It felt as though everything had been tossed out and left hanging in midair.
A mixture of two extreme sentiments churned inside him—having given his all, and having fallen short.
He had always been the sort of person who was no good at thinking.
It would have been far better to simply move without a thought in his head, running and rushing about to his heart's content.
Maybe this was the price of having abandoned thought for so long.
"Just what was so magnificent about it, huh…"
Even now, he could find no answer to the words the hero had thrown at him at the very end.
In the end, the creeping, tear-inducing sentiment that he was nothing but half-baked lingered in his chest.
He lightly kicked off the ground and slipped his body through the collapsed building. Forcing his small frame through a gap to peer inside, sure enough, the state of devastation within was ghastly. There was no memory in his mind of any fight that could decide the fate of a city taking place here. This destruction was probably the aftermath of clashes among panicked citizens.
"Yeah, some of that stench still lingers, I'll give you that."
He snorted and surveyed the scene. Here and there he found traces he'd rather have looked away from—stains of blood, walls split open—but the frenzy and the smell of gore had already left this place.
"…Huh?"
Just as he was about to give up on finding any notable leads and turn to leave, his feet stopped. In the far corner of the wrecked room, he spotted a small doll lying on the ground.
A humanoid doll, dropped by someone. It was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, and despite being left in a place like this, it was miraculously neither dirty nor broken.
He picked it up, brushed off the dust, and then—despite knowing full well its owner couldn't possibly be around—glanced about. It was only a single doll; leaving it behind wouldn't change anything. Still— "Tch."
He muttered a sound that didn't even qualify as a click of his tongue, stuffed the doll inside his coat, and left the building. Leaning out through a window that had lost all its glass, he found holds on the building's outer wall with his fingers and toes and nimbly descended to the ground.
"Hey! He's back!"
"No way, he really is! Amazing!"
The moment his climbing descent was spotted, several people who had been working on the ground rushed over. Their faces all wore the same blend of anxiety and expectation, and the honest truth was that the inability to satisfy either one hit hard.
"How was it inside, bro?"
"Sorry—nothing in there. Nobody's left inside, and there was nothing I could find."
"Is that so…"
He landed and dusted off his knees, then gave his answer to the man who had approached. For a moment the middle-aged man's expression clouded, but he quickly composed himself and nodded.
"Well, the fact that nobody was in there means we can put off dealing with this building for now. You've saved us, bro. The stairs had collapsed, so we couldn't very well go poking around inside without some kind of heads-up."
"You lot were gonna stand by and watch that kind of suicidal work? I'll give you credit for being willing to climb the wall with a rope tied around your body, but at least put some effort into not getting yourself killed first."
"Ha! Fair point! Hahaha, dodged a bullet there!"
The man clapped him cheerfully on the shoulder, then raised that same hand in a wave, called out "Thanks!" and headed off to the next building. Garfiel watched him and several others go, then folded his arms and sank into thought.
And then— "Hm?"
His gaze fell on a silhouette standing before the very building he had just emerged from.
It was a mother and child—a plump mother holding the hand of a teary-eyed girl. The mother was telling the girl something, and the girl, looking down, shook her head over and over again.
He couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but it was hardly the place for a parent-child argument or a lesson in discipline. He turned to leave— And then he noticed something.
He sniffed the air and caught onto a common thread. He fished around inside his coat, and the doll he had picked up inside the building a moment ago came to light. He held it up and took a sniff. Sure enough, it carried a faint scent that matched what he'd been sensing.
"Could it be… this is what you're looking for?"
"…!"
He approached the pair and gently held out the doll. At first the girl was startled at being spoken to, but the moment she caught sight of the doll, her eyes went wide. A tentative hand reached out and grabbed it, and tears that were already there intensified—now driven by a wholly different emotion.
"Thank you so much. I've been looking everywhere for this…"
"Don't mention it. I just happened to stumble across it."
The mother bowed in gratitude, and he shook his head, indicating it was no big deal.
In truth, he didn't think he'd done anything of consequence. For a girl searching for her doll, it was surely a joyful moment, but weighed against the scale of human lives and the human heart, it was hardly a matter of consequence.
What was demanded of him now was a far greater role— "And I still can't figure out what that is…"
He ruffled the head of the girl clutching her doll, murmuring to himself. Then he raised the hand that had touched her and stared at it.
"Hm?"
"Nothing. Just—don't lose it again."
Because his luck probably wouldn't hold out for a second recovery.
And with that, Garfiel Tinsel bared his fangs—or rather, managed a weak smile at the girl.
Three days had already passed since the string of incidents in the water gate city of Pristella came to an end.
The trail of devastation that the
What remained—visible, indelible scars—were the effects of the authorities wielded by the Sin Archbishops of Lust and Gluttony. The problems of the "Transformed Residents" and the "Nameless" were especially severe, and hopes for their resolution rested on the knowledge of the "Sage,"
Having not attended the meetings, Garfiel had not been able to grasp the full flow of the deliberations. But the fact that the name of one of the "Three Great Heroes" remaining in the
By nature, Garfiel was the type who enjoyed learning the anecdotes of legendary or historical figures—great men, heroes, and the like.
Naturally, his knowledge included the Three Great Heroes, and he was well aware of his own strong admiration for the "Divine Dragon," the "Sword Saint," and the "Sage"—with a particularly keen interest in the last of them.
Because the "Sage," Shaula, was the one among the Three whose documented information was conspicuously sparse.
The "Divine Dragon," revered in the Dragon Kingdom of Lugunica and passed down through generations as a fairy tale.
The "Sword Saint," who had reigned as the kingdom's strongest across generations and remained a living, visible legend.
Compared to both of those figures, the Sage's name and anecdotes were frustratingly scant.
What did she look like? What was her background? What were her beliefs?
From her personality to her origins to everything that followed, it was all vague.
It was commonly said in the world that she secluded herself in the
So naturally, if he were his true self, he would never have failed to volunteer as a companion on the journey to visit the Sage. He would never have let slip an encounter with someone who had carved their name into history.
Of course, being mindful of his true purpose, he would have shown enough restraint not to let his admiration shine through too openly. He would have had that much sense.
And yet, this time, the very idea of volunteering for that journey had never even crossed his mind.
That was probably because there was simply too much left unresolved in this place for him.
"The boss probably saw right through my troubles, huh."
His injuries from the defensive battle, and Otto—likewise wounded—remaining in the city as part of the protection detail.
That was the assignment Subaru had given before departing for the Pleiades Watchtower.
"I'm sure you've figured this out, but there's no guarantee the Sin Archbishops won't circle back just to cause trouble. If that happens, you're the only fighting force we can leave behind in the city."
"Don't push Otto too hard. And don't do anything reckless yourself. I know it's probably useless saying that."
"Don't make that worried face. I'll manage on my end, same as always. You just sit tight for some good news. Right—off I go, then."
Those were, roughly, the last words Subaru had left behind before his departure.
Left behind in the city, Garfiel maintained a surface appearance of normalcy while sending Subaru,
In the end, there had been various justifications, but at the root of it, the conclusion had been that the current Garfiel was no use. That was the verdict, and he had been left behind on that basis.
Subaru was the kind of man who, if he judged someone necessary, would drag them along even if they were battered to a pulp. And Garfiel, for his part—if Subaru ever declared him necessary, he would lend his strength even on the brink of death. That was the trust he held in the man.
That it had not happened meant precisely what he thought it did.
"The current me is no help. …The boss is a harsh one."
Having been through a hundred battles of wits,
A bitter sort of justice, perhaps—but— "…So what I'm supposed to do about it—that's the part where I still can't find an answer."
He was aware that he was stuck.
He had a rough idea of several things that were causing the impasse.
But he couldn't see how to face them, or what the right course of action was. That was precisely why his feet would not move.
And so— At the very least, he was lending his strength to the city's reconstruction while carrying that weight.
The severe injuries to both arms from the fight with
He couldn't fight at full capacity, but clearing rubble or, as he had done just now, putting his agility to use for a bit of reconnaissance was well within his ability.
He knew, of course, that even this amounted to nothing more than an escape.
As long as he kept his body moving and worked for someone else, he could avoid being conscious of the fact that he was standing still—and he wouldn't look to those around him as though he had stopped in his tracks.
So that was what he was doing, and Garfiel recognized the weakness in himself for it.
That this was, in truth, close to the same kind of self-deception that Natsuki Subaru had once recognized in himself—a way of masking his own weakness—was something Garfiel Tinsel did not know.
Compared to Subaru, who had recognized it and still looked away, Garfiel was trying far more nobly to face himself.
That Subaru had judged this and departed without saying a word, trusting that Garfiel would overcome it on his own—that, too, Garfiel did not know.
But he did not know it, and— "Heyyyy! Garf is heeeere! He looks soooo healthy! You sure love high places, Garf!"
There were plenty of people around who would make sure he realized it, and Subaru had known that too.
That was why Garfiel Tinsel was not nearly as foolish or worthless as he thought himself to be.
"Hehehehehehm, hehehehehehm…"
"…You're sure in high spirits, aren't you."
From beside him, Mimi hummed her tune in high good cheer as Garfiel let out a sigh.
She had come by during the reconstruction efforts to invite him to lunch. Garfiel would have preferred to keep moving his body and shake off his lingering worries, but he couldn't come up with a good enough excuse to refuse the pushy girl's invitation, and in the end he had been strong-armed into accompanying her.
"Mm, does Garf feel the same way? Actually, Mimi was thinking the same thing! But Hetero and Tivey kept whining about me staying put, so I couldn't help it! Plus, Danchou has his hands full, and Fukudanchou is all sitting-there-solidly-like, you know?"
Mimi, having caught his sigh, lit up and rattled off in rapid succession. The girl flicked the ears atop her head, puffed out her chest, and threw a sharp punch into the air with a whoosh.
"S-See, that's exactly what I'm talking about—don't get ahead of yourself like that."
"Pfhaa!"
The movement was quick and the punch had real snap to it, but that very nimbleness was what set Garfiel on edge. He grabbed the collar of the perpetually fidgeting girl and lifted her up.
Dangling in the air, Mimi let out a catlike sound. The moment her eyes met Garfiel's, a bright, delighted grin spread across her face. That oblivious, carefree expression made Garfiel feel that worrying about anything at all was somehow ridiculous.
"You've had your own share of troubles, but you never look troubled, do you."
"Heheheh—I won't show it! Mimi doesn't show weakness! Being tough is Mimi's selling point, you know~! Fallen for me? Fallen for me?"
"Haven't fallen."
"Oh well."
Without so much as a crestfallen look, Mimi swayed happily in the air.
She wasn't particularly heavy, but hurling her aside only to have her rampage again would be bad for his heart.
Garfiel, still dangling Mimi from one hand, walked toward the eatery where they had been assigned to eat. Incidentally, those who had contributed to the city's defense—Garfiel and Mimi among them—had their living arrangements guaranteed by Kirитака. Lodging and meals were part of that.
Right now, with people and supplies short all over the city, Garfiel had no intention of being fussy about such things. As Subaru occasionally put it—it was a win-win.
"Hey, shrimp—how's the stomach?"
"Mm, Mimi's hungry! Peck-peck-peck-peck-peck! Let's go eat already!"
"Not the stomach—your wind. Your wounds, I'm saying."
"Oh, that! Yeah, feels pretty okay, I think? Mimi is just fine. But Hetero and Tivey still seem like they're hurting? They ended up taking on a lot of Mimi's damage, those two. Can't be helped—they're my brothers, after all."
She crossed her little arms and nodded with a huff.
Mimi had taken a devastating blow to shield Garfiel. It had been a life-threatening wound—a nightmarish injury that even healing magic could not close.
What had barely managed to keep her alive were her two younger brothers, triplets along with Mimi. Through the effect of the "Blessing of Threefold Sharing"—the ability to distribute wounds and fatigue among siblings—the two brothers had absorbed their sister's burden, and though all three were exhausted, their lives had been preserved.
The aftermath was simply rest and waiting for healing magic to take effect, but the irony was that the sister at the center of it all was recovering far faster than her two brothers.
And after everything they had done for her, to receive this kind of evaluation from the person they had saved was pretty rough.
"Your brothers didn't do all that for nothing, you know. Maybe you should show a bit more gratitude?"
"Mimi understands gratitude, you know. And Mimi gets what Garf is saying, but Mimi is still the big sister. Hetero and Tivey need to be scolded."
"Huh?"
"Mimi is super-duper happy about it, sure, but if the two of them died because of Mimi's mess, Mimi would be in real trouble, you know? Life is precious! Super precious! Their lives are extra-special precious! So, no wasting yourselves for Mimi's sake! Even the Young Lady said wasting yourself is not okay!"
"…"
Still dangling from Garfiel's arm, Mimi balanced herself with the sway of her long tail. Arms crossed, wearing an uncharacteristically serious expression, the girl's words left Garfiel staring wide-eyed.
He had been expecting some nonsensical argument as usual.
"Y'know, you actually thought about that pretty seriously, didn't you."
"Of course! Gorgeous Mimi is brilliant! Kind-hearted! Extraordinary! Fallen for me? Fallen for me?"
"Haven't fallen."
"Aw, that's too bad~"
Still swinging back and forth, Mimi giggled at his answer.
That brazen smile made Garfiel scratch his cheek and let out another sigh.
"But if that's how you feel, couldn't you say the same thing to your brothers?"
"Mm?"
"Your big sister is on the verge of dying. And if you had a way to save her—even one that might cost your life—you'd try it. Right? And even if they got mad at you later for it…"
"Mmnn—"
He understood Mimi's logic, of course.
If the people you cherished risked their lives to save you, it would be joyful—but at the same time, terrifying.
He could not tell his beloved to die alongside him. Garfiel felt he would never be able to say that, even in a lifetime.
What about
Ram would accept both—dying with the person she loved, or having that person die for her. The one she looked at was that guy, though, so inevitably, the person on the receiving end of that devotion was also that guy.
"Mmnnn! But no, still bad! Mimi will be very, very angry! It's decided!"
"…I see."
"Don't just go 'thanks' and then get yourself hurt, okay? Mimi is saying that because she knows Hetero and Tivey probably understand that already. And if they understand and still do it anyway, well… what can you do. Mimi is loved to death—it's a problem!"
"…"
"But if they're willing to maybe die together, that means they want to live together, right? So if that's the case, then big sister just has to keep being a big sister, and Hetero and Tivey just have to keep being Hetero and Tivey, and that's that!"
With that breezy declaration, Mimi had found her answer to her brothers' devotion.
It was, put into words, exceedingly simple—perhaps so much so that it could come across as lacking in love. And yet it pierced Garfiel to the core.
It was as though someone had casually jammed a finger into the murky haze inside him and stirred it up, and all that had settled at the bottom was spreading through his entire body—a sick feeling in his chest.
"Then…"
So Garfiel, seizing on that nausea as though biting into it, forced the words out.
He glared down at the dangling Mimi, clicked his regenerated fangs once, twice, and said— "Then why the hell did you shield me back there? You shielded me, took a wound that could've killed you, and…"
To be shielded like that. To watch someone sustain a wound that might have killed them. To have one's heart torn to shreds by the sheer force of it—and to not understand why anyone would do such a thing.
He was furious at the thought of his brothers risking their lives for him, so how could he comprehend why a girl he had only met days ago would risk hers for him?
He hadn't even been able to say thank you for that moment, let alone express a word about the fact that she had survived.
"Well, it's because Mimi has fallen for Garf, obviously~ It's so embarrassing, ugh~"
"…! It's only been a few days!"
Mimi reached up and patted his head with an expression that was almost bashful. Garfiel gritted his molars.
Yes—only a few days of feeling. He would leave aside, for now, the question of whether to take Mimi's claim of having fallen for him at face value. How he should respond to those feelings was not what mattered here.
What mattered was the strength and depth of those feelings. They had only known each other for a few days.
The years Garfiel had spent thinking of Ram numbered seven—roughly half his life.
He had spent all that time carrying feelings for one girl. He had been turned away for just as many years, and yet the thought of giving up had never once crossed his mind. He yearned for her, wished to have her, and had shown it through every word and action.
That was precisely why— "When you barely had any time at all, why the hell did you…"
Risk even your life for me.
Loved so fiercely that your own brothers would stake their lives to protect you—and you gave all of that to someone like me.
"I remember, Roshi once said!"
"…Huh?"
"About a paired couple's conditions!"
An unfamiliar phrase popped out, and Garfiel furrowed his brow in confusion. Mimi suddenly twisted free of his grasp, dropped to the ground, and rolled to a stop in front of him. Then she thrust all ten fingers at him with a snap.
And then— "A paired couple spends forever together—years, decades, even centuries, right?"
"Centuries is way too extreme of an example…"
"If your feelings are eternal, then centuries are nothing, nothing! And while you're spending all that time together, you're probably gonna fight and argue and fight over food, right?"
"…"
The scale of said arguments seemed awfully small, but Garfiel kept quiet and listened.
He didn't want her getting worked up and reopening her wounds. He'd let her have her say, do as she pleased, and then reel her in once she calmed down— "Roshi said you should pick someone you can enjoy even the fighting and arguing with! And that you can tell right away when you find someone who's, like, super-solid, you know!"
"Tell right away, huh…"
"Mimi looked at Garf and thought he was super-solid! So, if you've only just realized someone is solid, and you're going to spend centuries together, that's just a rounding error, right? Advance payment! That's the term! The Young Lady used it—advance payment! And then, interest on top!"
"Wh…"
Eheh~ Mimi puffed out her chest proudly. Garfiel was dumbfounded.
Advance payment. Interest. He didn't understand a word of it. So in other words—it was something like borrowing in advance from the centuries of bond that would come with having a partner?
Something like that was what gave a person the strength to move forward? Was that the argument?
"…But you could've died, you know."
"Mm?"
"If that had killed you, there wouldn't have been any advance payment or anything else to speak of. And yet—"
"Garf, are you okay in the head?"
Mimi tapped her own temple and looked at him with concern.
To be told that by the one person he least wanted to hear it from left Garfiel staggered. Mimi then crossed her arms with an air of authority.
"Being willing to maybe die together means you want to live together, right? And since Mimi and Garf are both alive, why are you moping around like this? You'll go bald!"
"…"
"Oh? Garf, did you just smile? Hey, did you smile?"
Mimi leaned in close, her round eyes peering up at him. Garfiel's fangs clicked.
The clacking of teeth grew faster, the intervals between clicks shrinking, and then, mixing with laughter, it erupted into a full belly laugh.
"Whoa! Garf is laughing really hard! Did something funny happen?"
"You're the one who's funny, shrimp. Ah, damn it—knew you'd get me."
"Was it Mimi? Well, can't be helped then~ Even the Young Lady used to say stuff like 'when Mimi is around, you just end up laughing whether you want to or not'~"
Mimi's blank expression only made him laugh harder.
No—the one who didn't understand was not Mimi. It was him, by a wide margin.
Mimi probably understood the most important thing instinctively; she just couldn't put it into words. The thing that Garfiel needed to articulate to feel satisfied—she saw it clearly.
And perhaps that was why Garfiel felt frustrated right now.
"…But you know. If that reasoning holds, then your brothers risking their lives for you—it's because they want to live together too, isn't it?"
"Mimi is allowed to! Hetero and Tivey are not! That's the rule!"
"What kind of rule is that?"
No matter how far it went, the bitter smile would not leave Garfiel's face.
Come to think of it, Frederica had also—very rarely, no, not even rarely, but with a fair frequency—pulled this kind of unreasonable stunt from the position of an elder sister.
What else could one expect? That was simply what sisters did—push their younger siblings and love them for it.
"Oh, Garf, your face got a little nicer! I'm gonna praise you for that."
"Sure, sure."
"Proud of Mimi? Fallen for me? Fallen for me?"
"Haven't fallen."
"Oh well. But Mimi has fallen. Rest assured!"
"…Yeah, thanks."
Mimi fell into step beside him with enough enthusiasm that she nearly lunged. Garfiel patted her head, which was at just the right height, and her tail sprang straight up, swaying happily from side to side.
He had not reached some grand resolution with respect to Mimi's earlier attitude or the outcome of that life-risking act.
His understanding and Mimi's understanding were not the same thing. What had come through was simply that Mimi had already found her own answer—clearly, from her words.
As for Garfiel—the lingering questions born of the ripples in the water gate city, the things he still needed to resolve—nothing had been neatly settled.
But it felt as though a light had appeared.
A light to illuminate the path toward the answer he needed to give.
"Here we are at the eatery~! Garf! Mimi is peck-peck-peck-peck-pecking with hunger!"
"That's what I mean—don't go throwing yourself around when your wounds haven't healed."
He followed Mimi inside with a look of exasperation as she charged into the dining area.
The space was not especially large, and it was currently packed with all the people involved in the reconstruction. Being right at lunchtime, finding even an empty seat was a chore.
"Garf! Over here! This spot is open! Shared table's fine, right!"
"Shared table—ah, sure, why not. Got it."
True to form, Mimi's decisive action had already secured two seats for them.
He headed to the back of the shop, where half of a four-person booth was empty. Mimi hopped up into a seat, tail wagging, and Garfiel arrived at his seat across from her. He was about to warn the customer on the other side of the booth that things were about to get noisy— "Oh."
"This is a fortuitous meeting, Garfiel-dono."
Seated in the opposite booth was a white-haired old man—Garfiel found himself face to face with Wilhelm.
Meeting the old swordsman's quiet gaze, Garfiel drew a faint breath.
The regrets that Garfiel Tinsel carried while remaining in the water gate city.
Here, the second of those was meeting a person who was not unrelated to the solution at all.