The Best Partner
The world felt wrapped in a hazy fog inside my head. I couldn’t clearly recall what I’d been doing just moments ago, where this place was, or where my companion had gone. But these kinds of memory lapses weren’t exactly rare for me, so I steadied my shaken mind and began piecing together what I could remember, starting from the beginning.
‘At first…’ We had found a door at the bottom of the lake and stepped through it. Beyond lay a massive cavern that resembled the academy grounds. The one clear difference was the thick black mist that blanketed everything.
‘They said that was the aftermath of giving power to the vagrants.’ It looked like oil spilled across the surface of the sea. The power contained within was immense, yet because it wasn’t concentrated or directed, even an evil god couldn’t wield it with any precision. And the sheer quantity was staggering at a glance, so the weakening of the seal we had anticipated was definitely real.
That was why we’d pressed forward in excitement. Nothing obstructed us, so we somehow reached the seal… and after that… here I was. Inside the seal, where the remnants of the evil god lingered.
“What the—!”
The moment I realized it, I hurriedly assumed a fighting stance. A chill ran down my spine.
‘How long was I out? Does getting into position even mean anything now?’
I’d been standing there dazed for at least five minutes. This wasn’t just missing a single move—it was a situation where I could die at any second and it wouldn’t be strange.
“……”
But nothing happened. Just as it had ignored me while I was spacing out, it continued to leave me alone even after I regained my senses.
“…What is this place?”
Only after I took in my full surroundings did I realize I had arrived somewhere utterly bizarre. The area was filled with dense fog. Not a single person, building, or even the seal itself could be seen through the thick mist.
“There’s no one… Ah!”
That was when I finally noticed my companion had vanished as well.
“But… who were they?”
Next, I realized I couldn’t recall any detailed information about that companion. I knew the person had been close to me, yet somehow kept a slight distance—one that left me feeling a bit regretful. I had wanted to grow closer but didn’t know how, and it had been frustrating. Yet I couldn’t remember their name, face, appearance, or even their gender. All that remained was a faint afterimage so blurry it might as well have been a dream or a delusion.
Maybe it really was? This was the evil god’s sealing ground. Implanting vague memories wouldn’t be beyond its capabilities.
‘No. That person definitely existed.’
I shook off the sudden thought. It was plausible, but there was clear evidence that the person had been real.
‘■Heart.’ One of the enormous emotions surging in my chest right now was connected to that person. Even if I didn’t know the name of the emotion or its exact direction, I could tell who it was meant for.
“There you are!”
Before I could finish the thought, a voice called out.
“Huh?”
“Wait for me! I’ll come to you!”
It was a sudden voice, but I didn’t tense up. The deep sense of intimacy I felt from it was proof that it belonged to someone I knew.
‘So there really was a companion.’
I let out a sigh of relief. At the same time, I realized I had been far more anxious than I’d thought. From the very start, everything had been strange—my memories fading, bizarre occurrences piling up—so it made sense. That was exactly why the existence of my reunited companion felt incredibly welcome.
‘Though… was their way of speaking always like that?’
Carrying a faint sense of unease, I looked toward where the voice had come from. Soon, the other party revealed themselves.
“This fog is insane. Finding you was really hard.”
“…………”
“What’s wrong? Did something happen? Are you okay?”
“You…”
“Me? Why?”
What appeared wasn’t a person. No, before that, I wasn’t even sure if it was a living being.
“You were my companion?”
“That’s right! Your best partner! Did you already forget?”
It was a bizarre lump of flesh floating in the air. It had a form resembling a deformed animal paw or claw, a single eyeball, and from somewhere I couldn’t even identify as a mouth, it spoke in an innocent, cheerful voice. If you turned a malevolent creature into a mascot, this was probably what it would look like.
“What’s the matter? Are you hurt? Should I help?”
Yet its friendly tone, the familiar feeling it gave off, and the clear sense of intimacy made me accept its words as truth. This thing really was my companion.
‘I swear on my ■heart that this is absolutely not it!’
I stubbornly denied the objective fact with all my might. There was no way I could have harbored ■heart toward something like this!
“Are you really feeling sick somewhere?”
“Shut up. Don’t pull that heroine-moving crap.”
“Uh, huh?”
“Never mind. Sorry. I got worked up for a second.”
I swallowed the urge to scream and spoke to the thing.
“What was your name again?”
“What, are you doing some memory-loss prank?”
“……”
“Ugh, fine. I’ll tell you. Don’t forget it again, okay?”
“Yeah.”
“My name is…”
In the evil god’s sealing ground, something strange had attached itself to me.
“Diablo!”
And it even had a very familiar name.
“Let’s go that way! I saw something while coming here!”
“Yeah, got it. No, don’t pull! And don’t push either!”
Since there was nothing else I could do here, I decided to follow Diablo’s lead.
“I wonder what’s there~ I’m so excited!”
“Who knows.”
I answered Diablo’s words half-heartedly while staying alert for any surprise attacks. The Thousand Fists took time to equip, so it hadn’t been suitable for the sudden emergency earlier, but now was different. I had put it away while swimming in the lake because it would have gotten in the way, but here it would definitely be necessary.
‘Why did I even store it in the first place? There was air beyond the door, so I could have equipped it then.’
As I rummaged through the square bag looking for the Thousand Fists, something brushed against my fingertips.
“This is…”
It was a memo. One I had no memory of writing. And on it were letters that were clearly not in my handwriting.
[0. Do not express that you have noticed.]
A shiver of dread ran down my spine the instant I saw it. My instincts screamed that this was a message left by my real companion.
“Hmm~ What are you looking at?”
Diablo, who had been flying ahead, immediately came closer. Its single eyeball curved in a strange way that somehow conveyed it was smiling. I had been caught.
“It’s just an old note I wrote earlier.”
And I realized that the other party had noticed me noticing.
“Hehe~ What is it? Let me see!”
“No way. What kind of manners are those, trying to read someone else’s memo?”
“Kyaa! N-no violence!”
Even so, Diablo’s attitude didn’t change. It continued speaking in that overly friendly tone, flaunting its intimacy. Honestly, since I also felt a deep sense of closeness toward it, taking any stronger action was difficult.
“Uuu… You really hit me! You idiot!”
“Then who told you to do something that would get you hit?”
At most, I could only flick its forehead like this. Anything beyond that was currently unthinkable.
“Hmph! Then I’m going alone!”
“Wait, you little—!”
I chased after the freely flying Diablo while slipping the memo back into the bag.
[1. This is a place ruled by rules.]
[2. Escape is not the answer.]
It seemed this wasn’t a place where you could simply fight your way out.
After following Diablo for a while, a faint shadow appeared beyond the fog.
“That’s…”
“Yep, an exciting space!”
Diablo wasn’t wrong. What stood before us right now was the entrance to an amusement park.
“Does this even make sense?”
“Who knows? But isn’t it fine as long as it’s fun?”
Diablo didn’t seem particularly surprised. Even if it was an evil god, seeing architecture from another world should have been shocking.
“Hey, Diablo. Have you forgotten? We’re inside the evil god’s sealing ground right now.”
“Sorry, sorry! I was trying to ease the tension, but it backfired, huh?”
“Be careful. We’re partners, aren’t we?”
At my reply, it smiled again with its eyes.
“Still, I couldn’t find anything else around here except that. The secret is probably inside, right?”
“…Looks that way.”
It seemed we had no choice but to go in.
“W-welcome, g-guest.”
As we approached the entrance, a creaking voice greeted us.
“W-welcome to the land of fantasy, the f-fun world, Fantastic World.”
What stood at the ticket booth was a rusted mechanical doll. The gears inside reminded me of a classic tin robot, but that wasn’t important.
“H-how may I help you?”
What mattered was that every time it spoke, blood flowed from within its body.
“I’d like to go inside.”
“I-I see. Then please take these.”
The rusted machine handed me a bracelet and a pamphlet.
“P-please wear it and enter. H-have a pleasant trip……”
“…Thank you.”
I offered a silent prayer for the machine whose future I might one day share.
“Friendly staff, huh?”
“Yeah.”
[Cautionary Notes]
The pamphlet the machine had given me contained instructions written in blood.