"That seems like a good spot."
After a frantic round of escape, the goddess, clearly enjoying my speed, said that to me.
"There..."
And the moment I saw that place, a ripple stirred again in my heart.
"That place is... no way?"
At the same time, one question surfaced in my mind.
Had she pointed to that place... by coincidence?
"Haa, that was quite a pleasant experience."
"...I'm glad to hear you say that."
What was so amusing that she was grinning so brightly like that?
"I'm not fine at all."
Why was this goddess stirring up my heart like this? Reliving an irreversible time, digging back into old wounds, was not a pleasant feeling.
"Still, it's a shame. I wanted to enjoy the festival a little longer."
"By the time you entered, it was already past noon."
When I looked up at the sky, night had already fallen before I knew it. The noisy stalls were closing one by one, and the festival's uproar was beginning to die down little by little.
Maybe because this was the largest Harvest Festival in history, I had a feeling the afterglow would linger for quite a while even after it ended.
Of course, that was only if this flow continued safely.
"I see. Still, well, it's not bad."
"..."
Watching Lady Artemis say that with a relieved expression, I lowered my head in silence.
At night, she really did look like the Artemis I knew, and I couldn't bring myself to raise my head.
Whether she knew how I felt or not, the goddess simply lifted her face and looked up at the sky in silence.
A cloudy, gloomy sky. The blackened night held no moon and no stars, as if rain might fall at any moment.
It felt as though the sky itself was speaking for my feelings. The moment I saw her, my heart had been burning black every second since.
"Orion, may I ask you one thing?"
Keeping her gaze fixed on the sky, she spoke quietly.
Her voice was so different from before that it made me feel as if the girl had once again returned to being a goddess.
"Why do you carry such guilt toward me?"
"...!"
The softly spoken words pierced straight through my chest.
She had known from the very beginning. Maybe not everything, but she had seen right through my heart.
From the start, perhaps it had been impossible to deceive a god. No—beyond that, maybe it had been impossible to deceive her at all.
I had no reason, no evidence, but suddenly I was certain of it.
That she had known me from the very first moment we met.
That the instant she called me Orion, she had been the Artemis I knew, not merely the goddess Artemis.
For some reason, that impossible thought refused to leave my head.
I gave no answer. No, I couldn't.
And the goddess did not demand one, nor did she turn her eyes toward me.
She only kept looking up at the sky, as if regretting the cloudy night.
I naturally lifted my head as well. To my eyes, the sky was still dark, and she and I stood side by side in that darkness where not even an inch ahead could be seen, without a single word between us.
This dim world felt strangely comforting now. If we were swallowed by pitch-black darkness, then my heart would not be exposed either.
I thought it was already too late, but I still turned away from it and tried my best to blend into the darkness, to hide myself.
So that she would not notice. And so that I would not realize it myself.
"A dream..."
"...Huh?"
"I had a dream."
Just as I was about to share a quiet farewell in the dark, those unexpected words slipped from the goddess's lips.
"A dream where I danced with a white rabbit beside a lake bathed in moonlight."
"..."
"Led by that moment, I came all the way here."
She gently stroked the railing with her delicate fingers, as though it were something precious.
"So everything began here."
Yes, everything began here.
On this city wall, her journey and mine began.
We rode a wyvern, flew through the sky, encountered incidents and accidents, and faced partings.
We made a promise that could never be fulfilled, that even if a far, far future came, we would meet again.
That until then, we should not forget this love, and when the day came that we met again, we would share ten thousand years' worth of love.
Ironically, our reunion came not after ten thousand years, but more than ten years ago.
Did she know? That she died by my hand.
That despite spending the same time together and sharing the same feelings, I was too weak to let her go.
There was no way she could know. If she had, she could not be like this.
She should have blamed me, hated me, condemned me.
Ten thousand years had not yet passed, and the love that had piled up was nowhere to be found.
Suddenly, I thought that this dark night sky might not only be speaking for my heart.
It also seemed like a reflection of our relationship. Like a moonless, starless night, nothing had been drawn between us.
It would have been ideal to quietly share a second parting like this.
Whoosh
"Hm...?"
Just before I was swallowed by the dark night sky, a new light suddenly bloomed.
It wasn't a sacred flame. Nothing so grand. That was...
"A campfire. So they had something like this too."
"...I heard they were holding a closing ceremony."
When I had wandered around with Syr, I had spent the night at an inn, so I hadn't known, but I had heard that the Harvest Festival ended by lighting a large campfire and gathering around it.
I'd heard it was a way to burn away lingering regret and lingering attachment together with the fire... but honestly, it felt more like they were dragging things out because they didn't want the festival to end.
Just look at those people. How was that the face of someone burning away regret?
Rather, they looked like people who would burn everything away in this very moment.
As if the heat of the flames had spread to them, they too were burning brightly.
"People are gathering and doing something. I can't see it very well, but can you tell what it is?"
"...They're gathering together and dancing."
It was a simple folk dance. Nothing requiring extraordinary skill, nothing with strict rules—just hands joined together, bodies moving with the flow.
And yet the reason it felt more passionate than any ballroom dance was surely because their hearts were burning.
Their hearts burned as if even the dark sky itself could be lit up.
Night was the time of lovers. As if they meant to burn everything away in this moment, they poured everything into one another.
They held only the other person in their eyes, thrilling each other with passionate gazes and movements.
Watching the dancers, the onlookers chatted, offered congratulations, and sometimes sent teasing jeers.
But in every one of their faces, there was no doubt about it—happiness.
"...Heh."
"Lady Artemis?"
"Heh... heh heh... ahahaha!"
As I stood there flustered by her sudden laughter, she wiped the corners of her eyes and looked at me.
"I thought it was hopeless after all... I see. If it's dark, then all I need to do is light it up."
"..."
"Will you dance a song with me, Orion?"
It was an abrupt invitation. I had no way of knowing what thoughts had led her to say that.
But when I came to my senses, my hand was already touching hers.
"...I only have one hand, so I don't think I can lead very well."
"Don't worry. I'll do the leading."
She moved her body, leading me just as she had said.
Sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right.
Arms moving, hands joined, feet stepping, we used the wide yet narrow city wall as our stage and danced a two-person dance with no audience.
It was not a dance one could call excellent, not even kindly. Her movements were disciplined, but rather than beautiful, they were the movements of someone trained.
It was probably her first time dancing. She would have thought holding a bow was more worthwhile than dancing.
And yet, even with such awkward steps, she wore a deeply satisfied expression.
"I should have brought a prosthetic arm."
For a moment, I doubted my own sanity. It took me a moment to understand what I had just thought.
"This is fun, Orion."
"...Yes, it really is fun."
"Isn't it?"
At my words, a smile finally bloomed on her face.
Like petals in full bloom, it was a dazzlingly beautiful smile. The smile of a woman, not a goddess.
"...Maybe it doesn't matter right now."
Night is the time of lovers. At this moment, I couldn't have been more grateful for that dark night sky.
If we were wrapped in this darkness, then my true feelings would not be exposed either.
So let me be a little greedy.
"Oh? So now you're thinking of doing it properly?"
"Yes, I think I'm getting a little heated."
"Good. Then will you lead this time?"
"Gladly."
No light, no sound, no audience was needed.
All we needed now was each other.
As if we were the only two people left in the world, we focused entirely on one another.
Though it was a different time, a different situation, a different scene from back then, the expressions on her face and mine were exactly the same as they had been then.
The night deepened little by little.
"You're leaving?"
"Yes. As you said, if we stay here, the powerless people will suffer for it."
The next day, under the watchful eyes of the Artemis Familia, who had somehow managed to join us, I shared my final farewell with her.
Even without saying it, I knew. This was the last moment between her and me.
It was a bubble-like time that should never have come to pass, a single night granted to us and us alone.
She must have known it too. And yet there was no trace of disappointment on her face.
"I'm going to do what I have to do. You will too, won't you?"
"Yes. I intend to finish what I have to do."
"I see. Then let's both do our best."
With those words, she turned away and walked back toward her followers.
"Ah."
Just before she took another step, she suddenly spoke as if something had come to mind.
"So, what was your name in the end?"
"Does that matter now?"
"It matters. I won't be able to see you anymore."
There was a strange force in her voice, as if she were emphasizing the fact that she wouldn't be able to see me anymore.
I understood that this was her own way of appealing to me. But...
"Vesta is enough."
"...I see."
I had no intention of leaving any temptation behind now. As if she had read my thoughts, she ended the conversation there and returned to the place she should have been, leaving Orario behind.
Even after she disappeared, I couldn't easily tear my eyes away from her back.
"...Bastard."
"Lady Artemis?"
As their revered goddess spat out an unseemly curse—at least by their standards—the members of the familia all went wide-eyed.
While they wondered what could have made their goddess like this, one man's face flashed through their minds.
"N-no way, that scummy bastard...!"
"He dared to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, humiliate Lady Artemis?!"
"I'll never forgive him, never forgive him, never forgive him, never forgive him, never forgive him, never forgive him, never forgive him, never forgive him, never forgive him, never forgive him."
Already worn out from the previous day's escape, the members of the familia were seething with killing intent, but the goddess's mind was now filled entirely with one man.
"So you really won't stop me until the very end."
She had never imagined he wouldn't try to stop her even once... no, she had known he was that kind of man.
And yet, couldn't he have at least tried once? If he had stopped her, then...
"I would have stayed."
She knew. She knew how much her thoughts were betraying so many people.
But even so, Artemis had predicted that if the man had tried to stop her, she would have remained in Orario. The flame that had been born in her chest had burned away her duty and her convictions alike, filling her entirely with heat.
-Love is an incredible thing! It's the sparkle of life that never goes out!
Suddenly, the words of an old foe she had recently reunited with came back to her.
That woman, whom she had clashed with to the point of exhaustion back when she was in the divine realm. She had dismissed all of her words as nonsense, but the one thing she had heard then had strangely remained in her ears.
"As expected, you're a liar, Aphrodite."
What was so incredible about it? What was so sparkling about it?
Love was something so pitiful, so faint, and yet so cruel beyond measure, the goddess lamented.
"So this is the mortal world..."
If that was so, then all a god could do was accept it as it was. Even if the ending was a tragedy, even if it was a sad ending, one could only grieve and go no further.
Love when alone.
Love when shared by two.
Love that one wants to achieve even if a reason must be made.
Love that can be achieved without any reason at all.
Love that makes you wonder how to convey it.
Love that reaches the other person even without being spoken.
Love that comes to fruition.
Love that does not.
It should have been the same love, so why was it so different?
What was this pain, as if she were being torn apart, so unlike the ache from that time?
At the sudden thought, she lifted her head. The sky, ignorant of her feelings, was as clear and refreshing as could be.
-Love is truly the worst.
Looking up at the cloudless blue sky, the girl thought that with all her heart.