The Last Magic Chapter 26

# 26 Sakurako 3

"Why did you agree to that interview?"

After the interview, Ayano scolded me.

"I wanted something that would serve as a message."

I spoke honestly. My relationship with Ayano has been long. Probably even longer than with Rin now. However, there's a big difference between sharing time from elementary school through high school, and sharing time from university onward. Especially the time during my teenage years continued to hold great significance within me.

"A message? Directed at Rin-san?"

Ayano furrowed her brow and made a displeased face. She used to be such an honest, adorable child, so unlike a typical sorcerer, but before I knew it, she had become an adult. She doesn't approve of using the last magic for Rin's sake.

"That's right. If she reads that book, she'll come to me, won't she?"

"You could just contact her normally. For something like that, you'd go to the trouble of using that book?"

"But I'm scared."

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Scared?"

"What if things hadn't gone well? This is magic I've devoted my entire being to, you know? There's nothing more terrifying than whether it succeeds or fails. And it's embarrassing too."

"Embarrassing?"

Ayano's frown deepened further.

"It takes courage to contact someone you haven't seen in a while. You understand, don't you?"

"Is that what the world's number one magic artist says?"

She made an exasperated expression for a moment, then became serious.

"Are you really, really going to use your last magic for Rin-san's sake? I understand that childhood friends are important, but to stop being a sorcerer for that... No, if you were just an ordinary sorcerer, that would still be fine. But Sakurako-senpai, you're now the world's number one sorcerer, you know? I might be saying something cruel, but losing that talent for the sake of one person is far too much of a waste."

I understand painfully well that Ayano is saying this out of concern for me.

"It's all for bringing Rin back to life. ...Ah, when I put it that way, it sounds like zombies, doesn't it? For making it so she had been alive."

I tried to say it jokingly, but my junior's stern expression didn't soften.

"Won't you reconsider once more? Rin-san's death might be sad, but it was fate. It's not something Sakurako-san needs to change by staking her life on it. After all, she's not even family, is she?"

Even if it makes her the villain, this girl is trying to stop me.

When I think of that, my heart wavers. But—

"Hey, Ayano. Everyone thinks magic can't accomplish much of anything. Even the magic I show in videos and live performances now is, in the end, just part of the presentation. That's merely entertainment, drastically removed from magic's true form. But you see, magic is really meant to grant people's wishes. Even the fire and water spells we use—though we might not be able to use them now—they're magic that came to be because long ago, there were many people who desired them. That's why I want to cause miracles with magic in the same way. It might be my wish alone, but it's an irreplaceable wish."

"Even if Rin-san were alive, you might not be as close anymore, you know?"

Ayano said as if squeezing out the words. She had a pained expression. She probably didn't really want to say such spiteful things.

"That's fine, even so. This is my selfish wish, after all. Just having Rin alive is enough for me. Enjoying high school life, working part-time in college and getting a wonderful boyfriend, working hard after entering society, then getting married, and now maybe having children. Just thinking about it makes me happy."

"There's no guarantee things would go that well! I don't know what kind of person Rin-san is, but high school life might not go well, and there's a possibility she could fail her university entrance exams. Even if she gets a boyfriend, how can you be so certain he wouldn't be a strange man? There are plenty of unhappy families even among married couples. What Sakurako-san is trying to do is something very uncertain, you know?"

As if pleading, Ayano grabbed my sleeve.

I hadn't intended to use Ayano conveniently, but perhaps I had unconsciously taken advantage of her. That's probably why she's trying so hard to stop me.

Don't be the only one to stop being a sorcerer, she's saying.

I gently took Ayano's hand.

"That won't happen. Never."

"How can you say that for certain!?"

"Because I intend to cast magic on Rin. Magic that will make her happy. After all, I've been imagining it all along. Rin working hard at club activities in high school, working part-time in her hometown, meeting wonderful people as a university student. Magic is a world of images, so it will surely work out. That will become my true last magic."

I felt a bit embarrassed, as if I were talking about my own delusions, but Ayano had a tragic expression on her face.

"I've never heard of such magic. There's no spell for it either, is there?"

"The essence of magic is wishes. Spells aren't necessary."

When I shook my head and smiled, Ayano said nothing more and quietly left the room.

—---

The day that book was to be released arrived.

I'm at home. Beside me is the black magic book I've been reading all along.

I slowly began to weave the words written on its final page.

An incantation for no one to hear, savoring each word and phrase for my sake alone.

Then, just as Grandmother had told me, I could feel something precious within my heart burning away. In exchange for burning away something precious, enormous magical power filled me.

It reminded me of sparklers. A fragile radiance that seemed about to scatter at any moment.

So as not to let that radiance escape, I recall that moment.

That moment when Rin was hit right before my eyes.

My consciousness twisted with a squelching sound, and as if in a dream, my consciousness alone traveled back through the past. Yesterday's events, things from a week ago, a month ago, when I was being interviewed, when I was doing live performances, my university days, when I was honing my magic skills with Natsuki-senpai, and then—

Just before the signal changed, my consciousness merged with myself from that time.

In an instant, I grabbed the arm of Rin, who was about to step into the crosswalk.

Immediately, a car raced past before my eyes. In the driver's seat was a young woman talking on her cell phone. She hadn't even noticed that the light was red.

Rin turned around.

"Thank you, how did you know?"

Just that familiar face, those words alone, were enough to almost make me cry. Even if this were a dream, I wouldn't regret it.

"Because I'm a sorcerer."

While perceiving something that was about to burn out completely, I told her only that.

Still gripping Rin's arm tightly,

—Please, please, be happy—

I wished with all my heart.

When I came to, I was standing in my original room.

I tried reciting a passage of a spell, and the something that usually responded with a tingling sensation had vanished. Even when I chanted the spell to the end, nothing happened.

I was no longer a sorcerer.

Of course, I had expected it, and I thought I was prepared, but even so, I had harbored a faint hope that some convenient miracle would occur and somehow I alone would be fine.

"I guess that's not happening."

The words I let slip disappeared along with faint regret.

Before I knew it, it was evening. Quite a bit of time had passed.

The doorbell chimed.

I hurried to the entrance without even looking at the intercom monitor.

When I opened the door, there was a familiar face.

The face of that girl, now completely aged and having become a mother.

"——, ——"

A cheerful voice, just as I had imagined, came flying at me. But I couldn't understand what she was saying. My feelings were overflowing too much, my chest was too full.

I tried to say something in return, but even my vision was overflowing with light.