Back in my previous world, New Years was filled in the snow of winter,
embracing every person with winter's cold embrace, but the New Years
in this world has a weather that's supposed to be warm and close to
spring, but my body is currently being strangely wrapped in an
unpleasant coldness.
I don't need to think about the cause, for the cause of this is the entity
that appeared before me. This chilliness I feel is too cold, as if my soul
was frozen.
On the way home from my date with Kuro, I encountered this woman
with a strange atmosphere, asking me if I'm a Hero.
I have to make a reply, but my body just shakes and doesn't move
properly, even though my instincts are telling me that I have to reply and
that she isn't someone I should ever defy.
[…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.]
[…I see.]
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.]
[ ! ? ! ? ]
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 Grim 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, and at the
moment I saw that, a single emotion appeared in my heart.
Deep sorrow and intense loneliness… A feeling of solitude so intense…
Those were the emotions that were read by my Sympathy Magic. As
soon as I understood that, a thought arose in my mind different from the
one I had before.
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.
[…!?]
My body naturally moved… And I found myself slapping my cheeks with
both of my hands.
The bizarre fear that still assaults my body hasn't disappeared. 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 ever 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.
I stare into the woman's red eyes, which seems somewhat startled, and
as I reach out to accept the handshake… an 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 run 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.
Kuro had mentioned it before, how my body will naturally try to adapt to
non-hostile magic power… If I were to attribute this unspeakable fear
I'm feeling from the magic power that the woman before me was clad
in… Then stop shaking there like an idiot, and get on with adjusting with
her magic power!
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, for every centimeter I'm
closer to her hand, I feel like the discomfort I'm feeling softens.
The trembling of my hand gradually diminishes and slowly, as if the
world had been in slow motion, I reached out for the woman's held out
hand.
How much time passed? Anyway, my hand reaches the hand of the
woman who had spent a ridiculously long time waiting for me to hold it
out the whole time.
Grasping her cold hand, I closed my eyes once and… with a smile on my
face, I spoke.
[…My name is Miyama Kaito. It's nice to meet you. Isis-san.]
[…!?!?!?]
As I held her hand, the fear and discomfort I'm feeling finally
disappeared, and I was able to naturally speak with her.
Isis-san looked stunned as she stared at me, and after nodding once, she
spoke. Her voice sounds heartless, but it sounds like she's trembling,
and I could also feel a hint of relief from her voice.
[…Miyama Kaito… Can I just… call you Kaito?]
[Yes.]
[…Kaito…"Let's get married".]
[Please wait a sec there, I don't know what you're talking about.]
Something's strange… Just when I thought I had finally managed to
introduce myself, she suddenly asked me to marry her for some reason.
It doesn't make any sense… It's as if she just leaped out of the process
and burst straight to the end?
In response to my reply, Isis-san had a sincerely happy smile on her face
as she continued speaking.
[…My hand… you grasped it… I felt happy… happy!… That's why…
marriage.]
[...…]
Arehh? That's strange? I just felt a chill run down my back different from
what I felt before… It was just my imagination, right?
I felt like I was getting a cold impression from her before, but she's now
looking at me with such heat in her eyes that I think she would end up
burning me.
Ummm, what should I do in this situation? I need to say something…
Errr…
[H- How about… We start as friends for now?]
[...…]
When I fearfully suggested so, as I carefully choose the words I say… Isissan's cheeks turned red and she happily smiled.
[…Friends… Kaito-kun's friend… I'm happy.]
It appears that she liked it, as Isis-san repeatedly said the word friends
over and over again like she's in delirium.
Unnn. It's that… How should I say this… I guess she's one of those
intense ones…
Having a little chat with Isis-san, we had a particularly casual
conversation. It was already getting dark, so when I told her I need to
leave soon, Isis-san had a lonely look on her face as she muttered.
[…Kaito-kun… Where do you… live?]
[Ummm, I'm living in Duchess Albert's mansion just down this street.]
[…Can I… come to visit you… sometimes?]
[Ah, yes. Of course, you can come over anytime. I'll go tell the
homeowner myself.]
[…Wouldn't I… be a bother?]
[It's alright. You don't have to act that reserved. Isis-san and I are
friends, so you're welcome to come over anytime.]
[…Ahh… unnn.]
When Isis-san timidly asked me that, I told her that she can come to visit
me whenever she wants, and a really happy smile appeared on her face.
Looking at her like that, she just looks like a normal pretty woman.
Seriously, I'm wondering why I'm feeling that frightened of her just now.
After happily nodding at my words, Isis-san takes out a blue flower from
somewhere and holds it out to me.
[…Ummm… This is… for you.]
[Thank you very much. I'll take good care of it.]
[…Unnn.]
A flower with blue petals as clear as ice. Receiving the flower which I
haven't seen before from Isis-san and after thanking her, I store it in my
magic box.
[Well then, I'd better get going. Let's talk again next time.]
[…Unnn… Thank you… Kaito… I love you.]
[T- Thank you very much… Well then, see you later.]
[…See you later.]
For some reason, a strange chill creeps behind my back again. After
putting that strange chill aside and bowed my head to Isis-san, who was
giving me a small wave with her hand, I left the place.
Dear Mom, Dad—– There really was a lot of things that happened today.
In a way, this may be the first time in my life that I've worked so hard.
But because of that, Isis-san and I—— have become friends.
It was in a corner of the vast Demon Realm. A region covered by ice that
hasn't melted for thousands of years, a place known as the Land of
Death.
In a room within a huge castle covered in thick ice, a girl called as the
incarnation of death had a happy expression on her face.
[…Kaito…]
Saying the name of the young man he met today, her cheeks blushing as
if she's in love with him, the Death King, Isis Remnant, muttered to
herself as she stared at the books stacked like a mountain.
[…I found him… I finally found him… I'm not mistaken… Kaito… Kaito
is… my "fated one"…]
Muttering so, Isis holds a book… her favorite book—- within her
embrace.
The book tells the story of a young girl who falls in love with a man she
met by chance, and as she sees herself in the girl's eyes, her cheeks
blushed and she mutters the name of the man in her thoughts over and
over again.
The name of the young man from another world who took her hand
after the thousands of years of fear, the hand of someone who had
always been walking in solitude…
The Death King, feared by most of the beings in this world as the symbol
of death… Her mind was now only filled with thoughts of that young
man.