“What are we doing this for?”
“To celebrate graduation!”
This all started because Artia loved making plans and turning everything into some grand memory.
One day, right before graduation, he insisted that each of them bring something precious. Without knowing what he was planning, they followed him to a small forest behind the academy building, each carrying an item of their own.
“They say it’s popular these days. Friends bury something together somewhere special, then come back years later to dig it up.”
“...Why would anyone do that?”
“Because it’s romantic!”
“Let’s go, Grace.”
“Alright.”
“Ah, come on! It’ll be fun! Don’t leave!”
The two of them looked at him like he’d completely lost his mind before turning to walk away. However, Artia kept clinging to them and whining until they finally gave in.
“Let’s come back together in thirty years and dig it up.”
“Thirty years? Not three?”
Kainel scoffed.
“You really think this thing’ll survive that long?”
“Please. Who do you think I am? I put protection magic on it, preservation magic too. I used every spell I could think of.”
“You really do use your talents for the most pointless things.”
“Oh, shut up. Keep talking like that and I won’t let you put yours in the box, Kainel.”
“......”
“Things like this only become more meaningful with time. More romantic too. So in thirty years, we’re all coming back here together to dig it up!”
***
“Not thirty years... but three hundred.”
Who would’ve guessed she’d die that young?
And there’s no chance those two came here together to dig it up.
It was probably still buried there untouched. At least, that was what Ceres thought.
She walked along the narrow forest path the three of them used to take together. Soon, she arrived at the place she remembered.
A massive tree stood before her, its branches stretching so high they seemed to disappear into the sky.
“It’s still enormous.”
Artia had specifically chosen this place, insisting that if they buried it beneath a tree that would last for generations, the box would stay safe too.
He even spread those ridiculous rumors afterward.
He told people the tree was sacred and that it granted wishes. Ever since then, visitors have come to hang slips of paper from its branches or whisper prayers beneath it.
Looks like they still do.
The tree was still covered in notes, each one carrying someone’s wish.
I wonder if they know?
That the one who started those rumors in the first place was Artia.
“Well, I guess it worked out.”
Just like he predicted, the tree was still standing tall after all these years. If anything, there were even more notes hanging from the branches now than before.
At this point, it almost felt like the tree really had become sacred.
“It should be around here.”
Would it still be there?
Ceres crouched behind the tree and began digging at the spot she remembered. As for the shovel, she had borrowed it from the academy storage room.
Thunk.
“You buried it absurdly deep.”
“That way nobody else would find it!”
“...Right. Of course you’d say that.”
Thinking back on it, she was pretty sure she’d complained about the same thing back then too.
Thunk!
After digging for a while, the shovel suddenly struck something solid beneath the dirt.
“...It’s here.”
It was still there.
The box they had buried together all those years ago.
Artia wasn’t exaggerating when he claimed he layered it with every protective spell imaginable. Even after three hundred years, the box remained intact beneath the soil, untouched by time.
“......”
Ceres pulled the box out of the ground and stared at it quietly for a long time.
It was strange. Back when they buried it, she had never doubted they would always remain together. Yet somehow, she ended up opening it alone.
Click.
Only after some time did Ceres finally open the box.
Three items lay inside. The first thing she reached for was the one she had put there herself.
“Ha...”
She must have been around ten at the time. When “camera” first appeared in the world, Artia had immediately gone out to buy one. Thanks to that, the three of them ended up taking their first photograph together.
Ceres stared at the small photograph in her hand.
Artia with his usual playful grin. Kainel wearing the same cold expression he still has now.
And—
Me.
Grace from back then. Her old self stood between her friends with a faint smile on her face.
You were right, Arti. I don’t know about romantic, but...
“...It really does become a memory.”
Maybe that was why this thing became popular in the first place.
“And this...”
Next, Ceres picked up the item Kainel had left behind. Inside the pristine white pouch was something small. That idiot refused to tell them what he put in here until the end.
“Hm.”
After holding it for a moment, Ceres placed the pouch back into the box. Opening it without Kainel there somehow didn’t feel right.
Her gaze eventually shifted toward the last item remaining inside.
Rustle.
“...?”
Just as she was about to check Artia’s item, she sensed someone nearby. She quickly turned around, unable to hide her surprise for once.
As soon as she saw who it was, she immediately understood how someone had managed to approach her without her noticing.
“Kai...”
Kainel was walking toward her at an unhurried pace.
“.....”
His eyes settled on the box at her feet. For some reason, Ceres awkwardly nudged it behind her, as if that would help anything.
A little late for that now, isn’t it?
“What are you doing here?”
She tried steering the conversation elsewhere, but Kainel gave no response. His gaze never left the box.
“...I just happened to find it.”
“By chance?”
“Yeah. I was out taking a walk.”
“With a shovel?”
“Digging is my hobby.”
“......”
Without a word, Kainel stepped closer.
Ceres kept rambling that she’d spotted something sticking out of the ground and dug it up out of curiosity, but her voice gradually grew quieter.
Before she knew it, Kainel was standing right in front of her. Without even blinking, he looked straight into her eyes.
“I know this looks suspicious, but—”
“April 3rd, 1213.”
“...What?”
Ceres faltered mid-sentence. Then, Kainel quietly asked,
“What was the last thing Artia said to Grace that day?”
“......”
It was a question Ceres knew far too well.
***
[Welcome. Congratulations on being the third person to open this room.]
“Th-Third?!”
For the first time in a while, Cheion had entered one of the tower’s hidden rooms. He had only recently figured out the answer needed to open the 22nd door.
But now—
“Why is there another person?!”
Cheion grabbed at his hair as Artia’s recorded message once again threw him into confusion.
The last time, hearing that he was the second person to enter had already shocked him enough. But this time, it wasn’t second.
It was third!
“How is that even possible?!”
Who was it? Who the hell got here before me?!
“Unbelievable...”
Cheion stared blankly at the artifact sitting neatly in the corner of the room. They left this behind again.
No, seriously, if they weren’t even going to take the artifact, then why come all the way in here?!
“Who was it? Who opened this room before me?”
[......]
As expected, the illusion only responded to predetermined lines and offered no answer at all.
[Here is the 23rd question. When I was eighteen, I entered the S-rank Black Forest and brought something back with me. What was it?]
“How would I know that?!”
[Incorrect. That’s not the right answer.]
“F*ck this!”
[Oh? Did you just swear at me? Out you go.]
“Wait, you understood that?! No! I’m not leaving! I’m staying right here until you tell me who it was!”
Whoooosh!
“Just tell me alreadddyy!”
Cheion’s miserable cry echoed throughout the tower as the forced expulsion spell threw him out of the room.
***
Arti, you were right.
“But don’t worry. He’ll find you eventually.”
Those were the last words Artia left behind.
Back then, she told him he was wrong. That Kainel hadn’t recognized her at all.
“Do I need to ask again? On April 3rd, 1213, what was the last thing Artia said to Grace?”
“......”
Ceres already expected this to some degree. Kainel had noticed something.
That day...
The thought first came to her when she saw him asleep beside her. It was hard to imagine Kainel ever falling asleep next to anyone other than Artia or herself.
Then, why did I keep pretending not to notice?
Because she knew him too well. The moment Kainel accepted that she really was Grace, she already knew what would happen next.
He would try to return everything she had lost. Everything that once belonged to Grace Ellesia, he would gather it all and lay it at Ceres Drow’s feet.
No matter what it took.
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