[Pre-Regression Memory] Brigitta's Shameful Dark History

Brigitta had slipped the piercing onto her ring finger. Why the left ring finger, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of all places? However I looked at it, the act reeked of some hidden meaning — and with it, the world dyed itself black yet again.

"So Ceres was carrying on like that over a single memory, and this thing can slap a whole personality on top of that?"

"Do not press that. Ever."

"Obviously. Who'd overwrite their own personality for anybody's sake?"

Her finger drifted toward [NO]. Tap.

Word for word, the same lines I'd seen not long ago.

Taking advantage of the pause, I shifted around, sprawled out across the bed, and slipped my arm under Brigitta's head. This time we watched it out like a pair of lovers, her cheek pillowed on my arm.

"Ceres isn't here, so we're doing this like usual?"

"You don't need my sign-off for every little thing. You know full well I'm a bitch who keels over at one word from you."

"I do know. That's exactly why I ask, you masochist Auntie."

"...Nnngh♡"

One quirk of ours: the moment we were alone together, the pecking order flipped. When I offered her my arm as a pillow, she latched onto my side, happy as could be, and waited to see how this would play out. Her memories were suddenly being handed back to her, and with no clue what any of it meant, she weathered the terror of the unknown by soaking up my warmth.

So. What would it be this time? I waited, heart thumping. Ceres's save-file name had been a riot earlier, so I let myself hope this one would deliver the same way.

And right on cue, this file too left us gaping with a name that defied all comprehension.

"...P-Parent Disqualification?"

"What the hell happened in that cycle for it to get saved under a name like that...?"

"This is absolutely something to do with Rhea, isn't it!? Isn't iiiit~!?"

Not that I could have given her an answer. Stroking Brigitta's red hair and murmuring for her to calm down, I braced myself for the scenery to come.

The video began.

The first scene to unfold was the Dureupnamu Pub. And the person running it was not someone I knew.

.........

...Where the hell had Madame gone?

"Heyyy, Bri~gittaa~!"

"Heya."

"Here to blow off steam again today?"

The woman greeting Brigitta in Madame's stead was one I'd never seen before. What stood out most were the '━' whisker stickers on her cheeks — three to a side, six in all.

Felt like I'd seen her somewhere before...?

Long wavy hair framed a tall, striking beauty — a textbook Korean stunner, straight off the current trend. She looked a good 170 centimeters, with a figure that suited the word "idol" far better than "model": thighs plush and inviting, a bust generous without going overboard. Between that and the high-waisted short-shorts and crop top combo, she fairly radiated confidence in her own body.

"That girl — that foxy little — you don't know who she is?"

"Who?"

"Aaaaah~! Now I remember! She's spent years hidden away this cycle, so it totally slipped my mind. I forget because Madame suits 【OP】 so damn well, but the guild master was actually her, huh."

"Aaahh~."

"Get me a drink today — and call the girls out while you're at it."

"The girls?"

"Sowwy~. They all called out today."

"Kgh."

"This is a pub. How're you supposed to run it with no staff?"

"I wrote it out front — today's a day off, remember~?"

"And the one who ignored it and waltzed in anyway is you, Brigittaa~?"

"Oh, for real."

The habit of clawing at her red hair whenever she got irritated hadn't changed one bit, past or present. Judging by the sunlight beating down through the entrance, it was still the middle of the day, yet she fully intended to drink.

"Whoa. That's me right after I first took Rhea in."

"You lived like that with a kid to look after?"

"My sister had just died, work kept piling up, the stress kept building... so I ended up drinking here every single time...."

Then, frowning at something that didn't add up, she tilted her head.

"Hold on, why is Dalki here? Around this time she was busy — she'd have dumped everything on Madame and been off shooting her videos, no?"

"Different cycle. Things must've gotten tangled up somewhere again."

"Different — meaning like THIS?"

She finally understood what "watching a memory" really meant. And with her understanding, the story pressed on.

"Seriously? Not one single soul to drink with?"

"I'm not asking for much, and you know that."

"Someone to pour my drinks, sing me songs, and put up with my whining — that's plenty."

"Hmmm."

"Is that a fact~."

"Just to be sure — you're only here for the drinks and songs, and nothing sleazy on the side, right?"

"Believe it or not, I'm a married woman now."

"Even if I wanted to pull that kind of stunt, I couldn't."

"Hmm. Oh reeeally?"

"Well, there is one kid in the guild who's good at doing what he's told."

"Buuut I wonder if I should really set him on you~!"

"Why are you being so cagey?"

"What's he like?"

"He's the boy my precious little sister has her eye on."

"Plus he's just a temp member crashing with our guild for a while."

"Sooo I'm not sure I should pair him up with you~?"

"You think I'd spread my legs for some guy I've never met?"

"I'm just going to have him sing and pour drinks."

"I'm saying it again — I have a child now, okay?"

"Fair enough, you're not the type to cozy up to men."

"Ha! Fine, no helping it!"

"I'll go fetch him — play with him a while, then head home at night~!"

"He's great at making bar snacks too, so leave all the little chores to him!"

"I've got work, so I'll step out for a bit!"

"Anyone works for me, long as I can blow off steam~!"

"Bring me someone to talk ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to! Chop chop!"

"Yes'm~."

"Gotcha, gotcha~!"

"...Who on earth was she making such a production out of calling?"

"Wouldn't that be me?"

"Huh?"

By now I could see exactly what would pop out where just by looking. I settled in to watch with all the leisure in the world, and sure enough—

"Hello there."

"Hong Changki, in charge of odd jobs for Guild 【OP】."

"I'll be at your service for the day."

"(Whoa, what's with this guy? He's covered in burn scars head to toe?)"

The me of that cycle had turned up in a suit the present-day me would never be caught dead in. Thanks to that, most of my scars stayed hidden, and the burn marks across my face instead set the mood like some fearsome bodyguard.

"It really is you. And hey, you're not even a minor, huh?"

I was not, in fact, a minor. Which meant that cycle's timeline sat at roughly the same point as ours.

"Wh-what? Then why am I all stressed out there? Did our Rhea get kidnapped again!?"

"...Why would she be?"

"Because the us of that cycle never detoured around the Tower — the Number Five is sitting pretty at her shop, isn't she?"

"Aaahh!! So I was just drinking there over everyday stress? Starting at high noon, no less!? With Rhea left behind!?"

She bellowed "Mom disqualification!" at the top of her lungs, then fumed about what the hell her past self had been doing with Rhea right there beside her.

But I wasn't surprised in the least.

It's written right there in the video title.

I'd already worked out the first part of that title. From the very start, this video reeked of trouble.

"Shh. She's doing the monologue thing again."

"What do you mean, monologue!?"

"'Cause from here on out, it's nothing but nonsense."

Once this Brigitta shut her mouth, the story unfolded. Just like with Ceres, the dark history recited its owner's innermost heart loud and clear, as if daring us to watch and listen.

"Hong Changki."

"Age twenty-seven."

"A hunter on the verge of retirement, currently with OP."

"Young as he still was, here was a hunter who'd parked himself in a guild this depraved."

"Looks included, I half suspected he was some fast-talking punk. He wasn't."

"Word was he'd taken serious damage inside the Tower and was now crashing with OP, doing odd jobs while he recovered."

"Contrary to how he looked, he was cheerful — a genuinely good man."

"Spent the whole day humoring a bothersome auntie like me. Even when I got drunk and babbled nonsense about Rhea, he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠empathized and comforted me."

"Scarred all over on the outside, yet deep and gentle underneath — that's the type he was, I guess?"

"One look was all it took. This was a man who must've left 'women like me' in tears, all over town."

"Uh, what is that? What is this crazy bitch reciting?"

It was still only the overture, but because it concerned her own self, she could already feel the disaster coming. Same as with Ceres. These damned memories have a knack for doing everything their owner begs them not to. And this time was no exception.

"A man with a bottomless capacity for tolerance, listening forever to an old auntie's prattling."

"About my sister who'd passed, about how lost I was raising Rhea — even when I snapped at him drunk, he just went 'yes, yes, of course' and took it all in stride."

"He treated me like some young sweetheart of his, and it made my chest lurch — not that I hated it."

"If any other guild member had pulled this crap, I'd have decked them...."

"But in front of him, somehow, I just... came apart."

"Uhh? Uhhhhh????"

She threw herself in front of her own monologue, wailing that it was nothing of the sort, but the recitation rolled on regardless.

"This can't be happening, but that Hong Changki... he was like my dead sister."

"I knew his looks, his manner — every last thing about him — was different, and yet somehow that's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠what I felt."

"Maybe because he'd grin and soak up every childish whim of an auntie like me, trying so hard to help?"

"...And thanks to that, in the end, I set my mask down."

"The true nature of me, Brigitta Bailey — the thing that lived beneath the mask of the boss steering a major guild, and the mask of one child's mother."

"No matter how I played the big sister, no matter how high I held my nose, at bottom I was nothing but a pathetic loser nerd."

"Even as the booze dragged that true self further and further out, he never once found me tiresome — he just held me."

"Really... I know a woman with a child has no business saying this, but...."

"For a boy his age... his embrace ran so deep...♡"

"...Hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey!! You're a parent with a kid!! Then what's this crap about getting sweet on a younger man at a pub in broad daylight!! And get that heart mark off the end right now!?"

Brigitta was finally beginning to understand exactly how Ceres had felt... but no. Not yet.

It hadn't even begun.

Her dark history starts here.