𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟔𝟓
“Amane…san…?”
Led by Eugene, who had put on his mask again, Mabel visited a warehouse in a corner of the harbor and stood there in astonishment.
“Mabel, are you alright?”
There sat Amane, smiling brightly.
He had taken off his jacket, revealing white bandages wrapped around his tanned shoulders and sides. Mabel’s legs gave way, and she knelt down, gently touching Amane’s body with her palm.
Feeling his warm body temperature and the firm muscles, Mabel’s eyes welled up with tears.
“You’re alive…”
“You’re quite forward. Have you finally realized that I’m the better choice?”
“N-No! But I’m just relieved that you’re safe…”
Unable to hold back any longer, Mabel laughed and cried at the same time, and Amane calmly narrowed his eyes. Affectionately, he reached out his hand to wipe away Mabel’s tears―but halfway through, Eugene grabbed his wrist.
“I haven’t given you permission to do that.”
“This guy…”
Unaware of the sparks flying between the two, Mabel wiped away her overflowing tears and raised her face again.
“After falling into the sea, how on earth did you survive?”
“Oh, well―”
“I helped him.”
Sensing someone standing up from the back, Mabel widened her eyes once again.
With red hair and a red mask, Row, holding a cigarette, walked towards them with a smile.
“Row-san? Why are you here?”
“Well, I guess it’s my way of thanking my spineless childhood friend for giving me a wake-up call.”
Glancing briefly at the somewhat displeased Eugene, Row exhaled white smoke. Seeing Mabel’s puzzled expression, not understanding what was going on, Amane came to her rescue.
“He helped me with magic.”
“Magic…from Row-san?”
“Yeah. Ah, I haven’t properly shown it to you yet.”
Saying that, Row gently extended his finger toward the remnants of the white smoke he had exhaled earlier. The smoke disappeared as if being sucked into Row’s hand.
“Archetype: Trickster. My specialty is creating illusions.”
Row opened his hand, and white flowers fluttered out.
It resembled the magic Mabel had seen in the palace performance, but there were no seeds or tricks involved. Amused by Mabel’s bewildered expression, Row took another puff on his cigarette.
“Just before he fell into the sea, I created a fake body. All that was left was to switch it when it disappeared from sight.”
Indeed, what Mabel saw was Amane after he fell into the sea, but she couldn’t clearly confirm it. The body she thought had sunk into the water was actually a product of Row’s magic.
“I-I see…”
“Yeah. It’s truly an amazing technique.”
Seeing Amane’s cheerful laughter, Mabel smiled slightly, somewhat exasperated.
But then, as Row muttered while exhaling purple smoke. . .
“Your brothers undoubtedly think you’re dead. However, explaining the situation to them won’t end well.”
“Yeah…”
Amane fell silent, deep in thought. But as he slowly raised his face, he declared with a determined gaze.
“I won’t go back to Kytha anymore.”
Amane’s expression was clear and bright as if a burden had been lifted. Seeing this, Row and Mabel were initially surprised, but soon they smiled happily.
Eventually, the light streaming in through the doors and windows grew brighter.
Eugene, who had depleted his magical power, and Amane and Row both seemed to want to hide in this warehouse for a while. However, the timing of their departure would be crucial.
Mabel decided to secretly go outside to gather information. As she did, she noticed a commotion in a corner of a distant warehouse.
“I wonder what happened?”
Approaching, she saw that among the row of warehouses, the one at the far end was partially destroyed. In the scene, the cause, a black iron ball, laid stationary.. Mabel felt like she was about to scream.
“I heard a loud noise in the early morning, and this is it. There was even a small fire.”
‘Oh, that’s right!’
Mabel, who knew the cause, turned pale.
Furthermore, the items stored inside were in a terrible state. Due to the impact of the arrows, there were only charred remains before her eyes.
As Mabel managed to see what was barely left, she was even more speechless.
“Could it be that these are…the ones planned to be used for today’s festival?”
They were artificial flowers made of paper. They were soon to be distributed throughout the town to decorate the festival.
However, most of them had been burned, and there were only a few intact ones left.
“This is a problem. Looks like we’ll have to do the festival without flowers this year.”
“But how can the Flower Festival be a Flower Festival without flowers!”
Ideally, it would be appropriate to have Kairi and his accomplices take responsibility and fix it. However, with their current condition, it was uncertain if that was possible. On the other hand, the festival was starting in a few hours.
‘What should I do? I have to do something!’
“Please wait a moment,” Mabel said, as she hurriedly returned to the warehouse.
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