Apparently, I’m what’s called an amnesiac.
“Apparently” because all my memories from birth up to a certain point are completely gone.
All I know is this keloid-scarred face of mine and the records that say I once had a foster father and mother.
No birth certificate. No clue where I was born. I’ve never even seen my real parents’ faces.
Like something out of a storybook, I was wrapped in a blanket and left in a baby hatch. Even my name, my foster parents gave it to me… apparently.
But with my memory a total blank, I can only rely on what the people at the shelter told me, I was rescued from the site of a fire. That’s why the left side of my face and the back of my head are covered in keloid scars, and my scalp has no hair.
The other children at the facility were afraid of me because of that. I became afraid of their gazes, and I kept avoiding them.
Eventually, I stopped smiling. I stopped feeling sad. I just kept living alongside the dull, sometimes throbbing pain.
Then, when I turned fifteen, my life changed.
A supporter of the shelter visited one day.
「So you’re the girl from the report… Hmm. Well, maybe you’ll be useful.」
And with that, I was taken to a different facility.
It was filled with children about my age.
Each of us had our own bed in a shared room.
「You kids have no family, no papers, nothing. So if you die, no one will care. It’s tragic, huh? Makes you bitter, doesn’t it? Some of you have injuries that’ll never heal. But me? I can fix that.」
A man appeared before us, saying that as he injected a liquid into the girl lying in the bed next to mine.
She groaned at first, but then, as if the pain had been a lie, fell quietly asleep.
「What’s wrong? Oh, I get it. You want some too, huh? Burns hurt, don’t they?」
Grinning, the man stuck a different needle into me.
「—Tch!」
As the liquid entered my body, the pain faded. My body felt light, and my consciousness slipped away.
◇◆◇◆
Several days later, I was being relentlessly trained in combat techniques at the facility.
I’d always picked up academics quickly, and that aptitude carried over, I absorbed fighting skills at an incredible pace.
(Because if I do well, I get more of that drug…)
I have to do more.
I have to learn more.
I have to kill more.
If I don’t…
If I don’t…
「I’ll disappear.」
◇◆◇◆
Two years later, I found myself wearing a hood I’d been handed as a joke, speaking clumsy Japanese with odd intonation, working as a private soldier for that organization.
In those two years, I’d mastered six languages, Japanese, English, Russian, Chinese, German, and French, along with a wide range of academic subjects. I carried out assassinations all over the world, dispatched whenever the organization contacted me.
「Mary, next target’s a brat from Japon.」
「A brat? Why someone like that?」
「Direct request from one of the boss’s VIP clients. They asked for our very best assassin. Don’t complain, just get it done.」
「Got it. Usual spot for the gear?」
「Yeah, same place.」
「Roger. Commencing mission.」
I ended the call, stood up from my seat, and headed to the usual pickup point.
Looking back, I had no idea that would be my final mission…
◇◆◇◆
「And that’s the gist of it.」
Even though I’d failed the mission, for some reason I was now dressed in an extravagant evening gown. I didn’t get it at all.
「But y’know, Mary-onee-san, that scar on your face, it wasn’t there to begin with, right?」
That absurd claim came from a girl with deep blue hair who called herself Touka.
「That’s ridiculous.」
「No no, seriously. It’s really gone.」
「Here, take a look.」
The soft-spoken girl with pink hair, Haruka, handed me a hand mirror.
「…Huh? You’re kidding me…」
I’d always avoided mirrors because of the burns on my face, but the reflection staring back at me now showed a smooth, unblemished face.
Even my hair, though sparse, had started growing again.
「Probably thanks to Yuuki.」
That came from Hikari, the strong-willed girl who’d been introduced as the one Yuuki trusted most.
「That gu… Kaminagi?」
「Yeah. Onii-chan can use healing magic, after all.」
「He saved me once too.」
「Unbelievable… to think I could heal this much…」
I’d assumed things like fractures would be fixable, since the bone was still there. But I never imagined even dead skin cells and hair could be restored.
And my head felt clearer somehow. That haze that had always clouded my mind was suddenly gone, and my thoughts were startlingly sharp.
(Ah… so that “medicine” they gave us must’ve been laced with narcotics…)
Of course, the organization would do something like that. Some kids even died from too many injections. When I think of it that way, it all makes sense.
「So, Mary-san, what will you do now?」
「Well… if I stay like this, the organization’s bound to come after me.」
「Then let’s rely on onii-chan!」
「Kaminagi?」
「He’s more dependable than he looks. I’m sure he’ll come up with something.」
「Is that really okay…?」
「We trust Yuuki and lean on him. And he trusts us and leans on us too.」
「Sounds like a beautiful relationship… something I’ve never had.」
「Well, that just depends on what you do from here on out, Mary-san.」
「And what’s… that supposed to mean?」
Just as I was about to ask more, someone knocked on the door to the dressing room we were using.
「Ladies, have you finished changing?」
A woman referred to as Baaya entered the room.
「Yup, all done~」
「We’re ready to go!」
「Then let’s head out, Mary!」
Saying that, Hikari gently placed a wig on my head and carefully adjusted it.
「Alright, perfect! Now let’s go surprise Yuuki!」
「「Yeah!」」
Haruka and Touka raised their hands energetically.
「Come on, Mary-onee-chan, with us too!」
「Yes, Mary-san, you too!」
「Let’s forget the complicated stuff for now and just enjoy ourselves! One more time, all together!」
「「「Let’s gooo!」」」
「「「「「Yeah!!」」」」」
This time, all of us raised our hands together in unison.
-0-
Author desu
And now, here’s some extra background info (character settings) for Mary:
——-
Mary Arlinston – 17 years old
Hair: Ash gray, short
Taken in by an organization’s orphanage after being found with amnesia.
Suffers from keloid burn scars from her left cheek to the top of her head, a result of a fire.
Excelled in academics within the orphanage, but was shunned due to her appearance.
At a time when she had given up on life and fallen into despair, she was absorbed into an assassination organization run by the orphanage’s upper echelons and drugged into obedience.
Gained enhanced physical abilities but gradually became a puppet.
Has no official identity; the only thing left to her is the name from her adoptive parents. Any inheritance was siphoned off by the organization.
She was sent to assassinate the protagonist, but was defeated in the attempt.
The wounds she suffered during the battle were healed by him, and her burns and skin regenerated. As a bonus, the drugs were purged from her system and the brainwashing lifted.
She speaks in strange, broken Japanese in front of Yuuki, but reverts to her professional persona when dealing with others.
There’s a secret about her, something even she doesn’t know yet.
Job: 【Assassin】
Specializes in erasing presence and moving with agility.
By the way, Mary was raised by an overseas mafia organization that breeds disposable assassins.
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