clara’s already large eyes sparkled even brighter. The shooting stars that filled the night sky entered her eyes, flowing like a small galaxy.
“Yippeeeeee——☆”
Clara cheered from her chair and began to clap like a seal.
*Clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap—*
*Slap-slap-slap-slap-slap-slap-slap—*
The sound of passionate seal-clapping, using both her hands and feet.
She was a girl who looked innocent and pure when she was quiet, but the sight of her clapping so passionately with her small bare feet as well as her hands was truly foolish.
“Ahahahaha~☆ Oh my!! I love it!! All I ever heard was that I was useless~ And I beat everyone and proudly declared myself the strongest? Ahahahaha~☆”
Clara stood up from her seat and began to dance impromptu.
“Lalala~lala~♪”
Her white dress fluttered, dancing and billowing with the stars of the night sky. The curves drawn by her long skirt were whimsical and irregular, yet the movement somehow reminded me of an aurora.
It was natural, and it was lovely.
Beneath the night sky where shooting stars fell.
A dance with a melody and rhythm that were all a mess.
Yet within it was a purity that made it impossible to look away.
I could only stare at it blankly.
“…”
Because the sight of a girl dancing with such pure joy, just from hearing the life story of the one who borrowed her body, was the image of the ‘real Clara.’
“…”
I couldn’t approach that pure Clara; I could only watch from the form of the fake Clara.
How much time had passed?
Clara, who had been expressing her pure joy, slowly approached me, one step at a time. A smile like the star-dusted night sky graced her lips.
“Yep♪ It truly was a brilliant [Fate]. Your story.”
Your?
*Mine?*
Hearing that, I was momentarily bewildered.
“What are you talking about? I just…!”
I just used the rules of a world that was a game.
I just found the right answer, the original story, and followed it.
I just lived by borrowing the life of a girl named ‘Clara.’
I tried to say many things.
But Clara just smiled quietly and continued speaking.
Unlike her attentive listening until now, her tone was firm.
“It makes me want to keep watching ‘your’ story just as it is~☆ In that case… Yep♪ I finally remembered something! Ahh~ I should have said this sooner!! I’m so forgetful~♪”
“Remembered something?”
“A way for you to wake up again~☆”
“…!”
In a situation where I was on the brink of death from forcibly taking in so much ether and the power of [Fate].
What method could possibly allow me to wake up?
Beneath the sky sparkling with starlight.
Clara smiled brightly and pointed at me.
“I’ll give you ‘completely’, my name.”
“What?!”
“Your [Fate] is now entirely your own.”
“W-wait a minute!”
“Of course, we might merge again someday~♪ But I’ll hold onto ‘those things’ for a little while~☆”
In that moment.
Something left me.
Something sparkling like a small star.
Following it, countless murky lights also drained away.
*Fwoosh—*
It escaped from my chest, rose into the night sky, and became a star.
Like a compass needle returning to its proper place.
A single, brightest star appeared in the sky that had been indiscriminately shining.
□□□ smiled and watched that star with gentle eyes.
Eventually, she murmured quietly.
“My soul’s name from now on is… [Urðr]. A useless star that will only watch over you~☆ A remnant of the past, a starlight that only remembers~♪”
“Urðr?”
“Clara.”
Urðr stood before me.
And slowly, she raised one palm.
She smiled brightly and gave a little wave.
“Let’s do our best~♪ We can meet again when fate moves☆ Until we meet again☆ I’ll try to remember more by then and become a more useful starlight~☆”
“…!”
I, too, raised my hand to meet hers.
Like a mirror, we faced each other with our hands held up in a similar pose.
But our forms were as different as the time that had separated us.
Urðr winked playfully and said.
“High five—!!”
“Yeah!”
*Clap—*
A sharp clap.
And I opened my eyes.