Chapter 02: “The Ensemble of Dissonance or the Beginning of Resonance”
The nights in Ernea are quiet.
Even the bustle of the harbor and the sound of the sea breeze‚ once filtered through the thin walls of the dormitory‚ feel like events from some distant world.
And yet… only my room feels restless.
The pocket-watch–shaped magic power control device on my desk has been—
for a while now—
thump… thump…
pulsing with a blue light.
“…Why is it still glowing?”
The pulsation of the “gray layer” I saw in the sea during the day crosses my mind.
That eerie gray wave that seemed to reject life itself.
Compared to that‚ this blue light is—
strangely warm.
(This isn’t like the pulse of the residue… but this is still “abnormal‚” right?)
There’s no way it can be explained theoretically.
But if I don’t explain it‚ I can’t calm down.
I spread a notebook on the simple desk in the dormitory‚
and tried to analyze Iris’s magic “theoretically.”
On the page were scribbles like:
“Kyoon = peak instantaneous output of emotional mana?”
“Powa~n = expansion rate of mana waveform?”
“Pirorin♪ = scale modulation?”
“Resonance coefficient = ???”
…No‚ this isn’t a formula. It’s a poem.
“What the heck is a ‘kyoon coefficient’…”
I clutch my head even though I’m the one who wrote it.
But I couldn’t help writing it down.
Because Iris’s magic—
doesn’t fit any theory I know.
The pocket watch glows blue again.
thump…
That light feels like the complete opposite of the pulsation of the gray sea—like “life.”
Which only makes things more confusing.
(The world is being invaded by gray…
so why is only this light so warm?)
Tap‚ tap‚ tap‚ tap.
My fingertips drum against the desk.
Even when I try to stop‚ they won’t.
I collapse onto the bed.
The thin dormitory blanket sinks beneath my back.
Even with my eyes closed‚
the blue light flickers in my mind and keeps me awake.
(…What even is that girl?)
Something stirs deep in my chest.
The rhythm in my fingers hasn’t stopped once all day.
The night grows deeper‚
yet only my mind remains noisy the entire time.
The next morning.
Sunlight pouring through the dormitory window stabs into my sleep-deprived eyes.
“…so sleepy…”
On the desk‚
my cringe-worthy notebook full of things like “kyoon coefficient” and “powa~n waveform” was scattered everywhere.
The pocket watch was still pulsing blue.
(This is definitely strange…
The gray residue felt cold like “death‚”
but this blue… feels almost “alive.”)
Tap‚ tap‚ tap.
With my fingers still drumming‚ I head toward the academy—
“ARIA!!”
A full-volume shout flies at me from behind.
“Whoa!? Linne…?”
My childhood friend Linne comes running‚
clutching a single green onion in her hand.
Is she armed this early in the morning?
“You look like you didn’t sleep! Here‚ take this!”
What she holds out is—
a steaming bowl of soup.
…the color is strong.
No‚ strong is putting it lightly… is it black?
“Linne‚ what kind of soup is this…?”
“It’s the ‘Cheer-Up Special!’”
“That color does not say ‘special’! If I drink that I’ll end up in another world instead of feeling better!”
“I-it’s fine! I just added three times the miso!”
“Three times isn’t cooking anymore!”
Linne’s shoulders slump sadly.
“Aria‚ you’ve been acting strange lately… so… I got worried…”
Those words sting a little in my chest.
(…I can’t tell her about the device.)
The pocket watch inside my uniform pocket faintly pulses—
thump…
with a bit of warmth.
“I-I’m not acting strange. Just… a little sleep-deprived.”
“Really? It’s not because of that girl Iris?”
“Pfft—!”
I choke violently.
“W-why does Iris come up there!?”
“Because yesterday you were with her in the plaza! That girl is kind of… like the sun…”
Linne’s voice grows smaller.
“…because you were looking at her‚ Aria.”
It smells like jealousy.
But Linne is clumsy‚ so she tends to spin out even more in moments like this.
“No‚ it’s not like that—”
Just as I start to say that‚
I notice a crowd gathered around the academy bulletin board.
“…Huh?”
When I approach‚ the notice reads in big letters:
“Residue contamination rapidly expanding in the northern forest of the kingdom.
An investigation team will be dispatched from the academy.”
(The forest too…?)
After the sea yesterday‚ now the forest.
The grayness of the world is definitely spreading.
At that moment—
the pocket watch in my pocket pulses strongly: thump…!
(…It’s like it’s rejecting that gray.)
Theory can’t explain it.
But my instincts say so.
Linne looks up at me anxiously.
“Aria…?”
I take a small breath.
“…Let’s go. To the training grounds.”
The academy training grounds are always noisy in the morning.
Explosions of magic‚ shouting voices‚ and—
“ARIAAAA!! Today we shoot with our souls again!!”
…Cross’s voice.
“Shoot with mana‚ not your soul!!”
Before I can finish my retort‚ Cross has already raised the huge training greatsword on his shoulder.
His muscles roar. Actually‚ are his muscles using magic?
“Look‚ Aria! This is the ‘wave of the soul!’”
“That’s just your muscles shaking! It has nothing to do with magic!”
Cross grins widely and gives a thumbs-up.
“Don’t sweat the details! Feel it! With your soul!”
“Please feel the theory instead…”
Tap‚ tap‚ tap.
My fingers keep rhythm. Maybe because of the lack of sleep‚ they’re faster than usual.
Beside me‚ Linne sighs with her arms crossed.
“Honestly… it’s noisy first thing in the morning. Aria‚ you’re not pushing yourself‚ are you?”
“I-I’m not pushing myself…”
The pocket watch warms inside my uniform pocket.
I hurriedly turned off the switch—at least‚ I thought I did.
thump…
It pulsed on its own.
(…Even though the switch is off!?)
Linne frowns.
“Aria‚ didn’t something just glow?”
“N-no‚ it’s your imagination!”
While covering it up‚ I place a scrap of paper on the training desk.
“Hey Aria‚ you try too! Make the paper float with your soul!”
“Paper doesn’t float with your soul!!”
But since he said it‚ I have no choice but to try.
I place the control device on the desk and try to flip the switch—
(…Wait‚ it moved on its own earlier…)
Before I even touch it‚ the device clicks and lights blue.
“Hey Aria‚ did you just press the switch?”
“I didn’t press anything!!”
Cross bursts out laughing.
“Haha! Your soul activated it by itself!”
“It’s not my soul!!”
The scrap of paper—
doesn’t move an inch.
“Hey Aria‚ maybe you don’t have enough soul?”
“I told you that’s not the problem!!”
As Cross laughs uncontrollably—
“ARIA—!!”
The training hall door bursts open.
Golden light streams in.
No—not light. A girl.
“Iris…!?”
She runs in chasing a seagull.
“Wait—! Give that bread back—!!”
The seagull circles above the training ground with bread in its beak.
It’s one of Ernea’s famous greedy seagulls. Lively as ever today.
Linne sighs quietly.
“…Iris again…”
“Aria‚ help! That one stole my breakfast!”
“Why does that lead you to the training ground!?”
Cross’s eyes sparkle.
“Oh! The sun girl! Are you shooting with your soul too!?”
“Huh? Soul? Hmm… I can do ‘kyoon‚’ though.”
“You shoot with kyoon!?”
Iris smiles brightly.
“Aria‚ let’s do magic together again today!”
At that moment—
the pocket watch in my pocket pulses strongly: thump…!
(…Again.)
A warm pulse completely opposite of the gray sea.
The closer Iris gets‚ the stronger it becomes.
Cross crosses his arms and says:
“Alright! Everyone’s here! Special training today!”
“Wait—what do you mean everyone!?”
The air of the training ground grows loud‚
and somehow filled with something mysterious.
The wind pressure from Cross swinging his greatsword
makes the training desks rattle‚
and my scrap of paper nearly blows away.
“Hey—Cross! That’s physically dangerous!!”
“Haha! Proof your soul is shaking!”
“It’s the air that’s shaking!!”
In the middle of all the chaos‚
Iris runs to the center of the training ground
still chasing the bread-stealing seagull.
“Come on! Give it back!”
The seagull cries triumphantly
while circling above a target.
Cross folds his arms.
“Alright‚ there’s a target… Iris‚ give it a shot!”
“Huh? Shoot it? Okay then…”
Iris spins lightly
and flicks her fingertip.
“Pirorin♪”
At that instant‚
the air trembles.
Particles of light burst like musical notes
and rise toward the target.
At the same time—
the pocket watch in my pocket pulses violently: thump…!
“Whoa…!”
The device jumps out on its own
and lands in my palm as if drawn there.
The blue light
beats strongly as if responding to Iris’s magical particles.
(…What is this…!?)
Theory can’t explain it.
But something is definitely overlapping.
The sound of Iris’s magic
echoes deep inside my chest.
Tap‚ tap‚ tap‚ tap—
The rhythm of my fingers
begins matching the tempo of Iris’s magic.
(…No way…)
The hands of the pocket watch tremble‚
and the blue light suddenly expands.
“Aria‚ together!”
Iris smiles.
Her voice pushes something out from inside me.
“…!”
The next instant—
heat rushes from my throat down my arm.
It burns‚
yet leaves a strangely pleasant numbness in my fingertips.
Before I realize it‚
light bursts from my hand.
It overlaps with Iris’s musical magic
and wraps around the target.
The light—
blooms like a sunflower.
And then‚
the gray residue drifting around the target—
“…No way.”
Cross mutters in shock.
Linne’s eyes widen too.
“Aria… just now…”
I myself can hardly believe it.
(…I… used… magic…?)
Beside us‚
the greedy seagull drops the bread in surprise at the purifying light
and flies away screaming‚ “Gyaa!?”
The pocket watch
continues pulsing blue.
A brief silence falls over the training ground.
The air that had been noisy moments ago
now sways only with the afterglow of sunflower-colored light.
Cross opens and closes his mouth‚
Linne stands frozen still gripping her green onion‚
and Iris—
“Wow… I knew it‚ Aria. You make a beautiful sound!”
She smiles like the sun.
“S-sound…?”
The numbness still hasn’t left my fingertips.
The heat that rushed through my throat
lingers inside my chest.
(…This is… magic?
Mine…?)
I can’t believe it.
But I definitely felt something “pass through.”
Linne finally manages to speak.
“A-Aria… just now… was that really…?”
“I-I don’t know… I…”
Suddenly Cross grabs my shoulders.
“ARIAAAA!! Your soul has finally awakened!!”
“It’s not my soul!! And stop shaking me!!”
But Cross looks genuinely happy.
Even Linne‚ though her brows are still knitted in complicated feelings‚
smiles with a hint of relief.
“…I’m glad. Maybe Aria won’t hate magic anymore.”
Those words warm my chest a little.
(…Maybe I don’t hate it… after all.)
Iris gently takes my hand.
“Hey Aria. That light just now was really kind.
The gray in the world ran away just a little.”
“The gray…?”
Iris nods.
“Yeah. Your sound‚ Aria… it sounds like the future.”
The sound… of the future.
Those words quietly sink deep into my chest.
Just then‚ the training ground speakers ring out.
“Announcement from the Royal Magic Academy.
Student volunteers are being recruited
for the residue contamination investigation in the northern forest.”
At that moment—
the “gray sea” I saw yesterday flashes through my mind.
That gray mass clinging thickly to the sand‚
pulsing as if rejecting nature itself.
(…That’s spreading into the forest too…?)
My chest stirs uneasily.
But at the same time‚
I remember the “sunflower light” from earlier.
(Maybe…
if Iris’s sound and my theory overlap…
we might be able to stop that gray…)
Cross clenches his fist.
“Alright! We’ve gotta go!”
Linne nods while raising her green onion like a weapon.
“If Aria goes… I’m going too!”
Iris smiles like the sun.
“Yeah! Let’s go together‚ everyone!”
I—
feeling the blue pulse of the pocket watch‚
slowly take a breath.
(…I’m scared. But…
maybe this light can reach that gray.)
My fingertips go tap‚ tap‚ tap—
the same old habit‚
but today it somehow sounds like a **prelude**.
“…Alright. Let’s go. All of us.”
And so‚
our sounds that had been scattered like dissonance
finally became a single **ensemble** for the first time.
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