A Miraculous Coincidence

Being with Lapis never brought that charged, breathless kind of tension that so many people talk about.

Instead, it felt like sitting by a quiet window with a cup of tea, watching the world drift by outside. When even silence between two people feels comfortable rather than awkward, that alone is proof of how little distance remains between them.

"How about this place?"

Despite her usual composure, Lapis hovered hesitantly at the entrance, glancing over the menu as though she couldn't quite decide what we should order. It was such a stark contrast to Aria, who would have dragged me into whatever looked respectable without a moment's deliberation, that a laugh slipped out of me before I could stop it.

"D-do you like goat meat?"

"No. Honestly, it's hard to say I strongly prefer anything in particular. I do eat fruit fairly often, but even there, I wouldn't say I'm picky either way."

"I see. I knew that, but……"

"Let's go in."

We took a table on the second-floor terrace, where we could soak in the warm spring breeze. Though instead of sitting across from each other, I settled into the seat beside her.

"You must be tired?"

"……I'm ashamed to say it, but let me stay like this a little longer."

"Don't hold back. Lean on me as much as you like."

She'd even laced her arm through mine and dragged her chair over until she was pressed fully against my side. I gently stroked her hair, tidying the strands that fell across her forehead, and when I lightly brushed her soft cheek, Lapis — who had been basking in the spring breeze — opened her eyes.

"Should I stop?"

"No. Please…… keep touching me."

Rubbing her face against my shoulder, Lapis was — for once — being openly affectionate.

"I want to feel your touch a little longer, Rohen. And your voice, too."

Since I had channeled the power of the Word into our conversation once more through a quick exchange, I still had plenty of free time left over.

"You're awfully clingy today."

"Do you dislike this side of me?"

"Not a chance."

Affection like this — how could I possibly call it anything but a blessing?

"Once this year comes to an end, our wedding will finally be here."

"You really don't have to put so much thought into the ceremony, you know."

"But that's what I want. I promised you I'd give you a wonderful memory, didn't I?"

Still smiling, Lapis nestled against my shoulder as I caressed her cheek — and then, tilting my head slightly, I pressed my lips to hers.

She froze for a moment, flustered, but with no one around to see, she shyly parted her lips and answered the kiss.

It had been a while since I'd been close enough to catch Lapis's scent. I drank it in until I was thoroughly intoxicated, then pulled away and reached for the pitcher of cold water on the table.

"We don't know when the Demonic Tree will awaken. So in the moments we have to make memories…… I want you to hold onto them too, Lapis. No regrets."

"That's…… yes. You're right."

The mood had grown a touch heavy, but the food arrived just then, and after finishing our meal in good spirits, we left the restaurant.

Parting ways here would naturally have left something to be desired. This was a city where people of every stripe gathered, each nursing their own ambitions for the sake of money — so long as you could pay, there was no shortage of places to enjoy yourself. So I took Lapis by the hand and started walking.

"That was fun."

Dusk was falling by the time we made our way back toward the Academy. Lapis offered her brief impression with a smile.

"Was it the tarot reading? That's what stuck with me the most, personally."

With a plausible gift for gab, the fortune-teller had gathered up experiences everyone goes through at least once, the scars everyone carries, the strengths everyone possesses, and spun them into a single reading. It was a thoroughly meaningless diversion, all honeyed flattery and smooth words — and yet, at least to Lapis, those sweet lies seemed to have meant something.

A reading of compatibility. A fortune of love.

She surely wasn't so naive as to believe it entirely — she knew it was a pack of nonsense with no bearing on the future — so how could she be in such high spirits? I scribbled a note of agreement on my paper, and together we stepped through the Academy gates.

"It feels so strange to say goodbye when we're still standing in the same place…… but I'll see you later. I wish we could have stayed together a little longer. The time just slipped away somehow."

Watching Lapis wave as she disappeared into the distance, I found myself thinking that sleeping together, just as she wished, wouldn't be such a bad idea.

The dormitories assigned one room per person, after all. Men and women lived in separate quarters, and cross-visiting was forbidden — but as long as we weren't caught, who would care?

Mirror Flower, Water Moon would handle the hiding. That part's easy.

The real challenge was getting into Lapis's room in the first place.

……I could just summon the Dullahan.

According to the old legends, the Dullahan could naturally open any obstacle or door that stood in its path. At the time, I'd wondered what use such a power could possibly have. Who knew it would come in handy like this?

So I killed time in my own dormitory until the sun had fully set, then slipped outside. In a deserted spot, I called forth the Dullahan through the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.

Does this mean, in its own way, it's rather fond of me?

Just as before, the moment the Dullahan was summoned, it handed over its own head. For a knight who had died by decapitation, its attachment to that head must be considerable — and yet it surrendered it without hesitation, every single time.

Clank!

When I quietly lifted the helmet away, the face of a strikingly beautiful woman with purple hair was revealed beneath it.

「 I need you for something. Will you come with me for a bit? 」

Cradling the head in my arms, I activated Mirror Flower, Water Moon and stepped into the women's dormitory.

I already knew Lapis's room number. Third floor, room 302.

As long as I didn't unavoidably collide with anyone on the way, there was no reason for anything to go wrong. The Dullahan's true body moved as though riding a horse, which made things precarious — but for a body that had reached the level of an Aura Master, sensing signs of human presence and preparing in advance was no difficult feat.

Someone's coming.

From a blind spot — a fork in the corridor invisible from my vantage — came the sound of two women walking toward me. The Dullahan and I pressed ourselves flat against the wall, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠keeping just out of their line of sight.

But the Dullahan kept fidgeting, shifting its horse-riding body this way and that, so I finally seized its reins and forced it to a halt.

Whereupon the Dullahan — looking somewhat troubled — spoke through the head I held in my arms.

"Are you perhaps…… forgetting my unique ability?"

I barely had a moment to be startled by the unexpectedly clear, elegant voice before the words sank in. The Dullahan's unique ability?

Oh…… damn it all—!

The instant the thought crossed my mind, it came rushing back to me. According to the old tales, whenever the Dullahan came to a complete stop, someone nearby was destined to die. But the System, unwilling to permit anything it couldn't balance, had modified that power: whenever the Dullahan stopped, misfortune was guaranteed to befall someone in its vicinity.

And here, the definition of "nearby" meant anything within the Dullahan's line of sight.

The women approaching from far down the corridor couldn't be seen yet — so the only person within the Dullahan's field of vision right now was me.

So that was why it had kept trying to move its body. The Hundred Demons' numbers had only kept growing, and memorizing every one of their unique abilities had simply become impossible.

Bang!

Thud!

"Eek……!"

Just as panic set in, the misfortune arrived, exactly as the Dullahan's power demanded. The wall we'd pressed against. Because of the sheer bulk of its horse-riding true body, the Dullahan had been standing directly in front of one of the room doors — and that door swung open, slamming straight into me.

A startled yelp came from the room's occupant beyond the door, and then—

Since I'd bound myself to the Dullahan within the illusion of Mirror Flower, Water Moon, the illusion was now shattering along with it.

What a miserable, dogshit situation.

Someone might let a single incident slide with a warning, but given my position, the rumors it would breed were nothing I could afford.

At this point, my best option was to use the Dullahan's unique ability to open the door of the room right next to us and slip inside — because if I tried to flee anywhere else, people would be appearing from that fork in the corridor any moment.

Perhaps the Dullahan sensed it too, because it immediately ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠grabbed the handle of the neighboring door and turned it. The moment I confirmed the door was opening, I dismissed the summon and hurried inside, shutting the door behind me.

Whew……

Letting out a silent sigh of relief, I glanced around. Thankfully, I sensed no presence inside the room. If someone had been here, I'd have been caught in a truly hopeless bind.

That said — I'd put out the fire in front of me, but now what? I'd already used my quick exchange on meeting Lapis…… I couldn't summon the Dullahan again so soon. And the sounds of people in the corridor hadn't died down either, which meant I needed to leave before the owner of this room returned.

The fire was out, but the road ahead was pitch dark. I was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just concluding that my only option was escape through the window when — the moment I took a step — my eyes fell on a sheet of paper lying on the desk, and I flinched hard.

「 The Relationship Between Fire and Air in Combustion Within Sealed Spaces 」

A research paper? And more than that, a topic that seemed awfully familiar somehow — or was I imagining it?

But when my gaze dropped a little lower and landed on the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠byline, Aria Paul Bertian, a hollow laugh escaped me.

What an absolutely unbelievable coincidence.

Yet I'd barely finished marveling at that coincidence when the door swung open, and there stood Aria, walking in from down the corridor.

"……"

"……"

She had clearly seen me — standing right in front of the window, frozen in the most suspicious posture imaginable.

And she said nothing. Didn't so much as show a flicker of surprise.

Click.

Instead, she simply treated me as if I weren't there at all — and began undressing right there in front of me, peeling off the uniform she wore.

Then she stepped into the bathroom attached to the room, and poked her head back out.

"The closet over there. Take out my change of clothes and set them out. And my underthings too."

"……"

Her reaction was so utterly unlike anything I'd expected that, if anything, I was the one left flustered.

Could it be that in Aria's eyes, I was already branded as a shameless degenerate — the kind of man who couldn't master his own desires and would sneak into her room to demand she share his bed?

I wanted to deny it. But given how everything had unfolded, the denial would have been laughable.