Marie felt relieved when she saw that Leon's heart had started beating again.
(Did the Guardian's crest substitute for the tool? But now I can use the forbidden art!)
Normally, a specific tool was required.
However, in place of that tool, the sapling of the Sacred Tree was tethering Leon's life.
(But there's no time. I have to bring Bro over here quickly. And the other essential element — I can substitute for that myself.)
Marie took a deep breath.
Then she looked at Noelle.
"Noelle, you control the Sacred Tree and keep Bro's life tethered."
"O-okay, got it."
When Noelle grasped Leon's hand, the priestess's crest shone.
(This should buy us time. Now then——)
When Marie touched Leon's body, Julius grabbed her shoulder.
"Marie, just what are you planning to do?"
Marie turned around.
"What? I'm just going to save Bro."
Marie put on a smile, but Julius and the others were looking at her with anxious faces.
"——I had a feeling you were thinking something. He's in this kind of state. To save Leon, doesn't it require some kind of price?"
It was practically an act of reviving the dead.
Julius and the others apparently couldn't imagine that being done without any risk.
Marie tried to reassure them.
"It's fine. There's no problem at all."
"Then how do you plan to save Leon? Explain it in detail!"
To soothe the worried Julius, Marie gave a brief explanation.
This was from the third installment — the magic Saint Livia had used when she saved the protagonist's lover.
"I'm going to forcibly drag back a soul that's trying to head to the afterlife. I want you all to somehow handle the body in the meantime, though."
The state of Leon's body was not good.
Cleare was at a loss.
"If just prolonging his life is enough, then somehow——wait!? It came, it finally caaaame!"
When Cleare looked out the window, there was Luxion's main body.
Seeing the unit that had stopped moving, Cleare praised it.
"So the sub-unit had simply stopped working. Honestly, in that case you should have contacted us sooner. Hm? Even when I talk to it from over here, the main body doesn't respond. I wonder if it's some kind of trouble?"
Luxion's sub-unit showed no response at all.
Jilk was surprised.
"That's strange. It was working perfectly fine until we got here."
Marie was kicking Julius and the others out of the room.
"Anyway! I'm busy, so everyone out!"
"O-okay, got it, just don't shove me."
Once Marie had driven Julius and the others out, she shut the door.
Pressing her forehead against the door, she apologized to everyone in her heart.
(Everyone——I'm sorry.)
She wiped away her tears, then slapped her cheeks with both hands and steeled herself.
"Alright! Let's get to it immediately!"
Marie approached Leon and tightly gripped his hand.
Then Olivia took hold of Marie's hand.
"Please let me help too."
Marie was going to refuse, but seeing that serious expression, she gave up.
She turned her gaze to Angelica as well.
"You help too."
"Is that all right? I'll do whatever I can."
Marie cast her eyes down and warned the two of them.
"To bring Bro's soul back, we're going just to the threshold of the afterlife. And then——whatever you see, please don't come to hate Bro."
Marie blurted out something unsettling, and before Olivia and the others could say anything, she executed the magic that could be called the Saint's forbidden art.
"——I'm starting the resurrection magic."
As the three of them looked about to collapse, Yumeria and the machines supported their bodies.
Then, the red eye of Luxion, who had until now shown no response, faintly glowed just once.
◇
When Livia came to her senses, she was walking through a dark tunnel.
"Angie? Marie-san!?"
It was pitch dark and she couldn't see anything, but she somehow mysteriously understood that it was a tunnel.
From around her she heard Marie's and Angie's voices.
"I'm over here! Make sure we absolutely don't get separated!"
"I'm here too!"
After confirming by voice that they were all close to each other, Marie warned the two.
"Listen? From here on, follow my instructions. And whatever you see, don't be surprised. ——Have faith in Bro."
Angie threw a question at Marie.
"I've never heard of an art that could even revive the dead."
To that question, Marie answered flatly.
"It's a forbidden art of the temple. Only those who inherit the Saint's tools can learn it."
"Forbidden art? You inherited an art like this?"
When on earth had she inherited it?
The period during which Marie had been recognized as the Saint was short, and it didn't seem possible that she could have memorized such a forbidden art so quickly.
Livia was of the same opinion.
Because she had knowledge of magic, she couldn't believe such a thing was achievable.
And at the same time, she immediately understood that it was a magic that ought to be forbidden.
"But I can understand why it's a forbidden art. If there were an art that could bring back the dead from the afterlife, it would be a huge problem."
Angie questioned Marie.
"Even so, it's a strange story. Surely there have been times before when you could have used it."
Why hadn't she used it then?
Livia made a guess.
(There were times before when she could have used it. But Marie-san didn't. Did she choose not to even though she could? Or else——)
Just as her thoughts were about to come together, the area ahead grew bright.
"I can see it!"
It seemed Marie had started running, because the sound of her footsteps came through.
When they drew near the light, there was a large gate there.
Marie, pushing it open with both hands, waved at the two of them.
"Hurry up! We don't know how long the Sacred Tree and Noelle can keep Bro tethered!"
When Angie drew near the light, her figure became visible.
Livia chased after her, and when the two passed through the gate——what they saw there was a town the likes of which they had never seen before.
"Where is this?"
Very strange houses stood in rows.
Numerous pillars were planted along the sides of the road, connected by many lines.
On the ground, some kind of letters and white lines were painted in white paint, and similar-shaped signboards of various forms stood about.
It felt as if people lived there, but mysteriously, there was no one around.
Angie too seemed to have never seen anything like it, and she was extremely astonished.
"What kind of town is this? A peculiar place. Is this the afterlife?"
Marie had come to a stop, and as she gazed at the scenery, she was wiping away tears.
"——Let's hurry and go pick up Bro."
◇
Angie, who was following Marie, felt something strange.
(This girl, she hasn't gotten lost once.)
Marie was walking through what was practically a maze of a town as if she had known it from the start.
And the place they arrived at was an apartment building.
"It's here! The third floor!"
Watching Marie climb the stairs, Angie looked up at the building.
"Even the construction is different from our country. Is this a foreign country?"
The architectural style of the building was considerably different from what she knew.
When she went along with Livia, Marie headed without hesitation toward one specific room out of many.
"This room! Bro, if you're in there, come out!"
Marie banged on the door, but since there was no reaction at all, she put her hand on the doorknob.
"It's unlocked."
When Marie went straight into the room, Angie and Livia followed.
Marie took off her shoes and entered the room, and then searched for Leon as if she knew the place well.
"Bro~. Bathroom?"
It seemed she knew where everything was.
Watching that, Angie started to feel oddly irritated.
"You sure are quite familiar with this place."
Angie found herself jealous of Marie, who knew more about Leon than they did.
Seeing Angie like that, Marie shook her head.
"Since it seems you've got the wrong idea, I might as well say it now: I'm Leon's little sister."
"Wh-what!? No, that can't be! Leon's family tree was thoroughly investigated by the ducal house."
She didn't understand what Marie was saying.
However, Livia alone seemed to somehow understand, and she didn't show any surprise.
"Marie-san, you'll explain, won't you?"
"Livia?"
Marie said it wasn't something worth hiding, and then went into Leon's room.
"Bro and I were siblings in a past life."
Hearing that, Angie tried to think it through, but she couldn't grasp it on the spot.
(A past life? What on earth is she talking about?)
When the three of them entered Leon's room, it was a room that couldn't even charitably be called spacious.
The student dormitory was more impressive.
In the cramped room, a bed, a desk, and various other things had been crammed in.
"Is this a monitor?"
Things resembling the monitors Luxion and the others used were in Leon's room as well, several of them.
Livia was looking around the room with interest.
"There are so many letters I don't recognize. And, could this possibly be——an a-ancient civilization!"
Watching Livia getting excited as she looked at a gal-game poster, Marie made an indescribable face.
"Y-yeah. Ancient civilization. ——Probably."
While excited, Livia sensed that Leon had lived in this room.
"So Leon-san knew about all sorts of things because he remembered his past life."
Angie asked Livia.
"You're not surprised, Livia?"
"——Up until now there have been all sorts of mysterious things, after all. And when I heard 'sibling from a past life,' it made sense. There was a time when Marie-san called Leon-san 'big brother.'"
Marie looked embarrassed.
Angie heard that and looked at the bed.
"Leon's room from his past life, huh. In that case——yes, as I thought, here it is."
When she searched under the bed, it came out as expected.
It was the sort of thing called porn magazines.
Marie hid her face with both hands.
"Idiot Bro, even your hiding spot for porn mags is the same as in your past life — aren't you embarrassed? I'm embarrassed as your sister. I mean, your fiancées have totally found them."
And then, Livia found something.
"——What's this?"
It was the package of "that otome game."
The title was written as "Alt Liebe," with the subtitle "The Saint's Tale."
Livia's hands holding the package were trembling.
A girl resembling Livia was surrounded by Julius and the others.
Angie took it from Livia and checked the back side.
She couldn't read the writing, but she confirmed a figure that looked like herself, wearing a red dress.
"Don't these look like His Highness and the others? And I've seen the place in this picture. Isn't it the fountain in the academy plaza?"
Marie lowered her gaze.
"For us, this is reality. Your world——from our perspective, is the world of a game."
Marie told them that they had "been reincarnated into the world of an otome game."
Carefully, she started by explaining the game, and then taught them everything.
Angie gripped the package.
"Livia and I become enemies? That's impossible!"
Livia seemed to feel the same as Angie.
"That's right. I'd never duel with Angie!"
Watching the two of them, Marie smiled a little sadly.
"That's because I got in the way."
Angie's eyes widened.
"In the way? No, wait——you, don't tell me!"
Marie, although incompletely, had knowledge of the game.
Now, as if having given up, she explained everything.
"I had knowledge up to the middle of the first installment. So——seducing Julius and the others was easy. I knew what they liked from the start, and I more or less remembered the kinds of actions all five of them prefer."
When Angie raised her right hand, Livia stopped her.
"Livia, let go!"
"Please calm down. I'm surprised too. I am surprised, but——right now, I'm very happy."
"Livia, but even so, this girl, to you——"
"A lot of things happened, but I think I'm happy that I've ended up in this current relationship with Leon-san and Angie. So, let's hurry and go pick up Leon-san."
Angie cast her gaze down at the package.
"You're right. But, I see——from Leon's point of view, we're people inside a story."
That was very lonely, and at the same time, she sensed what Leon had been thinking.
(I thought he was hiding something, but so this is what it was.)
Indeed, this is not something one could tell anyone, Angie thought as she set the package down.
Marie made a troubled face.
"I mean, if Bro isn't here, then——his family home, I suppose?"
Hearing 'Leon's family home,' Angie took an interest.
"Leon's family home from his past life?"
"That's right. Probably——his parents might be there too."
Hearing that, both Angie and Livia were astonished.
"His parents are there!?"
To Angie's astonishment, Marie nodded.
"Probably. Come on, let's get moving already. ——Haaa, this is going to be heavy."
Marie slumped her shoulders as she headed for the entrance.
When the three of them left Leon's room, there was a cat with dark gray fur sitting there.
It looked up at the three of them with red eyes.
Angie tilted her head as she looked at the cat.
"A cat?"
Up until now there hadn't even been any living creatures, so why was a cat here?
The cat had a proud-looking face, and when Angie extended her hand, it kept its distance and turned its face away.
Then, heading toward the stairs, it gave a single meow toward the three of them.
Its bearing was as if to say, follow me.
◇
Led by the cat, the place they headed to was the nostalgic family home.
Marie hadn't properly returned home since she was kicked out of the house.
She had never thought a day would come when, in her second life, she could come back to that family home.
When she tried to ease her tense feelings with a deep breath, Olivia called out to her.
"What's the matter?"
Being called out to at bad timing, Marie ended up choking on her breath.
"I-I'm nervous!"
Angelica looked at her in exasperation.
"It's your family home, isn't it? You, could you possibly have done something?"
Marie awkwardly began to tell them about how Leon had reincarnated.
"W-well, you see——the cause of Bro's death was, sort of, me. I deceived my parents and got money out of them, went on an overseas trip, and various other things."
The way Olivia and Angelica looked at Marie suddenly turned cold.
"That's a past life story! G-geez, fine, we're going in!"
Breaking off the conversation, she pressed the doorbell, and a nostalgic voice came through the intercom.
It was her mother's voice.
"Yes~, who is it?"
Marie tried to say her name, but the words stopped just as they reached her throat.
She couldn't remember her past-life name.
"U-um——well, uh"
While she was floundering, her mother spoke first.
"——Even the idiot daughter has come home? It's Marie now, isn't it? I'll unlock the door, so hurry up and come in."
When her mother's exasperated voice came through, the front door was unlocked.
Marie hesitantly opened the front door and went inside, and the nostalgic scenery of her old home spread out before her.
Olivia and Angelica came in as well.
"Is this Leon-san's family home? It's a splendid place."
However, at Olivia's comment, Angelica was at a loss.
"I-I've never seen this kind of style."
For Angelica, who was raised as a young lady, it probably couldn't be called splendid.
Marie immediately headed to the living room, slid open the fusuma, and saw the family there.
Next to the living room was the kitchen, where her mother was cooking.
In the living room, where a kotatsu had been set up, her father was reading the newspaper.
When he raised his head at Marie's arrival, he casually greeted her.
"So you're back too? Oh, and who are these two with you?"
Marie stood frozen.
Though they were older than in her memories, her nostalgic parents were there.
And then——.
"Who? Guests?"
——Leon, who had been sleeping in the kotatsu, sluggishly got up and was yawning.
Both Olivia and Angelica spilled tears at the sight.
Marie pounced on Leon, grabbed him by the lapels, and shook him back and forth violently.
"Idiot Bro! Hurry up and come back! Come on, if you don't hurry we won't make it in time!"
Marie was trying to drag him out of the kotatsu, but Leon——.
"Eh? No thanks."
——refused.