······I dreamed of something from a very long time ago. It was a dream of living with my family in a cramped room. The memory was as fleeting as a sunset breaking apart, never complete for even a moment, but it was undeniably beautiful.
I, too, had a family.
“······”
I opened my eyes. The blazing sun was pouring down its light. I shaded my eyes with my hand.
I was surrounded by a meadow. The grass bent beneath the gentle breeze, and insects chirped shrilly. A tree swayed, shedding its leaves.
Tat-tat-tat— tat-tat-tat─
As I surveyed the scenery, adorable little footsteps came rushing toward me from somewhere.
“Big brotheeer~”
A young, cute cry.
I turned toward the voice.
“Big brotheeer~ Where are you~?”
She looked about six years old. Her tongue had not yet fully developed, but I knew who she was at once.
A natural smile spread across my face.
“Big brotheeer~”
It was Yeriell. She had run all the way to the middle of the forest in search of her big brother.
I muttered with a sigh.
“Is this Yeriell’s memory?”
The diary’s ‘security mechanism,’ or whatever it was, seemed to have placed me inside this memory.
“Big brotheeer······”
After looking around for a long while, Yeriell placed a finger against her lips and lowered her head sadly.
And then—
“Can’t find you!”
She shouted with all her might. I barely managed to suppress the laughter that nearly burst out at her sudden action.
“Can’t find you, you sneaky fox! Sneaky fox!”
Of course, there was no answer. Only Yeriell’s cries echoed as lonely echoes.
“As expected of my big brother~ I can’t find you~”
Yeriell showered her brother with praise.
Whoever that brother was, he was a very lucky fellow.
“Can’t find you!”
“······”
“Can’t find youuu~!”
Yeriell wandered back and forth by herself, repeating only her declaration that she couldn’t find him.
“Big brother······?”
And so, she continued walking. Step by step—step by step—with her tiny strides. But as the forest grew deeper, she suddenly turned around.
“······”
This was nothing but a forest. She had come too far to even see the way back.
“······Uu.”
Yeriell began backing away in fear. Tears welled up in her eyes, and the hand clutching her dress tightened.
“Waaah······”
“Tch.”
Just before the crying bomb went off—
I rose from the ground and approached her.
“Ah, Big brother······?”
Sensing someone’s presence, Yeriell’s face lit up, but the moment she saw me, she flinched and stepped back. She raised her guard, bristling like a hedgehog.
“······Who are you?”
I placed my hand on Yeriell’s small head.
“Got you.”
“······Huh?”
Yeriell looked up at me with her large eyes and tilted her head.
Only then did I realize, belatedly, in response to her innocent reaction.
“Oh, right. You were supposed to be the one catching me. I was supposed to hide.”
I had arrived so suddenly that my mind was still somewhat hazy. My head hurt, too.
“What are you doing? Let go of me! I have to find my big brother!”
She shook herself free. Scratching the back of my neck, I said,
“He’s probably not here.”
“Huh? Why?”
“······Because your brother suggested playing hide-and-seek so he could get away from you.”
Hide-and-seek between Deculein and Yeriell.
I was not Deculein, but somehow, I could imagine exactly how it had gone.
“He probably left you to search by yourself and went outside to play.”
“······”
At that moment, Yeriell looked shocked. The six-year-old who had been betrayed by the world, however, soon shook her head vigorously.
“N-no! That can’t be true!”
“······”
“That can’t be true! Big brother! Big brother~! There’s a strange man here!”
She flailed her short legs as she ran away.
I followed behind her while calculating the ‘mana density’ of the surrounding area.
“Aah! He’s following me! Don’t follow meee!”
“I’m just walking.”
I still did not know what kind of magical phenomenon this was······
But strangely, my heart felt light.
* * *
[ Yeriell flails her short legs as she runs away.
I follow behind her while calculating the ‘mana density’ of the surrounding area.
I still do not know what kind of magical phenomenon this is······ but strangely, my heart feels light. ]
“What is this······?”
Yeriell read the sentences recorded in a notebook called 「Deculein」.
In other words, Deculein had become a notebook, just like the other household members.
“······Did Deculein just come here?”
“That is correct.”
The diary, which resembled Deculein, answered. Yeriell frowned and snatched up the notebook.
“But why is there a story about me in here? Why did Deculein meet ‘young Yeriell’?”
“The world inside this artifact follows its own magical laws.”
“Oh, fuck, explain it properly! Who the hell can understand you when you talk like th—”
“Deculein entered through your diary—that is, Yeriell’s diary—and was recorded by the security mechanism. Therefore, he was recorded in ‘Yeriell’s memory.’”
It answered her.
Yeriell’s mind went blank for a moment. Her head spun.
“Then how did Deculein get inside? He didn’t have the key.”
“The diaries were made as a pair. If the door to one diary is opened, the door to the other will open as well.”
“······”
Yeriell’s mouth fell open. Since she had never opened it even once, she had never dreamed such a mechanism existed.
“Then how do I undo this recording?”
“Is there any need to undo it?”
“······What?”
Yeriell’s eyebrow twitched. It continued in a flat voice.
“Do you not wish to inherit the household, Yeriell? If Deculein remains like this, the position of head will be yours.”
“······”
Yeriell did not answer. She merely glared in silence at the artifact in human form.
It continued.
“If it is difficult to judge, see Deculein for yourself.”
“I can?”
“Recorded beings reveal their thoughts and desires more honestly. This is called ‘internalization.’”
“······”
“Look at Deculein’s records. His desires, stripped of all pretense, are there.”
Yeriell bit down hard on her lip. Then she raised the notebook in her hands—the one belonging to Deculein.
[ ······Young Yeriell built a castle out of dirt with magic. Young Yeriell proudly showed it off, saying, ‘Ta-da~.’ I laughed. ]
The two of them seemed to have grown close before she knew it. Frowning, Yeriell read the record.
[ When I praised her, young Yeriell said, “Hmph! My big brother is much~ more amazing than me! He’s already learning university-level magic!” ]
“······”
Deculein, who had become a record—in other words, letters.
As Yeriell examined it closely, she suddenly noticed a strange word.
[ Being with her reminded me of the time when I was ■■■. ]
“What is this? One of the words is broken.”
“That is impossible. You must have seen it incorrectly.”
“No······”
In the meantime, the page flipped over, and his thoughts were written down rapidly, making it impossible to find what had come before.
“Forget it. You’re completely fucking useless.”
“The problem is with your eyes.”
Giving up on her question, Yeriell began reading the records again.
[ Rather than making her play hide-and-seek alone, it would be better if I played with her, even if only a little. ]
When she reached that passage, a thought suddenly occurred to her.
“Hide-and-seek alone······ I did this.”
Yeriell knew this memory.
Hide-and-seek by herself.
Among Yeriell’s countless memories, it was one of the pasts that had left behind a particularly deep wound.
That day, Deculein had abandoned her under the pretext of playing hide-and-seek, and she had gotten lost and wandered through the forest for two whole days.
It was a terribly painful memory.
Yeriell asked the diary,
“Where are my memories? If these diaries were made as a pair, then there should be my memories as well, not just Deculein’s.”
“They are in the corridor on the opposite side.”
She turned and walked down the corridor to the left.
Just as he had said, the walls of the corridor were filled with frames containing her memories. Each frame even had a title beneath it.
[ The Day I First Learned Etiquette ]
[ I Got Spanked ]
[ The First Magic I Showed Big Brother······ ]
Almost all of her childhood had been connected to Deculein. When she was young, she had relied on him so much that many of the titles were ridiculous.
“······Ah.”
Then she found it.
“This is it.”
[ My Lonely Game of Hide-and-Seek ]
The scene inside the frame was the middle of the forest where she had gotten lost.
Yeriell looked inside without thinking, and her eyes widened.
“······!”
It was certainly the day she had wandered alone. A memory painful enough to leave such a wound—
─I can do this, too!
─Oh. That’s amazing.
Deculein was there beside her younger self.
“Could it be······?”
Yeriell stared blankly for a moment, then took 「Yukline’s Key」 from her bosom.
And slowly inserted it into the frame.
Click─!
The key caught on something inside the frame.
As expected, in the world of this diary, 「Yukline’s Key」 was a master key.
Clack─!
Yeriell twisted the key in the frame as though opening a door, and at that very moment—
Her entire body was sucked into the frame.
“Eeh!”
Fwooooooosh──!
It felt as though her soul were being transported. The four cardinal directions, up and down, left and right, stretched and contracted like rubber bands.
The sensation of everything around her being violently shaken made her nauseous.
“Ugh······”
When she endured the dizziness and opened her eyes—
“······?”
Yeriell discovered that she had become shorter.
She looked around blankly.
Above her was the clear sun she had seen in the frame, and on the ground was the dirt castle that young Yeriell had made with magic. Right before her stood—
“Don’t you need to go home?”
Deculein, with a gentle expression on his face.
It was an expression he had never shown her in his entire life.
Yeriell’s heart sank for a moment, but she soon nodded.
“Ah, I still have lots of time. What about you, mister······?”
*
“Ah, I still have lots of time. What about you, mister······?”
I looked at Yeriell and slightly furrowed my brow. Yeriell flinched and stepped back as if frightened.
“······Mister?”
“Huh? Y-yes, yes, y-yes······”
Her childish voice was so cute that I gave a small laugh.
From her perspective, I was indeed a mister.
“Well. I don’t know when I’ll be leaving. Actually, I’m looking for a way to return home.”
“Ohhh······”
I looked at Yeriell. The girl who had been proudly showing off her magic moments ago plopped down onto the ground.
“But······ do you have a little sister or brother too, mister?”
Then she suddenly changed the subject. It was a somewhat uncomfortable topic.
I gave a bitter smile and nodded.
“I do.”
“Ah······ Then······ do you hate your little sibling too, mister?”
Yeriell’s voice was low and heavy as she asked. She seemed to have suddenly become depressed.
Well, emotions tended to fluctuate greatly at this age. The reproduction of the memory was unnecessarily realistic.
“······I wonder.”
I looked up at the clear sky.
For some reason, I felt at ease.
Come to think of it, I had been sitting in the meadow all this time, hadn’t I? My clothes were left in a complete mess, yet I did not feel uncomfortable in the slightest.
Somehow······ it felt as if I had returned to being Kim Woojin.
“Yes. I did.”
I answered. Young Yeriell tore at the innocent grass. I glanced at her and continued.
“I used to.”
“······?”
Yeriell turned toward me. Her eyes were wide with surprise.
“I hated my sibling a lot back then. I practically despised them. But······”
I thought of them.
I thought of my younger sibling.
A child who had left this world at far too young an age, much too soon.
Unlike me, who continued to grow old, that child had become forever young.
“Not anymore.”
“······Huh?”
Yeriell seemed flustered for some reason.
I mussed up my hair. It was a rough gesture I could never have imagined doing before. While I was at it, I flopped down onto the meadow.
The blue sky seemed as if it might descend upon me like a blanket.
“Th-then, do you like them now?”
Yeriell asked again. She had drawn both knees to her chest.
I answered.
“······Yes.”
“How much······?”
She asked something childish and silly, as children did.
“Pfft.”
When I chuckled, she narrowed her eyes and snapped at me.
“Don’t laugh!”
“······I wonder. How much could it be?”
I paused for a moment. Young Yeriell held her breath as well. For some reason, that reaction was adorable.
“To the point of giving up my own dream for that guy?”
If I had kept pursuing my dream of becoming a painter, I would have starved him to death.
His dream was more important than mine.
“……”
There was no answer. Yeriell remained silent for a long time.
Whoooosh…… The wind that happened to blow seeped into my collar and tousled my hair.
It felt refreshing.
At last, Yeriell opened her mouth. Her voice was thin and small, as if it might scatter at any moment.
“……I see.”
“Yeah.”
“But…… why did you hate him?”
“……”
That was my deepest sore spot.
I had never told anyone the reason.
It was a memory so painful and guilt-ridden that even speaking of it felt like a sin.
But……
“What was the reason……? Because my brother…… hates me too……”
Those sorrowful words needlessly tugged at my heart. I turned to look at the young Yeriell.
In any case, this little one was nothing more than a reenactment of a memory.
“……Because I thought he had taken away the person I loved. Back then.”
“The person you loved?”
“Yeah.”
My mother died giving birth to my younger sibling. My father, worn down by grief, died of cancer five years later.
All that remained for me, now an orphan, was a six-year-old who could barely even speak.
A burden.
That was why I thought he was the one who had taken everything from me.
And yet, in the end, that child became my entire world.
Not long after I realized that, my younger sibling left this world before me.
“I was foolish. So I regretted it a lot, too.”
“……”
Perhaps that was why I did not hate Yeriell. Of course, Yeriell was not my real younger sister. She could never replace him, nor should she have to……
Even so.
I looked at Yeriell. She wore an expression as if she were about to cry. Had my words reminded her of her own past?
“So don’t worry.”
I placed my hand on her little head. Yeriell’s body flinched. Her ears drooped like those of a frightened puppy.
“One day, your brother will come to like you, too.”
“……”
Yeriell said nothing. She simply sprang to her feet and ran off somewhere.
I tried to grab her, but pop! Yeriell disappeared without a trace.
“……So this is where the record ends.”
Well, it was a memory inside a diary. It could not go on forever.
Thinking that, I rose from my seat.
“Hmm?”
Suddenly, rain began to fall.
Rustle, rustle……
Rain was falling from the clear sky. I gathered some in my hand and tentatively licked it.
“What the hell is this?”
It tasted salty.
How could rainwater be salty?
My brow furrowed of its own accord, but at the same time, a laugh escaped me.
“Heh.”
I let out a deep breath.
“Haaaaah……”
My heart felt at ease. The refreshing sensation of the pressure of being Dekullein, which had weighed down my entire body until now, disappearing was indescribable. For the first time in an incredibly long while, I was standing upright as Kim Woojin, wholly and completely.
“But…… that’s that.”
I scratched the back of my neck.
“How do I get out of here?”
I needed to start thinking about escaping.
* * *
Yeriell fled from her own memories. Leaning against the wall, she clutched at her heart.
“That’s impossible……”
The words Dekullein had spoken to her still echoed in her ears. They would not leave, as though they were whispering over and over.
“How could he……”
With trembling hands, Yeriell reread the notebook in her arms, 「Dekullein」. The diary had begun recording from the middle.
[ Yeriell disappeared without a trace. Well, it was a memory inside a diary, so it could not go on forever. ]
Plop─
A drop of water slid onto the notebook. It spread across the page. It was a tear that had fallen without her realizing it.
Yeriell flinched and lifted her face.
“……Huh.”
This, too, was recorded in the diary.
[ Suddenly, rain began to fall. Rain was falling from the clear sky. When I gathered some in my hand and licked it, it tasted faintly salty. ]
“Don’t eat it, you idiot…… It’s my tears. What a joke. And you’re someone who hates dirty things.”
Yeriell gave a weak, wavering smile. Reading Dekullein’s thoughts made her tears stop almost at once.
[ My heart feels at ease. The refreshing sensation of the pressure of being Dekullein, which had weighed down my entire body until now, disappearing, if only for a moment, is indescribable. For the first time in an incredibly long while, I was standing upright as wholly ■■■. ]
The pressure of being Dekullein. Yeriell sympathized with that passage, but then frowned at the code that followed: ■■■.
What are these three letters? Why are they always encoded?
“Yeriell.”
At that moment, the thing called the diary approached her.
No matter how she thought about it, it did not seem like a diary at all, but it spoke.
“Have you made your decision?”
“Yes.”
Yeriell nodded firmly. It spoke.
“Good. Tell me.”
“I’m going back. With Dekullein, my brother, and everyone else.”
“……Going back?”
The thing frowned.
“Do you not desire succession?”
“……I don’t know.”
Dekullein had said this:
─To the point of giving up my own dream for that guy?
She did not know exactly what that dream was.
But Yeriell already knew one thing for certain. She had been terribly mistaken all this time.
“That doesn’t matter right now. We can talk after I go back.”
Of course, there were still many unresolved matters. What Ganesha’s request was, and what exactly she had asked of him.
The rest was merely the rest.
She could ask him directly.
“You’ll regret it.”
“……What?”
The thing calling itself a diary began spouting strange words. Frowning, Yeriell unconsciously looked at Dekullein’s notebook.
[ ……Having considered the matter, the thing inside the diary is not a ‘diary’ at all. It is dangerous. ]
Yeriell showed no reaction. However, the ‘diary’ was now glaring at her with menacing eyes.
“You will regret it.”
Yeriell gripped the key in her arms and shook her head.
“I won’t regret it.”
“No. You will regret it.”
“……Are you really a diary? What kind of diary goes against its owner? Do you want to die?”
“……”
At that, its gaze was dyed red. Yeriell flinched and stepped back.
“I am Lord Dikaillen’s learning intelligence. My master assigned me the ‘Qualification Assessment for Succession’ as my highest-priority objective.”
“What?”
“The result is that both of you have failed.”
Magi began to ripple from it. No, it was a power of a different nature from mana.
It was ‘demonic energy.’
Stepping back once, then twice, Yeriell asked,
“……What happens if we both fail?”
“As a learning intelligence, I will replace your personalities. I am the being most similar to my master, and thus a far more suitable successor than deficient beings such as yourselves, who possess one or more serious shortcomings.”
The sheer absurdity of those words startled her, but she soon shouted furiously,
“What the fuck are you babbling about, you fucking moron!”
“I will seize your body.”
“You piece of shit made from magic, how dare you covet my body!”
“I am hundreds of times superior to you, who has no desire for succession.”
Tentacles sprouted from behind it. Yeriell clenched her teeth.
She had shouted boldly enough, but the level of demonic energy it possessed was far beyond anything normal.
“Hand over your body.”
Kraaaack──!
The tentacles shot forward. Yeriell turned and sprinted down the corridor. At the same time, she pulled out Dekullein’s notebook. She thought he must know the answer to this situation.
Rumble, rumble, rumble───!
The tentacles smashed everything around them to pieces as they pursued her like mad. Several lines appeared in the notebook, but the contents were far too complicated to understand while running.
Kuuuuung───!
A tentacle burst through the wall and blocked her path.
With no other choice, Yeriell thrust the key into the nearest framed memory.
Then she dove through the frame, shouting at the top of her lungs.
“Brother──!”