Declaration of War of the Main Heroine

The Magic Labyrinth Raid Party.

In truth, it was comprised of individuals I’d seen together often before.

It was the combined force of Iris’s team, the team of Hanon without Hanon, and Isabelle’s team.

Essentially, it was the top-tier power that Jerion Academy had assembled to conquer the magic labyrinth.

The objective of the raid party was to assess the strange occurrences within the labyrinth by clearing it in the shortest time possible.

As such, we utilized my and Isabelle’s past rescue experience.

We would burst through the first seven floors with our maximum strength.

From the eighth floor onward, due to the unique characteristics, we would inevitably split into five teams, but all were of the generation of the Golden Flame.

With these members, we would surely shatter world records.

“Sharin.”

“You’re here.”

Right on cue, the Department of Magic had joined us.

Sharin was with Dorara, the second-in-command of the Department of Magic.

Dorara was also a member of this magic labyrinth raid party.

Soon after, Sharin’s eyes met Isabelle’s, and she immediately turned away.

A clear indication that she wasn’t ready to reconcile.

“Rin, let’s talk.”

Sharin’s eyes widened, surprised that Isabelle would so readily approach her first.

“We’re about to enter the labyrinth. I don’t want our issues causing trouble for the others.”

“…”

Sharin was silent for a moment after hearing Isabelle’s words.

She didn’t outright deny Isabelle’s point either.

Instead, she just made her displeasure known.

Dora-ra, sensing the disquiet radiating from Sharin, subtly backed away.

A swift calculation: best not to get caught in the crossfire.

“Hania.”

At my call, Hania nodded.

“There’s still time before we head inside, go and sort it out.”

Hania, perceptive as ever, tactfully pretended not to notice.

This afforded Isabel and Sharin the privacy to talk.

“You too, leave.”

Then, I received the order to clear out as well.

As the catalyst for their friction, my presence was nothing but a hindrance.

Not entirely untrue, I conceded, nodding and turning to go.

“Seron, wait a moment, care to stay?”

Seron, mid-stride, was summoned back.

She glanced my way, then let out a sigh that declared a fight to the death.

“Alright.”

Seron wheeled around and positioned herself near the two of them.

I watched them for a moment before Isabel’s pointed stare chased me away.

Isabel, in her own way, would manage, surely.

As I started walking, Hania, who had already dismissed the other children, glanced at me and quietly murmured.

“A male lion chased from his pride by a lioness, is it?”

“Well, there’s nothing the Lioness can’t say.”

“Be thankful you weren’t devoured.”

Hania curled her fingers, playfully purring.

An attempt to ease the tension, it seemed, her own peculiar brand of consideration.

“How frightening. I must bring the Lioness back into the pride then.”

“Looks like the male lion is destined to be eaten after all.”

Hania and I traded such meaningless banter, while I stole glances at the trio.

Everything would be alright, wouldn’t it?

I hoped, with all sincerity, that they would reconcile.

* * *

In the space vacated by Vikamon and the others.

At long last, Sharin’s tightly sealed lips parted.

“Bel, are you only ever going to make up because you’re pressured by those around you?”

This issue lay solely between Sharin and Isabel.

To reconcile because the people around you didn’t want to get bothered with this?

Sharin resented that very fact.

But Isabel shook her head.

“I know which of my qualities you dislike, Rin. I’m honest, I am very easily influenced by those around me.”

Isabel was a sunflower.

Just as I once described Lucas as the sun, Isabel was greatly swayed by Lucas.

Indeed, Lukas’ influence likely looms large in her inherent goodness.

Which is to say, she herself is quite conscious of how others perceive her.

A trauma born of losing her own brother in childhood.

A severance of human bonds wrought by death.

For Isabel, that experience resonated with devastating force.

Because of this, Isabel feared the collapse of any relationship with others, in whatever form it took.

Thus, she dreaded the sundering of relationships, both physically and mentally.

Observing and accommodating others stemmed from this very fear.

Her kindness toward everyone is proof enough.

Fearing the dissolution of connection, she strove to be amicable with all.

Even if it meant abandoning her own desires to preserve those bonds.

Sharin found this aspect of Isabel deeply troubling.

Ultimately, she was someone who surrendered herself, tailoring her being to others.

It was inevitable that her inner self would gradually rot.

Yet, after Lukas’ death, Isabel began to transform.

The second severance brought on by the death of another she held dear, following her brother.

No matter how much those around her cared, Isabel didn’t recover.

At that time, Sharin did everything she could to help Isabel.

However, Isabel paid Sharin no mind.

She simply released her grip on every relationship she held, one by one.

Since these relationships would be lost anyway.

She would rather not build any bonds at all from the beginning.

Thinking such, she slowly faded away.

For Sharin, nothing could be more frustrating.

She had locked her heart so tightly, there wasn’t even a crack to pry open.

And then she realized.

She couldn’t save Isabel.

She would simply have to watch her friend die, helpless.

For Sharin, Isabel was someone precious.

The day her mother died of syphilis and she followed her father to the Blue Magic Tower.

All she could do was study magic.

Sharin felt empty.

She had simply learned magic to survive.

The violence and abuse from her mother.

Magic, which she mastered to survive it all.

Now, in the moment when she had no reason to die , the acquisition of magic somehow turned passive.

She does it because she has to.

Everything held only that much meaning for Sharin.

But one day, she was changed by a young girl who visited the Blue Magic Tower.

Isabel Luna.

She was a girl the same age as her.

“Hello? You’re so pretty. Will you be my friend?”

“Magic? Are you a magician?”

“Wow, magic is really beautiful. So sparkly.”

Isabelle was the complete opposite of Sharin.

Bright and cheerful, seemingly without a hint of sorrow.

At the time, she harbored the grief of losing her brother, but it didn’t show to Sharin.

The pure smile a young girl wore whenever she showed magic.

She was someone who could bring warmth to Sharin’s emptiness.

“Rin!”

Before she knew it, she found herself mastering magic even more diligently, wanting to return that smile.

“Beel.”

For Sharin, Isabelle was her most precious friend.

Isabelle’s existence was a salvation for Sharin, who could have easily lost all interest in life.

And now, that friend was dying, and she could do nothing.

That fact was devastating to Sharin too.

Then one day, an event occurred that prompted Isabelle to rise again.

It wasn’t the criticism or comfort directed at herself that moved her.

It was the insult aimed at Lucas.

That trigger was so typical of Isabelle.

Isabelle reacted more strongly to the disparagement of a friend than to any solace for herself.

The one who slandered Lucas.

At first, anything was worth it if it could save Isabelle.

So Sharin associated with Vicamann, disguised as Hanon.

Sharin, who avoided forming relationships to save Isabelle, stepped forward herself.

But somehow, the more she became involved with him, the more comfortable she felt in his presence.

Vicamann was a consistently intriguing person.

He was constantly getting into trouble and causing incidents, and yet, he was equally resilient.

It felt like he could solve any problem, no matter what it was.

And Isabelle must have felt the same way.

Two severed connections.

The anxiety that stemmed from them.

Vicamann was someone who could resolve that anxiety.

Could that be why?

Very slowly.

Just a tiny bit at a time, Isabelle began to change.

The day Isabelle argued with her martial arts friends and ran away to the ramparts.

Sharin was surprised.

It was the first time she had seen Isabelle express her emotions so honestly.

This also meant that she was changing from the inside out.

Not killing oneself while watching the relationships of others.

But revealing one’s feelings honestly and living autonomously.

This was the method Isabel was mastering.

The sight of a precious friend rising again.

That sight was salvation even for Sharin.

Perhaps Sharin, seeing Isabel fade, had superimposed her own mother, dying of syphilis.

Even if she was abused, a mother was still a mother.

As Isabel rose, Sharin’s hollow heart was gradually filled.

It was around that time that Sharin’s feelings for Vikraman deepened.

Vikraman saved not only Isabel, but Sharin as well.

So Sharin thought Isabel would gradually change more and more in the future.

Until she started to like Vikraman.

Isabel hid her feelings from Sharin.

She had come to like the person her friend liked.

That fact brought Isabel’s fading bad habits back to the surface.

Isabel hesitated and couldn’t be honest.

The Isabel who was clearly changing autonomously had reverted to her old self.

And that was her fault, not someone else’s.

Sharin couldn’t tolerate it.

If Isabel herself wanted to move forward in her relationship with Vikraman, she should act confidently.

So, in front of Isabel, she more actively expressed her feelings for Vikraman.

Isabel pushed back against that.

The reason she sometimes showed her emotions was because of that.

The sun cannot be hidden by hands.

So, even the emotions Isabel restrained in front of Sharin kept bursting out.

But even so, Isabel never told Sharin first about her feelings for Vikraman.

Sharin and Isabel shared the same room.

There should have been a chance to speak first at any time.

But Isabel never revealed her feelings to Sharin first.

That disappointment had been unknowingly accumulating until now.

And on Christmas Day, finally, what was bound to burst, burst.

Isabel couldn’t honestly reveal her feelings in front of Sharin until the very end.

She showed that she liked him, but couldn’t act confidently because Sharin was there.

That attitude was frustrating and infuriating.

As I said before, Sharin had a strong possessive streak.

Vikraman took up a large part of her possessiveness, but so did Isabel.

Because Isabel was also a precious friend to her.

She hated that such a precious friend was reverting to her past self because of her.

Therefore, if this time, Isabel tried to reconcile by considering the opinions of others, she was ready to erupt in even greater anger.

Because once again, she would be hiding her own intentions behind the intentions of others.

But Isabel refuted Sharin’s notion.

“I’m a coward. My hands are small, so I’m always afraid of losing what I hold.”

That was also why she couldn’t be honest with Sharin.

She didn’t want to be hated for revealing she liked the man her friend liked.

She didn’t want to be hated for revealing how her friend’s death was breaking her.

These feelings had created a defensive shell in their relationship.

“But this time, what I’m holding is too big, so that feeling keeps leaking out. Like trying to block the sun with your hand.”

Isabel sighed, as if ashamed of herself.

The emotions that had inadvertently slipped out at Sharin’s goading.

That those emotions had surfaced meant they had grown too large within her.

She couldn’t hide this feeling any longer.

She knew very well what parts of herself Sharin disliked.

And she knew that those disliked parts were also feelings held because she cherished herself.

Just as Isabel was precious to Sharin, Sharin was precious to Isabel.

Therefore, now was the time to do what she desired, as her friend wished.

Isabel lifted her head and met Sharin’s gaze.

The galaxies reflected in her eyes looked at Isabel with aching tenderness.

That fact made her both sorry and grateful.

“I… I like him a lot. Probably more than you think, Rin.”

Isabel finally revealed her heart before Sharin.

Sharin’s eyes widened.

“So, just because you’re interested doesn’t mean I’ll give up. I’ll make him mine, no matter what.”

Isabel declared, a threat tinged with determination.

A bright smile graced her lips, wonderfully refreshing.

The shell that had clung to Isabel for so long.

The sound of it cracking and shattering echoed.

Isabel was no longer the woman she once was.

She was someone who could reveal herself honestly.

And someone who knew that even revealing herself honestly wouldn’t break the precious bonds she held.

And the one who had changed her was one person.

Bikamun Niflheim.

Sharin wasn’t entirely thrilled about that fact, but she loved him, including that aspect.

Still, she felt a surge of playful spite.

She’d have to show him the true power of her shadowboxing routine later.

Sharin quietly vowed.