Editing Unlimited Fafnir:Volume 4 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 1===

"Nii-san, hurry. We are going to be late."

While running along the path from dormitory to the school, my younger sister Mitsuki urged me. With every step, Mitsuki's long black hair would flutter lightly.

"There's still time. Even if we just walk briskly, we'll still make the first bell."

Holding my school bag which contained a laptop-style portable terminal, I answered in a carefree tone of voice.

"As the student council president, how could I serve as the role model for others students if I arrive at school in the nick of time? No matter how late, I must pass through the school gates five minutes early. Otherwise, it is no different from being late."

"In that case, Mitsuki, you'd better run first. I'm still digesting breakfast, so let me walk at my own pace."

Due to oversleeping, I had just finished breakfast in a hurry. Holding my stomach, I replied.

"Unacceptable! Because I am in charge of supervising you, Nii-san, it is my responsibility if you are late, that is why we must run together."

Mitsuki finished then held my hand matter-of-factly.

"H-Hey."

"We are almost there, Nii-san. Hang in there a little longer."

Holding my hand, Mitsuki quickened her pace.

The sensation of slender fingers, a size smaller than mine, made it hard for my emotions to remain calm.

After the Basilisk battle, only a couple days had passed since the transport ship took us back to Midgard.

Having learned that Mitsuki was not my blood-related sister and listened to her confession of her feelings—I could no longer not notice her.

After Mitsuki declared she would not give up on me, she started to act more proactively, no... More accurately, she had decreased the amount of unnecessary reservations.

Currently, Mitsuki looked very natural. As Midgard's student council president, as my family, she used to adhere rigidly to standards. That kind of life must have been stifling for Mitsuki.

Mitsuki now looked full of vitality. At her urging, I quickened my pace.

Arriving at the intersection between the road to school and the girls dormitories, Mitsuki instantly let go of my hand and switched to a moderate pace. She probably thought that it would be unseemly for the student council president to be rushing through the school gates in a hurry.
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But having run all the way up to this point, there was plenty of time to spare now. On the towering clock tower which could be seen from anywhere on the island, the minute hand indicated that there were still fifteen minutes until class.

—The clock tower was already restored to normal. Its broken and tilted state earlier seemed like it had never happened.

Recalling how the top portion had been destroyed and the clock tower was in a state of ruin earlier, I could not help but feel impressed inside.

Roughly a month ago, Midgard had suffered severe damage from Kili and Hekatonkheir but while we were away to put down Basilisk, the clock tower had been repaired for the most part.

Precisely because Midgard was the castle of the Ds who fought dragons, they had finished construction as quickly as they could.

Both Mitsuki's room, originally damaged by Kili's blast, and the gym's roof, which had been wrecked by falling debris, were likewise repaired.

The only lingering signs of destruction were probably the trees trampled by Hekatonkheir.

We swiped our ID cards and passed through the school gates to head to our classroom—Brynhildr Class.

Along the way, after we entered the school building, I immediately heard someone call my name from behind.

"Yuu—"

I spun around and looked back to see a young girl with tiny horns on her head. Tia Lightning. Her light-colored hair swaying while she ran towards me, the strands of her hair looked pink under the light in a kind of optical illusion.

"Good morning!"

Tia used the momentum from running to jump and hang onto my neck.

"Oh—G-Good morning, Tia."

I caught her light body and greeted her.

"Ehehe, so happy to see Yuu today again."

Tia smiled and clung tightly to my body.

"Tia-san, please do not make excessive displays of intimacy in public."

Mitsuki put on her student council president face to correct Tia, but Tia pouted unhappily.

"Not excessive, this is within normal for Tia."

"In community life, you need to respect common standards more than personal values. Judged according to that, Tia-san, your actions are excessive."

"Hmph... Mitsuki is too strict."

Tia reluctantly let go of me and stared pitifully at me.

"Yuu, if just a little bit, did your heart flutter because of Tia?"

"Huh? Suddenly getting hugged... Of course a little."

Hearing my describe my feelings honestly, Tia happily closed her eyes partially.

"Great, Tia will continue to make Yuu's heart flutter, then Yuu will love Tia the most!"

"Urgh—"

Confronted with her pure and sincere feelings, I could not help but panic.

Ever since returning to Midgard, Tia had been acting this way. Compared to the previous phase when she pleaded like a child for us to get married, she was now courting me as a girl, making it even harder for me to know how to react.

"Nii-san, what are you losing composure for? Okay, let us get to class."

Mitsuki finished with slight displeasure in her tone, then grabbed my hand and dragged me off.

"Ah! So unfair that only Mitsuki gets to hold hands. So that's not excessive?"

"...Because Nii-san and I are family. This level of contact is very normal."

Mitsuki guiltily shifted her gaze away and answered.

"Then Tia will hold hands with Yuu too! Lisa said that comrades in the same class are no different from family."

"Compared to that, the kind of family I am referring to is... Fine, I suppose the two meanings are not entirely dissimilar."

Mitsuki replied ambiguously.

Thinking back now, I had spotted Mitsuki making similar expressions many times before. So actually, Mitsuki had always been conscious that we were not siblings by blood, it was just that I never noticed.

In the end, Mitsuki and Tia held my left and right hands respectively. The three of us made our way to the classroom.

"By the way, Tia, you came to school alone? What happened to Lisa?"

In the beginning when she first transferred here, Tia refused to leave my side, but now that she had opened her heart to her classmates, she was rooming with Lisa Highwalker.

I looked back along the corridor but could not see any signs of Lisa.

"Lisa says she has to talk to Firill, so Tia came to school alone today."

"Talk to Firill? Did something happen?"

What could have happened that required her to ask Tia to go to school first? Feeling curious, I asked.

"Dunno... But Firill seemed a bit strange."

"Strange?"

"She seems distracted... Oh, and she didn't bring a book today."

"That really is quite strange..."

I frowned and nodded.

As a bibliophile, Firill always had a book in her hand. Something definitely seemed wrong... But right now, there was no way to confirm why.

All I could do was wait quietly for Firill to get to school.

Right before entering the classroom, Mitsuki released my hand and opened the door. Three students were already inside.

"Hi, good morning."

Greeting us in a casual tone was the tomboyish girl—Ariella Lu.

"...Mm."

Then greeting us with just a wave of her hand was the redhead, Ren Miyazawa.

"Good morning."

"Morning!"

Mitsuki and Tia greeted while entering the classroom.

"Good morning, Ariella and Ren."

I greeted the two girls then turned my gaze to the remaining girl in the classroom.

"G-Good morning..."

Stammering her greeting was... Iris Freyja.

"Good morning, Iris."

I smiled and replied, but Iris shifted her gaze away from my face after giving Mitsuki a glance.

Even after I sat down next to her, Iris continued to stare out the window. Previously, Iris would always start talking to me frequently on her own, so this felt quite uncomfortable to me.

"...Nii-san, did you get into a fight with Iris-san?"

Seeing us like that, Mitsuki asked me.

"No, that's not it..."

Actually, Iris and I had grown even more intimate after I confessed my memory loss.

However, in direct contrast to Mitsuki who had started behaving more proactively, Iris no longer initiated intimacy with me like when fighting with Tia for my attention, especially when in front of Mitsuki.

She was probably worried about Mitsuki's feelings.

I think that after she heard my confession, having declared she would retrieve my memories, this was the only thing she could do.

Because of the path she had chosen, perhaps in the end, she must give up on "the current me."

Seeing Iris push herself like that, I felt very useless but I did not know what to do. But there was one thing I could be certain. Something seemed to be off about the current situation.

While I was thinking about the correct thing to do, the bell rang for class. Just before the ringing stopped, only then did Lisa and Firill enter the classroom.

Just as Tia said, Firill was not carrying a book in her hand. She looked very preoccupied with her thoughts.

"It will be fine, Firill-san. I shall help you find a solution."

"Lisa... But—"

"Speak no more. Leave it to me."

There was a heavy atmosphere hanging around Lisa and Firill while they talked and took their seats. Then because Shinomiya-sensei, our homeroom teacher, entered immediately, I did not get a chance to talk to them. Sitting in the center of the last row in this 3x3 arrangement of desks and chairs, I could only look at the backs of the the girls who sat on the left and right ends of the front row.

"Now let's begin with the register."

Including me, Brynhildr Class only had eight students. Although one could tell at a glance who was missing in this small class, Shinomiya-sensei still opened the register and took roll call one by one.

"Lisa Highwalker."

First to be called was Student No. 1, Lisa.

"..."

However, Lisa did not respond straight away. She was staring silently at Firill.

On the other hand, Firill was taking on Lisa's gaze with a lost and hesitant look on her face.

"Lisa Highwalker, are you listening?"

Shinomiya-sensei called her name again. Immediately, Lisa's expression looked like she had made some kind of decision. Turning her gaze away from Firill, she pushed her chair back and stood up.

"Shinomiya-sensei, I have a request for you."

"...You do know that this is homeroom time, right? Save it for later."

"I am terribly sorry but because the matter is of utmost urgency, it cannot be saved for later. Sensei, may I ask that you grant Firill-san permission to exit Midgard as soon as possible?"

Lisa asked Shinomiya-sensei solemnly.

—permission to exit Midgard?

Although I did not know why, this was truly an unreasonable request made all of a sudden. Midgard was both the self-governed organization of Ds—users of dark matter creation—but also an isolation facility at the same time.

Midgard existed both to isolate Ds from all sorts of malevolence as well as to protect ordinary people from getting harmed by Ds.

"What are you suddenly talking about...? You should know that prior to reaching the age of twenty, when powers naturally vanish, Ds are essentially forbidden from leaving Midgard."

Shinomiya-sensei brought up Midgard's rule. Indeed, once arriving in Midgard, Ds must live in this school until they reached adulthood. This decision was chosen to keep friction between them and ordinary people to a minimum, to avoid conflict with the world.

"Of course I know that, but could you make an exception?"

"Do not ask for the impossible. Besides, why on earth—Oh, I see now... Because ''he'' passed away."

Shinomiya-sensei turned her gaze to Firill and spoke.

"Yes, that is why I would like Firill-san to attend the funeral."

It looked like someone related to Firill had passed away. No wonder she was acting differently from normal, but—

"I understand how you feel... But I cannot allow her to enjoy special treatment as a lone exception."

Shinomiya-sensei's answer was just as I expected. There must be quite a few people who had encountered the same situation so far, but Midgard's rules were not lax enough to allow them to make brief outings for such reasons.

Lisa should understand this very clearly, but still, she refused to give up.

"Shinomiya-sensei, that statement is already wrong on many assumptions. Firill-san is a special case. The Principality of Erlia has made huge contributions to Midgard acquiring the right to autonomy. Even now, they are still major sponsors of Midgard. All things considered, she is their—"

"No matter what position she held outside of Midgard, she is only an ordinary student here. Your line of reasoning does not work."

Shinomiya-sensei interrupted Lisa and told her clearly.

"But—"

"...Lisa, forget it. Thank you... That's enough."

Lisa was about to argue back when Firill stopped her.

"Firill-san..."

"Rules must be followed after all. Sorry, Sensei, I made a willful request."

Firill bowed her head and apologized to Shinomiya-sensei.

"No, wanting to attend a family funeral is a most natural request. I'm the one who feels sorry I cannot agree to your request."

Shinomiya-sensei apologized to Firill while Lisa sat down reluctantly.

Hence, homeroom began under a slightly grave atmosphere. Lisa and Firill had evidently given up on arguing, but there was still one thing I did not understand.

Right now, it was hard for me to speak to Iris, so I asked Mitsuki quietly:

"Mitsuki, what did she mean by Firill being a special case?"

"...Nii-san, do not tell me you still have no idea? Surely you must have heard the name of the Principality of Erlia mentioned in class?"

Mitsuki looked at me with an expression of surprise and lamentation.

"Huh? Oh, of course I know the Principality of Erlia... I remember it's the country that lobbied strongly for the restoration of the Ds' human rights, which led to Midgard's independence, right?"

This name was mentioned frequently in the Ds' modern history class. The Principality of Erlia was a small landlocked country in western Europe. Through the export of scarce resources, they had reportedly achieved astounding economic growth in recent years.

Apparently only Japan, where the birthrate of Ds was the highest, and the Principality of Erlia were the two sponsors of Midgard that far outstripped all other countries.

"Although the Principality of Erlia is a democracy, the royal family has been retained as national symbol. And the one who led the movement pushing for the restoration of the Ds' human rights was the current king. So, what is his name, may I ask?"

Mitsuki tilted her head slightly with a mischievous look and posed that question to me.

"N-Name? Well, I've forgotten."

"Seriously... How I worry for your next exam if you cannot even remember this. The correct answer is Albert Crest, but unfortunately—He passed away several days ago."

"Crest? I remember that's..."

I had some recollection of this family name. I looked at Firill sitting in the front row.

Following my gaze, Mitsuki nodded affirmatively.

"Yes, she—Firill-san—is the granddaughter of the late King Albert. She is veritably a true princess."