The robed figures who had appeared at the site of my kidnapping, and Alice, the perpetrator who had returned almost as soon as she had left... right now, the air in this stone room was filled with an indescribably awkward tension.
The cause was undoubtedly Alice.
She was the one who had kidnapped me in the first place, yet for some reason, she had now reappeared claiming she was here to save me.
"What is the meaning of this!?"
A different robed figure from the man who had been speaking to me earlier shouted. Alice simply waved her finger dismissively and spoke.
"Exactly what I said. I'm here to save Kaito-san. You might as well hurry up and prepare yourselves."
"……I see."
"Boss?"
The man who had been addressing me—the one called "Boss"—nodded to himself, seemingly the only one to find logic within the confusion.
"So that’s how it is. You consider your job finished the moment you delivered him here, and what you do afterward is your own business…… If we want you to look the other way, you expect us to pay even more."
"……"
His voice was calm, but it carried an undercurrent of venomous rage. He reached into his robes, pulled out a pouch that presumably contained coins, and held it out to Alice.
"……Very well. It would be unwise to fight you here. There are 100 Platinum Coins in this bag. That should satisfy you, I assume?"
"……Huh? Actually, I have plenty of complaints."
"What!?"
Alice didn't reach for the coins. Instead, she vanished, reappearing in front of me before anyone could blink.
With a swift flick of her knife, she sliced through the ropes binding me to the chair, and my body fell free.
"……See, I have a habit of putting a price on people. I only accept a job when the commission exceeds the value I’ve placed on the target…… But unfortunately, I couldn't put a price on Kaito-san."
"……What are you trying to say?"
Alice spoke in a quiet, razor-sharp voice that made the man’s irritation flare even higher. She stood firmly in front of me, glaring at the robed group as she continued.
"Well, it’s a bit of a problem, really. This person is more important to me than money."
"……Alice?"
"Actually…… let’s be honest. Your premise was wrong from the start."
"Premise?"
She spoke flatly, spinning her knife in one hand. Suddenly, Alice released a wave of bloodlust so intense it was impossible to imagine it coming from such a small girl.
She watched the man stumble back a step before continuing in an even colder tone.
"……The reason I accepted your request was because it was for kidnapping, not murder."
"……"
"If it had been a request for an assassination over some personal grudge, things would have been much simpler. I would have just taken your head off the moment we met, and that would have been that."
"——!?"
It was a chilling declaration. She was saying that if they had asked her to kill me, she would have killed them instead without a second thought.
"But a kidnapping implies there might be other accomplices involved. If I had killed you then and there, someone else might have come after Kaito-san later through a different route. This way was just much more efficient. That’s all there is to it."
"……In other words, you were planning this from the beginning……"
"Yeah. I intended to lure out every single person trying to harm Kaito-san and wipe them all out at once. Is that a problem?"
"……Alice…… w-why?"
"Ah~ um, are you really going to ask that now?"
It seemed Alice had intended to draw out and eliminate the entire conspiracy from the start, and she had only taken the job to facilitate that.
While I felt a swell of gratitude, I couldn't help but wonder why she would go so far for me, especially since she had referred to me as just a friend. The question slipped out before I could stop it.
Alice let out a slightly troubled sound and scratched her head as she turned to face me.
"……Kaito-san, you really are a softie. You trust a suspicious person like me so easily, you get genuinely worried and scold me, you look after me in all sorts of ways…… Honestly, you're a massive pushover."
"……"
"I thought I was a bit more of a cold-hearted person myself, but well, I guess you never know what’s going to happen in life."
Having said her piece, Alice lowered her stance and leveled her knife at the robed figures once more.
"……I’ve fallen for you."
"……Eh?"
"That’s why, even though it started as a joke, I’ve seriously fallen in love with Kaito-san! Spending time with you is fun. Doing stupid things and getting scolded is fun. Having you look after me with that exasperated look on your face…… I love all of it. I love you enough that I don't mind devoting myself to you even if there's no reward involved."
"……Alice."
The moment she made that declaration, Alice vanished. Then, the robed figures began to collapse as sprays of blood filled the air.
It was a feat of speed the eye couldn't possibly track. In an instant, she had cut down over ten people. Reappearing in the center of the room, Alice let out a long sigh and muttered to herself.
"Well…… like I said, I won’t forgive anyone who tries to hurt Kaito-san. So…… you guys were just out of luck."
"U-Um~ Kaito-san? A-Are you still mad, by any chance?"
"……Not really."
"No, look, the situation made it so kidnapping you once was the fastest way to handle things! I promise I was planning to save you from the very beginning!"
"I still feel like there were other ways you could have handled it."
"Urgh……"
Alice apologized profusely as I stood up, stretching my stiff limbs.
It wasn't that I was truly angry. She had saved me, after all, and I understood her motives. Her confession had also made me happy.
However, I couldn't shake a certain sense of dissatisfaction. Knowing that I had been dancing in the palm of her hand the entire time left me feeling a bit conflicted.
"I mean, sure, there were other methods, but…… this was the quickest! So, please? Kaito-san, don't be mad at me."
"……I’m not mad."
"You're totally sulking! I said I was sorry~"
It was pathetic of me, but I was indeed sulking a little. Seeing me turn my head away, Alice made a distressed sound and bowed her head repeatedly.
I knew that complaining further wouldn't change anything, but I just didn't feel like letting it go so easily.
"Muu, fine. I understand. I'll give you a proper apology."
"……An apology?"
"……Just don't look this way for a second."
"Hm?"
I tilted my head, confused by her request, and heard a soft clicking sound.
Was that the sound of her removing her mask?
Just as the thought crossed my mind, I felt a soft, warm sensation on my cheek.
"Mnh."
"What!?"
It was a faint, slightly damp touch. Realizing it was Alice’s lips, I spun around in shock.
Alice was frantically putting her mask back on, her face as red as a ripe apple.
"……S-So, please forgive me with that…… That, u-um, was my first kiss, for what it's worth……"
"……Eh? O-Oh……"
Still reeling from the shock of the kiss, I could only nod reflexively.
Dear Mother, Father—in the end, it turned out Alice had been planning to save me from the very start. I had felt a bit dissatisfied with how she played me, but that feeling vanished in a single instant. In a way, I suppose everything went exactly as she had planned.
In the sprawling garden of the mansion, Lilia spoke with desperate, pleading eyes.
"……Please. Chronoa-sama, save Kaito-san……"
"Yes, I understand."
Chronoa nodded quietly, acknowledging Lilia’s prayer, and turned her gaze to the two goddesses flanking her.
One was a purple-haired girl lounging on a floating cushion; the other was a woman with long green hair tied in a front bundle, radiating a gentle, calm aura.
"……I shall require your assistance, God of Fate, God of Life."
"Haa, I really hate working…… but I guess I can view this as a prior investment so Kai-chan will support my lifestyle eventually~"
"For you to bow your head to us…… it must be a grave matter indeed. I am wide awake now."
Standing together were the three Supreme Gods, the beings who reigned closest to the absolute pinnacle of the God Realm.
Prompted by Lilia’s desperate wish, Chronoa had immediately assembled this team for the express purpose of recapturing Kaito.
Now, the Supreme Gods of the God Realm were about to unleash their overwhelming power to save a single human being……