NOVEL WEB Chapter 27
Episode 27: A Beautiful Girl Remains Beautiful Even When Injured
The night in Academy City is somewhat bustling.
It’s because the students, freed from their studies, are fully enjoying their freedom as if basking in the essence of youth.
The Dungeon Special Zone is no exception.
Even kids who spend their days staring at notebooks are now wandering through dungeons with weapons in hand.
Among these students, one shadow watches from atop an abandoned building.
That’s right, it’s me.
“This city’s night is quite noisy. I prefer the quiet of the night.”
And here I am, saying things like this.
Which is why—I’m dressed as a girl!!
Yay!
“■え■■!”
Oh, Solciera seems to be into it too!
Does she finally understand the charm of cross-dressing?
She even let her hair grow out. If she continues like this and becomes a full-time safe beautiful-girl machine, we might get along well from now on.
I was on the rooftop of an abandoned building at the edge of the Dungeon Special Zone.
It was probably built for surveillance by some academy in the past and then discarded.
Though it’s a building, it has a rather ominous appearance unlike ordinary ones.
Rusted barbed wire, empty cartridges, and traces of gun turrets are scattered everywhere.
I’m sitting on one of those old gun turrets, hugging my knee while overlooking the city.
“To me, this city is too dazzling…”
It’s fun.
Right now, since I’ve injured my right arm, I’m pretending to be a sorrowful beautiful girl.
Gothic Lolita outfit times bandages. The synergy is just too much!
I should’ve brought an eye patch…
By the way, I’ve rewrapped the bandages to suit my preferences.
Instead of being neatly wrapped without waste, I made them flutter in the wind intentionally.
This is the rooftop of the building. Both the bandages and my hair can flutter freely.
My right hand, which suppresses my hair with a sad expression, is also wrapped in bandages—what a perfect picturesque scene.
Apparently, neither my Dive Gear nor Solciera have a function to save this stunning still image.
What’s going on?
“Haa…”
Anyway, my right arm hurts.
Until now, I was fine, but when I rewound the bandage, I must’ve reopened the wound pretty badly. It might have even worsened and expanded.
Because, blood is seeping through the bandages even now.
But, bandages slightly stained with blood bring out more “me-ness,” so it’s all good in the end.
I believe that beautiful girls shouldn’t suffer as a universal truth, but I also understand the beauty of a wounded beautiful girl.
I wish everyone at Factom General Academy could smile happily. Ideally, they’d stay within the realm of four-panel manga about everyday life.
However, a beautiful girl suffering from injuries or showing expressions of anguish is also charming.
How do I reconcile these two conflicting emotions?
Simple.
If I hurt myself, it’ll be fine.
“…Perhaps, I overdid it a bit?”
While muttering such words, I gently stroke my right arm.
Next to me lies a jet-black scythe leaned against the wall.
A beautiful girl like this—isn’t she great?
“■■■, ■■■■?”
Eh? Is the magic circle complete?
That’s awesome! Aren’t you often praised for your competence?
So, when I raise my right arm, could you create a magic circle ahead of it?
I want to play around with it.
“■■”
With the energetic response of the Star Reader’s Staff, I raise my right arm towards the city.
Then, a one-meter circular magic circle appears at the tip of my palm.
Deep blue and purple swirl together in a chaotic dance, continuously changing.
Meaningless strings of characters and formulas look convincingly magical and very cool.
While maintaining the magic circle, I whisper softly enough for it to vanish in the wind.
“—The world hasn’t responded to me yet.”
Kuu~!
This is it! This is exactly what I wanted!
A beautiful girl who, once trusted, would dive headfirst into deep co-dependency!
Role-playing as such a beautiful girl is the most fun!
“Still, there’s nothing left to do but keep fighting.”
I attach a gas mask to cover the lower part of my face, pick up the scythe, and stand up.
Just standing up.
Not doing anything.
I just wanted to do something dramatic.
Incidentally, I twirl my skirt lightly and turn around—.
Ah.
“…Uh, is it Solciera…?”
When I turned around, there was a girl there.
Our eyes met perfectly.
Her vivid aqua half-up twin tails didn’t blend into the night.
Her eyes radiated intelligence.
And she wore the uniform of Mikage Academy.
That’s right, it’s the main heroine of the original story!
Oh no…
■
Futaba Mihaya was unusually alone that day.
Her partner, Gata Toraku, who had been injured in the dungeon, was still lying on a bed in the infirmary.
Although his physical wounds had healed, he was resting due to signs of magical power exhaustion.
“Haa…”
She sighed again, unable to count how many times that day.
Everything was the same as usual except that he wasn’t beside her.
She attended classes as usual and explored dungeons after school as usual.
Mihaya spent this unreal day purely out of inertia.
That’s why she took an unusual action today.
“…There was a building over there?”
The world, which usually seemed like mere scenery, rapidly regained its color to fill the void left by him.
Before she knew it, Mihaya’s feet were aimlessly heading toward the abandoned building.
And then,
“—The world hasn’t responded to me yet.”
She encountered her.
The silver-blue hair shimmering like stars in the night sky.
Monochrome clothing that seemed detached from the mundane world, like something out of a fairytale.
Through the star chart-like magic circle, Mihaya unilaterally recognized the girl gazing at the city.
“…Solciera?”
She had heard the students at Mikage Academy talk about her.
The eighth S Rank explorer of Academy City, whose affiliation was unknown.
She had seen footage of her fighting once, and that image was strongly imprinted in Mihaya’s mind. Her strength was terrifyingly self-contained.
“…There’s nothing left to do but keep fighting.”
As Mihaya silently stared, Solciera suddenly murmured and stood up.
She picked up the scythe next to her and turned around.
“Ah…”
Mihaya hadn’t realized that sound came from herself.
Their eyes met.
They were so sharp and cold that Mihaya felt as though they were seeing through her soul.
The twin eyes unmistakably captured her.
There was no sign of Solciera intending to speak.
Only the sound of the wind filled the surroundings.
Eventually, Mihaya managed to squeeze out words.
“…Uh, is it Solciera…?”
She understood.
But those were the first words that came to her mind in the heat of the moment.
Somewhere else, Mihaya regretted not having a better first contact, but Solciera briefly replied, “Yes.”
“Do you have any business with me?”
“A, uh…”
On guard, Solciera spoke.
It was understandable.
She probably knew that she had been recognized as S Rank.
And she likely knew that many academies wanted her.
To Solciera, Mihaya might have appeared as one of the countless people seeking her.
“C, no—”
Just as she was about to deny it, her eyes caught something on Solciera’s right arm.
Perhaps it was because something large was fluttering in the wind.
It was a carelessly wrapped bandage.
Solciera’s right arm was haphazardly covered in bandages.
It looked like someone had hastily wrapped them just to stop the bleeding.
“Are you injured?”
“Ah, a little from a dungeon before. An irregularity occurred.”
Speaking about her own condition, Solciera sounded completely indifferent.
Even now, she used her right arm without hesitation to hold back her hair from the wind,
No matter how much blood seeped through the bandages.
“You’re bleeding…!”
“No, it’s not a big deal.”
Despite Solciera’s calm demeanor, Mihaya found herself saying this.
“Come on, show me your right arm. The way the bandages are wrapped is terrible. Let me fix them.”
Even though she knew she was dealing with Solciera, Mihaya approached her without hesitation and urged her to sit down.
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”
“How can I not care when I see someone injured right in front of me?”
Mihaya thought somewhere inside her that it was quite a noble statement.
(I ignored him, though.)
An image of a young man flashed in her mind.
Now that she thought about it, that young man had also injured his right arm.
Or rather, was that why she couldn’t leave Solciera alone?
In some way, she saw the person she should have helped overlapped with Solciera.
“Here, sit down.”
“Haa… Such a kind person.”
Sighing, Solciera reluctantly complied.
She retrieved a medical kit from the expansion field of her Dive Gear and spread it out on the spot.
“I’ll take off the bandage once. I’ll try not to cause pain, but tell me if it hurts.”
“It’s fine, I’m used to pain. Compared to back then, this is nothing.”
Solciera casually replied.
Mihaya slowly unwrapped the bandage.
The blood had partially coagulated, making it difficult to remove.
Nevertheless, she eventually managed to take it off.
“…It’s a nasty wound.”
“Is it?”
It was painful to look at how composed Solciera remained.
The crimson scar spreading across her porcelain-white skin was ghastly.
Mihaya gritted her teeth and resisted the urge to look away as she poured disinfectant on it.
“It’s going to sting.”
“Yes.”
Despite the expected pain, Solciera maintained her cool composure.
As a result, an awkward silence dominated the atmosphere, creating an uncomfortable tension.
Even though she knew it was self-indulgent, she still felt uneasy.
“Did you wrap this bandage yourself?”
“Yes. I hadn’t done it before, so it didn’t go well.”
“The blood is seeping through, and the wound seems to have opened again… You’ve rewrapped it multiple times, haven’t you?”
“Wow, you figured that out easily.”
For the first time, Solciera seemed to reveal some emotion.
(There’s no way she went to the hospital. Trying to handle a wound like this on her own…)
Certainly, with an explorer’s self-healing abilities, it would eventually heal.
But until then, she would surely endure the pain.
Solciera accepted it as a matter of course.
It must have been the same for her all along.
Mihaya took out fresh bandages from the medical kit.
Then, she quickly and carefully wrapped the wound to prevent further exposure to the wind.
“Here, I’m done.”
“…Thank you.”
Staring curiously at the newly bandaged arm, Solciera expressed her gratitude.
“You’re surprisingly good at wrapping bandages.”
“I often did it for my childhood friend.”
Mihaya smiled as she said that.
“That’s nice. The person who has someone like you around must be truly happy.”
“…I wonder about that.”
She unintentionally muttered that.
But, realizing it immediately, she forced a smile to cover it up.
Looking at such Mihaya, Solciera gently smiled and pointed to the spot next to her.
“Sit down. As thanks for the bandage, I’ll listen to your troubles if they’re minor.”
“But…”
“As someone completely unrelated, there might be things you can talk about. Come on.”
Feeling somewhat reluctant, Mihaya sat next to her.
Without looking at her, Solciera kept her gaze on the city and simply said, “Speak freely.”
Eventually, Mihaya began speaking softly, bit by bit.
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