Chapter 29: Duplicate

「...This is hard.」

Knit-browed and frustrated, Nina said it.
The fact she didn’t say it was impossible just shows how stubborn she is about not losing.

「We can summon them, but...」
「Can we really make it talk?」

Picking up on Ruful’s words as she stared at the Gnome that had emerged from the rock before us, Tia spat a curse.

After that, Rin and I returned to Hiiro and had everyone try to see if we could summon a spirit that spoke. In short, it was a total wipeout.

「I’m no good. I’m bad at this kind of thing. I can’t even summon one—」

Yuuka raised both hands in surrender. That was a rather unexpected result.

People of the Sword Clan tend to be bad at so‑called spirit magic like producing fire or water. Dalga was hopeless at it, so maybe that’s the influence.
But Yuuka—perhaps because she’s a half‑elf—was excellent at spirit magic. Yet she couldn’t even call forth a spirit’s form.

Conversely, Ruful, who’s poor at spirit magic, summoned a fairly solid‑looking spirit. It seems even just summoning a spirit has degrees of skill: the better the summoner, the clearer the spirit’s appearance.

Compared to the one I summoned—which was basically just a lump of earth vaguely shaped like a person—the Gnome Ruful called had discernible eyes and nose and was even wearing clothes.

She’s used to shaping things from building houses and the like. Maybe that kind of imaging ability is what’s affecting it. Yuuka, for her part, has no knack for drawing at all.

The best by far was Rin. Nina is good too, but the spirits Rin summoned were on another level in form—so precise you’d mistake them for real living beings.

「...If it’s a water spirit, I might be able to make it talk.」

She must have gotten a feel for it after calling Gnomes a few times. Rin suddenly said that.

「Water, huh...」

From our several summoning experiences so far, spirits seem to have something like personalities. That’s probably the image we harbor toward natural phenomena. Gnomes are quiet and obedient, wind spirits are pranksters, water spirits are capricious and emotional. I’ve never called a fire spirit—I knew full well nothing good would come of it if I tried.

「Be careful. It might run wild.」

I was remembering Jack Frost. Spirits of ice and snow likely share kinship with water. A rampage like that time would be unbearable.

「It’ll probably be fine. That was Ai’s...」

Starting to say something, Nina clamped her mouth shut unnaturally.

「Ai’s?」
「...Ai was just inexperienced, that’s all.」

Well, that’s true. Unlike back then, our magic technique has advanced. Nina’s phrasing nagged at me a little, but I accepted it with a nod.

「Okay, then I’ll try calling her.」

Saying that, Rin turned to the waterway that runs beside the school building.

「O water. Thou that flowest away, formless and cold. O maid of water, Undine—」

Oh, I couldn’t help a startled cry inside. It had been quite a while since Rin used such a proper spell. She’s the type to always activate magic with ridiculously slapdash chants.

「I lend you my voice and my form. With that shape, show yourself before me!」

In answer to the spell, the water in the channel heaved and rose up, shaping itself into a figure exactly like Rin. I see—that’s it! She’s adept at the magic that takes a human form by paying her voice as the price. This must be a kind of application of that.

「Hello.」
「...Hel-lo.」

When Rin spoke to her with a smile, Undine answered haltingly, but she did answer. The voice itself was just like Rin’s.

「We did it!」
「No... not yet. We have to see if we can draw knowledge out of the spirit.」

If it only parrots words like a parrot, we can’t learn about the past. The key is whether we can ask and get answers.

「Right. Um... where did you come from?」
「The... moun-tain.」

Undine pointed to the northern mountains and answered so. The water in the channel is drawn from the Hiiro River that runs along the village. The river’s headwaters do lie in the direction she pointed.

「I see. Between that mountain and here... was there a big round thing?」
「There... was. Round and spin-ning. Wood. Fun. Bor-ing.」

A piece of wood that spins round and round—probably the waterwheel. It doesn’t really serve any purpose, but since the water whimsically turns it and the villagers find it amusing, we’ve left it as is.

「Then... why do you all hate Sensei?」
「Sen...sei?」

At Undine’s parroted question, Rin turned her gaze to me. Following that gaze, Undine fixed me in her sights...

「Scary! Hate!」

The reaction was dramatic. Pebbles of water blasted toward me like buckshot. Before I could even scream, a whirlwind cut across in front of me.

「Get back, Onii-chan.」

It was Yuuka. She swung her stone sword at tremendous speed, slicing and batting aside the countless water shots. But the opponent was a spirit—water itself. The volley only grew more intense, and a groan of pain escaped Yuuka’s lips.

「Wait!」

Rin’s shout wasn’t aimed at Undine. It was for Ruful, Tia, and Nina, who had started moving to return the spirit to its original mass of water.

「Don’t cry.」

Rin wrapped her with her large waist fin, enfolding the half‑crazed Undine.

「Rin!」
「It’s okay.」

Doing that meant, of course, every water shot Undine fired would hit Rin. Even so, in a slow, steady voice, she answered clearly.

「It’s okay, calm down. Sensei isn’t scary. He’s a very kind person.」
「B-but...」

Even as Rin’s self‑sacrificing embrace brought her somewhat back to herself, Undine cast a timid glance my way.

「...Red. Scary.」

Huh. That!? So it’s the color!?

「I’m red too—am I scary?」

Showing off her red hair, Yuuka asked.

「A little... scary.」

Yuuka silently turned back to me, took off her jacket, and draped it over me backwards.

「Not... so scary any-more!」

The clothes I wear are just my scales transformed, so I’m solid red from top to bottom... Feeling oddly tired, I slumped my shoulders, and then, all at once, Undine’s form collapsed back into plain water. At the same moment, Rin’s body crumpled where she was.

「Rin!」

Right—she’d taken those water shots point‑blank. There was no way she’d be unhurt. I hurried over, lifted her up, and gasped at how bad the injuries were.
Red‑black bruises covered her white skin everywhere.

「I did block them, sort of... but spirits really are strong, huh...」

Of course. Even if she’s a mermaid skilled at manipulating water, there’s no way she could match a water spirit itself.

「Take her to the clinic. I’ll treat her.」

With that, Nina ran like the wind to her own clinic to prepare. I scooped Rin up in my arms and hurried after her.


* * *


「How’s Rin?」

After she finished the initial treatment and came out of the room, I asked Nina.

「Her body’s in worse shape than it looks. I think... she won’t hold out.」
「No...」

What came back, with a pained shake of her head, was worse news than I’d expected.

「Even without the injuries... either way, she wouldn’t have lived for even another year.」

Knowing full well it was no comfort, Nina said it anyway.

「Go talk to her.」

I nodded and went into the room as Nina came out.
The moment I closed the door, I pretended not to notice the sobs leaking in from outside as I walked to the bedside where Rin lay.

「...Rin.」
「Mm...」

She’d... been fine. Even just yesterday she’d been so lively.
Some part of me had thought Nina’s diagnosis must be a mistake.
But seeing Rin lying there in bed, I realized that thought was wrong.

Just as Nina said, it wasn’t only the injuries. Her very life-force—her vigor, her energy for living—was drained from her body.

「Why... why did you do something so reckless?」

No—that wasn’t what I wanted to say.
I didn’t know what to say, but felt I had to say something, and those were the words that came out.

「...Because you told me... to do as I like...」

Rin strung the words together in a hoarse whisper.

「Utai told me so, too.」

...With that said, I had no more words.

「...Thank you.」
「You’re welcome.」

If her doing as she liked meant helping and saving me, there was nothing else to say. I bowed my head and thanked her, and Rin beamed a full, radiant smile.

「It’s been fun the whole time, hasn’t it? Today was fun too.」

In a faraway voice, Rin murmured as if to herself.

「But... I’m a little tired. So, sorry. I’m going to sleep now...」
「...Yeah.」

Clenching my molars and holding back the tears that welled up, I nodded.

「Good night, Rin.」

And then—

Rin gently closed her eyes.


* * *


「Morning!」

At the bright, lively voice, I couldn’t help but grimace.

「Hey... let me sleep a little longer...」
「Ehh, why?」

My eyelids felt heavy as lead and my head pounded. I’d clearly drunk too much yesterday, but there was no one to scold me for it.

「I’m just not in the mood... Rin...」
「Me?」

Reflexively, my eyes snapped open. Green eyes were peering into my face.

「Rin!? How... how—wha, why are you—?」
「I slept, so I got better!」

As I stared wide‑eyed, baffled, Rin made a little flexing pose with her arm.

「You—why...」

Before I knew it, Nina was there beside me too, dumbstruck.

「Let me see.」
「Eh—hey, Nina-sensei!」

Nina briskly flipped up Rin’s clothes. Even the bruises that had been there yesterday were gone—her belly was white, smooth, and looked soft. Then Nina suddenly seemed to realize something and glared at me.

「What are you staring at? Get out!」

I was kicked out of the room.


* * *


「...Unbelievable.」

Maybe a few dozen minutes passed. Looking dazed, Nina came out of the room with Rin.

「No injuries, no deterioration. What on earth did you do? Your skin, your organs—everything is completely different from your body yesterday!」
「I transformed back into my old body. Inside included.」

To Nina’s half‑shouted question, Rin tossed off the answer without fuss.

「You really are... ridiculous!」

Nina smacked Rin’s back over and over with light pats. It wasn’t a sneer, nor mixed with exasperation, nor even a wry smile. It was a rare, unfeigned smile.

「And you—what’s with the long face? Rin’s safe!」
「Yeah... right. I still can’t quite believe it. This isn’t a dream, is it?」

The moment I asked, Nina slapped me hard across the cheek.

「Well? Not a dream, is it!?」
「...Seems not.」

Pressing a hand to my throbbing cheek, I nodded.

「We need to tell Ruful and the others right away. Don’t just stand there—come on!」

Pushed along by an unusually hyped‑up Nina, I glanced over at Rin.

...No matter how much mana you pour in, magic fades after a while—but there are exceptions. Me taking human form, or Rin turning her tail fin into human legs, are like that. No matter how much time passes, they don’t fade on their own. This rejuvenation is surely the same.

I can go back and forth between human and dragon because I am, at root, both.
Rin’s legs are probably because she pays with her voice.
We each offer something equivalent—or at least magically equivalent—so the scales balance, and the change doesn’t naturally revert.

If that’s the case—

—what did Rin pay, to become young again?