"And so, a new seed was sown."
Woz turned a page, watching the airplanes depart from the island.
---------
This is the Tohsaka residence. The room Rin uses as her private quarters during her stay.
"Well, Sister, it's an early day tomorrow, so I'm going to bed now."
"Alright. Though we'll be seeing each other again soon 'over there'."
"Yeah."
Sakura smiled and nodded.
Rin's revelation that she was coming to Academy City was no joke. In fact, she had no intention of returning to the Clock Tower; she was heading straight to Academy City.
They both knew how long they would be staying in Fuyuki. Rin had planned her trip to coincide with the day Sakura was leaving.
They weren't on the same flight, but by tomorrow night, both Rin and Sakura would be sleeping in beds in Academy City.
"Hehe, I'm surprisingly excited. I can't wait to see what your 'boyfriend' is like."
"Haha... well, Shou-kun is busy, so I'm not sure if we'll be able to see him right away..."
"It's fine. You're living together now, right? Then as an older sister, I have to properly greet him."
"O-okay..."
Sakura had let it slip that she was living with Shou.
But she hadn't mentioned that they weren't living alone. While "share house" might sound good, the reality was a messy situation far from common sense.
Having missed her chance, Sakura had come this far without being able to tell her.
(I should have just been honest from the beginning...!)
A lie becomes harder to correct the longer it goes on. And there was no way to stop Rin, who was so intent on meeting him.
(Maybe I'll think of something good if I get some sleep...) "Well then, good night, Sister."
"Yeah, good night, Sakura."
With that, Sakura returned to her own room.
"Now then..."
Rin resumed her packing. She packed her clothes and checked her stock of jewels, which served as her magical catalysts.
"Hmm? What's this...?"
Rin picked up something that was rolling around in her jewel box.
"What could this be...?"
It was something Rin didn't recognize. It was shaped like a pocket watch, but it had no hands to tell the time. Instead, the numbers "2012" were inscribed on it.
"Who put this here...?"
Even as a prank, she couldn't think of anyone who would hide such a toy in her luggage.
"...Oh well."
Without thinking too deeply about it, Rin resumed her packing.
---------
"Ah, school starts tomorrow."
The bespectacled girl, Homura Akemi, sighed forlornly at her desk.
The fun summer had passed, and school was about to begin tomorrow. That fact weighed heavily on Homura's mind.
It wasn't just the simple sadness of the holiday ending but the anxiety of her life as a Butei beginning.
Homura had a certain talent. In addition to her abundant magical power, she could use a cheat-like magic, a "time-stopping spell," which was close to a rare skill.
But perhaps as a side effect, she couldn't use other magic properly. She could barely manage the bare essentials of physical enhancement and telepathy.
Furthermore, Homura was hopelessly bad at sports. She was no good at handling ordinary guns or swords, and her unarmed combat skills were nonexistent.
Because of this, her special ability was largely useless. Her personality was also ill-suited for conflict with others.
She had chosen this path because she was born with high magical power, but it had become a source of trouble. If it weren't for her best friend, Madoka Kaname, she might have dropped out this summer.
"Ugh, I'll just clean my gun..."
She took out a pistol from her device's storage space. She laid a cloth on her desk and began to disassemble it. The gun hadn't been fired in a month, so it wasn't very dirty. It was an act of escapism.
For Homura, who was bad at offensive magic, the pistol was a treasured weapon. Even though she always shot with a hunched back and closed her eyes in surprise at the muzzle flash, causing her to miss her target.
Inside Homura's room, something passed through the window that should have been closed. It was a yellow soul flame. At its center was a clock with the numbers "2007" engraved on it. It silently entered Homura's back.
"..."
Homura felt a presence and turned around, but by then, it was already inside her body.
Only sand fell from between her feet and clothes.
Slish, slish. It just fell.
---------
"Hmph!!"
Aiz's sword slash sent several people flying. She didn't actually cut them; it was more like a blow from the wind she was clad in, but they were slammed against a concrete wall and knocked unconscious in a single hit.
"Damn you!!"
A man next to her aimed a machine gun and sprayed bullets. But the wind surrounding Aiz sent every bullet flying in the wrong direction.
"Hah!!"
She swung her sword down from above. A gust of wind from top to bottom crushed the man to the ground.
"Hmph..."
"Alright, that's all of them."
At the voice of their leader, Riveria, Aiz's combat tension eased. At the same time, the wind surrounding her receded.
Loki Familia had received a request to hunt down the criminals who had increased due to the summer commotion and had been arresting them all over the island for days.
Aiz put her sword back in its sheath. Then Tiona came up and hugged Aiz from behind.
"Aiz~! You've been doing so well lately, haven't you?"
"Have I?"
"Yeah. Your magic accuracy seems to have improved."
"Thank you, you two."
Aiz's expression brightened at their praise.
That night, Aiz was in Loki's room, getting her status updated.
"Hoi, all done."
"Mm..."
Loki, who had been straddling her, got off Aiz.
To update her status, she had to expose her back. Aiz sat up, pulling down her shirt.
"Hmm, hmmm."
Loki hummed as she looked at the paper with Aiz's status written on it. When a status was updated, a new paper was generated, like a printer.
"Riveria told me you've been doing well lately."
"Yeah. Maybe so."
"Your stats have grown a lot, too. It's even showing up in the numbers."
"Really?"
Aiz couldn't read the characters on the paper. She didn't know how much the numbers had changed, but it was apparently true.
Loki was sensitive to the changes in her children. She was curious if there was a reason.
"Did you find some kind of trick?"
"Hmm?"
Aiz thought for a moment.
"Because I'm training?"
"Pfft, hahahaha! I guess so!"
"Yeah. I've been training a lot lately."
"Yup, yup. Well, I'll have you keep it up, then."
"Okay."
With that, Aiz left the room.
"Training, huh? Ahh, it's good to be young."
"When you say it, it sounds like it has a different meaning."
"What did you say?!"
Loki had intended it as a monologue, but Finn, who had entered the room as Aiz left, called her out.
The two sat facing each other.
"So, once again, we will--"
"Yeah, once again, if they ask for help, we'll lend a hand."
"Once again" referred to the JS incident that had happened a few years ago. At that time, Loki Familia had also cooperated with the Riot Force 6 to solve the incident.
"Understood. I will prepare so we can move at any time."
"Mm, I'll be counting on you~"
The topic shifted.
"And about the I-U matter..."
"Ah, you mean how it's virtually destroyed now that its leader is gone?"
"And the one who did it was Shou Yozuki."
"I'm surprised. I knew he had potential when I saw him fight Bete, but I didn't think he was capable of this."
"Hehehe~," Loki laughed cheerfully, but inwardly, she was thinking,
(Well, that kid, Shou Yozuki, seems to be related to that prophecy. It's more like he's finally making a name for himself...)
"Is something wrong?"
"...Yeah, I might as well tell you, Finn."
Loki told him about the prophecy. After hearing everything, Finn held his head.
"Sigh, you should have told me about these things sooner..."
"Hehehe~, well, well, don't worry about the small details--so, I'm counting on you for that as well."
"---Yes. Understood."
Finn's voice was firm as he responded to Loki, whose expression had instantly become serious.
Meanwhile, Aiz had returned to her room.
It was a simple room with few things. Since Aiz had no hobbies of collecting things, there were no useless trinkets.
Among the sparse items, one stood out.
"Since I picked this up, I've been feeling better."
It was a clock with "2005" written on it. A few days ago, she had noticed it lying on her floor just before heading out for a request.
She had thought she would throw it away when she returned, but when she got back, she decided to throw it away tomorrow... and before she knew it, it had a permanent spot on the shelf on her desk.
Aiz had indeed felt that her training was more effective than usual recently. But for others to see it and for it to even appear in her status numbers...
Actually, in the beginning, when Aiz first started to feel the effects, she had shown the clock to Riveria. She had wondered if it was a magical item.
Riveria's conclusion was that it was "just a toy." The clock had no special power.
"But it's actually having an effect."
Even if it had no special power, the human placebo effect should not be underestimated.
"I have to become stronger--"
If so, she had to make good use of it, even if it was just a toy.
"Tomorrow's a day off, so I'll train hard."
With that thought, Aiz turned off the lights and got into bed.
---------
"Ah, that's a relief."
"Yes. The hospital has a backup power supply. As long as the hospital isn't directly attacked, the patients in the ICU are safe."
Yuki sighed with relief at her doctor's words.
"You're panicking too much, Yuki!"
"But, but! It was really crazy outside!"
Yuki retorted indignantly to the voice coming from the speaker. The voice belonged to the person lying in front of her.
Separated by a transparent acrylic screen in a sterile room, the person lay on a bed, their head completely covered by a huge machine. Her body was so emaciated that one wouldn't be able to tell her gender if not for the fact that she was a woman.
This girl's name was Aiko Konno. She was Yuki's twin sister.
The entire Konno family—father, mother, Yuki, and Aiko—had all contracted a rare, incurable disease.
Their only hope was an experimental drug being developed in Academy City. They clung to that hope, and among the family, only Yuki had recovered enough to run around outside. Enough to compete in a martial arts tournament.
But the drug's effects weren't the same for everyone in the family.
Her father and mother had passed away without any effect, and her sister, Aiko, could only have her condition stabilized.
Since then, Aiko had been connected to a medical VR machine called a Medi-Cuboid and had been living there.
"Well, I'm going to head home now."
"Okay, see you later~"
Yuki said her goodbyes and left the hospital room. As soon as the door closed, the doctor opened his mouth.
"Konno-san, can I have a word?"
"Yes? What is it?"
What he said was enough to freeze the expression of Yuki, who usually seemed so nonchalant for her age.
"Wha-what do you mean by that...?"
"Of course, it doesn't mean something will happen today or tomorrow."
He was telling her that the medicine they were giving Aiko was becoming less effective.
"B-but! If it stays like this...!"
"Konno-san, calm down. I'll say it again, nothing is going to happen today or tomorrow."
"...Okay."
Yuki trusted this doctor, who had been taking care of them for years, even when her parents had passed away.
That was why she was able to calm down with just a few words. At least on the surface.
"You said you were going to be in a tournament, so I didn't want to tell you during that time."
"What? So..."
"The signs have been there since April of this year. But--"
Yuki's vision went dark.
(No... since April? I... I've been so ignorant all this time...)
"--san? Konno-san? Konno-san!"
"Y-yes!"
"Are you alright? Should we move to a quieter place?"
"N-no! I'm fine! I'm sorry, I'm going to go now!"
Yuki fled the hospital.
Ever since they had moved to this island for treatment, the two sisters had been helping each other to survive, taking the place of their parents.
She had been able to get by even after her parents died because her sister was there. They had encouraged each other. But her sister might be gone.
"What am I going to do, what am I going to do...!"
Yuki's heart was in an unprecedented state of chaos.
Before she knew it, Yuki had arrived at her dorm. A simple one-room student dorm.
"Hah..."
Yuki, feeling a little calmer, sighed and opened the door. It was a simple one-room, but it was filled with cute furniture and trinkets, befitting a girl her age.
Inside the room,
"Hello, you're back."
"?! W-who are you?!"
An unfamiliar man was sitting there.
She hadn't noticed his presence until she was face-to-face with him.
"Who are you? This is my room."
"Now, now, don't say that. You came here after hearing about your sister, didn't you?"
"W-how do you know that..."
A chill ran down Yuki's spine. She wasn't going to say that only she and the doctor knew, but there was no way a stranger should have known.
"That doesn't matter. You wouldn't understand even if I explained it. What's important is that I have a way to save your sister."
"...What is that? I can't believe you."
"That's understandable. But is that okay? To turn your back on my hand? She's your only family, isn't she?"
"..."
"Or are you going to wait for a convenient miracle or a hero?"
"I'm..."
Yuki's hand slowly reached out.
A clock with the numbers "2015" was placed in her hand.
---------
"With this incident, our Demon King's existence is now widely known, and our Demon King's power is advancing to the next stage. The story's curtain has fallen and will now rise again."
Woz closed the book.
"Please look forward to when the curtain rises once more."
With that, he vanished from the spot.
--------------------------------------------
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