Prologue – The Sorrowful Dragon

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“Tell me the truth Raishin! Do you really hate Yaya that much!?”

Nurse Yaya was crying while advancing forward.

Raishin scrambled backwards on his bed, and spoke with half closed eyes.

“Before I answer you, first you have to throw away that giant syringe.”

“Th, this is a necessary tool for your true feelings to emerge.”

“That’s just coercion! You just want to extract the answer you want to hear from me!”

This was the first floor of the medical faculty. Next to the doctor’s office, there was a ward for students.
Injured from the battle the other day, both he and Loki had been admitted into the ward. Loki was currently in the bed next to Raishin, reading a thick book on magic arts with a sour expression on his face.

Perhaps she thought what Raishin said made sense, for Yaya threw aside the giant syringe.

Raishin sighed in relief, then scratched his head roughly.

“Well, it’s not like I hate you or anything.”

“That means you like me right? You love Yaya deeply, right?”

Yaya was slowly advancing up the bed. She was biting her lustrous lips, eyes moist, and cheeks slightly flushed with passion. She stared at Raishin deeply.

By now she was close enough for him to feel her body warmth. A sweet and fluffy smell wafted over. Raishin started to feel dizzy, but he marshalled his senses together, and pushed Yaya’s head away.

“Quit it. Remember, why did we crossed the vast seas, all the way to the other side of the world? Was it for sightseeing? A honeymoon?

“Well…”

“We have a job to do, a mission we have to accomplish at all costs. This isn’t the time or place to be speaking about falling head over heels in love.”

It was a sound argument. Yaya faltered, becoming despondent.

Raishin sighed, rubbing Yaya’s head.

“I don’t hate you, and I think of you as an important partner. Isn’t that enough already?”

“Ab-solutely not enough.”

“Don’t give me such a flat refusal immediately! It took all the kindness in my heart to come up with that!”

Yaya began to break down in tears.

Yaya tried her utmost best at preparing advances, and tried all means and ways of temptation, but there’s not even the slightest hint of Raishin coming on… Is Yaya really that lacking in charm?”

“Before I comment on your “charms”, consider the fact that this is a ward, ok? This is a public space, alright? If you start acting weird in a place like this, I’m very sure it’s a violation of moral ethics.”

“As long as we have love, that is something that can be easily overcome!”

“Don’t just casually dismiss ethics like that! Before speaking of love, go learn some common sense first!”
It looked like she was getting weary of all the talking. Yaya had half risen to her feet, and was slowly sidling over towards Raishin.

There was a glint in her eye, like a cat that had cornered a mouse— or more accurately, like a tiger’s.
On the other hand, his body was still wounded. If it came down to a contest of brute strength, every outcome he could think of would end badly in his favour.

Not good. If only there was a saviour somewhere…

“Ah, Irori! Perfect timing!”

“Eh!? Sis!?”

Gulping nervously in guilt, Yaya flusteredly turned around.

However, there was no one standing in the doorway.

Momentarily, she felt relief. Slowly turning her head back, the sight of an empty bed greeted her.

A cool summer breeze blew in from the open window, causing the curtains to flap about.

Tears began to fall from Yaya’s face,

“He escaped!!”

(Sheesh, Yaya can be such a bother sometimes…)

A bit fed up, Raishin leaned against the backrest of a bench, trying to catch his breath.
He was on the roof of the medical faculty. Below the clear blue sky, white sheets and white uniforms were fluttering about, creating a contrast so vivid it hurt the eye to look at.

He had flown out of the window and ran away temporarily, but almost immediately returned to the medical faculty building, and escaped up onto the roof. In principle, idiots who were admitted into the ward were not permitted to wander about outside.

(It’s been happening for several days now, huh… Yaya acting all spoilt like that.)

He had been hospitalised for ten days. For the first five days, in contrast to her current behaviour, Yaya had been in a good mood of sorts.

The turning point had been the sixth day, when Frey came down to visit.

Ever since that day, Frey had been bringing down lunch for him. Even though she had classes in the mornings, and was busy with the Night Party in the evenings, she had faithfully continued to do so. It was just like a dutiful wife visiting her husband.

(Well, it’s not like we’re having some sort of love affair going on, more like she just feels a strong sense of obligation towards me I guess…)

Letting out a sigh, he laid down on the bench. A shadow passed over his head.

Thinking it looked like the familiar shape of a little dragon, he hurriedly sat upright.

“… Just a bird, huh?”

The white wing flying overhead belonged to a dove. It looked nothing like Sigmund.

(That reminds me. I haven’t seen her around lately.)

Sigmund’s mistress, Charlotte Belew.

Someone who, like Raishin, had very little friends, and so they had befriended each other… although, whether she could still be called his friend was something questionable at best.

“You are really, really an idiot the size of Big Ben!”

Ten days ago, just before Raishin set out on his reckless excursion, Charl had yelled that at him, and ran away with tears seemingly in her eyes. Since then, she hadn’t even visited him once.

Was it possible he had made her angry?

(That would be bad… Hm?”)

Looking over at the fluttering sheets, a person standing by the edge of the roof caught his eye.
Raishin, for a moment, confused the person with someone else.

(Charl—?)

No, that wasn’t her. Charl had golden hair that sparkled under the light; the girl on the roof had flaxen hair instead. The way she wore her hat was different too, pulling it low over her eyes, giving off an unfashionable feeling.

The girl didn’t notice Raishin’s presence, staring straight at the clock tower.

The clock tower itself had been gorgeously decorated. Flowers adorned the tower as far as their stems could reach, and numerous flags fluttered about in the wind. If he strained his ears, he could hear the faint sound of a band playing.

Now that he thought about it, there was a supposed to be a memorial ceremony commemorating the hundred year anniversary of the construction of the clock tower, or so he heard.

The girl placed her hands on the railing.

Whether through his keen reading of the situation, or some form of intuition, alarm bells starting going off inside Raishin’s head.

Not good, he thought; by this time his body had already sprang into action. Raishin ran forward on his legs, which had just been removed from their cast. Meanwhile, the girl had climbed onto the railing in one breath.

Just as he predicted, she clambered over the railing, and launched her body into the empty space in front of her.

Raishin leapt over the railing, chasing after the girl with neither hesitation nor plan.

Grasping on to her arm in mid-air, his free hand grabbed on to the railing.

He felt a sudden increase in weight. A sharp pain ran through his right collarbone, causing him to lose to lose his grip involuntarily. The railing began to recede into the distance all too quickly, the excess weight ruthlessly dragging Raishin downwards. The roof was six floors up. Directly below them was the stone terrace. If they were to hit it straight on, there was no way they were just going to walk away with light injuries!

“Yaya! Come to me!”

Offering up a prayer, he called the name of his partner. Of course, there was no way his voice could reach her. However—

The thought behind it, did.

With a crash, a window on the first floor broke, a black shadow bursting forth from within.

A dark, ghostly aura seemed to be spreading forth from the thing which had emerged from the window; it was a black haired girl.

A tiny horn that sparkled like it was diamond was growing on her forehead.

(Yaya…!? What’s with that horn—?!)

No, that wasn’t important now. Raishin swallowed the words coming out of his mouth, extending his right hand out towards his partner.

He focused his magic energy. Yaya’s whole body began to swell with power. Dashing up the wall, she gently held onto Raishin, halting his fall. At the same time, she dug her fingers into the wall, forcing them to decelerate.

A crumbling sound could be heard as Yaya’s nails gouged out bits of the wall as they descended.
And then, with a soft thud, they finally landed.

“Thanks, Yaya. You’ve saved—“

“Raishin is an idiot! Why would you do something so reckless like that!?”

The moment he opened his mouth, he got yelled at.

The horn on her forehead was disappearing. In its place, her eyes were brimming with tears.

“… It couldn’t be helped. This one over here suddenly jumped off the roof.”

The situation was awkward. Raishin turned his face away like he was trying to escape, and noticed something unusual.

The girl he was holding on to was trembling all over.

“Hey, are you ok? Are you injured anywhe—“

“Nooo!! A man!!”

She suddenly pushed him away.

Because he was unprepared for this sudden attack, Raishin couldn’t react, and so tumbled over.

The girl hid behind some bushes, peeking over at them fearfully. As Raishin thought, the girl’s face did resemble Charl’s, but the frightened expression on the girl’s face was nothing like Charl’s at all.

“Why did you do that all of a sudden!?”

The girl jumped up in shock. Pulling her hat down with both hands, she covered her face with it.

“I’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorry”

“Ah, no, I’m not mad at you or anything. What’s wrong with you? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Why are you asking her if she’s feeling well, Raishin?”

Yaya’s cold voice cut in. Raishin ignored it, and walked over to the girl’s location.

“Hey, are you suicidal or something? Why would you jump off the roof like that?”

The girl dripped onto her hat tightly, while slowly backing away. And then—

“Un… Unreasonable.”

“Huh?”

“You hindrance, unpleasant man, interferer! Why did you have to go and save me…!?”

While crying, the girl started to blame Raishin.

“Take responsibility for this! Compensate me!”

“Responsibility… Well, even if you say that…”

“Kill me! If you won’t, at least mess me up!”

“… What’s “mess you up”?”

“Just follow your carnal desires and violate me! I don’t care anymore, so do as you please! Let out all that lust completely!”

“Like hell I’m going to do that! Just what kind of person do you take me for!”

Giving her partner a shock by turning around suddenly, Yaya smiled the smile of a killer demon,

“You heard her, Raishin. Let’s mess this vixen up.”

“You don’t mean the same thing as her!”

In that moment, the girl had fled out of the bushes, and ran away while still crying.

“Ah, hey! Wait!”

The girl wasn’t running away particularly fast. At her speed, he could easily catch up to her. However—
The ground rumbling signified that a mysterious earthquake was happening, and Raishin’s feet were rooted to the spot.

Yaya was sniffling as she slowly advanced towards him,

“Once you caught up to her you were going to mess her up, weren’t you… while following your carnal desires, you were going to let out all your lust…”

“Wha— No! Like something like that could ever happen! Read the atmosphere, Yaya!”

“Even though you keep ignoring Yaya’s advances… when that vixen tempted you, you…!”

There was no time to pacify her. Yaya flew at Raishin, wrapping her hands around his neck.

Her bottled up unhappiness showed, for today’s Yaya was using more strength than she normally would. His windpipe was being constricted, and the flow of blood to his head cut off. His consciousness was rapidly fading—

A tremendous roar could be heard.

Yaya was surprised, and dropped Raishin. While coughing and choking Raishin opened his eyes, only to see the sky was being split into two above his head.

A dazzling bright light was striking the clock tower. Like butter dropped into a frying pan, the clock tower quickly began to disintegrate, causing the earth to rumble as it slowly began to lurch over.
It was like looking at the Leaning Tower of Piza. No, actually, it was even worse. The clock tower was slanting at a greater angle.

The clock tower was a symbol of The Royal Academy of Machinart, Walpurgis. With a hundred years of history behind it, it now spat out dust so fine it looked like mist, as it crumbled all too quickly.
The participants of the ceremony began to flee. The dust cloud began to envelop the sky before his eyes, rapidly engulfing both Raishin and Yaya inside.

Within the midst of the worst visibility possible, for a brief second, something faint could be seen.
It was a silhouette floating above in mid-air. Golden hair fluttering, riding atop a steel coloured dragon, the figure quietly observed the carnage that had been brought about by its own hand.
Bringing to mind the image of the dragon knights of legend, it was both gallant, and beautiful. The shadow was—

“Charl…!?”

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