With a sudden jolt, I open my eyes and sit up in bed.
My heart races loudly, and my body feels cold and clammy. For a moment, I even forget to breathe as I replay the vivid images that had unfolded behind my eyelids.
「I… I saw it.」
It was unmistakable—the dream I just had was a record from two thousand years ago, a memory of Four Seasons-san and Color-san.
I had planned to approach this gradually, but on the very first night, it had come to me.
Taking a deep breath, I grab my phone from beside the pillow, unlock it, and open the notes app. Without filtering or analyzing anything, I type out everything I remember, just as it was.
Yet…
「What triggered this specific scene?」
After I finish jotting down the details, I murmur to myself.
I know that the dream was likely triggered by the magical exchange I performed with Four Seasons-san and Color-san. But the question is, ‘why’ did I see ‘this’ dream?
The content was a battle—one from long ago.
I saw ten Japanese transmigrators fighting against a ‘Rare Existence’—a ‘Demon King’.
The ‘Rare Existence’ in the dream was grotesque. Far worse than the chimera I had fought, it was a monstrous amalgamation of various beasts. It had countless heads, mismatched limbs from various creatures, useless wings, mouths filled with fangs, and gleaming, iridescent eyes. It was so horribly deformed that it was impossible to tell what its original form might have been.
And during the battle, one of the transmigrators… suffered such a gruesome fate.
「…」
I shake my head vigorously.
It was just a dream. It didn’t happen to me.
「No… but it ‘was’ real.」
It was something Four Seasons-san and Color-san had actually experienced two thousand years ago.
I exhale deeply.
I’m letting the dream mess with my emotions. I feel restless, and there’s no way I’ll be able to go back to sleep.
Getting out of bed, I put on a windbreaker and step out of my room. I walk downstairs, open the front door, and step into the garden to breathe in the cool night air.
I’m doing the same thing I did after the last dream, aren’t I?
Back then, Chocola came to comfort me—
「Kwuuun.」
「You… how did you know I was awake?」
Sure enough, just like before, Chocola appears from the shadows, padding softly toward me.
「Kwuun…?」
He rubs his fluffy body against my legs, as if asking, ‘Are you okay?’
「I’m fine. This isn’t like last time; I’m not upset. But… thanks.」
「Bark, fsshhh…」
「Come here, you.」
I squat down and cup his face in my hands, giving him a good rub before petting him all over.
I wonder what time it is. Chocola hasn’t howled yet, so it’s probably still a while before dawn.
I look up at the sky. The moon of this world, with its distinctive ring, is a little more than half full. It’s slightly past its zenith, leaning toward the western sky.
「Two or three in the morning, maybe?」
「Bark?」
「If I stay up, tomorrow’s going to be rough. I should probably try to get some more sleep soon.」
As I playfully ruffle Chocola’s fur, coaxing him as he paws at my knee, a voice interrupts.
「If that’s the case, why not talk with me for a bit until you feel sleepy?」
From the shadows of the English garden beside the house, a small figure steps into the moonlight, smiling gently at me.
「Four Seasons-san.」
His wings, faintly illuminated by the pale moonlight, shimmer softly as he shrugs.
「Fairies are supposed to appear at night, after all. What was it? ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’?」
「Oh, was that a good read? I haven’t gotten around to it yet.」
On my bookshelf, there’s a paperback edition of Shakespeare’s works. I’ve lent a few books to Four Seasons-san, alongside novels by other authors.
「Actually, I haven’t read ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ yet, either. But I did read some Akutagawa Ryūnosuke.」
「Which ones? ‘Rashomon’, maybe?」
「’Chūtō’ and ‘Torokko’.」
「Interesting choices.」
Even though I read quite a bit in my spare time, I get the feeling that Four Seasons-san might soon surpass me in literary knowledge.
Without a word, Four Seasons-san leads me deeper into the garden, to the gazebo.
We sit across from each other, and, as if he’d been planning it all along, there’s a steaming cup of tea waiting for me on the table.
「It’s herbal tea. It should help you sleep better.」
「Thank you. I’ll have some.」
I sip the tea, gently stroking Chocola, who’s curled up at my feet.
「Did reading Japanese literature bring back any memories?」
「No, not at all. But I did realize something: Color really doesn’t like books. She falls asleep almost immediately while reading.」
「I see… I wish I’d picked something a bit easier for her.」
「Lend me a picture book or an encyclopedia next time. She’d probably enjoy just looking at the illustrations.」
「That makes sense.」
An animal encyclopedia sounds like a good idea.
To me, it’s a book with ordinary creatures, but to Color-san, it would be a book filled with animals from a completely different world—even if she was originally from Japan. I understand that fact, but there’s still something a little sad about it.
As I mull over these thoughts, Four Seasons-san speaks up, catching me off guard.
「I knew you’d come to the garden.」
「What?」
「Isn’t it strange? How did I know to wake up in the middle of the night and come to the living world?」
「That’s…?」
For a moment, I just blink, confused. Then it hits me.
「No way…」
「Yes, exactly. Think about it. We exchanged magic powers earlier today. It’s not surprising that what happened to you might happen to me as well.」
When he puts it that way, it makes perfect sense. It ‘could’ happen.
What I did was a kind of memory experience through dreams—using dark magic to trace the causal lines of the past, essentially accessing the records stored in magic power.
The process wasn’t fully clear to me, and there was no formal spell involved. It was all based on coincidence and intuition, which is why I thought it was something only I could do.
But Four Seasons-san, while not as adept as me, also possesses dark magic. And earlier today, my magic power had flowed through him for a time.
「You saw something, didn’t you? What did you see?」
I can’t help the tremble in my voice as I ask.
In response, Four Seasons-san—the Fairy King—speaks.
「I’m not as strong in magic as you, so it was blurry and indistinct, but yes, I did remember something.」
He shrugs with a self-deprecating, sad smile.
「It’s true that we—the Japanese transmigrators—defeated the ‘Rare Existence’, the Demon Kings. We believed it was our mission. But the truth is, their emergence could have been prevented in the first place.」
He begins to speak of fragments from a world long gone, a piece of history now lost.
※※※
「Two thousand years ago, the Demon Kings were created by human hands. In other words, it was a man-made disaster. We were used to clean up the mess, exploited until there was nothing left of us. And in the end, the world was dragged down with us.」
That expression—the bitter smile of a man who had once been a hero—or someone who should have been a hero.
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