Chapter 58: Encounter

Haga Reiko was furious.

After pulling up Atel Octo sighting reports on her smartphone and entrusting the pursuit to Saber, she dashed through the streets in the guise of Haga Reiko. While Sacred Knight could still use a phone even without transforming, the fact that the model and cover color remained unchanged meant she didn’t want to be seen using it in public. If some malicious entity was hunting for Sacred Knight’s identity, it could very well lead them to her.

So Reiko didn’t transform. She ran, gasping for breath, stopping every so often to glance at her phone screen and change direction before sprinting again.

"Tch...! You’d better be ready for me to call you on it, Knight...!"

――To her, Atel Octo was ’a hero different from Sacred Knight.’ He was the kind of guy who played the masked hero and the team hero together. In reality, his speech was rough and his lewd behavior was blatant, but—he hadn’t done anything to hurt innocent people, and he had saved them countless times.

She had thoughts like ’That line was a little questionable...,’ but Reiko trusted and respected Atel Octo. Just like her senior, Saber, she acknowledged him as a comrade fighting alongside her.

Yet that very man was being burned to death as if he were garbage.

A Monster Villain or a Devilish Alter Native? No—instead, the Sacred Knight she and Saber fought.

(——What the hell, are you messing around?)

She didn’t know the reason, but—she knew she was going to punch him the second they met.

As she made her resolve stronger, she noticed a familiar female student look at her with wide eyes. Was she really that scary a face?

She cupped her cheeks with her own hands, and only then realized her eyes were narrowed and her mouth was clenched tight.

What the hell was this, a Demon or something?

She took a huge breath, then ran over to the person she had startled.

"I’m sorry, sorry—wait a second! I got super pissed off because I saw the news in front of the station and scared you!"

"U-um—oh, I see. Haga-san, you really like Atel Octo, huh?"

"That’s right~! A hero who fights for justice against the darkness, it’s so refreshing when he gets all excited in just the right way, right?"

She could feel the blood rushing to her head.

So she forced herself to speak normally and calm her heart.

If she met Knight like this, they probably wouldn’t have a proper conversation.

He probably had his own reason too—though it made her angry, that was that. She didn’t know why he had acted like that. If shouting her opinion would solve everything, she and the other human wouldn’t be fighting either.

She calmed her racing heart and talked about the fight in front of the station. Suddenly her smartphone vibrated in her hand. An email from Leas Lot.

’Thank you. Saved.’

It was Leas’s signature terse, imperfect text— no conversion, no stamps. Reiko let out a huge sigh.

"Ha—haaaaa... Thank goodness..."

She was about to collapse in relief, but the girl she had been talking to gave her a puzzled look, so she explained.

She told her about the Atel Octo sighting, how she had no idea how it happened, but the wounds and burns were completely healed.

The girl smiled happily.

Of course. They were school students; Atel Octo had saved them countless times. Many still couldn’t fully trust him, but that was out of fear that he might one day go on a rampage like a Monster Villain. The minority who genuinely hated Atel Octo personally were few.

"I’m glad, Reiko-san. I’m still a little scared of him... but, um, he didn’t need to die. I think it’s good."

"Well, Atel Octo isn’t a Monster Villain on the outside at all. Can’t be helped, I guess...? Huh?"

While chatting, she opened her SNS and scrolled the timeline. Then she found a photo.

It was the back of Sacred Knight. He was walking away from the station toward an empty direction.

From the scenery, she estimated his location and guessed he was heading toward the school.

"...Tch! I just got a sighting of Sacred Knight, so I’m heading over for a full investigative report! See you later!"

She waved goodbye to the girl who told her to be careful, then broke into a jog toward the school.

She mentally expanded a map of the area around the school, guessed where people would gather based on her own experience, and painted it black.

Whether she stayed in her transformed form or reverted, she couldn’t cause a commotion in a populated place.

But from the SNS and surroundings, there were no signs of people shouting ’Sacred Knight is over there’—so he had probably gone to an empty spot. However, around the school there weren’t that many tall buildings. She couldn’t use back alleys like in front of the station.

(——So it’s the school, huh?)

There were convenience stores and restaurants nearby, but no hiding spots. There was no way she was going to hide in a toilet and transform in there.

Therefore, the school—where outsiders could enter easily compared to other buildings—had the highest chance. The walls and fences prevented entry through the main gate or back gate, but they weren’t strong enough to stop Sacred Knight, so it was still possible.

Of course, it was a flimsy guess—lots of hopeful speculation—but if it didn’t work, she’d think of the next move or ask Leas.

Reiko returned to the school. Instead of entering the main building, she circled around to the back of the school.

She hadn’t had any real plan. She just thought she’d check the outside before looking inside the school—nothing more.

"Ah..."

That was it.

Instead of being happy that her guess had hit the mark, Reiko was stunned first.

The school she attended had a girl in a red dress squatting on the school building’s back, hugging her knees—such a mismatched situation stopped Reiko’s thoughts cold.

She knew that girl was Sacred Knight.

The vertically rolled red hair that had changed after transformation, the luxurious crimson dress, the white-and-silver great armor harmonizing with them, and the giant sword burning fiercely on the ground.

All of them were the form of Knight that Leas had described, but Reiko couldn’t connect the girl in front of her with the one Leas had talked about.

Leas spoke of Knight with a smile full of joy. She was like the sun—bright, dazzling, warming and protecting everyone, and against enemies she mercilessly burned with flames. Reiko had heard that it was a lively person.

But from the girl before her eyes, she couldn’t feel even a fragment of that impression.

Like a candle flame in a strong wind, perhaps.

From her, all she could feel was fragility that might disappear with one blink.

"Ah... Why... am I... supposed to do it much better..."

A frail voice.

And it was filled with anger and sorrow.

It was like scorching heat—directed at herself, not at others. The roaring fire was searing her own body—over and over and over.

"Sacred Knight-san—right?"

She had planned to complain about something when they met, but she’d keep her fists in check until she heard him out.

After calming down, she had thought that, but the sight in front of her blew that away too.

"——Who are you?"

The figure looking up at her after noticing Reiko’s voice was a beautiful girl.

Her complexion wasn’t bad, and her features were beautifully arranged.

But—why? That was exactly why her tattered inner self stood out so clearly.

The sun-like person Leas had described—but that sun had long since sunk and refused to rise again.

"Leas-senpai—Leas Lot-san... didn’t you receive the letter and photo from her?"

"Ah, yes, yes. The new Sacred Knight’s—"

She smiled.

A smile full of confidence, a smile like the sun’s, and she started to stand up—then collapsed like a broken doll with a thud.

A sound like shattering glass echoed. The magic power left Sacred Knight’s body, and a blonde girl in pajamas appeared.

"I-Is it okay?! Really?!"

Reiko rushed over panicked and helped her up.

She was breathing—she was alive.

Reiko stared at the upper-class girl’s face, breathing out raggedly as if in agony, and sighed deeply.

"...Either way, there’s no choice but to not abandon her like this."

Reiko didn’t know what had happened. Leas probably didn’t know either.

She had no idea what had happened to Sacred Knight—Grace Wayne.

But,

"There’s no way someone who can’t be left alone here could claim to be a righteous ally, Sacred Knight."

She carried the larger girl and slowly started walking.

For now, she’d take her to her own room.

Contacting Leas—postponed for now.

(We’ve been exchanging letters on purpose, hiding that state—we can’t just blab about it ourselves.)

Reiko recalled Leas’s smile when she spoke of Sacred Knight—Grace.

Grace probably didn’t want to tarnish it.

Her usually cool senior had smiled naturally for once. How many sorrows would she feel if she learned about the current Grace? How much regret for not noticing?

Grace had probably understood that too, and in her letters she had hidden her condition to not worry Leas.

(...Wait, what about this?)

She had sent a letter from someone she treasured deeply. Reiko was sure Grace had read it immediately.

And she would have found it—the photo she took, the Sacred Knight and the tentacle Monster Villain together.

Was this the photo of her beloved junior being sent like a trap by a playboy? A double peace sign with a lewd face?

If her mind had been normal, she could have believed Leas’s words.

But—from what Reiko had seen, she didn’t think the current Grace was normal.

"Did my photo deliver the final blow...?"

Grace didn’t answer.

She just continued breathing out raggedly in agony.