"Parting from Kuro at the fountain at the plaza, I began walking down the path towards Lilia-san's mansion as the sun sets." I'm kinda feeling a sense of deja vu... It seemed a little strange, but as I wasn't able to think of any particular cause for this feeling, I concluded that it must have been my imagination and just proceeded with my steps.
But... at that moment———– I felt something out of place, far exceeding what I had been feeling just now.
It was almost evening, the time of the day when streets would normally be crowded with people returning home from work or going out shopping for dinner, but there wasn't a single soul that could be found in the wide straight main street, filled with a strange silence.
Finding myself in such an abnormal scene, as if this space had been cut off from the rest of the world, I naturally stopped in place.
[...What the heck is———!?]
Immediately afterwards, a chill ran down my back and I can feel the hairs on my body rising.
The buildings in the vicinity were melting as if they were rotting, and the road in front of me was collapsing, a sensation so horrifying that it was almost impossible to imagine such a scene in my mind.
I don't know why, but my body was shivering, and it felt like the sound of my thirsty throat was loudly resounding in my ears.
And it isn't just in my head, all of my body... and the instincts within it were warning me.
——–That something very frightening is coming.
It's different from the pressure I've felt from Kuro's magic power when she visited me in Lilia-san's mansion before. It was much more fundamental, an inexplicably terrifying feeling that seemed to alert my instincts as a living being. In other words, a negative presence——– dense enough that I could feel it on my skin.
And then, from the end of the dimly-lit road which is tainted with silence, that appeared.
Long hair as white as ashes, morbidly white skin, deep and gloomy blood-like crimson eyes.
A woman dressed in a "black gothic dress-like clothing", wrapped in a pale blue light, floating just like fluttering dandelions, she approached my direction with an eerie presence around her.
She looked like a ghost, but she held beauty that could be described as unequaled. However, even her beauty accentuates the fear I'm feeling.
[Kahh... ahhh...]
Just by seeing the woman... I felt like I saw an illusion that my head had been decapitated. I can't breathe well and my whole body is shaking like crazy. And yet, I'm unable to move from where I stood at all.
Fear I've never felt before surged through my body, and at the same time, my instincts were intensely warning me.
Don't get involved with her, quickly run away... or else, I will be killed...
However, contrary to such thoughts, my legs won't move at all, as if my feet were sewn to the ground.
"...What an unusual magic power... Are you... the Hero?"
[!?]
Her cold voice resounds, and her red eyes look at me. At that moment, I felt a chill that froze my whole body, and I lost all my words due to the intense discomfort I'm feeling.
Ahh, I knew this feeling... It was just like "back then".
The day I lost my parents. The crushed car, the feeling of blood running down my neck, the coldness that seemed to drain the heat from my body... That's right. This is the feeling of impending death... An overwhelming fear that seemed to freeze my soul.
Yes, I felt so terrified of this woman I'd met for the first time.
As the feeling of fear seemed like it was starting to overwhelm my thoughts, the question of the unusual woman "Are you the hero?" popped within my mind.
Even though my instincts are telling me that I have to respond, that I mustn't go against this being, my body just keeps on shaking and I can't move properly.
"...I repeat... Are you... the Hero?"
As if my continued silence was off-putting, the woman changed her tone to a slightly stronger one and asked me the same question again.
It was as if I was being strangled by an invisible hand, pushing me down with an oppressive, suffocating feeling.
[...I'm an... otherworlder, but... I'm not….. the Hero.]
"...Is that so?"
The woman nodded to the words that I barely managed to squeeze out, without showing any particular reaction.
The silence is heavy. I feel as if the air itself has weight.
The trembling in my body grows even stronger, wanting to get rid of this hellish feeling as soon as possible.
After a few moments of silence, the woman holds out her hand to me to shake my hand.
"...I'm... Isis... Isis Remnant... Nice to meet you."
[Ughh!? Aaaahhhh...]
The moment I looked at the held-out hand, what rose in my hand was an intense sense of discomfort. A feeling of fear... Far greater than my mind can tolerate, and I feel like nausea was rising from the pits of my stomach.
I have to escape, escape, run away, run... my instincts were intensely screaming at me.
The hand that is supposed to look white and beautiful, looks like the sickle of the Soul Reaper.
I mustn't hold that hand. If I were to hold her hand, I would die. Don't defy her, don't go against her, don't take my eyes away from her... One after another, they resounded in my head like an alarm clock waking me up from sleep.
"...."
Seeing me like that, the woman slightly lowered her eyes, without saying anything. And the moment I saw the expression on her face, deep sorrow and intense loneliness in her slightly wavering eyes... I felt as if she was inhabited by a feeling of loneliness that was too intense.
I "don't have some sort of power that could help me read other people's emotions". That's why, this was just a feeling of mine.
To be clear, I don't understand the logic behind this. Why did I feel this way? I don't know the logic for this thought, nor do I have a clear reason or basis for it. But for some reason———– If I were to run away here, I feel like I would regret it for the rest of my life.
"...Eh?"
I can hear the startled voice of the woman. My body, which should have been frozen in fear, awkwardly moved... And I found myself slapping my cheeks with both of my hands.
The bizarre fear that still assaults my body hasn't disappeared. I feel like puking at the prospect of imminent death. However, the thoughts that were coming to my mind are about to become something completely different.
Get your head out of your ass! Go think about the situation more seriously this time!
What did this person even do to me? Did she do any harm to me or had she ever directed her hostility towards me? No, she didn't... She had only asked me if I'm the Hero, and then, introduced herself and asked for a handshake. She didn't do anything strange.
Looking back into the woman's red eyes, which seems somewhat startled, I was about to reach out and accept the handshake... but the intense sense of discomfort assaulted me again.
Clenching my teeth within this dizzying fear and discomfort, I still tried to desperately move my hand.
I don't have any basis for my actions, nor do I have any reason why. I don't even know why I'm so desperate... However, I feel like I have to hold this person's hand... right here, right now.
If I had been in the same situation before I came to this world, I would have definitely ran away.
However, when I came to this world and met Kuro... I understood that even a single goodwill could save a person's heart. I've learned how glad I am to have her reach out to me, even if I'm hiding deep within the darkest depths of my heart.
For this reason, if I'm the only one who can reach into the depths of this person's heart at this moment in time, then... There's no way I can run away from here.
I'm sweating profusely and my body is shaking like crazy... but if I'm shaking, that means it isn't that I can't move! Then stop shaking there like an idiot, and get moving!
I don't know if it had been answered because of my scream within my heart... Clenching my teeth so hard that my lips were bleeding, I desperately tried reaching out... Little by little, my hand moved toward the woman in front of me.
At that moment, the discomfort I felt became even more intense, and for a moment, I felt like I was going to lose consciousness, but I bit my lip hard to hold onto my awareness.
Even as my hand was shaking, and even though my body was shaking, I didn't stop. The fear of death assaulting my mind is too intense. I want to escape. Even as this feeling grows stronger and stronger though, I still try to reach out my hand.
Little by little, an incredibly small distance at a time... I tried to hold the woman's hand at a pace so slow that it took me several minutes for my hand to move a single centimeter.
Whether I'm feeling nauseous and consciousness dimming, whether it's sweat or tears flowing down my face... What kind of face I'm making right now... I don't know any of that.
Why am I so desperate? Why do I need to feel this much pain, reaching out to this woman, whom "I have never met before"?
I'm just an ordinary guy with no special power. Therefore, moments like this make my weakness pretty clear. Even at this very moment, I'm afraid of this woman in front of me.
But still, I don't know why... but I just couldn't bring myself to choose the option of giving up.
How much time passed? Anyway, my hand reached the hand of the woman who had spent a ridiculously long time waiting for me to hold it out the whole time.
The moment I held her hand, I was struck with fear even more intense than before, and I fell to my knees on the ground, unable to stand. However... not yet.
I still haven't spoken a word back to her yet. Get up, get up! I'm just feeling scared... Bring about my whole body, muster all the strength I can!
Getting up, holding my wobbling leg with my other hand, I slowly turned my attention to the woman in front of me.
The smile on my face as I looked at her looked forced, but I think it can't be helped. Still, I want to get along with her. Setting my mind straight to the thought of wanting to be friendly with her... I spoke.
[...It's nice to meet you... I'm Miyama Kaito.]
As I told her this in a voice that is aptly described as me squeezing those words out of my throat, the girl smiled... and the intense fear that had assailed my body completely vanished immediately afterward.
Not only that, but the surrounding scenery changed to a "snowfield"... a blanket of silver-colored snow covering up my surroundings, and at the same time, "the memories that I had somehow forgotten until now" began to come back to me.
[...Eh? Arehh? Isis-san?]
"Unnn. You're both right and wrong. I'm sorry, Kaito... for trying to test you."
Isis-san, who was wearing a black dress unlike her usual blue dress, said something I didn't understand, in a voice that seemed to resonate in my ears just like Lillywood-san's voice did.
What did she mean? The atmosphere around her also feels different from normal... but the woman in front of me... I think she's definitely Isis-san.
[Errr, you are... Isis-san, right?]
"You could say I indeed am, but you could also say I'm slightly different. However, unnn. I will be glad if you call me Isis."
[I understand... Ummm, Isis-san. Where is this?]
"With my power, I've "connected your heart with mine". You can think of this as a dream. Earlier, I was trying to test Kaito a little bit, so you weren't able to remember some of your memories..."
In a dream... I see, the situation itself was rather strange, but thinking about the strange events that have just happened earlier, it makes sense.
Was that perhaps... in a way, a reenactment of my encounter with Isis-san? I see, it felt a little strange... but I guess that was because I was in a state where I couldn't remember things?
I mean, Isis-san... So you're able to do stuff like that huh.
"I'm a part of Isis' mind. It's not that one of us is the real one or anything like that. It's just that me and the other me blended together. If I were to explain it, you could say I'm the first Isis Remnant.... wait, Isis... You could say that this self is another me. That's why, you could say I indeed am Isis Remnant, but you could also say I'm different... Hey, Kaito? Do you know who I am?"
[...…..]
Her riddle-like phrasing makes me tilt my head back and think. She's indeed Isis Remnant, but you could also say she's different... If I take her word for it, the woman in front of me is Isis-san, but not Isis-san.
As I was thinking about this, something suddenly came to my mind.
[...Could it be... You are "her magic power of death"...]
"Unnn. You're right... Though I suppose the most correct answer... would be the "memory of the being that is the origin of her magic power of death"?"
[Errr, I'm sorry. I don't really get what you...]
"It's alright. I'll explain it to you. That's why I called Kaito here like this... However, I want to walk with Kaito for a bit. Is that no good?"
The magic power of death... Or rather, the other Isis-san looked at me with a slightly anxious expression on her face. She had the face of the Isis-san I know so much... Whatever the case may be, I felt such a sense of relief that the being in front of me was indeed Isis-san.
[Of course, gladly... There's no reason for me to refuse an invitation to a date from my precious lover after all.]
"Ahh... Unnn!"
Hearing my words, a smile that seemed like blooming flowers appeared on Isis-san's lips, making her look so unfairly cute that I can't help but smile.
Thereupon, Isis-san held out her hand to me, seemingly expecting something, and I, sensing her intentions, took her hand in mind and started walking with her.
[...How should I say this... This place is beautiful, isn't it? A world blanketed in silver snow... With the clear skies above us, it feels especially so.]
"Kaito, have you not seen views like this that much?"
[Yes, we didn't get a lot of snow where I lived. This feels rather refreshing.]
"Fufu, I see."
[...You seem happy, Isis-san.]
"Unnn. I'm very, very happy. Not only because I'm together with Kaito... but because I realized once again that Kaito is the coolest guy in the world."
[N- No matter how you put it, you're exaggerating...]
Isis-san looked really happy from the bottom of her heart, praising me with a big smile on her face. Embarrassed by this, I responded while scratching my cheek with my free hand, to which Isis-san shook her head.
"That's not the case at all. After all, Kaito held my hand... I believed that if it's Kaito, you would face our magic power of death "even without your Sympathy Magic". However, I never expected you would also hold our hand."
[E- Errr...]
Ahh, I see. The meeting I just had with Isis-san was different from what I remember... I don't know what the logic of how it happened is, but I was in a state where I couldn't use my Sympathy Magic earlier...
"The magic power of death is the fundamental fear of all beings, something that couldn't be withstood by mere mental power... is how it should have been, but Kaito suppressed even that. In the midst of fear that normally would have "caused one to go insane or have a mental breakdown dozens of times", you still held my hand. Kaito really is amazing!"
[...A- Ahaha... Well, you can count on me.]
Eeeeehhhh!? Was I in that much of a peril just now? Go insane? Mental breakdown? M- Magic power of death... really is something amazing huh. I felt some shudder crawl behind my back, but seeing Isis-san looking very happy, I think it was worth the effort.
"Ahh, o- of course, if it seemed no good, I was going to restore you back to normal immediately."
[It's alright. I'm not misunderstanding anything, nor am I angry. Rather, I'm happy to meet your expectations, Isis-san.]
"Ahh, unnn! Ehehe, Kaito really is the coolest in the world... I love you very much."