The 8th of the Month of Light. It was finally time for my date with Alice... No, really, I had been looking forward to it. I might have momentarily forgotten, but I would appreciate it if we just pretended that never happened.
"Alright, let's get moving! A lavish lunch and an all-you-can-eat dinner are calling my name!"
"...Hey, why are you casually slipping in greedy additions like an all-you-can-eat buffet?"
"So, Kaito-san. What kind of restaurant are we heading to?"
"You brat..."
A masterclass in subject-changing. As expected, her Phantasm King Evasion Skill was in a league of its own. I really wanted to slug her.
For Alice, food clearly trumped romance. Instead of dressing up for the date, she was in her usual clothes, mask and all. She looked as suspicious as ever. It was the kind of outfit that would get someone rejected from a restaurant with a dress code, but if it came to that, I was sure she would just manipulate her subordinates behind the scenes to get us in anyway.
"I’ve thought of a few places, but Alice, do you prefer fish or meat?"
"Meat, without a second thought!"
"Thanks for the enthusiastic, instant reply... But as a girl, how do you feel about that?"
"Refinement doesn't fill the stomach, y'know?"
I see. Coming from someone who claimed to suffer from hunger on a daily basis, those words carried a different weight. Though, to be fair, her hunger was entirely her own fault.
"That reminds me, I found out while looking for a place that fish is quite the luxury item here."
"The Royal Capital doesn't face the sea, after all. Even though Teleportation Magic exists, only a handful of merchant guilds own magic tools powerful enough to teleport entire wagons. Some places use the Wyvern Service, but most imports come by land."
"I see..."
"From a strategic perspective, a guild that can import fresh fish via Teleportation Magic wants to exploit that advantage to turn a profit. As a result, fish is relatively more expensive here compared to the Hydra Kingdom."
Fish was indeed pricey in the Kingdom of Sinfonia; I had realized that much while researching restaurants. When I first arrived in this world, I assumed those prices were the standard, but in the Hydra Kingdom, fish was significantly cheaper than in the Kingdom of Sinfonia, while fruit was more expensive. Each country seemed to have its own economic quirks, which I found quite interesting.
"Well, regardless of national circumstances, some ingredients are expensive everywhere—like Dragon meat."
"I recall you saying it doesn't circulate much."
"Yes, Dragons are formidable enemies for the average human. They're quite a handful."
Right. I tended to forget because I was surrounded by people who could swat a Dragon aside, but they were powerful monsters. Naturally, their meat was a rare and expensive commodity. I had tried it once during a barbecue, and the meat was surprisingly tender, practically melting on the tongue. It was delicious... I definitely wanted to eat it again.
"Well, unfortunately, the place we’re going today isn’t serving Dragon meat. It's a bird called an Emerald Bird..."
"Ooh! An Emerald Bird? Isn't that top-tier poultry? Man, I can't wait! Oh, and are seconds free? Thank you so—Gah!?"
"I didn't say that."
I gave Alice a light rap on the head as she tried to sneak in an all-you-can-eat clause at every opportunity, giving a wry smile at her usual goofy behavior. After everything was said and done, being with Alice was easy and fun. Perhaps that was why I felt today’s date was going to be so enjoyable.
Just as I was walking along with those thoughts, the scenery shifted completely.
"...Eh?"
It was a jarring, abnormal sight. The street, the buildings, even the pedestrians—it all vanished, painted over by a void of pure white. But the phenomenon didn't stop there. Streaks of color shot through the white void, forming a landscape that looked exactly like the cyber-spaces I had seen in anime and games. This was a place that absolutely should not exist in this world.
"Discovery."
"!?"
A voice like a mechanical recording reached my ears, and a chill raced down my spine. I whipped my head around, and there... stood an Angel.
It wasn't a metaphor; it was a literal Angel. I counted multiple pairs of pure white wings on its back. It was an incredibly beautiful being dressed in a white stola draped over one shoulder, much like the figures from Greek Mythology. Its short blonde hair seemed to glow, and its eyes were... iridescent? No, they were a kaleidoscope of shifting colors.
The figure stood about 150 centimeters tall—quite small—yet it exuded a presence so overwhelming that its physical stature became irrelevant. It looked like an Angel straight out of the scriptures. I couldn't tell if it was male or female at a glance, and while its beauty was captivating, it was also profoundly eerie.
It gave me the same feeling I got when I first met Shiro-san—a total absence of emotion. It was as if I were looking into a bottomless abyss, yet at the same time, I felt like the entity was peering into the deepest corners of my soul. It was a suffocating pressure.
"Kaito-san! Get back!!"
"!?"
Just as the Angel’s presence threatened to crush me, Alice leaped in front of me. Her voice was sharp, filled with a level of tension I had never heard from her before.
However, that inexplicable entity was faster than her.
"Obstacle."
"Damn—!?"
"Alice!?"
With a single word from the Angel, Alice was swallowed by a flash of light. And then, she was gone.
What is this? What is happening?
The sensation of my heart freezing over snapped me out of my daze. Forgetting the pressure from before, I screamed.
"What... what did you do to Alice?!"
"...!?"
Rage. A burning, searing fury erupted within me. I knew the being before me was powerful enough to consider me nothing more than a speck of dust. If I shouted, I might be erased without a trace—but I couldn't keep silent.
The Angel’s brow twitched ever so slightly at my outburst before it spoke in a flat, monotone voice.
"Injury: none. Relocated to exterior space. Distance: ten thousand kilometers. Forced teleportation."
Its speech was fragmented and difficult to parse, but I understood that Alice was safe, even if she had been forcibly removed. But as relief washed over me, a new shock took its place. The Angel had said "ten thousand kilometers"—that wasn't a unit of measurement used in this world. It was a unit from mine.
What is this thing? Just who is it?
"...Observation."
"...Eh?"
The Angel fell silent for a moment before shaking its head and uttering nonsensical phrases.
"Subject: Ordinary. Singularity: Absent."
"..."
"Ability: Fragile. Magic power: Negligible. Appearance: Average... Incomprehensible."
I didn't understand. I truly couldn't wrap my head around it. Why was this sudden Angel standing there insulting me? But its gaze was chilling. It looked at me as if I were utterly worthless.
"Re-confirming."
"!?"
The Angel reached out a hand to touch me, but it stopped halfway. It suddenly turned its gaze away from me.
"Astonishment... Miscalculation of prowess?"
"...What?"
It muttered as if it had misjudged someone's strength, its eyes fixed on a point in the distance. A massive fissure split the air in that direction, and through the crack in space, Alice stepped back into the world.
"Alice!"
"The heart-spun, forged into armor— The heart-spun, honed into a blade— The heart-spun, manifest as wings—"
"!?"
As Alice returned, her voice boomed with a terrifying authority that seemed to vibrate through the very fabric of the space. She reached up, tore the mask from her face, and threw it aside. Her eyes, burning with a lethal fury, locked onto the Angel.
"—My heart's blade is here! Weave the bonds—'Hecatoncheir'!!"
At her command, the strange, digital space was instantly flooded with a blinding, multifaceted light.