The Libram of Martyrdom…

  Back in my world… I knew a girl from senior year – Yui Kuroda. She was tall and rough around the edges, with black hair and red eyes as intense as the sun.

  I first met her during my initial year at St Elicia’s Academy, fresh outta my village. I wasn’t Student Council President back then – not even close! I was a delinquent, always late for class, getting pissed off and fighting over stupid things... y’know, the usual!

  Having just arrived in the big city, I was homesick, and I didn’t get along well with my classmates. I was lonely, miserable… drowning in my rage and anger. I carried myself around like I had a chip on my shoulder.

  Eventually, being a bitch caught up with me. A group of classmates – three girls and one of their boyfriends from the senior year – decided they’d had enough of me. They cornered me after school, threatening to ‘teach me a lesson’ for not taking their hints to leave the Academy with my tail between my legs. Earlier that day, they left a little vase of white chrysanthemums on my desk... and I smashed that ugly thing right in front of them.

  They didn’t take kindly to that.

  That’s when Yui entered my life like a badass Hero. She happened to be in the right place at the right time, just as I was getting my ass handed to me, and we fought them off together! She had a bloodied lip by the end of it… as did I.

  She laughed uproariously when I insisted, half-conscious and without a shred of irony… that I had those bastards on the ropes. Heh, I was different back then.

  Anyway, after helping me to my feet, we talked a bit more. Just like that… we hit it off.

  Yui became my first real friend at St Elicia’s. She took me under her wing, introducing me to her circle – old Shinji from her year, and Ryu, Koji, and Shunichi, who, like me, were freshmen. They hung out on the school rooftop, and I started joining them there.

  Good grief. She hyped me up to the boys, bragging about how I fought four-on-one all by myself (her words, not mine!). I just laughed awkwardly and nodded along… having finally realised how fucked I was getting ganged up on like that, were it not for her helping me out.

  For the first time since coming to the city… I felt like I belonged somewhere. I wasn’t alone anymore. With Yui and the boys, I learned to love myself again… letting go of my anger. Slowly but surely, hanging out with them… I started enjoying city life.

  Eventually… my classmates warmed up to me, too. Turns out I’d been scaring them off with my bad attitude. So, life got better, and... well, y’know… the rest is history!

  Come second year, just as I was gearing up to take on the role of Student Council President, Yui dropped a bombshell on us – she was leaving St Elicia’s. Her father had inherited a small farm out in the countryside, and she wanted to help him set it up. He had been an alcoholic for many years, struggling to keep it together… but now, he had a chance to turn his life around.

  Yui… she had been the one holding everything together in her family, juggling school and part-time jobs just to make ends meet. And now, she wanted to be there for him fully... because that’s what a good daughter does.

  I didn’t want her to go. None of us did. We were still mourning Shinji’s death; losing Yui to the countryside felt like another in our family. But maybe that’s why a part of her wanted to leave the city behind – among us, she was the closest to Shinji. They were more than friends.

  With him gone, like her father… she wanted the chance to start anew.

  Regardless, we understood. We all pitched in and threw her one hell of a farewell party! Drinks, tears, karaoke and laughter – the works, and so much more!

  I made Yui promise that we’d stay in touch, and she swore on it. For a while, we kept that promise. Every Friday evening, we’d video call. She told me about life on the farm, how the fresh air and hot sun were working wonders on her dad… and how a neighbour named Miyako Sugimoto, a close family friend of her late grandparents, had been a godsend in helping them adjust to village and farm life.

  And it was true! Yui sent me photos through the phone – pictures of her and her father standing proudly in the fields under bright skies, their smiles like the sun above. Seeing those photos... made me think of Mom and Dad back home, what I had left behind to study in the big city.

  Y’know how it is – homesickness hits you when you least expect it.

  It really seemed like things were finally looking up for Yui and her dad. She invited me and the boys to visit during harvest season, giving us her address and making me promise to organise a weekend trip when the time was right.

  I wrote it down in my phone… and I told her we’d be there. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.

  But as the months passed... Yui began to drift away. Our calls became less frequent, her tone colder, more distant. Eventually, we stopped speaking altogether. I was busy with Student Council duties, and I told myself she was just busy with farm life.

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  At least, that’s what I kept telling myself, back then.

  Looking back... I know now they were just excuses. I should’ve known something was wrong. I should’ve reached out. But I didn’t.

  And as time dragged on… Yui faded from my mind, as did the promises we made. City life’s like that, y’know? The wheel just keeps on turning.

  Or not. I can’t… I won’t blame anyone or anything else.

  But I did forget her, as did the boys. Until one day, as autumn crept in, right in the middle of a Student Council meeting… I thought of her. It was a feeling, outta nowhere.

  I remembered her cold, distant voice – so different from the fiery senior I’d once looked up to – and the worry hit me like a sledgehammer. And I… I couldn’t ignore it. I stood up mid-meeting, mumbled some stupid excuse, and bolted out the door.

  I ran into Koji, Ryuji, and Shunichi on my way out. They were smoking by the vending machine, and when they saw me all flustered like that, they wanted to know what was up. I told them what was on my mind, and where I was going… and they also remembered her.

  Like me… they had forgotten.

  They didn’t hesitate to join me, not even for a second. They’re real ones like that. We caught a bus outta the city, the journey long and oppressively silent. None of us said it aloud, but we were all thinking the same thing – hoping, praying I was just being paranoid. A little crazy. I wouldn’t hear the end of it if it turned out I was… but that was the least of my worries.

  When we finally arrived at the address Yui gave us all those months ago, it was almost midnight. The sight that greeted us confirmed our worst fears. The fields were barren, filled with rotting, half-cleared crops. The house stood solemn against the waning moonlight, remnants of funeral decorations fluttering eerily in the cold wind.

  We were spooked to hell and back, but we pressed on. I pounded on the front door, shouting for Yui at the top of my lungs. Instead, it was Miyako Sugimoto who answered. She stank of alcohol and cigarettes, her hair a greasy, tangled mess. She looked nothing like the helpful neighbour once described to me.

  If anything, she seemed like she had been swallowed by despair itself.

  Miyako… that hag… she wasn’t happy to see us. She screamed and threatened to call the police, and we were about to turn away and find somewhere else to regroup when we heard it – a faint voice, coming from upstairs.

  Yui’s voice.

  I was pissed. I shoved past that hag, determined to reach my friend.

  I didn’t see the kitchen knife she was hiding behind her back until it was too late. It was a big, ugly, dull thing… the sort you’d use to slice vegetables. I barely managed to raise my arms to shield myself as she slashed at me.

  And I… I would’ve been done for, then and there… if Koji and Ryuji hadn’t tackled her to the floor. If they hadn’t come along… I wouldn’t be here.

  Blood was pouring from my arms as I stumbled upstairs, following Yui’s voice. I saw her – chained to a bed, thin and battered, her once fiery spirit reduced to a flicker. Her eyes-those brilliant, blazing red eyes of hers – were hollow… devoid of hope.

  Oh, Rinnah…

  The police arrived soon after and dragged Miyako away, kicking and screaming. Over the next couple of days, we stayed with Yui… and she told us everything. The why of it.

  Turns out the hag had wormed her way into their lives like a snake, pretending to be kind. She hated that Yui’s grandparents had left the farm to their son – Yui’s deadbeat dad – instead of her. She believed she deserved the land… for it was she who cared for them in their old age, as any good neighbour would.

  When the old folks ignored her and gave it to Yui’s family instead, Miyako’s jealousy consumed her. Knowing that Yui’s father had borrowed heavily to start the farm, she sabotaged their efforts. Sold them fake pesticides that ruined the soil and the crops. When the harvest failed and the debts piled up, the old man relapsed into drinking… and drank himself to death.

  When Yui discovered the truth and confronted her, Miyako snapped. She hired thugs to ambush Yui, silencing her before she could go to the police. She kept Yui prisoner in that house, beating her into submission, breaking her down piece by piece. And from the state that crazy hag was in when we found her... perhaps the weight of her sins had torn her apart.

  But that doesn’t matter now. None of it does.

  Yui’s safe. That’s all that matters.

  Back in Eris’ suite…

  The soft glow of golden light fades as the final line is etched within the pages of the Akashic Record in glimmering silver ink. My hands slip from its radiant surface… and it unravels into delicate wisps of light that fade into the air like mist.

  I exhale slowly, sinking into the sofa once more with quiet purpose. With great care, I take off my gloves and set them on the coffee table. My eyes drop to the old scars lining my arms – long, jagged trails of red and black… weathered and harsh beneath my uncovered fingertips.

  And as I trace their familiar coarseness, my thoughts begin to wander… to Yui, and the world I left behind.

  Yui’s been doing so much better, especially after everything that happened. After we returned to the city, she threw herself into her studies with the kind of fierce determination only she could muster. She graduated from St Elicia’s with top honours, then earned a place at one of the country’s leading universities to study law.

  When Riko Kuhouin heard what had happened, she stepped in with a scholarship – no strings attached. It made a world of difference.

  Yui and I… we still talk. Every Friday evening, without fail. At least, we used to… because I got whisked away to Nisha. There’s no reception here, unfortunately.

  Honestly, I miss ya… Yui. I hope you’re not worrying too much about me. If only there were some magical way to call across realms and let you know I’m alive and well.

  Heh. Wouldn’t that be something?

  But for now… I’ll keep going. I’ll keep fighting. I’ll slay the Demon Lord, protect Anna… and find my way home. We’ll celebrate my homecoming like it’s going outta style!

  Rinnah willing… I want you to meet Anna. I just know you two would hit it off instantly. Just like we did, after that stupid fight you bailed me out of.

  Until then… please keep going strong. Just a bit longer! For us, for everyone… I will.

  “Arisa!”

  Anna’s voice jolts me from my thoughts. She’s back, with Eris close behind.

  My eyes widen. In their hands… are those three iced coffees and a box of chocolate chip cookies!?

  “We’ve brought with us the best from the Holy City!” Anna announces proudly, practically beaming. “Eris and I figured you’d want in.”

  “Ah. They had some leftover at the Café,” Eris adds gently, her smile modest but sweet. “We thought you might enjoy them as we did. Shall we?”

  “Well…” I reply, arching a brow and shooting them a playful grin, my eyes flicking briefly to the whiteness of my gloves still resting on the table before settling back on them. “You’ve caught me at exactly the right time. Let’s dig in!”