Chapter 205 - 3-9
The dinner party concluded. Even after everyone had departed the hall, I did not return to my room. I remained on the balcony with Anna-san, who wished to speak a little longer.
The spring night still carried a slight chill, but a shawl made it comfortable enough. Before us, a beautiful crescent moon and a starry sky stretched out, devoid of a single cloud. Unlike the brilliant heavens, however, my heart was clouded as if by a thick fog.
"...Anna-san, what do you think?"
I leaned against the railing and glanced at her. Anna-san knit her brows in distress.
"You mean Her Imperial Highness the Princess. Even though I had heard about her from you in advance, Rachel-san, I was honestly panicked that she would make such remarks in a place where anyone could be listening."
"The frightening thing about Her Imperial Highness's statements is her purity."
Her attitude toward me wasn't a deliberate attempt to be spiteful; I believed she truly thought of me as a villain. Even her comment about Louis-sama and Anna-san being a good match likely came from a place of genuine belief.
That is precisely why she is so troublesome.
"Purity... or perhaps she is simply anomalous," Anna-san remarked. I nodded in agreement.
"She seems to admire you, but I wonder if that admiration is directed toward the existence of the Saint of Light."
"I find that strange as well. At first, I thought it was the same reaction I get from people meeting me for the first time at the church, but it doesn't quite feel right."
"Oh?"
It seemed Anna-san also felt something was amiss with the Princess's reaction.
"Hmm... more than that, the way Her Imperial Highness looks at Theodore-sama feels exactly like a fan looking at their 'oshi.' Like she's standing in front of an idol she's followed forever..."
"Oshi? Idol?"
I tilted my head at the unfamiliar terms. Anna-san tapped her index finger against her temple and groaned in thought.
"Ah, er... how should I explain this? For example, you know how the girls at the academy scream for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince or Theodore-sama? It's that kind of existence."
"...I see?"
The word 'oshi' was surely a term from Anna-san's previous life. There were many expressions from her past that didn't quite fit this world, and there had been several times before where she struggled to explain them.
I suppose it means an object of admiration. Or perhaps someone even more special—someone she has immense affection for, yet remains out of reach.
While I pondered the definitions of 'oshi' and 'idol' in my own way, Anna-san continued to worry, searching for the cause of the Princess's strangeness.
"There's a certain sense of déjà vu in her airy remarks..."
"Déjà vu? ...Now that you mention it."
I stared at Anna-san's profile. Surprisingly, I realized I recognized the source of the dissonance.
Come to think of it, there was someone else who spoke to me while looking through me at something else entirely.
Seeing my eyes widen, Anna-san raised her voice. "I knew it! You think so too, Rachel-san! I feel like Her Imperial Highness is... very similar to how I used to be."
Now that she mentioned it, there were certainly similarities. The Princess, like Anna-san once did, held a perfect image in her mind and acted according to it without a shadow of a doubt. Perhaps that was the source of her anomalous purity.
"You mean back when you thought this world was a game?"
"Yes, exactly! That's it!"
Anna-san's face cleared as if a weight had been lifted from her chest.
"You mentioned earlier that the Princess and Lute-sama used the word 'Foresight.' That's the 'story'... She's just like I was, knowing the game and trying to make things proceed accordingly."
"Then, the Princess's Foresight is..."
"It might not be Foresight at all... it could be game knowledge. If that's the case, it makes sense why she was so familiar with the grounds of Torsova Academy of Magic, as you said."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. The game is primarily set at the academy. The rooftop garden, the Crown Prince's favorite spot, is essential for his route. It's not popular with the students, so her wanting to go to that specific point is incredibly suspicious."
Resting her hand on her chin, Anna-san murmured nostalgically about how many times she had visited that spot to try and conquer the Prince's route. She nodded to herself in conviction.
She looked just like...
"...Anna-san, you're like a detective."
"I was always better at mysteries than romance games."
At my spontaneous remark, Anna-san clasped her hands together, her eyes sparkling with joy.
"In that case, is she also a reincarnator?"
A reincarnator born in a country called Japan, just like Anna-san. It felt more natural to think so. But if that were true, was she the same as Anna-san and Samuel?
Since two reincarnators already existed, it wouldn't be strange if there were more.
"Perhaps Her Imperial Highness also died in that accident... If she's a reincarnator who died in the same place, it's strange that he and I were born in the Kingdom of Dutoit while she was born in the distant Tratia Empire. That part seems odd."
I recalled that Anna-san and Samuel had been in a simultaneous accident involving a large vehicle called a 'truck' that resembled a carriage. If that accident was the key to reincarnation, others might have been swept up in that vortex as well. Or perhaps Anna-san and the others were the ones swept in.
"Just as I traveled back in time through the power of the Dark Spirit King Nel-sama, perhaps there is a reason for your reincarnations as well?"
I had returned to three years ago because Nel-sama had swapped my soul into a parallel world. If there was a reason for rewinding time, it wouldn't be strange for reincarnation to have a reason rooted in some great power.
"Even if something happened at the scene of that accident, there's no way for us to know... But if Her Imperial Highness is a fellow reincarnator, I'd like to know what happened then."
Anna-san nodded with a grave expression, then looked at me with eyes full of determination.
"Could you leave this matter to me? I'll consult with Sami-kun."
"...Thank you, Anna-san."
Her reliable expression warmed my heart. I felt the strength of having such a dependable friend rather than worrying alone.
"By the way... 'Sami-kun' refers to Samuel, right? That's a cute nickname."
Until just the other day, Anna-san had been calling Samuel by the name Makoto-kun. To think it had changed so suddenly. I couldn't help but let out a small, amused smile. Anna-san flushed and looked down bashfully.
"Ah, th-that's... calling him Makoto-kun forever would be strange. Regardless of the past, the one I love now is Samuel Emonier, the man living in this world today."
"That's wonderful."
Realizing they were taking a new step forward filled me with a warm, gentle feeling.