Intermission

“...Thus concludes the circumstances around Stella the Witch’s sudden appearance, o savior,” the nuns intoned, lowering their heads in reverence.

They were in a sanctuary nestled within the grand cathedral of Oravina’s capital. A single young girl was their guest; she sat atop a golden throne, wearing clothes that some would say resembled a sailor outfit.

Her hair was glossy, straight, and black. Her skin was pale, like that of a wealthy girl who had never known the sun, but her sharp upturned eyes would make even a seasoned warrior straighten their back.

The girl sniffed at being treated with such reverence. “How many times must I ask you to stop with the savior talk? It irritates me.”

“Yet the Goddess discovered you in a foreign land and brought you to us; we must call you the savior,” the nuns explained with smiles on their faces—smiles that were identical to that of the Goddess. That meant they were clearly forced, which added to the girl’s irritation.

“Forget it. When exactly will I be allowed to go and crush this Stella girl?” the girl asked, looking over the standing nuns with eyes like obsidian. Her look was much sharper than any teen’s should be; the nuns faltered.

“These things have a process, o holy savior,” the eldest nun, standing at the front, said. She was known as the Archbishop. “Although she is a witch, there must be a trial before she can be executed. We will be visiting Antohsa Academy, where Stella the Witch is being held. Our trial will be held there.”

“What need is there for a trial when your oh-so-divine Goddess is calling for her to be slaughtered?”

“Oh, a great need. Death sentences cannot be executed without a trial. Furthermore, the Goddess herself descended to announce the appearance of this witch. As this is the first witch to appear in a thousand years, the people are highly invested in—”

The girl clicked her tongue, interrupting the Archbishop. The nuns eyed her carefully. She noticed their hesitation and flicked her hand, encouraging the Archbishop to resume.

“Fear not, o holy savior. There is not a chance under the heavens for the witch to escape a death sentence following her trial. You may have her head the moment the trial concludes. You need only wait until then.”

“I don’t care as long as I get to kill Stella the Witch. Leave me.”

The nuns bowed, then filed out of the room. The girl stood and opened a nearby window; dust blew in and made her long black hair and sailor skirt flutter.

Before her stretched a city of brick houses. Horse-drawn carriages crossed each other on dazzling cobblestones, upon which the heavy sun beat down. Meanwhile, the streets were thronged with robed citizens wielding staves and swords. In the distance, there was a European-style castle, and the sky was filled with people flying on staves. They all seemed to be flying toward the castle.

The girl’s mouth twitched at the sight.

“Is this what they call an isekai reincarnation...? Unbelievable. Why me of all people?”

The girl indignantly shut the window and picked up a bamboo sword. This was the one thing she had brought with her from her old world, and it was her one source of comfort. Her earliest memories were of swinging this thing, and it fit neatly into her hand.

“I’m gonna kill this witch fast and go back home. Just wait, you gross otaku.”

Chapter 1 — Who Needs a Reason to Help Their Idol?

How did this happen?

Stella could only ask herself that over and over as she sat cross-legged in a cell surrounded by iron balls and chains.

She was underneath Antohsa Academy. She hadn’t even realized until now the school had a prison in its basement.

The stagnant air reeked of mold. Everything was chilly, and not a single sound or beam of light made it here from the outside. Only the dim lamp on the other end of the bars gave any light, which reflected on the girl’s silver hair.

The chattering of a mouse left Stella leaping into the air.

“Nm...!” Stella shrieked, but all that came out was a muffled cry.

Stella had an iron muzzle on and had her arms in cuffs.

Normal criminals only needed cuffs, but cuffs alone were not enough to subdue those with the power of magic. For those wielding the power to bend the world and destroy entire civilizations, shattering cuffs was no problem at all.

Their one weakness was that they couldn’t cast magic without a chant. Preventing witches from chanting was the one weapon people had against magic, and that was why Stella had been muzzled.

After watching the mouse run away, Stella sat down again.

The cell across from hers had the red-haired girl, Quinza, who was burying her face in her lap. Despite being of an esteemed noble house, she too was gagged and bound. She was motionless, entirely like a statue. Her once gaudy hair now hung limp and trailed against the ground.

In one of the most dramatic disasters to ever strike Antohsa Academy, Quinza and Stella had both used magic during the Miracle Games...apparently.

During the match, Quinza had quaffed a magic potion after being driven into a corner, and then she’d gone berserk as a result. Quinza, in her deformed state, had captured Feena and attacked the professors and guardians. Stella had unleashed her power to protect them.

I didn’t do anything wrong, and yet...

Magic. The cursed power. The forbidden, evil technique. The bender of reality.

When people spoke of magic, it was always of its horrors.

Each witch described in the scripture brought devastation to the world through acts of pure evil. No text ever described magic or witches as being on the side of good.

Thus, Stella couldn’t quite believe the power she had unleashed to save everyone had been magic.

Oh Goddess...

She clasped her cuffed hands in prayer. But as soon as she did so, the Goddess she had seen in the garden arose in her mind again.

“Kill Stella the Witch of Shackles.”

Stella’s breath caught, and her clasped hands loosened. Praying to the Goddess was pointless. After all, the one to declare her a witch had been none other than the Goddess herself...

“Nmm!”

She called Otaku’s name in a silent voice.

Her staff had been taken by kingdom soldiers when she had been cuffed. Her usual partner was nowhere to be seen.

What did he think about her turning out to be a witch?

He came from another world, so maybe he would accept her even if she was a witch. He’d say something like “Doesn’t matter as long as you’re a tsundere.”

What about her roommate Feena, then? Henny, who had finally agreed to be her friend? Everyone else in the academy? They’d never accept her.

She didn’t even need to ask. Suffering a witch to live was the same as turning one’s back on the Goddess. That was too terrifying to expect anyone to do.

Stella hugged her legs and closed her eyes. She felt the cold darkness of the jail on her skin.

I’m all alone again.

Clacking footsteps approached, prompting Stella to look out. Emerging from the far end of the corridor was a seductive woman wrapped in a tight dress: Professor Melvia. She was the head teacher at Antohsa, and the teacher temporarily in charge of the second-years.

She used an orb of light at the end of her staff to confirm the girls were still in their cells. She then placed a singular bowl in front of each of them.

“This will be your meal. Per the rules I cannot remove your gags, but this should be edible regardless.”

Professor Melvia crossed her arms and stood between the cells. She would be watching over them eating.

Stella approached the bowl. It smelled faintly of milk. Stella picked it up as well as she could with her cuffed hands; it was still warm.

It was a milk gruel that was made even thinner than a light gruel normally would be. She put the bowl to her mouth and poured it in through the slight openings left by her gag. It was...incredibly thin and simple in flavor. Stella blankly thought about how she hadn’t had gruel this thin since her time in the orphanage. Suddenly, she heard the clanging of a bowl hitting the ground.

It was Quinza. She must not have liked her gruel; she had barely taken any of it. Quinza grabbed the bars and started groaning through her gag, as if pleading with the professor for something.

Professor Melvia grimaced at the beast-like girl. “If you have something you wish to say, write it on this,” Professor Melvia said, granting Quinza a small slate and a piece of chalk.

Quinza began writing as soon as she had the slate.

“I never used magic, not even once! This treatment is an outrage!”

Stella thought she was going to complain about the gruel, only for her to instead to maintain her claim that she had not used magic.

“Release me from this prison at once. I am a member of the mighty Frantzbelle house!”

Quinza lifted her chin arrogantly as she presented the slate.

Professor Melvia shook her head sadly. “Quinza, I’m afraid I cannot release you from this prison. Your flames did not disperse in the Miracle Games even after your staff was broken; that is unmistakable proof that you were casting magic.”

“As I have said, that was divine power granted by the Goddess.”

“Enough of your sacrilege!” the professor barked, her voice echoing through the prison.

Quinza and Stella both froze.

Professor Melvia glared at them as she might her most hated foes.

“Two students of the esteemed Antohsa Academy have revealed themselves to be witches... Do you not understand what a stain you have made on our history?! It is unthinkably shameless to divert the guilt of your deeds to the Goddess herself. I will permit no further besmirching of Antohsa’s honor!”

Stella had known to begin with that Professor Melvia was one who respected authority and tradition above all else. She had surely lost much status herself due to students of her year using magic. Her hysterics and shouting were no surprise at all.

“Those tainted by magic deserve no mercy, but if you have anything you wish to say, save it for your trial.”

Trial? Both Stella and Quinza were confused.

“You are both set to have a trial tomorrow. It is my understanding that the savior has been summoned in the capital by the Goddess to observe. She and her entourage are on their way now.”

Quinza dropped her slate with a clatter. She paled and trembled.

“This can’t be! The savior? The church is coming to put us on trial?” Quinza wrote.

“Magic is forbidden by the Goddess. It is only fitting that the church would try you for this crime against divinity.”

“Any trial held by the church will end in the death sentence!”

Stella understood why Quinza had gone pale.

Professor Melvia looked down at them coldly. “What is so surprising? How could casting magic not end in your execution?”

Quinza inhaled sharply.

The professor placed a slate and a piece of chalk in front of Stella as well. “If you have any last words, write them down now. Although you are a wretched witch, you do have the right to leave last words.”

The professor had been avoiding Stella’s eyes the entire time.

Witch.

Even the professor felt some profound fear toward Stella.

Stella faced her slate.

What words... For who?

She paused for a moment, then gripped her chalk.

“Where is my staff?”

The professor furrowed her brow. “You will never hold a staff again. And what use does a witch have of a staff anyway?”

Stella kept holding up the slate anyway. “Where is my staff?”

“I believe your staff was supplied by the school. I would imagine it was returned to the storeroom with the other school materials.”

Hearing that, Stella sighed in relief. She was glad it hadn’t been destroyed. If Otaku had been burned alive due to being her staff, Stella probably would have lost her mind.

There was loud clanging. Quinza slammed her slate against the bars.

“Contact my father! He has much influence in the church as well.”

“About that, Quinza... Count Frantzbelle does have a message for you.” The professor inhaled, then continued in a grave tone. “He has made an agreement with Baron Tuner. You are now to go by the name of Quinza Tuner.”

Quinza’s expression froze in shock.

“You have been adopted. Count Frantzbelle must have thought your blood too cursed to remain in his bloodline. As far as I understand, Baron Tuner is elderly, and has no heir of his own. Losing his house to your cursed blood will surely be of little consequence to—”

The professor was interrupted by a loud clang.

Quinza had thrown her slate, her cheeks now bright red with fury. She screamed through her gag, rage radiating out of her.

Professor Melvia had likely understood how Quinza would react to such news. That was why she had left it for last.

“That will be all,” she said in a cold voice, then turned her back to the two of them.

Quinza was no longer of the esteemed Frantzbelle house. Stella had always been a commoner. Professor Melvia had no reason to show either of them mercy or compassion.

The light of her miracles faded into the distance, while Quinza and Stella could do nothing but watch.

Once Professor Melvia was gone, Quinza’s groaning turned to sniveling. It was hard to tell with her lowered face, but apparently she was crying.

Above all else, Quinza had been most proud of her house’s honor. You couldn’t spend one minute talking to her without hearing a loud declaration of how she was a Frantzbelle.

Even Stella could easily imagine how great the pain of losing her family name was. She decided to leave her be. However...

There was some loud clanging.

Stella looked over and saw Quinza pointedly holding her slate toward Stella.

“This is your fault! It’s ALL YOUR FAULT!”

Stella furrowed her brow. How was this her fault?

Stella’s confusion only made Quinza’s teary-eyed fury greater.

“This happened because you did not understand your place!”

The text was written in hasty, violent letters.

Stella considered ignoring her, but it wasn’t like she had anything else to do. She pulled over her own slate. “What do you mean?”

“How do you not even understand that, you commoner?!”

So Quinza said, but Stella couldn’t help it if she found something confusing.

Quinza wiped her board and started to write again after seeing Stella’s expression. “As a commoner you should not have taken first place in such a public and significant event as the preliminaries to the Miracle Games. Out of consideration for me!”

Huh.

“Aren’t you embarrassed to say that?” Stella replied.

“Why would I be?”

“Telling a commoner to lose on purpose is the same as saying you’re weaker than them.”

“What are you saying? Making those beneath you quit out of consideration for your status is a part of one’s strength. In the end, winning is all the might one needs!”

Stella was exasperated by that bizarre logic, but Quinza was deadly serious.

“I was born to the People of Fire. My staff has a Great Fire Spirit. Both of these facts contribute to my might. No normal commoner would challenge a Frantzbelle like me to their face.”

An honored noble house... A Great Spirit... Those factors alone really were enough for a commoner to back down. If not for her dream, Stella likely wouldn’t have fought with a storied noble like Quinza either.

“And yet you always, always, ALWAYS got in my way. As a commoner, you should have resigned the moment you became a competitor at all.”

Quinza tilted up her chin. Stella shook her head—not a chance.

“A chance to compete is everything. I wouldn’t resign,” Stella replied.

“What was the point of competing when you had no guardians to come watch you?”

Naturally, that got to Stella.

“I joined the games to get a recommendation for the Opti Baculus! Not having any guardians has nothing to do with that!”

She pressed her slate against the bars so Quinza could see.

Quinza scoffed with a sneer. “MOROOON.”

Stella got pissed and insulted her back. “You’re the super moron.”

“Penniless orphan.”

“Selfish, petulant bully.”

“Just looking at your impoverished dress embarrasses me.”

“You should be more embarrassed by having a hairstyle that you can’t even do yourself.”

“Incompetent moron only capable of a bottom-ranking spirit.”

Stella tightened her grip on her chalk. Quinza used that pause to write another insult.

“Your handwriting is terrible enough already; just hurry and write.”

“Shut up! Unlike you nobles, I haven’t been practicing writing since I was little...”

Insults raced through Stella’s mind. But before she could write them, Quinza launched her next beautifully written attack.

“What point is there in a commoner joining the Opti Baculus? You have no house to enliven and no socializing to participate in.”

“To kill magibeasts in the country, obviously.”

Stella managed to keep it brief. Suddenly, it felt like time in the jail stopped. Quinza’s hand paused. Stella used that opportunity to continue.

“The Opti Baculus has all the strongest saints. They’ll be able to rid the entire world of magibeasts one day.”

That was why Stella had been working so hard for so long. There was nothing she had to feel inferior about.

The sound of their muffled breathing was the only thing audible in the underground jail. Eventually, Quinza resumed writing.

“Do you actually mean that?”

If Stella’s eyes didn’t deceive her, Quinza’s hands seemed to be shaking.

“Do you mean to say you wished to join the Opti Baculus not for status, but for that ridiculously juvenile dream of yours?”

Stella, faltering a bit, nodded.

Quinza fell into silence—which, in this case, meant not writing on her slate. She stared at Stella through the bars with an unusually serious look in her eyes. Stella felt as if they were facing each other equally for the first time.

Eventually, Quinza dropped her eyes.

“I have never seen anyone aim to join the Opti Baculus for such a reason.”

That surprised Stella. Why would anyone want to join the Opti Baculus if not to fight?

“The Miracle Games and the Opti Baculus are all the same—they are a place for nobles to grasp at honor for their house. They simply wish to have something to brag about when socializing. If one proves themselves a talented saint there, the status of one’s house will grow with them. I never thought anyone would want to join the Opti Baculus to actually fight alongside them.”

Quinza paused her writing. She lowered her eyes as if bashful, then continued, “Perhaps people like you are more fit to join the Opti Baculus.”

Ah!

That was entirely unlike her; Stella couldn’t help but inhale sharply.

Quinza, however, erased those words without ever lifting up the slate. Instead she showed something else.

“Now I understand you truly are a fool down to your very bones.”

There was no scorn or condescension there. One could feel Quinza’s own brand of respect there.

“I must apologize for all my rudeness up to this point. I did not realize the extent of your foolishness. In fact, I would not mind joining hands with you henceforth.”

Quinza showed the board while turning her composed look to the side. She was clearly embarrassed.

That made Stella embarrassed too, and her eyes ran across the jail.

“If only we could stay at Antohsa, that might mean something.”

“Why wouldn’t we?” Quinza scribbled on her slate. “I never used magic. The Goddess herself gave me divine power. That could not possibly be magic.”

Stella envied the faith Quinza had in her own innocence. She couldn’t match that. After all, the Goddess herself had called her a witch.

Stella lowered her eyes until the clanging of a slate on bars got her attention again. She looked up and saw Quinza holding up her slate.

“And that goes for you too! You fought on equal terms with me at the Miracle Games, which means you must have been using miracles rather than magic. There is no mistaking it!”

Stella thought back to their battle in the Miracle Games.

“Equal terms? Was it equal between us...?”

“Obviously. I would never lose!”

She was as much of a sore loser as ever. That was Quinza for you.

Indignant, Quinza continued writing. “To begin with, the idea of you being a witch is ridiculous. Could such a nonthreatening witch exist? I have to doubt Professor Melvia’s sanity if she cannot comprehend something so obvious. I will have to make our case to the principal herself soon.”

Quinza’s momentum left Stella overwhelmed.

As she sat in a daze, Quinza gave her a glare. “Stella, enough with that dubious expression of yours. As your tormentor, I know better than anyone that you are no witch at all. I shall prove your innocence myself.”

Stella lowered her eyes, feeling tears come.

To think Quinza of all people would be cheering me up like this... she thought.

The red-haired noble girl was treating her with all the arrogance she usually did. She didn’t fear Stella or call her a witch; to her, that was more important than anything.

“Uh-huh,” she wrote.

In the end, Stella found herself glad it was Quinza of all people down here with her.

＊＊＊

“Did you hear? The savior herself descended upon the capital yesterday.”

“It’s been five hundred years since the savior was last seen. This is historical!”

“And we cannot mention that without noting the arrival of two witches. To think there would be witches among our juniors!”

“Shh! Don’t bring them up. You’ll be cursed. Let’s talk about the savior instead.”

The voices of girls talking among themselves reached me amid the clattering of items in the carriages.

I was lying on my side within a carriage, listening to their chatter as background noise. My companions in the luggage area consisted of vegetables, fruit peels, and animal bones. In short: I was being transported along with biological waste.

It stinks so bad! I’d take anything over a bed of raw garbage— Gaaah! A giant fly! Get away from me!

A fly was buzzing around my head. Lacking hands to swat it away left me powerless. If it landed on me, that was just it.

The Miracle Games had been held yesterday. There, the Goddess had labeled Stella a witch. As soon as her visage had vanished, Stella had been surrounded by soldiers and detained.

In the process, I had been ripped away from her. I’d been on my way to the academy’s storage room, when out of nowhere...

“Oh? This staff has seams. A once-broken staff is an ill omen. I shall toss it.”

And just like that, a professor I had never seen before had tossed me into the garbage, and here I was.

The wagon stopped.

We were at the far edge of Antohsa’s grounds. I could see the main school building and the dormitory in the distance.

“Aaah, why’d we have to get punished with throwing out the garbage?”

“Let’s just hurry and get it over with.”

Sounding less than thrilled, the girls rummaged about in the wagon.

It took a bit, but then came a chant.

“Winaria Sein!”

A potato peel suddenly rose up into the air. They were using wind to toss out the garbage.

I followed the peel with my eyes to the best of my ability and did a double take.

By the wagon, there was a massive flaming hearth which the flying garbage was being tossed directly into. The students used their wind miracles to fling more and more trash out of the wagon.

Hey, come on! Am I gonna get burned alive?!

Before I could even think it through, the wind enveloped me.

“Wait! Don’t burn me! I’m ALIIIIVE!” I shouted. I had no other choice if I wanted to stop the girls from tossing me into the hearth. I was gonna die!

The girls didn’t react very adroitly, however.

“Is it just me, or did someone just speak? Like, a guy.”

“Eek! Don’t say scary stuff like that. It was probably just the fire crackling.”

“I hope so. Otherwise, there’s someone screaming ‘DON’T BURN ME!’ over and over as we speak.”

“Oh gosh, oh gosh—is the hearth talking?! It must be cursed!”

Due to the scent of garbage, the girls were standing some distance away from the wagon to cast their miracles. The loud crackling fire was disguising my shouting too. How could this happen?

“GAAAAAH! PLEASE, STOOOP! THE STAFF IS ALIIIIVE!”

I wanted to flail about with all my might, but as a staff there was literally nothing I could do.

The hearth’s flames were right in front of me.

Just as I prepared myself to be thrown in...

“Iron wall! Terararia Sein!”

I heard a highly familiar chant. An iron wall appeared in front of the hearth, which I struck before falling to the ground.

Feena! And Henny!

The two girls ran up to me.

The one with exceptionally well-developed assets was Feena Serdia. Her hair was cut short at her shoulders, and she had a naturally calming expression on at all times; her specialty was Earth miracles.

The other was Henrietta Razwald. She was a blue-haired girl with the slim figure of a model. She was a template expressionless, silent kuudere, but—as a former member of the People of Water—she was a strong ally to have.

They ran up and peered down at me.

“Is that you, Master Otaku?” Feena asked.

“Answer, Trash,” Henny said (it wasn’t rude in context).

“Thanks, you two!” I immediately replied. If I were a human, I would’ve sobbed and embraced them. I’d really thought I was about to die. “How’d you know I was here?”

“You weren’t in the storage building,” Henny answered.

“Henny theorized that if you had not been returned to storage, you must have been thrown away. We circled all the garbage bins on campus. Then we heard the garbage had already been collected, so—”

“Um, excuse me, what the heck? Could you not get in the way of us throwing out the garbage?”

“Are you fishing through trash? Weeeird!”

Our emotional reunion was interrupted by the peeved students that had unknowingly been in the process of burning me alive. They seemed to be in a higher grade than Feena and Henny.

Feena began to tremble. “A-Apologies! It would seem I mistakenly threw away my staff, so I had to come searching for it.”

“You mistakenly THREW AWAY YOUR STAFF?!”

“There’s no way that’s true!”

“Aha ha, faaair...” Feena’s eyes wandered. She was a terrible liar.

“What’s true is that this staff ended up in the garbage by mistake,” Henny said, taking a step forward. The upperclassman stiffened up immediately.

“This girl... Isn’t she the one with the cursed blood?!”

“The Razwald! I heard she stabbed a classmate and was held back a year...”

They ended up freezing with fright. The rumors of Henny being dangerous were highly distorted, but as she didn’t reject them, most students had grown to fear her.

Henny gave an expressionless sigh. That was just a casual gesture to a cool beauty like her, but to the frightened upperclassmen it was terrifying.

They visibly twitched in fear.

“We’re just here for the staff. That’s it.”

“And so, if you will excuse us...”

Feena picked me up, then hurried off with Henny. The other students didn’t follow.

I safely made it to the dormitory thanks to their help.

“Whew, thanks for that. I was a hair’s breadth from dying. I was gonna be burned alive...”

“More importantly, Trash—compliment me.”

“Wha?!”

Henny’s sudden demand left my mind filled with blanks. I looked to Feena, who for some reason was nodding along as if that made sense. I was totally lost.

Henny stared at me as I floundered. “Hurry.”

“What greater fear of cool beauty could there be than terrifying one’s elders with a single sigh? I love how easy you are to misunderstand.”

“Nmm...” Henny’s shyness made her ice hairpin melt. She then turned her staff toward me. “Aquaria Sein.”

Water sprayed from its tip and hit me.

“Bwaah! Wh-What was that for, Henny?!”

“You stank.”

“Indeed. You stank so badly I would have liked to throw you far away, Master Otaku.”

“It was that bad?!”

That was a given considering I had been buried in trash. Only after being washed down by Henny did the stink finally leave me. She then chanted a Wind miracle; hot air like from a hair dryer dried me off.

“Aaah, being showered and dried off by a beauty is the gift only staves get,” I muttered on instinct as Feena and Henny waited on me.

Normally, Stella should’ve been here. Or rather, I was Stella’s staff in the first place, and she was usually the one to hunt me down and wash me.

The fact she wasn’t here could only mean...

“Feena, Henny. I need to know—where is Stella?”

Their expressions clouded.

“Stella is in Antohsa’s underground prison.”

“Underground prison? Why does a boarding school have a prison?”

“Saint Antohsa’s Academy had a previous life as the Antohsa Eternal Prison, which once kept witches under lock and chain.”

“Seriously?!” I balked. Henny nodded expressionlessly. “You’re telling me there were witches imprisoned under the school?”

“Close to a millennium ago. The prison was sealed, and the place was turned into an academy. The prison remained functional, though.”

“And now, it is Stella and Lady Quinza being imprisoned there. If it were me, I would be fainting in pure terror of such a place...” Feena said, squeezing me tightly.

“So, what will...” I trailed off, unable to finish my question: What will happen to Stella now?

Henny, having sensed my question, answered. “Executioners from the church will come tomorrow and hold a trial. She will be given a death sentence and burned alive that very same day.”

That was what I’d expected, but it was still a shock to hear.

“That is what happened to my father,” Henny added. Both Feena and I were left speechless. She continued as if it were someone else’s business. “Most likely, Stella will be judged by the savior of legend that has allegedly appeared.”

“Savior...?”

“That is the title given to one with the Goddess’s protection. When the world is in danger, the Goddess delivers unto us a savior.”

So it’s a human working for the Goddess, huh...?

The Goddess had told me before that she’d make me a savior if I killed Stella. Seems like this savior had taken the deal.

“Where’s the closest Goddess statue to where we are now?” I asked after a pause. Feena and exchanged looks.

“The chapel, perhaps?”

“Take me there, please.”

“What’s your plan, Trash?” Henny asked.

“Will you be pleading Stella’s innocence, by chance?” Feena asked.

They both instantly began walking to the chapel. I glared up at the tower that shot up above the main chapel building.

“Nope. I’m gonna declare war.”

＊＊＊

The chapel had students here and there, each offering their quiet prayers.

“More students than usual here...” I whispered.

“That is because the...witches appearing has made everyone uneasy.”

“Our match in the Miracle Games ended prematurely. Two students used magic and were put in jail. This is a major incident that has marked Antohsa’s history forever,” Henny added.

Things really had gotten serious, huh?

The two of them approached the statue.

“All right, I’m gonna focus and try to speak to the Goddess. Don’t get worried if I suddenly stop responding,” I said, giving my usual preamble before having them lean me against the statue.

Right before the Miracle Games, I hadn’t been able to use this method to reach the divine throne. I had to hope things were different now...

In moments, my vision twisted and swirled. It looked like the block had been removed.

There I was, suddenly standing by the divine throne.

It was a futuristic space with a wall covered in monitors—as awe-inspiring of a sight as ever. I felt out of place here in my school uniform.

Now wasn’t the time to be overwhelmed by the atmosphere, though.

“Welcome, human of another world,” a sultry voice echoed.

From a staircase in the back came the Goddess, wearing brilliantly sparkling robes and a victorious smile.

“You!” I growled on instinct, clenching my fists. The black chains around my wrists clinked and clanked.

“Aha ha, what upsets you so? I happen to be in a rather exuberant mood, so I shall forgive your previous acts of heresy toward me.”

“You tricked me!” I roared, my voice echoing through the hall.

The Goddess, having tossed aside her mask of compassion, curved her lips up into a grin. “Tricked you? To whatever do you refer?”

“Don’t play dumb! You said you would give up on killing Stella!”

“What else could I do? She used magic in front of so many people!” the Goddess looked up at the throng of monitors. “Those who use magic are executed. Such is Oravina law. It was impossible to protect her once she exposed her magic to so large a crowd... Stella the Witch doomed herself.”

“You’re the one who made that happen in the first place...!”

“You are blaming others for this?” she asked, pity in her voice. I faltered, prompting the Goddess to cackle. “Who was it by Stella the Witch’s side? If only you had stopped her from casting magic, this would not have happened.”

I gritted my teeth audibly.

Gah...! Damn it, damn it!

Stella had no choice but to act considering Feena had been held hostage. Her opponent Quinza had used magic, and it was impossible to fight back without more magic.

I couldn’t have stopped Stella... Could I?

After a while, I finally spat, “Still, you don’t get to say that to me. You’re the one who plotted all of this.”

The Goddess scoffed. “I am a god! I merely prepared the perfect stage for Stella the Witch. It was you humans who wrote the script to that play.”

She swung her staff. Dazzling light arose from its tips, hiding her.

“And I have prepared one more amusement to conclude its final act.”

An amusement...?

It couldn’t be good if this heartless wench was cackling about it. I shut my eyes to ward off the brightness, allowing the Goddess to whisper into my ear.

“This time, the witch will die. You cannot stop it under any circumstances.”

“You...!”

I grasped at where I had heard the voice, but only got a handful of empty air.

“You will be powerless to do anything but watch her death from afar!” There was a burst of cackling.

I started to curse her out, but lost my sense of balance.

I fell from the throne, and before I knew it, I was back in the chapel.

＊＊＊

“All right. I’d like to announce my decision,” I said once we’d returned to the dormitory.

I was back in my room—or, more accurately, Stella and Feena’s room—for the first time in a day. Feena and Henny had put me in my staff holder, while Feena sat in her chair and Henny sat on a spare.

“Your decision...?” Feena asked.

“Yep—I’m gonna save Stella.”

An uncomfortable air filled the room. Feena gave a sad look, while Henny fell into an expressionless silence.

No helping that. If I saw a talking staff—incapable of taking a single step itself or even grabbing anything—declare such a thing, I’d scoff and tell it to face reality.

Reality had nothing to do with this, though. My tsundere idol was in life-threatening danger. As an otaku, I had to expend every resource I had to save Stella. That was why I existed. It was all for this!

“How do you...um, intend to save her?” Feena asked, her voice weak.

“Now that, I haven’t figured out yet.”

“Nothing can change the outcome of her trial. Those who cast magic are executed,” Henny said.

“Then we should start by stopping the trial from happening. They can’t hold it if she’s not there, and they can’t execute her either.”

“You want to break her out of prison?”

“Yep.”

Henny placed a hand on her chin. She didn’t seem to have considered that.

“B-But will breaking her out of prison truly be so easy?” Feena asked.

“No, it won’t be. But it will be easier than forestalling a death sentence,” Henny said. Her support was heartening.

“Which leads me to my next point. I’m not gonna sugarcoat it: I can’t do this on my own. Are either of you willing to help me free Stella?” I asked. Feena inhaled sharply, while Henny blinked. “You two both just went out of your way to save me. But that’s on a different level from saving Stella. Picking up a staff before it gets burned with the trash isn’t a crime, but aiding the escape of a witch is.”

“No way... Even you are calling Stella a witch, Master Otaku?!” Feena exclaimed. “I believe in her innocence!”

“Feena, I thank you for believing in Stella. But Stella is a witch, no argument about it.”

Feena froze up as if her hopes had been shattered. I thought back to Stella at the Miracle Games—when pitch-black chains had formed a crown on her head.

“Witches are defined by their usage of magic, right? Stella was using some kind of power back there that wasn’t founded in miracles. I was there, so I know this for sure. Those chains Stella was making weren’t some trifling trick of the spirits. It was something overwhelming, something dominating, something completely abnormal.”

Her magic had bound me to a staff and stolen other people’s ability to use miracles. Even in this world overflowing with literal miracles, nothing could accomplish what Stella had done but magic. And that was exactly why the Goddess was so desperate to kill her.

“That can’t be... Stella, a witch?” Feena whispered, the soul leaving her body. She slumped against her chair.

Henny, on the other hand, had questions. “Why do you want to save her despite knowing she is a witch, Trash?”

It was obvious. I replied instantly, “You don’t need a reason to help your idol. What kind of otaku could watch in silence as their idol is brutally executed? Doesn’t matter whether one’s idol is a world-ending demon queen, a serial killer set to murder all of humanity, a psychopath that sheds no tears for their sins, or anything else. An otaku helps their idol. If the world and my idol were placed on a scale, I’d pick my idol every time. That’s what it means to be an otaku.”

Feena paled and scooted away from me, visibly disturbed.

Henny remained expressionless, leaving her thoughts uncertain.

The air was so cold I felt compelled to try and save face.

“Well, those were extreme examples. Witches may be villains in this world, but I don’t think Stella’s a bad witch,” I said.

I felt like Henny’s expression changed. A bit of surprise, maybe.

“I don’t want to just leech off the two of you. Rescuing Stella comes with the risk of turning the whole world against us. If you two want to peacefully graduate, you shouldn’t help me here.”

“But if we don’t, what will you do, Master Otaku?! All you can do is speak...!”

“Well, I guess my last request would be for you to lean me against the cafeteria wall or something. I’ll use my gift of gab to talk to the students and professors, flailing with what little power I have.”

That was what I had done when befriending Feena and winning Henny over, after all. It’s not like it never worked.

“Both of you should think this over carefully. No matter what you choose, I won’t resent it.”

“I’ll help,” Henny said in the blink of an eye, shocking both Feena and I.

“You sure, Henny?!” I asked.

“As long as you don’t mind, Trash.”

“Of course I don’t mind. Your help will change everything. Saving Stella sounds pretty realistic now!”

“Mnn...” Henny let out a raspy sound, and the ice ornament in her hair began to melt.

Next to Henny’s rapidly increasing puddle, Feena was stiff and facing the ground. She was clenching her fists on her lap until they went white.

I counted to three slowly before speaking. “What about you, Feena?”

“Um... Master Otaku, I...” she said, without lifting her head.

It felt like time had stopped, and the stifling silence continued until finally she answered without lifting her head.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t sweat it. I was ready for either answer,” I said to her.

Worse comes to worst, I had been prepared for them both to reject me flat out. Henny helping was more than enough; we had a real shot here. The two of us left the room together.

“It’s natural Feena wouldn’t help,” Henny muttered as we walked. In her arms, I could only look up at the side of her expressionless face. “Her family has a barony. If she were to aid us, that would be stripped away and their land confiscated.”

“I figured. Feena being charged would have an impact on her house for sure.”

That reminded me: Feena had said before that she wanted to become a saint to protect her family and citizens. She had determined that she couldn’t risk who she really wanted to protect by crossing this dangerous bridge. That was smart of her.

“You sure agreed fast, though.”

“I have no family honor to protect.”

“Maybe, but you don’t need to go out of your way getting charged with crimes, right? Why help?” I asked. The hall had plenty of students pass through it now that the sun was set, but everyone dodged Henny.

Her long eyelashes dropped shadows on her face as she spoke. “A few years ago, the Kingdom of Oravina was struck by wide-scale droughts. Razwald territory never lacked for water, though. My father’s miracles kept an endless supply. We were thronged by people of neighboring regions entering our land looking for water. Over time, my father’s miracles weren’t enough. The people pleaded for water, and so my father finally made a well that would never run dry...by using magic.”

Even here, Henny’s voice had no inflection.

“Everyone was grateful for the magic well my father made. Water was spread freely among the people, and the suffering of the drought passed. The well should have made everyone happy.”

“But it didn’t,” I said. Henny gave a curt nod.

“After some time, the church imprisoned my father over suspicions on the well’s origins. My understanding is those envious of Razwald’s water reported it. The magic well vanished when my father was executed. Our people suffered from an even greater shortage of water than ever before.”

“Not a happy story for anyone...” I muttered. Everyone could’ve been fine if people had kept quiet about the well, but the envious parties reporting it ended up making everyone unhappy. The lesson of the story was do not covet thy neighbor.

“People say magic is evil. Does that mean the well my father made was evil? Should he have let it be and simply watched as people died of dehydration? I don’t think so,” Henny said, facing directly forward. She wore, as ever, an ice flower in her hair. “I respect my father. He was executed as a criminal, but never once have I thought he dishonored our family. I have faith his actions were just.”

“I agree,” I said. Henny exhaled a small breath.

“I knew you would understand, Trash. And that’s why I agreed to help,” she said. It may have been my imagination, but her cheeks looked red.

From the way Henny put it, not everyone in the world agreed with her way of thinking. Her father had made a magic well to save his people from a drought. Stella had used magic to stop Quinza’s rampage. In both cases, magic had been used as a last resort to help people. They had no ill intentions whatsoever, and that was obvious to anyone who’d seen it. Still, Henny’s father had been executed, and Stella was next in line for the same treatment.

We can’t let Stella be forced into a trial under this world’s laws. They don’t care about good or evil here; Stella will be executed just for using magic.

“Trash, what do we do next?” Henny asked, bringing her lips close to me as we walked. “If we’re going to free her, it has to be tonight.”

“About that. Do you know where the entrance to the prison is?”

“There’s an unused emergency door on the first floor of the school building. That’s the entry. It’s being guarded by soldiers now.”

“I see... Think we can take a quick look?”

Henny nodded her head and accelerated her walking pace. This was going to be a long night.

＊＊＊

After dinner, Henny and I visited the school building again to free Stella. School had ended a long time ago, and there was no sign of any students or professors near the building. The only other people here were the armored soldiers standing by the entrance.

Henny, seeing them from the shadows, whispered to me. “Trash. Any change of plans?”

“Nope. You sure you’re ready for this?” I asked. Once we started, both of us would be charged with a crime if caught. The rising temperature of Henny’s hands told me she was anxious.

“It’s fine. We’ll be together.”

“I’m really happy to have you here too, Henny.”

“Nm...” Her hair ornament dripped, forming a dark stain on the ground.

Henny took a deep breath, then retrieved a bottle from her pocket. Inside was a liquid that looked like it would destroy your stomach if you drank it.

Henny chugged it down, then chanted, “May the grace of the Goddess be with me. Aquaria Sein, Ignaria Sein, Luxsaria Sein.”

Light enveloped her girlish figure.

When it finally faded, there stood an adult woman wearing a tight dress—Professor Melvia. Henny had used miracle medicine to turn into her.

“All right, perfect!” I said, doing a victory pose on the inside.

When we’d scouted the jail earlier, the soldiers had let Professor Melvia pass on sight.

Our plan was such: First, Henny would morph into Professor Melvia and get into the prison. Once there, she would feed Stella a similar potion and transform her into some kind of small animal. Henny would leave like nothing had happened with Stella hidden on her person, and that would be that. All we would have to do from there was flee Antohsa under the cover of night.

Professor Henny-Melvia left the shadows. She let her heels clack against the ground as she approached the soldiers guarding the door.

“And what do you think you’re doing at this hour, Henrietta?”

“Ah!” Henny turned, dress fluttering as she spun around.

At some point, Professor Elyena had found her way here, robes dragging behind her. We had been completely alone just a moment ago. Where in the world had she come from?

But most importantly...

Why does she know it’s Henny?!

As far as I could tell, Henny’s disguise was flawless. She had Professor Melvia’s looks—from her figure to her accessories and staff—down perfectly. It should’ve been bulletproof.

Henny must have thought the same, because she tried feigning ignorance. “Oh myyy. Professor Elyena, I have no idea what you might be talking about.”

Ngh!

This time, I was the one hit by shock.

That must’ve been her attempt to mimic how Professor Melvia talked, but her voice was utterly deadpan. It was just terrible acting. But that was what made silent, expressionless kuuderes so good!

Professor Elyena forced a smile. “Henrietta, was there a need for that?”

I didn’t know what was running through Henny’s head, but she kept silent and motionless. Eventually, I whispered to her that she could just give up the goose. She ended the transformation.

“How could you tell?” the blue-haired girl asked, looking down at the tiny professor. I could feel a hint of annoyance in her tone.

Professor Elyena laughed. “The expression would be the biggest tell. Your blank look is recognizable no matter what face is making it.”

Can’t argue with that...

“Furthermore, there is how you walk, carry yourself, and other such minute movements. You clearly lack the skill needed to truly become Professor Melvia.” She wagged her finger back and forth. “Goodness gracious, did you think you could fool the soldiers with that deadpan expression? Even those among them who had heard only a word or two from her would notice something was amiss.”

Whoa!

She’d just mentioned fooling the soldiers. Not only had she seen through the disguise, she’d even guessed our intentions.

Henny sensed that too and narrowed her eyes. An icy chill arose around her.

“Henny. We should run,” I whispered. She gave a quick nod and readied her staff. We’d have no chance of rescuing Stella if Henny was caught first.

Professor Elyena made no move for her staff even after Henny assumed offensive positioning. She just cackled, her shoulders bouncing. “Oh my, oh my, why the change in attitude? Allow me to clarify your misconception. I have no intention of turning you over to those brutes.”

Henny knit her brow.

“I merely wished to point out the failings of your disguise after concluding that if I said nothing, you would have no chance of succeeding in your plans whatsoever. Do you understand what I am saying here?” Professor Elyena asked, her smile widening beneath her pointed hat.

In short, Professor Elyena is on our side...?

If she wanted Henny in prison, she wouldn’t have needed to say anything here. She could’ve just snuck over to the soldiers and warned them.

“Why?” Henny asked, maintaining our guard. “To what end would you know of our plans and let them be?”

“There’s nothing in it for me in turning you over to the army, Henrietta.”

“But neither is there in letting me go.”

“I wouldn’t say that. Perhaps you will free Stella from her prison for me. Aha!”

Professor Elyena was so breezy about this it was hard to say anything for sure.

Henny, maintaining her poker face, continued. “You wish for a witch to be rescued, professor?”

“Despite being a witch, Stella is my student. I would not like an excellent pupil I taught for a year to be lost so easily. Is there anything strange about that?”

Henny fell silent.

I don’t know her actual goals here, but it doesn’t look like she’s going to get in our way. Seems like we can just leave her be.

Henny came to the same conclusion as me and said, “Very well.”

She turned around. We would be going back to our dormitory room to think up a new plan, since our Professor Melvia infiltration plan had been busted.

“Oh, yes, before you go. Allow me to tell you a neat little fact,” Professor Elyena said to Henny’s back. She gave an amused smile, the soldiers by the door reflected in her eyes. “The soldiers will be leaving their post when the date changes. Aha!”

No way.

Henny and I trudged back to the dormitory and rethought our plans from the ground up.

It was hard to believe Professor Elyena’s claim that the guards would just up and leave at midnight. We focused on practicing Henny’s Professor Melvia impression until night came.

We headed to the school building once more while listening to the ringing bell tower.

Henny inhaled sharply once the entrance came into view. I balked too.

All the soldiers that had been guarding the main building were on the ground.

“No way...” I muttered as Henny rushed over to one of the soldiers. His head had been burned black.

“Ngh...” she grunted, then she checked the others. All of them had burned-off heads; none of them were breathing.

“They’re all dead,” Henny said, dazed as the scent of charred flesh filled the air around her.

“Seems like it...”

What was the meaning of this?

Someone had come and killed all the royal soldiers before we’d gotten there. They had to have been pretty mighty to take this many soldiers on and win.

And that was when it hit me.

“Is Stella safe?!” I exclaimed. Whoever did this was surely targeting Stella or Quinza.

The people of this world feared witches. It wouldn’t be strange if someone had decided to come and take justice into their own hands.

Henny picked up on that too and ran to the door at once.

She leaped into the pitch-black school building and found yet more collapsed knights. Their half-burnt corpses were uncanny, and they stirred the imagination in the worst of ways.

Come on, Stella. Be safe...

Henny raced over the armored corpses and finally arrived at an emergency door surrounded by bodies. This was the entrance to the underground prison.

Henny immediately opened the door, revealing stairs shrouded in darkness.

“Let’s go.”

“Right.”

Upon stepping into the basement, the scent of burnt flesh vanished and was replaced with a sort of mossy, stagnant smell. We had only Henny’s miracles to rely on for light, which felt a bit unnerving. I began fearing something would attack us from the darkness.

The stairs concluded, so Henny sent her light on ahead. We saw a silver glint in front of us.

“Stella!” I yelled. There was a crouching silver-haired girl beyond the bars. “Stella, are you all right?!”

The girl slowly lifted her head. Marine-blue eyes locked onto us. But her mouth was filled with a massive gag that made me feel like my heart had been grabbed and squeezed.

Henny looked at it. “That is a chant-sealing gag. It’s forced on those who use magic.”

“Can it be taken off?”

“Easily. One moment.”

Henny called for the help of Earth. A thin stick appeared in her hand. She used it to unlock the prison cell, then she walked up to Stella. She used the same technique to undo Stella’s bindings and gag.

“Henny, Otaku...?” Stella called, weakly, still crouching. “Why are you here...?”

“Why else? We’re here to save you,” I said. Henny nodded, then held me out to Stella.

Stella took and cradled me. “Y-You two... Ah, BWAAAAAAAH!”

Stella erupted into tears and started choking, as if unleashing a sudden surge of emotions. Her hands shook as she gripped me.

Only a single day had passed since Stella’s imprisonment. But it was only natural she would end up scared and upset after getting stuck in this cramped, dark place.

Henny and I stayed silent for some time as Stella cried, vulnerable.

“Feeling better?” I asked once her sobbing turned to quiet sniffling.

“I-I’ve been fine this whole time. I wasn’t crying because I was glad to see you two, I just wanted to make some noise now that the gag is gone! It’s true!”

“Yep, it’s our usual Stella. She seems fine.”

“That excuse is obviously a lie.”

“N-No it isn’t!” Stella groaned, stamping a foot against the ground. “I wasn’t counting on any of you rescuing me in the first place.” She crossed her arms and tilted her chin away. I was overjoyed to see her tsundere-ness on full blast.

“Speaking of which... Where’s Feena?” Stella asked, finally noticing our missing member.

“Feena is holding down the fort. If we ended up getting caught, her house would’ve been destroyed,” I said.

“I see...” Stella said. “Good, then. She couldn’t even help in a fight anyway.”

“You don’t need to act tough. She can’t hear you.”

“Shut up!”

Henny suddenly cast a glance to the stairs. “We shouldn’t stay here long. Once the dead soldiers are noticed, reinforcements will be sent.”

“The guards are dead...?” Stella looked between us. “Don’t tell me you two killed all the royal soldiers from there to here...”

“We didn’t. It wasn’t us.”

“I don’t know who did it, but by the time we got here they were all dead. That’s how we got here so easily,” I explained.

“What’s going on...?” Stella asked, furrowing her brows.

“We can figure that out later. Let’s go. We don’t want you getting caught again.”

“Trash is right.”

It was just as we started to leave that we were interrupted by some groaning.

“Mnn! Nmm! NMMMM!”

Henny, curious, lit up the space where the noise was coming from with her miracles. There we found Quinza gripping her bars and pleading with us as best she could.

“Oh. It’s Quinza,” Stella said, as if she had forgotten her fellow prisoner existed.

Quinza lifted up some kind of slate. I couldn’t read what it said, but Stella could.

“Let Quinza out for me,” she said. Henny used the slender stick from before to unlock Quinza’s cell.

As soon as the gag was off, Quinza belted out hysterically, “How dare you try to leave without freeing me?! Unbelievable! Rescuing me should have been your first act!”

It seemed like a day in prison hadn’t fixed her arrogant personality.

She brushed her slightly less voluminous hair to the side and lifted up her chin. “Still, I shall praise you for rescuing me from the prison. Look forward to what gifts will arrive from House Frantzbelle.”

“Quinza...” Stella said. “Have you forgotten you’re not a Frantzbelle anymore?”

“That is temporary! I will prove my innocence and return to House Frantzbelle by this time next month!”

“If you’re innocent, why not stay behind bars?”

“Are you insane?! I cannot stand one more moment in this dark, cramped, filthy place! I will be writing a sternly worded letter to the army for imprisoning me in such a place!” Quinza barked, flailing her arms all over the place.

Does our group have room for two girls this loud...?

“Now, where might my staff be?” Quinza asked, as if it were obvious we’d have it.

“Not here,” Henny responded, her expression unchanging.

A vein bulged on Quinza’s forehead. “Why didn’t you bring my staff?!”

“I only came here for Stella.”

“Guh! Should you not have brought mine as well regardless?!”

“That isn’t my responsibility,” Henny replied dryly. Quinza stamped her feet with irritation.

“Fine, then. Stella! Give me your staff.”

“Um?” Stella replied just as Quinza snatched me out of her hands. “Hey! Give that back!”

“Why should I? This staff will find far better use in my hands than yours. Allow me to demonstrate. Luxsaria—”

“Could you stop? I’m Stella’s staff,” I said.

“Eek!” Quinza cried, tossing me aside. I hit the ground and bounced with a clatter. Her face twitched like she had just encountered a ghost, and she yelped, “Th-Th... The staff just spoke! It’s cursed!”

Stella sighed and picked me up. “Exactly. That’s why I told you to give him back.”

“Y-You carry such a dangerous staff on you?! I advise against it! You should change staves immediately!”

Oh? Weirdly enough, Quinza was actually expressing concern for Stella.

“This is the staff for me. It’s fine. More importantly, we should hurry on out of here. Let’s go,” she said, cradling me and heading to the exit. Henny and Quinza followed after.

As soon as we reached the top of the stairs, Stella saw the corpses and inhaled sharply. Quinza furrowed her eyebrows and stared at them. “How strange. Why were only their heads burned?”

“I thought that was strange too,” Henny replied.

Stella looked between the two of them. “Is it that weird?”

“Think about it,” Quinza said. “If my goal was to slay a group of soldiers this numerous with Fire miracles, I would engulf the hall in flames. But there are no scorch marks on the floors or walls, and their armor is untouched. That is what’s strange.”

“Normally,” Henny said, “one would defend against fire shooting to their head. These soldiers don’t seem to have defended themselves.”

Now that they mention it...

It was unnatural that every single soldier had died in the exact same way—their heads getting burned off.

Suddenly, I remembered what Professor Elyena had said.

The soldiers will be leaving their post when the date changes. Aha!

Don’t tell me that when she’d said that, she’d meant that they would all be dead. Whoever killed the soldiers didn’t touch Stella or Quinza. That meant they were on our side. But who would ally themselves with witches? Did Professor Elyena kill all the soldiers to save Stella...?

It was too early to say for sure. And right now, finding out who killed the soldiers wasn’t our priority.

“Stella, where do you intend to go now?” Henny asked as we walked down the dark school hallway.

“What do you mean, where...?”

“You will be a wanted criminal now. You need to run far away so the soldiers don’t catch you. And I won’t be able to follow.”

Henny would stay at school and continue learning. In other words, this was goodbye.

Stella dropped her eyes. “I...don’t have any ideas.”

“I will be going to one of my villas in Frantzbelle,” Quinza said despite nobody having asked her. “The royal army will not be able to move freely there. I will have countless places to hide.”

Stella wore a dubious expression. “I’ll say it as many times as it takes, but weren’t you kicked out of House Frantzbelle?”

“I’m on good terms with the staff of the villa! They will surely shelter me.”

“I hope so.”

“If you doubt it so much, Stella, come with me.”

“What...?”

“Come to my villa with me and hide—until our innocence is proven, that is.”

“How do you intend to prove your innocence?” Henny interjected.

“How else? I shall convey to the Archbishop the miracle I observed in the chapel. She will surely acknowledge I used the power of not magic, but the Goddess’s divinity!”

Henny let out an exasperated sigh, but didn’t argue.

“And as for my innocence...?” Stella asked.

“How could an overly serious idiot such as yourself be a witch? Are you a moron?”

“E-Enough with the name-calling!”

“Hmph. You see, I do not wish to owe a commoner anything. With this, we will be even for having freed me from my cell.”

“Now that’s more like you...”

“Dissatisfied? Surely not, considering I am allowing an orphanage-raised commoner into my villa.”

“Bleh. Not like I have a choice anyway. I won’t mind going if that’s your reasoning,” Stella said with a sigh.

I watched on with great interest. Something must’ve happened down there in prison. They’d gone from being vicious enemies to reasonably amiable. The Stella of the past would’ve never accepted Quinza’s invitation.

“Henny,” Stella said, facing the blue-haired girl. She fidgeted with her hands, then steeled her resolve. “Um... I-It’s not like I asked you to save me or anything, okay?!”

She remains a tsundere even in her farewells! That’s my idol for you! I clenched my celebratory fists on the inside.

“I know,” Henny answered dryly.

“O-Okay... Good, then.”

“I just helped because I wanted to.”

Stella’s shoulders trembled. She groaned, then turned her back to Henny. “I-I won’t forget that you helped me, okay...?” she half whispered.

Henny nodded.

“Goodness gracious, why the dramatic goodbyes? We will be coming back here once our innocence is proven,” Quinza said, shrugging and shaking her head.

“Whatever. So, where is your villa anyway?”

“No need to ask that when I am going to guide you. But before that...” Quinza briskly knelt over and picked up one of the fallen soldier’s staves. “I would rather not use the staff of the deceased, but my hands are tied. I can hardly make it without using miracles along the way.”

“Speaking of which, Otaku, are you still sick or what?” Stella asked, wanting to know if I could use miracles properly again. But I still didn’t have divine power, so...

“Sorry. You may as well assume you can’t use miracles again.”

“Oh well, I wasn’t counting on you anyway.”

Quinza watched on uncomfortably as Stella talked to her staff, aka me. Stella noticed that and looked over. “Don’t worry about it. This staff is harmless, outside of the perverted things he may say sometimes.”

“How can I not worry?!”

“A friend of Stella is a friend of mine. Looking forward to working with you, Quinza.”

“Eek! A curse has learned my name! What have you done to me?!”

We left the school building chattering loud enough you’d hardly think we had just broken out of prison.

And in that instant...

“You three! Throw away your staves!” rang out a sharp voice. Quinza, Stella, and Henny all froze in place.

Gah! What’s happening...?!

The exit was crowded by so many soldiers there wasn’t so much as a sliver of space between them. They all glared our way with murderous anger in their eyes. Each looked ready to kill.

“I have one question,” came a familiar voice from the sky.

Stella inhaled sharply.

Leading the soldiers was Hamiel—she who was known as the strongest saint. Her amber hair fluttered in the wind as she looked down at our group with cold eyes.

“Were you the ones who killed every last one of the hundred-some soldiers stationed here?” she asked, voice bereft of emotion.

I shuddered. This was my first time hearing Hamiel talk in that tone. She was infuriated.

“A hundred?! How could that have been us? In the first place, Stella and I only just left our cells! What could we have done?!”

“They were dead by the time we got here.”

Quinza and Henny both answered, but Hamiel’s cold gaze remained.

“It would seem the soldiers all killed themselves by burning their heads,” she said. “There is only one person I know capable of an act as monstrous as forcing others to kill themselves.” Hamiel narrowed her eyes. “Liliana the Witch of Submission. You took the hand of the cruelest witch of all to escape, didn’t you?”

“No...!” Stella yelled just as Hamiel vanished.

A gust of wind blew by their faces.

“What?!”

“Ngh...!”

Broken staves clattered to the ground—Quinza’s and Henny’s. Both of their staves had been cut in half.

“Not my staff again...!”

“I didn’t see anything...”

Quinza was frustrated, while Henny was just stunned.

Hamiel reappeared and shouted, “I have neutralized all but the witches. Capture them!”

The soldiers all surged toward us at once, sprinting in their plate armor. Quinza grunted and instantly grabbed another soldier’s staff from the ground.

“As if I will allow myself to be taken back to that prison! Ignaria Sein!”

“I will help. Aquaria Sein,” Henny chanted after picking up a staff.

Quinza formed a massive fireball and threw it toward the soldiers. Henny added an iceball to it, and instantly it grew to over twice its original size before exploding. The soldiers scattered, screaming.

“What did you put into my fireball?” Quinza asked.

“A clump of frozen oil.”

“Hah!” Quinza laughed, mirthfully. “Now that is a Razwald for you. No normal student could enlarge my flames so.”

“Start chanting. More are coming.”

“But of course. O Spirits of Fire, grant me blazes to burn mine enemies away. Ignaria Sein!”

“Heaven’s basin tilted and showered the earth with life. Aquaria Sein.”

Quinza and Henny let out a duo chant. Allied here were former members of the People of Fire and People of Water.

A fireball came from one side of the sky, and oil rained down from the other. Their miracles met above the ground and engulfed it in a red blaze.

“Amazing...” Stella whispered, standing a bit behind them.

But the soldiers were kept back only for a few moments. They formed shields of Earth and shrugged the fire off while pushing our way.

“Ngh, how persistent! Ignaria—”

“Wait. The crashing wave froze in time and became a towering wall of ice. Aquaria Sein.”

A cracking sound resounded as a thick wall of ice suddenly formed in front of us.

“That should stall them for a moment.”

“Well, aren’t you useful, Razwald!”

Stella exhaled. But a moment later, she was lifted into the air.

“Eek— Nnmm!”

Unbelievably, the clouds in the sky gathered together and formed what appeared to be a floating white dragon. It wrapped around Stella’s body and sealed both her limbs and mouth. I was stuck there too.

Henny and Quinza both looked up at us. “Stella...!”

“What?! She went so far as to make a dragon...?! Release Stella at once! Ignaria Sein!”

Quinza launched a fireball at the dragon, but it dissipated as soon as it touched its body. No damage was done whatsoever.

Hamiel suddenly appeared and said, “I regret that we must face each other in this way, Stella.”

Hamiel and Stella faced each other down.

“Nmm!”

Stella looked like she wanted to say something, but the dragon had her mouth blocked—it was to prevent her from chanting any magic spells.

“I was overjoyed when you said you wished to fight alongside me in the name of peace. Most nobles join the Opti Baculus solely for honor and pride. Only a select few fight from the bottom of their hearts for the peace of their country,” Hamiel said. Her eyes held sorrow, but it was only there for a moment. She blinked, and all that remained was malice. “To think you would turn out to be a witch—the greatest enemy of peace. You were not one to be blessed. As a member of the Opti Baculus, I shall purge all evil threatening the world!”

“ENOUGH OF THAT GARBAGE!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. A male voice shouldn’t have been present in Antohsa; the soldiers stopped on instinct. Hamiel scanned the crowd as I continued my roaring. “Take that back. Stella is no enemy of peace, and she’s not a threat to the world. Don’t just go around claiming anyone who uses magic has to be evil!”

I felt Stella’s gaze on me.

Sorry, Stella. I knew it would’ve been better for me to stay quiet. But how am I supposed to keep my mouth shut after hearing all of that?

Stella had been cut deep by her idol attacking her so harshly. My idol’s heart had been wounded. As an otaku, I couldn’t let that slide.

Hamiel still remembered my voice, apparently. “You... You’re Stella’s mimicked voice!”

“Think about it for one second. If Stella wanted to destroy the world, why did she stop Quinza at the Miracle Games? Did Stella hurt anyone then? Hamiel, the only reason Stella did anything was because YOU failed to stop Quinza!”

Hamiel’s frown deepened. “Miracles cannot defeat magic. That is a painful reality. However, this does not excuse the use of magic.”

“Stella used magic for peace! For the sake of saving all the lives you couldn’t! You saw it yourself, didn’t you?! And you still think Stella is going to destroy the world?! It doesn’t make sense!”

Hamiel didn’t answer, but I saw her expression wavering.

At the academy, one studied the holy scripture until one could recite it from memory. It depicted magic as a horrible thing that was solely wielded by heretics. Hamiel could hardly be blamed for intuitively thinking that witches were evil. Such was common sense in this world, and I didn’t think I had the silver tongue necessary to undo beliefs that were baked in. All I needed to do was throw her off.

I’ll use this chance to free Stella from the dragon!

I inhaled, then shouted. “GIVE!”

“Oh no!”

Hamiel, startled, leaped back from Stella. The dragon vanished at the same time.

My bluff had worked perfectly.

Hamiel had thought I was Stella throwing her voice or something. In other words, she thought my chant would be enough to cast a spell.

Stella, freed from the dragon, was flung into the air and began falling.

“Ngh! Winaria Sein!” Stella chanted, but she didn’t float. Henny and Quinza had to catch her.

“Are you okay?” Henny asked.

“You cannot even fly...?” Quinza muttered.

“Everyone, get outta here!” I shouted. “This is our one chance; they still think Stella used a spell.”

My bluff would only work once. We couldn’t waste this opportunity.

Stella nodded and bolted. Henny and Quinza followed after.

Soldiers lined up like a wall in front of them. As soon as they saw Stella, they let out shouts of their own.

“Stop the witches! Terararia Sein!”

“Don’t falter! Terararia Sein!”

Rocks launched toward Stella like bullets, but she deftly dodged them with her keen athletic sense and charged into the soldiers. They flinched.

“You’re in my way! Move!”

Stella tackled her way through the wall of soldiers. They didn’t attack her—she was touching their staves.

The fear of chanting a spell and being met without a miracle sent a shudder through the soldiers. She used that fear to form a path, and through it the three of them charged ahead.

“Your efforts are pointless, Stella Millesia. Winaria Sein!”

Hamiel shot a ball of wind from the sky.

“Aquaria Sein.”

Henny instantly formed and lifted a shield of ice... But it was powerless before Hamiel’s wind.

The shattered fragments of ice rained onto the ground. The ball of wind raced to collide with us. All hope was lost...

“Iron wall! Terararia Sein!”

An impossible voice rang out.

What?! Feena!

Stella, Henny, and Quinza all balked. An iron wall formed to protect the three of them, blocking Hamiel’s wind.

Hamiel cast her eyes into the distance.

Close to the school gate stood a trembling girl, staff in hand. Her face was as white as a ghost, and her expression twitched. Looking like she was on the verge of collapse, Feena inhaled a big gulp of air, then shouted in a scratchy voice, “S-SORRYYY! I was practicing my miracles, and accidentally formed a wall over there! Aha ha ha ha...!”

Everyone was dazed.

A soldier barked at Feena. “What was that?! Are you trying to aid the escaping prisoners?!”

“N-Not at all...! I’m inexperienced with miracles and can’t aim them properly! It was entirely by accident that I blocked Lady Hamiel’s attack just now!”

Such incredible sophistry!

Whilst everyone else balked, Hamiel alone remained calm. She instantly formed a gust of wind and launched it at Stella’s group.

And yet...

“Iron wall! Terararia Sein!”

Iron walls encircled Stella’s group, blocking Hamiel’s attack once again.

Feena’s monotone echoed out once again. “Oh nooo, I messed up again! I’m sorry for being so bad at thiiis!”

“Feena...” Stella whispered, her voice brimming with emotion.

What was Feena doing here? She had said she couldn’t help Stella with her escape.

Just how much courage had it taken for her to come save us in our time of need...? It was beyond what we could imagine.

Stella bit her lip and faced the soldiers in front of her. “We’re gonna escape no matter what. I won’t let Feena’s help go to waste!”

“Naturally. Ignaria Sein!”

“Aquaria Sein.”

Quinza and Henny hit the soldiers with a flurry of miracles, while Stella charged ahead and rendered them unable to cast any miracles of their own.

Thanks to Feena’s support, they could go on the offensive.

“That’s enough cockiness from you, apprentices!” Hamiel shouted before disappearing and instantly reappearing in front of Stella.

“Ngh?!”

“Winaria Sein!”

She let out a mighty gale—it was close enough to obliterate even Feena’s iron walls. Stella, Quinza, and Henny were blown right back to the school entrance before toppling onto the ground. Hamiel caught up to them in the blink of an eye, then beat balls of wind into each of their stomachs.

“Ah!”

“Guh...!”

“Ngh...”

It was a lightning-fast, utterly one-sided assault.

Once they were immobilized, the soldiers slapped something that resembled mud on their arms, legs, and mouths, completely imprisoning them.

“Well done,” Hamiel said. “Go and grab that student by the gate.”

“At once!”

The soldiers briskly flew over to Feena.

“I-I was just practicing my miracles...!” she cried.

Naturally, her excuses didn’t work, and she was captured too.

This is the worst-case scenario. Henny and Feena are caught now... This wasn’t supposed to happen!

It was too late for regrets. Hamiel looked down at Stella; in her hands, she held a gag. “Attempting to escape was foolish. All those who turn their back to the Goddess, be they one who has touched magic or one who has aided a witch, shall be put to death.”

Stella flinched.

Hamiel crouched next to her, brushing the mud off Stella’s mouth to put the gag on her. “All that your trickery has accomplished is adding more sinners to be executed.”

And in that instant...

“Give,” spilled out from the witch’s mouth.

A sharp pain instantly shot through my chest.

Stella...!

The clinking of chains began to ring out. The witch’s chant had bent the world, and holes opened within the empty air. Pitch-black chains were birthed from them like evil snakes.

“Ngh! Winaria Sein!” Hamiel barked, but it was too late.

“Unforgivable. I won’t let you execute my friends!”

There stood the Witch of Shackles, wearing a crown of chains. She stared Hamiel down with piercing eyes radiating as much dark malice as the rest of her small frame.

Stella’s magic activation had caused the mud covering the other three to disappear. Hamiel’s miracles would no longer form.

“Ngh...!” Hamiel grunted, gripping her staff. “O Goddess, grant me your protection! Grand Spirit of Wind, Luxsaria Sein...!”

“Give.”

Instantly, chains erupted from Hamiel’s staff.

Like mistletoe that had been infecting an old tree, countless chains erupted from the staff and engulfed its entire shaft. The chains even reached Hamiel, binding her in the blink of an eye.

Hamiel could only stand in a daze as she was bound tightly from head to toe.

“That you could steal even my Goddess-given spirit...”

A staff was the life of a saint. As per the law of the Goddess, their staves were home to spirits. Using spirits to literally cause miracles was proof of one living by the Goddess’s creed.

Stella had sealed all of that with her magic. Their faith and pleas to the Goddess were all naught before Stella the Witch.

Naturally, Hamiel lost her will to fight; she slumped in the chains, teeth gritting with frustration over her powerlessness.

Stella turned. “Henny, Quinza. Let’s get out of here,” she said.

Henny had planned to stay in the academy, but as a criminal that was no longer an option. With her usual expressionless face, she nodded.

Quinza was overwhelmed by Stella’s transformation, but after a delay, she managed to nod.

Feena called over from the school gate, “STELLAAA! WHAT ABOUT MEEE?”

“You’re coming with, obviously.”

Feena’s face lit up, and her color returned.

Stella stepped forward, prompting Hamiel to speak to her back. “Halt, Stella Millesia. Even if you escape from me here, you all remain criminals. You will be chased by the army for eternity, and no peace will ever come to—”

“Whether there’s pain or suffering, I’ll protect those close to me no matter what,” Stella said.

That had always been her ideal. Her core would remain unshakable, even if the heavens and earth flipped upside down. It was the wish that she had continued praying for through her entire, lonely life.

The witch stepped forward, chains following her. The terrified soldiers split apart like a parting sea, paving a path for her. Hamiel could only watch, no longer having any way to stop her.

Stella abruptly stopped. Someone stood before her, blocking the way.

Even though they stood all on their lonesome, their aura seemed to block the entire school gate.

Huh...? Impossible. Am I seeing things?

I wanted to rub my eyes, but I didn’t have hands or eyes.

I knew that girl at the gate, standing with darkness at her back. Obviously—I had known her since kindergarten.

Her flowing, glossy black hair flowed behind her in a perfectly straight manner, her skin was white as snow, and her eyelashes curled upward. She wore our high school’s sailor uniform, and she had a wooden sword in hand.

“Mi...Mitsuki?”

My childhood friend, Mitsuki Kaguya, barred our path.

＊＊＊

I still had a crystal clear memory of the day I reincarnated into this world.

It was the fourteenth of February—Valentine’s Day.

On that day, class had remained particularly busy even after the school day. Girls had gone about distributing chocolate—both out of obligation and because of their real feelings. I knew I’d only be getting obligatory chocolate, but I’d stayed in class out of gluttony.

Before I’d known it, only Mitsuki and I had remained in class.

Red sunlight had streamed into the classroom as Mitsuki had idly tapped away at her phone.

That wasn’t a surprise. As her childhood friend, I knew Mitsuki’s cooking was bad enough to be considered destructive. She wouldn’t be giving any chocolate like the other girls did.

I’d stood up to go home. And that was when...

“Hold it,” Mitsuki had said, putting her phone in her pocket and standing.

Mitsuki had good posture as one who lived in a kendo dojo and had been practicing since her youth. She was a bit taller than the average girl, but she still looked slender.

Mitsuki had thrust out a bag toward me without even a smile. “Here.”

“Thanks,” I’d replied, taking it on instinct despite not knowing what could be inside. Maybe she was giving back the eraser I’d lent her. “Can I open it?”

Mitsuki had tilted her chin away in a huff. “Do whatever you want. It’s yours.”

With her approval received, I’d opened the bag. I’d noticed her glancing my way as I did so. I’d peered inside and saw a chocolate-colored, heart-shaped thing.

“That’s a weird-looking eraser.”

“ERASER?! You’re calling my chocolate an eraser before you even try it?!”

“Hold it, Mitsuki! Put the sword down! I’m sorry!”

Mitsuki had heaved with anger, her sword lifted in the air wrathfully.

Mitsuki had single-handedly won the international high school kendo tournament. If she were to come swinging at me, I’d be beaten to a pulp.

No matter the circumstances, it had been rude to mistake handmade chocolate for an eraser.

I’d steeled my resolve and popped one into my mouth.

“Whoa... That was good!”

There hadn’t been a need for me to steel my resolve. The soft sweetness of the chocolate had spread through my mouth as it melted. It had been just as good as something premade.

“Did you really make this, Mitsuki?”

“What’s with the doubt?”

“Uh, I mean... When I was poison-testing the chocolate you made in elementary school, I was sick for a w—”

“How many years ago was that, idiot?! I worked with my mom this time!”

“Ah. That explains it.”

“Oh, does it?! You’re a trashy otaku—you should be glad just to get any chocolate at all.”

“And I am! Time to eat!”

Mitsuki had clicked her tongue and averted her eyes. She had lowered her sword, and I could deduce she was now pleased.

And that’s when it had hit me—we were alone in class, the walls painted red with evening light, and a heart-shaped homemade chocolate was in my hands. Anyone would draw the same conclusion here.

“Hey... Is this real, then?”

Mitsuki’s cheeks burst with flames. “E-Excuse me? Don’t get the wrong idea, trash. I was just giving it to you so you could taste test it! That’s all it is, nothing more nothing less!”

She was a tsundere.

When she got embarrassed, she never told the truth. I knew her usual tsundereness was about to start.

“So, you’re going to give the rest to someone else after?”

“Of course. Isn’t that obvious?”

“It would be, if anyone else was still here.”

Our classroom had been totally empty save for us. At most, a girl’s squeals would ring out from the hallways every now and again.

Mitsuki had trembled. She’d faced the ground as if to contain her embarrassment.

“Th-That’s got nothing to do with you!”

“True enough. I’m just satisfied I got to try the heartfelt chocolate you worked so hard to make.”

“Again, it wasn’t heartfelt!” Mitsuki had begun, her eyes shooting her up with anger. Then, the expression had fallen from her face.

What?

Mitsuki’s expression had turned into a cold, flat glare. She hadn’t been embarrassed, nor had she blushed. She’d looked at me like I was a stranger, rejecting all I had said.

“I would never give heartfelt chocolate to a trashy otaku like you. Try to be a little less self-important,” she’d said. Her tone was one of true disgust.

Wha? Why?

I’d been at a loss for words.

Why had Mitsuki rejected me from nowhere? She... She had rejected me.

Tsunderes needed affection to exist. If she loathed me from the bottom of her heart, she wasn’t a tsundere—she was just...tsuntsun.

Before I’d been able to process what I had heard, Mitsuki had picked up her bag and left the classroom.

I’d been left alone in the red classroom.

That had been the last I’d seen of Mitsuki before reincarnating.

＊＊＊

Antohsa’s grounds were pitch-dark. And amid the darkness, a silver-haired and a black-haired girl faced each other down.

They were circled by army soldiers who had been rendered unable to cast miracles. Nobody moved.

The black-haired girl at the gate glared at Stella with sharp eyes. “Are you Stella Millesia?” she asked, her voice as strong and clear as I remembered.

This was no illusion. That was my Mitsuki in front of us! Nostalgia welled up through my chest. Apparently I had been more uneasy than I thought, stuck here alone in this foreign world. The sight of Mitsuki somehow made metaphorical tears well up in my eyes. (Metaphorical since, as a staff, I couldn’t cry no matter how badly I wanted to.)

Stella furrowed her brow with suspicion before answering. “Yes...?”

A sharp light flashed in Mitsuki’s eyes. She chanted something under her breath, engulfing her sword in utter blackness. “Prepare yourself!”

Mitsuki readied her wooden sword, then charged forward.

“Wha?! Give!”

Stella thrust out her hands.

Pitch-black chains shot out the witch’s hands. They rushed toward Mitsuki’s wooden sword.

“HYAAAH!”

A tense battle cry cut through the night. She had used her black sword to cut through Stella’s chains.

“What?!” Stella cried, frightened.

Mitsuki used the brief opening to step forward and swing down hard. “DIE!”

The sword, falling with the might of gravity, collided with Stella’s staff.

Mitsuki busted out her hardest-hitting moves. Stella wrapped her chains around me to block them. The chains and Mitsuki’s sword rebounded by nature or something of the sort, prompting sparks to fly.

What...? Why is Mitsuki attacking Stella?!

I was about to fall into a panic.

My childhood friend from another world had showed up out of nowhere, and now she was picking a fight with my idol for some reason. None of it made sense. What kind of logic had led to this? The one thing I could say was I didn’t want either of them hurt.

“Stop it, Mitsuki!” I shouted.

Her eyes shot wide open. Stella used that moment to push her sword away and jump back.

Stella gasped for breath, her shoulders heaving. Stella was more athletic than most, but keeping up with a high school champion like Mitsuki wouldn’t be an easy feat.

Mitsuki lowered her sword and scanned the crowd.

“You?! Where are you, you trashy otaku!” Mitsuki shouted, having recognized my voice right away.

“Right in front of you. I’m stuck in Stella’s staff,” I said.

Mitsuki froze, and her eyes fell on me. “Excuse me? Are you serious?”

“It sounds kind of insane, but I reincarnated into her staff! Which means, naturally, I’d like for you to stop fighting Stella.”

The silence of night engulfed us.

Stella tightened her grip on me.

“Hm, is that so? I understand now,” Mitsuki said, voice low as she nodded.

Far from calming down, a murderous intent now radiated out of her. What had she understood? I was scared to ask.

“M-Mitsuki...?”

“The fact you’re not asking me for help even after getting trapped in a staff makes it veeery clear you’ve been driven mad by that witch. You’re as stupid and hopeless of an otaku as ever. But rest easy. As your childhood friend, I’ll be gracious and choose not to abandon you here. I’ll make sure to kill the witch dead!”

What the hell?! She’s not a tsundere or just tsuntsun! She’s a friggin’ yandere!

When had this transformation taken place? Well...I suppose now wasn’t the time to think about that.

“Die for the sake of his life and mine together, YOU WIIITCH!”

“Stella, RUUUN!”

Mitsuki charged forward, a demonic expression on her face as she swung about her sword.

Stella lifted her hands to shoot more chains out, and—

“That will do for now, holy savior,” came a call. A staff was thrust out from the side like a ticket barrier. Mitsuki paused.

A look around revealed that, at some point, a group of robe-wearing women had appeared. Their unified black-themed outfits exuded immense pressure.

The elder nun who had stopped Mitsuki gave a smarmy smile. “The promise was to execute her only after the trial, no?”

Mitsuki clicked her tongue and lowered her wooden sword.

Savior? Mitsuki is the savior?! Don’t make me laugh!

My childhood friend being a savior was the biggest joke there was.

Or so I thought, but Hamiel and all the other soldiers promptly knelt in Mitsuki’s direction. A stiff aura filled the air that made it difficult to interject.

Quinza suddenly burst forward. “Archbishop! It is I, Quinza Frantzbelle! Do you remember me?!” she exclaimed, kneeling before the elderly woman.

The Archbishop glanced down at Quinza, or rather, at the pendant hanging on her chest. “Yes, of course. House Frantzbelle has donated extraordinary sums to our church.”

Quinza’s expression brightened. “Honorable Archbishop, there is something I wish to discuss. Directly before the Miracle Games, I visited the chapel on my own two feet. In the midst of my prayer, the Goddess herself appeared before me and gifted me a slip with which to brew miracle medicine!”

A slip...? Those are cursed items made by the Goddess. Only I know that, though.

Quinza looked up at the Archbishop with joy on her face. “I experienced the Goddess’s miracle for myself. I brewed miracle medicine with a slip as the Goddess advised, and upon extolling her name, I was gifted incredible power! And such power, gifted by the Goddess herself, could never be a cursed force like magic...!”

“Quinza Frantzbelle.”

“You would not call it magic yourself, no?! After all, I merely followed the Goddess’s instructions! The slips are the birthplace of the Goddess’s miracles, and a holy thing unto themselves. It is only natural that when brewed they would—”

“Quinza Frantzbelle!” barked the Archbishop. Quinza’s expression froze. “Are you not ashamed to speak of such delusions?”

“What...?”

The Archbishop sneered down at Quinza. Her clasped hands trembled.

“These are not delusions... I truly did see the Goddess! She granted me a slip so that I might succeed!”

“Yet more nonsense. You did not see the Goddess, and you were not given a prayer slip.”

“But I—”

“That will be enough sacrilege.” The Archbishop readied her staff and placed it against Quinza’s mouth. “Ignaria Sein.”

There was no time to stop her. The Archbishop’s flames burned her throat.

What...?!

“Quinza...!”

Stella screamed just as Quinza collapsed. She rushed over, but she was blocked by Mitsuki’s sword and a sharp glare.

“Gh...nghg...” Quinza gurgled, barely able to breathe. She was far from being able to speak.

The Archbishop looked down upon her with compassionate eyes. “This is what happens when one attempts to defile the Goddess. I have faith you will speak only the truth at your trial.”

You’re telling her to speak the truth after burning out her throat?

I glared at the Archbishop; what a rotten woman. Not that I would have expected anything else from the head of the Goddess’s church.

The Archbishop turned her head. “Good Hamiel.”

“At the ready!”

“Put the witches and those who aided them in prison.”

“Wait!” Mitsuki, who injected herself between them, shouted.

“Yes, holy savior?” the Archbishop asked piously.

“There’s no need to put the witches in prison. Put them in my room, so I can watch over them.”

“What in the world are you suggesting...?!”

“If I may,” Hamiel advised, “that is highly dangerous, and I must recommend against it.”

Mitsuki crossed her arms. “Dangerous? Are you implying I would lose to the witches?”

“We have no intention of belittling the divine might of one sent by the Goddess. However, we do not want a freak accident to bring harm to you. Please reconsider.”

“Not happening,” Mitsuki said obstinately. “In the first place, what’s the point in putting them back into a prison they just broke out of? How many soldiers died over this? They’re just going to escape again. It’d obviously be better for me to keep an eye on them myself.”

“That may be, but...”

“I’m the savior, and I’m the one saying this. Shouldn’t my word be law?” Mitsuki demanded, refusing to falter for a moment—even when facing Hamiel.

Hamiel and the Archbishop both wore bitter frowns, but they didn’t argue back.

“I’ll take the responsibility of looking after Stella the Witch in my room. Put the others back in their rooms. They won’t run when I have Stella under my power,” Mitsuki said. She left it at that as if it were a done deal.

The Archbishop turned to the soldiers. “Do as the savior said.”

“At once!” all the soldiers immediately responded.

Seriously, Mitsuki? They really are treating you like a savior...

The soldiers took Feena, Henny, and the limp Quinza to the dormitory.

Stella looked at Mitsuki. “Y-You! I don’t mind thanking you for not putting us back in jail. Maybe you aren’t a—”

“Don’t get the wrong idea,” Mitsuki said, voice sharp with rejection. “I will kill you. That’s why I’m here.”

Stella fell silent. Mitsuki turned on her heels and walked away. “You may be a world-ending witch, but you’re nothing compared to my divine power. Don’t even think about running away.”

The Archbishop guided Mitsuki through Antohsa. Stella meekly followed.

The night seemed unending.

I resolved to interrogate Mitsuki once everything had calmed down.

Chapter 2 — Quoth Mitsuki: Since I’m Here, I May as Well Do Some Isekai Stuff

For the first time, I learned that the Antohsa dormitory had extravagant guest rooms for visitors.

Since Mitsuki had rushed to Antohsa late in the night after receiving an urgent report of our jailbreak, they’d prepared one such room for her.

As one would imagine from an extravagant VIP room, the suite was on another level from the four-per-person affairs the students stayed in. The broad living area had a one-person bed, a parlor for visitors, and even a shower room.

“Now then, oh savior, do get your rest,” the Archbishop stated before leaving alongside her gang of nuns.

The door shut with a thump, and as soon as the footsteps vanished into the distance...

“Trash!” Mitsuki exclaimed, spinning on her heels and snatching me out of Stella’s hand. Stella made a surprised noise, but Mitsuki ignored her and strolled about the room with me. “So, are you really in this staff? Hmm?”

“Yep.”

“Wow! The staff’s actually talking! Is there, like, a speaker hole somewhere?”

“I’m not a smartphone, so no. The round part of the staff feels like my head to me, but that’s all I can say.”

“Where’s this, then?” Mitsuki asked, poking my head.

“My left eyebrow, I guess.”

“And here?”

“My nose.”

“And here?”

“My mouth.”

It felt weird for her finger to be touching my pseudo-lips. And whether she knew that or not, Mitsuki stroked my lips with her finger.

“Hey, quit it.”

“Why? Are you such a trashy otaku that even this turns you on?”

“‘Turns me’...what? When did you become the touchy-feely type?”

“When you became a staff, duh. I wouldn’t do this if you were you.”

“Fair enough, I guess...? It’s still me on the inside, though, so I’d rather you didn’t.”

“Not happy to have a girl touching you? Be a little more grateful, y—”

“Enough with the lewdness!” Stella shrieked, her cry resounding through the room. The silver-haired girl clenched her fists and shook with rage. With an incredibly hurt expression on her face, she demanded, “Give him back.”

Mitsuki sniffed. “That’s my line. You’re the one who should be giving him back to me. This otaku is my childhood friend and my classmate. Quit walking around like he belongs to you.”

“Mitsuki, I am her staff. I do want you to give me back to her.”

“Ahem?” Mitsuki glared at me.

Her wide-eyed, piercing gaze hurt. Mitsuki hadn’t ever given me a yandere look like this back when we’d been on Earth. What the hell had happened?

Made uncomfortable by Mitsuki’s new attitude, I continued. “In this world, I’m Stella’s staff. Just to be clear, over here a staff is a crucial instrument for performing miracles, and—”

“Enough, trash. I don’t care about this world’s lore or whatever.”

“Mitsuki!” I exclaimed. She paused. “I promised to be Stella’s spirit! A person and a spirit are one in body and soul. Stella being sad makes me sad, and Stella being hurt hurts me too. Mitsuki... Let me be Stella’s staff again. For me.”

Mitsuki lowered her gaze, perhaps having sensed my seriousness. I felt her hands tighten their grip on me.

“You’re a crappy staff anyway!” Mitsuki barked, slamming me against the floor.

“Ow!”

“Otaku...!” Stella raced over to pick me up.

Mitsuki went to the bed in the back of the room. “Thanks to your little escape, I was shaken awake and rushed all the way over. Don’t even think about disturbing my sleep any further.”

“Mitsuki, wait.”

“What?”

“Let me ask one thing before you go to sleep—how’d you end up reincarnating here?”

Mitsuki froze midstep. I, personally, had been reincarnated after getting hit by a metal pipe that had fallen from a construction site.

Could it be that Mitsuki ended up half dead from some accident too...?

Mitsuki kept her back toward me as she answered. “I have no idea.”

“Huh?”

“I blinked and here I was, face-to-face with a Goddess telling me she’d return me to my world if I kill a witch!”

Stella inhaled sharply. Learning that the Goddess was after her life was a shock indeed.

“You weren’t hurt, then?”

“Hah! I’m not some clumsy otaku. I wouldn’t let an iron pipe slam into me.”

“Glad to hear it, then.”

Mitsuki’s shoulders trembled. I heard her click her tongue before she slid into bed.

“Look at my sleeping face, creep, and you’re dead.”

“Roger. Night.”

Mitsuki left it at that and fell silent, her faint breathing only detectable when I strained my ears. I looked at her flowing black hair spilling across her pillow and let out a quiet sigh.

Never thought I’d be seeing Mitsuki here of all places. And her archetype seems to have shifted.

That was when I realized...

Is THIS the amusement the Goddess was talking about?!

She’d turned my childhood friend into a savior, then tried to get her to kill Stella. I was wedged between Stella and Mitsuki, unable to stop either of them. This was definitely the kind of situation that would get that fucked-up Goddess cackling.

I looked at Stella. She was standing in the room awkwardly, still cradling me.

She had been oddly silent since Mitsuki had appeared. Maybe all the recent happenings had left her exhausted.

“Stella, we should get some sleep ourselves. Gotta prepare for tomorrow.”

Our plan to escape Antohsa tonight had failed.

Escaping while Mitsuki slept was one option, but that would leave Henny and Feena behind. Stella would never run away to save her own hide at the cost of her friends.

“Do you know what’s happening tomorrow?” she asked.

“The trial, right?”

“And I’m going to get the death sentence there.”

“We don’t know that yet.”

“They say anyone who uses magic gets the death sentence no matter what.”

“It’s too early to give up. The one silver lining here is that the Archbishop is outranked by the savior, and that savior happens to be my childhood friend,” I said. It might have been possible to use that to evade Stella’s fate.

Better than Stella fleeing endlessly from the army to escape trial. If things went well, Stella would be freed of all charges.

Stella tightened her grip on me.

“Stella...?”

“Is that girl the childhood friend you were talking about before?”

“Yep. She’s the one who awakened me to the glory of tsunderes.”

Stella flopped onto the sofa as if collapsing. “Good for you, then. You get to see her again,” she said, her bright voice clearly forced. Turning her back to hide her face hardly hid that.

“Stella, let me be clear. Mitsuki and I—”

“Are childhood friends, right? You were with her enough to end up the tsundere-obsessed pervert you are now. Am I right?”

“Yeah, but...”

“Not to mention, she even happens to be the savior. She’s blessed by the Goddess, worshipped by all, and she even still cares for you. What’s there to complain about?” A tear dripped onto the sofa. “I can just go and disappear. You’ll be fine as long as you’re with the mighty savior.”

“Stella!” I shouted, but she didn’t turn my way. “None of that means anything. Witches? Saviors? Mitsuki and I may have known each other for a long time, but my love for you is something else! You’re my number one idol! I love you more than anything in the universe!”

Normally, Stella would get embarrassed here. She’d go bright red, lose control over herself, fling me all over the place, and try to act cool. Now, though...

“Ngh...nnn...!”

Stifled sobbing, tears dripping onto the sofa one after another. My heart clenched; she was too defeated to even act tough.

“Obviously, I won’t be fine if you just disappear. I’m your spirit. We’ll be together forever, and that’s that.”

She suddenly embraced me. I could feel her body heat. What served as my forehead was tickled by locks of her silver hair, and I was engulfed in a faint girlish scent.

Her choking sobs continued. “Otaku...! Don’t be stupid. I might be executed tomorrow, and you’re...stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid...!”

She hugged me tight.

The fear of potentially dying tomorrow, the despair of the Goddess she worshipped wanting her dead, the guilt of involving her friends... These burdens were too great for this young girl to bear. At the very least, I wanted her to feel peace when we were alone together.

I was a staff with no warmth of my own, but I couldn’t help but wish to bring her some comfort.

＊＊＊

The next day...

“Tch.”

I awoke to the sound of a clicking tongue.

I was lying with Stella on the sofa. She had fallen asleep there with me in her arms.

Right in front of my eyes was Stella’s sleeping face, breath passing in and out of her lips. Her long silver lashes, soft lips, and innocent features... Every feature was enhanced by her slumber, and right before my eyes! I had to burn this into my memory while I still could!

I heard Mitsuki walk away as I intently stared at Stella’s sleeping face. She must’ve thought I was asleep since I didn’t say anything.

I tore myself away from Stella’s face to follow Mitsuki with my eyes, and...

“Hah...”

Mitsuki stopped in front of the shower and took off her top.

What?! Wait!

As I floundered, Mitsuki began pulling down her skirt.

Whoa, now that’s some fancy underwear...

This had turned less into an accident and me just being totally enraptured.

Mitsuki was wearing a matching pair of black lace underwear. Her height gave her an air of maturity well suited by her glossy black hair.

Somehow, it felt like this was a Mitsuki I didn’t know.

Mitsuki bundled up her long hair, then reached for the hook of her bra...

“W-Wait, Mitsuki! If you’re gonna change, do it somewhere private!” I shouted before the final line was crossed.

Mitsuki turned with a start and glared at me with demonic fury. “You perverted monkey! Say you’re awake sooner! What kind of cheap trick are you pulling, trying to watch me get changed?!”

“Hey, I called out, didn’t I?!”

A part of me thought it might’ve been better to just look away and stay silent, but I had no confidence in my ability to do that. Speaking up had been for the best.

“It’s a hundred years too early for a gross otaku like you to get to see me naked,” Mitsuki said, grabbing her bamboo sword from the wall. She muttered, “Deus Est Mors.”

Black energy engulfed her sword. That was divine power!

“W-Wait, Mitsuki! Don’t use divine power on something like this...!”

“I can use it on whatever I want! Consider this divine punishment!” Mitsuki swung her black sword.

Oh no! This is real bad!

What made it bad? The fact Stella was embracing me. If Mitsuki cut me, Stella would get hurt too.

I sucked in air before shouting at the top of my lungs. “STELLA! MARRY MEEEEEE!”

“Bwah?!” Stella cried, waking up.

“Guh?!” Mitsuki also cried.

As soon as Stella saw Mitsuki with the lifted sword, she leaped up and put some space between us. That was exactly what I had intended.

What I hadn’t intended was how Mitsuki had responded.

She was trembling with her sword frozen in the air. Her eyes were bloodshot as she stared at Stella and me.

“What’s this about marriage...? Can you marry staves in this world? Is that what he meant when he talked about you being one in body and soul last night? Does this mean you two are already dating with plans for marriage...?”

I cradled my head on the inside. I had only said that to wake up Stella, but I had triggered Mitsuki’s latent yandere energy. It’s like I’d dodged a lightning bolt and landed on a land mine.

“Nah, I think staves can’t get married here. Right, Stella?”

“No, girls have married their spirits before. You seriously didn’t know that, idiot?” Stella said, her tone harsh. I balked at this revelation.

“Why would a virgin, lame, forever-unpopular otaku marry a silver haired loli beauty...? That can’t be right! Just imagine how horrible the wedding would be! I won’t celebrate this, no matter what!”

She swung her sword and lunged at us. Her darkness-engulfed sword destroyed all it touched, regardless of whether it was a wall or anything else. A cold wind blew through the now-open tears in the wall.

“Eek, eek!” Stella fled through the room, using expensive-looking decoration as shields. Flower pots shattered while tables and chairs flew about.

Suddenly, the door opened with a click.

“Holy savior, are you well?!”

Soldiers poured in, no doubt having been drawn by the loud noises. They quickly balked at the sight of Mitsuki’s fury.

“Good timing! That staff is a criminal that laid his hands on a loli despite being a gross otaku. Get him!”

“Um...”

The soldiers exchanged concerned looks, taken aback by their savior’s nonsense.

＊＊＊

“How did we get here...?” Stella asked in exasperation once we left the dormitory.

Mitsuki’s rampage had ravaged the guest room, forcing the nuns to clean it up. She and Stella had been kicked out of the now-drafty room.

Mitsuki stroked the scarf of her sailor outfit. “That gross otaku peeped on me while I was changing. What was I to do but enact judgment?”

“Using divine power was still going too far,” I said.

Mitsuki glared my way. There was nothing else I could really say given that I had indeed seen the goods.

“Otaku, did you seriously peep on the savior?” Stella asked.

“Not on purpose! Who wouldn’t falter after seeing their childhood friend in mature lace underwear?! As soon as I saw it, I didn’t have the leeway to—”

“You pervert! How can you be so shameless?! You spent all last night saying I was your number one, but then, the very next morning, you’re creeping on another girl?!” Stella shouted, slamming me against the pavement. It hurt, but—more than that—Stella’s pout was adorable...or so I thought until she suddenly stopped.

“Why are you hitting the creep?” Mitsuki asked, having blocked my arc with her sword.

Stella frowned and looked at Mitsuki. “He’s my staff. Is there a problem with me punishing him how I see fit?”

“Obviously. That’s my childhood friend you’re talking about, not your staff.”

Sparks flew between them.

We were just about to have a repeat of earlier. I considered how to get involved, when suddenly...

“O savior, we have brought the other two criminals,” soldiers announced.

“Feena, Henny!” Stella called.

Feena huddled between a mass of armored knights. Henny remained as expressionless and unreadable as ever.

“Good,” Mitsuki said arrogantly.

The knights saluted and left.

The four girls were left in the plaza.

Mitsuki looked at the other three, who had a mixture of emotions. She puffed out her chest as they stared at her. “Now, since we’re all here, let’s go to school!”

What?

I wasn’t the only one confused. There was an awkward air.

“School...?”

“Is the trial being held there?”

“Can we go without bindings...?”

“There’s no trial today,” Mitsuki explained.

“WHAT?!” all three other girls cried at once.

I was just as surprised. We had been told just yesterday the trial was today.

Mitsuki shrugged. “What’s so surprising? I had it delayed.”

“As in... You did this, Mitsuki?”

“That’s right. The Archbishop didn’t look happy about it, but I forced the matter through. As the savior, that’s well within my authority.”

“Seems so...”

That was good news. Stella and the gang weren’t getting executed today, then.

Feena exhaled heavily upon hearing the news. Stella’s expression softened, and Henny relaxed too.

I wasn’t letting my guard down, though.

“What’d you do that for, though?” I asked. She wouldn’t have done that for no reason. I couldn’t celebrate until I knew what she was thinking.

Mitsuki brushed aside the hair on her shoulders. “Given the opportunity, I thought it’d be a waste to not enjoy my reincarnation here.”

“Come again?”

“I can go back to my own world whenever I want now. Stella the Witch is under my thumb, and I can hold the trial whenever I see fit. Why rush when I can just kill Stella the Witch whenever?”

“Technically true,” I said.

“In which case, it’s not every day you get sent to another world. I should enjoy my time here and do some isekai stuff before I leave.”

“‘Isekai stuff’ meaning...?”

“What else? Magic!” Mitsuki declared, pointing her sword at the school building.

＊＊＊

It was just before morning classes. Students were filtering out of the dormitory and heading to the main building. Each wore robes and held staves.

Mitsuki’s eyes sparkled as she watched. “A magic academy... I can’t believe these actually exist. It’s like we’re in a movie! They learn magic there, right? Maybe I can study and become a wizard too? This just seems so fun—how could I go home now?!”

“Mitsuki, just to clarify because it’s incredibly important, but they learn miracles here. Not magic. And it’s a saint academy, not a magic academy.”

“Same thing.”

“Absolutely not. If it were, Stella wouldn’t be put on trial for casting magic.”

“Like I care why this girl’s on trial,” Mitsuki said, causing Stella to tremble.

I wasn’t about to let that fly. “Mitsuki, were you trying to kill Stella without even knowing why they want her dead...?”

“L-Like that’s my fault! The Goddess told me to kill her if I wanted to go back to my world. What other choice did I have?”

That wasn’t like her.

Mitsuki might’ve been enough of a kendo girl to win national tournaments, but she still regularly got the best grades in school. She was no musclehead. She could distinguish between good and evil—not to mention she had her own opinions too.

It wasn’t like Mitsuki to just blindly follow the Goddess and charge ahead. Not at all.

Mitsuki must’ve taken my silence as understanding, because she returned her eyes to the other girls. “Now, time for the magic academy!”

“Seriously, it’s a saint academy,” I corrected her, but she ignored me.

Stella and the others uncomfortably followed Mitsuki as she marched off, her sailor outfit fluttering.

＊＊＊

“O savior,” Hamiel said, calling out to Mitsuki as soon as we were inside.

“Oh, the army big shot,” Mitsuki replied.

Seriously...?!

We all balked at that, but Hamiel just kept on a calm, if strained, smile. “The principal has graciously permitted your request to observe the school.”

Observe...? Does that refer to Mitsuki trying to attend classes?

“Obviously. As the savior, I get what I want.”

“Subsequently, we shall serve as your guards until the trial is held and concluded,” Hamiel continued.

“Bleh, no thanks. I can take care of myself.”

“Do allow us to provide the bare minimum of our services. It has been five hundred years since the last savior appeared in Oravina; you are irreplaceable to us.”

“What’s this about another savior?” Mitsuki asked. Apparently, she didn’t have a good grasp on her own position despite wielding it like a club.

“Per the holy scripture, when great danger befalls the world, the Goddess summons forth a savior to bring aid and succor. The Goddess grants them divine power and tasks them to bring peace to the world in her name.”

“I certainly did get divine power,” Mitsuki said.

“The Archbishop acknowledged the gift you were given and proclaimed you a savior. And so we ask: please, save the world,” Hamiel said, bowing her head in respect.

Mitsuki sniffed. “Guard me if you want. I’ll do as I please.”

“Understood,” Hamiel said.

Mitsuki shrugged her off and kept walking.

Feena and Henny followed behind her, but Stella stayed in place. She looked at Hamiel, anxiety on her face. “Um, Lady Hamiel—”

“The savior is in charge of your person. I have nothing to say on the matter,” Hamiel said without sparing her even a glance.

Stella hung her head. “I’m sorry for attacking you with magic last night.”

“If you’re going to apologize, I would rather you have not used it at all,” Hamiel sighed bitterly. Stella looked up at her with a start. “No matter how well-intentioned your goal may be, the use of magic obliterates any honor you may have had. Did you use magic on purpose, knowing that?”

“I—”

“What are you doing, Stella?!” Mitsuki shouted, having turned back around. She must’ve noticed Stella missing.

Stella bowed at Hamiel. “Excuse me.”

“No witch will ever be a part of the Opti Baculus,” Hamiel said as she crossed her. “Not now or ever, no matter what happens.”

Stella raced over to Mitsuki without a word in reply.

Stella...

I tried to peek at her expression, but all I saw was her biting her lip.

＊＊＊

“Hmph, these just look like normal classrooms,” Mitsuki said as she scanned Stella’s classroom. Her former classmates were cowering in a corner, afraid of the witch.

“That’s the savior...!”

“What transcendent beauty!”

“It is as if just looking at her has granted us the Goddess’s protection.”

Mitsuki flourished her hair. “It’s so troublesome being the savior; I’m hounded like a celebrity,” she said, sounding not entirely displeased. “Anyway. Does everyone have set seats?”

Stella furrowed her brow. “Wait. Are you trying to attend class with us?”

“That’s right,” Mitsuki said.

“Savior, how old are you?” Henny interjected.

Mitsuki pursed her lips. “Enough with the savior stuff.”

“Hm?”

“We’re classmates right now; just call me Mitsuki.”

“You don’t look like a second-year. Shouldn’t you be taking more advanced classes?” Henny asked, totally expressionless.

“You’re all certainly younger than me, but I’m a beginner that’s never cast a miracle. A lower grade will do. Not to mention...” Mitsuki continued. “I have the noble duty of observing Stella the Witch. If I let her escape, I’ll never be able to return to my own world. I’ll be keeping an eye on you all class.”

Everyone frowned, conflicted.

“So, Stella, which seat is yours?”

“This one.”

“I’ll take this one, then.”

“Um... But that is my seat,” Feena said.

“And I’m the savior. Give it to me.”

“Okay...”

Mitsuki brushed Feena aside and sat down. The other students used that as an opportunity to approach Mitsuki, and—in the blink of an eye—she was surrounded.

It was as this happened that Feena slid over to Stella’s seat.

“Isn’t it so wonderful the trial was delayed, Stella?” she asked, her smile as bright and innocent as ever. Mitsuki’s presence earlier had apparently left her too anxious to speak.

Stella glared at Feena. “You... Why did you come help me last night? I thought you were going to stay out of the jailbreak! If you hadn’t come, you could’ve avoided all of this...!”

Feena scratched her cheek. “Ehe heh... Weeell, I do regret last night a bit. They will probably be contacting my parents today, and I do not really want to be executed either...”

“Obviously! What’re you gonna do if they give you the death sentence? And your family too... Don’t blame me for this! You did it all on your own. I didn’t ask for any of this!” Stella declared, her voice trembling. Her fist was clenched on the desk, but her anger was forced.

What an awkward tsundere. She’s the one who thinks this is her fault. She feels the opposite of what she says.

“Stella,” Feena said, taking the other girl’s fist into her hands. “At first, I did not intend to participate. But then I heard explosions coming from the school building late at night, and before I knew it, I was flying out of the dormitory.”

Close observation revealed Feena’s lowered eyes were bloodshot. She might have been too worried about Stella to get any sleep last night.

“I could not abandon you, Stella. If I had not gone to help you, I surely would have felt even more regret than I do now. I do care about my family, but I care about my best friend as well.”

“Y-You idiot. You big, stupid, unbelievable idiot!” Stella exclaimed, pulling her hand free and turning her back. Feena had surely seen that Stella had gone red up to her ears.

“I don’t regret it either. I only helped because Trash wanted me to,” Henny said, walking over.

Stella sighed. “I owe you a different apology. We got out together, but in the end it didn’t matter...”

“Nobody could have predicted the savior herself appearing. Our plan was naive,” she said.

Still, Stella took it hard. She lowered her eyes morosely, then snapped her head up. “What about Quinza?! What happened to her?!”

The girls scanned the classroom.

Quinza wasn’t there. Her usual seat was empty.

Stella turned to Mitsuki, who was sitting next to her. “Hey, Mitsuki! Do you know what happened to Quinza?”

With Stella the Witch speaking, all the students who’d flocked to Mitsuki recoiled. They all avoided eye contact with her, as if she were some sort of demon of ill omen.

Mitsuki furrowed her brow. “Who’s Quinza?”

“The red-haired girl whose throat the Archbishop burned yesterday.”

“Oh, her. She’s in the dormitory’s nurse office. Normally she’d be expelled on account of being unable to speak, but they’ll be nursing her there until the trial is over.”

The Stella trio were stunned silent. Mitsuki briskly resumed lively conversation with the other students.

“No way. Quinza, expelled...?” Stella muttered.

“You can’t become a saint if you can’t pray. Expulsion is normal,” Henny said.

“B-But Lady Quinza is of the honorable House Frantzbelle!” Feena exclaimed. “Expulsion is simply...”

“Oh, right, you don’t know. Quinza’s no longer a Frantzbelle—she was adopted down to a lowly barony.”

“Wha—?”

A silence fell over the three of them. We could hear the other students lavishing Mitsuki with compliments.

“Aha. Aha ha ha. If that happened to Lady Quinza, then how could we possibly escape execution?” Feena laughed, tears forming in her eyes.

Stella and Henny didn’t answer, their expressions grim.

I was the only one to speak as the atmosphere darkened. “No, wait. It’s too early to give up.” Their eyes focused on me. “I’ve figured out a way to save you three from getting the death sentence.”

“Bwaaah! Master Otaku, I knew I could count on you!” Feena cried.

“Enough with the dramatics; just spit it out.”

“To start with, Stella’s charges differ from Feena’s and Henny’s, right?” I asked. Stella was being put to death for being a witch, while Feena and Henny were being put to death for aiding a witch.

The three of them nodded, so I continued. “In short, if Stella is deemed innocent, it follows that Feena and Henny will be declared the same. After all, that would mean they helped an innocent, not a witch.”

Henny placed a hand on her chin. “That is logical.”

“But how would we free me of my charges...?” Stella asked, her voice weak. Not only had the Goddess declared her a witch, she also had used magic of her own volition earlier.

“Easy. You just have to become friends with Mitsuki!”

“Excuse me?!” Stella balked. Feena and Henny looked just as confused. “Otaku, now’s not the time to be joking around!”

“It’s not a joke. Think about it. As the savior, Mitsuki’s word carries more weight than the Archbishop’s. That means if she declared you innocent to save your life, it might actually work.”

Mitsuki’s word alone had led to two large changes—both the trial had been put off, and Stella had been put under her care. There was nobody in this entire world who could defy her will.

“Mitsuki isn’t from this world, so she doesn’t obsessively believe all witches should be put to death. She’s just trying to kill Stella since the Goddess told her to. None of it comes from her own beliefs or desires.”

And that meant changing Mitsuki’s mind wouldn’t be all that unreasonable.

“Nobody wants to execute their friends, right? If you can befriend her, she should start opposing your death sentence.”

“I get what you’re saying, but how am I supposed to befriend Mitsuki? Somehow, I don’t think that’s ever going to happen,” Stella said.

Yeah, it wouldn’t be easy. I knew better than anyone that Stella was horrendous at making friends.

“For now, you can start just by living with her. She should understand you’re a good girl after spending enough time with her.”

“Oh, I agree there,” Feena said. “Stella acts cold, but she is very kind.”

“She’s bad at lying. Everyone notices right away.”

“Y-You guys...!” Stella growled, her cheeks puffing out with embarrassment.

“Feena, Henny, I want your help here too. We need to ensure Mitsuki has a fun school life. She only delayed the trial because she’s interested in miracles and trying out school life. If she ends up enjoying her time at the saint academy, the trial will keep getting put off. And that means delaying the sentencing.”

“Hm,” Henny nodded. “The longer Mitsuki stays here, the more chances she has to befriend Stella. That’s two birds with stone.”

“My! What a perfect strategy!” Feena said, clapping her hands energetically.

“Hey, don’t just go deciding that on your own. I could never be friends with Mitsuki. She’s trying to kill me, remember?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you no matter what it takes, Stella.”

“Idi—! N-Not like I can trust you, anyway! Someone unfaithful like you is the last person I want to rely on!”

“Dang... Well, if you’re not motivated, I guess there’s nothing we can do. Unfortunately, Feena and Henny will just have to say their goodbyes. If only you’d proven your innocence, they could’ve evaded execution alongside you. Alas. Aaah, what a shame.”

Stella faltered.

Feena and Henny remained silent, no doubt grasping what I was doing here.

In the end, she finally looked up, trembling. “Fine! I’ll be friends with Mitsuki if that’s what it takes to prove my innocence. I’ll get Feena’s and Henny’s charges cleared while I’m at it too. Be grateful!”

“Long live tsunderes! Blessed be tsunderes!”

“SHUT UP!”

＊＊＊

“Now, I would like to begin a lesson on the long-awaited high-level offensive miracles everyone so desperately wants to learn, aha!” Professor Elyena said, wearing a pointy black hat as she stood in the middle of the garden.

Not a single student cheered, though. They were all tense, their teeth chattering.

Professor Elyena tilted her head. “Oh dear. What’s wrong, everyone? You do not seem glad at all. We even have guests today, so I thought of teaching a class that would rile everyone up...”

The guests in question were the savior, the witch, Hamiel, and the priests—the latter two of which were watching from afar. That lineup was more than enough to get the students anxious. No matter how Professor Elyena spun it, their anxiety wouldn’t be fading anytime soon.

The professor shrugged at the silence she was met with. “Well, no matter. Let us begin.”

“Is that an elementary schooler?” Mitsuki muttered.

Professor Elyena certainly looked like one, so one could hardly blame her for thinking that.

“When attacking others, the element most often deployed is Fire. In particular, Fire miracles are most efficient when facing magibeasts. And on that note, single-elemental Fire ceases to work on magibeasts of grade two or above. That is when you will need to strengthen your fireballs,” Professor Elyena said. She dragged her robes across the ground as she laid straw baskets across the garden.

“I shall begin with a textbook method. Ignaria Sein, Winaria Sein!”

A basketball-sized fireball appeared at the tip of her staff. “This is a Fire miracle strengthened by infusing it with a fitting amount of Wind. It is strong, as you will now witness,” she said.

With that, she flung the spell at one of the baskets. The straw within ignited explosively.

“And that is that,” Professor Elyena concluded, her tone a bit bored. “Now! Does anyone have any suggestions for a substance that burns exceedingly well?”

Stella reflexively shot her hand up, then grimaced with regret. She had realized only after the fact that the professor would probably be displeased by a witch like her actively participating in class.

Professor Elyena, however, responded as she always would. With a smile, she asked,“Yes, Stella?”

Stella was startled by her teacher’s response. “Um. Ah... Oil burns well!”

“Correct. Ignaria Sein, Aquaria Sein!”

Another fireball appeared at the tip of the professor’s staff. “With this chant, I empowered the Fire through oil. Oil is a liquid and thus can be formed with Water. As for its might...”

The professor tossed the fireball at a basket. Both it and the straw ignited at once.

“It is mightier than before. However, we cannot yet be satisfied,” Professor Elyena said, lifting her staff. When she used miracles, she looked like anything but an elementary schooler. “Now, onto practical arrangements. Ignaria Sein, Aquaria Sein, Winaria Sein!”

The basket erupted in a swirling whirlpool of flame. It was clearly a step above the prior two fireballs, no doubt due to the additional element.

“I empowered the previous fireball yet further with Wind. By layering suitable elements in this manner, one can grow their miracles to be ever mightier,” she said, then directed her staff at the next basket. “Speaking of which, did you know that flour burns aggressively under the correct circumstances? Wheat grows from the ground, and thus is of Earth. Let us add Wind to it. Ignaria Sein, Terararia Sein, Winaria Sein!”

A pillar of flame erupted from the basket with a bang. The students shrieked.

A flour explosion, eh...? Miracles sure are multifaceted.

Professor Elyena swung her staff to extinguish the fire.

“And now, I have saved a miracle of my own invention for last. Do try to imagine what I am visualizing here. Ignaria Sein, Terararia Sein, Luxsaria Sein!”

Immediately after, there was an explosion and a piercing flash of light.

The basket was blown to bits—both its splinters and the straw had turned immediately into ash.

What the heck?! Was that a grenade...?!

The professor’s bright voice rang out as the students all huddled down. “And so, one can combine other elements with Fire for a variety of fascinating ends. Do put some time into researching combinations yourselves, aha! I have crafted grade-two magibeasts in the back of the garden. You are each to slay one and return,” she said, assigning the students their task.

Most of the class flew off to get a head start. Stella, Feena, Henny, and Mitsuki were left behind.

Mitsuki looked up at the flying girls and sighed in awe. “Can everyone in this world fly?”

“Some people are better or worse at it, but basically everyone can.”

“Shall we fly, Lady Mitsuki?” Feena asked. “Flying freely through the sky will make you feel as if you have become a bird!”

“Your flying is not exactly free,” Henny said.

“Ngh... I mean, if one could fly freely, it would feel that way!”

“Flying... Finally, time for magic! Teach me how to fly,” Mitsuki said, entirely eager.

“You straddle your staff, then chant Winaria Sein.”

“My staff...” Mitsuki muttered, then stared at me.

Stella noticed that stare and hugged me protectively. “Wh-What’s with you?”

“Lend me the staff.”

“Excuse me?” Stella’s eyebrows shot up. “You have your own staff. Why should I lend you mine?”

“This isn’t a staff, it’s a bamboo sword. Are you telling me to fly on a sword?” Mitsuki asked.

That certainly would have looked odd.

“No, but you can borrow a staff from a professor. They’ll lend you one for free.”

“Come with me, then. I’m supposed to be guarding you right now.”

A sharp air was quickly forming between the two of them.

Feena anxiously rushed forward. “Um, Lady Mitsuki! Please do use my staff! It would be a great honor to have a staff used by the savior herself!”

“No thanks. I want to use Stella’s.”

Stella’s expression darkened. “I see your game here, Mitsuki. You’re trying to come up with any reason you can to take Otaku from me. Well, it’s not gonna wo—”

“Stella, Stella!” I interjected.

“What?”

“Could you lend me to Mitsuki?” I asked.

Her expression trembled. “Excuse me? Are you being serious right now?”

“It’s just temporary. I’ll have her return me after she’s done flying. At this rate, you’ll tick her off so much that our whole friendship plan will be in ruins.”

Mitsuki was staring at us with crossed arms. Her eyes were only getting sharper, displeasure clear on her face.

“Master Otaku is right, Stella,” Feena whispered.

“Swallowing one’s pride is a small price to pay to avoid an execution,” Henny added.

Stella groaned and finally steeled her resolve. She reluctantly held me out to Mitsuki.

Mitsuki noticed her trepidation and sniffed. With a sigh, she said, “Finally decided to lend me the staff? You have no idea what the guy stuck inside that thing is like. He’s an otaku gross enough to wear T-shirts with anime girls on them, you know? Hardly worthy of obsession.”

“Why does it matter if nobody can see them under my uniform anyway?! And... How did you know what kind of shirts I was wearing?!”

“I... I take it back!” Something must’ve shaken Stella’s faith, because she promptly pulled me back right before Mitsuki could take me.

I was thus forced to unleash my final weapon. “Oh, I get it. You’d hate being separated from me that much? Man, it sure is nice being loved by a silver-haired tsundere beauty!”

“N-Not true! You could get blown to the other side of the planet for all I care. Here, Mitsuki, a staff. Use it as much as you need,” Stella said, throwing me in embarrassment.

Mitsuki caught me. Honestly, I should’ve just done that from the start.

“So, I straddle the staff and chant what again?” Mitsuki asked, placing a leg over me promptly.

Oho...

A sensation beyond words enveloped me alongside her firm white thighs. It was moments like this where I was grateful from the bottom of my heart for becoming a staff.

“Ah...!” Stella yelped. “Wh-What do you think you’re doing? Riding him like that is way too perv—”

Feena and Henny grabbed her before she could say anything. I told her the actual chant, which she then deployed.

“Winaria Sein!”

A gust of wind came and launched us up.

The garden faded beneath us as our vision became dominated by Antohsa and the forest surrounding it. The spotless blue sky felt like it was purifying my heart. No doubt Mitsuki was enjoying this.

“Feels pretty good, eh, Mitsuki?” I asked.

She didn’t respond. As I wondered why, Mitsuki dropped us down and landed lightly on the ground.

Stella, Feena, and Henny all blinked.

“Hmph, what’s the matter?” Stella asked. “Got scared and had to come back down?”

“You were terrified the first time we flew,” I said.

“Ngh! And I got over it right away!”

“Is something wrong, Lady Mitsuki?” Feena asked. “Did flying tire you out?”

“Was there a problem?” Henny added.

Amid all this questioning, Mitsuki muttered to herself. “It digs in surprisingly far.”

“Um,” we all replied at once.

“Gross-taku, is Stella always riding you like that? Do you also tell Stella that getting squashed between her legs feels good, you freak?”

“Hey! Otaku, were you being perverted AGAIN?!”

“No! I meant flying when I said that. I wasn’t complimenting her thighs whatsoever!” I protested.

Mitsuki’s pupils fully widened. She grabbed her bamboo sword, an evil aura exuding from her. “Were you being perverted ‘again’... In other words, you’ve not only done it, but you’ve done it many times. And Stella, I bet you just loved getting up close and personal with him, hm? That’s why you didn’t want to hand him over!”

Mitsuki chanted under her breath and enveloped her sword in pitch-black darkness. Oh no. Her yandere switch had been flipped.

“I-I don’t straddle Otaku like you just did...”

“LIAAAR!” Stella’s defense was like water on a hot stone. Mitsuki barked in anger, her wrathful voice echoing throughout the garden. “This gross otaku has no defense against women at all; he shouldn’t be able to stay calm between a girl’s legs! The fact he had so much confidence is proof you’ve done lewd things with him again and again! Just because you’re a silver-haired loli girl doesn’t mean you get to fuck around with MY CHILDHOOD FRIEND!”

As Mitsuki roared, she kicked the ground and charged toward Stella.

I shouted as best I could. “Mitsuki, your thighs were the best!”

Mitsuki froze, her sword lifted high in the air. A silence fell on the garden.

Eventually, Mitsuki opened her mouth, cheeks bright red. “Heh?”

I felt disapproving eyes from Stella, Feena, and Henny, but I steeled my resolve.

“I’ve almost never been wrapped between thighs before, so I can’t exactly compare. At the very least, flying up there with you was like getting a brief taste of heaven. The supple firmness of your silky smooth white skin, the faint sweet scent that—”

“Wh-Wh-What do you think you’re saying, freak...?! Don’t embarrass me like that!” Mitsuki yelled, steam blowing from her ears. I could almost hear a psssh. “I-I mean, if you were that obsessed with it, I don’t mind potentially riding you again. I’ll even stay up there longer next time...”

The divine power vanished from her sword, and she used its point to draw swirls in the dirt by her feet. Her murderous rage was gone, and the trembling corners of her lips indicated that she was holding back a grin.

Before coming here, she wouldn’t have gotten honest like that, but... I think I understand how to deal with yanderes now.

As I wallowed in the might of my own genius, Stella puffed out her cheeks unhappily.

＊＊＊

Given that we had schoolwork from Professor Elyena to do, we couldn’t stay holed up in the garden forever. The three of us chanted Wind miracles and headed to a pond deep in the garden.

“Ngh...! Winaria Sein, Winaria Sein, Winaria Sein!” Stella cried.

As expected, she couldn’t fly. At best, she stirred up a light breeze.

“Otaku, are you still sick or whatever?”

“Obviously there’s a deeper meaning than that, but yes. Sorry.”

Stella sighed and gave up. “Feena, Henny, you go on ahead. I’ll just run.”

“I’d like to help, but Wind is out of my purview,” Henny said.

“It’s fine, Henny. Don’t worry about it.”

“Stella, we will wait by the pond.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Henny flew off fluidly, while Feena jerked up and down after her.

Stella saw them off, then began running to the school gate. The pond was outside of the school walls, and so she had to take a detour through the gate.

Mitsuki followed behind Stella.

“Hey, why aren’t you flying?” Mitsuki asked, floating above Stella with Wind miracles. Apparently her bamboo sword did function as a staff. She was straddling it up in the air.

“I would fly if I could.”

“You can’t fly even though you blabbed on about teaching me...?”

“Mitsuki, Stella has an unusual circumstance—she hasn’t been able to use miracles since birth,” I explained.

“No way! She’s attending an academy for miracles when she can’t even cast miracles? Isn’t that pointless?”

“It’s not pointless,” Stella said, her voice so weak it had no chance of reaching Mitsuki.

That made me worried about her, but then I realized it’d be even weirder for someone on death row to be full of energy.

I answered in her place. “It’s not pointless at all. After all, when she uses a staff with me inside it, she can suddenly cast miracles.”

Mitsuki’s expression froze. “Excuse me?”

“Other staves were no good, but staves with me in them somehow let her use miracles. Stella needs me, basically,” I explained.

“Th-That’s an exaggeration. I’m fine without you,” Stella said, acting tough like usual. That was a relief.

“What’s with that?” Mitsuki asked, her voice stifled. “She can use miracles if that gross otaku is with her? That sounds like...like...”

Like fate.

I could barely hear her faint whisper. Stella probably missed it on account of her somewhat heavy breathing.

Fate, huh?

I wasn’t one to believe in that type of thing, but a tsundere-loving otaku reincarnating as the staff of a tsundere beauty probably wasn’t a coincidence. Maybe it was conceited of me, but no other spirit would suit Stella like I did. An appreciation for the art of prickliness was understandably essential for dealing with Stella’s tsundereness.

“Again! I don’t need Otaku, I can manage just fine on my own,” Stella said, dissatisfied. She was ignorant of Mitsuki’s muttering.

Indeed, Stella was doing fine on her own—being forced to run instead of flying. As her spirit, that was pathetic of me. I wanted to help her in any way I could.

Wait, that’s it!

“Stella, do the Wind chant for me.”

“What’re you planning?”

“I’m gonna make a trail wind for you. It won’t let you fly, but it should help a bit, at least.”

“Winaria Sein.”

Can ya hear me, oh allies of Wind?! This is your perfect chance to push a tsundere girl forward! Now’s the time to gather our might and aid a tsundereee!

I felt the rustling of the wind. Stella, mid-run, suddenly covered her ears.

“Ngh... The wind is tickling my ears...!”

“Come again?!”

“Th-This is your fault, Otaku! You had this pervy thought when you were forming the miracle! It’s like you’re breathing all over me! Quit it!” she cried.

She slowed down, her cheeks red. This was the exact thing I didn’t want to happen. I called the spirits to stop the wind.

“I visualized the wind pushing you, dang it! How come the spirits get to blow all over your ears?! God, I wish that were me!”

“The spirits must’ve picked up on your perverted urges! This is your fault—all your fault!” Stella cried.

“Huh, are your ears a weak point, Stella? That’s a new discovery! Can we try this out again?” I asked.

“Idiot...! Try that again, and you’ll pay the price! Remember that!”

“You got it! I’ll remember all your sensitive spots.”

“THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEAAANT!”

Suddenly, a pitch-black sword thrust between Stella and I. The two of us timidly turned around and saw a wide-eyed Mitsuki.

“If those ears of yours are so weak, how about I cut them off?”

She was serious. Stella and I both shut our mouths.

Stella kept running in silence, feeling a murderous gaze on her back.

Stella and Mitsuki arrived at the pond.

“I’m here...” Stella said, wheezing and out of breath from all the running.

Mitsuki was unfazed since she’d flown.

Henny and Feena welcomed them by the water.

“That took a while.”

“Normally I simply use miracles without thinking much about them, but seeing Stella reminds me I must appreciate their gifts,” Feena said.

“Hmph. I’m used to it since I only learned to use miracles recently anyway,” Stella replied.

“Ah! Eek, I didn’t intend to belittle you whatsoever just now, I merely...”

“Class time will end if we don’t hurry,” Henny said.

Everyone looked at the pond. It was big enough to be called a lake. The surface was clouded, and I couldn’t tell how deep it was.

“Aren’t there supposed to be grade-two magibeasts here?” Stella asked. “Where’s the rest of the class?”

“They were fighting when we arrived, but everyone has finished and left by now.”

“The grade-twos are annoying. Simply hitting them with fireballs isn’t enough,” Henny said.

“I figured it wouldn’t be so easy; Professor Elyena never—” Stella began, only for the surface of the pond to surge.

“There! It’s the magibeast!” Feena shouted.

“Stella, can you combo?” Henny asked, going into battle mode immediately.

“Of course.”

“Fire, please.”

The surging water broke and revealed a massive, boulder-like creature.

“Eek! I was wondering what a magibeast would look like, but that’s basically a giant turtle!” Mitsuki cried.

And indeed, it was a turtle big enough to swallow a person whole. Spikes grew out of its rugged shell, hinting at its deadly might.

Stella chanted without a moment’s fear. “Ignaria Sein.”

Spirits of Fire, it’s your time to shine!

A bean-sized fireball appeared above my head.

I mean, it counts as a fireball, but is that really the best you can do...?!

It was embarrassing enough that I’d jump into a nearby hole if I could. My miracles were so dogwater it was depressing.

Henny followed that up with a Water chant that formed a ball of frozen oil. The two miracles fused and made a fireball of respectable size.

“Stella, aim for the magibeast’s head.”

“Roger!”

Stella flung her fireball, but the magibeast just swept it aside with one of its front legs.

“Gah! Our fireball!” Stella whined.

“It was too weak,” Henny muttered.

“Wha?”

“Watch out, you two! Iron wall, Terararia Sein!”

An iron wall appeared in front of Stella and Henny.

At the same instant, the turtle’s rather lengthy tail shot out and smashed into the wall. If it hadn’t been for the wall, it would’ve slammed into Stella and Henny.

“Thanks for the save, Feena.”

“Whew. I’m glad I made it!” Feena said, wiping her brow.

“To get back on topic,” Henny said blandly. “The base fireball was too weak to do anything. It’d be better for me to use miracles on my own.”

“Ngh... True. Let’s focus on our own attacks.”

“Sorry, you two,” I said.

Henny poked her head out from the wall and began her chant. “Ignaria Sein, Aquaria Sein.”

A fireball appeared at the tip of her staff. It was hot enough to have a rippling blue core, showing how much stronger it was than Stella’s had been.

Henny threw it at the turtle. The turtle tried sweeping it aside again, but this time it scalded its leg.

“GRAAAH!”

Enraged by the burns, the magibeast began swinging its tail all over the place.

“Eek, eek! Ignaria Sein, Aquaria Sein, Winaria Sein!”

Uuuh, fire and oil and wind...! Turn into a massive blaze that’ll burn up this turtle!

I gave my most desperate pleas, but all that formed was a ping-pong sized ball. It was a bit bigger than the bean from before, but it was far from my mental image.

“Hyah!” Stella cried and launched the fireball.

Unfortunately, it met its inglorious end with a slap of the turtle’s tail. It didn’t even leave a burn.

“Ngh! That’s a higher-level miracle?” Stella groaned, gritting her teeth with frustration.

Henny launched fireball after fireball, but none of them landed the fatal blow. The magibeast showed no sign of weakening, and it continued slamming its tail against Feena’s wall.

“Hey, mind if I join in?” Mitsuki called from behind.

“Obviously not!”

“We welcome it.”

Stella and Henny had called out at the same time. Given the situation, we’d take help from anyone.

Mitsuki fell into thought. “You’re trying oil and fire, but it’s not really doing much... Which means we want something more flammable. Alcohol, maybe?” she mumbled.

“What are you doing?!” Stella yelled. “Hurry up and do something!”

“Patience. Can you make alcohol with miracles?”

“Alco-what? What are you even talking about?!”

“Mitsuki, you can make just about anything with miracles as long as you have a clear mental image!” I called. “Alcohol’s a liquid, so a Water chant should do.”

“Well, let’s see, then. Ignaria Sein, Aquaria Sein!”

Mitsuki swung her bamboo sword at the turtle. It instantly erupted into a massive pillar of blazing fire.

“Eek!” The other girls all reflexively ducked.

The flames exploded. Our vision was dominated by orange, and we were engulfed in hot wind.

Oh crap, we’re gonna die!

It was just as I prepared to die that it happened.

“Heaven’s basin tilted and showered the earth with life. Aquaria Sein!”

A chant resounded from far above.

A deluge of water rained down on us, as if a giant bucket had been flipped in the sky. The flames vanished, leaving only a black, scorched field.

“Are you well, oh savior?” Hamiel called out. She was continuing her duty as a guard, apparently, and thanks to that we’d been saved.

Hamiel descended from the sky and extended a hand to Mitsuki, who had fallen back onto the dirt. They looked like a knight and a princess.

“I’m fine,” Mitsuki said awkwardly.

Naturally, this didn’t need to be specified, but all the magibeasts in the pond had been turned to ash.

＊＊＊

The cafeteria was engulfed in chatter. It was lunch break. Stella’s group of four surrounded a single table.

“Bleeeeeh,” Mitsuki sighed with dramatic flair before a plate of hot lasagna. Between her elbows on the table and the fact that she was burying her face in her meal, she must’ve been pretty worn out.

Stella, stuffing her cheeks with lasagna, glanced over. “What’s wrong? Not a lasagna fan?”

“Perhaps Lady Mitsuki has a sensitive tongue. Shall I blow on it for you?” Feena asked.

“Perhaps her house rules forbid eating meat sauce,” Henny suggested.

As the three of them discussed this matter, Mitsuki sighed again and grabbed her fork. “Are all three of you stupid?”

They blinked.

“I’m depressed about having destroyed an entire pond and all the wildlife surrounding it. That shouldn’t be hard to guess,” she said. Despite taking a bite of the sauce-laden lasagna, her sullen expression remained.

Childhood friends are a strange thing. It had been a while since I’d reincarnated here, but I could still read her like the back of my hand.

“Mitsuki, why not be honest?” I spoke up.

“About what?”

“You’re not depressed about destroying wildlife. You’re depressed about nearly killing everyone,” I said.

All eyes fell on Mitsuki. She paused with lasagna on her fork, but she soon continued with an irritated tone. “What don’t you understand, loser? I’m here to kill Stella the Witch. I wouldn’t care if she exploded.”

“But it’s not like you caused an explosion to kill them, right?”

“Obviously not! I didn’t know the fire would be that insane.”

With the Goddess’s divine power, Mitsuki’s miracles were already liable to be overpowered. Adding alcohol to the mix naturally caused an eruption.

Stella lifted an eyebrow. “It wasn’t on purpose; you don’t need to feel bad about putting us in danger. Trouble like that in class is nothing at this point.”

“Lady Mitsuki, do not feel depressed. I found your miracle remarkable! Only you could have the power to turn an idyllic pond into a nightmarish hellscape!”

Mitsuki balked. “Is that supposed to be a compliment?!”

“Indeed!”

Stella crossed her arms and nodded. “Meanwhile, I’m stuck making fireballs the size of beans. I’d take your problems over mine any day.”

Henny agreed. “It’s better than being weak.”

Mitsuki gave the three of them a dubious look. “Aren’t you afraid...?”

“Oh what?”

“That a single chant can turn everything around you into a ‘nightmarish hellscape’!”

Stella, Feena, and Henny all exchanged uncertain looks.

“Forget it.” Mitsuki shook her head, exasperated, and focused on her lasagna.

Oh no... Mitsuki’s putting the trial off because she wants to experience school life. If she doesn’t have fun with miracles, the trial will start before she befriends Stella.

“Hey, Mitsuki. That last class was kind of intense, eh?”

“A bit more than ‘kind of’...”

“Miracles actually aren’t that dangerous, y’know. You can create life, transform...”

“Transform?” Mitsuki asked, taking the bait immediately.

I struck a victory pose on the inside. “Stella, let’s go make some of that transformation miracle medicine. It’s still lunch, right?”

The five of us went to the lab room. There weren’t any students there during lunch, so the group could make miracle medicine as we pleased.

Stella, Henny, and Feena saw the bubbling mold-colored liquid in the pot and nodded.

“And that’s that,” Stella said.

“We have the process memorized now.”

“This is a good batch.”

Mitsuki was appalled by their casual conversation. “Guh, what is this stuff...?”

“Mitsuki, if you drink this and chant, you can transform into anything you want.”

She balked. “This is drinkable?!”

Stella scooped the miracle medicine into a jar and held it out to Mitsuki. “Here.”

“G-Get that away from me! It looks like poison!” Mitsuki yelped, taking her distance. “You drink it first. If it’s safe, I’ll drink some too.”

“That might be good for showing the process,” I said, prompting Mitsuki to nod.

Stella looked at the potion and fell into thought. “It’s kind of hard to think of something to transform into on the spot...”

“Fear not! For this purpose, I’ve already come up with several cosplay ideas for you, Stella!”

“What do you mean, ‘this purpose’?! And is that to say you were delusionally imagining me dressing up in something perverted again?!”

“You can say it’s the duty of an otaku to always be fantasizing about their idol’s most perfect form. No delusions, no life! I’m always devoting my mind to imagining you in your best outfits, Stella!”

“Wh... Wh... Wh...!” Stella stammered, her cheeks going bright red.

A blue vein bulged on Mitsuki’s forehead. “You creep...!”

“Now, drink without fear, Stella! You can leave your transformation to me!”

“Ngh, I don’t want to, but I guess I don’t have a choice... Expect payback if you put me in something perverted!”

Stella chugged the potion all at once.

“May the grace of the Goddess be with me. Aquaria Sein, Ignaria Sein, Luxsaria Sein.”

I imagined Stella in the cosplay I wanted to see most. She was engulfed with light.

When the light faded, Stella looked down at her outfit and instantly blinked.

“What even is this...?”

She had on a light-blue shirt and a necktie. Her legs were wrapped in a tight miniskirt that showed off her thighs, and a pair of cuffs hung from her waist. To top it off, she wore a sharp military cap.

Thus was born the tsundere policewoman!

“Finaaaally! This is the tsundere policewoman I wanted to see! There’s no better outfit for matching your prickly expression, Stella. It’s also perfect that you’re wearing this while obviously too young to actually be in the police force. This is who I want to be arrested by! I wanna be arrested! Why don’t I have wrists to be cuffed, gaaah!”

“Wh-What even... I have no idea what you’re so enthusiastic about,” Stella said.

Feena and Henny were both confused too. They had no way of knowing considering the outfit was from my world.

Mitsuki was the only one glaring at me with overwhelming wrath.

No, no. I got so excited I lost myself for a moment there. I plotted all this to show Mitsuki the thrills of miracles.

“See, Mitsuki? You can transform into anything you want.”

“You little... Have you used that stuff to dress Stella up before?”

“Hm? Yeah, once in a bunny suit and once in a sailor suit.”

“Oooh really...” Mitsuki growled in a voice low enough to crawl across the ground. She chugged the potion. Not bad. “May the grace of the Goddess be with me. Aquaria Sein, Ignaria Sein, Luxsaria Sein.”

Mitsuki was engulfed in light and transformed.

When she reappeared, I could only balk.

“Wh— This is...!”

Mitsuki was dressed in a policewoman cosplay just like Stella. The difference was that Mitsuki had a more mature allure.

Seeing my childhood friend cosplay for the first time made my heart pound against my will. But this heart-throbbing situation soon made my heart race for another reason.

“Hey, you creep that’s been using magic to dress up a cute loli—if you want to be arrested that badly, I’ll make sure it happens!” Mitsuki barked, lifting her pitch-black sword.

She was fully in yandere mode. I could practically hear ominous boss music. I evaded reality by considering how bamboo swords suited policewomen surprisingly well.

In the blink of an eye, Stella hugged me protectively. “Hold it! This outfit is at least normal, isn’t it? The previous ones were way worse!”

“GAAAH! Don’t press him against your flat chest, that’s what he wants! You’re just as guilty as he is! You homewrecking, cosplaying man-thief! Die!”

“Eek, eek!”

Stella fled while hugging me, and Mitsuki chased her while swinging her sword. Feena and Henny instantly retreated out of the lab. At this rate, this whole room was going to be blown out of the school building.

Overwhelmed by terror, all I could do was yell. “MITSUKI! I want to see you dressed as a bunny girl too!”

Everyone in the room froze.

“Heh?” Mitsuki said, her voice high-pitched.

She had frozen in place, and her eyes rolled in place while her cheeks went bright red.

“Wha... What did you just say, creep...?”

“I said I wanted to see you in a bunny girl outfit! You’re mad because I dressed Stella up, right? In that case, all you have to do is dress up yourself and satisfy my lust. That should settle everything, right?”

“Um,” Stella interjected quietly.

Mitsuki lowered her bamboo sword. Her divine power had vanished. She began kicking her toes against the ground and fidgeting.

“J-Just how much do you love cosplay? Gross...! I mean, if you insist, I don’t mind, but still...” Mitsuki said, glancing my way.

I exhaled—her yandere mode had been turned off.

“Really? Let’s start with the bunny girl outfit, then. Good thing we made so much of that potion.”

Mitsuki flinched. “Ngh! I have to drink that stuff again?”

Stella dropped me on a table with a clatter.

“Stella?”

“You two are gonna ‘cos-play’ or whatever, right? Go ahead, do whatever,” she said.

With that, she left me there and went to a corner to cross her arms.

And so I had a cosplay marathon with Mitsuki until lunch break ended. Stella watched on with a stony expression the entire time.

In the afternoon, they had written lessons.

“And so Johazel the Savior lifted a hand and formed a pillar of light. The magibeasts fled before it in terror. So it was that Johazel’s journey continued, and the miracles of the Goddess were spread throughout the land. What heroic efforts! The savior sent to us by the Goddess shall always be the source of all our hopes!” Professor Melvia declared.

She was putting more energy into her lecture than usual. That was no doubt due to Mitsuki herself being here. Professor Melvia was desperate to get on the good side of the Goddess’s own messenger.

As for Mitsuki, though...

“Zzz... Nghmm...”

She was in the middle of a remarkable nap. Drool leaked from her open mouth as she used her arms as a pillow. We had just finished lunch and gone through a cosplay marathon. It was no surprise she’d get tired and attacked by sleepiness.

“Guh. A-Allow me to continue...” the professor said. She had noticed Mitsuki napping, but she could hardly chastise the savior. So she continued her lecture in a more despondent tone.

“Hey, Stella,” I whispered while the professor was busy being sad.

She glared at me. “What?”

“Could you wake up Mitsuki?”

Stella sniffed and didn’t respond. She was giving me the cold shoulder, and it wasn’t just my imagination.

“Stella, if Mitsuki doesn’t attend the class properly, she won’t learn how fun the academy is. You gotta do this,” I said. My sincere plea must’ve reached her, because she took out a paper bag from her desk. “That’s...”

I recognized the bag. It was the roulette gummies—candies which were filled with a mass of horrible flavors.

Stella took a gummy out and slipped it into Mitsuki’s mouth. And so the die was cast...

Mitsuki sleepily swallowed the gummy. Then, her eyes shot wide open. It didn’t take a second before she was leaping up out of her chair and screaming, “GAAAH! A CENTIPEDE GOT IN MY MOOOUTH!”

Centipede flavor, huh...?

I clasped my hand in prayer.

Mitsuki’s classmates looked at her in confusion, but Professor Melvia didn’t scold her whatsoever.

“Oh no, what do I do?! I think I ate a centipede...!” Mitsuki exclaimed. She had sat right back down after realizing she was in the middle of class, but she was still pale and panicking.

I whispered as stealthily as I could. “Don’t worry, Mitsuki. That centipede was safe to eat.”

“Excuse me?! Don’t just watch, get rid of it!”

“I’m a staff, remember?”

“Bleeeh, you’re useless!”

Mitsuki’s exhaustion had been blown away. Stella focused on her notebook innocently.

“Moving on—in the end, the savior met Liliana the Witch of Submission. She put forth a deadly challenge in hopes of subverting the Goddess,” Professor Melvia said, holding the hefty scripture in one hand as she read. “‘Hear me, Johazel the Savior: If you truly have been given divine power, then face me in battle. Your holy power should never lose to my cursed power, no? If I am to win, then you are a fraud only claiming to be a savior.’”

Now that’s an interesting exchange.

Divine power versus a witch’s power, huh? Quinza and Stella’s battle had made the outcome of that more than clear. The true form of divine power was merely magic distributed to others by the Goddess. A copy like that could never beat a witch’s true might.

“Johazel the Savior replied as so to the bloodthirsty witch: ‘The power of the Goddess must not be tested. I have no intention of fighting you. O cursed being, may you be sent to the grave.’ And so Johazel the Savior defied the witch’s temptation and did not recklessly use his power.”

Or, in other words, the truth of the divine power wasn’t revealed. Had it been, the church of the Goddess would likely not have been in power any longer.

“Johazel the Savior’s model behavior forced the witch to use her cursed power. She hoped to strike him down with magic, but the Goddess descended alongside dazzling light. She felt pity for Johazel the Savior and sought to save him.”

I wonder about that...

Professor Melvia had emotion dripping from her voice, but my perspective differed. Most likely, the Goddess had feared that the savior was about to be killed and reveal her true identity... So she’d interfered.

As if that evilhearted Goddess would save anyone out of the goodwill of her heart. If she ever does something that looks kind, you should suspect there’s something more to it.

“The witch was swallowed by the Goddess’s holy light. No matter how calamitous a witch may be, they are nothing before the Goddess’s holy power. She then welcomed Johazel the Savior into her heavenly domain. Thus ended his journey.”

“Wait, what?” Mitsuki asked. “Doesn’t that mean the Goddess killed the witch and the savior?”

A stir ran through the crowd. The fact that Mitsuki had said it didn’t help, but that was a rather sensitive topic.

Professor Melvia coughed before answering. “The Goddess welcomed the savior into heaven to reward his efforts once his duty was complete. It was nothing like her annihilating the witch.”

“Seems the same to me,” Mitsuki muttered. “In the end, both the savior and the witch ate dirt. Who kills someone just because they finish their duty?”

“O holy savior, Johazel was not at all murdered. He was uplifted,” Professor Melvia said, refusing to budge.

I can guess that there’s a theological problem with interpreting that passage the way Mitsuki is.

“The moment Johazel the Savior was granted divine power, he became not a person, but a representative of the Goddess. It is not that we are all fated to die one day, but that we are fated to be uplifted to heaven.”

Mitsuki’s brow twitch. “Does that include me...?”

“Yes, of course. When the time comes, you too will be invited to the Goddess’s divine throne. That is a great, great honor.”

Mitsuki clicked her tongue under her breath. She kicked her chair violently and stood up.

“Holy savior...?”

“Your church isn’t for me. No point in me sticking around for this class.”

“What?!” Professor Melvia exclaimed, going pale.

Mitsuki pulled Stella’s arm as she stood.

“Um. Wait, what?!” Stella cried.

“If I’m getting out of here, you have to as well, duh.”

“WHAAAT?! But I’m paying attention...!”

Mitsuki forcibly dragged Stella out of class. Nobody had it in them to stop the savior.

＊＊＊

“Aaah, bleh. This is more of a fantasy world than I thought...” Mitsuki, who’d made her way to the school roof, said. She had intended to go sit on a bench up there like one could in a Japanese school, but the roof here only had shingles. She made do.

“I know the feeling. The culture here was so different when I got here, I couldn’t keep up at all,” I said.

“You’re a staff. Who cares if you keep up or not? Just sleep or whatever.”

Things had been a bit too hectic for me to just sleep it off, but it was true I didn’t have as big of a responsibility as Mitsuki did.

“It’s been like this since I came, but what—they want to one-sidedly worship me, then just kill me off once I’ve done my duty? And they call that an honor? What a messed up cult, seriously.”

“What are you so unhappy about?” Stella asked, genuinely confused. “Normal people don’t earn the Goddess’s attention even after death. I think it’s amazing to have the Goddess come get you herself.”

“Bah. So, what, you don’t care if you die as long as it’s the Goddess killing you?”

“The Goddess doesn’t kill people! She prays for peace and stability, she would never—” Stella began, then stopped. An afternoon breeze blew between them before Stella finally lowered her eyes. “She wouldn’t kill anyone but a witch.”

Mitsuki shrugged her shoulders, exasperated.

“Hey, this is a good opportunity for me to say something,” I said.

“Spit it out, nerd. Anything you’re making a big deal about saying must be something worthless,” Mitsuki said.

“It might be worthless to you, yeah. What do you care about the Goddess’s true nature?”

“Her true nature...?” Stella said.

Mitsuki fell silent and waited for me to continue.

I looked around to make sure nobody was nearby, especially no Goddess visages, then continued, “The Goddess is a witch. And that means the prayer slips she makes are cursed goods.”

“What are you talking about, Otaku...?” Stella asked, her hand on her hips and her expression stern. “Some things you just shouldn’t say. It’s not okay to even joke about the Goddess being a witch.”

“And who says it isn’t okay? The Goddess? Obviously. This is something top secret, so bringing it up to her could put your life at risk.”

“Otaku!” Stella barked, her voice sharp.

I didn’t budge, though. “I get why you’ll find this hard to believe right off the bat. After all, you’ve had the Goddess’s creed beaten into you since you were born. Nobody you know has ever even doubted the Goddess. That reflects how the entire world is being deceived by the Goddess’s grand lie. Well, don’t feel bad; it’d take a lot to notice this.”

“You’re still going, Otaku...?”

“I want to hear your proof,” Mitsuki said. “She and I only exchanged a few words after I reincarnated. What’s all this about her being a witch?”

“It took me a decent bit to notice this myself. The last straw was how magibeasts evolved after eating slips. You remember that from your first-year exam, right, Stella?” I asked. She furrowed her brow a bit.

“Well, I sure don’t,” Mitsuki said. “Explain it in a way I understand.”

“How can I when you’ve only just gotten here?! All right, let me ask... What do you chant when activating the power you got from the Goddess?”

“Hm? Deus Est Mors.”

Stella inhaled sharply. “That chant...!”

“Yep, it’s the same chant as the one Quinza used—‘The Goddess is the one true god.’ And that was decreed to be magic.”

“Again, I don’t know what you’re talking about...” Mitsuki interjected, her tone irritated.

“The point is, Mitsuki, the divine magic you’ve been given is a weaker copy of the Goddess’s magic. Right now, you’re on top of the world. Everyone’s elevating you as the savior, but if they figure out your power is magic, it’s over for you. Just be ready for that.”

“Divine power is magic...? I mean, like I’ve been saying, it’s all like magic to me.”

“Again, things are different in this world.”

“Jeez, what a pain in the neck. How am I supposed to keep it a secret?!”

“No clue. I’d suggest just using it as little as possible.”

“That’s not helpful!”

Some shingles nearby cracked.

“No way... That can’t be true! The Goddess can’t be a witch...” Stella muttered, crouching on the roof. She’d spent every day of her life praying diligently to the Goddess; it only made sense she wouldn’t want to believe my words.

“Stella, you don’t need to force yourself to believe me,” I said.

Stella shot her head up. “Excuse me? What’s the big idea, spouting nonsense like that, then telling me I don’t have to believe it?!”

“I was thinking you could just keep it in the corner of your mind.”

“What even?”

“I just wanted to tell you there were other possibilities out there.”

“Possibilities?”

“If the Goddess is a witch, she’s not worth worshipping anymore. Then you won’t have to feel bad, right? It’d just be one witch trying to kill another. No big deal, right?”

“Ngh...”

After the Goddess had ordered Stella to be killed on that fateful day, she hadn’t resisted the soldiers that had encircled her whatsoever. I’d seen her getting dragged away, eyes empty.

Stella’s heart had been gravely wounded ever since, and I found that unforgivable.

“I don’t actually care about the Goddess’s background or anything. I wasn’t going to say anything if she hadn’t hurt you like that. After all, I noticed it way back during the exams, but I only spoke up now,” I said.

Stella fell into a total silence. Whether she believed me or not, she needed time to think. It took a lot of work to question something one had worshipped since birth.

My metaphorical eyes fell onto Mitsuki. “Hey, Mitsuki. The Goddess told you to kill Stella, right?”

“What’s your point?”

“You weren’t talking to a deity, you were talking to a witch—a massive hypocrite who’s deceiving this entire world. Do you intend to listen to a person like that?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“I’ll be blunt: I want you to prevent Stella’s trial from ending in an execution.”

Mitsuki looked up at the sky, a distant look in her eyes. The scarf of her sailor school uniform fluttered in the wind.

“As the savior, you can throw your weight around in the trial. I want you to say Stella is innocent. Please, her life is on the line!”

“You want me to lie under oath?”

“It won’t be lying. I mean, do you think Stella deserves to die?” I asked.

Stella’s breath caught.

Mitsuki’s eyes remained on the sky, as if she were thinking about something.

“A witch in this world is defined as a monster that distorts the world and destroys civilizations. The people here try to kill witches to save their world. But Mitsuki—after spending time with her today, do you think Stella’s the type to destroy the world?”

“Not at all, really. She couldn’t even use miracles on a basic level.”

“Exactly. It’s not right for Stella to be executed. Mitsuki, you’ll argue against a death sentence, right?”

Mitsuki was my childhood friend. I’d spent over a decade with her, and I knew her way of thinking pretty well. That’s why I knew she’d agree here.

“Sorry, but no.”

I balked. “What?!”

Stella tightened her grip on me anxiously.

“But why?! I explained everything, didn’t I? Stella’s going to be executed without having ever committed a crime!”

“Casting magic is a crime, no?”

“I mean, yeah, but she cast magic to save everyone! She wasn’t trying to destroy the world!”

“I wasn’t there, so I wouldn’t know.”

“It should be obvious! Stella could never be an evil witch.”

“That’s just what you want to believe,” Mitsuki said dismissively. She looked at Stella. “I told you, didn’t I? I’m here to kill you.”

“Mitsuki!”

Stella swallowed at the sharp light in Mitsuki’s obsidian eyes.

“I’m going to kill this girl and go back to my own world. That’s set in stone. And that means I’m not going to interfere with the trial.”

“You’re going to kill Stella so you can go back to Earth...?”

“That’s right. What better reason could there be?”

Her reasoning was rock solid. She wanted to go back home, and she wouldn’t hesitate to do anything necessary to make it happen.

It made sense, but... That choice wasn’t like Mitsuki at all.

“What’s going on, Mitsuki...? You’re not this type of person. You’re saying you’ll kill someone if it gets you what you want. The Mitsuki I know isn’t so mercenary.”

I saw Mitsuki quietly grind her teeth.

“You believe in the goodness in people. You’re the type to help others, even if you make a show of complaining about it. Why are you abandoning Stella? I get that you want to go home, but why don’t you try to find ways to do that which don’t involve killing Stella? Why are you just blindly following the Goddess?”

Right. Mitsuki was just being way too naive here. The Mitsuki I knew would never just blindly swallow whatever the Goddess said.

“This isn’t like you at all. The Goddess isn’t a deity, she’s a witch! Shouldn’t you be suspicious the second she started ordering you to kill Stella? Don’t you feel guilty about following the orders of someone like that? Will you celebrate getting home even if it’s over the corpses of—”

“Don’t act like you understand me, creep!” Mitsuki shouted. It was a genuine explosion. “So annoying... Seriously, you’re just so annoying! What do you understand about me?! All that about my morals, my conscience—it’s all just your delusions! Don’t force your ideals on me, you stupid otaku!”

Her harsh voice stabbed into my chest like daggers. Mitsuki was covering her eyes with a sleeve of her outfit.

My delusions, huh?

If that’s what she called them, I could hardly argue. She was my childhood friend...but that was it. We just happened to live close to each other and go to school together; that was all. As proof of that, I hadn’t even been able to tell whether Mitsuki was a tsundere or just prickly in general. Even now, I hadn’t grasped what had turned Mitsuki into a yandere.

“I’m going back to my own world. I’ll kill this girl if I have to! Creep, it doesn’t matter what you try to say!”

“Mitsuki—” I began, only to be interrupted by the bell tower. Afternoon classes had concluded.

Mitsuki sighed. “That means school’s out, right? Finally, I can go back to my room.”

“Didn’t you come to take classes because you wanted to experience a magic school...?”

Mitsuki didn’t answer. She just kept looking at the sky, as if swallowing something, until we could hear the clamor of students released from their class.

＊＊＊

Thus concluded our day with Mitsuki. It became time for lights out, and darkness enveloped the guest room we were staying in.

Stella and Mitsuki slept in the same place as before. Mitsuki used the big bed in the back, while Stella used the sofa.

Stella was sitting and cradling her knees alone in the dark, unable to sleep.

“Stella,” I called, resting against the sofa nearby. She stirred, but didn’t reply. “Sorry about the Mitsuki business. I tried to help by explaining things, but it seems like I had the wrong idea.”

I thought for sure Mitsuki would be on our side if I’d just explained who the Goddess really was and that Stella was innocent. I had been naive.

“I thought she was my childhood friend, but... Usually, she has a sharp tongue but a kind heart. Remember what I told you about before? In order to help me, she—”

“Stop,” Stella said, quietly rejecting me. She tightened her grip on her legs. “I don’t want to hear about your childhood friend.”

Stella buried her face in her legs, her voice shaking. I didn’t know what was going on, so I just apologized.

“Would you be happy with anyone as long as they cosplay for you?” she continued.

“Huh?”

Why was cosplay coming up now? Despite my confusion, Stella barked in anger, “So, what, my cosplay meant nothing, and you’d be fine with your childhood friend doing it all instead?!”

I finally understood why Stella was pouting. Now that I thought about it, her attitude had gotten colder since the cosplay marathon with Mitsuki.

“If I had known that, I never would’ve cosplayed. You idiot! You shameless pervert! Just go back to your home planet with Mitsuki or whatever...”

“Not happening,” I declared. Stella fell silent. “I’d never abandon my idol like that. I’m your spirit, Stella. You matter the most to me, and I won’t be leaving your side willingly. It’s not like I had Mitsuki cosplay in your place today, Stella. To begin with, both of you have your own appeal, obviously. Nobody could take your place!”

“So, what, your lust for cosplay just wasn’t satisfied?”

“Do you think it ever would be? Don’t underestimate an otaku’s craving. I could watch my idol cosplay forever!”

“I see,” Stella said, fidgeting her hand in her pocket. I watched on, confused, until a tiny bottle rolled out.

“What’s that...?”

“Ah! Wow, I still had some of that transformation potion here!” Stella exclaimed, like it was a complete coincidence. Really, it was obvious she had taken it out on purpose.

“Stella, you wanted to cosplay for me that much? I’m sorry, I should’ve noticed!”

“N-No way! It’s not like I wanted to make you happy after seeing how much you liked Mitsuki’s cosplays! It’s true!”

“You’re the best, Stella! I’ll support you for the rest of my life!”

“Shuuut uuup! I still haven’t forgiven you!” Stella exclaimed, opening the bottle and looking at me. “If you insist there’s no one that can replace me, think of some cosplay only I can do. I won’t accept anything that Mitsuki could do herself!”

She sniffed, then chugged the miracle potion down.

This was probably her idea of a Herculean challenge for me. But as someone who spent all day thinking about my idol, there couldn’t have been anything easier.

“May the grace of the Goddess be with me. Aquaria Sein, Ignaria Sein, Luxsaria Sein.”

Stella was engulfed in light and transformed. A moment later, there she was, standing in a school swimsuit. I reflexively let out a noise of awe. A thin stream of starlight from the window lit Stella up faintly, enveloping her in a mystical light. The outline of her underdeveloped body wrapped in navy cloth enraptured me.

Stella looked down at herself, then inhaled sharply. She immediately began fidgeting with embarrassment.

“Ngggh...! You pervert! Why is this a cosplay only I can do?!”

“Why, you ask...? On a fundamental level, cosplay needs to be an outfit one wouldn’t normally wear in their day-to-day life. This school swimsuit is something one invariably wears when attending a Japanese school’s swimming class, so it wouldn’t count as cosplay if Mitsuki wore it. In short, a school swimsuit only becomes a cosplay when someone from another world wears it!”

“You’re talking too fast, and I’m not keeping up anyway...” Stella stomped on the ground.

“This is the answer I came to after thinking about it in my own way, but... Is it not enough?” I asked.

Stella glared at me. “W-Well, what do you think?”

“Me?”

“What do you think about me in this outfit?”

“Godlike.”

“Heh...?”

“Has anyone ever seen a school-swimsuited beauty with such an aura of purity? I doubt it! Gah, why doesn’t this world have cameras?! This sight needs to be preserved forever! This cute, innocent visage is worthy of being treated as country’s treasure forever, and—”

“Gaah, gaah, all right already! It was stupid of me to have even asked!” Stella shouted, her cheeks puffing up as she readjusted the string on her shoulder.

“Stella?”

“I’m going back to normal once the miracle potion wears off, so burn this sight into your eyes while you still can!”

“Whew! Nothing better than a tsundere’s dere side!”

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!”

I’d been so busy cheering Stella up that I hardly noticed anything else.

“Tch.”

Not even the clicking tongue from the other end of the room.

Chapter 3 — You’re My Spirit, Aren’t You?

Morning came.

“Awaken, Stella the Witch,” a familiar voice called out.

Stella and I woke up with a start and instantly balked. Armored soldiers surrounded the sofa we were on.

“Wh-What the heck is this?! What’s going on?!” Stella exclaimed, sitting up and looking around.

Behind the mass of soldiers, Mitsuki stood. She’d already changed into her school uniform, and she had her arms crossed as she looked down at us coldly.

“I changed the trial date,” Mitsuki said in a completely emotionless voice.

She what?! This is too soon!

I wanted to shout, but I couldn’t talk carelessly in front of all the soldiers.

They mercilessly took me from Stella, then bound her wrists with cuffs.

“Otaku...!”

Then they gagged her mouth.

“Nmm! Nmm!”

Stella tried to cry out, but it was pointless. The soldiers forced her to stand, then dragged her out of the room.

Mitsuki spoke as Stella crossed her path. “May we meet in court.”

Mitsuki...!

Just as I was about to be carried away, she spoke again.

“Wait. I’ll handle that staff,” Mitsuki said, stopping the soldier who had me. “The staff’s irrelevant to the trial, right?”

“As you wish, o savior.”

The soldier gave me to Mitsuki, then left.

I spoke once the sound of clanking armor had vanished in the distance.

“Hey, Mitsuki! Holding the trial today is just way too sudden!”

“Sudden? It was scheduled for tomorrow. There’s nothing sudden about this.”

“That’s completely true, but you didn’t mention a word of this last night...!”

Mitsuki glared at me. Her gaze was like a honed blade; it made me falter. “I want to go back home as soon as possible. A world where school swimsuits count as cosplay is unbearable.”

“Wha—!”

She was watching last night?!

Mitsuki, bamboo sword in hand, left the guest room. Outside, a bunch of nuns stood in a line. They guided her to the court.

I had been wondering where the trial would be held, and it turned out to be the chapel. Before us, a massive Goddess statue stood. There was a bright red carpet and a tall ceiling. The golden walls and pillars were daunting to behold.

The chapel was filled with a ton of nuns and soldiers already. Each of them was waiting for the trial to begin.

“O savior, do come forth,” one of the nuns said.

Mitsuki was guided to a place farther in than the altar; it was right in front of the statue. A stage with an ornate golden chair had been erected.

Seriously? A golden chair doesn’t suit Mitsuki at all...

I nearly belted out in laughter, but Mitsuki sat down without complaining. She rested me on its side. She had VIP seating that overlooked the entirety of the chapel. Nuns sat in the place where students would normally offer prayers. Meanwhile, the Archbishop stood before the altar.

The Archbishop slammed her staff down and announced, “The trial shall now begin.”

Silence fell over the chapel, and the guards dragged in a lone girl.

Quinza...!

She was emaciated to the point of looking nothing like the red-haired villainess she once was. Her hair was mangled, and she didn’t have a single accessory on. There was no trace of her former self. Cuffed and pale, she was forced to stand on a small platform before the altar.

“Quinza Tuner, you cast magic during the Miracle Games held three days ago. Is that correct?” the Archbishop immediately asked.

Quinza lifted her head and faced the Archbishop. “Nmm...! NMMM!” She shook her head violently in denial. Her throat had been burned to the point that she couldn’t speak, but she did what she could to deny the charge.

And yet...

“You have chosen silence. That will be acknowledged as an admission of guilt,” the Archbishop said mercilessly. Despair engulfed Quinza’s face.

“You stole cursed goods used in class to make a magic potion. Is that correct?”

Once again, the red-haired girl shook her head. And once again, the Archbishop gave the same reply.

“You have chosen silence. That will be acknowledged as an admission of guilt.”

What kind of trial is this...?

It could hardly be a trial at all. This was just a one-sided judgment.

The Archbishop was asking Quinza to confirm her crimes, but Quinza couldn’t speak. Thus, she couldn’t deny anything. There were no attorneys or witnesses; the Archbishop just said whatever she liked and continued.

“Hey, Mitsuki. Doesn’t this farce change your mind at all?” I whispered.

She remained silent, her legs crossed as she sat. I left it at that. Talking to her was pointless.

“Quinza Tuner, you gathered stolen cursed goods, made a magic potion, and attacked innocents with magic in order to secure victory in the Miracle Games. Revelations 2:5—‘Those who seek magic shall be incinerated by the flames of hell.’ I thus put forth that Quinza Tuner be executed. Does anyone object?” the Archbishop asked, looking at the gathered nuns.

“Nay,” said one, which prompted the others to follow.

Amid a mass chant of nays, the Archbishop turned to look at Mitsuki.

“And you, o savior?” the Archbishop asked, wearing a compassionate smile.

Mitsuki, sounding bored, replied, “Nay.”

Mitsuki...

As I wondered if Mitsuki was really okay with this, the Archbishop slammed her staff into the ground again. As silence returned to the chapel, she made her declaration. “We decree that Quinza Tuner shall be sentenced to death!”

Quinza wavered on her feet, then collapsed. A soldier stepped forward at once, wrapped their arms under hers, and carried her out of the chapel.

All I could do was watch.

The monkey trial continued on in its farcical way. Feena’s and Henny’s trials both went the same way. Their crime was aiding a witch. Everything they said was ignored, and they were given the death sentence without any fanfare.

Mitsuki had the power to overrule everything, but she just watched on calmly. I was losing my mind.

The last to enter was a silver-haired girl surrounded by soldiers.

Stella...!

Her hands were cuffed, and her mouth was gagged. She stood on top of the little stand for those being accused and looked up at Mitsuki. Their eyes met and clashed.

“Stella Millesia, do you acknowledge you are a witch with cursed power?” the Archbishop asked.

Naturally, Stella couldn’t answer with her mouth gagged. She hung her head; she didn’t even try to plead her case silently.

“You have chosen silence. That will be acknowledged as an admission of guilt,” the Archbishop said. Her self-satisfied look infuriated me. “Roughly one thousand years ago, the Goddess eradicated all witches to secure peace. In her image, I decree that Stella Millesia shall be put to death. Are there any objections?”

The nuns repeated their nays as before.

The Archbishop, once again, looked up at Mitsuki.

“And you, o savior?”

Please, Mitsuki. Object...! Say aye...! I prayed to my childhood friend.

And, with no change of expression, she gave her answer. “Nay.”

I felt my heart chill over in an instant. My one singular hope of relying on Mitsuki had been thrown into the trash. That meant I had to act myself.

“And so our verdict is that—”

“HOLD IT!” I shouted, my blatantly male voice echoing through the chapel.

Stella looked up with a start. The nuns turned their heads, looking for me.

“Creep,” Mitsuki said, still refusing to call me by my name.

Her expression was bitter, but I didn’t care. To begin with, it was her fault for refusing to help me.

I ignored her and kept shouting. “What worth is a verdict from a nonsense trial like this one? This was garbage! How is a gagged person supposed to answer any questions?!”

“Who is that?” the Archbishop asked in a chastising tone, her eyes scanning the crowd. “This method of holding trial is holy and determined by the Goddess. Mocking it is heretical.”

“Ha ha ha. You say the Goddess is behind this farce? No wonder it is such garbage! Nothing she would put in place could ever lead to a proper trial,” I continued.

The Archbishop’s expression hardened.

The soldiers, who were standing guard along the walls, finally seemed to remember their roles.

“Where are you, heretic?!”

“Show yourself!”

“What kind of person would actually show themselves like that? Are you all stupid?” I called boldly from my place beside the golden chair.

The Archbishop spoke to the air. “I shall ask again. Who are you?”

“I am...Johazel the Savior.”

The chapel was overcome by an uproar.

Johazel the Savior. I had memorized the name after seeing it in the scripture so many times. As far as I knew, it was the name that carried the most weight after the Goddess’s.

The soldiers and nuns faltered, as if uncertain over whether or not to believe me.

The Archbishop alone remained calm. “If you truly are Johazel the Savior, why do you not show yourself to us?”

“I’m deceased and exist in soul only; how could I show myself?”

“In other words, you are speaking to us from the heavens?”

“Exactly! I came to observe this trial since I heard a witch was being sentenced, but all I have seen has been a farce. There is no point to holding trials like this,” I said.

“How dare you impersonate the savior, of all people!” a soldier shouted.

“BE SILENT!” the Archbishop barked. The soldier bit their lip obediently. “Now then, o Johazel; what do you desire from this trial?”

“The witch should at least be given a chance to speak. A death sentence should be decided only after the accused can state their case,” I said.

“The gag cannot be removed. Witches use magic; should she be able to speak freely, she would no doubt unleash a series of curses. And furthermore,” the Archbishop said, looking at Stella. “No defense will exonerate Stella the Witch. A large crowd witnessed her casting magic. It is impossible for her to prove she did not cast any magic.”

“I see. So that is your logic? It does not matter what kind of magic it was—as soon as someone casts it, they have committed a crime?”

“Indeed, for the Goddess has forbidden the use of magic.”

I grinned on the inside. The worst part of being a staff was being unable to make expressions.

“In that case, you all should be executed. Each year, you use magic,” I said.

All those in the chapel looked shocked.

The Archbishop tilted her head. “Excuse me? We all use magic once per year?”

“That is correct. You all write wishes on prayer slips for the Descension Ceremony, do you not? That works through magic: A magic spell to make wishes come true.”

“And here I was curious as to what you would say... Wishes made at the Descension Ceremony come true due to the Goddess’s holy power.”

“Holy power, you say? Then try feeding a prayer slip to an animal. That will prove that the slip is a cursed good. You are all using cursed goods to make your wishes come true. That is magic!”

Eat dirt, Goddess! I’ve spilled your secret everywhere!

I eyed the statue behind me. The expression beneath its veil was unchanging.

“The fact that the cursed slips are made by the Goddess means, naturally, that the Goddess is a witch. All of you and the Goddess herself should be executed by your own logic!” I declared.

That was the best card I could play.

This should land a massive blow. No doubt any natural citizen of this world would lose their minds after learning the Goddess they worship is a witch. They’ll forget all about this trial.

I looked over the chapel with hope. And yet...

“Are you finished with your nonsense?” the Archbishop asked, a perfect smile on her face.

The moment I saw that smile, shudders of disgust ran down my spine. That was the same smile as the Goddess’s. It seemed like it was full of compassion, but it was, in fact, fake. It held not even a trace of concern behind it.

And most horrifying of all was that all the other nuns wore the same smile.

The soldiers, in stark contrast, were all panicking in disbelief.

What’s with them... How can the church stay so calm?! This is flipping their religion on its head! How are they so—

Suddenly, it hit me.

Don’t tell me—they already knew the Goddess is a witch?!

“Idiot. If an ignorant Earthling like you figured it out within a year, how could the church not after worshipping her for a thousand years?” Mitsuki whispered, bored.

It’s that simple...?!

I gnashed my teeth on the inside. It was the church who managed the slips. They would obviously know why the slips were guarded so closely. The Archbishop’s group protected the Church of the Goddess knowing that the Goddess was a witch. It was no wonder that a rotten Goddess would lead to a rotten church.

“You who impersonate Johazel the Savior—you shall soon be punished for insulting the good name of the Goddess. We shall first give Stella Millesia her verdict.”

“Wait—”

“We decree that Stella Millesia shall be sentenced to death!” the Archbishop’s voice boomed.

My vision went black. It hadn’t been enough. I hadn’t even been able to delay Stella’s death sentence.

Stella was circled by soldiers as I fell into a daze. As she was being carried away, Stella turned and looked up at Mitsuki... No, not Mitsuki—at me.

Her eyes were wet, as if to say thank you.

“STELLA!” I shouted, but—now that she had been labeled a witch—she was dragged farther and farther away.

I had no means of stopping them. Stella vanished behind the chapel’s thick wooden doors, leaving me with nothing.

Executions were carried out immediately after the trials, as far as I knew.

With the trials for the four accused complete, Mitsuki followed the nuns to the plaza. She continued to carry me with her.

The moment we entered the plaza, I saw the four girls literally crucified on crosses.

Stella! Everyone...!

Quinza, Stella, Henny, and Feena all had their arms and legs bound to crosses. Stella still had her mouth gagged.

The plaza was filled with onlooking students who chattered among themselves loudly. I heard both praise for the Goddess and jeers for the witch mixed among them.

“Why are there so many students here?” the Archbishop asked, her brow furrowed. “Classes should be in session.”

“About that,” Professor Elyena answered, parting her way through the crowd. “Everyone insisted they wanted to see the execution. Since they just weren’t focusing on class, I finally decided to let them! Aha!”

The Archbishop leered down at the loli-sized, large-hatted professor.

“Could it not be seen as part of their education to see what fate befalls a witch? If they see this execution, they will no doubt think twice about ever dirtying their hands with magic. The Goddess would surely approve of this,” Professor Elyena said with a smile.

Ignoring her, the Archbishop returned her eyes to the plaza. “O savior,” she said as she approached Mitsuki. “We will now set the criminals on fire. The witch, however, will not perish by normal means. I should like for you to land the finishing blow with your divine power.”

“Roooger,” Mitsuki said flippantly. She began walking to Stella.

“Please, Mitsuki...! Save Stella, save the others! I’ll do anything you want! If you want to go back home, I’ll find some way for it to happen without—”

Mitsuki slammed my head against the stone ground. The overwhelming pain interrupted my pleas.

“Unleash the fire!” the Archbishop declared.

“Ignaria Sein!”

At the Archbishop’s signals, the soldiers lit up the firewood piled beneath the wooden crosses.

The wood began to crackle and pop with flames. The onlookers let out both shrieks and cheers.

Mitsuki let out a chant with her bamboo sword in hand. “Deus Est Mors.”

Her sword was enveloped in darkness and radiated a disconcerting glimmer.

With her divinely powered sword, Mitsuki let out a battle cry. “HYAAAAH!”

She charged toward Stella, who was bound on her cross. Mitsuki’s black hair fluttered as she thrust her sword—the move that would end Stella’s life.

Stella...!

I couldn’t help but shut my eyes.

There was some kind of snapping sound; I timidly opened my eyes to look to see what had happened.

“What...?!”

It was Stella, looking stunned that her gag had vanished. Mitsuki had used her bamboo sword to smash it.

What’s going on...?! Why did Mitsuki cut off Stella’s gag?!

“HYAAAAH!”

Mitsuki let out another battle cry. This time, she thrust her sword toward Stella’s chest.

But there was no way an unleashed witch would remain silent.

“Give.”

A single word from a witch distorted the world. Pitch-black chains appeared from thin air and struck the sword. My heart began to thump painfully.

The chains—something beyond the natural rules of this world—clinked and clanked. Countless of them appeared around Stella, crawling along the stone paths of the garden and filling the area with a distorted pattern.

“Wh-What’s going on?!”

“Magic! The witch cast a spell!”

The students backed up, falling into a panic.

“Stella...!” Feena cried emotionally from her position on the nearby cross. Henny, beside her, was looking on with concern. Stella’s magic had erased the fire at their feet. They were merely bound; their lives weren’t in danger.

The witch descended from her cross, her silver hair adorned with a crown of chains. There was no longer anyone who could stop her.

She began by extending a hand. Chains launched out like tentacles and wrapped around me, positioned behind Mitsuki’s back.

“Creep...!” Mitsuki called in shock as I returned to Stella’s grip.

“This is my staff,” Stella said, her voice utterly cold and lacking its usual warmth.

“Aha!” Mitsuki laughed, amused. Her forehead gleamed with sweat. “Now this is what I’m talking about. Finally, I can show off my good side! The savior is fated to defeat the witch and save the day, after all! Deus Est Mors!”

“Give.”

Mitsuki slashed while stepping forward, colliding with the chains shooting out from Stella’s hands. It was divine power versus Stella’s magic...and the winner was obvious.

Mitsuki’s bamboo blade was swallowed by an infinite swathe of chains and knocked away.

“Ngh! Deus est mors!”

Mitsuki immediately stood up and rushed toward Stella again, but Stella’s chains blocked her path. Mitsuki slashed at the chains, but they twisted and circled around, preventing Mitsuki from escaping.

Over time, Mitsuki ran out of breath and began to slow down.

“Um, what’s going on?” the students murmured among themselves.

“Is it just me, or is the savior losing to the witch?”

“No way. The savior has holy power gifted from the Goddess; she would never lose to a witch using cursed power.”

Mitsuki must have heard them, because she slashed the air and cut the chains in half.

“Stella the Witch, prepare to die!” she roared, then stepped forward to add momentum to a deadly thrust.

The bamboo sword raced toward Stella... And then, it suddenly birthed countless chains.

“Ah!”

All those watching caught their breath.

Mitsuki’s sword had lost its divine power due to being enveloped in Stella’s chains. The bamboo sword had been reduced to a mass of chains, stunning Mitsuki.

It only took an instant before the sinister black chains shot toward Mitsuki. The savior was going to die.

It was just as everyone began to avert their eyes from that horrible sight that it happened.

A pure beam of white light rained down upon the garden.

Hah! Showing up now, o Goddess?!

She apparently wanted to avoid the savior losing to a witch no matter the cost.

I waited for the light to take her shape, but it didn’t solidify no matter how much time passed. In fact, it just grew brighter and brighter, until everything was bathed in light.

I felt my consciousness being ripped away amid the violent torrent of light.

Wait... This is what happens when I get teleported to the divine throne!

My mind was crushed by white just as I put the pieces together.

＊＊＊

The next thing I knew, I was in a space with a tall ceiling.

Aaah... This place.

It was the divine throne. Apparently, I had, in fact, been warped here.

I was wearing my school uniform again amid a mass of monitor-covered walls. Chains weighed heavily on my wrists, which I rotated to get the stiffness out.

“What is this place...?” Stella’s voice came from behind me.

I turned with a start. There she was, staff on her back, looking over at the walls.

“What’s going on...? What’s with this place?”

“The divine throne, home to the Goddess,” I said.

Stella’s eyes fell on me. Her brow furrowed. She observed me from head to toe for a lengthy period, then—in a highly dubious tone—asked, “Who are you?”

Yeah, figures... This is about what I expected.

I didn’t consider it a shock or anything. To begin with, we otaku didn’t crave attention or recognition from our idols. We were fine as long as they were happy, and their smile was more important than whether they knew our name or anything.

But that was why I was uncertain about how to reply. Would she want to know that a lame, awkward otaku like me was her spirit? Unfortunately, I didn’t have much confidence in my appearance. Stella might’ve been devastated if she found out what being an otaku actually meant. I didn’t want to put her through that.

As I faltered over my reply...

“Creep!” Mitsuki barked from the side. “You...! I can’t believe you...!”

She abruptly grabbed the fabric around my chest. She tugged it and glared at me with a violent look.

“M-Mitsuki, what’s wrong...?”

“Don’t give me that!” she practically snarled.

I had no idea what I’d done to earn her ire like this. And it was as I tried to figure it out that I noticed...her eyes were faintly wet.

“Mitsuki...? Why are you cryi—”

“I-I’m not crying! Why would seeing your stupid face for the first time in over a year make me cry?!”

That reminded me—back on Earth, I was in a hospital in a coma. And here in this world, I was a staff. Not being able to see my face would’ve naturally made her concerned.

“Sorry, Mitsuki. Didn’t mean to worry you.”

“Excuse me? As if I would ever be worried about you, creep! I’m getting tear-eyed in pity over how stupid you continue to look in every life!”

What a terrible liar. Still, that was very much her way of putting things.

“Otaku...? Is that you?” Stella asked in a daze.

My exchange with Mitsuki had revealed my identity. Stella stared up at me intently. Her direct gaze embarrassed me, but I managed to nod. Her face immediately started going bright red, as if her cheeks were boiling.

“What, Stella?” I asked, prompting her to immediately turn her chin away.

“I-It’s nothing!” she replied, fidgeting.

She didn’t seem devastated, at least. I was glad to have avoided that.

Mitsuki sniffed dismissively. “What’s with you? Not grossed out even after seeing his face? That’s some bad taste you have.”

“No...! I just thought he looked more proper than I expected for a shameless pervert,” Stella retorted defiantly, placing hands on her hips. “More importantly, why are the three of us in this weird place?”

No doubt this futuristic tech made no sense to Stella, who had never even seen electronics before.

“Like I said, this is the divine throne,” I said.

“Were you even listening in class yesterday?” Mitsuki asked, shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head at Stella. “The Goddess interfered the last time a witch attacked the savior, right? That must be what’s happening now.”

It turned out Mitsuki had, in fact, been paying attention to Professor Melvia.

“This happened because I attacked you...?” Stella asked, mulling Mitsuki’s words over.

“Uh-huh. I thought for sure the Goddess would show herself if a witch put me in danger. I didn’t expect to be taken here, though.”

Wait a second...

“Wait, Mitsuki. Does that mean you destroyed Stella’s gag on purpose...? All so Stella could use magic?”

“Obviously. Do you think I would’ve missed?”

“Then all that about killing Stella to get back home was just...” I trailed off. If she’d really wanted to kill Stella, she wouldn’t have messed with the gag—she would’ve just pierced Stella with divine power.

Mitsuki glared at me. “You thought I would ever murder someone just to get back home?!”

“Ah...!”

I knew it! This was the Mitsuki I was familiar with. All my doubts had been well founded.

Mitsuki jabbed her bamboo sword at my chin. “Are you for real? Did you think I was the type of person to just casually kill other people if it served my ends? We’ve been childhood friends for over a decade, and that’s what you think of me? Is that gray stuff between your ears totally rotten?”

“No...! I antagonized you about it because I thought it was weird, didn’t I?! I said this wasn’t like you. You’re the one who got pissed off about it!”

“Because you were supposed to trust me, not try digging into it! Was I that untrustworthy to you?!”

“Ngh, it hurts... Mitsuki, drop the sword!”

“Um...” Stella said, looking between Mitsuki and me. “Basically, you never intended to kill me, Mitsuki?”

Mitsuki released me with a sniff. “At the very least, not while I was attending class with you. I only went out of my way to say I would kill you since you wouldn’t use magic otherwise. This plan wouldn’t work if you didn’t use magic on me.”

“‘At the very least’?” I asked, catching on to the meaning of her words. “Does that mean you intended to kill her at the start?”

Mitsuki tilted her chin away abruptly.

For some reason—and stay with me here—I got the feeling she was still hiding something.

“Hey, Mitsuki—” I began.

“Oho ho, drawing me out by troubling me, I see. What a clever human,” a purring, catlike voice called out, sending a shudder through us all.

“The Goddess!” I shouted.

A woman in sparkling robes stood at the top of a staircase that had appeared in the back of the throne.

“Welcome to my throne, those of another world. And welcome, Stella the Witch of Shackles.”

Stella winced. Trembling, she asked, “No way... The real Goddess?”

I reflexively put a hand on her shaking shoulders. She looked at me with a start.

“Don’t worry. You’re not beneath her,” I said.

Stella’s expression didn’t change, but the trembling lessened.

The Goddess descended the stairs with a loud clacking of her heels.

“Mitsuki Kaguya, I am disappointed in you. To think that you would disobey me after I made you the savior,” she said.

“You lied to me, Goddess,” Mitsuki said, refusing to falter even for a moment before apparent divinity. “You said this creep was trapped by an evil witch and couldn’t get home despite wanting to. But lo and behold, he’s having the time of his life with his so-called idol!”

“You are mistaken,” the Goddess said, pointing at me. “Behold his limbs. The magic of Stella the Witch is binding him as it would a prisoner.”

Mitsuki and Stella looked at my limbs.

There were indeed black chains that wrapped around me and trailed across the ground. I reflexively moved to hide the chains from Stella.

“As long as those chains remain, it is impossible for him to return to his world. I told you only the truth.”

“These chains...are from me?” Stella asked in a daze, looking at my entrapped wrists.

The Goddess smirked and threw her arms apart. “Now, Mitsuki Kaguya, step forth and slay Stella the Witch! If not, your wish for ‘this creep to wake up’ will never come true!”

Silence instantly fell on the throne.

“Wha...” Stella whispered, looking at Mitsuki.

Uh...?

I found myself at a loss too. As far as I was aware, Mitsuki had said she wanted to kill Stella to go back to her world.

I glanced to the side and saw Mitsuki looking down at the floor, trembling. Both her clenched fists and the ear poking out of her black hair were red enough to be giving off steam.

What, is she embarrassed right now...?

“Hey, Mitsu—” I began.

“Don’t get the wrong idea! I-I wasn’t trying to kill a witch for your sake! Why’s an otaku like you getting so cocky, anyway...?!”

“Oho ho. I see you are the liar here, not I,” the Goddess said. “My memory of the slip you wrote is utterly perfect. I summoned you to the same world he was present in and granted you the power to kill the witch in order to grant your wish. Do not say you have forgotten.”

“Sh-Sh-Shut up already, you blabbermouth!” Mitsuki yelped, her voice shrill. Her eyes were wandering all over the place.

Seriously...?

Mitsuki would only be panicking so much if the Goddess was telling the truth. Suddenly, all the confusion I’d felt cleared up. It wasn’t like Mitsuki to kill Stella to get back home herself, but killing her to get me home... That made sense.

She was going that far for me...?

I felt my chest squeeze. A ticklish, warm, embarrassing feeling swelled up inside me.

I glanced subtly at Mitsuki. She turned to look at me at the exact same moment, but then averted her eyes at the speed of light.

“D-Don’t get the wrong idea, okay? I just didn’t want you to die or whatever with the wrong idea about what happened earlier.”

“‘The wrong idea’?”

“Valentine’s Day!” Mitsuki yelled.

Oh, right. The day of my reincarnation came flashing back to me.

“What exactly do I have the wrong idea about?”

“Ngh! When I gave you chocolate for poison testing, our classmates were watching us outside! It’d be bad if they thought I was giving you real chocolate, right? So I just kind of...in the spur of the moment, I...”

Everything clicked.

Mitsuki didn’t harbor an utter hatred for everything which bore my name; there had been a reason she’d rejected me during Valentine’s Day. My suspicion of her being merely tsuntsun vanished—she was a bonafide, card-carrying tsundere.

“Aaah, so that’s what that was. What a relief. I thought you’d hated me for years or someth—”

“E-Exactly! I hate your guts, you creep!”

“But you came all this way to another world just to clear up the misconception, right?”

“Ngggh! I mean, if you died right after that, it’d totally look like it was my fault! That’d be annoying as all heck—no thanks!”

That was hardly a logical excuse. If she was trying to avoid pains in the neck, then maybe she shouldn’t have traveled to another world on a mission to kill a deadly witch.

“What stalls you, Mitsuki Kaguya? Slay Stella the Witch, for she is the source of all evil. Do so, and your wish shall be granted!”

“You’ve never been in love, have you?” Mitsuki muttered.

The Goddess’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you speaking to me, Mitsuki Kaguya?”

“That’s right. Who else would I be talking to, you dried-up spinster?!”

The Goddess balked. “Spinster?!”

“How could I kill the person this creep loves when I love him?!” Mitsuki shouted, her cheeks bright red.

Weird. She’s calling me “creep” instead of my name, but this still feels pretty embarrassing.

A cackle gurgled up the Goddess’s throat. “Bwa ha ha! I see everyone from your world is an utter fool. Not only have you insulted me, a deity of absolute power, you even think to rebel against my might!”

“You’re no deity, Amanda the Witch.”

The Goddess halted her laughter. She directed a murderous look at me as if to kill me with her mind.

“With what title did you just address me, you brat?”

“Amanda the Witch. That’s your real name, right? Getting mad just makes it obvious I’m right.”

The smile vanished from the Goddess’s face. “Do not get ahead of yourself, human. Why do you think I invited you to my divine throne? I aim to exterminate you meddlesome, useless pests!”

“See? I knew you had a shitty personality.”

The Goddess pointed her staff at me as I cackled. “Ignaria Sein!”

A bright red spear of fire emerged from the tip of her staff. It shot directly toward me, leaving behind a trail of scarlet.

I reflexively raised my arms to guard myself with chains. But before the blazing spear could reach me, a familiar sailor school uniform got in front of me.

“Don’t drag otaku into a battle of brawns! Deus est mors!” Mitsuki’s sword turned black. “Hyaaaah!”

Mitsuki slashed up at the blazing spear with her divinely charged bamboo sword. The blazing spear vanished into thin air the moment it touched the divine power.

Mitsuki thrust her bamboo sword at the Goddess. “‘Exterminate’ us if you can. I’ll make you regret trying to use me.”

“You fool. It is you all who will soon be mired in regret!” the Goddess declared, lifting up her staff.

The fluttering sound of a mass of paper came. Bits of paper—slips—gathered at her feet and began forming a mountain.

“Do you think you can defeat me with the power I granted you? Know your limits, worms! Bind!”

Several of the slips turned into pitch-black rays that shot toward us.

“Mitsuki!” I shouted, pushing her aside.

The Goddess was right—her own magic would inevitably defeat the so-called divine power she gave others. At the very least, I had to use my chains to serve as a shield!

“NGH!”

Several of the beams hit my chains, knocking me back into Mitsuki. The impact was too great for me to keep myself in place.

We should’ve hit the wall between us, but something oddly soft served as a cushion. I touched it with my hand to confirm: It was definitely Mitsuki.

“M-My bad,” I said, hurriedly getting off her.

Mitsuki glared at me with reddened cheeks. “You just touched my thighs, didn’t you?”

“Forgive me... I regret my misdeeds...”

“And you think that’s enough for me to forgive you?!” Mitsuki demanded.

Her rage seemed unending, but we were in a fight. I eyed the Goddess.

“Why are you trying to kill someone, Goddess?” a lone girl asked, facing the Goddess down. Her silver hair sparkled even here, in the divine throne. Stella faced the Goddess with innocent, pure eyes. “The scripture you wrote says that ‘she who kills is a calamity.’ Why are you going against your own declarations to kill them?”

“Did I not also record that those who aid witches will be punished by the heavens?”

“Otaku is one thing, but Mitsuki is hardly my ally! Didn’t you give her your own divine power?! Why would you attack the savior who—”

“Enough of this tedious interrogation, Stella the Witch,” the Goddess said, her face scrunching with irritation. Stella fell silent. “You understand in your heart, do you not? You and I are birds of two different feathers that shall never flock together!”

“Wait,” Mitsuki said, standing up. “Are you admitting you’re a witch, not a deity?”

“Speak not that foul epithet!” the Goddess roared, shoulders heaving. Mitsuki flinched. “The title witch is a cruel insult. We were named such by humans a thousand years ago to better justify their hunts. Do not address me with a title that invites harm upon me!”

Pupils dilated, the Goddess turned from Mitsuki back to Stella. A mocking smile arose on her face. “It seems like you do not understand why you must die, Stella the Witch. I shall explain, so that you may die in peace... Stella the Witch, can you imagine a world without miracles?”

Mitsuki and I watched as Stella muttered in surprise, “A world without miracles...?”

“In truth, miracles did not exist in this world a thousand years ago. The people used their intellect and technology to craft vehicles that flew through the air, towers that could house thousands, and more.”

“Are those the flying carriages and silver towers described in the scripture...?”

“Indeed. The land did not have miracles, and so advanced civilization flourished under the wisdom of the people. And at the same time, there were those like us, who had an affinity for magic.”

The Goddess admitted she uses magic...!

Stella swallowed after realizing that.

“Magic cannot be used by just anyone. We were small in number, and the mass of people incapable of using magic feared its unknowable potential. They thus labeled those with magic as witches and began their extermination attempts.” The Goddess tightened her grip on her staff. “Witch detectors, witch hunts, witch trials, witch execution devices... All are horrible, evil things! We were ostracized and targeted like pests merely due to our ability to use magic. We had no home, and we lived our days in fear of humans; all we could do was flee from their weapons. Can you imagine that, Stella the Witch?”

Stella, overwhelmed, could answer only quietly. “But... History says the witches fought each other during the Pandemonium era...”

“That is false. Humans fought witches. However, humans of this era can hardly imagine magic-wielding witches fighting normal humans. There is no helping that. However, we witches were the ones who were on the brink of extermination during Pandemonium.”

“The witches were...?”

“As I said, we were overwhelmingly outnumbered. We could not even fight together due to the fact each of our magical abilities differed so greatly. Humanity, meanwhile, came at us with organized armies. It was one against tens of thousands of soldiers. Magic is not enough to emerge from that unharmed.”

The armies back then must’ve been equipped with modern weaponry. If they had planes and skyscrapers, they probably had guns too.

“Those like Liliana the Witch of Submission and Malbella the Witch of Conflagration had magic well suited for war, and so they gleefully killed masses of humans. They proclaimed the fighting would end if only they killed all of humanity. My magic had no such power, though. I wished to end the fighting without any further bloodshed,” she said. Apparently, her love of peace was no lie. The Goddess faced the ceiling and closed her eyes. “It was then that I had an idea. To begin with, war arose because technology and magic existed in opposition as two different forces. All I had to do was make magic the one singular force.”

“Wha...?” Stella whispered.

Make it...only magic?

I furrowed my brow.

“My attention fell to spirit magic, a form of magic which could be cast with no talent needed whatsoever. Anyone could cast spirit magic if they formed a bond with a spirit. Thus, I cast my own magic to form a contract with all spirits, and I made it so that the spirits would respond to the voices of all humans.”

“Wait, so miracles are...!”

“A thousand years ago, miracles were known as spirit magic. Miracles are, indeed, technically magic.”

Stella fell silent in shock.

Even I was surprised. I thought that they were basically the same thing, but to think they really were...

“I began to teach humanity how to use miracles. The techniques rapidly spread. One could unleash power rivaling the best of technology with no wisdom or finesse needed; one only had to chant. Soon, the enlightened intellectuals that had maintained civilization’s more complex aspects left, and within decades, technology was replaced with magic. And so there were no longer any to oppress witches.”

“What are you talking about? Witches are still oppressed. They’re executed whenever people find them, right?” I asked.

The Goddess smirked. “A thousand years have passed since Pandemonium. Has a witch been executed in that time?”

I looked at Stella. She answered, “To begin with, there haven’t been any witches born since the Goddess Calendar began. Everyone’s shocked because I’m the first witch in a thousand years.”

“A thought born from a mediocre mind. In what reality would there have been a thousand years with no witches?”

“What?”

“It is not that witches stopped being born. It is that they stopped being discovered! After all, what need did they have for their magic when miracles could do so much?”

Witches just didn’t reveal themselves... In other words, they just lived in secret. And they were still doing so, outside of Stella.

“Furthermore, I wrote in the scripture that those seeking magic would be punished. This was my message to witches that if their powers diverged from miracles, they were to hide themselves. And so all those who awoke to their magical talents hid their abilities. Thus, the world was unified under the singular power of miracles!” The Goddess slammed her staff against the ground. “This is all to prevent there from being two forces in the world; all to secure a world of peace.”

“A world of peace, without war...” Stella murmured back.

Surprisingly, that goal was the same as Stella’s. She had entered Saint Antohsa’s Academy—despite not having the ability to use miracles—because she wanted to bring world peace.

“Do you understand now why you are a cancer upon the world, Stella the Witch?” the Goddess asked, swinging her staff to kick up a storm of slips. “Die, so the world may be at peace! Bind!”

The world twisted.

Slips rose into the air one by one, turning into lethal black beams of light before shooting directly toward Stella.

Stella didn’t move. Perhaps she was so overwhelmed by all the revelations that not even the Goddess’s murderous intent woke her.

“Stella!” I shouted, stepping forward to protect her.

I heard a gasp behind me. “Otaku...! Give!”

My heart thumped.

Chains formed around me and clashed with the beams head-on. Loud popping, akin to that of dropping water into oil, echoed throughout the throne room.

Stella gasped for air, shoulders heaving. She had managed to cast a spell to protect me, but the Goddess’s words had hurt her on a deeper level.

I wasn’t about to look on silently.

“Hey, Goddess! Doesn’t all that mean you’re overlooking the other witches?! Why do you have a grudge against Stella?!”

“Is it not obvious? Stella must die because her specialty nullifies mine!” the Goddess declared, her eyes piercing Stella. Countless chains clashed with beams. “I spread miracles throughout the world by forming a contract with every spirit. That brought about peace to the world. Stella the Witch’s shackles nullify my contracts. In order for the world order to be maintained, and to ensure all the people of the world can continue casting miracles, Stella the Witch cannot suffer to live!”

Stella the Witch of Shackles.

Amanda the Witch of Contracts.

Both had the power to bind others to their will, so they couldn’t coexist.

“I can’t use miracles because my magic is nullifying your contracts?” Stella whispered in a cracked voice. “The world is in danger because of me...”

“Stella, don’t listen to her. You haven’t done anything wrong!”

The Goddess turned to give me a sharp look. “You would still defend Stella the Witch, human?! It is clear which of us is better for the world!”

This time, it was my turn to laugh. “Sorry, but I don’t care about the world. It can burn for all I care as long as my idol is alive and happy!”

“You have no right to say that as a foreigner to our world!”

“Say whatever you want! I care about Stella more than the world!”

I felt something against my back. It was Stella. She was pressing her forehead against me, and I could feel her shaking. If only I could’ve seen her face.

“You are all fools, incapable of understanding even my simplest of thoughts!” the Goddess declared, lifting her spare hand.

The slips flew up like living creatures and formed together.

Mitsuki broke her silence with a chant. “Deus est mors! HYAAAAAAH!”

Mitsuki slashed at the Goddess with her obsidian-black bamboo sword. The gathered slips formed a barrier to block her attack.

“You...!”

“Goddess, it might be noble to want a world without bloodshed. But if you’re going to try to kill these two in the name of peace, I won’t just let it happen.”

“Mitsuki, thanks...!”

“I-It’s not like I wanted to save you, okay?! I just don’t want to watch someone I know die!”

That made the fight a two versus one, practically speaking.

The Goddess’s right hand was occupied with fighting Stella’s chains, while her left was occupied by blocking Mitsuki. The slips increasingly turned black, granting their power to the Goddess.

But, for one reason or another... The mountain of slips wasn’t shrinking at all.

Suddenly, a heavy weight hit my chest, forcing me onto my knees. “Ngh...!”

Ouch. That hurts. What’s going on...?

“Otaku?!” Stella cried. Her voice was oddly distant.

“Bwa ha ha ha! At your limit so early, Stella the Witch? It is ten thousand years too early for you to be butting heads with me!” the Goddess cackled.

Stella and I were at a loss. The Goddess continued with a victorious look. “Stella the Witch, do you know why the power we use is so reviled?”

A shudder ran down my spine. This couldn’t be good.

“Magic is no miracle born from pure nature. It is not the crystallization of a sincere wish, nor is it the result of noble hard work. Magic is a curse fueled by human life.”

I clutched at my chest.

“Wait! Does that mean Stella’s magic is using...” Mitsuki trailed off, looking our way. I pleaded silently for her to bite her tongue, but the Goddess finished for her.

“Indeed. Stella the Witch’s magic is fueled by the life of that boy she has bound in chains,” she revealed.

No wonder my heart always beat in a weird way whenever Stella cast a spell.

“Wha?” Stella said in a raspy voice. She froze in place.

The crown of chains on her head vanished, alongside the rest of her chains. The black lights she’d been blocking instantly rushed our way. I used the last of my might to hug Stella and fall backward. The beams passed over our heads.

I shouted at Stella on the ground. “What are you doing, Stella?! Keep casting magic! You’ll die!”

“But, but—if I do, I, you’ll...!” Stella floundered, barely able to speak.

I worked my head to figure out a way to get her to use magic. “Am I really that important to you?! What value does the life of a shameless, perverted otaku even have?!”

“OF COURSE YOU ARE!” Stella shouted instantly. She looked up at me with a completely serious expression. “You’re my spirit! You said you’d be with me forever! There’s nothing I want to save so much I’d sacrifice your life for it!”

My strategy was an utter failure. I’d accidentally brought out the tsundere’s full-powered dere side. It was a beautiful sight to behold, but it wasn’t the time.

“Bwa ha ha! Die, Stella the Witch. Bind!” The Goddess cackled and unleashed a mass of beams.

Mitsuki leaped to block it. “Hyaaah! Guh!”

She was knocked aside like it was nothing. Mitsuki was no match for the Goddess when she brought out the full extent of her power.

“Mitsuki!” I shouted, making myself into a cushion as she crashed into me.

She instantly got off me, stood up as if nothing had happened, and readied her sword.

“What are you going to do about this, creep? I’m not strong enough to fight the Goddess alone, sooo do something!”

“I know! Uh... Hey, Goddess!” I called out just as the Goddess was about to launch another attack. “Doesn’t that mean your magic is using the lives of others too?! Whose life are you using, then?!”

The Goddess cackled. “All the humans in the world, in fact.”

“Buh...?” I said, sounding stupid even from my own perspective. “All the humans in the world...?”

That answer surprised me.

“How is that even possible?!” Mitsuki asked.

The Goddess’s lips twisted into a grin. “That is the true purpose behind the Descension Ceremony. My slips are, in truth, contracts. Those who write wishes on these slips are, in fact, binding themselves to a contract in which they offer a portion of their lives to me. Without their knowing, of course!”

What in the world? Granting someone’s wish in return for their life was literally the modus operandi of the devil.

“So, wait, everyone has unknowingly been offering their literal lifespans up to you...?” Stella interjected without thinking.

I couldn’t even imagine how shocking that would be to Stella, who had spent her life genuinely enjoying the Descension Ceremony whenever it came.

“What kind of unfair contract is that...?” Mitsuki said, exasperated.

The Goddess remained unfazed. “Unfair? I need an extraordinary amount of magical power to maintain my contracts with the spirits and sustain miracles. It is only natural the costs would be great; humanity is merely paying the costs for their own power. The fact I do not drain all of their lifespan reflects my good intentions. Some witches kill humans with reckless abandon. Once a year, the people of the world offer their lives up to me. This has happened over a thousand times. You, meanwhile, have only one singular life to your name. Know that you are a pebble beneath my feet, Stella the Witch!”

That explained why the Goddess seemed to have an infinite mass of slips.

Stella could expend my entire lifespan, and she still wouldn’t stand a chance against the livespans of all the people in the world. Not to mention...

I eyed Stella. She was slumped on the floor, immobile. She wouldn’t be using magic again.

None of us have any means of fighting the Goddess. Which means there’s only one thing to do!

“This is the end, Stella the Witch. Let your threat to world peace end!” the Goddess declared, forming a black hole of darkness above her.

With that in the corner of my eye, I grabbed the staff off Stella’s back. “I’ll be borrowing this.”

Stella looked up in surprise.

I turned to Mitsuki. “Mitsuki, I just need a second! Keep the Goddess occupied!”

“Excuse me?! Don’t ask for the impossible!” she cried.

Nonetheless, she charged at the Goddess. Reliable friends were good to have.

I formed a strong mental image and began my chant.

“Terararia Sein.”

A massive pyramid drill appeared in the center of the throne.

The Goddess balked, then cackled loudly. “Have you finally gone mad? No miracle could ever hope to match the might of my magic!”

“You’re right. But I didn’t make this to fight you,” I said, then I slammed the tip of the massive drill into the floor. With an ear-rending crunch, the drill spun and began digging into the floor.

The Goddess’s smile vanished. “Wh-What are you doing...?!”

“You made it clear we don’t stand a chance against your magic. Which means we just gotta get outta here!”

It wasn’t like we’d come here to duel the Goddess in epic combat. Our victory condition was simply getting out of here alive.

Now, let’s get on with it.

I layered on the chants.

“Terararia Sein, Terararia Sein, Terararia Sein...!”

A multitude of drills appeared and collectively destroyed the divine throne’s floor. If the throne was in heaven, we could escape merely by going through the floor.

“How dare you defile my throne...! Bind!”

“Hyaaaah!”

The Goddess attempted to unleash beams of light to destroy the drills, but Mitsuki narrowly managed to block them for me.

I had to hurry. I layered on yet more chants.

I imagined alcohol and fire. “Aquaria Sein!Ignaria Sein!”

Eat explosions!

With a roar, a pillar of fire erupted in the throne and demolished the torn-up floor. All of us were promptly dropped into the air below.

“Otaku...!” Stella cried, reaching out a hand to me.

Right. She couldn’t use magic anymore, which meant she couldn’t fly. I extended my hand back to her...and felt my vision distort.

Weird. My body wasn’t listening to me. What was going on? Why couldn’t I move when it mattered now more than ever?!

Stella...!

I couldn’t even shout properly. Instead, I fell flatly unconscious as my world went dark.

Epilogue

In retrospect, it was kind of obvious I hadn’t been able to move.

I could only be human in the divine throne. If I broke its floor and left it, naturally, I’d turn back into a staff. I’d even lost consciousness in the same way.

Apparently, Mitsuki had managed to catch both Stella and staff-me in the air after we’d fallen, and she’d even landed safely.

The problems came after. In a shocking twist, Mitsuki was marked as a witch and captured by the army.

Mitsuki had publicly lost to Stella during the execution at Antohsa. As the Church of the Goddess would have it, Mitsuki never would’ve lost if she truly was the savior empowered with divinity—which, in turn, meant she was a witch using magic to impersonate the savior. The church thus proclaimed Stella the true savior for exposing Mitsuki the Witch’s true nature. It was completely insane and illogical, but the Archbishop was forcing that interpretation on everyone.

And so we found ourselves in the capital’s grand cathedral.

Stella was anxiously sitting in a gaudy room filled with sparkling decorations. She wasn’t used to the VIP treatment. Her hands were sweaty with tension as she gripped me.

A knock on the door came, prompting Stella to straighten her back. The door opened, and the Archbishop peered in with a bright smile.

“The preparations have been made, holy savior,” she said.

Stella stood up silently. She followed the Archbishop down the hall and entered the basement.

“This way.”

The basement was a jail. Mitsuki, now labeled a witch, was in one of the cells. She was sitting on the brick floor, bound and gagged as Stella had been. She gave a light shrug after seeing Stella.

“O savior, I shall excuse myself. But recall that the church is filled with battle-ready troops. Do not be misguided by temptation,” the Archbishop said.

“I know,” Stella said. The Archbishop nodded and left. Once the Archbishop was gone, Stella spoke. “Otaku, make a key for the gag. Terararia Sein!”

“Leave it to me.”

Even an incompetent piece of trash could make something that small.

A key appeared in Stella’s hand, which she successfully used to remove Mitsuki’s gag.

“Aaah, this sucks! Why does this place even have a medieval torture chamber? It’s freaking weird,” Mitsuki complained as soon as she could speak.

“Whew. Glad to see you chatty,” I said.

“I mean, this is just day one. Expect me to get more and more bitchy the longer I’m stuck here.”

I looked between her and Stella with my nonexistent eyes. “Anyway, good work.”

“Um, what?” Mitsuki laughed.

“I mean... We beat the Goddess together, right?”

“You think that was beating her?”

“Not really, no. Destroying the throne likely didn’t kill her... She has an infinite well of magic, after all.”

“We did gain a lot, though. Just...a lot,” Stella said, her voice tight.

The Goddess’s true identity, the birth of miracles, the true nature of magic... No doubt all of that had been hard for Stella to believe.

“Uh, more importantly,” Mitsuki said, looking at Stella anxiously. “Am I gonna get executed?”

“Witch equals execution, so probably.”

“Hey! Do something about that, then! Aren’t you the savior?!” Mitsuki shouted, standing up and glaring at Stella.

I couldn’t help but interject. “You pushed for Stella’s execution, didn’t you...?”

“I told you that was all part of my plan! What, do you two have a genius plan that you haven’t told me yet?!”

“First, Mitsuki. Could you be honest about how you actually came to this world?” I asked. When I’d first asked this, Mitsuki had said it’d just happened in the blink of an eye... But the Goddess said she had asked for it.

“Um, well...” Mitsuki began, averting her eyes awkwardly. “Do you need to know?”

“Yep. It might lead to the best way to avoid you being executed.”

Mitsuki groaned. After some careful thought, she turned her back to us and began her explanation. “I was in your hospital room when the Goddess appeared out of nowhere. She said she could grant my wish and handed me a slip... I wrote on it, and she touched my forehead. Then I found myself here. B-But just so you know, I only visited you to deliver the homework you were missing! There was nothing more to it than that!”

How was someone unconscious meant to do homework?

Ever since visiting the throne, Mitsuki had shed her yandere skin and returned to being a tsundere. Seeing my face must’ve calmed her down. She must’ve gotten a bit mentally unstable after someone she’d seen basically every day for over a decade had suddenly left her.

“Which means you’re here by the Goddess’s power after all. Stella...do it,” I said.

Stella almost said something, but she shrugged it off and said the chant. “Give.”

My heart thumped. It hurt, but was plenty bearable.

“Hey!” Mitsuki shouted. “That uses up his lifespan, doesn’t it?! What are you doing?!”

“It’s fine, Mitsuki. I’m asking her to do that.”

Black chains erupted from Stella’s palms. They shot out and hit Mitsuki’s forehead directly.

“Ouch!” Mitsuki cried, slapping a hand on her forehead just as something fluttered down. It was a torn slip. “What the...? Explain.”

“The Goddess split her divine power with you. The source of her power are these slips. It follows that she had one stuck on you,” I said.

It was also this slip that kept Mitsuki in this world.

“Gah! My body’s disappearing!” Mitsuki said as she literally faded away into sparkling particles. She fell into a panic. “What’s going on?! What’s happening to me?!”

“You’re going back to Japan. Stella’s magic nullified the Goddess’s, so now you can go back home.”

Just as Stella’s chains kept me locked in this staff, the Goddess’s slip was keeping Mitsuki locked here. It only made sense that nullifying the slip would send her back.

“What about you?!” Mitsuki cried, desperation on her face.

She didn’t have to say anything more for me to understand her intention.

“I can’t go back just yet,” I said.

Mitsuki’s face scrunched up. “What’s with that...? Why did I even come here, then?!”

“Wasn’t it to help me?” I asked. Forgive me for being so unfair to a tsundere.

Mitsuki’s eyes were sparkling. I forced myself to believe that was just due to the dust and not something else.

“You idiot! You dumb, stupid otaku! You’d better come back safe, or you’ll regret it...!”

And that was it. Mitsuki vanished, just like that. A gloomy silence fell upon the prison.

And with that, Mitsuki’s back in Japan... It would’ve been dangerous for her to stay here marked as a witch. I’ll miss her, but this was for the best.

As these thoughts passed through my mind, Stella let out a tiny sigh. She lifted me up high, then smacked me against the iron bars.

“Ow! What was that for?” I demanded.

The silver-haired girl puffed out her cheeks in a pout. “Nothing, you shameless perv.”

Stella marched to the exit of the basement prison. The Archbishop was waiting right on the other end. She approached as soon as she saw Stella.

“Did you find the meeting satisfactory, o savior?”

“Yes. And while I was there, I spared you the effort of executing her.”

“By which you mean...?” the Archbishop said, peering at the jail. Her brows shot up upon seeing Mitsuki was gone. “What is the meaning of this?”

Her calm voice carried no trace of consternation.

“Just what it looks like—I removed Mitsuki the Witch from this world. She will never be seen again.”

The Archbishop considered this in silence. “May I believe those words? It would be problematic for her to appear again after her death is announced.”

“Go ahead and announce her death. Mitsuki the Witch is no longer with us.”

“Very well.”

I had thought Mitsuki’s disappearance would’ve kicked up a major fuss, but apparently my fears had been unfounded.

“So,” Stella continued. “I can actually go back to Antohsa now?”

“Yes. With the witch’s death, there is no need to hold a trial. You have no further duties as the savior.”

“Didn’t the Goddess appear at the Miracle Games and identify me as a witch? How are you going to explain that?”

“The Goddess there was merely an illusion,” the Archbishop said with a compassionate smile. “Mitsuki the Witch used her foul powers to entrap the true savior. The people were fooled by her wiles and very nearly ended the life of their savior. As proof of this, the Goddess took them both to the divine throne and granted death to the witch.”

“So that’s the story you’re going with, hm?”

The Archbishop maintained her smile.

“I get the logic that you had to make Mitsuki into a witch because she lost to me, but was there any need to uplift me as the savior?” Stella asked.

“How are we to put you to trial when you returned from the Goddess’s divine throne alive?” the Archbishop asked.

Apparently, they didn’t know we’d fought the Goddess and escaped by destroying the throne. They might’ve worshipped the Goddess, but they probably weren’t in contact with her. The divine throne couldn’t be seen from land, and humanity had no means of knowing anything about what went on up there.

“Doesn’t that apply to Mitsuki...?”

“There have never been multiple saviors, and this is not Pandemonium. The appearance of multiple witches would bring fear to the people and shake their faith in the Goddess. In the name of peace, there should, in fact, be no witches at all.”

In short, they didn’t want Stella to be considered a witch despite having returned alive.

Stella tilted her chin away, displeased. “Fine. If this is what you want, I’ll play along.”

“O savior,” the Archbishop called as Stella left.

“What?”

“Take great care when using your...holy power in the academy.”

Holy power...in other words, magic. The Archbishop gazed at Stella intently.

“Such holy power is the Goddess’s last resort. It should not be used flagrantly, as—”

“Don’t worry. I won’t use it ever again,” Stella declared flatly.

The Archbishop had nothing else to say.

With that, Stella left the cathedral.

＊＊＊

It was a quick flight to Antohsa after leaving the cathedral...or so I would’ve liked.

Stella remained unable to wield miracles properly, so she couldn’t fly through the power of Wind. We had to find a merchant that sold food to Antohsa and hitch a ride on his carriage.

“O Spirits of Wind, grant me wings in the name of the Goddess supreme... Winaria Sein! And... Gah, nothing! No wind at all. Winaria Sein, Winaria Sein!”

Stella repeated the chant over and over as the cart rattled us. She had figured that going back to Antohsa meant she should learn to use miracles properly, and that meant practice. The unfortunate part was that her practice was largely ineffectual. Her chant managed to kick up a light breeze, but it was so weak that it was hard to tell whether it came from her or just the natural rotation of the planet.

The merchant, an older guy, bellowed with jovial laughter as he listened to Stella’s chants. “Girlie, how’re you gonna manage over in Antohsa with miracles like that?”

“I-I’ll be fine! It may not seem like it, but I won the Miracle Games this year. I can handle myself!”

“Ohooo. I don’t really follow, but if wimpy miracles like that’re winning anything, they must not be all that.”

“Hey, shut it!”

The man’s banter had Stella puffing out her cheeks. To be honest, though, I shared his reservations on some level.

I whispered in a voice too quiet for him to hear. “Stella, are you sure about going back? You never get better at miracles, no matter how hard you practice.”

“Duh. I know that better than anyone. But either way, I’m going back to Antohsa. I have things I need to do there.”

“You mean like joining the Opti Baculus?”

“That’s not my dream anymore.” Stella leaned against a box filled with vegetables as the cart rattled along. “Hamiel said to my face that witches couldn’t join the Opti Baculus.”

“You’re the savior now, though.”

“I’m a witch. You know that.”

Stella’s eyes traced the mass of hay in the cart.

“What about your dream to slay all the magibeasts and bring peace to the world?”

“Well. I guess I noticed there’s something more important than the world.”

My heart skipped a beat. Stella held down her wind-swept silver hair and smiled down at me gently.

I could only thank my lucky stars I was a staff. If I was a human, my cheeks would’ve been melting for sure.

“And what does that mean in practice?”

“I need to find a way to get you out of those chains,” Stella said, her voice full of determination. “The problem is, I don’t understand my own magic very well. If I’m going to study magic, it’ll have to be at the academy. Miracles are a form of magic themselves, after all.”

I’d feared she wouldn’t be able to recover from the shock of facing down the Goddess she’d worshipped, but it seemed she’d already found a new goal to chase after. Stella was a strong girl. I would expect nothing less from my idol.

“All righty. Well, no need to rush; I celebrate us being literally chained together.”

“Pervert! You super perv!” Stella shouted, smacking me against the carriage while blushing bright red.

I enjoyed this blissful experience while gazing up upon the radiant blue sky.

I didn’t know what had happened to the Goddess after her heavenly throne had been destroyed. All her monitors had burned up, so she might’ve been in the process of anxiously repairing her means to spy on the surface again. It’d be nice if that took her about a hundred years or so.

“Hey, girlie. That’s Antohsa right o’er there,” the man called.

Stella stood up in the cart.

At the far end of the country road, a green forest and a clump of western-style buildings sprawled out. It was the all-too-familiar Saint Antohsa Academy grounds.

Stella squinted at the academy as it lit up from the radiant sunlight, then gasped. “Hey, isn’t that Feena and Henny?!”

The familiar pair was on the academy rooftop. Their crimes had vanished alongside Stella’s.

“Feena! Henny!” Stella called, her joyous voice carrying on the wind.

The two of them noticed us and started waving. I looked up at Stella’s dazzling smile and felt that we were back to our normal lives at last.

Afterword

Despite the second volume’s dramatic ending, I managed to deliver this third volume by April. Thank you for your patience (ha ha). With this, the story of Otaku and the others has come to a close.

To begin, I’d like to thank everyone who has supported me this far. I was happy every time I saw your thoughts on X (formerly Twitter); they were what kept me going. Even now, I welcome all thoughts. Feel free to post whatever you want so I can stealthily give you my likes.

To be honest, I would have liked to write up to the point of the protagonist making it back to Japan, but that kind of choice isn’t up to me alone. I’ll just have to be glad I got to include his childhood friend, who I had desperately wanted to write.

The foreshadowing for her had been laid out since the first volume, and I could finally follow it up! The plot outline I submitted to the editor didn’t actually include her at first, but I couldn’t just end the series without her, so I chose to forget about my initial outline.

And with that in mind, I have no regrets about this volume! Not only does it feature the childhood friend, it also answers the mysteries of miracles and magic. It even manages to find time for Stella’s cosplaying. I had spent the entire series exploring what the ideal cosplay would be for a silver-haired tsundere beauty; what did you think about my answer? This series is ultimately an expression of love for tsundere girls, so I would be utterly moved if I managed to make any of your hearts stir through Stella’s adorableness.

I’ll now go through all my regular thanks.

Thank you to my editors, Kurokawa-san and Murakami-san. Your sharp pointers always level up the quality of my works, and I truly appreciate the input! I also appreciate your flexibility when I get overwhelmed with personal matters. I look forward to working with both of you again.

Next, I must thank the illustrator, Kasu Komeshiro. I’m truly grateful that you drew so many illustrations of the cosplays...! There’s a limit to how much words can convey the appeal of cosplays. It’s thanks to your beautiful illustrations that this series has a foundation to stand on at all.

And finally, I offer my highest gratitude to all of you reading this. It’d be nice if we could meet again in another story.

Nagi Misaki