KABOOOOM!
The explosion shook the hall violently. The mana-stone blast, concentrated to a single point, made an enormous pillar of fire.
A savage sight, yet the people actually cheered. Because the timing of the explosion was so exquisite. The instant the headmaster struck his pose and raised his aura, the explosion went off precisely. The timing was so uncanny that everyone took even the blast for a show the headmaster had arranged.
"He's walking on air!!"
It got to the point where someone even cried out 'walking on air.'
"S-son of a bitch. This is a nightmare, right? It's a nightmare. It's a nightmare!"
Milo smacked his own cheek with a fist. Pak! A crisp sound burst out and his head snapped to the side.
"Huh? That hurt?"
"Because it's not a dream."
"It's not a nightmare?"
"You hauled it yourself; what's the matter."
"Hauled it myself? What the hell do you—"
"Forgotten already? You moved it yourself in the basement."
Milo blinked dumbly. When the memory belatedly came back, he hastily cried out.
"That was the bomb?!"
"Seems so."
"Gah! You ordered me to!"
Milo shrieked as if thrashing.
"You got proof?"
"......Proof?"
Milo's mouth flapped.
"Mm, still, don't worry. The Republic men who pulled it off are all dead. We just keep our mouths shut, the two of us."
"R-right? I didn't know, I swear!"
"Yeah, I'll keep it secret if I can help it, so don't worry."
"If you... can help it?"
"If I can help it."
Milo looked at me with a crumpled face. Eyes like he was looking at a demon or a swindler. Mild, as the looks I've gotten go.
Still, Milo had no choice but to nod.
Just then—.
"Sheeeek! Sheeeeek!!"
Someone let out a bizarre scream and fled the hall in a panic. It was Evangeline. White-faced, she ran for dear life, with Andy chasing after her.
"Let's go."
I set off after Evangeline.
Evangeline ran frantically without pausing for breath. Where she stopped was in front of a cube-shaped, square building — the Central Library.
"Huh? It's not the Central Library's operating hours right now?!"
Milo cried urgently.
Elysium Academy had several taboos. The Central Library held one of them.
[Use of the Central Library is permitted only during operating hours.]
It sounds like a common school ghost story, but the trouble is that, unlike school ghost stories, Elysium Academy's taboos are real.
'Break a taboo and there's a set chance a Rift occurs.'
But this early on, the chance was extremely low. It only becomes meaningful from the midgame onward. But what I'd been possessed into was Hard Mode. Hard Mode might have pulled the Rift's occurrence forward.
"Hey! If you go in—"
I grabbed Milo as he made to step forward. He turned with narrowed eyes.
"Outside operating hours, only authorized students can enter the Central Library. It's dangerous. We have to stop her now."
Milo said it dead serious. He looked ready to throw a punch if it came to it. The kid turns earnest the moment students are involved.
"And if she's authorized?"
"What—. You've no idea how strict the Central Library is. Fewer than ten students in the whole school have entry permission."
"Is that so?"
I pointed toward Evangeline. Though it clearly wasn't operating hours, the Central Library's main door stood wide open. Welcoming, by anyone's read.
"Huh?"
Milo blinked dumbly. Just then, Evangeline and Andy darted through the door.
"Let's go."
I headed for the Central Library. This time Milo didn't argue about authorization or anything.
***
'Whoa—.'
Andy, stepping into the Central Library, exclaimed aloud. Because an unreally mystical scene unfolded before him.
The Central Library was a world made of books. Books were stacked like buildings and towers, and among them books walked about. Some books had opened stalls as if at a market, and some books haggled. A world made of books.
"Whoaaa—."
Andy was purely awed.
Just then, a carriage made of books pulled up before them. When the book-horse snorted, scraps of paper fell.
"Hop on!"
Following Evangeline, who'd already climbed aboard, Andy boarded as if enchanted, and the carriage slowly moved. The scenery flew past. Over a bridge of books across a lake of books, they arrived at a giant castle of books.
Where the carriage stopped was a banquet hall inside the castle. A chandelier of books sparkled, and books rubbed against one another as if dancing. At the center of the hall sat a book wearing a crown. When the crowned book rose, the other books crumpled as if bowing.
Reading the room, Andy knelt.
"Whoa, a king."
But Evangeline stood bolt upright and blurted her admiration. Andy, with an 'oh no,' looked back at her, but too late.
The surrounding books leveled their pages. The paper was sharp as spears. Evangeline's face twitched.
Just then, the crowned book swept its pages. The other books stepped back. The crowned book spread its pages toward Evangeline, then folded them.
"What? You want me to be your queen? Are you out of your mind?"
Evangeline shrieked sharply. At that, the already sunken mood grew colder. The books that had retreated strode forward. A vivid blue light wavered on the paper they extended.
'Aura? The books are knights?'
An unbelievable sight, but this place was unreal to begin with.
Sensing the ominous mood, Andy hurriedly grabbed Evangeline.
"Just play along for now."
"No. Not my type."
"It's a book, you know?"
At Evangeline going on about her type to a book, Andy felt dizzy. He forced himself to keep it together.
"Even if it's not your type, just act it out."
"I can't do something so wicked. And date a book? You're a little weird."
At the tongue-clicking Evangeline, Andy, for the first time, wanted to whack someone.
The crowned book fluttered. As if saying something.
"Oh, that's not what you meant? Sorry. My mistake. It's just that I'm so popular."
"What's it saying?"
"It's not proposing — it just wants to give me the crown."
"Then take it."
"Take it without knowing what it is? You shouldn't just accept things from strangers."
At Evangeline being crisply sensible in such a strange spot, Andy shut his eyes and opened them. He reminded himself the one he was dealing with was Evangeline.
"That's not a person, it's a book."
"True, that's fair."
"So take it. I think it'll suit you."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, totally! Absolutely!"
"Hmph."
When he gave a vague thumbs-up, Evangeline made a smug little sound.
"I'll accept it."
Evangeline took the crown. It was far too splendid for a book to hold. The kind of crown better suited to an emperor or a pope than a king. Once Evangeline — presentable at least on the outside — put it on, it suited her well.
The books all around fluttered their pages as if applauding.
"Wow, Evangeline. The crown really suits you."
Andy forced a smile and praised her. Evangeline looked at Andy. No — looked down at him.
"Ahem. Address me as Queen Evangeline."
To say such a thing with her own mouth. Andy was freshly impressed.
"Do you feel any different?"
"Hmm......"
Fingering the crown, Evangeline lifted her chin and preened.
"My confidence is up! I am Queen Evangeline!"
At the spirited Evangeline, Andy forced his gaze away.
Just then, a strange phenomenon occurred beside Evangeline. It began as a small black-and-white shimmer. The shimmer wavered for a moment, then suddenly warped and split like a scar torn by a beast.
A scar carved into space. At the unreal phenomenon, Andy recalled the headmaster's warning.
"A-a Rift!"
"A Rift? What's that?"
"The thing the headmaster warned about earlier! No, what on earth were you even listening to?!"
"Ahem. How impudent, to the Queen."
"Just run!"
Andy hurriedly turned. Just then, something grabbed him. A black-and-white shimmer, lengthened before he knew it, had seized his neck. A formless force pulled him toward the Rift.
The headmaster's warning — that being near a Rift, one person gets dragged in — came back to him.
'Why me, of all people!'
Andy resisted desperately, but it was no use.
Just then, the pull suddenly stopped. When he turned, Evangeline was gripping with her hand the shimmer wrapped around his neck.
"Heh heh. Queen Evangeline has solved it, so be at ease."
Evangeline laughed brightly. A truly magnificent smile. Only for an instant, though.
"Aaaaagh!"
Evangeline was dragged right in.
"That's not solving it at all!"
Andy hurriedly reached out. Evangeline slapped his hand away.
"I'm the one who said let's go, so I have to take responsibility. Because I am Queen Evangeline."
At Evangeline striking a needless pose even as she was dragged off, Andy bit down hard on his lip.
The headmaster had said that on finding a Rift you should run no matter what and report to the Security Corps. Only then was there any chance of survival. He clearly knew that, yet his body moved on its own.
'Has the reject-power infected me?'
And quite badly infected, it seemed.
"I'm coming too!!"
Andy grabbed Evangeline as the Rift devoured her. The two were dragged in together.
A strange sensation assailed him. Like the feeling of entering the Central Library, but incomparably more intense. Soon he felt a damp moisture. When he gingerly opened his eyes, a dark, dingy corridor came into view. The problem was the corridor's color.
The corridor was dark red. As if painted over with blood—
'No, it really is blood.'
And not just blood — dark-red, rotted blood. A horrid stench stung his nose.
So this was a Rift—. Andy's face went pale.
"Hm, a maze?"
Just then, Evangeline muttered beside him. When he turned, there was Evangeline calmly surveying the corridor. Far from being scared, her eyes sparkled. Andy cried out in a sharp voice.
"We fell into a Rift! This is a disaster!"
"Come on, don't you know the saying — even if you fall into a mole's burrow, you just have to keep your wits?"
"Why a mole! It's a tiger's den, surely!"
"A mole's cuter than a tiger!"
"What's cute got to do with anything—"
Andy dragged a hand down his face. Damn it, he should've refused from the start! No wonder the Boss had paid so handsomely!
"Don't worry! Just trust me. We can get out."
Evangeline said in a voice brimming with confidence. For the always-gloomy, dreary Evangeline to be so self-assured — was there actually something to it?
Come to think of it, Evangeline was unlike her usual self. Normally she was hunched, her focus wavering anxiously, but now her back was straight and her eyes were clear. She wasn't even wearing those foolish dragonfly glasses. She didn't look like a reject at all.
"How do we get out?"
Andy asked, looking at her with hopeful eyes. To which Evangeline answered boldly.
"Heh heh! I've got a feeling!"
Her voice was so confident that even Andy was momentarily thrown.
"......A feeling?"
"Yeah! Totally! It just! Hits me! The feeling! Just trust me!"
Evangeline shouted excitedly.
Andy couldn't hold back and threw a punch.