A solitary blue crystal hung high above, reflecting a scene of utter ruin.
Cassandra couldn't keep up with how quickly the situation had changed.
The thunderous crash of a giant fist colliding with something exploded beside her ears. The sudden shockwave flung her body aside.
She had already closed her eyes, trembling, prepared to sacrifice herself.
But death did not steal her sight.
Instead, she saw the figure of a white-haired boy.
"Huh...?!"
Cassandra fell to the ground. It felt as though time itself had stopped, frozen in sync with her heartbeat.
Why...
Why is the Captain here?
Blood spread across the ground. White hair sank into a pool of red.
In Cassandra's widened eyes, Bell lay face down, blood pouring from his body.
No response.
No breath.
No hope.
Gone...
Everything was gone.
Within that young body, all had fallen into emptiness and death.
No.
It shouldn't be like this.
If the prophecy had been misread... then the one who should have died was me!
Why...
Why did this happen?
I'm the one who harmed the Captain...
It's all my fault...
If Cassandra had stayed in the rear, the giant's iron fist might have struck Daphne—or perhaps the fallen Yamato Mikoto instead.
No matter what, Bell's choice would not have changed.
But Cassandra couldn't see it that way.
As the one who had been saved, overwhelming guilt and self-blame crushed her heart.
It swallowed her grief whole, locking her body and mind in place, leaving her unable to make a sound.
As if crying out in her stead, the girls' voices rang from behind, sharp and agonized.
"Bell!!!!"
...
The memories of their journey carried a faint sweetness tinged with bitterness.
No one had imagined that the end of their return would be cold death.
After Bell and the others came back from the battle in the pantry and decided to rest for five minutes—
Filvis, who had been standing guard, slowly sat down and offered her lap for him to lie on.
"Cranel... please hurry and rest. Don't keep staring at me..."
Filvis quietly looked away.
No matter how she tried to hide it, the flush on her face was obvious.
"But Filvis-san was the one who invited me. With such a beautiful girlfriend right in front of me, how could I miss this chance?"
Bell replied openly.
"That's only because the ground is too cold to rest on..."
Filvis shifted her thigh slightly, clearly aware of where their bodies touched.
"Filvis, why do you cover yourself up so completely? This outfit is custom-made, right?"
Bell asked gently.
"I'm sorry... I don't want to talk about it. I can only say that I made this outfit myself..."
A trace of apology showed on Filvis's face.
Bell was sharp.
Filvis always felt as though her heart was laid bare before those crimson eyes.
"So my girlfriend is that skillful. When we get back, let's make matching outfits together."
Bell laughed softly.
"Mm..."
Filvis looked troubled.
"If not clothes, then gloves?"
"Mm..."
"A hat?"
"Please don't say any more..."
"Necklaces and rings sound nice too. You smiled just now, didn't you? Then it's settled."
"Abso—absolutely not!"
Filvis hurriedly suppressed the smile tugging at her lips and protested.
In the end, the boy didn't manage to sleep at all.
But Bell insisted that resting on his lover's lap restored him far better than actual sleep.
Filvis found Bell to be a truly strange person.
He would do things that made her blush, yet he never once used his status as her [lover] to behave improperly toward her.
She found herself reluctant to leave his side.
Immersed in that steady, intoxicating warmth, she momentarily forgot her own tragic past.
...
Beneath a massive tree, Bell steadied Lefiya and fed her a naturally grown fruit.
"Lefiya-san was so shy earlier, but you're getting used to it now."
"Y-you... You're only saying that because you saw me blush, aren't you?!"
Lefiya swallowed the fruit and puffed out her cheeks in complaint.
The Dungeon wasn't a place where she could afford to be picky, and the boy was taking care of her without the slightest embarrassment.
Lefiya accepted that reality and, red-faced, let herself receive his kindness.
"Lefiya-san, you look really cute when you eat."
Bell carefully peeled away the skin and brought the fruit to her lips.
"Mmm..."
Lefiya started muttering things she'd learned before, as if reciting to herself. "There are different types of Magic chanting. Long-form..."
The [Anti-Shyness] training she'd gotten from Riveria crumbled effortlessly with the boy so close to her.
"Cough, cough...!"
"Lefiya-san, are you okay? If you talk while you're eating, you'll choke."
Bell reached out and gently patted her back.
"Cough... Whose fault do you think that is?! Stop touching me!"
Lefiya looked wronged, cheeks still puffed. "Seriously... why are you so good at this?"
"Because—"
"Forget it! I don't want to hear it!"
She cut him off before he could finish.
"Ah..."
She opened her mouth again, turning her embarrassment and irritation into pure appetite.
The fruit's sweetness spread across her tongue.
Even though they were in a Dungeon full of danger, Lefiya couldn't help feeling that this trip had been worth it.
...
When Bell suggested carrying the unconscious Ais for a while to spare Ryuu—
Ryuu answered offhandedly, "Cranel-san, I don't want you carrying other girls..."
"?!"
Lefiya's eyes went wide in front of that sudden possessiveness from her fellow elf.
Ryuu immediately knitted her brows.
"N-no, it's not what you're thinking!"
"I just think Cranel-san should only carry Syr..."
"No... Cranel-san, I absolutely don't mean to insult or oppose your views on love, it's just... um... that..."
Ryuu's voice trailed off, growing smaller and smaller.
Between exhaustion and injuries eating away at her, she no longer had the energy to choose her words carefully.
The moment her tightly strung nerves finally eased, she kept letting slip things that left her mortified.
"Cranel-san, please don't leave my sight."
"Cranel-san, we're out of potions. This herb can dull the pain, so please take off your clothes. I'll apply it to the wounds on your back."
"Cranel-san... Cranel-san..."
Ryuu called to him again and again.
Luckily—or perhaps [luck] had truly taken effect—they came across a natural spring.
Ryuu thought she could finally escape that flustered, embarrassing haze.
But the next second, she froze in place.
"Ryuu-san, please drink this."
Bell cupped the spring water in his hands and brought it to her lips.
"Cranel-san, I... I can do it myself..."
Ryuu pressed her lips together, her voice a little panicked.
"This is the Dungeon, Ryuu-san. In your current condition, if you go near the spring, you might slip and fall in."
Bell paused, then added, "And if that happened, I'd have no choice but to take off your clothes and warm you up."
"Mm..."
Ryuu knew he was telling the truth.
With her right arm unable to move and her balance compromised, she couldn't afford to act carelessly.
"I'll drink... so please don't say things like that..."
"I was just mentioning it. Did Ryuu-san imagine something?"
Bell lifted his hands slightly with a light laugh.
"N-no! I wasn't imagining anything! Hugging to keep warm or anything like that..."
Halfway through, Ryuu suddenly realized that Bell hadn't described anything specific. It had all been her own imagination running wild.
"Mm..."
Her cheeks instantly burned red.
I shouldn't have read Syr's novels…
She had only looked into them to support her friend's romance, yet now they were clouding her own thoughts.
"That would never happen..."
Ryuu looked at the clear spring water in Bell's hands. As if resigning herself, she lowered her head slightly and parted her lips.
At first, she tried not to let her lips touch his hands.
But that left her no choice except to extend her tongue, lightly lapping at the water like a kitten.
She immediately realized how dangerously suggestive that must look from his perspective.
Flustered, she pressed her face more fully into his cupped hands.
Her eyelashes brushed against his fingers like butterfly wings, a faint pink blooming across her cheeks.
Her exhausted body longed for the sweet, cool spring water. Before she knew it, every last drop had been sipped away.
Only when she became aware of it did she realize her lips were resting against his palm, feeling a warmth entirely different from the spring.
Ryuu quickly lifted her head, unable to look at Bell at all.
"Ryuu-san?"
Bell looked at the flustered elf and asked softly.
"I... I've had enough. Thank you, Cranel-san..."
Ryuu turned her back to him, but her reddened ears betrayed her feelings.
"This kind of natural spring is rare. Who knows when we'll find one again."
Bell scooped up another handful of water.
The clear surface trembled, just like Ryuu's unsteady heart.
"I understand..."
Ryuu murmured and turned back around.
She lowered her head toward the water in his hands and once again placed her lips upon that forbidden edge.
...
Though the journey back had been dangerous, it left behind a bittersweet memory in the girls' hearts.
They never could have imagined that the end of those memories would be such unbearable sorrow.
Bell lay in a pool of blood.
And the girls had long since lost the strength to shield him or heal him.
All they could do was scream his name, ignoring the agony in their own bodies as they rushed toward him.
Filvis burned with anger at her own naivety.
It was all the fault of the [Banshee].
How could something as filthy as her ever think of reaching for someone so pure?
Lefiya forgot all about shame and fear.
Bell Cranel can't be hurt...
Get up like you always do!
You're lying to me, aren't you?!
Ryuu felt as though she had fallen back into her old nightmare.
Her cries of grief would not stop, and tears of anguish streamed endlessly down her face.
Don't take anything else from me...
No...
No!
"Bell!"
"Bell-sama!"
"Bell-dono!"
"Captain!"
Their tears and cries crashed down like an avalanche, cold to the bone.
As if mocking them—or wary of the boy—the pitch-black giant began to gather Magic Power.
It opened its massive jaws and let out a deafening roar at the fallen Bell.