26 May Bellwar

"Hey, Jun."

"What is it, sister?"

That day. Before the usual report meeting, May asked Jun for a favor.

"Can you change tomorrow's hospital visit?"

"Uh... no way..."

The hospital isn't fun, Jun says.

May and Jun are both taken to the hospital separately.

Both for heart checkups.

Their purposes, however, are completely opposite.

"I don't like hospitals either. So, okay?"

"Hmm... then let me skip school for two days next week."

"Two days? Yeah... alright."

"Promise?"

"Of course. Have I ever broken a promise with you?"

"No."

They laugh together.

"So, what happened today?"

"Yeah. First thing in the morning..."

May speaks cheerfully about that day's events.

Hearing it, Jun felt as though he had experienced it himself.

"Anyway, before we go back..."

May paused mid-sentence.

Her cheeks relaxed into a smile.

"Before...?"

"…Secret!"

"Whaaat?"

Jun voiced his strong dissatisfaction at being left in the dark.

"Why, why! That's unfair!"

"But I want to keep it secret. You have things you want to keep secret too, don't you?"

"I don't. I tell my sister everything!"

"Hmm. But no. I won't tell you either."

May smiled faintly, refusing to yield.

Jun grew sad, wondering why she was being so cruel.

To Jun.

What May shared was half the world.

To lose that was unbearable.

"Please, tell me! Please, tell me!"

"No. One day, you'll understand. When you too have something you don't want to tell me."

"…You're such a fool, big sister!"

Jealous and stubborn, Jin burrowed into his own bed, refusing to be swayed by May's silence.

"Going to sleep?"

"…………"

"Good night, Jin. Please, do the test tomorrow?"

"…………"

He continued pretending to be asleep.

May puffed out her cheeks in response to his obvious sulk, then slid into her own bed.

The next morning. Jin, having kept his promise and dressed in May's clothes, went to the hospital in her place.

Of course, the test would reveal the switch immediately.

But it did not.

"An alarm? What in the name of defense are those incompetent soldiers doing…!"

May's father cursed as he drove the vehicle at high speed toward the shelter.

The house receded further and further into the distance.

"Ah… Jin’s at home."

"Jin? Ah. That one… Well, can't be helped."

"True. Money's a waste, but we can always gather more."

That was when Jun first realized he meant little to his parents.

Yet he could not say he was not May—just as he took shelter without protest.

The alarm ceased. When he returned home, the house was gone, root and branch.

The ASID that had breached the convoy. Destroyed. All debris expelled through the breach into space.

May was gone.

When Jun understood this, sorrow surfaced first.

Then came the thought: next week, school would be every day, not just two days.

"Root and branch. Lucky we didn't have to deal with remains."

Father spoke something, but Jun did not hear.

"May!"

"Ah, Kou…"

The neighboring house had suffered the same fate, yet they had evacuated in time—lives spared, though nothing else remained.

Were you alright?

Yeah. Thanks.

Kou has always been concerned about Jun.

Even now, they continue to care so deeply.

That was very pleasing to Jun.

Hey May. I know it's not the right time, but... about yesterday's conversation...

"……Yesterday?"

Jin recalls the conversation he heard from May yesterday, wondering what it could be about.

There was no mention of him having a particular conversation with Kou there.

Kou had initially thought Jun was merely dazed, but upon realizing Jun truly did not know the matter, his face tightened.

Distinct from the gentle gaze directed earlier.

A gaze fixed on something inexplicable.

Stop, Jun screams inwardly.

Don't look at me like that.

Don't say it.

Who are you?

May and Jun's shallow exchange was quickly exposed.

It would be immediately apparent upon inspection.

The fury of his parents at that moment was unparalleled.

Repeatedly, relentlessly pressed.

Yet more than anything else,

it was Kō's gaze that had pierced deeply into Jun's heart.

◆ ◆ ◆

"Those are the essentials."

"Sasamori trainee, you are aware of this?"

"Yes. Only him. The one who understood the difference between me and May."

That was why everything had been told.

"...Always smiling, cheerful. In elementary school, he truly was kind."

That image did not align with what Jun had seen of Kō.

Paradoxically, Sharon Bellwar's existence proved just how significant Kō had been.

"I changed him."

A deep regret lingered in those words.

"But I couldn’t conceal it. I couldn’t pretend to be May in front of someone who knew I wasn’t May."

Perhaps. Without that, she might have been able to act as May at home, at least. Out there—she could have managed.

But Kou’s presence would not allow it.

She did not want to do such a thing.

“After that, you never spoke to me again… but I wanted to talk once more.”

She had chased him all the way to the training academy.

“We joined the same squad, and only then did we begin to speak a little. Then Yuriya—Yuriya, who knew nothing of the original May—became my friend…”

Ah, Jin understood.

That was why she said, during that interview, that her purpose had already been fulfilled.

She wanted to speak with Kou again. Anything would do. Just to be seen by him, to speak with him once more.

“There are still many things I’d like to ask…”

“Now that we’re here, I’ll answer everything.”

“First, about my parents…”

“They’re alive. That’s the best outcome. Probably because they’d rather not deal with the trouble of killing them.”

The relationship was too harsh to endure. It was natural, then, that she would not want to return to such a household.

And that attitude made sense now. The Bellwald family no longer regarded the girl before them as family.

"Since you're likely to ask, I'll say it upfront—my body won't last long. The growth acceleration administered to catch up to May's age... apparently, surviving past thirty is considered a success."

"…I see."

Jin now felt like he wanted to storm to her parents' home and strike them.

What did they think she was?

The bitterness was not in the fact that he couldn't save her—but that he couldn't.

"Please don't worry about it. I've known this for a long time. Besides, there's that saying—thirty years of life, after all."

"Fifty years. Don't get it wrong."

"Y-yes."

As someone who had, however lightly, absorbed the weight of history, this mistake was inexcusable.

"So that's why you're always late... is that it?"

"Eh?"

"Eh."

"Ah, yes. Indeed it is."

"Did you just say 'eh' now?"

"Delusion, that's all."

Jin does not let it slide.

"You're not seriously suggesting... in the middle of this conversation..."

"No, not entirely unrelated. Due to an unusual growth pattern, my development halted midway. Physical stamina is insufficient... I can't shake off fatigue easily."

"I see. Well, in that case..."

Jin nods, convincing himself.

"Let me ask again. Why do you fight, May?"

"...After hearing all that, will you still call me May?"

"To me, you are nothing but May Bellwair."

"...Thank you."

She looks down, rubs her eyes. A gesture that seems slightly childish. Upon hearing it, it makes sense, in a way.

Given the circumstances, her actual age was likely younger than her official records indicated—mentally as well as physically.

"I have only one reason to fight. I don’t want Kou or Yuriya to die. That’s all."

"...What about yourself?"

"Well, at most fourteen more years. Even if it’s a little shorter, I don’t mind."

Jin understood.

Not just Kou.

May too. The two of them were much like Jin had been before.

Kou had lost the real May.

May had lost her reason to live.

Exactly like Jin had been before meeting Mio.

"Which is why, Instructor. If possible, I’d like you to continue as you have been, starting tomorrow."

"Impossible."

"Instructor..."

"After hearing that, I can’t leave you be."

Jin declared it.

"Prepare yourself. I’ll make you want to live."

"That’s... another cruel declaration, Instructor."

With a faint air of disbelief, May smiled like that.