Date: Two Weeks Before the New Year
Location: Academy Library, Evening
---
We healed faster than expected.
Spirit crystals. Clerics. Warm food.
And maybe… a little will to live.
By the time we stepped out of the Healing Wing, the Academy had already started preparing for the New Year Festival.
No more lectures. No tests. Just… preparation.
Each class was given a role.
Some chose spell duels. Others, musical displays or enchanted sculptures.
Our class?
We were the last to be assigned.
While everyone else scrambled to impress the nobles, David chose the stage performance.
The story?
A forgotten legend.
A tyrant born of broken timelines.
A hero that rose to stop the world from repeating its destruction.
Most thought it was fiction.
It wasn't.
---
I was assigned the role of the Villain.
No one objected. Not even me.
Leander joked I was "too serious" anyway.
Anna said I had "tragic eyebrows."
Lily didn't say anything — but her gaze lingered longer than usual.
And then…
David came to me that evening.
He found me in the library. Didn't knock. Didn't hesitate. Just… placed a sound barrier and an illusion field around the shelves.
> "There's a traitor inside the Academy," he said.
He didn't elaborate. Didn't need to.
I already suspected.
He continued:
> "We believe they're connected to the Mirror Holders. And they're watching."
"This performance… is a chance. A stage to draw them out."
I offered the plan before he could finish.
> "Use me," I said.
"Make the villain real. Let them come for me."
He refused at first.
His exact words were:
> "You're a student. Not bait."
But after I laid out the formations, the calculated risks, the containment routes — he went silent.
And finally, reluctantly, he agreed.
---
He handed me two artifacts before he left.
> "This," he said, placing a silver bracelet into my palm,
"is a mana reservoir. Enough for two strong spells — or one desperate one."
> "And this—" he added, revealing a thin necklace with an amber core,
"can bring you back from death. Once. Only once."
He looked tired that night.
Like a man who's buried more students than he cares to admit.
---
When he left, I wrote this.
I don't know if I'll have time later.
---
> "If you find this journal and I haven't returned,
Don't search for me.
Don't grieve.
Finish the mission.
And destroy this book — burn every page.
It holds too much."
> "But if I do return…
Remind me to breathe again.
Sometimes I forget."
– Nitsuo