Chapter: 37. Love at First Sight
——▍▍▍▍▍▍▍▍——
A faint, soft humming came from the window.
The light patter of raindrops lightly tapped on the glass, mixing with her cheerful laughter.
“By the way, there’s something I’ve wanted to ask you for a long time…”
“What is it?”
“It’s about the story ‘Guided by Starlight’—”
“That’s not the name of it.”
“Eh?! What difference does it make? It’s such a lovely name!”
The woman puffed up her cheeks in dissatisfaction at the response.
“Yes, yes, so what?” The man, somewhat speechless at her reaction, could only go along with her thoughts.
“I just wanted to ask, in the story, is the ‘light’ referring to you?”
“Huh? Silly, of course not, that’s just a character in the story!”
“But but! I’ve heard that authors usually insert themselves into the main character of their stories—”
“Stop, stop, just apologize to all storytellers for me first,” the man retorted calmly.
After a bit of a commotion, the woman lay back down on the bed.
“How wonderful, I want to experience a great adventure too…”
Suddenly, as if she thought of something important, she sat up again.
“Right! Can you write a new story for me?”
“…A new story? What do you mean?”
“Like, write a story where the protagonist is based on me! Include me in that world—”
…
…
—————–
——▍▍▍▍’s World Line——
In a hazy state of consciousness, Nagino instinctively reached out her hand—
“…Kanon…”
The next second.
She felt her outstretched hand being gently grasped.
But when she opened her eyes, what greeted her was not Kanon, but Erica’s tear-streaked face.
“Miss Nagino!? Thank goodness, you finally woke up…”
Erica let out a sigh of relief as she saw Nagino awaken.
“…Erica? Am I now in…?”
“In the academy’s shelter,” Erica replied, lowering her voice as she added, “It’s your shadow friend who secretly brought you in.”
Hearing this, Nagino finally noticed her surroundings.
Above her was no longer a starry night sky, but a solid underground space with sleek lines; the ceiling was made of flexible metal materials, with embedded fiber optic strips gently flowing with warm white light along the curved structure.
This was the shelter of the Star Academy.
It seemed that the fantasy creatures had rushed to bring her back to the Star Academy right after she lost consciousness.
Nagino tried to sit up on the mat but found herself too weak and fell back down.
Fortunately, Erica was quick to catch her.
“Be careful, you can’t move around too much yet…” Erica laid Nagino’s head back onto her lap and leaned closer to her ear, saying, “According to that friend, Miss Nagino’s magic power has already been depleted, so you need to rest for a while.”
[That’s right, just as Erica said, you need to rest urgently, Master.] The voice of Shūen Nagakage suddenly echoed in Nagino’s ear.
Upon hearing Shūen Nagakage’s voice, Nagino felt inexplicably relieved.
“Are you… okay?”
[Yes, thanks to your protection, Master, I and this world were able to survive. Thank you.] Shūen Nagakage replied.
“You can see the possibilities within the… box?” Nagino keenly noticed the oddity in Shūen Nagakage’s response.
[No, it’s just…] Shūen Nagakage’s voice was incredibly gentle.
[Since you suddenly lost consciousness, you must have once again saved this world somewhere I don’t know.]
From its tone, Nagino sensed an unexplainable trust.
“Um, thank you, Miss Nagino.” Erica followed with her own gratitude.
It seemed that Shūen Nagakage and Erica shared this communication channel, and everything just said had been heard by Erica.
Their thanks made Nagino feel a tangible sense of having saved the world.
The only type that had been flipped back by her Koula Box.
At this moment, it was likely affected by her peculiar abilities and would not remember having intervened in this world line for a while—unless someone else used the Koula Box’s rewind…
“By the way, how’s Kanon doing—” Nagino suddenly remembered something and asked anxiously.
[That S-class one—he’s currently not in life-threatening danger.]
“…Temporarily?”
Nagino knew the only type must have done something to Kanon.
Moreover, the impact it caused could bypass the rewind of the world line.
—Could it be that because her rewind was too late, it caused Kanon to…
[No, I don’t think it’s the aspect you’re worried about, Master.] Shūen seemed to see through Nagino’s thoughts and comforted her:
[He merely experienced magic depletion and magic imbalance; after resting for a while, he should recover. What I really mean is—what he did and the results during this invasion.]
An S-class Esper being emphasized for development actually made all invaders retreat without leaving a single one behind.
Not only that, but due to the rewind of the world line, the damage caused by the only type appeared to others as if Kanon had completely “lost the ability to fight” when facing an enemy with a threat level of 11.
This would greatly alter the impressions of Special Ring SEMA and the three major academies towards him.
It could even possibly—
“Influence the reliability of the protagonist candidate plan in their minds.”
Nagino realized this.
[It seems you know what might happen, but right now the priority is to rest well.]
[Your physical condition is not much better than Kanon’s at the moment.]
[I’ve talked with Erica; she will help take care of your daily needs during this time. As for Professor Amaki, I will try to track that down, leave it to me.]
After finishing, Shūen Nagakage hung up the communication.
Nagino understood this was the best arrangement.
Having used the Koula Box with her broken soul, being able to wake up this quickly was— so fast?
“Erica, just how long have I been unconscious…”
“Three hours.” Erica answered immediately.
And the time was shorter than Nagino expected.
“In just over ten minutes, the door of the shelter will open and we’ll be able to go out.” Erica smiled reassuringly, “Don’t worry, she has already instructed me… I will help Miss Nagino complete the documentation to pass the upcoming inspection.”
After this incident at the Star Academy, it was clear they would suspect whether there were still insiders from the anti-Esper organization remaining.
And with Nagino’s current identity, without Erica’s help, it would be difficult to make it through the inspection unscathed…
This made Nagino realize how fortunate it was to have met Erica; truly living up to the reliability expected from the female lead in the DLC storyline—
“By the way, there’s something that I’ve been curious about since just now, can I ask?”
Suddenly, Erica interrupted Nagino’s thoughts, a bit excited.
“…W-what?” Nagino asked, slightly confused.
“Miss Nagino—calls the Black Flame King ‘Kanon’?”
“…Eh?” The unexpected question caught Nagino off guard.
“And also, when Miss Amaya was unconscious just now, she kept calling for ‘Kanon,’ and she seemed very worried about him when she woke up…” Erica grew more excited as she spoke, her eyes sparkling with excitement:
“Could it be that she fell in love with the Black Flame King at first sight?”
