Under the Moonlight - It's All Your Fault, Number One
No matter how I thought about it, the cause of this whole situation was you, Number One.
Who did you think would forgive you just because you said it in such a cute way? What were you thinking, putting someone who knew absolutely nothing in the cockpit as crew? Though I supposed the fact that I, who barely knew any more than she did, was the pilot counted as another problem.
Fortunately, the Limpid Fairy was equipped with a function that suppressed the effects of the mana magnetic field so it could fly. Thanks to that, even after plunging into a field strong enough to deliver a direct shock to the brain, I emerged unscathed. The downside was that every system went offline, sending us into a free-fall crash until the wing function somehow rebooted midway and allowed us to touch down.
The landing spot, however, was the real issue.
“The automatic return-to-base function is impressive, I’ll give it that, but this is what happens when you rely on it.”
The Limpid Fairy lay overturned on the cliff above the launch chute, its engine cold. They had only loaded it with enough fuel for a single movement despite performing the other maintenance.
At some point the fairies had formed a united front and started roasting me. Look, for a complete beginner at piloting an Aindium, simply making it back alive from that crisis should have been enough. If I hadn’t doubted the auto-return and tried to do something myself, I wouldn’t have tripped right at the entrance…
I considered walking down the way I had come, but the impact from the Limpid Fairy’s fall had finished off my already shaky legs. The sun had already set, so risking a descent down the cliff was impossible, and leaping into the pitch-black launch chute would have been suicide. On top of that I was hungry, and the sharp spring night wind cut straight through me.
If I had known this would happen I would have brought a bag. A scrap of bread and a single bottle of water were nowhere near enough to satisfy a teenager’s raging appetite. To make matters worse, the communicator the principal had given me was still inside the bag I had left behind.
“Hup.”
Suddenly the tip of my nose stung. Wait, why did this feel so familiar? It was like experiencing Ruwina’s own emotional swings. I felt pathetic. I had made mistakes, sure, but the situation itself was just miserable. A beginner who had no business touching the controls had tried to show off and ended up like this.
I wanted to go to the cafeteria and stuff myself with delicious food. I wanted to chatter with Neria in our warm dormitory until we fell asleep. My friends must be worried. If the dorm supervisor found out I had disappeared, points would be deducted. The principal would probably intervene, but still…
“Sniff.”
Whether from the cold or the turbulent emotions, the stinging in my nose refused to stop. Would I really have to stay here until dawn?
I thought that if I climbed inside the Limpid Fairy I could at least escape the wind, but Number One blocked my path.
“Sob. Then I have to stay out here?”
As time passed my emotions settled somewhat, but the cold only grew worse. If I remained like this I would freeze to death in the middle of spring. Number One, who had been observing the situation, began issuing instructions to the other fairies.
He flew over to me where I sat at the Limpid Fairy’s feet.
“Yes. Very much.”
After Number One flew off, the lights installed along the cliff began to turn on one by one a short while later. It felt marginally warmer. I crouched on the ground, hugged my knees, and buried my face against them.
How many minutes had passed? The area grew noisy, so I lifted my head and found the fairies surrounding me.
After discussing among themselves, the fairies reached a decision and slipped inside the Limpid Fairy. A moment later came the sound of escaping air—pssh—and they reappeared at the upward-facing cockpit entrance.
“Huh? What is it?”
Dozens of fairies clung together to haul out a large object and tossed it down. I fumbled but managed to catch it. It was a slightly heavy bag-like item.
“A jetpack?”
It was an older, somewhat worn model.
“Thank you. Really, thank you so much.”
In a situation where I wanted to escape immediately, the fairies had thrown me a solution. I thanked them repeatedly while strapping on the jetpack.
I stood at the edge of the cliff and looked down. It was so dark the hill below was barely visible. Although the moonlight was bright, the forest wrapping the slope made it hard to pick out its contours. The lights didn’t reach far enough; if I misjudged and fell beyond the ridge it would be fatal. Maybe I should ask them to turn the lights off and let my eyes adjust to the darkness instead.
As though they had read my mind, the fairies lined up one by one in the air and began to glow. Dozens of them stretched from the cliff all the way to the crest of the hill, forming a luminous road.
I swallowed hard, then pressed the button on the jetpack’s handle with a trembling hand. A warm rush of air bloomed behind me, lifting my body several meters into the air. It was my first time using a jetpack, yet the controls were surprisingly intuitive. Leaning my body changed direction, and the strength with which I pressed the button adjusted the thrust.
I descended slowly between the fairies scattered across the sky like runway lights. Above the forest floated the full moon. So tonight was a full moon. Come to think of it, my first meeting with Rendel and Ruwina had also happened beneath one. Back then Ruwina had carried such an elegant atmosphere. The current me, after every possible blunder, was simply shivering from cold and hunger while gliding down on a jetpack.
It was good I had come ahead of schedule. I couldn’t ruin the reunion with Rendel. No way.
When I was about halfway down, the jetpack began to shake unsteadily.
“Is this thing really safe?”
“B-but I’m scared.”
Any faster and it would basically be free-fall. As if Ruwina’s fear had infected me, my hand clenched the button with white-knuckled force.
“Is it really that low?”
Before I could finish the question, the jet of air from the jetpack cut off completely.
“Ah.”
Right around the eleven-meter mark—where humans supposedly feel the greatest terror—I began to fall, wings gone.
Rendel ran along the mountain path. At a brisk pace it took twenty minutes to reach Fairy’s Hill. He covered the distance in ten.
At the boundary where the fairies’ mischief began, a chain blocked the way. Beneath a nearby tree sat a bag—a stylish one a girl might carry. Rendel sensed something wrong.
One more step and the abnormal phenomenon he had experienced last year would begin. Without hesitation he ran forward. Someone could be in danger, or the school itself might face a crisis. With abilities far more refined than last year, he believed he could overcome it.
……
Before he realized it, Rendel was walking downhill. Gritting his teeth, he returned to the chain, stepped over it, and activated his power the instant he crossed. The accelerated Rendel shot five meters ahead in the blink of an eye before crushing vertigo slammed into him.
“Damn… it.”
With staggering legs he pushed forward a few more steps, then his knees gave out and he collapsed. Taking one step backward would dispel the symptoms, but he had no intention of retreating. As he tried to crawl uphill, a small orb of light appeared before him.
A faint sound like wind brushed past, and the vertigo vanished as if it had never existed. Before Rendel could even register his surprise, the light orb moved ahead, guiding him. Since it led toward Fairy’s Hill, he ran after it.
The scene that greeted him at Fairy’s Hill was almost unbelievable. Dozens of glowing orbs formed a perfect line from the ground all the way to the top of a nearby cliff. At the end of that path of light stood the girl he had been searching for these past several days.
Luna Adelt.
Rendel whispered her name and stared up at the cliff in a daze. Her platinum hair, brilliant in daylight, now shimmered softly beneath the full moon. He was too far to read her expression, yet the atmosphere around her made her seem like one of the fairies who lived on this hill. If those orbs were fairies, then Luna could surely be called their queen.
Lost in that thought, Rendel snapped back to reality seconds later—Luna had leapt from the cliff.
Shock froze his body for an instant, but he quickly noticed her descent was slow. She wore a jetpack on her back. The lights he had seen were probably the ones she had activated atop the cliff. His junior certainly had a talent for startling people.
Rendel hid behind a tree and watched. Once she landed he intended to ask her many things—why she had avoided him, why she was wandering around this restricted place. He briefly regretted not bringing a handkerchief.
That was when it happened.
“!!”
About halfway down, Luna suddenly dropped like a stone. Rendel’s legs moved faster than thought. He poured every ounce of acceleration into his body, leapt, and caught her just before impact. The jetpack that had slipped off tumbled away behind them. Supporting her legs and back in a princess carry, Rendel landed safely on the ground.
After bailing because rolling across the ground with the jetpack would have caused serious injury, all I could do was pray. Who was the most commonly worshipped god on Galaxia again? Whoever it was, could they please save me?
Whether the prayer reached or not, a swift shadow burst from the dark forest and caught me. It was the so-called princess carry—the same way I had held Neria on the day I first arrived. I had genuinely thought I was going to die. Thanks to this stranger, my life had been spared. If I had hit the ground, it would have meant months of recovery at best; at worst I might have lost consciousness and been left to die out here.
“Th-thank… you?”
In the moonlight the face of my savior appeared faintly. It was a face I could never forget even if I tried—one I had known before coming to this academy, before falling into this world itself.
“…Senior.”
The moment I met Rendel’s worried, angry expression, heavy rock bass music thundered inside my head. The tension that had kept me going finally snapped. My consciousness faded, and my vision slowly dissolved into darkness.