The second day of the Cultural Festival had arrived.
The first day had concluded successfully without a single issue.
However, the second day was slated to host both the Physique Contest and the Miss Contest. Although these events were scheduled to take place in the auditorium in the afternoon, the crowd was already noticeably larger than the day before.
Evi had apparently been conditioning his muscles since early morning to prepare for the Physique Contest. "I’m going to take down the Club President!" he had boasted... though I wondered if he truly stood a chance against a man with such an overwhelmingly massive frame.
Meanwhile, just as I had yesterday, I spent the morning working the kitchen.
As Amelia predicted, word of mouth had traveled fast; the influx of customers was significantly higher than on the first day. Even for a morning rush, the sheer number was unexpected.
"Ray! Three more omurice!"
"Understood!"
Orders continued to pour in from Amelia, and I prepared the dishes with practiced efficiency. Having grown accustomed to the work, I was plating and serving three orders of omurice in the blink of an eye.
At the moment, the kitchen was being run by four people: myself, Albert, and two other male students. Even with that many hands on deck, we barely had a moment to breathe. It was an incredibly frantic environment.
I couldn't help but wonder what the state of the cafe would be once I shifted into my role as Lily.
Once the clock struck 11:20 AM, I headed to the same classroom as yesterday to begin my transformation into my female persona.
As I left the kitchen and hurried down the hall... I happened to run right into Rebecca-senpai.
"Ah... Ray-san. Hello."
"Rebecca-senpai. Good morning. Are you on patrol?"
"Y-Yes... that’s right."
Her response was hesitant. The way she immediately averted her eyes the moment she saw my face wasn't my imagination.
In that instant, I remembered.
The dream I had seen this morning.
But no... surely, such a thing was impossible.
If I had to put a name to it, it would be a shared consciousness. Such a phenomenon had never been recorded in Modern Magic. I hadn't heard a word about such a thing from Master, either.
But then why was Senpai acting this way...?
I opened my mouth to ask her, but—
"W-Well then, please excuse me!"
With a quick bow, Senpai hurried away as if she were fleeing from the spot.
I could only stand there, dazed, as I watched her retreating figure.
In the end, I simply didn't know if that was a topic I was allowed to touch upon.
◇
"Haah... haah... haah..."
I ran.
I dashed away from the scene, desperate to put as much distance between myself and Ray-san as possible.
The moment I saw his face, the memories came rushing back.
The dream I had seen toward dawn.
It was far too vivid to be called a mere dream.
A funeral. It was a scene clad in such profound sorrow that I could feel the weight of it just from the air itself.
Ray-san was still a young boy there, and Professor Caroline and the Headmaster were also present. Furthermore, there was one woman who stood out—a woman with beautiful golden hair and stunning azure eyes who was speaking to the young Ray-san.
The rain was coming down in a torrent.
Under a leaden sky, the rain poured relentlessly.
Yet, I felt no cold. It was then that I realized I was dreaming.
A lucid dream... perhaps that’s what it was.
I watched the funeral from a distance.
Ray-san was so small then, only about half his current height.
Unlike the boy I knew now, he was shrouded in a heavy, melancholy atmosphere. His eyes looked as if they reflected nothing but darkness. He was a far cry from the person I knew at the Academy.
At the same time, I remembered.
The countless dreams I had experienced until now.
He had been fighting on a battlefield. On the front lines, alongside his comrades, he had charged through the fray. Drenched in the blood of his enemies and his own, he had fought in a gruesome theater of war ruled by screams and roars of anger.
It was only after having that dream that I realized the setting was the Far East Campaign.
But why was I seeing these things? The mystery of it was almost more than I could bear.
For a dream, it carried far too much weight of reality.
I couldn't help but think that if this truly was Ray-san’s past, then all of his current behavior made sense. Every action he took would finally fall into place.
"Rebecca-senpai. I look forward to working with you."
When I first saw him bow his head, I thought he was simply a very polite person.
But there was something resolute, something rigid about his presence... yes.
He reminded me of the military men I knew.
That was the impression I’d had back then. Due to my father’s position, military personnel had visited our home several times. Ray-san’s aura was strikingly similar to the officers I had spoken with.
But it seemed impossible.
He was only a first-year student. It was unthinkable for him to have been in the military before entering the Academy.
I had believed that right up until I began having these dreams.
And with the vision I saw this morning, my suspicion turned into conviction.
"Ray-san...?"
I had called out to him in the dream without thinking. In an instant, his child-like figure vanished, replaced by the Ray-san I knew now.
"Rebecca-senpai? Why are you here? No, this... this is supposed to be a dream."
"Ray-san. Who... exactly are you?"
"..."
I pressed him for an answer.
I knew his official background was that of an Ordinary family. But I knew there was more to it than that. I realized that Ray-san was hiding a deep secret.
"Senpai. I am—"
He began to speak.
While being pelted by the rain, our gazes locked.
I never heard what he said next.
The image of Ray-san—speaking with such calm detachment while looking so profoundly sad—was etched into my heart as I woke up.
"Haah... haah... why did I run away?"
I muttered the words to myself.
I had fled from Ray-san the moment we bumped into each other. It was because I was becoming certain that his past was identical to the one in those dreams.
He had experienced the Far East Campaign on the front lines, met that beautiful golden-haired woman, and grown up through it all. He had developed significantly as a person and as a sorcerer.
As I recalled her, I felt as though I had met that woman somewhere before... and as I walked, lost in thought, I nearly collided with someone at a corner.
My mind had been so far away that I hadn't noticed them.
I immediately bowed my head.
"I am so sorry! It was entirely my own carelessness..."
"No, think nothing of it. I've suffered no harm."
"Ah..."
"What’s the matter? Hm... wait, are you Rebecca Bradley?"
Surely, this was a cruel twist of fate.
The person standing before me was the very woman I had seen in my dream.
No, I had seen her several times before at aristocratic functions and Magic Association parties.
The once-in-a-generation genius sorcerer: Lydia Ainsworth.
While her achievements as a researcher were legendary, she was also... if I recalled correctly, she was the Ice Sword Sorcerer.
In that case, was Ray-san, who grew up under her... her child? No, the age gap was too small for that. Besides, he was an Ordinary. The pieces didn't fit.
My mind raced through a dozen different possibilities.
"Are you alright? You look quite pale..."
"Ah, no. Um... my apologies. Lady Lydia Ainsworth, this is the first time we’ve spoken properly, I believe."
"Indeed. Regardless, you've certainly grown. You were quite a bit smaller when I last saw you."
She spoke with a stiff tone, but her voice was kind.
However, there was one glaring difference from the woman in my dreams.
She was sitting in a wheelchair.
The realization hit me.
I knew the conclusion of that battle in Ray-san’s memories.
Every question, every fragmentary memory I’d gleaned from the dreams, suddenly snapped together. My suspicions took on a terrifyingly concrete meaning.
And, driven by an uncontrollable curiosity, I found myself asking—
"Was Ray-san... fighting in the Far East Campaign?"
The moment the words left my mouth, her expression hardened, and her gaze sharpened into a piercing glare.
"Did you hear that from Ray?"
"No..."
"Then how do you know?"
A feeling of pure terror washed over me. My legs shook at the sudden, violent shift in her aura.
It was frightening. It was terrifying, but I had been right.
The battlefield I had seen in my dreams—the one he had run through—was real.
Ray-san... had actually lived through the Far East Campaign. He had come to this Academy carrying the weight of all that sorrow and tragedy.
I had finally discovered the truth.
"I... I saw it in a dream. Ray-san was running through the battlefield, and you were always there by his side."
"Go on."
"A-And... at the very end, Ray-san caused a Magic Area Overheat. I don't know what happened after that. But! I saw it all in a dream!"
I pleaded with her to believe me.
Even though I knew I shouldn't be saying these things, I couldn't stop myself. I wanted to understand him.
For some reason, I felt a desperate need to know the true Ray-san.
"A dream... a confusion of consciousness? No, it’s too accurate for that... is there a magical factor involved? Surely it couldn't be related to that matter... I see. If I look at it from that angle, the pieces connect. I see... this runs deeper than I thought..."
She muttered to herself, the meaning of her words lost on me.
"Rebecca Bradley."
"Y-Yes?"
"Once the Cultural Festival is over, come to my home."
"Um, well..."
"I’ll inform Ray of the details."
"Y-Yes, ma’am."
"Then, if you’ll excuse me. And whatever you do, do not speak of these dreams to anyone else. Absolutely no one. Do you understand?"
"...I-I understand."
She pushed her wheelchair away, disappearing from my sight.
I leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor.
I stared blankly up at the ceiling.
Who on earth was I... and who was he?