human and began fidgeting restlessly. "Hoo-wee, our eyes met... It's been so long that I'm getting all shy." "Well, that was an odd noise. You know, Hina, it is weird that we've been working in different places, but we haven't exactly been apart for all that long. Also, isn't that a funny thing to get hung up on, given that we've, uh, y'know, done way more?" "Oh, Master Kaitooooooo, you mustn't saaaaaaaaay that. Something terrible will happen to my gears." "Hmm? Something terrible?" "Specifically, they'll all pop out, and I will die." "No, don't." In spite of himself, Kaito's face went serious. Clutching her cheeks in her hands, Hina violently shook her head from side to side. In order to calm her down, Kaito stroked her head. She froze. Kaito then rubbed his palm back and forth over the top of her maid cap. As he pampered her, he asked her a question. "Anyway, my dear, bashful Hina, I have an invitation for you." "Master Kaito... Master Kaito is patting my head... Oh... If only I could keep savoring this hand for another seventy-eight hundred years... Wait, an invitation? Of what sort?" "If you don't mind..." Kaito then cleared his throat in an obviously affected way. He stopped stroking Hina's head. Instead, he reverently took her pale palm in his. She opened her emerald-green, gemstone eyes wide. Though it was obviously too late to fret, Kaito began worrying he was trying too hard. However, Hina being Hina, he was pretty sure she wouldn't laugh at him. And because he knew he'd already made his choice, he swallowed back his nervousness and asked: "...would you like to go on a date with me?" And with that, he planted an audible kiss on the tip of her finger. She offered no response. She simply stared at him in a daze. Kaito panicked; perhaps it had been a bad idea after all. Right as he was about to explain himself, though, she opened her mouth. *** "Oh? "Overload." And with that one, enigmatic word, Hina toppled over backward. "HINAAAAAAAAA!" screamed Kaito. Her face looked somehow tranquil, and at the same time, completely at peace. 8 At the Torture Princess's Castle A cold night wind billowed atop the watchtower, blowing the clusters of murky clouds away. Behind them, the tranquil darkness came into view. It resembled the bottom of a clear, still lake. Izabella's silver hair and mechanical parts shone radiantly in the moonlight. Kaito found himself reflected in her mismatched blue and purple eyesâ€”the only parts of her body that had remained wholly unchanged. He returned her calm gaze in kind. After a few moments of deliberation, she nodded. "Understood. I think that's a perfectly reasonable decision. And I have no objections to your request, either. Taking the time to do so now, at this late stage, is for the best. You may not get another chance." "Thanks. I'm glad you see it that way." "But... Will you really be able to kill her?" There was no need to ask whom she was talking about. Wearing an expression that almost resembled a smile, Kaito elected to remain silent. Izabella no doubt understood he had no intention of answering her question. However, she continued pressing him. "Regarding killing God and Diablo while they're still inside their contractors... I checked with Vlad, and he confirmed that Jeanne's method of bringing about salvation is still viable. Their vessels becoming unable to withstand the strain would be one thing, but if we kill them, contractors and all, the contracts will be annulled, and both God and Diablo will be forcibly returned to the realm from which they came. That's the only way we can save the world. Or if nothing else, Diablo is the one carrying out the destruction, so we need to put it down while it's still in its vessel...that is to say, Elisabeth. But..." Izabella cast a pained glace toward Kaito. She, too, understood. "Elisabeth Le Fanu is deeply important to Kaito Sena." That fact would be evident to anyone who'd spent even a little bit of time around the two. Kaito didn't answer. Eventually, Izabella went on. "I don't know if it'll help, but I have a shameful confession to make. It's one of the reasons I wavered so greatly on whether or not it was right to bring about salvation." "...What?" "Killing Jeanne de Rais is beyond me." Kaito let out a small gasp. The moment he did, a harsh wind gushed up. For a moment, he felt as though he could hear a nostalgic voice nipping at his ears. Although it was lacking in emotion, it had a sweet, bell-like ring to it. "You really are The Fool, aren't you, mister?" Kaito thought back to the other Torture Princess, the golden girl who described herself as the saint and the whore. She'd had a certain mechanical sincerity to her actions, as well as a coldness that bordered on inhuman. Because she'd prioritized Izabella's life over her duty to bring about salvation, she had been transformed into God's pillar. Izabella glanced softly over the mechanical parts supplementing her own body. Originally, they'd made up Deus Ex Machina, Jeanne's living weapon. "When I came to my senses, I was terribly confused. Why was I alive? What had happened? What had become of my body? After that, though, Ms. Ain helped calm me down, and Sir Lute explained what I'd gone through. But even then, I honestly, seriously couldn't understand it one bit!" "Oh yeah, I don't blame you. That was some crazy shit." "The various truths that were unveiled were heavy. However, I was able to come to terms with the Saint's thoughts and the way everything turned out. But first love... First love! In that tiny amount of time, and toward me! I didn't understand it; it didn't make a lick of sense!" "Wait, that's the part you had trouble believing?" "Hmm? What else...ah. As far as my mechanical body went... True, I did sink into despair for a little while, and I even went so far as to resent Jeanne de Rais. But it turns out it's actually fairly handy; I can move around much faster now. And in any case, it was necessary in order to save my life. I quickly got used to it, and now I feel nothing but gratitude." "Man... You don't get fazed by anything, do you?" Kaito went all the way past admiration and landed on shock. In the battle against the three demons, Izabella's skin had torn from the inside out. But she hadn't paid any heed to the change in her physical appearance back then, either. It was downright impressive. Izabella puffed out her chest with pride. Suddenly, though, her expression grew mournful, and she looked down at her largely mechanical palms. A wistful smile spread across her face. "And then I remembered. When we parted, the words she spoke as she kissed my hair had nothing but truth in them." Kaito closed his eyes, then thought back. That, too, felt like it had been over a century ago. Back at the Capital's underground tomb, Jeanne had reached out. From an angle where their enemies couldn't see her, she'd taken a tuft of Izabella's silver hair. Then she'd planted a kiss on it, like a knight would to a princess. Facing Izabella's dignified back, she'd whispered quietly. "I don't hate seeing a mere human trying to oppose them. After all, such actions are the ones that are supposed to change the world. You may be an idiot, a dunce, and a fool, miss, but I choose to believe that your actions helped delay the clock hands in their march toward the end. You did catch my eye, and the eyes never lie." Then with slight vestiges of sorrow, she'd let go and offered her final words. "Good-bye, my stupid, gallant little lady." "And then Jeanne chose to save me and was made into God's pillar." All because Izabella had been her first love. Izabella held her hand up to the starlit night sky. Then she closed it tight, as though trying to grasp the hand of someone far away. After ten seconds or so of silence, she gave her head a small shake. "I don't have it in me to kill someone like that. She was so ignorant in the ways of the world; she held me when I was crying, she kissed my hair, she gave me her first love and saved me because of it... How could I possibly kill her?" Izabella's eyes were filled with a profound sense of sadness and anguish. Suddenly, Kaito realized: Normally, making a confession like that would be unforgivable. Izabella had slaughtered countless people who'd been transformed into underlings. Saving a single life because she placed it atop the scales alone and claimed it bore weight would be unforgivable. And she, too, must have known what an act of folly that was. If nothing else, she would lose the ability to turn to the people she'd slain and boast she'd saved them. She wouldn't be able to see herself as anything other than a simple murderer. But even so, everyone has someone who they just can't kill. Someone who they'd rather gouge out their own heart than lay a hand on. Izabella sucked in a breath, then exhaled. She quietly turned back to Kaito. "Now let me ask you once more. Sir Kaito Sena. That is how I feel. And I imagine it's even worse for you." After all, Kaito Sena was a man who would have no problems weighing Elisabeth against the world. For the sake of what he held dear, there was a very real chance he would allow the world to descend into darkness. But Izabella also believed in his virtue, and in the claim he'd once made. So for the sake of a world clutched tightly in death's steely grasp, she earnestly, carefully asked him a question. "You said you would save the world." But in order to do that, he would need to kill Elisabeth Le Fanu. Was it all one grand lie, then? Had he been deceiving everyone? Or had what he'd told them been the unvarnished truth? Izabella then concluded her cross-examination, as though she were handing down a final verdict. "Can Kaito Sena kill Elisabeth Le Fanu?" *** And with that, the reminiscence ended, and Kaito opened his eyes. He must have fallen asleep at some point. A short while ago, he'd experienced that scene in real life, but now it was just a dream. It faded away and vanished. At present, Kaito had already left the Capital. He rubbed his eyes and glanced at his surroundings. He was sitting atop the stone floor and leaning against the side of a hard bed. Although it had a wood-slatted window, the room as a whole was small and cramped. Thanks to the thick, stone walls, it felt oppressive, too. The furnishings were minimal. And that only made sense. The building was constructed like a fort, with little heed paid to the comfort of its residents. And all the more so, given that he was in the servants' quarters. "All right then... Gluk, urk... Well! I wonder if Hina's up yet?" After surreptitiously gulping down the blood in his mouth, Kaito knelt atop the cold floor. He peered at the bed. In the middle of its clean, white sheets lay a beautiful maid with her eyes closed. She was curled into a ball and breathing like a child. Ever since she'd collapsed back at the Capital, she'd been operating on low functionalities. Her mana was the first thing Kaito had checked, but it was flowing normally. There wasn't anything wrong with her. She was just peacefully sleeping. Or to be more precise, she was replicating a human's sleep. And while she was, she was as defenseless as a baby. In spite of himself, Kaito poked one of her white