The End of a Tragedy and the Beginning of a Tragedy

I run straight toward the mansion with the outlandish exterior.

There's no time.

I have no intention of going all the way around to the front entrance like an idiot.

Using the momentum of my run, I leap toward one of the mansion's windows.

GASHAAAN!!

A loud noise rings out as the window shatters from my body slam.

Infiltration of the mansion: success.

I roll across the floor littered with glass to kill my momentum.

Looking around, I found a female servant lying dead in the hallway, right there.

She's been slashed diagonally from the shoulder, and the hallway floor is dyed bright red by the woman's blood.

And leading away from that blood-red floor, in a trail of spots down the hallway, are footprints.

Probably, Karashia's footprints.

Following those footprints, I started running down the hallway.

<......I thought you had no intention of entering the mansion?>

Omake-sama, I mean, people are dead, you know?

<So people died, so what? It has nothing to do with you, does it?>

......True, it has nothing to do with me.

To me, the people in this mansion are people I've never met, complete strangers.

Honestly, whether they're alive or dead, I couldn't care less.

Even seeing the servant's corpse lying in that hallway back there, no particular feeling wells up in me.

I've got a pretty terrible personality myself, don't I.

<Then, why?>

But you see, Omake-sama.

This problem, doesn't it look like it could be ‘solved by punching’?

<True, if you punch Karashia, no more slaughter, will happen.>

Honestly, there's a sense they had it coming, too.

I don't give a damn what happens to the people in this mansion, but!

If I remember this incident later and start thinking, ‘back then, couldn't I, have done something?’, it'd nag at me and feel gross, right?

<I see. If that's the reason, then I am convinced.>

But, well......

<It may be a little...... too late, perhaps......>

I run down the hallway chasing after Karashia, but the servants who leap into my view are already all dead.

Karashia's movements are faster than I thought.

This mansion is, (to me) a flimsy wooden building.

If I put in even a little too much strength, it'll break immediately.

Naturally, that puts a cap on how fast I can move, too.

Even when reinforcing the floor with magic power, there's a limit.

“GYAAAAA!!”

Right then, a woman's scream leapt into my ears.

This is the voice of that “Mother.”

<Emi! The voice came from...... over there! Inside that room at the end of the hallway!!>

I rush to the room Omake-sama pointed out and fling the door wide open!

BAAN!!

The wooden doors, swinging violently to the left and right, hit the walls with a loud noise.

And then, just like that...... with a bofun! they toppled over onto the carpet spread across the room's floor.

I think I messed up the strength a bit when opening the doors.

It seems the hinges broke.

And yet...... despite all the noise I was making, not one person turned to look at me.

This room is probably Keranko's room.

The people who were supposed to be in this room to begin with were Keranko, “Mother,” and Doj.

Doj is...... probably the man lying face down in the pool of blood near the room's entrance.

His brown hair is slicked back, and he's dressed in something like a suit, mostly in black.

His build is sturdy and robust.

But, he's already dead.

“Mother” is...... probably the woman lying on her back further inside.

The wound where she was slashed diagonally from the shoulder looks painful.

She's wearing a sparkling dress.

Combined with her fluffy, curly blonde hair, she's a woman who fits the description of “glamorous beauty” perfectly.

Though, she's also already dead, soaking in a pool of blood.

And Keranko is probably the woman standing in the center of the room.

She's probably about 14 or 15.

She, too, is clad in a sparkling dress.

Like her mother, her hair is fluffy and curly.

Her hair color is brown.

As for Keranko, she has her already large eyes wide open even further, her long eyelashes trembling, and her mouth is opening and closing.

The reason why is that her chest has been pierced through by a single thrust of a sharp sword.

Blood gushes from her convulsing body, and it's plain she hasn't long to live, since 【Magic Perception】 shows there's hardly any magic power left in her.

......Ah, she died.

With a doshari, Keranko's body collapsed into the pool of blood.

The silver ring with a lizard in openwork worn on her finger also becomes stained a murky black by the blood.

At the same time, the person who had stabbed Keranko with the sword also staggers and crouches down, placing both hands on the floor.

“Fu...... ufufu, ahahahaha...... haa, haa......”

The woman breathing heavily while laughing eerily and softly must be Karashia.

Age-wise, she looks about the same as Keranko.

Silky, straight, navy blue hair.

Unlike Keranko, she's wearing a plain gray dress.

“Haa...... ahaha...... ahahahaha! Ahahahahaha!! Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!”

Karashia continues to laugh like mad.

She doesn't even seem to notice me, though I just burst into the room.

Her eyes are hollow and lightless, and they don't seem to be focused on anything.

<......Too late, huh.>

Omake-sama murmurs, quietly.

I charged out of there thinking I'd do something, that surely I could manage something, and this is the reality.

I couldn't save a single person, and just because I rushed here, the situation didn't change in any way from the foreseen future.

I'm not sad.

I'm not frustrated either.

I don't give a damn what happens to other people.

Apparently that's my true feeling, from the bottom of my heart, because my heart doesn't stir in the slightest.

I'm a little put off by that fact, even though it's about myself.

But, more than that, more than anything, the feeling that occupied a large part of my heart.

That, is powerlessness.

I'm strong.

I've become strong.

If it's a problem that can be solved by punching, I can usually mow everything down and move forward.

I had that kind of arrogance within me now.

But, I couldn't.

I was too late.

I couldn't do anything.

My overblown pride had been snapped clean in two, and I was left dumbfounded.

But...... further still, things move.

“Ahahahaha! Ahahahahahahahahaha...... ugh!!?”

“!!?”

Karashia, who had been laughing like mad, suddenly clutched her chest, and the next moment...... she fell face-first onto the floor.

And then, she stopped moving entirely.

“......Eh?”

In spite of myself, the word slipped out.

From Karashia's body, lying limp on the floor, I can't sense any magic power at all.

In that case, what happened to her.

It's easy to reach a conclusion.

Namely, she too, has died.

“......Huh?”

Eh? Why?

Why are you dying too?

This makes no sense, you know?

<This Karashia, she said her body was frail, didn't she?>

Omake-sama explains it to me, confused as I am.

<Her body was frail to begin with...... and she probably didn't have that much magic power, either. A person like that uses a demon sword half out of control and has her magic power drained dry. Then, what happens?>

Her magic power...... drained dry, runs out......?

<If it were a healthy person, it might have ended with nausea, dizziness, or perhaps a temporary loss of consciousness. But, she was not like that.>

Her body...... was frail.

<Yes, her body was frail. Therefore, she couldn't withstand the magic power depletion and died. That's probably it.>

........................

What, is this.

What, is this, hopeless, ending?

I can't hear any noise, so perhaps everyone in the mansion has already died.

The wind isn't blowing.

Only the sound of my breathing and my heartbeat echoes through the room.

......Was, echoing.

But, then.

Dosari.

That sound, like something falling over, came from behind me, from the hallway outside the room.

I turned around, in spite of myself.

And what leapt into my view then.

It was.

......a mansion with an exterior that could only be described as, well, ‘strange’.

First off, the roof is bright red. Bright, bright red. Also, the window frames and other key spots are painted red too.

And the walls are slathered in bright yellow, with red polka dots painted here and there.

With pure white snow piled up all around it, the exterior stands out all the more bizarrely.

“Huh!?”

<Eh!?>

Omake-sama and I both cried out in surprise, in spite of ourselves.

I should have been standing inside a blood-stained room of this strange mansion!

And yet...... and yet.

I look around.

This is...... outside!

I'm standing in front of the mansion's front door!!

Aside from the mansion in front of me and the storehouse beside it, the entire area is a silver world.

The blizzard has stopped, and there is no wind.

It's not snowing.

Only, it's wrapped in mist, so visibility is poor.

<Wh, what on earth......!?>

Even Omake-sama is bewildered, not knowing what happened.

What is this.

What happened to me?

From inside a room of the mansion...... to the outside...... warped?

Why?

<I don't know! This is...... strange! This is strange, Emi!?>

I know that even without you telling me, Omake-sama!

I was confused.

Well, of course.

Even Omake-sama doesn't know what's happening.

But, into those ears of mine.

From inside the mansion.

Came a voice that threw my head into even more confusion.

“Stop it, Keranko!!”

It was a woman's high-pitched, hysterical scream.

“H, how cruel, Karashia Onee-sama...... Don't be so rough, okay? Look, my palm, it's gone all red......”

“Oh my! How awful, Keranko-chan! Let's treat that injury right away, shall we?”

“How pitiable, young Miss Keranko......”

Next, my overly honed hearing catches three voices, every bit as familiar as that woman's voice just now.

Yes, I recognize them. These voices.

No, not just the voices.

I recognize those lines, too.

I...... just a moment ago, while eavesdropping in the storehouse, I heard those lines.

“......In any case, this ring too, I cannot let you have. Excuse me.”

“U...... uwaa~~~n! Onee-sama, is being mean~~~!”

“Oh my! Karashia, you're her big sister, aren't you? Why not grant your cute little sister's wish, just a little!?”

“......! ‘Just a little’, did you, say? Mother. I...... my dresses, my hair ornaments, my necklaces, Keranko has taken everything from me! And yet, ‘just a little’, you say!? Enough is enough!!”

“Talking back to your mother, is not allowed! Doj, do it.”

“At once!”

“Wai, what are you doing, Doj! Sto...... stop! Aah!”

I heard this exchange just now, too.

It's strange.

This is a strange situation.

Because the owners of these voices all......

should have died, just a moment ago.

<This is...... this is bad.>

It seemed that Omake-sama had understood what happened to us here.

She murmurs, quietly.

<Time is...... looping......>

The voice echoing in my mind was trembling slightly.

Okay, so.

The main theme of this arc is “loops.”

How will Emi and Omake-sama stand up to an invisible supernatural phenomenon!?