Mitou Shoukan://Blood-Sign

“Okay, Onee-chan. See you at lunch.”

“Honestly, you’re just after my food, aren’t you?”

(Ending X-01 Open 05/01 08:20)

After the Nice Ending

The rain had finally let up and it was sunny.

Due to the day of the week, they had to go to school like normal on May 1.

Shiroyama Kyousuke held his thin school bag as he walked along the giant bridge to school. He spotted a familiar face on the way.

It was Rendou Akiya who always wore a girl’s uniform for some reason.

Summoners were forgotten when they were not in someone’s field of vision, so Kyousuke had to call out to his friend to gather his attention.

“Good morning, Akiya-san”

“Oh, hey. Morning. …Why so polite?”

“I’m starting to suspect I have low blood pressure and it’s dragging my mood down pretty low too.”

“If you can joke around like that this early in the morning, you’re doing fine. So don’t worry.”

Rendou sounded bored.

“But this incomplete Golden Week is a real pain in the ass. If only they’d give us tickets for our days off like paid leave for office workers. That’d be better than just - boom! - summer break and then - bam! - winter break.”

“If that happened, won’t we end up in hell when a heat wave rolls in?”

“…Maybe so.”

The fact that he complained but showed no sign of actually skipping school may have been a virtue of his.

“By the way, have you heard the latest ghost rumors?”

“What good are those? Unlike soy bean and soy milk trivia, I don’t think ghost stories would be very useful.”

“Now, now. The ghost stories are for scaring the girls so you can escort them down the dark streets at night! You’ll never reach the starting point of romance unless you take advantage of their weaknesses!! And they’ve set up that Rainy Screen event and everything!”

“Rendou, if bringing someone their lost wallet was enough for them to fall in love with you, no one would ever have trouble with love. In fact, it would probably begin a trend of pickpocketing to meet girls.”

“You moron, I said it was the starting point! If you just sit there satisfied with that, you’ll never get anywhere!!”

Rendou Akiya had far too much energy for the early morning, so Kyousuke started to suspect the boy had high blood pressure. 𝐟𝚛e𝐞𝙬𝗲𝒃𝓷𝒐𝘃e𝒍.c𝑜m

“So what’s this ghost? I seriously doubt it, but it isn’t the Rainy Girl, is it?”

“Hm? What’s that?”

Rendou Akiya gave his confused comment just as the school came into view.

Yes, they could see it.

During the fight with Yasuzumi Hayato and Benikomichi Fuuki, the school building and gym had been destroyed and about half the square midair float had crumbled away, but there was no sign of any of that damage.

It was the usual high school.

It was untouched, as if that battle had never happened.

Meanwhile, the classmate who chose to wear a girl’s uniform spoke.

“On rainy days, they say you can see the ghost of a guy who saved a girl from an attempted murderer. It’s a happy ending full of justice, so I bet it’s the ghost of some legendary martial artist or martyred policeman.”

Shiroyama Kyousuke smiled just a little.

That was the story now.

Perhaps no one remembered that battle any longer.

Perhaps there no records of it remained.

But…

“Okay, Onee-chan. See you at lunch.”

“Honestly, you’re just after my food, aren’t you?”

He heard those voices.

A single braid swayed within the crowd of students.

Two girls were smiling together there.

“What is it, Shiroyama-chan?” asked Rendou in a curious tone.

“It’s nothing.”

Shiroyama Kyousuke said nothing more and looked away from those two.

This was a kind end to a series of events.

Alice (with) Rabbit walked a different path than the girls who no longer needed saving.

Facts:

*The girl lived. She chose that path.

*The rumors of the Rainy Girl vanished and rumors of a male ghost who saved a girl spread in their place. Most likely, some of the data from that final clash lingered on.

*Because the incident related to the deathless world vanished, the world of the “red window” and “searches” that the White Queen mentioned also vanished. Kyousuke and Librarian-chan never bound a contract together, the school was never destroyed, Benikomichi Fuuki never planned to create a world without death, Yasuzumi Hayato never received any special education, Telomere’s End never committed suicide, and the Rainy Girl did not die.

*Librarian-chan has no memories of what happened. Shiroyama Kyousuke, the summoner who put his life on the line to fight, is now just a classmate who she forgets about like normal.

*But by adding just one more girl to that scene, there must be more smiles there than before.