Epilogue 2

Wataru: Eichi~ ♪

There you are. Please don’t disappear without notice; you are quite the free spirit!

But you worried us all, you know. Why have you come to the roof?

Do you enjoy being close to the sky? We’re birds of a feather, it seems... ☆

Eichi: ......

Wataru: Butler-san has informed me that the Princess has made it home safely.

He suffered a bit of a shock tonight, allegedly, and has developed a fever from it. I’m quite worried about him.

But I suppose Butler-san will tend to him flawlessly, so he will certainly be just fine.

You ought to visit him sometime as thanks for all the times he’s done so for you. And I shall accompany you, of course... ☆

Eichi: Wataru.

That was incredible... Oh, I’m shaking with emotion for the first time in so long.

I can’t stop replaying every detail of our showdown against Valkyrie. Wow, it’s just one revelation after another!

Your finger at this angle! Don’t you see? Why didn’t I think of that? It’s amazing!

I’ll have to take the size difference between Itsuki-kun and myself into consideration; it needs fine-tuning. But I think we can make use of it right away!

La, la la~... ♪ That note right there! It gives you chills, doesn’t it? It’s the absolutely perfect pitch for this!

Itsuki-kun noticed all of this, didn’t he? It’s like the egg of Columbus!^[1]

Wataru: Eichi.

Eichi: And the icing on the cake, the greatest moment of all was... oh, I hate that I can’t just share my thoughts with you!

But you get it, don’t you Wataru? It’s that da-da-dan! Not da-dan, but da-da-dan!

Eichi: Why is that, though? Why did I never notice it, even after repeating it a million times over?

This step! You know the one, Wataru. This discovery is going to go down in history—!

Oh, I’m salivating! It’d be such a waste to end it all after just one encounter, right? You think so too, right? Wataru?

My Wataru! I need to taste it again and again, more and more... ☆

Wataru: Eichi!

Eichi: ......

...Ah, I’m sorry. I got a little excited.

But I couldn’t possibly stay sane and calm after an experience like that. It was such a wonderful show, Wataru ♪

Wataru: I agree with you, but you’ll catch a cold if you stay out here in the open without wiping off your sweat.

Ah, easy now. You’re already staggering.

Eichi: Fufufu. I put all my effort into a live for the first time in ages, and even afterwards I couldn’t stop playing Valkyrie’s performance over and over in my mind.

I suppose I am a little tired.

Would you mind if I leaned on you, Wataru?

Wataru: By all means~ ♪ If you so desire, I can even transport you back to your home. Just close your eyes and count to three... ☆

Eichi: That would save me a lot of time. You’re incredible, Wataru—a magician... ♪

Wataru: Fufufu. How nice it would be if I could truly use magic. Alas, but this world is bound by the laws of physics...

Magic is merely a technique that loses its sense of mystique as soon as you learn it.

Eichi: Even so, you, all of you, can do so many things that I can’t.

You so effortlessly surpass what I have desperately attempted to accomplish.

I realized that all over again today. You’re all so unfair, to be loved by the gods.

Hey, Wataru. I always... you know, I’ve always envied you—all of you.

Wataru: We, too, think you are both terrifying and beloved... Eichi.

For it is you and people like you who have cast out and destroyed every monster and magician there is.

Jealous and arrogant, greedy in their indolence, drowning in lust and ruled by rage...

At the hands of sinful humans who run riot across the earth, devouring it whole—

All the secrets of magic have been exposed and reduced down to mere technique.

And all the monsters in the world have become something far more mundane—like humans, themselves.

Eichi: ......

Wataru: Eichi? Oh my, did you really fall asleep?

Oh, you really can be just like a child at times.

It is because you are pure, I suppose. You endeavor so desperately only to survive... It is for people like you that heaven was created, I’m sure of it.

There is no need for you to willingly traverse through hell... Of course, that’s what makes you such an interesting person ♪

Come now, Eichi: wake up. Let’s walk home together on our own two feet. Were you not the one who wanted to walk with me?

Open your eyes. Look, do you see how beautiful the Milky Way is?

It’s a reality far more beautiful than any dream...

And it’s always been here, spread out across the world. It was you who taught me that, remember?