Chapter 33 - Side Story: The Continuation of That Day
It is short.
Lumina was dumbfounded, but a strong light immediately dwelled in her eyes. She only needed to find another way.
She had heard from her brother that in emergencies, those who remained calm prevailed. If she stopped, everything would end.
She adjusted her hold on the fairy, who was losing vitality in her arms, and turned on her heel.
――She was struck by a ball of wind.
'Gah...!'
Swept up by a vortex that had likely targeted her abdomen, Lumina was slammed back-first against the outer wall of the neighboring house. It was an impact as if her lungs had been crushed. Her head swam dizzily, and it seemed useless.
The weakened fairy was thrown aside, and a third party picked her up.
They were men she recognized, but she could not possibly think they had come to help them. It was they, floating disgusting, leering smiles, who had released the attack magic from earlier.
Elenoa was being held in the dirty man's hand.
'Run!'
Elenoa shouted to Lumina, who was slumping against the outer wall. She herself had not even remotely imagined that she would take such a protagonist-like action.
Lumina shook her head while crying.
Elenoa appealed further. Hurry. Hurry. The Troll was right there.
The Troll next to Lumina seemed to have decided on the girl as its target.
'――Hurry! Go, quickly!'
A cloth was pressed against the struggling fairy's mouth. When she resisted, wondering if she should inhale the smell of chemicals, her head was immediately struck next. At that instant, Elenoa's thoughts snapped off, and she hung her head like a doll.
――...Why...?
Why, why, Lumina thought it was just like those days she often spoke of.
There was no brother to answer that question, and the fairy had been captured. A whistling sound rang out. She could not take in oxygen properly. Even if she breathed, it was so meaningless that she wondered if air was leaking from somewhere in her lungs.
'It's, no, good, anymore... because... I can't move...'
Her precious housekeeper was captured before her eyes, her legs froze, and above all, the girl saw despair in the monster before her.
She had thought death was not scary. Since long ago, every time she coughed violently, she had thought that if she were to endure this suffering for her entire life. If she were to become a burden to her brother, who devotedly looked after her.
――Am I, necessary?
Lumina had thought so on every occasion.
And yet, why was she so scared now?
Her head, numb with fear, could not recall the chant for magic, even to try and save the important person. In the first place, she had no magical power.
――I hate this. My thoughts are all a mess.
But if there was still something she could strive for.
'...Give her back.'
That fairy belonged to her Big Brother.
Even if she could not stand up now, even if it was unsightly, she would assert that much.
'I said, give her back...!'
The Troll's club swung down,
'Onee-chan――...'