The girl whose voice I’d heard at the school gate. And a name ending in “ca.”

Only one person came to mind.

“…Erika?”

“Sorry. I’m not sure. I was caught off guard at the time, and it was such a quiet voice…”

“No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

That’s what I said, but I couldn’t help but worry. Liquid Explosive. Heiter. Roselia. Lena. And now Erika, too. Countless names tangled together, reeking of blood. I even had the illusion they were throwing a tantrum, demanding I look their way.

No matter how I looked at it, far too much had happened tonight. Just like that day when everything collapsed. Another upheaval was engulfing the Academy.

But I was far too exhausted to hold all of it in my head. Fatigue had peaked to the point where I lacked even the strength to yawn.

“Lope?”

“Yeah?”

“You haven’t heard a single word I said. You must be really exhausted.”

Coming to my senses, I found Saya watching me with worried eyes. My time must have stopped for just a brief moment.

“Sorry. There’s just been so much happening.”

“Why don’t you turn in early today? You look really rough.”

“No, I’m not that bad…”

“Oh? Senior! I think my hair is caught in the drain! My head won’t move!”

“…Haa.”

I suddenly wanted to sleep. Like a fighter in the final round taking the last blow, everything became tiresome and I wanted to give it all up. Haru’s voice carried that kind of knockout punch.

“Lope. I think it’s better if you just lie down. You can’t go anyway, right?”

“…Right.”

“I’ll go check. Just close your eyes for a bit, okay?”

“Sorry. Then… right. Yeah… got it.”

The fatigue must have truly peaked—I couldn’t even tell what I was saying anymore. I rambled incoherently before burying my head in the bed as if collapsing. A soft impact echoed dully through my skull.

Between fading consciousness, I heard Saya and Haru bickering. The everyday sounds of other people passing time in my room felt incredibly strange and novel. I never thought I’d have an experience like this in my life.

Was it only after the world fell apart that I became able to witness such ordinariness?

My monologue before sleep made me reflect on what a mess of a person I was. I seemed to be the type who bites and swallows their own tongue when chewing something over. Given that every time I reflected on myself, I tasted bitter cigarette ash.

Negative thoughts naturally spiraled into nightmares. As my consciousness blurred, the Dragons’ fiery glow began to flicker before my eyes. Because I hadn’t experienced it myself, the flames of destruction felt even hotter and uglier. I held the searing agony close and recalled the words the Imperial Spokesperson had spoken that day.

He said 200 days until the Dragons made landfall, didn’t he. Exactly two months had passed since that day.

If what he said was true, there were 140 days left until destruction.

“Sseu…”

“…”

“Hua…”

“…”

“Sseuu…”

“…”

“Heua…”

Breath far too close pressed against the side of my head. It was damp and hot, anything but pleasant. It felt like getting an unnecessary preview of summer’s heat that hadn’t even arrived yet.

To put it simply, it was the worst. Among the mornings I’d faced in the past month, it ranked among the most irritating.

“Ugh…”

Amidst all that, whether from the previous day’s fatigue, every muscle in my body groaned. It felt like the girls’ screams that had erupted from all directions last night were being replayed inside my body. The karma I’d never intended to bear had finally clung to my heels.

With the world tormenting me this much, there was no way to resist getting up. I would have liked to lie there another hour, but all that stubbornness forced my eyes open.

The first thing I saw was Haru, nose buried in my head, sniffing like a dog.

“Sseu… ha…”

“…”

“Seu… haa… sseu…”

“…What are you doing.”

“I’m smelling you. Can’t you tell by looking?”

“Can’t you tell by looking” was practically profanity coming from Haru’s position. Getting sworn at by a junior first thing in the morning was not exactly pleasant.

“I’m asking why you’re smelling me.”

“To remember, of course. Your voice is so common I figured I’d need to identify you by scent. Oh, don’t worry. I’ll smell Saya’s scent in a bit too.”

“I got it, so back off.”

“Still nice though, isn’t it? Getting to see your pretty junior’s face the moment you wake up.”

“Not at all.”

If I only looked at the lower part of her nose, she might have been right. But around Haru’s eyes, hideous scars were plastered so thickly they were nauseating, making her face far from pleasant to look at. I raised a single finger and pushed her chin away.

“Where did you even get those scars? Were you in a war zone?”

“Oh, the scars on my eyes? The knife marks are my dad’s work and the burns are my mom’s. Why?”

“…Right. I’m sorry.”

“Then I’ll smell you a bit more. I still can’t quite remember.”

“…”

I had nothing to say and could only shut my mouth. My salvation came from Saya, who appeared from the bathroom once again.

“Lope, you’re awake? I’m sorry. I told Haru not to do that, but she wouldn’t listen…”

“It’s fine. She doesn’t listen to me either.”

“That’s how sheltered kids are. Oh, Saya, come here. I need to smell you.”

Haru clung to Saya as if switching hosts. As that damp breath scattered far away, cold air instantly seeped between my clothes. I irritably pulled the blanket around me and sat up.

“Ugh…”

Midday sunlight, not morning light, poured over my muscle-ache-riddled body. The warmth falling gently, as if sprinkling salt on a wound, felt cruel. I muttered to myself, feeling somehow like a latecomer.

“I slept too long…”

“You looked tired, so I deliberately let you sleep in. Was that wrong?”

“No. It didn’t mean anything. It’s just my first time waking up at this hour.”

“Do you have something to do? Saya seems to have done all the cleaning and everything anyway. Couldn’t you sleep a bit more?”

“What have you been doing?”

Instead of answering, Haru just giggled. Then she naturally nestled into Saya’s arms and kept sniffing.

“Must you be like that in broad daylight? The world’s ending anyway, so we can afford to take it easy.”

“Keep that up and I’ll throw you out again.”

“Senior, you’ll go to hell at this rate. If you start being kind now, won’t the karmic flames of the Dragons we’ll soon face be at least a little cooler?”

From Haru’s perspective, it was probably just a casually thrown joke. But Saya tilted her head and asked.

“What do you mean? Has Lope not told you yet?”

“What do you mean? I don’t know anything…”

“Saya, wait.”

“Ow!”

Before Saya could say more, I clamped my hands over Haru’s ears. Then, lowering my voice as much as possible, I whispered.

“I haven’t told Haru yet.”

“Huh? But why…?”

“Ugh…”

I must have pushed my fingers a bit too deep into her ears, because Haru groaned and squirmed, while Saya covered my hands with hers. Then she asked in a gentle voice.

“Isn’t she someone precious to you? I assumed you’d have told her about the Marks.”

“She’s just an acquaintance. And more than anything, I don’t want to talk about this carelessly. Let’s keep it between the two of us for now.”

“Yeah… okay. If you say so, I won’t tell anyone.”

Saya nodded, though she wore a guilt-ridden expression. Seeing that, I felt my dead conscience prick a little.

But having grasped the value of the Marks, I wanted to approach things more carefully than before. No matter how well I knew a junior, once they learned salvation from destruction was possible, there was no telling how they might change.

“And Saya. These Marks—only the people who bear them can enter the Land of Elves, right? Having one doesn’t mean you can bring others along, does it?”

“Yes. Strictly one person per Mark.”

“Regardless of who bears it?”

“Even if it were the Emperor, that fact wouldn’t change.”

She spoke as if discussing an immutable truth. Yet it didn’t sound arrogant at all. The elf’s calm declaration came across as an undeniable truth.

And Roselia most likely still knew nothing of that truth.

“…”

No matter how much I cast my gaze out the window, the Academy was nowhere to be seen. I wanted to distance myself from it more than any other place, yet the fact that I couldn’t take my eyes off it felt like a kind of unrequited love. I’d gone through many changes in a single night, but the Academy was surely transforming at an even faster pace.

And at the center of it all were them. Erika. Roselia. And Lena. Not a single name that didn’t rub me the wrong way. Roll any of them around in my mouth, and the thorns embedded in those names would tear my tongue to shreds, blood streaming down.

But they were people I’d have to face someday. To be more precise, I’d face them within three days. It was a deadline Roselia had set arbitrarily, but I had no desire to push it any further than that anyway.

…

No matter how much I retraced my thoughts, it was a fact that left my heart troubled. As I poured my thoughts out the window, a pained groan reached my ears.

“Ugh… my ears are going to tear off at this rate. I don’t know what you’re talking about, but how about letting go soon? If I lose my hearing too, I’m really out of options.”

“She really seems to be in pain. Let her go now, Lope.”

“Got it.”

Only then did I pull my fingers away from her ears. Haru grumbled and scrunched up her face as much as she could.

“If you two have something to discuss, you could just tell me to leave instead of doing this.”

“Got it. I’ll do that from now on.”

“Thanks. But that doesn’t heal my wounded eardrums and feelings. At least pretend to apologize, Senior.”

“Hah…”

I let out a thin sigh. No matter how I looked at it, I’d brought the wrong person. She hadn’t even been here a full day and regret was already washing over me.

But regret over Haru was far better than agonizing over a bleak, uncertain future. Though unintended, I even had the illusion that my heavy heart had lightened somewhat.

“Alright.”

Anyway, bringing her was already done and couldn’t be helped. To shake off thoughts of the Academy, even briefly, I called the name of the headache standing before me.

“Lena.”

“…”

“It’s morning.”

“…”

An unwelcome voice drills into my ear canal. Remnants of sleep refuse to fade, tightening around my head like a vicious hangover. I’m so irritated I want to claw my eardrums to shreds.

“Lena.”

“…”

“Lena. Are you listening?”

“…”

But the person kept calling my name stubbornly. No tact, no consideration. Probably not even the intention to show any. At times like this, as much as I hate it, I can’t help but think of that person who visited me every morning.

“…”

I almost swore out loud. The problem was I lacked the energy to do even that. I was always weak in the mornings. Sometimes I even harbored the wish that the sun might rise late just for me.

But such things never happen. And now there’s no one left to listen to my absurd complaints. That trivial truth buzzed with tiny wings, circling around my head.

I finally clutched my head and let out a groan no one could hear. Like a whore crying out in bed. Down the throat that had swallowed twisted desire, a long-forgotten phrase surfaced. The kind of phrase the Academy’s top student could never utter.

Fuck. What a genuinely shitty morning.