She had seen an unusually long dream. When Elizabelle chose to come to this world, she didn't tell a soul about it, not even that little girl who could only rely on her. Anyone would have criticized her, any other alchemist would have failed to comprehend her logic. Having reached the peak of eternal life, why would an alchemist want to regress to a lower, undeveloped world?

Of course, for her to make this kind of choice, there had been something that mattered to her above all else. More than anyone, she knew Noa needed her, and even if it meant going against the laws of the world, she wouldn't abandon her, no matter what.

So then, how could this happen?

Even if she had overcome death itself, her calculations were wrong.

World End. At the time, Elizabelle was certain that if she fed Wish's power enough energy, it wouldn't take someone's life as payment, but that was wrong. At the very end, it still reached her all the same. In other words, it had been a power that transcended death, the worst possible enemy for an alchemist.

It should have been the end, and yet, she ended up witnessing a very strange dream. A lost girl with a broken heart, and a frozen wonderland that disrupted the world itself.

As Eri ran with all her might with that burning stone of legends burying deeper and deeper into her palm, her resolve reached that fading soul. This wasn't the end. Be it death, or anything beyond, the great alchemist, Elizabelle Elaitea, would not fall here.

☆

It was hard for May to understand how she got here. It was hard to see thanks to one of her eyes being covered by a bandage that wrapped around part of her head, and it was hard to decide where to go from here. All the same, the radiant shine of the crescent moon and the cold breeze were at least comforting.

The garden at the back of Noa's house had originally been much smaller, but now it had become so large you could hardly tell this was a garden anymore. The fresh, short grass swayed from side to side with the wind, and the colors of the flowers spreading throughout came together with the moon to illuminate the atmosphere.

The fancy, golden cutlery and silver plates stood out over that long, wooden-table covered by a pristine white mantle. With a large group of people sitting across the table, it was an unusually noisy night, it wasn't something that May would have attended otherwise, but she wasn't left with much of a choice.

Once the fragrance of the banquet being served by a masked man in all-black clothes reached her, May realized maybe being here wasn't so bad.

"Hah?! You aren't the one cooking?!" A short, blonde maid complained as Noa lay down her head on the table.

"I don't want to do anything for at least a year, or maybe ten, I need vacations."

Despite how exhausted she sounded, at least she could finally relax. That boy had returned with the Philosopher's Stone, and she was ultimately able to save May's life. If things were going to be this dangerous in this city, maybe she had to reconsider moving somewhere else.

"What's the matter?"

X adjusted his sunglasses, crossing his arms after putting down a tray holding a larger plate. Watermelon, pineapple, grapes, strawberries, and other several fruits were all cut and spread across the plate, making it look more like fancy artwork than food. It seemed like this was only the appetizer.

"I like to think I'm a good cook, you know."

"Well, you thought wrong!" Elizabelle placed her hands on her hips and glared at the man. "It will never be as good as Noa's! Neve-!"

"Alright, alright. That's enough."

Noa made her stop mid-sentence by shoving a large chunk of fruit into her mouth with a fork.

"Hm?" The girl sitting next to Noa wrapped her arm around the neck of the red-eyed boy next to her, forcing him closer. "So, what happened? Didn't think you'd look so beat up!"

"I don't want to hear it from the idiot who came here passed out." He spoke with an annoyed tone but didn't have much energy to try moving away. "What happened to saving the city? Maybe you got weaker so this will be a walk in the park."

"Huh?! You sure sound confident!" Wish let go of him and cracked her fists. "Do you wanna go?! Let's see who is stronger right here, right now!!"

"If you start fighting here I am going to kill you both. Behave."

Hearing Noa's words was enough for both to freeze on the spot and look away pretending this conversation didn't happen.

"Um, can I ask something?" Ryuusei who sat across from Wish leaned into the long-haired brunette to his left and whispered. "Who is this guy? He's kinda scaring me."

Caroline leaned her head backwards, taking a closer look at the blond boy with glasses who knelt on the grass while holding the hand of a confused Estelle. It looked like he got wind of them looking at him, so he quickly moved closer, locking eyes with Ryuusei.

"How rude." Viktor adjusted his labcoat and then moved his palm to show them the bright illumination coming from the street lamps in the distance. "Who do you think restored this area's electric system after that earthquake? If anything I should be praised like a hero!"

"Really? That was you?! S-Sorry for being rude!"

Ryuusei lowered his head but Caroline brought a hand to her chin.

"I'm sure it was a hard job, but I'd be careful if I were you. Once I heard a story of this worker who was famous for always repairing any electric failures on time. He was so efficient that the town never had a blackout for years, but it seems like he got too confident in his skills and the same electricity he loved ended up killing him! Can you believe it?"

"Uuwah, you have such a cute face but you say such scary things."

"What's scarier here are your lies, thief."

A strong, deep voice that made Ryuusei nervous spoke. X was standing behind Viktor with his arms crossed, he had appeared so suddenly it was almost like he had teleported there.

"Uh-oh. Looks like this is my cue! See you around!"

Viktor shuddered, he quickly glanced around, grabbed an entire plate full of smoking hot beef, and dashed away at full speed. X immediately sprinted behind him, but Viktor jumped over the fence at the edge of the garden and disappeared into the distance.

"W-Wha-?"

Ryuusei was speechless, what just happened? He thought he had to be careful around blonde girls, but quickly realized it went beyond that.

☆

ϟ"Are you sure you don't want to be with everyone?"ϟ Claudia's voice spoke on the other side of the phone's speakers.

"This is fine, this entire mess was my fault to begin with."

The hero walked across the windy streets of the Green District. Unlike the desolate metropolis, this side of the city had a lot more greenery, and the houses along the sidewalk made for quite the cozy neighborhood.

ϟ"You are being too harsh on yourself! Well, anyway, remember the information you wanted?"ϟ

Before leaving with Faith in search of the Philosopher's Stone, she had asked Claudia to look into something for her. So much had happened that Mirage had almost forgotten about it.

ϟ"You wanted to know more about Wish and her whereabouts these past years, right? So I managed to find-!"ϟ

"Sorry Claudia, I don't need that anymore."

ϟ"Huh?"ϟ

"To be honest, I'm not sure why I asked for it! Haha, well, I'm sorry for making you work extra, I'll make it up to you, okay?"

ϟ"You don't have to be shy now, you know?"ϟ

It was hard to understand why Claudia was so persistent about it, but it was also hard to understand why she had asked for this information in the first place.

Despite this, Mirage didn't really care about it either way. She stared at the lonely skies with no stars. It was hard to explain why, perhaps it was because Noa was able to save Claire in the end, or because Eri was able to get the Philosopher's Stone to the doctor in time, but Mirage felt like an immense weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

"By the way, did you also look up Celeste? In the end, I still couldn't find the woman in that photo."

ϟ"I won't sugarcoat it. The woman in the picture has been long dead."ϟ

"..."

ϟ"As we theorized, that was Celeste's mother, Clarissa Soleil. Three years ago, she was found dead along with her youngest daughter, Aurelia Soleil. According to reports from the newspaper at the time, it seems like she killed her own daughter and then took her own life."ϟ

Immediately after saying this, Claudia messaged her a picture that showed both Clarissa and Aurelia's faces, as well as one showing a younger Celeste.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! You are kidding, right?! This is the same girl that I spoke with!! She was trying to help her sister- but- if she died three years ago-, no, you can't be serious."

ϟ"Considering the things we deal with, it's not entirely impossible, is it?"ϟ

"This is too cruel," Mirage muttered under her breath, her limbs quickly getting colder, and goosebumps spreading across her skin. "She probably didn't realize she was dead."

ϟ"In the end, you did what you could, didn't you?"ϟ

"Yeah." The brunette took a deep breath as she ended the call with Claudia. "You can rest well now, Aurelia. Your sister is going to be okay."

"Thank you!"

Mirage's eyes could only open wide as the voice of a young girl reached her ears. There was no one there. Mirage was alone with only the sound of the howling wind and the light of the old street lamps keeping her company.

The hero placed a hand on her chest and took deep breaths, trying to calm herself. At the end of the day, against all odds, Faith didn't let Celeste die in the Error Spot. Maybe, just this once, Mirage would accept it was her loss.

It was an odd sensation. Despite everything, why did she feel so happy?

For the first time in a long time, her heart didn't hurt anymore. It was as if the wind carried a new sense of freedom.

What was she so worried about all this time?

Of course, as much as Mirage couldn't realize it, there was a tint of sadness hiding in this freedom. As much as her heart wanted to dance, something within had lost all its colour.

After all, the world wasn't so kind as to let you go without taking something as payment.

The hero looked at an old, star-shaped stone that rested in her pocket all this time. Despite having been with her for years, it was well taken care of and shined as bright as it did on the day she got it.

It was supposed to be one of that girl's good luck charms.

She had clung to it all this time, and it had kept her going even when all the odds were against her.

Why did she cling to something like this for so long? As much as she looked at it now, it didn't mean anything anymore.

As the hero walked deeper into the City of Light, a lonely, good-luck charm was abandoned on top of an empty trash can.

The radiant red had been taken away by the Error Spot. On that day, the concept of love didn't exist in her world anymore.

☆

As for Starr, it had become very difficult to focus on the food. He had sat across from Estelle without thinking, only to end up sandwiched between Eri and Claire. Interacting with Wish had been one thing, but it was hard not to be self-conscious about other girls his age.

"Hey," Eri spoke, glancing intently at the boy with a smile on her face. "I remember you! You were with that scary girl!"

"Ah-um...Wish? She's not that scary... I think."

"She's not scary, she's just an idiot."

Faith, who sat next to Eri, commented. Thankfully Wish was too focused on stuffing herself with food to realize.

"She's too loud." Claire didn't hesitate to complain as she crossed her legs. "And she's too bright, looking at her hurts my eyes."

"Too bright?" Starr couldn't understand a single word coming from that gloomy girl.

"And you are too bright too, don't look at me."

"S-Sorry!"

Starr looked away, but Eri was quick to intervene.

"Don't mind her too much. This is probably her way of saying she wants to be friends!"

"Eri, be quiet."

"Hm? You are just too shy! Be more honest!"

"..."

"How about me, do you want to be friends with me, Claire?"

"I'll consider it."

("They weren't friends already?!")

For a moment Starr realized it may have been easier to understand Wish than knowing what these girls were thinking. The way they spoke to each other was almost as though they had known each other for years.

"How about you?" Eri then looked at Starr again. "Do you want to be friends?"

In response, the boy could only nod awkwardly.

"Then it's decided!!"

Starr lowered his gaze and smiled, only for his eyes to meet Estelle's honey-yellow eyes. The pink-haired girl looked at him with a sly smile as she rested her head on her hands.

"Heh, aren't you the playboy?"

"T-That's not-!"

"Hehe, your face is all red!"

"Stop teasing him." Ryuusei lightly pressed his hand against Estelle's forehead in a chopping motion. "Besides, shouldn't you be worrying about something else?"

"What do you mean?"

He leaned closer to Estelle to whisper, but it was hard to ignore a certain glare only intensifying as he did that.

"That guy has been looking at you the whole time, do you know him?"

"Hm?"

The pink-haired girl followed Ryuusei's gaze only to see a pair of deadly red eyes intently looking at her. The moment she did so, Faith quickly looked away.

"Nothing to be surprised about, I'm a famous superstar and I'm also good-looking! It's only natural this would happen!"

"I'm sorry but... I've never heard of you before. Are you really famous?"

"H-How dare you doubt me!! I'll have you know I have over 500 subscribers in CorpTube!!"

"Um..."

As much as he tried staying quiet, his expression easily gave away how his immediate thought was: "Only 500?"

May had no interest in participating in any of these conversations, but she couldn't deny listening in on them was interesting in its own way. That said, someone stood out in the midst of this crowd.

She looked to the side, glancing at the girl with long red-hair who fidgeted with a spoon in her hand.

"So..."

May's voice made the girl jolt up before she quickly turned around to look at her.

"And you are?"

Her eyes darted around, and she took a deep breath before finally being able to speak up.

"I'm Celeste, Anything Scarlet's new member!"