Chapter 98
Having finished straightening even his clothes, Hyacen spoke to Name in an utterly serious tone.
“Estasha... Honestly, I wish you wouldn’t come to see us ever again.”
Name couldn’t understand what he meant. She decided to hear him out first.
“...Why?”
“You always come here only when you’re backed into a corner... You said you’d finished everything you wanted to do. What on earth are you trying to do now?”
What was he talking about? It was the same worry Hyacen had always recited like a cuckoo.
However, Hyacen’s eyes looked so sad that she swallowed the words she had been about to use to brush him off.
“That’s not why I came today.”
“Then why?”
Name watched the friends on the hill eating desserts from the Kaizen Empire that Niobe was handing them.
“I’m not having a particularly hard time. I eat well and sleep well. I have lots of cute friends, even if they’re a bit high-maintenance. I just... lately, I really wanted to see you guys again.”
“We aren’t real. Don’t let yourself remain tied to the past.”
“I know... I know... But what am I supposed to do when I keep thinking about you?”
Name knew that, too.
Alchemist was nothing but an illusion from beginning to end.
At first, one could enter their memories and briefly experience the happiness they had once felt, but the emptiness that followed upon realizing they had to return to reality was unavoidable.
Moreover, the more the people manifested by Alchemist became aware of their own circumstances, the lower their manifestation rate became, until they were fated never to meet again.
Thirteen-year-old Hyacen knew this, but ten-year-old Niobe did not.
In this precariously maintained false world, Hyacen sincerely worried about his half-sister.
“I came today to cheer up our friends, anyway, so don’t worry.”
“I can really believe you?”
“The kids must have heard me casting Raul-Sist in my sleep. I felt bad for worrying them, so I showed them this so they could have a fun experience.”
Name couldn’t allow the pajama party she had hosted to go to waste because of her own mistake.
Since the conversation had already drifted in this direction, Name decided to bring up the story of her new life.
“Oh, right. You know the world I live in now? Does magic cost money there?”
“...? What do you mean, magic costs money?”
“I live in a world where mana is taxed. Isn’t that amazing? So even if I want to drop by often, I won’t be able to.”
Name smacked Hyacen on the back a couple of times to lift the sagging mood.
“I’m struggling just to pay off my debts, but I came to see you without thinking about the consequences, so you’d better be grateful.”
She had already used Alchemist even though she still had to pay off the cost of the Akashic Records.
As long as Professor Cheon was there to pay any amount of money immediately, the financial constraint of controlling Name was practically nonexistent.
“Esha, you still haven’t gotten over your habit of spending money recklessly!”
“I’ll never get over it anyway. I should think about earning as much as I spend, not about saving.”
Having learned through the experiences of several lives that nothing ultimately remained even if she saved money, Name could be said to have a serious spending problem.
Back at the picnic spot, Yuna and Haru had their heads together with Niobe, whispering among themselves.
Niobe’s shoulders were bouncing as if she were having a great deal of fun.
Usually, that was a telltale sign that she was preparing some mischievous prank.
Wanting to find out what they were talking about, Name quietly approached on tiptoe.
“Hee-hee. Want me to tell you for real? What color panties Esha likes best?”
“Niobe, do you want to get hit? What are you telling the kids while I’m gone?”
“Eeeeeek! E... Esha? When did you get here...?”
* * *
Niobe, who had received a bonk on the head from Name, made a snipping sound in the air with a pair of scissors.
Perhaps one side of her head was still throbbing, because she kept rubbing the spot she had been hit several times.
“Drumroll, drumroll! All right, then, let’s begin!”
As an apology, Niobe decided to cut Name’s unruly hair for her.
Name’s vehement objections were irrelevant.
“Esha really hates having anyone touch her hair carelessly. There are a few procedures. You two should memorize them, too!”
Name let out a faint, silly laugh and gently closed her eyes as she watched Niobe put on a show in front of the children.
Yuna’s eyes, in particular, grew intensely serious. Name had always hated anyone touching her hair to an extreme degree, no matter what.
From what they heard, she never went to a hair salon and even cut her own hair.
Claiming she had a method for everything, Niobe sat Name on a folding chair and wrapped a white silk cloth around her neck.
“First, you hug her from behind like this!”
“Hug her?”
“Yeah. Give her a big squeeze! Esha isn’t ticklish around her neck, so it’s okay to hug her like this.”
Hooking the scissors around her pinky, Niobe wrapped both arms around Name’s body.
The tension in her shoulders seemed to ease a little.
“How is it, Esha?”
“It’s a little hard to breathe...”
“You all heard that, right? You have to hug her this tightly.”
The arms that had been squeezing Name for so long that it felt like two minutes had already passed slowly loosened and fell away.
This time, Niobe parted Name’s hair, grabbed her shoulders, and began kneading them.
“You have to massage her shoulders thoroughly, too, or Esha will get startled later!”
It was hard to imagine that kneading her with those tiny little hands could possibly help, but judging by her expression, she was more enthusiastic than anyone.
“Are we done now?”
Haru asked.
“No! There’s still one thing left, you know? Why don’t you two try making your hands into pincers like this?”
Niobe demonstrated first.
Keeping her hands in that shape, she pinched and rubbed Name’s earlobes, which showed through her hair.
“Tickle, tickle—Now you try. Tickle, tickle—”
Unsure whether it was really okay to do this, they tentatively touched her with their fingertips, and Name’s two ears kept twitching.
“They’re so soft...”
“They are.”
“You have to be careful not to let air get into her ears! They’re incredibly sensitive.”
Her earlobes, teased by the girls, turned slightly red and remained warm.
But the girl’s expression remained perfectly calm with her eyes closed.
“Once you’re done, you just ask for permission. Esha, can we cut your hair now?”
“Mm-hmm...”
“Then it worked! Big Brother, come help!”
“Why am I always the one who has to do the cutting?”
“I’m bad at cutting it, hehe.”
Hyacen took the scissors from Niobe.
Snip, snip—
Hyacen slowly began trimming Name’s hair so she wouldn’t be startled.
With the sound of the scissors crossing, the strands that had grown crookedly and haphazardly gradually returned to their proper places.
Pitch-black hair came raining down onto the grass.
“Will you two brush it for her?”
Yuna and Haru brushed from either side, tidying up the stray hairs left on her head.
“All done. You can open your eyes now.”
At the gentle voice, Name softly opened her eyes.
Beside her, Yuna and Haru were gazing at her with shining eyes.
“How is it? Does it look okay?”
There was no mirror, so she couldn’t check her own appearance.
Name asked the girls in an uncertain voice.
“Yeah! Name, you look super pretty!”
“You’re not going to cut it any shorter? It still looks long.”
“No. If I cut off too much, I won’t be able to come again next time.”
Hoping that someday, another day would come when they could meet again.
Name kept running her hands through her hair for a long while, as if she liked how it felt.
* * *
Name said goodbye to them.
There was still some time left before Alchemist would end, but she wanted to give Yuna and Haru a chance now, too.
“It’s your turn now. Do you want to go first, Yuna?”
“Me? Uh... What am I supposed to do?”
“Just think of the happiest moment of your life. Then we’ll move.”
“Huh? I don’t know...!”
[Recursive Cast: Alchemist]
* * *
A familiar scene spread out before her eyes.
Sephiron Academy, Class 2-A.
Yuna was utterly flustered by the unexpected situation.
The date March 28 was written in the upper-right corner of the blackboard.
It was easy to tell that it was a date from this week.
“Why are you just standing there instead of coming over quickly to play gonggi?”
The children seated at the back of the classroom shouted at the top of their lungs.
They were speaking to the three girls.
Yuna buried her face in Name’s back, shrinking into herself as she spoke in a small, embarrassed voice.
“I’m okay if I don’t watch anymore...! Pass it to Haru.”
“Ooh... Did you have fun playing gonggi? I’m glad I taught you.”
“Yeah... Because we can all play together...”
Perhaps Yuna was updating her happiest moment day by day.
Yuna must have been terribly embarrassed, because Name tousled her hair vigorously.
“Haru, are you ready?”
“Huh? Yeah...”
It was Haru’s turn at last.
It was difficult to predict what scene Alchemist would show them.
The moment the unconscious mind chose as the happiest might differ from what it currently considered it.
Haru squeezed her eyes shut and kept praying.
Please let it be a moment when her mother was still alive.
There were so many words she had never managed to say, including “I love you.”