He remembered it quite clearly—his classmate had complained about it for ages back then.
But what had this loli just said?
Little Garden was completely destroyed?
How could that be? By logic, Little Garden's protagonists fought for the rise of their community—the very main stage itself being destroyed would mean the main plot was gone. How could such a place be wiped out? It didn't make sense.
"Mm, but that's the truth," she said. "We fell straight into their trap. All solar sovereignties lost. In the end I returned to the core of Little Garden, took what remained, and left that ruined world with the last legacy."
Their home destroyed, everything loved turned to smoke.
The White Night King was far less indifferent than she appeared; even after so long, her resentment hadn't faded.
"So you—are the only spark I managed to carry out of Little Garden," she said. "It wasn't that I chose you. There was only you to choose."
"I see."
Haramura Makoto nodded again—his greatest doubts were finally settling.
"Then my second question," he said. "Why did it take so long for you to appear in this world? If you had the power to save me when I fell from that cliff, that means your strength had recovered by then, right? Also, if the ring is the medium, why did Shokuhou hand it to me instead of it being on my finger all along?"
"Heh—sharp with the essentials, aren't you?"
She let out a curious little chuckle, folding her fan in rhythm as she gave him a smiling once-over.
"Call it luck," she said. "At the brink between life and death, my power finally recovered a little—enough to pull you out of danger. Otherwise, much as I disliked it, I would have been forced to choose someone else."
The playfulness left her face; she snorted softly.
"As for why I didn't manifest after we arrived here—this world has some very formidable beings," she said. "At the instant of entry, if I hadn't used Little Garden's core to veil you, we'd have taken a crushing blow the moment we crossed over. Because of that, my strength fell back into weakness again."
"And separating from you? That was a mess of coincidences."
She snapped the fan shut and lightly tapped its tip against the table.
"Didn't it ever occur to you?" she asked. "All those 'chance encounters' with that little one, Shokuhou Misaki, in such a short stretch of time—did you really think that was all coincidence? Fate?"
Clarity struck him like thunder.
He had suspected it before—so had Shokuhou—because the chain of coincidences had been too eerie. In just a month, they'd bumped into each other fifteen times—once every two days on average.
"So that was you?"
"Of course," she huffed, rolling her eyes. "With lesser layers of time and fate, I can manipulate destiny lines as I please. But in this world it's maddening—so as not to draw their attention, I could only nudge things a little at a time, carefully."
Then her sternness dissolved; a self-satisfied smile returned.
"But don't worry. With this latest slumber, I've restored more of my strength," she said. "I still can't clash head-on with those entities—not yet. But keeping their gaze off you? That much is no problem."
"White Night King—" Makoto cut across her growing smile. "Are those beings really as strong as you say?"
He didn't know exactly who she meant—but the wariness in her eyes made the question unavoidable.
"Mm… how to put it," she murmured, thinking a moment. "Do you remember Little Garden's power hierarchy?"
"Vaguely," he said, shaking his head. "Not clearly."
How could he remember the details? Remembering what she looked like was a miracle in itself.
"Fine. I'll keep it simple," she said, scratching her head. "Seven-digit… six-digit… five-digit… four-digit… three-digit—think of three-digit as the apex of a single universe. If they unleash their full power, they can destroy a universe. They can also rewrite a universe at will."
"Because once you reach three-digit, you've grasped Authority."
"Two-digit…"
"The beings I'm talking about here—in a sense, treat them as three-digit," she said. "And in certain domains, they've brushed two-digit power."
"That's why I said we can't run wild in this world."
She fell quiet then, sipping tea while he digested it.
"I get it," he said at last. "That leaves me with one last question."
He cleared his throat.
"You want something done, don't you?" he asked. "Otherwise you wouldn't have invested this much into me."
Her hand froze, cup halfway to her lips. The pause lasted only a heartbeat before she set it down and met his eyes, bright and unwavering.
(As expected—choosing him was right. That woman's judgment was on point.)
Her lips curled into a smile, eyes narrowing with satisfaction as she spoke lightly:
"Of course I'm not spending all this effort for nothing."
"Given your pace of deduction—and since you know I escaped with a ruined Little Garden—you should already have guessed."
Her tone was light, but a blade's edge slid beneath it.
"To rebuild Little Garden," she said.
"There's only that one goal."