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As soon as I opened my eyes, what I saw were red emergency lights spinning all around.

Ah, I also heard the warning sound urging the remaining staff inside to evacuate quickly since the facility was about to close.

Could it be that I’ve been dreaming all this time? Panicking and getting up, my legs smoothly passed through the floor.

Phew, so the dream wasn’t up until now; this is the dream. I relaxed and looked at my limbs and body. They were long and big.

What on earth was I doing to dream like this? After retracing my memories, I finally remembered. That’s right. I had lured a Mimic into my body and then killed it.

With my brain already overloaded, I must have gone ahead and done that. Ha ha, makes sense.

I should really take care of myself, but why did I push myself so hard?

Getting swept up in the atmosphere, my mind probably went wacky, and I ended up doing something so strange. Well, that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t protect my friends.

Laid out in mid-air and idly passing the time, as time dragged on and I showed no signs of waking up, I decided to look around inside the lab.

Maybe I was really spread too thin because even drug synthesis wouldn’t work since my body wouldn’t cooperate.

I casually passed through walls and searched for my younger self to see where I was.

When “facility closed” was mentioned, I’d be desperately scratching at the door nearby.

If someone asked why I was clawing at the door so desperately when the facility was closing, it was because I knew it was not a normal closure but rather one involving demolishing the building.

Even my younger self knew that the Heros Company was a crazy organization.

After wandering around trying to find the entrance, I finally found her, helplessly tapping on the tightly closed steel door with tears streaming down her face, desperate for a way out.

‘If that’s the case, then why the hell did they give me these abilities?’ The voice of resentment that wailed this still felt uncomfortable… and oddly relatable.

At that time, I genuinely thought I was going to die helplessly and was in despair.

Moreover, back when I was little, I didn’t even know my own abilities; I just thought I was immune to poison and could spit it out, so I never even considered the idea of melting steel to escape.

By the way, what a fortunate timing. If my memory serves me correctly, that person and Justitia should show up soon.

Just when my younger self was about to give up entirely, the tip of a scythe burst through the steel door. Oh, finally, they arrived.

Knowing what would happen next, I felt a bit tormented but also somewhat relieved.

However, my younger self confused that figure as my savior, thinking he was just a Hero with no clue about ‘Villains’ who’d come to subdue them.

As soon as my younger self spotted the scythe, she instantly stopped crying, retreating into the shadows, ready to spray poison.

Looking back, she could’ve just opened the entrance and sprayed poison as soon as she walked in. Why did she try to hide?

Laughing at the foolishness of my younger self, I watched them tear through the steel door.

Maybe because those moments were pieced together based on my memory, some of the scenes felt a bit off, but finally, I could see them.

That person and Justitia.

“Immanuel, are you sure there’s a proper companion? No matter how you look at it, they seem more like… an enemy.”

“I’m sure. There’s no room for misinterpretation. Today’s fortune said that if we come here, we’ll find a very loyal companion.”

“But you didn’t even know there was a lab here.”

“Have I ever been wrong about today’s fortune?”

“As long as you didn’t mess up the interpretation… Nope. But I’m being told to grab a gas mask as a lucky item. It looks dangerous no matter how I see it.”

“But the fortune clearly told me to go directly. What can I do?”

“Seriously, that devil-may-care attitude of his needs to be corrected…”

While both of them were extremely relaxed, I was tense, fully loaded with poison.

They both wore gas masks, making their voices sound a bit funny, chuckling as they awaited our encounter.

They looked at the corpses sprawled on the floor, saying they seemed to have died not too long ago, or complained about the price of the gas masks.

Then finally, when they reached the corridor where I was hiding, as soon as they opened the door, they were immediately engulfed by the poison gas I had sprayed.

My younger self had been quick to shoot as soon as the door opened.

“Wow, it’s definitely worth the money. This Heros Company product is truly worth the cost.”

“Huh, how…?”

My younger self was shivering from the potent gas yet still managed to stand firmly.

That lasted only until Justitia tripped them, and they fell straight down.

“Whoa, whoa. Justitia, that’s pretty rough. They might be a future companion, you know?”

“Do you still think they’re a companion after seeing that?”

“Well… we’ll see, right? Hmm… Hey, you? Are you alone? Or is there someone else alive?”

That person spoke to my younger self with a surprising calmness that made even me amazed.

My younger self was still unable to grasp the situation and just stared blankly at that person.

“From what you just said, it doesn’t seem like you can’t speak… Ah, are you just worn out? Justitia, do you have any drinks? Can you spare some?”

“Seriously?”

“No joke.”

That person told Justitia to stop stepping on them and hooked their arm under my younger self’s armpits to lift them up against the wall.

Only then did my younger self finally snap to it and started hissing at that person to just kill them.

Rather than fear… it was a strangely adorable sight.

Yeah. Like watching a baby kitten hissing. So that’s why that person was laughing so much.

“Oh dear… it must have been rough for a while. Something terrible must have happened to you… Don’t worry. We’re not the people you think we are. We actually came to help you.”

I remembered. Back then, I surely wanted to yell at them, ‘What kind of nonsense do you want me to believe?’

“Would you… help me bring down Heros Company, which did these terrible things to you?”

That person said to my younger self while extending their hand.

My younger self took that hand, only to crash forward.

“Oops… was that my limit?”

That person flipped my younger self over and poured a drink into their mouth.

That was the extent of my memory; it didn’t continue beyond that.

So the memories moved on from there.

My first time visiting that person’s mansion and breaking a porcelain figurine.

Training my abilities under Justitia and finally realizing the essence of my power.

…The memory of my true self being exposed, which I had tried so hard to hide from that person, and that was something nobody had found out until then.

I initially aimed to kill them. That’s how much I wanted to keep my true self hidden from others.

But that person accepted it, saying that it was also part of who I was.

That person was the only one who affirmed my true self.

From that day forward, I vowed to follow that person for the rest of my life.

…But if I reveal my true self to the others, will they accept it?

Could they treat me like before even after knowing my disgusting true self?

If it were that person, they would definitely still accept me while telling everyone else to hold back.

But as for my friends, I couldn’t be sure they’d do the same…

It wouldn’t be strange for them to leave me behind. Still, I didn’t want them to abandon me. I didn’t want to see them leave.

I didn’t want to lose my friends.

But I didn’t want to lose that person either.

While I’m uncertain if my friends would accept my true self, that person would undoubtedly accept it.

…But if I followed that person, I’d only end up straying from my friends.

So from now on, what should I do?

– – – –

It’s been two days since Blanca collapsed.

To summarize the events briefly, the existence of Mimics became known to society, and we couldn’t focus on training at all.

Officially, it was due to an exemption from training because of the illegal use of abilities, but it was clearly just them being considerate.

No matter how harshly the Heros Academy enforces discipline, they probably acknowledged that with a friend in a coma, we couldn’t concentrate.

If you ask if that’s a good thing, I don’t know.

I hadn’t even thought about it. I was just preoccupied with what I would do if Blanca didn’t wake up like this.

Rationally speaking—it was a good thing.

At least the main variable had disappeared. Sure, my friends would be sad, and I’d have to clean up the mess she had left behind…

But nothing I knew would be ruined from now on.

However, I definitely didn’t wish for her to die.

I didn’t wish for my friend to die.

“Blanca…”

Even now, while everyone sleeps, I couldn’t find peace. Being a Heroine, searching for information, and all that was the last thing on my mind.

I just wanted Blanca to wake up.

…Did I just see Blanca move? Was I just seeing things because I was sleepy?

Rubbing my eyes and looking again, Blanca was indeed moving.

“Blanca?!”

She struggled to open her eyes, glanced around, and our eyes met.

“Why are you all…”

It was clear she wasn’t fully aware yet, but I didn’t have the mental capacity to think about that, so I shook the others awake right away.

“Hey, hey! Wake up! Blanca’s awake!!”

“Yawn… what’s going on… oh, Miss Blanca. Is it really you? Are you okay?!”

The others woke up in order, repeatedly panicking.

I quickly got swept up in it and ran outside, shouting that I’d go fetch a doctor.

 

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