After the commotion settled, while I was joyfully embracing the grand finale of the Celestial Festival with my friends, a summons came in a bit early for the last rehearsal. I understood the intent to ensure everything was perfect for the festival’s conclusion, but that didn’t mean the annoyances would just vanish.

Still, as one of the main performers in the closing ceremony, there was no way I could skip the rehearsal. With no other choice, I trudged my way to the gathering spot, feeling utterly drained.

“It’s been a while, student.”

“Oh, it’s you, desk staff… I mean, Professor. Hello!”

On the way, I encountered a familiar face for the first time in ages. He was the gentleman who welcomed me at the Magic Building’s information desk from mid-semester last year to the start of this one. Initially, I just thought he was a regular staff member, but later I was surprised to learn he was a professor in the Magic Department.

He must have been assigned to the desk as part of some disciplinary measure and later took over the professorship from my master, or so he told me.

“You seem quite busy during the festival.”

His hair looked unkempt, perhaps he hadn’t washed it properly, and his clothes were wrinkled, implying he’d been wearing them for several days. I thought only the graduate student assistants were busy, but it seemed professors in the Magic Department were just as swamped with class preparations and thesis work. Frecia was the only exception.

It felt like everyone around me was busy lately. Ms. Sharon, who took over the desk duties after the professor’s disciplinary action was lifted, was working during the festival too, as were Erin and Stella, who were the team leader and a member of the investigation team.

“Ha ha. Can you tell? I guess I got caught up preparing a bunch of stuff.”

In truth, it was impossible not to notice his exhausted appearance, but I refrained from pointing it out. He probably didn’t skip washing because he didn’t want to; he truly must have been too busy.

“By the way… Is Elysia enjoying the festival? I would imagine she’s been quite occupied as a hero.”

“Ha ha… I was a bit busy with some events, but they still gave me time to enjoy the festival. Thanks to that, I think I made a lot of good memories. Oh, I’m sorry for bragging in front of someone busy…”

Of course, I was answering his question, but since I seemed to have made it too obvious how much I enjoyed myself, I quickly apologized. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to mind and waved my apology off with a hand.

“Students are meant to enjoy themselves and make plenty of memories. Now that I’m a professor, I don’t envy students, so don’t worry about that.”

“Still… ah! Do you have some time later? If you’re free, would you come and watch the closing ceremony? The Saint and many others have practiced really hard, so it should be quite a spectacle.”

Honestly, while I was the one rehearsing for the closing ceremony, I could confidently say it was the most dazzling and entertaining event of the Celestial Festival. To exaggerate a little, one could almost claim they enjoyed more than half of the festival just by attending the closing ceremony.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I’ve been running around to make it in time for the closing ceremony. I’m looking forward to it too.”

While we talked, I kept glancing at the clock, clearly aware that time was slipping away. I didn’t want to overstay my welcome, so I bid my farewell and prepared to depart. I had things to do as well.

“Well, I have an appointment, so I’ll be going now. Please make sure to come watch the closing ceremony!”

“Yes. I’ll see you at the closing ceremony, Elysia.”

We exchanged our farewells, and I headed back to the original gathering place.

Now that I thought about it, it had been quite a while since we got to know each other, yet I didn’t even know his name. I always referred to him as desk staff and later as professor without ever asking for his name. Still, he showed no sign of annoyance and always addressed me with courtesy.

Well, Elysia wasn’t actually my real name though. My real name is Zeno…

“…Ugh.”

Damn it, just when I started to have these unnecessary thoughts, the headache returned. I needed to be careful not to let my consciousness drift into my true identity. Zeno Frentz, I should wait until after the Celestial Festival ends and I’m alone to piece together my memories about my original self. Unless I planned to ruin the closing ceremony, I needed to avoid letting this headache worsen.

I forced myself to ignore thoughts about my true identity and hurried on my way.

*

“Hehe. Hero, are you nervous? I think this is the first time I’ll have seen you nervous.”

Just like during the opening ceremony, Mariel, who was standing next to me as we awaited the imminent closing ceremony, teased me. It was adorable, especially since she seemed to have forgotten how nervous she had been during the opening ceremony. Fortunately, she didn’t show any sign of nervousness now.

“Well… I’m human too, you know.”

In truth, I wasn’t really nervous about the ceremony; I was just a bit awkward in my actions since I was consciously trying to avoid any thoughts that might trigger more headache. But I couldn’t tell her that, so I just played along with Mariel’s teasing.

“You know, you really are pure, Hero. They say you can’t judge a person by their appearance…”

“Um… is it okay to get angry here?”

“Well, I wonder?”

Mariel was clearly teasing me with her grin, but I understood that her intent was to help ease my nerves. So I reciprocated with some lighthearted banter.

Her efforts weren’t in vain, as I was able to escape from my troubling thoughts while conversing with her.

“Prepare yourself!”

Prompted by the staff’s call, Mariel and I slowly walked up onto the stage we had used during the opening ceremony. Unlike the opening, where we started from backstage, we began the closing ceremony already on stage.

As I stood on the stage and looked around, the area was even more packed than during the opening ceremony, despite it being early morning then.

Standing a bit higher and scanning the crowd, I found it amusing to spot the faces of familiar people one by one.

In the distance, I spotted Selian, Yuli, Anne, and Linne standing in a spot similar to where they had been during the opening ceremony. They were energetically waving at me, whether they noticed my gaze or were simply encouraging me.

I shifted my focus away from them and scanned my surroundings. There, perched atop the roof of a small building far off, was Frecia watching me. On either side of her, Gomtaengi and Tokki were sitting and enjoying the view. I was relieved to see they appeared to be having fun.

Oh, I spotted another familiar face. It was Lindy, who had helped me out in various ways. Now I felt quite glad to see her. Yet here she was, unable to sit still, hitting on a girl next to her… I decided to ignore the fact that I’d seen her get slapped.

Half feeling sorry for her and half embarrassed, I turned my head to find unexpected individuals. Erin and Stella, who had been busy working throughout the festival, were there. Rather than watching me on stage, they were pushing through the crowd heading somewhere else. I hoped they could at least spare a moment to watch the closing ceremony, considering how hard I had prepared for it.

As I followed my gaze, I soon spotted another familiar face. It was the professor from the Magic Department whom I had seen just before rehearsals. True to his earlier statements about wanting to attend the closing ceremony, it seemed he had wrapped up his busy work and was now watching me with a cheerful expression.

…However, perhaps he didn’t have time to wash up before coming, as everyone around him seemed to be keeping a distance.

“It’s about to start!”

While I was busily scanning the crowd for familiar faces, Mariel spoke to me in a whispering tone, letting me know it was nearly time.

To ease my possibly unconscious tension, I took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling slowly. I gave my neck a gentle stretch.

“Huh?”

While stretching my neck, I noticed something floating in the blue sky.

Raising my hand to rub my eyes and looking again, the unnatural black dot in the middle of the sky remained firmly in place.

“What’s wrong, Hero?”

Mariel, standing next to me, asked as she noticed my puzzling behavior.

“Oh, it’s nothing… I think something’s floating in the sky…”

“Really? Where?”

Mariel tilted her head to follow my gaze. While she did, a new red dot appeared above the black dot floating in the sky.

“Huh? It really is! But it seems like it’s getting bigger…?”

Just as she said, the black dot remained unmoving as it was, but the red dot above it was expanding rapidly, now noticeable enough to be clearly seen.

No, it wasn’t just growing…

BOOM!

But by the time I realized it, the red dot had transformed into a massive meteor, crashing into the heart of the city.

   

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