Proof
"Shirud, don't worry so much. Your grandfather has mana heart accumulation syndrome too, and he's still doing just fine, isn't he? As long as you take your medicine properly, you'll be okay."
"……."
Serena stroked Shirud's hair, holding back the worry that kept slipping into her voice.
Cases where a circle could not be removed because mana sensitivity ran too high — the Tripind family had precedent for that.
His grandfather had suffered the exact same symptoms.
In fact, one of the reasons social welfare for that condition was guaranteed in the first place was thanks to his grandfather's achievements.
"I'm not worried. There's just something that's been bothering me."
"What is it?"
Serena asked, inviting him to speak.
He answered with a serious expression.
"Actually, I had a mana surge earlier."
"What? Is that true? Are you alright now?"
"I'm fine. More than that…"
Shirud gently pushed Serena away as she moved to embrace him.
"When that girl I saw today put her hand on my chest, it got better."
"Really? That girl did that?"
"Yeah. Something about it felt reassuring. My heart suddenly settled. That's what's been on my mind."
"Is that so…?"
Serena recalled what her father had said.
The only thing that could calm the circle engraved on his chest was the memory of his mother… was that it?
For mana heart accumulation syndrome, where managing one's emotions was critical, every patient developed a method of emotional control that was theirs alone.
Children in the difficult years of adolescence had no choice but to manage it with psychiatric medication that forcibly suppressed their feelings. Shirud was a rare case who had developed the condition at a very young age, so the side effects of those medications could not be ignored…
"I see."
Perhaps the answer lay with that child.
Yerna… was that her name? I should try to arrange a meeting as soon as possible.
Clap, clap.
At the sound of hands clapping, the female secretary who was driving answered at once.
"Yes, Lady Serena."
"Clear my schedule. As soon as possible."
"Yes. How many hours should I free up?"
"About two hours, please."
"Understood. I'll report as soon as we arrive."
"Thank you."
I should meet her again and talk things through.
Luke sat drowsily in the car Yerna was driving.
"Yerna, where are we headed this time?"
"To take an ID photo for registration. Since we're already out, I figured we might as well get it done."
"Ah, I see."
A brief exchange, then silence.
When Yerna glanced sideways, Luke was sitting in the passenger seat, blankly fiddling with the seatbelt.
Those eyes that were always so sharp had gone a little soft, and his head kept bobbing up and down as he fought sleep.
What that sight pointed to was a single fact.
"Luke, are you sleepy?"
It had been quite a day — playing exhaustively with a child younger than himself, then undergoing a battery of tests at the hospital.
A child's body was bound to find it exhausting.
"I am a little tired, yes."
Forcibly stabilizing another person's circle was indeed draining work.
On top of that, he had not even fully recovered the mana he had poured into Shirud's heart, so the fatigue ran deeper still.
"Hmm, then shall we head home for today? The photo can wait until tomorrow."
"No. Pay me no mind. I am fine."
"Really? Then close your eyes for a bit. Showing up looking too exhausted would be a problem too."
"Very well. Pai, you stop fluttering about as well and take a seat."
-…….
Pai floated over with a soft brrr and settled on Luke's lap, as if to say she understood.
Well, for a spirit, the expression "take a seat" may not be quite accurate.
With that thought, Luke closed his eyes.
Whirr — the sound of automatic doors opening.
"I think this every time, but what a truly peculiar door this is."
A door that opened of its own accord when a person approached.
No doorkeeper, yet the door opened itself — did that not essentially mean it failed to function as a door?
And the very idea of making a door out of glass was strange in itself.
This has rather the character of a display about it.
A building constructed entirely of glass felt like one vast exhibition hall.
In which case, the people inside naturally became the merchandise.
Even if those inside had no such intention.
Thinking such thoughts, Luke followed Yerna to their seats, where a photographer greeted them with a smile.
"Oh my, customers. What kind of photo are you here for?"
"An ID photo. One for the child."
"I see! Please have a seat over there and wait a moment — there's a shoot ahead of you."
"Alright."
Waiting a lot today, Yerna grumbled inwardly as she sat down with Luke.
Once seated, she asked Luke, who was staring blankly into space with a dazed expression.
"Still tired, Lu?"
"Ah, more tired than I expected. I rather wish to rest my eyes a little longer — would that be alright?"
"Of course. Here, rest your head."
Yerna patted her own knee.
Because of the horns growing beside his head, he could not lean sideways against a shoulder — he had to lie down fully to rest properly.
Luke, who would normally have refused, decided not to be stubborn this once.
Is this the influence of a younger body? Enduring fatigue has become rather difficult.
For Luke, who had always kept to fixed sleep schedules and fixed daily routines, it was a rather novel sensation.
"Impulsiveness" had never been a feeling that existed for Luke.
"……Pardon the liberty, Yerna."
And so Luke rested his head on Yerna's lap and closed his eyes.
"Lu, time to get up."
"Mm… Very well. Rising…"
Luke opened his eyes blearily and slowly sat up, but he was still half-asleep.
"Lu, try to wake up a bit. Are you that tired?"
-Luke, ………!
Unable to watch Luke's dazed state any longer, Pai let out a screeching noise.
At that ear-splitting auditory assault, Luke frowned and said,
"Ah, yes. Pai, I am awake. I am awake, so cease that."
Thanks to that, his mind was forcibly activated and ready for normal thought.
Yerna watched Luke waving his hand through empty air with a frown, thinking the child still was not fully awake, and said,
"Lu. You're even talking in your sleep. If you're that sleepy, go splash some water on your face."
It was not sleep-talk — he had just been bothered by a spirit's wake-up call — but it did not look all that different, so Luke simply nodded.
"Very well. That would be best. Where is the washroom here?"
The photographer answered the question.
"Around that corner, right there."
"My thanks. I shall return shortly."
Splash, splash.
"Hah…"
He turned off the faucet and looked in the mirror.
There, as always, was a cute little girl with platinum-blonde hair, teal and gold eyes, and inexplicable animal ears and horns — yet a face that was purely adorable.
Luke touched that face of his and thought.
I still wonder if I am dreaming.
Reincarnation? Possession? It hardly mattered.
The two were not fundamentally so different.
Perhaps all of this was one vast dream — that thought did occur to him, truthfully.
Was it not far too unreal?
No matter how many years had passed, a world where everyone used magic. Such a dreamlike world…
"No. This cannot be a dream."
Luke shook his head, rejecting the possibility.
If this were truly a dream or an illusion spell, the world-building was far too elaborate and vast.
Dreams typically form their worldviews through fragmentary thought, so inconsistent events and phenomena frequently appear.
Even as an illusion, it made no sense.
To construct an illusion of this scale would require at least a 9th Circle. And trapping me — a 10th Circle — in an illusion is absolutely impossible.
A 10th Circle was, by authority alone, essentially equal to a god.
A mortal god descended upon the material plane.
Casting an illusion of this magnitude upon such a being was impossible.
Then this little girl staring back with round eyes was a real existence, a real phenomenon that had occurred.
Why had it come to this?
That my memories are imprecise is endlessly frustrating.
Luke had never before felt the limits of his memory.
Whenever he wished to recall something, he simply could.
But now?
When he tried to recall his final memories, only meaningless scenes tumbled out in a jumbled mess.
A forest and the sky, a great tree and fire… and a being wrapped in light, a raging storm of mana…
The sensations his body had felt within those memories were all different.
When he wondered why, a fierce headache came, and the memories and sensations asked him:
Are you truly Luke Irushi?
Now without even a 10th Circle, not even human — just a tiny little girl. In this era, nothing remained that could prove he was Luke Irushi.
Friends, possessions, status, ability — even his own appearance. Had he not lost them all?
Nothing remained.
And with five thousand years of time added on top, he had become a perfect stranger to this world.
Could such a being still be called Luke Irushi?
But he spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"I am Luke Irushi."
At that declaration-like murmur, the doubts clouding his mind vanished.
Am I Luke Irushi?
There was no need to doubt — he need only prove it.
By becoming an archmage once more.
The time for fretting over his identity, clutching his head, had passed long ago.
Luke clenched his fist and made a resolute vow.
Become an archmage again.
Then no one would dare doubt that he was Luke Irushi.
-Luke, Yerna……!
To Luke's serious expression, Pai swayed in front of his eyes and spoke.
"Ah, yes. Yerna will be waiting. Let us go."
-Luke,……?
"Pai, I appreciate your concern, but I have no fever, so get off my forehead."
"……."
Luke was currently covering his face with one hand, trembling faintly.
The meaning of that action was clear.
"Luke, still embarrassed?"
Yerna said with an utterly radiant smile.
"Why did you not tell me sooner? What possible gain did you stand to make by subjecting me to such humiliation…!"
Luke was mortified beyond measure.
"That that hand gesture meant nothing at all!"
All this time, Luke had believed that forming a V-sign with one's fingers was an essential ritual for taking a photograph.
Among magic, there were cases where such rituals were necessary to avoid tainting a spell with impurity, so he had completely misunderstood.
But it had merely been a "cute pose."
"I thought it was absolutely necessary!"
I've made that hand shape in every single photograph until now — and it meant nothing?
"Hup…"
She told herself not to laugh, but the corners of her mouth refused to come down.
Yerna still could not forget what Luke had said after the photo, tugging on the photographer's sleeve.
'Excuse me, why did you tell me not to make that hand gesture? Was it not essential for taking a photograph?'
'This is an ID photo, so hands shouldn't show. And you don't need to make that hand every time you take a picture.'
'Not necessary? What do you mean? Are you saying it is not absolutely required?'
'Well, it is cute, though.'
'Wh-what…?'
"Pfft."
"I beg of you, please stop laughing!"
"Pwahaha! Haha, sorry, I just can't stop!"
"Yerna…!"
Looking at the still-trembling Luke, Yerna thought.
Cute is cute enough. The photographer was laughing hard too.