Variable (3)
“I-I just wanted to help Saya… Ah, no, of course I want to help you as well, my lady!”
Basil stammered out his flustered explanation, but Ricotta ignored him completely and turned her gaze back to her book.
“……”
In the awkward silence that followed, Basil—who had no idea what had just transpired—began flipping through the shelves with pure, earnest diligence. He was the picture of sincerity.
The problem was… there was no way a rare tome like that would be sitting out in a place like this.
After a long, fruitless search, Basil finally returned to me with a helpless look on his face.
“I can’t find it anywhere. Is it even here?”
“It’s all right, Basil. Lard’s Mana Fluid Dynamics isn’t something you can obtain in the early—”
The words died on my tongue as a flash of insight struck me.
I remembered the hidden space I had discovered in the game.
“No… actually, you can.”
“Huh?”
“Basil, I’m sorry, but could you wait here for just a moment? I’ll be right back.”
Leaving a bewildered Basil behind, I headed straight for the deepest reaches of the underground stacks.
At the very back of the underground archive, past dust-laden shelves, seven blue-bound volumes stood out among the countless books—each a slightly different shade from the rest.
On a normal route, you would have to gather scattered clues from across the continent, learn the pattern, clear a hidden quest, and obtain a map just to reach this place.
But for someone who had already memorized the pattern through thousands of playthroughs, all of that was meaningless.
Without hesitation I reached out and rearranged the books in the exact order burned into my memory. As I slid the final volume into place, I pressed my palm against the shelf and poured every drop of mana I possessed into it.
The sensation of my mana draining away hit me at the same time as a wave of dizziness that turned my vision white.
Ugh… this is nothing like the game, where a few clicks did the job.
A low, mechanical hum resonated through the air as the bookshelf began to glow. Then the ordinary wall of shelves slid inward with a soft scrape, revealing a hidden chamber filled with cool, still air.
“Sss… it was somewhere around here…”
An ancient space.
Among the faded volumes, one book immediately caught my eye.
A thick, worn leather cover.
The title nearly illegible.
Mana Fluid Dynamics, by Lard.
Found it!
Joy surged through me as I reached for the book—
“Is that the book you need?”
A soft, gentle voice sounded directly behind me.
It was as melodious as a finely tuned instrument, yet the sheer wrongness of it turned every drop of blood in my body to ice.
My heart plummeted straight to the floor.
No one else was supposed to be in this secret space. Hell, no one else was even supposed to know it existed.
I turned my head with extreme, deliberate care.
The faint light filtering through the gap illuminated silver hair. A neatly pressed senior uniform. A languid smile. Golden eyes.
…Scone!?
Alarm bells screamed inside my skull.
The main villain of the second heroine route—Panir, the Magic Tower Master’s only daughter—in the game Melting Recipe. No matter how many ridiculous schemes you pulled, he was always one step ahead, ruining everything. An executive of the mage organization that opposed Panir.
On the surface he maintained an impeccable reputation; behind the scenes he used his family, his power, and his razor-sharp mind to utterly destroy his targets. A villain among villains.
How many bad endings had I suffered because of this bastard? Just looking at his face still made my teeth grind.
But why… why is this guy here?
“Hmm. Did you come here knowing the book would be in this place?”
Scone stepped closer, still wearing that gentle smile.
“You possess remarkable ability to match that remarkable appearance.”
One step.
That single step sent cold sweat racing down my spine.
He’ll praise you like that right up until the moment he drives a knife into your gut.
Getting involved with him right now was pure suicide. So I desperately played the part of a clueless first-year.
“Ahaha… well, I’m a new student and I don’t know my way around very well. I was just wandering and… coincidentally! Completely by coincidence I ended up here. So, um, where is this place exactly? Some old storage room? Haha… well then, I’ll just be going!”
I spun around to flee, only for him to block my path with a single, effortless step.
“Hmm. The lock on this place is a high-dimensional puzzle woven from seven ancient magic sigils. A riddle even the continent’s strongest mages have failed to solve. And yet a junior who only just enrolled at the academy managed to open it… by. pure. coincidence.”
He drew out each syllable of “coincidence” with that soft, cutting voice, and every word sank into my heart like a blade.
Of course a hastily made excuse wouldn’t fool him.
I needed to think. A clumsy lie here meant death.
“Th-then what about you, senior? How did you get into a place you can’t enter… by. pure. coincidence?”
I threw the question back at him in desperation. Scone’s eyebrows lifted slightly, as if intrigued.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Scone. Third-year at Solaris Academy, and…”
He paused, deepening the smile at the corners of his mouth.
“the administrator of this space.”
Administrator…?
In the game this place was nothing more than a farming spot for items. I had never run into him here, and I had never heard any setting that made Scone its administrator.
“Um… I see.”
“Now then, may I hear your answer to my question, junior?”
His golden eyes fixed on me with relentless focus. I frantically pieced together game lore into a plausible lie.
“M-my family has studied magic sigils for generations. My grandfather was an alumnus of this academy… and in his study I happened to find a memo that hinted at this archive. I thought it was just a legend, but out of curiosity I tried matching a few of the patterns written down and suddenly… the door…”
“Hmm. What a truly remarkable coincidence.”
Scone’s eyes narrowed with interest. He stepped right up to me and slowly traced a long finger across the cover of the Mana Fluid Dynamics I had found. Even that tiny motion sent shivers racing over my skin.
Then he straightened and took a step back. Only then did I feel like I could breathe again.
“Today has been a most entertaining spectacle. You may take the book, junior. Consider it a reward for that ‘coincidence’ of yours.”
“Pardon…? Ah, thank you…”
“Before that.”
Scone’s golden eyes flashed once more.
“…I would like to know your name.”
Giving him my real name would be the end.
He would dig into my background and turn everyone around me into pieces on his board.
“…Kratos.”
The name of someone who felt like he could stand against this bastard without losing slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.
“Kratos… Hmm. I see.”
He left me with a meaningful smile.
“Then I shall look forward to it, junior. Our next ‘coincidence.’”
With those final words he melted into the darkness and vanished without a trace.
Only after confirming Scone was completely gone did I release the breath I had been holding.
“Haa… haa…”
My legs gave out and I sank to the floor.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
My heart hammered wildly against my ribs.
Looking forward to our next coincidence…?
His last words circled endlessly through my mind. Damn it. I had gotten myself tangled up with the worst possible person.
The joy of finding the book was gone without a trace.
The [Panir Route] hadn’t even begun, yet because of my interference I had already crossed paths far too early with the worst variable I should never have met.
Calm down. Calm down. I can’t fall apart already.
I clenched my teeth and forced myself to stand. There was no time to sit here trembling. Forcing my racing heart under control, I hugged the Mana Fluid Dynamics tightly to my chest.
When I left the secret chamber, the bookshelf slid back into place as if nothing had ever happened, leaving only the ordinary, dust-covered scenery of the underground stacks.
The moment I returned to the library, Basil spotted me and came running.
His soft green hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat, and his neat academy uniform was damp through.
His cheeks were flushed and he was breathing hard—proof of how frantically he had been searching for the book I had asked for.
Yes. This was the real protagonist of Melting Recipe that I knew—Basil.
Kinder than anyone, more steadfast than anyone, a hero who thought nothing of his own hardship if it meant helping someone else.
The complete opposite of Scone, who had just hidden a cold blade behind that smile for the sake of his own goals.
And so…
I hoped.
That at the end of this world,
Basil would find happiness no matter what.
I quietly took a neatly folded white handkerchief from my pocket.
When I reached toward his forehead, Basil froze in surprise.
“Eh! Saya…?”
His round eyes wavered helplessly.
Without a word, I gently wiped the sweat from his forehead and the back of his neck with careful hands.
It wasn’t clumsy pity or simple kindness.
It was nothing more than the tiniest bit of comfort for the hell he would have to endure from now on.
Scone.
Even after thousands of playthroughs, I had never found a perfect strategy to stop that chaos-loving bastard.
“Still, Basil. Don’t worry—I have no intention of giving up on you.”
“H-huh? G-giving up… what do you mean by that……”
Whatever meaning he had attached to those words, Basil’s eyes lost focus and began to tremble.