Last night, the fact that I'd been summoned by the Warrior Commander kept spinning around in my head. I'd lain down on my bunk after finishing a day in the archives, but my eyes wouldn't close at all. I counted the wood grain on the ceiling, stared at the scorch marks on the wall, listened to Lina shifting in the room next door. Still couldn't sleep. The sensation was exactly the same as that night when the convenience store manager called out to me with "Got a minute?" A gravity pooling slowly in the pit of my stomach without any clear reason. Eventually, when the sky began to pale, I gave up and got out of bed. Breakfast at Suikaku-tei was early. I slipped into the dining hall before the bell rang, but Hana had already lit the fire in the stove. "You're up early," she said curtly, and when I honestly answered "Couldn't sleep," she simply said "Here you go" and gave me an extra slice of black bread. That was surprisingly appreciated. Akourou—the twenty-two-meter stone tower standing at the center of the fortress. Celia Astrid's office was on its top floor. I was summoned for the third hour of morning—around the time the sun crossed the eastern ridge line. "Come in." The reply came without hesitation right after my knock. When I opened the door, maps and documents covered the entire desk. Morning light streaming through the window illuminated her silver-long hair from the side. Celia Astrid remained seated in her chair, her ice-blue eyes giving me a single glance. The thin sword scar on her left cheek was clearly visible at this angle of light. (...She's still scary.) I thought that to myself while standing as straight as I could manage. Though the fact that I was only trying suggested I was already doing something wrong, but there was nothing I could do about it. "I read the report you submitted yesterday," Celia said, pressing the edge of the map with her fingertip. Her voice carried no readable emotion. I couldn't tell if she was praising me or angry. "The circulation pattern of Void appearance points. Did the disclaimer 'amateur assessment' really need to appear three times?" "It's a habit of mine to lay down thick defensive lines," I replied. Celia's gaze stopped for just a moment. Then, with an expression I couldn't determine—whether exasperation or something else—she looked back down at the map. "This afternoon, you'll accompany the reconnaissance squad," she said curtly. "Yes—huh?" I responded. "Confirm the movement pattern of appearance points in the field. If you see it with your own eyes and reach the same conclusion on site, that saves time." "...I can prepare by this afternoon," I said. Celia's hand went still on the map. Completely still for about a second. "When someone makes a statement like that, is it naivety or nerve?" she asked. "Neither. My head just hasn't caught up yet," I answered honestly. "Go," she said. I left the office as if being pushed out, and as I descended the stone steps, I muttered alone in the corridor: "The convenience store manager's summons were at least more readable..." --- When you approach the outer edge of the Silent Forest—the broad-leaved woodland that spreads north and west from Akourou Fortress—the quality of the air changes. Once giant trees over thirty meters tall begin to grow densely, the light reaching the ground suddenly diminishes. The sound of leaves rustling in the wind, the bird calls felt from the fortress direction—both gradually fade. Lina had told me that the name "Silent Forest" came from how sound disappears the deeper you go. But for me, the sensation of only my own footsteps echoing was far more communicative than that explanation. The squad was composed of four people. Me and Lina, plus two senior warriors. The two in front were taciturn, moving forward with a gait that showed no sign of their equipment's weight. I walked behind them alongside Lina. Lina seemed somewhat restless from the moment we departed. Her golden eyes darted around, and her water-blue short bob swayed with each movement. Probably both curiosity and nervousness, I thought. "How many times have you gone into the erosion outer edge?" I asked. "Third time. The previous two times we had to retreat, so it's basically like my first time," Lina answered. "Then we're the same," I said. "Not at all the same. I can use magic," Lina said quietly. Right after she said that, I felt a slight tug on my sleeve. Looking down, Lina's slender fingers were gently gripping my cuff. She kept her eyes forward, her face perfectly composed, as if nothing was happening. "Um..." I started. "What?" she asked. "Your sleeve," I said. Lina looked down at her sleeve and quickly let go. Her cheeks had turned slightly red. "A branch just caught it!" she said. "There's no branch here," I pointed out. "There was one over there," she insisted. I decided not to ask which "there" she meant. I tried to find something to say in response but came up empty, so I just kept walking forward. The sensation of her fingers lingered on my sleeve. I didn't think it was my imagination. I just didn't know how to process it. We stepped into the erosion outer edge about twenty minutes later. The first change came from beneath our feet. The ground's slope shifted slightly with every few steps. Gravity's direction wasn't uniform. The ground that looked like stone had a faint black-purple glow and sank slightly with each step. Nearly all the trees had crystallized. Their bark had transformed into transparent black-purple, glowing faintly from within. Instead of leaves, small hexagonal crystal fragments hung from the branch tips. When they swayed in the wind, they made a sound like glass. "It's beautiful..." Lina whispered. I thought so too. It was beautiful. At the same time, I thought this beauty was bad. The two senior warriors ahead exchanged low signals. Lina and I stopped. Beyond the transparent crystal wall, geometric masses wrapped in black-purple haze moved slowly. Voids. Not just one. As I tracked them with my eyes, I counted three, four—at least five, maintaining equal intervals while moving in regular orbits. Everyone fell silent. I kept my breathing shallow while tracking their movements. Not a straight line. Close to a spiral orbit. There was a center point. The same sensation I'd felt when marking points on the map in the archives ran through my back. (There really is a pattern.) Beside me, Lina began quietly gathering magical power in her palm. Her fingertips glowed faintly. Lightning magic—the technique of converting the caster's internal magical power into electrical energy and releasing it—had the property of becoming unstable with emotional fluctuation. Lina should have known this from experience, but there was no way her emotions wouldn't be stirred by this sight. "Lina, wait a moment," I called softly. It was right after that. The light in Lina's palm suddenly expanded. "Oh no," she gasped. It wasn't a "pop" sound. A sharper, air-tearing sound echoed overhead. Lina's magical power, pulled by emotional surge, went haywire and discharged upward without proper aim. The lightning struck the crystallized branch directly, and it shattered explosively. Black-purple crystal fragments rained down from the sky. My body moved before my mind could think. Yoken—the gift that allows me to fragmentarily foresee situations two seconds ahead during combat—instantly calculated the fragments' falling trajectories. I crouched low, wrapping my arms around Lina's shoulders from behind. We both lowered our heads, with me covering Lina's body. Black-purple fragments scattered across the ground. After a few seconds of silence, the sound of falling fragments ceased like rain stopping. "...Are you okay?" I asked. "...I'm not dead," Lina answered. I looked up. Lina's water-blue short bob was positioned right below my chin. The distance was close. Her body heat transmitted directly through her thin combat uniform. Warmly. The heat that came through the fabric lingered on my fingertips. For just a moment, I couldn't find the timing to pull away. The two senior warriors ahead quickly turned back to check their surroundings. The Voids had stopped moving beyond the crystal wall, but they didn't attack—not yet. The two warriors nodded to each other and returned their attention to forward reconnaissance. I slowly got up. That's when I noticed. Lina's combat uniform was torn open at the right shoulder. A fragment had pierced through. The thin fabric was ripped from the base, exposing the white skin from her shoulder to her collarbone. (This is bad.) "Um, Lina. Your right shoulder," I said. Lina looked at her own shoulder. "Oh no," she said. The fact that her reaction was "oh no" made me wonder what kind of nerves she had. I pulled out a cloth strip for emergency treatment from my pocket. I'd brought it just in case before leaving the fortress. "You should keep pressure on it, even if there's no injury," I said. "Oh, yes. Thank you," Lina replied. When I tried to apply the cloth strip to Lina's right shoulder, she reached out to hold it herself. Our hands overlapped on the cloth. The temperature remained on my fingertips through the fabric. Lina's fingers were slender and delicate. Her bone structure was small. The pad of her finger touched the back of my hand through the cloth, and that body heat transmitted directly through my skin. Neither of us pulled our hand away. One second, or two. Lina pulled her hand away first. Her cheeks were redder than before. "...Please don't write this in the report," she said quietly and quickly. "I won't. But next time, bring a spare uniform," I said. "Yes..." "And call out before you amplify your magical power," I added. "...Yes," she replied. Our exchange concluded in a quiet, almost out-of-place manner. The backs of the reconnaissance warriors seemed distant. In this space, only the two of us seemed to be experiencing time at a slightly slower pace. A hand signal for "resume reconnaissance" came from the forward warrior. Everyone returned their attention forward. That's when it happened. Something ran through my consciousness. My normal yoken shows "two seconds ahead" in fragments. But this time was different. Something that exceeded the threshold rushed through me all at once. The Voids inside had reached a specific configuration. At that moment, a vision of more than ten seconds ahead—not fragments, but continuous imagery—flowed into me. The Voids weren't preparing an attack. They were preparing something more fundamental. To rewrite the very laws of the world. There was intent. Clear, purposeful intent. The moment that certainty burned into my mind— Something shattered inside my head. Heat seeped from the back of my nasal passages. My vision warped. The strength drained from my knees. (Ah, I'm falling.) By the time I recognized that, my body was already tilting. Lina noticed. Her water-blue hair moved at the edge of my vision. Before I hit the ground, Lina quickly moved around and knelt down. My head came to rest on Lina's thigh. The scent of grass passed through my nostrils. Dappled sunlight filtered through the canopy. In my hazy consciousness, the soft warmth transmitted through her thigh reached me first. Warm. Even through the fabric, a gentle heat transmitted from her thigh to my cheek and neck. Then came her voice. "Kenji, Kenji!" she called, her voice trembling. It was different from Lina's usual bright voice—there was an urgent tremor in it. Both her hands came close, peering down at my face. Her golden eyes were near. In the dappled light, I could clearly see the anxiety in those eyes. (Someone is worried about me.) That sensation floated quietly at the edge of my consciousness. Had I ever caused someone to worry when I came home early in the morning after a convenience store night shift? Had anyone ever called my name and looked at me like this? I f