I let out a low breath and slumped back against the wall. When I tilted my head up, a star-scattered night sky entered my vision. A crushing sense of exhaustion weighed on me. The battle against the Archbishop of Madness hadn’t been particularly long, but I had fought with everything I had, which left me utterly drained now.

As I leaned against the wall, catching my breath, strands of transparent spiderweb wrapped around the annex’s rooftop. A figure shot upward, sprinting across the building as if about to take flight.

Professor Baldwin rushed over the moment she saw me sitting slouched against the wall. “Dale! Are you okay? What about the Archbishop of Madness?”

Rather than answer, I simply pointed toward a corner of the annex rooftop. There, a pile of pitch-black ash lay scattered, not yet fully blown away.

“So, you won,” she said.

“Well, it took a bit of work.”

Professor Baldwin knelt in front of me with a stiff expression. Slowly, she reached out and brushed her hand against my cheek. For the woman known as the Cursed-Eye Spider, her hand was impossibly soft and warm.

“How many times did you die this time?” she asked.

“Not that many.”

Technically, it was only once. The Primordial Flame had burned me a few additional times, and I died a couple more times, but since the opponent was the Archbishop of Madness, this was hardly an unusual number of deaths.

***

Elisha frowned and pinched the cheek she had just been caressing. “Don’t say it like that’s nothing. I may not have experienced dying and reviving like you, but I know very well that it’s not the kind of pain one can brush off so lightly.”

She had also survived countless battlefields, bearing injuries too numerous to count. Some wounds had been so severe that it wouldn’t have been strange if she had died on the spot. Once, she had her flesh ripped off down to the bone by a demonic monster’s claws; another time, she had her innards spill out after being cut by a demon’s sword. The agony she felt then was still vivid enough to haunt her in nightmares.

But she knew that the pain he had experienced was beyond anything she could ever imagine. This pain was so distant, so immeasurable, that she couldn’t even begin to fathom it.

She gently pulled Dale into her arms. Holding his head against her chest, she whispered, “That’s why... at least when you’re with me, you don’t have to pretend to be so strong.”

She recalled the day Dale had first told her about his past life. He had spoken so calmly, as if it was nothing, until he began trembling from head to toe, and all the emotions he had suppressed came pouring out.

Elisha stroked Dale’s head like she were comforting a child. “You’ve done well.”

***

I looked up at her. “Professor Baldwin.”

“Does that ease your heart a little?” she asked.

Instead of answering, I gave a small nod.

“Heh. I’m glad,” she said.

After holding me for a while, Professor Baldwin patted my back. She then stood and pulled me up by the hand. “I’ll handle the cleanup here, so go get some rest.”

“No. I still have something to do.”

“Oh? And what might that be?”

“Didn’t we all agree to meet at the party house rooftop tonight?”

“What?” Professor Baldwin narrowed her eyes a little. “Don’t tell me you plan to go watch the fireworks in that state?”

“A promise is a promise. And I’m just a bit tired. I’m fine physically.”

Biting her lip in frustration, she practically shouted, “Fine? How is this fine? Even if you look fine on the outside, you’re so exhausted you can barely stand!”

She wasn’t wrong. If she hadn’t supported me earlier, I probably wouldn’t have been able to stand on my own. After all, I had overused the Primordial Flame.

“Even so, I have to go,” I said.

“You!”

“It comes only once a year. The cultural festival.”

In my previous life, I never cared about any festival. But things were different now. Laneige, who had wandered the streets with an excited expression; Iris and Yurina, who had been grinning in delight; and Professor Baldwin, who regretted being unable to enjoy the cultural festival with me alone—my once-empty life had become filled with too many precious things.

“Just for today, we should all enjoy it together,” I said.

Professor Baldwin let out a deep sigh and rubbed her forehead. “Take my hand. I’ll escort you to the party house.”

I chuckled softly and took the hand she offered. “Thank you.”

***

When Professor Baldwin and I arrived at the party house rooftop, Laneige, Iris, and Yurina were already waiting there. Iris and Yurina pouted, lips sticking out in irritation at our late arrival.

“Dale! Why are you so late?”

“Yeah! We were supposed to meet at six!”

Thankfully, both of them had changed back into their school uniforms.

Laneige was crouched sadly in a corner of the rooftop, radiating a gloomy aura. “You-you came, Dale... Y-you didn’t come even though it was time... So, I-I was wondering if I had to cut something.”

Cut what? Cut what, exactly?

“Sorry. I was helping Professor Baldwin with some work,” I explained.

“Work? What kind of work?”

“Campus patrol, monitoring outside vendors, stuff like that.”

“Monitoring? Why would you be doing that, Dale?”

“I told you before, didn’t I? I got selected as a Special Operations Cadet.”

“Oh.”

Headmaster Ryu had asked me to keep the Special Operations Cadet status secret, but at the very least, I had informed my party members.

“It’s almost time for the fireworks show. I was running late because I wanted to check if anything might cause trouble.”

I would tell them about the Archbishop of Madness only after the festival ended. Saying it now would only make them worry for no reason.

“Hah! If that was the case, you could’ve messaged me ahead of time. I was worried something might’ve happened to you.”

“Sorry!”

“Hehe, it’s fine. We still have a bit of time before the fireworks start anyway.”

Iris smiled faintly as she lifted her gaze toward the night sky, where darkness was settling in. “You haven’t eaten anything since the omelet rice earlier, right? Should I prepare some light snacks with Senior Laneige?”

“That would be great, thanks.”

“Iris! W-what about me?” Yurina asked.

“Yurina, just sit here quietly. You not doing anything is already helping.”

Yurina slumped down like a deflated balloon. “Ugh, that’s so mean.”

“Then shall we head down to the second floor, Senior Laneige?” Iris asked.

“Y–yeah. But...”

Laneige hesitated, tugging softly on the hem of Iris’s sleeve.

“S-senior... I mean, instead of calling me senior, you can just talk to me casually.”

“Huh? But...”

Laneige blushed to the tips of her ears. “We-we’re... comrades, after all.”

Seeing her like that, Iris let out a small, amused smile. “Oh my! Then from now on, I’ll call you Sister Laneige.”

“S-sister?”

“Hmm? You are older than me, aren’t you?”

“Well, yes. But s-sister...”

As if the very word “sister” was foreign to her, Laneige twisted awkwardly, unable to handle the embarrassment.

Yurina smirked and stepped up beside her. “Then can I call you Sister Laneige too?”

Laneige was flustered. “Y–Yurina, you as well?”

“Why not? I can’t?”

Laneige practically shouted, flustered out of her mind. “N–no! Y-you can call me that if you want to! Hehehe! S-sister, she called me s-sister.”

“Sister Laneige, don’t stand there giggling. Come on, let’s go,” Iris said.

“O-okay! I’m coming!” Laneige followed Iris down to the second-floor lounge.

About fifteen minutes later, they returned to the rooftop carrying plates, along with the smell of something delicious.

“Oh? It’s already done?”

“We just made some simple dishes that pair well with drinks.”

Iris set the plates on the table and pulled out the bottle of alcohol she had prepared earlier. “Professor Baldwin, are you still on duty? Can you drink?”

“Well, right now I’m free.”

“Then I’ll pour you a glass.”

Once everyone had their cups filled, a light drinking session began.

“It feels like this is the first time the five of us have ever sat together for drinks.”

“Huh. Now that you mention it, you’re right.”

“Mm. Usually there’s someone else around.”

Even though Iris, Yurina, Laneige, and Professor Baldwin were all close to me in their own ways, I had never drunk together with all four of them at once.

Professor Baldwin took a sip, smiling softly. “There will be plenty more opportunities from now on. You might as well get used to it.”

“O-opportunities?”

She nonchalantly replied, “Hmm? Well, maybe not immediately, but eventually we’ll all be living together in the same house, won’t we? Then every night will feel like this.”

Iris, Yurina, and Laneige froze with wide eyes at the sudden bombshell. We hadn’t even been in a relationship for that long, so thinking that far into the future hadn’t crossed their minds.

Iris and Yurina both flushed bright red, imagining a future glowing with domestic bliss.

“A-all living in one house?”

“Living with Dale? And running a household together?”

Laneige trembled as though she had just witnessed the end of the world. “H-hurk! Dale, y-you are absolutely not allowed in my room! Ever!”

Professor Baldwin’s expression darkened. “Don’t get ahead of yourselves. Before any of that, there are still many things we need to resolve.”

“Resolve? What things?”

“Did something happen?”

Just as Iris, Yurina, and Laneige exchanged puzzled looks, fireworks burst across the night sky.

“Wow!”

“It’s starting!”

The fireworks show had begun. The party house was quite far from the central plaza, yet the colorful lights exploding across the sky were vivid even from a distance.

Iris smiled brightly as she gazed up at the glowing sky. “I see this every year, but somehow, it looks more beautiful than ever.”

Laneige said, “M-me too. I usually go to bed early during the festival, so I never watch it.”

“This year you’ve got people to watch it with, right, Sister?”

Laneige smiled shyly as she looked up. “Y-yeah. Being together like this... feels nice.”

Suddenly, Iris said, “Oh, come to think of it, we haven’t decided on the most important part yet. Who’s going to kiss Dale?”

All four women turned to me at once. The rooftop instantly turned silent, and the warm, cozy atmosphere froze solid.