Comrade
“What do you think of a girl named Yuna?”
“…Yuna?”
The name from my future sight overlapped with the one coming out of Ciel’s mouth. It came up this quickly?
While I was internally flustered, Ciel gave a wry smile and continued.
“She’s got a bit of a problem, but she’ll still be plenty helpful to you.”
“What kind of problem?”
“Hmm. It’s hard to explain with words. It’s faster to just go see for yourself. She’s probably in the middle of practicing right now.”
Practicing?
I tilted my head, and Ciel opened the door and started heading down the tower with me following behind. As I trailed after her, she tossed a question my way.
“Do you know about dancers?”
“Dancers? Ah. I think I’ve heard of them. Mages who cast magic by dancing, right?”
“That’s right. They’re pretty famous.”
Dancers.
Thanks to their unique concept of casting magic through dance, they were well-known even outside of Shion. There had been plenty of posts on the Last Shion community laughing at them, asking how anyone was supposed to fight while dancing.
“The girl I’m about to introduce you to is the Blue Magic Tower’s one and only dancer.”
“The only one?”
“Dancers with blue mental images are extremely rare. Just thinking about it, a blue mental image doesn’t really match with being a dancer, does it?”
“I guess not.”
After all, when you thought of dancers, you pictured beautiful women with a Middle Eastern flair. Yellow or red mental images made far more sense.
“If she’s the Blue Magic Tower’s only dancer, she must be cherished quite a bit. Are you sure it’s okay for me to take her?”
“Well, about that…”
“Hmm?”
She seemed like the type who’d be popular with the Blue Magic Tower folks. Was there some kind of catch?
Ciel didn’t answer my probing and only gave another wry smile. Meanwhile, the further down the stairs we went, the more I could hear a dull thudding sound, like something repeatedly slamming into a wall.
“Huh?”
It wasn’t mechanical noise. It was the heavy impact of a living creature. I tilted my head at the strange sound coming from inside the tower, and Ciel let out a deep sigh, as if she already knew the source.
“She never listens when I tell her to rest.”
With another sigh, Ciel flung open the door connected to the staircase. What appeared before me was a massive ice rink. So there was a space like this inside the tower.
While I was marveling at that, the source of the noise revealed itself.
“Hup…!”
What appeared was a round astronaut. The white padding, covered in cute stickers, looked as thick as a spacesuit, and the helmet’s visor was frosted white, hiding the face. The astronaut clenched both fists as if to say “fighting!” and struck a pose like a skater getting ready.
“Ughk…!”
The very next moment, the astronaut slammed headfirst into the rink wall. It happened so fast I missed the exact instant of departure. Ciel watched the somewhat comical scene and let out a worried sigh.
“Haa…”
“What was that just now?”
“Exactly what you saw. She moved too fast and crashed into the wall.”
“She can’t control her speed?”
“Right. Because of the rule she compromised on when she awakened to 4-Star, she can’t control her own speed.”
“She can’t control her speed? What kind of rule is that?”
At my question, Ciel sighed again and explained the rule.
“Friction.”
“Friction?”
“On the ice she creates, friction becomes zero. That’s the constraint.”
“That’s… hmm. That’s a pretty big risk, isn’t it?”
“It is.”
Friction becomes zero.
At first glance it sounded like an ability that let you move at incredible speeds, but if you couldn’t control it, it was just a self-destruct button.
After hearing Ciel’s explanation, Yuna’s outfit finally made sense. The thick padding and helmet like a spacesuit. That wasn’t to block the cold.
Crash—!
The moment she stood up again and kicked off the ice, Yuna slammed into the opposite wall in the blink of an eye. That outfit was an airbag for survival.
“Her ability activates centered on the ground beneath her feet, so she has no choice but to keep sliding the entire time she’s using it.”
“Aigoo.”
“Because she awakened to 4-Star in a hurry, she had no choice but to take on such an excessive constraint. Even back then, and even now, I thought it would’ve been better to leave her as she was…”
After letting out that sigh, Ciel looked at Yuna, who was still practicing to control her ability, and spoke.
“Even if she can’t use her ability properly, she’ll still be helpful when fighting the Ash Grimoire. Her cold is among the strongest even inside the Magic Tower.”
“Cold? Does that mean her cold has good compatibility with the Ash Grimoire?”
“Yes. It’s extremely lethal.”
“Hmm…”
“Well. If it seems too difficult, there’s nothing we can do.”
Ciel muttered quietly, as if it couldn’t be helped if I didn’t accept her suggestion. She probably felt sorry for Yuna and wanted to give her experience by sending her with me. That part didn’t really matter to me.
“Hmm. Okay. I don’t mind.”
“Really? Thank you so much for agreeing. Then, for the remaining member, I’ll push myself and introduce you to a Valkyrie or something.”
“It’s fine. No need to push yourself. She’s the perfect teammate for me.”
“Huh?”
At my words saying there was no need to find more teammates, Ciel tilted her head. I carefully made my way toward the ice rink. As I headed toward Yuna, who was struggling after crashing into the wall, Ciel called out worriedly.
“Wait. Because of the protective suit, she can’t hear well, so…”
Just as she said, Yuna didn’t notice me. She staggered to her feet and activated her ability. Skates made of ice formed, and with the recoil from kicking off the wall, she instantly accelerated. Once again, a human projectile came flying straight at me, but the moment the white astronaut reached me—
my ability activated.
“…Huh?”
The first to notice something was wrong was Yuna. She must have found it strange that she was still sliding across the ice even after the time she would normally have crashed into the wall. A confused voice escaped her lips, and she quickly turned her head to look at my face behind her.
“Hello?”
“Hek?!”
Startled at discovering me, Yuna screamed and lost her balance. Normally, even that small movement would have sent her tumbling across the ice like a top before slamming into the wall. But this time was different.
Whoosh.
“Uh, uhh…?”
Instead of falling on her butt, Yuna drew an elegant curve, grabbed my hand, and spun around me. Friction was still zero, but because her speed was limited, the kinetic energy that would have made her fall naturally converted into rotational energy.
To Yuna, the world must have felt like it was in slow motion. She blinked her round eyes behind the helmet and looked down at her hands and feet.
“Not… fast?”
Yuna carefully kicked the ice again. It was only a light push, barely enough to scratch the surface, but the result was the same.
Whoosh.
Instead of being flung forward, she simply slid at a pleasant speed, cutting through the wind alongside me.
Thud.
Yuna’s body lightly bumped into the wall after gliding across the ice. It must have been a sight she had never even imagined before. After deactivating her ability, she stared at me blankly. Watching all of this, Ciel smiled and approached me.
“So you were hiding something interesting.”
“I only got it recently. This.”
I shrugged and said that, then asked Ciel one more thing.
“There’s one more thing I want to ask.”
“What is it?”
“It’s okay to put people who aren’t from the Magic Tower into the team, right?”
“Of course. Even if you call in a grim reaper, it doesn’t matter. Well, if you can actually call one. We’ll cover all the compensation from our side.”
“Really? You don’t care how many people?”
“Yeah.”
Good. Now that I had a definite answer, I could form the team however I wanted. I nodded, and Ciel spoke to Yuna, who was still blankly wiggling her mittened hands.
“Yuna. Did you hear? Help this person out this time.”
“Huh? Me?”
“Yes. You felt it earlier too, right? It’s a good opportunity to learn how to control your ability, so remember that sensation well.”
“Ah, yes!”
With a quick nod, Yuna scurried behind me.
“Then, I’ll be borrowing her for a bit.”
“No need to return her. Take good care of her.”
“Got it.”
With a small laugh, I exchanged light banter with Ciel and left the Blue Magic Tower with Yuna in tow. As we slowly walked down Tower Street, Yuna gave an awkward smile and spoke to me.
“Um. My name is Yuna.”
“Ah. I’m Helper. Nice to meet you.”
“Y-Yes! Nice to meet you too!”
After bowing politely, Yuna tilted her head.
“So, what are we going to do now? Um… where are we going?”
“Do you know what we’re about to do?”
“No. The Tower Lord just told me to follow along…”
“You and I have to retrieve a grimoire together. Starting now.”
“H-Huh? A grimoire?”
After hearing my brief explanation, Yuna suddenly jumped in front of me and made an X with both arms.
“No way! Even if I can control my speed thanks to you, Helper, the two of us can’t do it! Really, maybe if we’re incredibly lucky, but… we need more people!”
“I know. That’s why we’re going to recruit teammates now.”
“Teammates? On the street?”
“I’m calling someone I know. Wait here.”
I sat on a nearby bench and looked at one of the contacts.
“Alright, recruitment complete.”
“Huh? Already? That easily?”
Yuna, who had been watching nervously beside me, asked in disbelief. She probably hadn’t expected recruitment to finish with just a few texts.
“Yeah. When I said I’d buy her a meal, she agreed right away.”
“A m-meal…?”
I took the dazed Yuna with me and headed toward Night Street. In the middle of the street glittering with colorful neon signs, I arrived at the meeting spot and waited a moment. From afar, a figure with red hair fluttering approached.
“Ah. You came…?”
I tried to greet her cheerfully, but something was different. It wasn’t the usual black witch outfit I remembered. Instead, it was a pure white dress—the complete opposite of her usual image. That appearance was one that remained in my memories. Yes, it was the one from the fan art I had sent to Elly.
While I was flustered by the unfamiliar sight, Elly approached with a sulky expression. Then she spotted Yuna, the round astronaut sitting next to me, and immediately furrowed her brows.
“Hey. What’s this white steamed bun?”
She made it very obvious that she was in a bad mood.