[107] Back to Everyday Life (2)
From Shirone's perspective, not much time had passed. After entering the Immortal Function he'd met a woman and then come back through a black hole. But in the real world ten days had already gone by.
Shirone forced an awkward smile and raised a hand.
"Heh. Hi?"
"Don't say 'hi' like that, you bastard!"
"Oof!"
Amy jabbed her fist into Shirone's face. There was no real force behind it, but he was shoved onto the bed and turned with a pained expression.
"Ow! Why'd you do that all of a sudden?"
Amy's eyes brimmed with tears like little beads.
"You jerk—making me worry like that… you bad kid!"
Shirone stared blankly. Everything was so sudden and embarrassing. Then he realized something and let a warm smile spread across his face. Amy's tears said everything about what had happened while he was gone.
"I'm sorry. It's because of me…"
"Shirone's back!"
Nade and Iruki shoved Amy aside and buried Shirone under a pile on the bed. Amy, who'd accidentally ended up in his arms, shouted with a flushed face.
"Kyaa! Hey, get off me!"
"Aah! It hurts! It hurts!"
Shirone gave a theatrical cry of pain. It wasn't pain that had him yelling so much as embarrassment. If this kept up he thought he wouldn't be able to look Amy in the eye later, so he twisted his body hard and his friends tumbled to the floor.
"Phew, what the hell was that?"
Sitting on the bed, Shirone looked like a refugee from a bombing. On the floor, the fallen Amy rubbed her sore back and scolded Nade and Iruki.
"Quite the extravagant welcome. Youth really is something."
Shirone glanced at Alpheas and straightened his expression. The very fact Alpheas was here told him how serious things had been.
Shirone asked Nade the question he was most curious about.
"What happened to Arkein? The others? What on earth went on?"
Nade, still being scolded by Amy, yelled in disbelief.
"That's not the point right now! You were dead for a full ten days, you idiot!"
"What? Ten days? I was dead that long?"
"Of course you were! How can you be alive if your heart didn't beat? Explain what the hell happened."
Shirone was too stunned to speak for a moment. He had to tell them what he'd experienced, but he didn't know where to start.
The infirmary door opened and the teachers came in. Shiina's face registered shock at seeing Shirone awake. She had prayed desperately for his return, but seeing it with her own eyes was overwhelming.
Although she hadn't attained Infinity like Shirone, she had a rough sense of how terrifying and agonizing it would be for someone to have their mind dissolve and then be reconstituted.
"You made it back. Thank the gods."
Shiina smiled and glanced at Etella. Etella had been tormented by guilt for ten days. As expected, she approached Shirone with tears in her eyes.
"Shirone—"
"Teacher, I'm sorry. It's my fault—"
Etella didn't even let Shirone finish before pulling him into her chest.
"I'm sorry. It's my fault. If I'd paid more attention… this would never have happened."
From the friends' point of view it was a touching embrace between priest and student, but for Shirone it was torture. Etella hugged him so tightly he could hardly breathe. Beyond the embarrassment, he actually felt like he might suffocate.
"Um, teacher…."
"Yes?"
"Sorry, but… can you let go? Save me, please."
"Goodness!"
When a nasal little plea escaped Shirone, Etella hurriedly released him.
"I'm sorry. I was just so happy I didn't realize—"
Shirone drew a deep breath with a pale face. But even this feeling was of the present world. He was simply glad to be back, and he smiled.
"Now it finally feels real."
When his friends' faces fell at that, Shirone hastily waved his hands.
"No, that's not what I meant. I mean—this isn't about that…"
"You punk, what are you on about?"
Amy ran over and pinched Shirone's cheek.
"What? Don't act like I don't feel real! Huh?"
"No! That's not what I meant!"
Nade and Iruki burst out laughing. Alpheas watched Shirone reunite with his friends with a satisfied look, then quietly slipped out of the infirmary. From here on, he would be the busiest.
"Principal."
When Shirone turned, Alpheas had closed the infirmary door and was walking over.
"What is it? You should rest and stabilize for a while. Talk through the events with your friends. The school will likely be closed temporarily while the matter is sorted."
"Yes, thank you for your concern. But… I have one question."
"Hmm? A question?"
Shirone recounted everything he'd experienced, from entering the realm of Infinity to returning to the original world through a black hole.
At first Alpheas listened with interest. But as the story went on his expression gradually hardened. When Shirone explained the woman's ability, Alpheas closed his eyes and sighed.
"Did she say she knew you?"
"Yes. She asked me to send her regards to you, Principal. It was a vague memory, but that's what I heard."
Shirone wondered if he'd said something he shouldn't have. Alpheas's face looked much worse than he'd expected.
"I think I know who she is."
"Really? You know her?"
Shirone's eyes widened. Alpheas was certainly an outstanding mage, but the woman had been something beyond life. That both she and someone from another world had met him seemed strange.
But Alpheas saw it differently: not coincidence, but inevitability. Shirone meeting her had been set in motion the moment he accessed the Immortal Function.
"Who is she, exactly?"
"Adrias Miro. Back then she was called the Labyrinth of Space-Time. She was my student who majored in scale magic."
Shirone stared. He had never imagined she'd been Alpheas's student. He was even more stunned to learn that the power he had thought divine had actually been magic.
"What is scale magic?"
Alpheas scratched his brow as he chose his words.
"Shirone. In the magical community, those who reach the Immortal Function are called unlockers."
"Yes. I've heard that."
"Then this will be easy to explain. Miro is also an unlocker. From childhood she had relentless curiosity. She dug deeper and deeper—into worlds larger than the universe and into worlds smaller than particles. Scale magic is power that only those who realize the infinity of space-time can wield."
Shirone recalled meeting Miro. Her signature glass beads had indeed expressed the relativity of space-time freely.
"Miro said she'd been watching me for a long time. Is that even possible?"
"You needn't worry. Miro exists in a different dimension from you. But when you open the Immortal Function you can, in an instant, reach the same dimension. Miro was probably waiting for that moment."
"Then why me? Unlockers are rare, but Arkein said they aren't so few. There must be many unlockers far more capable than I am."
Alpheas stroked his beard and hesitated. What he was about to say was a closely held secret known only to teachers with over twenty years' service.
"Miro is the founding president of the Paranormal Psychoscience Research Association."
Shirone pictured Miro's face. It surprised him that she'd founded the research group he now belonged to, and if she was the founding president, she was a figure from nearly twenty years ago—yet age hadn't seemed to touch her.
"Miro wasn't fixated on phenomena. She saw how much lay beyond knowledge's grasp. She and her peers set up the research association at Istas. Michea Gaold, who is now the head of the Tormia Magic Association, was one of the early members."
Shirone imagined those original members. Nade had said the master key to the magic repository Istas had been created by a servant-class ability user like Iruki. It wouldn't be Miro, and probably not Gaold either. He had a rough sense of how talented those early members must have been.
While Shirone was lost in thought, Alpheas recalled events from eighteen years ago. Miro had been a kind child—if not for that incident. He suddenly realized he'd left something out and turned back to Shirone.
"Shirone, do you know how many students the school has?"
Alpheas didn't seem to be asking merely for an answer; he went on without waiting.
"Of course the total fluctuates. People graduate, take leaves, get disciplined. But whatever the number, there's always been one person missing from this school."
Alpheas turned his head to the window as he spoke.
"Miro never graduated. She's still here."
Shirone swallowed. It felt like hearing one of those ghost stories that float around schools. But what did it mean that she was still here? Hadn't Alpheas said she lived in another dimension?
At that moment Shirone's mind turned to scale magic.
"Could it be…?"
Alpheas nodded.
"Yes. Miro is in Istas. Of course it's a higher dimension made by scale magic. Those in the know call it the Upper Layer."
Alpheas put a hand on Shirone's shoulder.
"Shirone, promise me. Don't tell anyone about today. The Upper Layer is not something you should meddle in. Under no circumstances should you get involved with the Upper Layer. It could throw the world into chaos."
Shirone hesitated to answer. Unknown worlds, unlockers, scale magic—every new piece of information shook him. He had no intention of recklessly stepping into danger, but to promise never to get involved at all would, in some way, be a lie.
Alpheas sighed as if he'd expected that.
"If you really want to learn about Miro, I'll allow you to investigate the Kergo ruins. I'm not offering it to placate you. Diving straight into the Upper Layer is far too dangerous. So at least promise me you'll stick to this."
Only then did Shirone nod. If Alpheas was forbidding it so strictly there had to be a reason. He also wanted to approach matters carefully.
"Alright. But just thinking she's in Istas gives me the creeps. I don't think anyone in the research group will sleep. She could pop up suddenly, you know."
"Don't worry. Miro will never leave the space she created."
Shirone tilted his head. To be that certain suggested he even had proof.
"But she's such an extraordinary person—was there a special reason?"
Alpheas looked out the window with a sad expression. It wasn't something he said with certainty. He knew, however, that Miro would never come back.
"To Miro, this world… is unbearably painful."
* * *
Alpheas, Canis, and Arin left for the capital Vashka to answer the Magic Association's inquiries. According to the teachers, the school would remain closed until the Association made its decision.
Shirone stayed in the infirmary. The medical staff decided to observe him since his heart hadn't beaten for ten days. Shirone didn't want to do anything for a while either, so he spent time with his friends killing the hours.
"Shirone, I'm sorry. You must've been so hurt."
Seriel said with a tearful face. What she regretted most after recovering her memories was how coldly she had pushed him away the day he'd bought coffee.
"No, it was the magic's fault. You didn't do anything wrong, Seriel-senpai."
"How could you forget me, though?"
"It's really okay. Don't take it to heart."
Seriel's eyes softened like a fawn's.
"Shirone, you're really kind. So what are you going to do now? Demand my body?"
"Huh?"