No roosters crowed on the morning of the new day.
Esper noticed this the moment she tumbled down from the tree.
The stray cats by the roadside were gone, the chickens in the yards had vanished, and even the wild dogs that usually ran wild along the ridges of the fields had completely disappeared.
The air was hot.
Beneath the eastern sky, the orange-red halo had grown so large that one didn't even need to try to notice it.
Some villagers stood at their doorways, gazing toward the east with expressions of confusion, though not yet panic.
“Is it just me, or is this summer exceptionally hot?”
“Maybe some mountain in the distance caught fire.”
They didn't know yet.
Esper clenched her left hand. The rune beneath her palm was pulsing—steady, beat by beat.
She walked quickly toward the convent.
Before she even reached the iron gates, she saw her.
She wasn't standing inside the gates looking out; she had already come outside.
Eladia was jogging along the dirt road outside the convent, her feet bare and her sky-blue hair blowing in the hot wind.
This was the first time Esper had ever seen her move with such urgency.
And she was looking right in the direction Esper was coming from.
Her face was expressionless, but her hands were trembling.
“Ela?”
Esper stopped in front of her.
“Why did you come out on your own?”
There was no answer.
“Where is Sister?”
“...She went out early this morning.”
Eladia replied quickly, then stepped forward and grabbed Esper's hand in a tight grip.
“Go.”
She spoke only a single word.
Then, she started to run.
She dragged Esper along, running toward the opposite side of the village—away from the strange phenomenon.
“Wait—wait a minute! Ela! Where are you going?”
“Go. Hurry.”
Eladia's voice was as flat as ever, but she was running incredibly fast.
People on the road watched the two little girls running through the street with startled looks, but no one paid them any real attention.
Dragged along by her, Esper ran past the village entrance, through the wheat fields, and onto a small path.
“Ela! Stop! Tell me what's wrong?”
“Something is coming.”
They ran past the vegetable patches, over the wooden bridge, and into the small forest they had visited the day before yesterday.
Eladia stopped. She wasn't even out of breath after running; the holy light constantly replenished her stamina.
She turned around to look at Esper, something churning in her sky-blue eyes.
It was the calmness of someone who had already made up her mind.
“Something very hot is coming. It's going to burn the entire village down.”
“How do you know?”
“I felt it. I've felt it since I woke up. There's an evil scent. I can smell it immediately.”
“An evil scent?”
“Mhm. It's very similar to yours, Esper, but different. Yours is clean. That thing smells foul and disgusting.”
Esper's hand tightened slightly.
She knew she wasn't human.
But it didn't matter; she didn't care whether she was human or not.
“...Ela, what about the others? Did you tell them?”
“No.”
There was no hesitation, only the decisive promptness of answering the moment the question was asked.
“Why?”
Eladia let go of Esper's wrist.
“Why should I tell them?”
Her voice was flat, exactly as it had been before.
“Ela...?”
“It doesn't matter to me if they die. I don't care about them, and they've never cared about me.”
Hearing these words from a six-year-old child, there was no malice, no resentment, not even the pleasure of revenge.
It was a simple statement.
It had nothing to do with her.
She had no connection to anyone else in this world.
The only person she had any connection with was the black-haired girl standing in front of her.
So she ran, taking her along.
As for everything else, let the fire burn it to ashes.
Esper looked at her.
In this moment, she realized that in the original timeline, Ela must have also known in advance that the Flame Demon was coming.
She had likewise done nothing for anyone else, including herself.
She had allowed the Flame Demon's massacre to happen.
Because she had no reason not to.
“...No, that's not right.”
She remembered what Eladia had told her later on.
“He burned everyone to death... and then I survived... and killed him...
“...I didn't mean to kill him. I just wanted to get close to him, to ask him why he killed everyone... and then... he died...”
But if she truly didn't care about anyone, why did she ultimately kill that Flame Demon? Why did she ask him why he killed everyone?
There had to be a reason.
It was also possible that Eladia had lied to her.
But she refused to believe that.
Even after being tortured by Beatrice, she was still a kind child at heart.
So she believed Eladia hadn't lied. Instead, there must have been a reason that forced Eladia to go back and face it.
A reason that drove her to ask him why he killed everyone.
The reason she was still able to remain herself, one of the most important memory anchors of her life.
And that reason was not something Esper could bear on her behalf.
And so, Esper stopped in her tracks.
“Esper?”
“I have to go back.”
Eladia's eyes widened.
This was the first time in five days that Esper had seen such a distinct change in her expression.
“What are you going back for?”
“To save them.”
“Why?”
“The mistakes they made aren't a reason for them to die.”
Esper turned around, facing the direction of the village. The eastern sky had already turned an unnatural orange-red, and waves of heat surged from that direction.
“People can change. Just like how you've changed because of me.”
Eladia froze.
She stood there, her fingers still in the exact position they were when she had let go of Esper's wrist.
“They... they aren't worth it.”
“I don't care.”
“You'll die!”
A trace of urgency and panic crept into Eladia's voice, her pitch rising slightly.
“Maybe, but I can't just abandon them.”
Esper had already started to run.
This was Ela's memory. The villagers were all fake; even if they died, it wouldn't affect anything in reality.
But even so, Esper could not stand by and watch.
Because she couldn't bear to see it happen.
Since she was fake here too, she might as well act according to her own heart.
She remembered that even in the convent, there were children who would take the initiative to apologize to her and admit their mistakes.
And there were those who lived ordinary lives in the village, people who were simply living peacefully.
Whether they truly existed or not, they shouldn't have to suffer this fate.
“Besides, if I just let things go like this, you might never be able to return.”
A child's legs could only take small strides. The small leather shoes of the Catori family pattered rapidly against the dirt road.
“Stop!”
Eladia's voice came from behind.
She screamed it.
“Don't go! Stop!”
Esper didn't stop. She kept running toward the village.
Then, she heard a sound from behind her as well.
It was the sound of panicked footsteps. Because the girl had never run for anyone else before, she could only clumsily move forward, unable to catch up to Esper.
Esper glanced at her palm, where the Annihilation Sphere was still pulsing.
One shot. It was enough to severely wound a Rank Four Flame Demon.
It wouldn't kill it, but if it bought the villagers enough time to escape, that might be enough.
At the very least, she could draw its attention to herself.
Esper ran.
On the distant horizon, flames began to rise.
Rate on N.U.
