Chapter Ninety-Five: Farewell to the Past
“…Your father…?”
Under the bright moonlight.
Mana quietly slipped out of the hotel and arrived at the agreed-upon location with Yako.
Having replicated the ability of the “White Spirit Priestess,” she possessed extraordinary athletic reflexes, effortlessly avoiding the sight of hotel staff and teachers.
Instead, Yako, dressed in a nurse uniform, arrived late.
It seemed she had been busy at the island’s hospital until just recently, helping ordinary people affected by supernatural powers.
The reason Mana sought out Yako was simple—she wanted to know the whereabouts of her father.
From the man in the suit, Mana learned that she was called the so-called “Greatest Masterpiece.”
This sparked her intense curiosity about the “Fenrir” also mentioned; if she was not mistaken, this referred to her father.
Mana had countless questions in her heart—
What was her father’s true identity? Was he still alive? Where was he now?
She thought that Yako from the Special Circle SEMA might know his whereabouts.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have that information,” Yako shrugged in response.
As Yako listened to Mana describe her father and the keywords like “Fenrir” and “Greatest Masterpiece,” the corner of her eye twitched slightly, but she eventually shook her head.
“Is my father a supernatural power user?” Mana first heard the term “supernatural power user” from Yako in the hospital.
“Based on your description, he must be someone with extraordinary powers,” Yako replied. “But whether he counts as a supernatural power user cannot be confirmed; after all, he might be a former member of the Starry Society, which could be related to contracts… Ah, oops, I’ve said too much!”
Yako scratched her head and laughed.
“What does ‘contract’ refer to?” Mana’s curiosity was piqued.
“Well, you can learn about that when you get to Ark Academy,” Yako said, raising a finger to her lips and making a shushing gesture.
“As for your father, perhaps you’ll discover more clues only after joining the Special Circle SEMA or the academy.”
Upon hearing this, Mana did not feel disappointed, as if she had already anticipated such an answer.
From the suit man’s reaction, it seemed that she must be a very special existence, and naturally, information about her father wouldn’t be easily obtained.
Regarding her father, who had suddenly disappeared during her childhood, Mana had pretended to be “unconcerned” on the surface.
But that was clearly a lie to avoid worrying her mother.
What child wouldn’t feel confused when their loving father suddenly left?
Mana slowly lifted her head and looked at the bright moon high in the night sky, recalling the words she had heard from Renji last year.
“…The road?”
At that moment, Mana found the path she desired to take.
Aside from protecting Nagi, another goal—
Then she realized.
Her first target seemed to have ended in failure.
…
After bidding farewell to Yako and sneaking back to her room.
She noticed Nagi’s cup was moving.
Curious, she walked over to take a look.
She saw Kanade lying in Nagi’s bed.
And Nagi, tightly holding Kanade like a pillow, was fast asleep.
“(N-no, little Mana, let me explain—)” Kanade noticed someone approaching from behind and struggled to turn his head amid Nagi’s embrace.
Then he saw Mana, her gaze cold enough to freeze his blood.
This was not the first time Kanade had tried to break free from Nagi’s hold, but he had never succeeded.
When he woke up in the middle of the night, the first thing to greet him was the breathtakingly beautiful face of his childhood friend.
Combined with her happy and peaceful sleeping face seen from such a close distance.
For a brief moment.
Kanade thought he was in paradise.
Feeling Nagi’s soft body holding him closely, his mind began to replay memories of how he ended up in this situation.
The first fragments that came to mind were of him in bed with Nagi, having done some things.
—Oh no!
—Did I really make a move on little Nagi!?
Just as Kanade was about to shout that it was bad news.
He unexpectedly realized that there seemed to be no sticky feeling from his pants below.
This didn’t match his memory.
—Could it be that I just accidentally had an over-the-top dream?!
Kanade seemed to find a reasonable explanation.
After all, if he had accidentally fallen asleep while being held by Nagi, having some strange dreams about her… would be quite normal, right?
—Phew~ Thank goodness.
—Speaking of which, if it’s a spring dream…
—Shouldn’t I go deeper with little Nagi… No, no, calm down!
Just as Kanade let out a breath of relief.
His heart hadn’t completely settled—
He noticed another childhood friend watching him with an icy cold gaze from behind.
In this situation.
Kanade felt that no matter how he explained, it would sound utterly pale.
A boy hiding in a girl’s room late at night, tightly embraced by his childhood friend while sleeping.
Even if he claimed “nothing happened,” no one would believe him, right?
But that was all Kanade could do—
“Kanade-kun… that’s not okay…”
At the critical moment.
Kanade suddenly heard Nagi behind him letting out a very seductive sigh and words.
He quickly turned his head.
Only to find that it was just Nagi talking in her sleep.
—But why now!?
—And why such content!?
—How am I supposed to explain this!?
Kanade felt beads of cold sweat forming all over him.
Using the bright moonlight outside the window, Mana made a cold gesture to Kanade indicating “get out.”
In the quiet deep night.
Waiting for Kanade in the corridor was an endless lecture from Mana…
…
…
“Kanade, are you… still alive?”
On the next day’s journey back to Kawanocity.
Ryo looked worriedly at Kanade sitting beside him; his face was pale, with heavy dark circles under his eyes, and he looked haggard like a corpse.
Kanade had sneaked back to his room in the middle of the night.
First, he underwent a thorough mental torment from Mana.
Then he faced the anger of all the boys in the room.
After all, from others’ perspective, he had been hiding in a girl’s room until deep into the night.
He must have done something enviable, right?
So at that moment, Kanade found himself in a state of both mental and physical collapse, lacking the strength to care about Ryo beside him.
Though Ryo was likewise curious about what Kanade did in the girl’s room last night.
Why didn’t he come back immediately?
Resulting in Ryo having to come up with an excuse to deceive the inspecting teachers.
But seeing Kanade’s face at that moment—
Ryo believed he must have gained as much as he lost…
On the other hand.
“Nagi-chan, are you really okay? Do you feel any pain anywhere?”
Today, Mana had already asked about Nagi’s health more times than she could count.
Last night, when Mana came back and found Kanade.
Nagi was actually awake.
At that time, she had just entrusted Garuda to use the power of storms to clean up the scene.
She was in a state of extreme shame.
Although Garuda had not spoken a word, its gaze seemed to imply everything.
Silence truly is the sharpest blade.
Nagi, aware that Garuda was observing from the shadows, couldn’t help but feel a tinge of reluctance when she noticed the interaction between Kanade and Mana.
That’s why she pretended to talk in her sleep and squeezed out a line that seemed like a “declaration of ownership.”
This left her sleepless the entire night; because of this line, she found it increasingly hard to explain to Garuda.
So now Nagi’s mental state was not very good either.
Making Mana misunderstand Nagi’s condition a bit.
She kept beating around the bush, asking Nagi if she felt any soreness in her waist or pain between her legs.
Clearly, Nagi was the true culprit behind this misunderstanding, yet she began to feel shy under Mana’s questioning.
However, she still had to maintain her natural demeanor of “not knowing what Mana-chan is talking about.”
—If Mana noticed that she had forcefully pulled Kanade into her blanket last night and not only helped him deal with his desires with her own body but also held him tight as a pillow while sleeping…
Nagi shivered inwardly.
Finally, this brief yet long school trip came to an end.
Sitting in the car as they prepared to leave Nanase Island, Nagi gazed once again out the car window at the place she once lived.
Time has passed, and things have changed.
Bidding farewell to her homeland, Nagi, in her heart, also bid farewell to her past identity.
Everything from the past stayed here.
—This time, she would not make the same mistake.
—She would never allow anyone to die before her again.
