Rival (2)
Rival (2)
Everyone had a plan.
Until their bodies were shredded from rolling across the floor like mad, at least.
I naturally rewound time again and again during that training. The training ground was even within the imperial palace, and it was a place I'd already used plenty of times, so I knew it well. Befitting a facility on imperial grounds, it was of course much flatter than that mountain had been, and in theory it was far more comfortable to run around in.
In theory.
That theory did not account for the Sword Saint holding a wooden sword.
Dodging each swing one at a time was still manageable. Once I got struck, at least the sword's trajectory itself was comparable to what Lucas used to swing. Of course, the Sword Saint couldn't have been swinging in earnest either, and the same would have gone for Lucas back then.
But even when I could dodge a few, staying unscathed past the limits of my stamina was impossible. No matter how I rationed my strength and evaded in the most optimal way, dodging that wooden sword surging at me over and over was impossible unless I possessed skill approaching the Sword Saint's own.
I tried blocking with the mock firearm I held, but that was it. Whenever I attempted to block, the Sword Saint simply swung his sword harder, etching the fact that I was weak more firmly into my bones.
Still, it wasn't all bad.
Quite a while had passed since Lucas last swung his sword at me at random. The sensation I'd been forgetting, since Lucas himself had vanished, seemed to be slowly resurfacing. At least now, if Lucas charged at me seriously—
... Well, honestly, I still wasn't confident. I had no idea if I could dodge if Lucas came at me in earnest, meaning to cut my throat in a single stroke.
But...
"You have no talent, no matter how I look at it."
The Sword Saint spoke as he regarded me. Yet his voice held no dissatisfaction.
"But you don't seem to have any intention of giving up, either."
I had merely been thinking about how pathetic the scene would look if I fled after coming this far, but the Sword Saint appeared fairly impressed by that display.
"Guts like that, I don't dislike."
It was the sort of line you'd hear only in a shōnen manga.
Considering the original game was made by a Japanese company, it didn't strike me as all that bizarre.
"Good! That's enough for today!"
At those words, Alice and Leo let out long breaths. Still, the two of them had remained standing to the end. I, on the other hand... well, I thought lying flat on the floor would be a little much, so I'd stayed seated in a chair.
Since holding my back straight while sitting seemed too difficult, I sat with both elbows propped on my knees, my upper body slumped forward.
Perhaps worried by the sight of me, Alice and Leo immediately ran over.
"Sylvia, are you all right?"
Not really. The moment I considered that I'd have to live like this for at least two more weeks, regret came surging in.
Did I really need to search for Lucas right now?
Couldn't I just rewind time, make this whole thing never have happened, and spend the remaining two weeks resting in peace?
The thought crossed my mind, but...
I lifted my head for no real reason and found my eyes meeting the Sword Saint's. He stood a short distance beyond Alice and Leo.
The Sword Saint was looking at me and smiling. I didn't know what pleased him so much. A smile of satisfaction, maybe?
And seeing that smile, I somehow felt that rewinding time would be losing.
... Fine.
No matter what, I'd leave rewinding time until after the two weeks were over.
At the very least, I'd see through the thing I'd decided to take responsibility for, properly, and then rewind. It wouldn't be too late.
Not that the option of "too late" existed in the first place, given that I had the ability to rewind time.
"I'm all right."
I answered.
But my gaze remained fixed on the Sword Saint, not on Alice or Leo.
I saw the Sword Saint's lips move. Oh-ho.
It was an expression I'd seen a few times back when I trained in meditation for three hundred days.
Given that I was seeing that expression more often than back then, my training didn't seem to have been entirely in vain.
*
... That was what I'd been thinking, nice and relaxed.
Words like "elder brother" or "elder sister" would never have happened once I rewound time.
Well, though that "elder sister" business was... something I'd owe Alice for, someday. Around the time my whole act collapsed. So, probably, somewhere near the very end I had in mind.
Nor was I planning to search for a Divine Treasure this time. A Divine Treasure did exist in the imperial capital, but at the very least, it wasn't something you searched for while clearing a dungeon.
So... I'd figured there was probably no chance of "the Masked Woman"—the one in the black robe, the one "presumed to be me"—suddenly appearing.
"......."
I'd figured there was no chance.
"... You."
I spoke toward that masked, robed figure, there in the imperial training ground.
No light had been deliberately left on in the area leading outside. Especially there, right in the center of the training grounds, even more so. There was no reason to keep the lights on.
Unless someone scaled the palace and crossed the rooftops, they couldn't even get here, and even if they slipped inside through the open ceiling of the training grounds, they'd inevitably be caught by the guards stationed along the corridors.
... Originally there should have been guards inside, too. But I'd wanted to familiarize myself a bit more thoroughly with the training ground, so I'd sent them all out.
That Masked Woman had entered during that window.
"How did you get in here?"
It couldn't have been coincidence.
If that was "me," she'd at least remember roughly when I'd done what. Even if she didn't recall every single day, she'd definitely remember the days when I went through something significant.
The day I met the Sword Saint and first came to the imperial capital, for instance.
... Or this very moment, perhaps.
Asking how she'd entered might have been the wrong question to begin with. Hadn't she stood boldly in the deepest depths of that ruin, after all? The methods and procedures ordinary people imagined wouldn't apply to her at all.
What was more, she'd been able to block my ability, too.
Whether it was because she existed in the same time frame and caused a collision with my ability, or whether she was blocking it deliberately—
And the moment I recalled that fact, I felt goosebumps erupt all over my back.
"... Why now?"
Yes, why of all times now?
If she could appear at any moment, there would have been far more useful timing. Well, that was, if she wasn't aiming for my life.
If that thing really was me, shouldn't she at least refrain from doing something this heartless?
But even though she heard my aghast voice, my counterpart gave no answer.
Well, there was a reaction that could be called an answer.
At the sound of my voice, her shoulders trembled.
She hadn't quaked from terror or nerves. If she were afraid of me, she wouldn't have appeared in a situation where we'd be alone like this in the first place.
Rather, that movement was...
The movement of someone holding back laughter.
The shoulders were wrapped in a long robe, but the way they hunched slightly forward and shook as if suppressing a laugh told me my guess was probably right on the mark.
"......."
I tensed my body for a split second, then immediately dashed forward.
And far too easily, I managed to catch hold of the hem of that robe.
She kept on laughing. Now that I was close enough to hear, I caught the distinctive breathing of someone stifling a laugh.
"Just what are...!"
But before I could say anything more, that masked face thrust itself abruptly forward.
And as if to tell me something for certain, she spoke past her mask.
"Sylvia."
"......."
She didn't seem about to attack, nor about to flee. The somewhat laughing voice was hard to make out clearly, but I sensed no killing intent.
But—
"■■, ■■■ ■■■ ■."
I couldn't hear the words properly.
As if calling out to someone several meters away from deep underwater, the sound was obstructed by something and failed to reach me clearly.
"... What?"
When I asked that, having failed to catch what she'd said, the Masked Woman's shoulders settled downward.
For an instant, as if disappointed by something.
"......."
"......."
We gazed at each other for a while.
Inside the holes of her mask, her eyes gleamed. I still couldn't tell what color they were. The only light shining on us was the faint moonlight.
Slowly, I released one hand.
And I raised that hand, bringing it toward the mask.
Right up to the moment before I removed the mask, she offered no resistance at all.
But—
"... Ah."
At that exact moment, she vanished.
As if she had never been there from the start.
... Had someone taken her away?
"... No, more than that."
Once the brief sensation of being bewitched by something faded, my mind snapped back to reality.
Once more, goosebumps erupted across my back.
No way. No way. No way...
"Ah, it can't be."
I muttered to myself for no reason. To reassure myself.
There was no way my ability would be blocked just from running into her, right?
We hadn't even fought or anything, right?
I steadied my breathing for a moment, then—
"Right."
I steeled my resolve, and—
"Again!"
I shouted forcefully.
Then I crashed hard into something and passed out on the spot.
When I opened my eyes again, I was in the training ground.
Probably the moment I'd first arrived at the training ground. The moon's position hadn't changed, at least.
Though the Masked Woman was gone.
Sprawled in the middle of the training ground with limbs outstretched, I stared up at the sky and muttered quietly.
"I'm screwed."
Had that been the reason she'd been laughing?
... That bastard. Future me or not, I was going to kill her for sure.