“Heh. So you’re traveling together now, huh? That’s great, Ziel-senpai. Now you won’t have to worry about getting lost anymore.”

“Seriously.”

The three of them walked through the mansion.

The engawa of the dojo mansion. A hallway where the darkened sky could be glimpsed, moving slowly as the sounds of spring insects filled the air.

The trees and stones in the garden said nothing. The light spilling from behind the shoji screens of the mansion, and the distant murmur of the town beyond the hedge, all seemed to be slowly sinking into the quiet of the night.

“Kla-ha, right? If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I’ve been here a long time.”

“Thank you. I appreciate it.”

At Icca’s words, Klaha promptly bowed her head.

But Icca, eyes widening in surprise, slowly looked up at Ziel beside him.

“...Wait. Ziel-senpai’s disciple is actually a decent person?”

“What the hell do you think I am?”

“A weirdo.”

“You little—” Ziel grabbed Icca’s head, but Icca, caught in his grip, just laughed, exclaiming, “Violence! Violence!” with a grin.

“Well, you probably won’t have much to remember. This weirdo over here didn’t remember anything at all.”

Icca turned to Klaha to explain.

“This side is basically the reception rooms, right? And where we’re heading now is the guest quarters. The other side is the training hall. The smaller rooms belong to Sensei and us, so you probably don’t need to go in. Oh, Ziel-senpai, are you going to join the training?”

“Hmm… still thinking about it. I do plan on borrowing the training hall, though.”

“Sweet. I’ll get you to spar with me.”

“If I have time. Oh, before I forget. That’s the general layout, but does that work for you, Klaha?”

“Yes. As long as it’s not a problem for Ziel-san.”

They reached a corner.

There, Icca, as if wanting Klaha to remember, pointed out,

“Okay, the tied side is left, so… turn right here. If you go left, you’ll end up at the warehouse.”

“Understood. Right here, then.”

“Yep, yep. And coming from over there is Chikano-senpai. If you ever have trouble, just throw it at her.”

“’Sup, nice work today~”

“Good evening. …Wait, that was Chikano-san? Huh?”

The way she appeared was so utterly smooth that Klaha, even after they passed her, instinctively turned back to double-check.

Ziel, looking exasperated, also turned and called out, “Chikano.”

At that, she responded, “Hold on a sec,” and simply walked away. A short while later, she returned.

“Sorry, sorry. A bit busy with shift changes. So, um, you are…?”

“Ah, yes. Nice to meet you. My name is Klaha.”

“Oh, how polite. I’m Chikano. Looks like I already introduced myself, but I’m the daughter of that old man, Saminato, or whatever. If you need anything, feel free to ask.”

“Thank you very much. I look forward to working with you.”

“Same here. …And as for that one over there…”

Black hair. Same age as Ziel, twenty.

Not exactly tall, and though she spoke gently, there was a certain resilient core about her. She looked from Klaha to Ziel—

And then.

“Oh… a weakling?”

She said it with a beaming smile.

Klaha turned to Ziel in shock.

Ziel, as if restraining his anger, lowered his gaze slightly and pushed up his glasses.

Then he spoke.

“I’ll crush you.”

“Huh? Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that… ‘Thank you’? Oh no, don’t worry about it. I was just up on the watchtower and happened to see you getting attacked, and you were moving so ridiculously slow that I figured I’d help. Really, no need to thank me! Seriously!”

“Icca, if she takes over, the dojo will end in her generation.”

“It’s fine. She only acts like this when it’s you, Ziel-senpai.”

Ziel glanced at Klaha, who was watching with wide eyes, and offered her a reassuring look.

“Don’t worry too much. She’s just… like this.”

“Uh, um… I see…”

She probably could have asked, “Like what, exactly?”

But at that moment, all Klaha could say was just that.

“Klaha, do you know about their past?”

“Huh?”

“Chikano-senpai and Ziel-senpai’s.”

“Three years ago…”

Icca suddenly spoke as they walked.

Klaha shook her head honestly.

She had heard a little from Ziel about this place—

Their sword school was related to this martial arts house. Ziel had spent some time here before.

Saminato, the dojo master, was Ziel’s mentor to some extent. His daughter, Chikano, was supposedly as strong as Ziel back then.

“Those two are crazy, you know.”

Because she had initially shaken her head so sincerely, she now found herself unable to properly respond.

“Ziel-senpai came here three years ago, after slaying the dragon. You know about that, right?”

“Yes. I’ve heard the story, though not directly.”

“Actually, the ones who were supposed to slay the dragon were Saminato-sensei and Chikano-senpai.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah. They got bad intel at first. The dragon was reported near the coast, so they rushed there, but halfway, they learned it was actually in the opposite direction. They turned back, but by then—”

Icca shrugged dramatically.

“Valdfried-sensei and Ziel-senpai, who were just wandering around, had already taken care of it. So it worked out. But Chikano-senpai was probably bothered by that, so when Ziel-senpai first came here—well, not intentionally, he actually got lost and ended up here—”

“Right.”

Klaha accepted the “getting lost” part with just that one word. She had learned in these past weeks that, with Ziel, that was simply how things went.

“Chikano-senpai was like, ‘This kid killed a dragon? Let’s see if that’s true!’ and challenged him to a duel.”

“W-WHAT!?”

Klaha, shocked, pressed on. “What happened?”

Icca, pleased by her reaction, grinned.

“They fought for three days and three nights.”

“THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS!?”

“Chikano-senpai passed out first, Ziel-senpai tried to finish her off but collapsed from exhaustion, and Chikano-senpai woke up one second earlier.”

“That’s insane…”

“Right? And then, after beating the crap out of each other, they became best friends. Crazy, right?”

Klaha couldn’t say “yes” or “no.”

So she simply muttered,

“That’s… incredible…”

Later, in her room, Klaha pulled out a worn notebook.

Its title read:

“List of Failures.”

By the pale moonlight through the thin shoji screens, she wrote, filling every line.

Only the sound of her pen echoed in the night.

She wouldn’t sleep for a long time.

And lately, she had been dreaming the same dream.

A dream where the people she abandoned died miserable deaths.