Struck by Yuna’s words, I was slumped over in a wheelchair like a speechless doll, a deep emotional wound inflicted.

Seeing my groaning figure, Yuna, who had been restless, cautiously removed the hand covering her mouth.

“…I really dislike you!”

“Ahahahaha!”

I shot Death Beam again from my mouth. Yu-na was startled and covered her mouth. I twisted my body in pain.

But since I had already been hit once, I could withstand it again. It’s not like I’m not used to it.

“What’s going on, Mi-ma? Why did something happen to the Master of the Top?”

“No way…”

I looked at Yu-na, who was in a state of missile control failure, and slowly started to hypothesize. There were some parts that I was guessing.

“That’s what I’m saying… Phinelez, how does the Master of the Top look to you?”

“Maybe it’s a little unusual…”

“No, I mean physically.”

“Cute and lovely… you’re so cute.”

Phinelez didn’t seem to understand the significance of my question, so I asked more directly.

“How big is the Master of the Top’s chest?”

“About that size, I think.”

“That part. I don’t see it that way. Should I say it’s moving around?”

“Yes?”

Her appearance was ambiguous. Sometimes it was large, sometimes it was small, and sometimes it was simple. In other words, it was in a state of overlap.

Even if I ask the seniors of the Red Sun, their testimonies about Yu-na would be different. Some would say it’s small, some would say it’s large, and some would say it’s cool and cold beauty…

At first glance, it seemed like there was no common point, but there was a characteristic here that was influenced by the viewer’s desires. People with a preference for big breasts tend to see a large Master of the Top.

Another characteristic is that Yu-na’s appearance becomes more accurate as her fantasy magic abilities increase and her resistance to fantasy magic increases.

Maybe her transformation is affecting it…

The Phinelez who is looking at the small Master of the Top is in normal form. It’s a form close to her true nature. It seems like she has resistance to get that way.

In my eyes, she’s so talented and resistant that she looks like this. It’s a wave-like state.

If I focus my eyes to grasp everything about her, I observe her in a state of 60% small and 40% large… In daily life, the small proportion tends to increase, and during battles, the large proportion tends to increase.

However, regardless of the appearance, she was still “Yu-na”, so I didn’t take it seriously. The ratio may change, but it doesn’t change. Her conversation pattern, personality, and sentence structure were always Yu-na herself.

So I thought it was just like playing with the TS mode, but it turned out to be a bit different.

“Ahahahaha!”

Every time the missile comes out, the image overlaps for a moment, and the large proportion rises to 95% before dropping.

Yu-na’s other side, which I had thought was identical to me, is expressing “Ahahahaha” while taking away her control.

Why is this happening?

I don’t know. Only Yu-na herself knows. If I had been the same as before, I would have pretended not to know, but now I’m a determined mad magician.

Yuna was ready to face her past and wounds, so she intended to plead with her to let her touch her scars. But it’s difficult in her current state.

“Shall we have lamb today?”

“No… I don’t want to!”

“With me?”

“Good… I don’t want to!”

The ‘No-Machine’ is messing up the conversation itself. First, I need to stop the leak and think. If this continues for just one more day, I will receive an irreversible emotional wound. I hate this ‘No’.

When you can’t tell where the bug has erupted, you have no choice but to start the grind.

The difference between the former me and the latter me. If I roll back each change point, I should find the cause.

“So, Pingballez, I need your cooperation. Let’s get along again. It’s not that I have any ulterior motives, but here’s a knee pillow after a long time.”

“Getting along is fine, but that’s a bit much.”

“Just say no if you don’t like it…!!”

“No!”

Not Yuna…!

It’s unfair. Both Pingballez and Yuna are keeping their distance from me. How can the world be so against me?

My insides are boiling. That’s what happens when a well-running code breaks. In the past, I might have calmed my anger with something like a module of a student who’s finished the semester, but now I have to practice facing my emotions.

While glaring at my inner rage, I’m harboring dark thoughts about relieving stress by messing with Roderus in my dreams.

Yuna jumped up with a shriek.

“Shaaak-!!”

“……!!”

That reaction sparked a lightning-fast inspiration.

Maybe?

“Now, Master of the Tower, let’s play a game of black and white. If you feel me harboring ill will, please tell me. Here.”

I bloom the color of my heart. Just slightly provoking my malignancy.

“Cough cough-!”

Yuna chattered. A sound a cat often makes in front of its prey.

I dyed my heart pitch black with malignancy. Ah, I love this bleeding romance. I have to bleed. It would be so pretty if it turned bright red.

“Die-!! No, I shouldn’t kill…?!”

Zing-! A Yuna-death-beam flew over my head. If it hadn’t changed course at the last moment, it would have hit me directly. I flapped around in panic, calming my malignancy.

Meanwhile, Pingballez, seeing the beam’s changing trajectory, stopped pushing my wheelchair, trying to save me. That made me a little happy.

This is it. I don’t know why this is happening, but I’ve found the trigger.

Yuna’s… whether it’s herself or some module, I’m not sure, but something like a defense system. It’s being heavily aggroed by the malignancy within me.

It was Yuna who tried to recognize and deal with ‘it’ in my head. Naturally, she would have information about it, and reasons why it must be stopped.

Considering it’s something that darkens the hearts of people, it’s not strange to show such sharpened murderous intent. But now, it’s different.

From noble mtl dot come

Before and after, ‘it’ has always been in my head.

If there’s a reason why I tolerated it until now but hate it enough to strike repeatedly… Is it because I’ve accepted the malignancy as a part of myself? Or have I decided that it’s been swallowed up?

If so, then it’s a temporary emergency treatment.

Let’s dye the heart white. On a pure white path, there are no shadows. I’ll pull up the kindness that stands opposite the malignancy to cover the filthy stains.

Yuna’s unidentified ferocity gradually subsides. It’s proof that the emergency treatment is working. I’ve painted my heart even more with pure white paint.

Shame, hesitation, negative emotions are swept away, erased, and only lumps of sugar like dreams, love, and hope remain in the heart.

Then, at some threshold, click.

I felt as if a switch had been flipped.

—

“⋯⋯Huh, sigh.”

Yuna, who almost unintentionally blasted the mad magician with a YunaDeathBeam, pressed down her trembling hands and caught her breath.

He wouldn’t have died from it, but he would have had to stay in the hospital for a day. That alone would have been dreadful enough.

Feeling her heart pounding wildly in shock, Yuna spoke to herself. Why is this happening all of a sudden? Everything was fine.

It’s true that I felt a bit jealous because it seemed like Yuri had made significant progress… Honestly, I was upset. But there was no need to be this aggressive.

Yuna and the Yuna in the mirror were practically one and the same. Over time, they had almost perfectly merged, and now they were essentially the same person… or so she thought.

This was the first time there was such a ‘difference’.

To her monologue, the Yuna reflected in the mirror said,

-Can’t you feel it? Just now, you were definitely devoured. Your eyes, they smelled just like those guys.

It’s an illusion. It must be an illusion. And look, he said we’re going to play a game of black and white… It’s proof that he’s in control.

-That control is the proof that you’ve been devoured. You’ve been suppressing it all this time, and finally, you’ve been eaten. Because we were lazy. Because we couldn’t make up our minds.

But still, we couldn’t cram ‘it’ into Envers or Roderus’s sessions… If we had, he might have gotten angry.

-We should have accelerated the removal, even if it meant being hated. Look at his changed eyes. He has completely transformed into a different being…

“Hello.”

With just that word casually thrown out by the magician, she knew there had been a change.

“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”

-⋯⋯⋯⋯.

“Hmm. Sorry everyone… I guess I startled you a bit. It’s okay. So take a deep breath, and a little more calmly… Can you listen to my story?”

Soft and soothing, the tone alone lulls one into drowsiness. A voice that comforts the soul and… a smile gently unfurling.

Pingballez, shocked to the core, grabbed the cheeks of the crazed magician, turning them this way and that, checking for injuries.

“Did… did you just get grazed by a beam? On your head?”

“No, I’m fine, Yuri. Thanks for worrying. There’s no need to be so startled. Sorry for scaring you.”

“Master of the Tower, Mima seems to have… lost her senses, I’m afraid.”

“It would be a little sad to say that… Yuri, your hands are slightly cold. They say people with cold hands have warm hearts, but it’s still better to keep your body temperature up for health. May I warm them for you?”

And the crazed magician, with a smile as gentle as a deer’s, pressed his cheek to her hand. He even went so far as to overlay his hand on Yuri’s and gently rub it.

Bang, Yuri’s emotional dam burst. She retreated as quickly as if she had cast a disorienting spell, pressing herself into a corner of the lab.

She managed to keep her expression, but her racing heartbeat and the heat rising to her ears were beyond control.

It was hard to cope when the usually calm one started showing off his tricks.

The crazed magician, having subdued Pingballez, rose from his wheelchair and approached the next target, Yuna, asking cautiously,

“If you still find me a bit… um, if you dislike it, I won’t come closer. But I’ve been thinking, I want to be close to you after such a long time. We’ve been apart for too long. May I come to your side and talk?”

“Uh, umm… No, no. It might be better to keep… some distance.”

“I want to explain properly. How much I really like you, Yuna, and that even if the sky falls, I won’t turn you into an enemy. Until it gets through to you.”

“Uh, aah!”

Yuna crouched down under the relentless barrage of gazes and spoke to her inner self.

Mirror, mirror, please say you dislike it quickly. I can’t deal with a ‘crazed magician who is completely honest with his emotions’!

-I think it’s nice…

Even though he was shooting Yuna Death Beams just a moment ago!

-That was because he was incredibly bad. But this one, I like.

But it’s the same person…?!

“Before I explain my condition. I want to tell you how much I love you. There were some misunderstandings, but I’m always grateful for how hard Yuna works for me, and also──”

“Kyaaa!”

The white-robed flower field magician held onto Yuna for two hours, then Yuri for two hours, and back to Yuna for one more hour.

Talking about what parts were so good, what aspects were so lovely and charming, how he had accepted malignancy not as a surrender but as a step in the struggle, and how he would continue to work hard so they wouldn’t feel anxious in the future.

Click.

And the switch turned off.

The crazed magician, having spoken his true feelings without a filter, felt an extreme embarrassment and collapsed. And thus.

In the lab, three people lay sprawled out like well-cooked octopuses.

—

I did it in a hurry. In a rush. I never expected such a thing to happen.

“There won’t be any more incidents like that. Now that I know pulling it up to the very top works… there won’t be a next time.”

“Uh, umm…”

“…Yes. Please be as careful as possible.”

Silence.

An awkward silence followed.

I still felt my face burning as I patted my skin, catching my breath. Today’s incident was a minor mishap due to Yuna’s secret and a control error in my pseudo-fable.

The more I thought about it, the more significant it seemed.

That it was only my malignancy that reacted so sensitively. And that I felt the change directly, piercing through all my mental barriers.

It was evidence that ‘it’ inside my head and the Purple Tower Master were deeply intertwined.

I’ll put it off for today since it’s not the day, but I plan to hear the story from Yuna soon. Fortunately, the commotion earlier had cleared the subtle tension of the past two weeks.

It seemed Yuna’s pout had dissipated. And things seemed a bit eased with Yuri too.

Somehow, it hurt my pride.

Strictly speaking, that wasn’t entirely me. Hesitating for a moment, I casually said to both of them.

“And, you know, that… time, could you give me a little more? Both Yuna and Yuri.”

“…Huh?”

“It’s disgraceful to confess while drunk. What’s the difference between babbling like just now and calling someone while drunk? It only means something if you properly ponder and hesitate. Not that what just happened was a confession…”

It was only after finishing the second take that the day’s bold conversation came to an end.

—

“But where did Espoir de Eternal Dark go?”

“…Oh, right? I definitely used it in the ‘Nest’ raid operation…”

Two weeks into the disappearance of Akushin-chan.

Finally realizing the fact of the disappearance.