It's pitch black. When I look behind me, the light coming from Atyura and the rest of the classmates appears no bigger than a poppy seed. But I can't see anything ahead. Even if a sheer cliff were just one step in front of me, I wouldn’t notice it.

I stretch my hands forward and proceed cautiously.

My presence detection can’t pick up Riona. If she seriously intended to hide, I probably wouldn’t be able to find her.

But Riona should already know where I am.

“It’s wide…”

I had long since passed the point where I could hear Atyura and the others’ voices.

Still, the end of the chamber didn’t come into view. Occasionally, I touch what feels like a stone wall, but as I rub my hands along it, I realize it’s just a stone pillar.

Looking back, I could barely even see the light anymore.

Any further and I might not be able to return. Was Riona even really coming this way? Could I have passed her at some point?

“Damn it, if you're there, at least say something.”

I pointlessly reach my hand behind me from time to time, but I don’t touch anything.

Eventually, even the light behind me disappears. What the hell is this dungeon? Just when I thought I’d reached the deepest level, now there’s this endless expanse.

If Riona went back to the others first, I’ll punch her as soon as I find her. And maybe throw in a hit to Ilga too while I’m at it.

Growing more irritated, I stomp forward loudly.

“Careful there.”

At last, Riona’s voice rang out.

From the left side.

“There’s a wall.”

“...A wall?”

I stretch both hands forward. There really was a wall. A cut stone wall. Cold to the touch. It wasn’t a pillar—it was a wall. Undoubtedly the edge of the dungeon.

Well, I don’t know how far it extends left and right, though.

If I’d kept stomping like that, I would’ve smacked my nose right into it.

“…”
“…”

Even though her voice was close, I still couldn’t sense her presence.

In a sulky tone, Riona murmured,

“...I didn’t want you to follow me.”

“Figured as much.”

This time, her voice came from the right side.

“But you kept following me from behind… creeping along... You're too cute.”

“So you were ahead of me?”

I leaned back against the wall and sat down.

But even as I waited, Riona didn’t come to sit beside me.

“If this wall hadn’t been here, I was going to just keep walking forever...”

“You’d get hungry like that.”

“I don’t think I can go anywhere anymore.”

“Just go back to school. Everyone's waiting for you.”

Silence fell.

The quiet lasted so long, I began to worry. If she started walking in another direction again, I’d never be able to catch her this time.

I pushed my back off the wall.

“Riona?”

“...I'm still here.”

Still? Don’t say it like you’re planning to not be, eventually.

“I wasn’t really Riona. Not even human. I think I was probably something like that defective dragon.”

“Hmph. I don’t give a damn about your 'form' as a person. No matter what your true nature is, I won’t change. And I’m sure they won’t either.”

“Yeah, I know. Everyone’s so kind. They even accepted someone as suspicious as me from the Republic.”

“Then come back—”

Suddenly, a hand reached out and covered my mouth.

Only when she was this close could I feel Riona’s breath.

“But I don’t want to go back. After fighting that homunculus before, and seeing Atyura today, I realized a lot of things. No… truthfully, I think I suspected it since the time I was hurt badly by the scary adults at that facility.”

Riona’s lips touched my ear.

Then, trembling, she whispered with a breath-like voice—

――……。

“――!?”

When I heard those words, the beast within me awakened, steeped in pitch-black emotion.

Before I knew it, I was clutching my own hair with both hands, roaring from the bottom of my gut with a fury and sorrow I could no longer contain.

My immature vocal cords burst forth with a deafening cry that made the very air tremble, and the taste of iron filled my mouth.

Even so, I screamed again and again. If I didn’t, something inside me felt like it would explode.

Eventually, my voice gave out.

I slumped against the wall, drained.

Tears flowed from both my eyes.

In front of me, Riona, who had been kneeling, slowly straightened her legs.

“So it’s okay now. Thank you, for always crying for me.”

I grabbed the front of Riona’s uniform with both hands.

I can’t let go. She’s really planning to vanish this time. If I lose sight of her again, I’ll never see her again. I know it.

“El-tan, let go. My uniform’s gonna come off. Or maybe I should just take it off myself.”

“Don’t strip, idiot! It’s dark anyway—I can’t see anything!”

“Oh, right—kya!”

While she was spouting nonsense, I forcefully pulled her down and held her tightly against my chest.

“El-tan…?”

“I cry all the time because you guys never do!! Why won’t you even ask for help?! Am I that unreliable, being a kid!? You damn fool! Then at least let out your weakness! I’ll chew it up and crush it! So—”

“...ngh...”

“...So please… at least try to become happy…”

Sitting down, I hugged Riona’s head as hard as I could. Strongly, tightly.

From her throat came a faint, air-leaking sound. Her small shoulders trembled, and then my uniform chest became damp.

“Leave everything here with me.”

Right after I said that, Riona’s anguished sob echoed through the space.

“...Ugh... Ah, ahhhhh… Why… why is it always just me… always like this… waaahhh…”

Unlike Atyura, who was loved by the Nereid and created to become human, the other homunculi had something fundamentally missing.

Homunculi possess abilities superior to most humans. If they banded together as a new species, they could easily bring down a nation.

That’s precisely why, to avoid being bitten by their own dogs, the Magi alchemists imposed limitations on their bodies.

So they could never create a future.

...This is that kind of story.