Rosemary
Academy Infirmary, Part 2.
“Come on in, Rebecca. I heard the news. You made it all the way to the semis at the Dowon Festival, didn’t you? Congratulations.”
Akikira pulled out a teacup Rebecca had never seen before as she spoke.
“It’s rosemary tea. Supposed to be good for the memory.”
“Memory?”
“Yeah. Drink up.”
Clink—
Akikira set two cups on the little table beside the infirmary desk.
“So? You didn’t push yourself too hard at the festival, did you?”
“I didn’t really overdo it. Especially against Senior Lucia in the semis—her eyes were completely different from usual… The second I saw her I just knew. I couldn’t win.”
“That’s rare. Hearing you sound so unsure of yourself.”
“Haha—guess even I have days like that sometimes.”
“Good girl. I was worried you’d lose your temper again and start blasting magic everywhere.”
“Come on, no way—I’m a swordswoman!”
“Technically you still have to be careful with sword arts too.”
Akikira tipped her own cup to her lips.
“I suppose I ought to thank that sponsor of yours this time. He took you there and brought you back without any trouble.”
“Plus we made the semis! Lately, you know—there are so many more people looking at me—”
“There were always plenty of those…”
“No! Not those creepy stares, okay?”
“So you admit there were a lot. Youth and firm skin really are the best…”
“You’re a beauty too, Teacher. And someone out there might just have a thing for women your age, you know?”
“Yeah, people like that exist. Usually the problem is they’re about ten years older than me.”
“There might be someone younger than you too?”
“That’d be nice. If someone like that showed up I might just snatch him up and marry him on the spot.”
“Ahaha—lucky guy, whoever he is.”
“You finished the Dowon Festival without any trouble, and you look fine today, so I probably don’t need to ask… but we do this every time, so.”
Clink—
Akikira carefully set her cup down.
“Rebecca. What’s my name?”
“You’re the school nurse.”
“I mean my actual name.”
“Huh?”
Rebecca tilted her head.
“…My name.”
“Did I… ever know it…?”
Crash—!
The teacup hit the floor and shattered into pieces.
A faint scent of rosemary bloomed through the room.
Rosemary, good for the memory.
“Rebecca, this joke isn’t funny.”
Akikira seized Rebecca’s shoulders with trembling hands.
“I-I’m sorry. My memory’s just not great… it’s… it’s…”
Rebecca frantically dug through her bag.
The bag she always carried held about ten small notebooks.
She hurriedly pulled out the red one labeled Important People!!
“I’m sorry. Just give me a second to look. I’m sorry.”
Flip-flip-flip—
Cold sweat beading on her forehead, she riffled rapidly through the pages.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry… I-I’ll find it right away.”
When she couldn’t find a clue in the red notebook, she hastily yanked out the yellow one and flipped it open.
“I-I’m sorry. I’ll find it… in a second.”
Nothing in the yellow either. Next came the green notebook.
Grip—
Akikira caught the wrist of the hand that was reaching for it.
She held on tight and looked into Rebecca’s tearful eyes.
“Rebecca. Every single time.”
Tears welling in those emerald eyes made them shine even more like jewels.
“Have you always been doing this…?”
Instead of answering, Rebecca hung her head.
“…It hurts.”
Click—
I closed the case on the magic sword.
I would go to the Academy first thing tomorrow and hand it to Rebecca.
And the next day.
The moment I arrived at the Academy, the headmaster hit me with something completely out of left field.
“Word that we won the Dowon Festival for the first time in thirty-three years spread like wildfire. The alumni association poured in an absolute fortune in donations! Ahaha!”
He was in high spirits from the morning and laughed more cheerfully than usual.
“We’ll have more new students next year, and now we have the funds, so I’m planning to put up a new building on campus. I’d only drawn up the plans, never expected things to fall into place so neatly. Next year, Daywin Hall will go up.”
“…I hope I misheard that.”
“It means a building named after you, Daywin!”
“I refuse.”
“Ahaha, even if you refuse, there’s nothing to be done. The alumni association insisted. They donated specifically for that purpose… They were truly overjoyed, saying you’d brought hope to the children.”
The headmaster nodded first, gesturing that he considered the matter settled.
This is insane.
They actually think I’m cultivating talent out of pure goodwill.
Unbelievable. Hope, of all things.
I understood why it looked that way—the heroines’ grades had all been abysmal—but wasn’t this going too far?
“As I mentioned before, that was exactly what worried me. Wasn’t it unfair that the students who studied hard were the ones missing out on benefits? But then—this!”
The headmaster flung both arms wide, pointing at the enormous banner stretched across the Academy’s main gate.
It proclaimed the Dowon Festival victory after thirty-three years.
“You’ve proven it! No one will doubt you now, Daywin. I, of course, and every Academy official, fully support your good works!”
“Ah… right.”
Fine for now, I supposed.
All I’d wanted was to snag the rank-up rewards and the hidden ones on top of them; I never expected the alumni association to kick up this much of a fuss.
Was the Dowon Festival really that important?
In the end it was just a kids’ sports meet, wasn’t it?
Everyone seemed to place more weight on the “first win in thirty-three years” title than on the festival itself.
Well… honestly, so would I.
Even rock-paper-scissors would start to feel like a lifelong grudge if you lost for thirty-three straight years.
“Ah, and one more thing.”
The headmaster raised an index finger as if something had just occurred to him.
“The alumni association seems eager to offer Laward even more support. Is there anything he needs?”
“They still have money left after building a whole hall? They must be richer than I thought.”
“Well, of course. Academy graduates fan out all over the country, unlike the officer schools or the Theological School that take part in the Dowon Festival. Plenty have made fortunes in business, and many have made names for themselves in magical research.”
“And even those impressive people never managed a single win back when they were students.”
“That’s how outstanding the students you’ve chosen are, Daywin. Haha.”
“I’ll let you know if anything comes up. Oh—more training grounds would be nice. I’ve heard they clash with other students over usage times.”
“I see. I’ll look into it favorably. And if anything else is needed, please don’t hesitate to ask. Financially speaking, of course.”
“What I have is still plenty for now. If I ever need a large sum, I won’t forget to mention it.”
“Excellent!”
“Still no Daywin Hall, though.”
“Ah.”
While the headmaster wore the face of a man who’d just been outmaneuvered—
Tap-tap-tap!
I turned at the sound of footsteps and saw a golden-haired beauty sprinting toward us from far off.
Her pure-white coat made her stand out even at a distance.
Wait—did I just call her a golden-haired beauty?
Maybe what caught the eye even more than the coat, even from far away, was Akikira’s face itself.
And that white coat, a little too big for her frame, flapping around her like she’d thrown a blanket over her head—
“Headmaster! I’m borrowing this man for a minute!”
Before I knew it she was right in front of us and had snatched my hand.
“What’s going on?”
I checked that the case was still secure in my other hand and looked at her.
“Rebecca! Nothing happened at the Dowon Festival, right?”
She sounded oddly urgent.
“Yes. She didn’t use magic, and her swordsmanship was the same as always.”
I wasn’t exactly an expert on sword arts, but at least to my eyes that was how it looked.
No sudden new movements, no hint that she was using a different weapon.
Nothing like that at all.
“You were right, Daywin. I hoped you weren’t, but…”
“What do you mean?”
She’d run so hard that we were already standing in front of the infirmary.
“You asked me, didn’t you? If she just never pulled out the magic and the sword techniques stuffed in her head, would she get better for sure?”
Akikira paused before opening the door, catching her breath where she stood.
“That wasn’t enough.”
Her expression darkened a little.
“If you think of memory capacity as fixed, then every day Rebecca gains new memories. Whatever gets added has to come out somewhere. But damn it all—the only things that get pushed out are Rebecca’s memories. The crap the Magic Tower jammed into her head stays perfectly intact…!”
“Stop.”
I covered her mouth as her voice began to rise.
“I understand what you’re saying. In short, there was no improvement.”
“It’s worse.”
Akikira buried her face in both hands and sank into a crouch.
“I’ve watched Rebecca for a long time. Not just a day or two.”
“I know.”
“I took a kid who’d lost her memories and was wandering the streets, brought her home, bathed her, fed her, put her to bed, even sent her to school.”
“I know.”
“And she doesn’t know who I am. Do you understand what that means…?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t fully understand.”
I gently opened the infirmary door.
“…You can tell me slowly later.”
The infirmary was a mess, to put it kindly.
Shards of broken teacup and spilled tea.
Colorful notebooks lay scattered around Rebecca, who sat slumped on the floor.
“Ah, Master.”
Rebecca looked up at me with wet eyes.
She’d forgotten Akikira’s name, but at least she still remembered me.
That fact alone made Akikira crumple all over again.
“Sorry you had to see me like this all of a sudden…”
Her usual confident tone had vanished without a trace; her voice was small and timid.
“I finally found it. Akikira… Teacher, right?”
She asked me in a tiny voice next.
I slowly nodded.
“Th-thank goodness… it was written right here…”
She hugged the red notebook carefully to her chest.
I sat neatly in front of her and unlocked the case.
Then I rummaged through the infirmary drawers and grabbed every compression bandage I could find.
I wrapped the blood-red magic sword tightly in bandages.
“Master…?”
“This sword will help you. I know it doesn’t quite fit the mood, but if Laward recognized it, things would get noisy for a while.”
“Huh…?”
Only after I’d wrapped it enough to hide every trace of red did I stand the sword upright.
“Rebecca. You promised you’d tell me your secret in a month. Do you remember? You said that since you might forget, you wanted me to remember for you. Back then I didn’t realize what that meant, but…”
At my words, Rebecca slowly shook her head.
“…I see.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize. From now on.”
“From now on…?”
“A few questions. How many spells do you know?”
Rebecca carefully raised both hands and spread her fingers.
She showed eight.
“Eighty?”
“No.”
“Eight hundred?”
“Ei-eight thousand.”
“Eight thousand.”
An amount of data so vast it was hard to believe.
If she kept training magic in the Magic Department like this, she’d become a grand mage within a few years.
And if that happened, just like in the hidden ending—
A grand mage would be born, and Rebecca would die.
In the past I’d scoffed at the idea of a fictional heroine losing her sense of self. Now I couldn’t think that way at all.
Right in front of me was someone who looked as if she might vanish the moment I looked away.
Right now. Sitting on the cold floor, confused—someone I could reach if I just stretched out my hand.
How many notebooks had Rebecca had to fill just to keep from forgetting the people she cherished?
And how many times had she said she was sorry?
“The spells you know are more than an ordinary person could memorize in a lifetime. Would you be all right losing every last one of them?”
I asked. Rebecca didn’t quite grasp the full meaning, but she nodded anyway.
“Yes.”
Then she looked between me and Akikira.
“Even eighty thousand would be fine.”
Her grip on the notebook tightened.
“Master… please…”
She squeezed so hard the notebook crumpled.
The brightest heroine of them all looked up at me with a face more despairing than anyone’s.
“Please help me…”
In answer I lifted the magic sword and held it out to her.
Gift Madame Anne to Rebecca?
“Yes.”
Rebecca equips Madame Anne.
“I hope you haven’t forgotten. From the first time we met, I told you. My role is to—”
You.
“—help you all.”
Rebecca set the notebook aside and accepted the sword.
“Yes.”
She wiped away the expression from moments before in an instant and managed a faint smile.
“I haven’t forgotten.”
Ending (17) — Locked
Ending (18) — Locked
Ending (19) — Locked
3rd Stage Special Privilege has been released.