So that's my boyfriend from today. It's a pleasure to meet you, Belle.
Yes, sir. Major.....


　I had become a soldier, and my master had called me to his private room. I heard that when you become a sergeant, you are given a private room, but my master was stomping around in that room like a big man. But that was just a pose, and he wanted to show me a good time or something unintelligible.


　Since then I've learned who my mentor really is.


　Lawrence Acton. I heard that he was second in the special class anti-magician order and was famous for being a swordsman who dealt with sword techniques passed down from the past....... To say that he is said to be famous is to say that I didn't pay much attention to the existence of the Special Class Counter-Magician at the time, or perhaps it is correct to say that I was so dedicated to training that I didn't have time to pay attention to it.


　Anyway, he knew that his master was no ordinary person, but he never dreamed that he was a special class anti-magician and second in the rankings among them. In other words, he was the second strongest person in humanity. That was probably why he was able to manipulate that many secret swords at will.


I'm not sure I've ever seen such a thing. How do you feel about being a soldier?
Well it's no different. Major.....
You don't have any friends?
I'm not much of a people person, by any means, so...
That's right. You're a very talented guy, but you're not a very good talker.
....
'Yeeeeeee!　Don't kick me under the desk!


　During the meal, the Major said something like that to me. I wanted him to stop pointing out things like that, because I was actually surprisingly concerned about it. And I'm pretty sure this guy is about 20 years older than me, and I'm pretty sure he said that when I turned 20 I think he was ... 37 years old or something.

　Maybe that's why he treats me like a daughter...or maybe that's why he's always talking to me like he cares about his children. It's the same when we have dinner, and even on holidays, he calls out to me, "Let's go somewhere.

　Well, I didn't have any plans, so I just went along with it. Every time he would buy me things, but to be honest, I didn't have any. I didn't hate it though. According to him, he was doing so because he had no use for his paycheck....


'Hey, Belle. Wouldn't this outfit be nice?
Yeah?
Oh. I think it looks good on you.
Well let's try it on.


　What the major shows me is a pure white dress. To be clear, I have no confidence in my appearance. Her body is well-muscled, with muscles that aren't feminine, her abdominal muscles are nicely split, and her calves and other parts of her body are covered in muscle. She's tall and roughly the opposite of what men like in a woman. And I'm stronger than most men out there. That fact, more than anything else, refused to let me be recognized as a woman.


　But maybe I too.......could have had a life of living like a woman. With such faint hopes, I decided to try on the clothes that the Major recommended.


''I wonder if it would look good on me.


　I go into the fitting room and take off the clothes I'm wearing now. Then I try to revise my appearance. After all, it's not feminine. Because I'm going to show the Major.........

　I mean, this makes it sound as if I want the Major to think I'm, well, pretty..................


　I shake my head with a buzz and change my mind. This is just what I'm doing because the major told me to wear it. I don't have any other intentions.


　Then I completely pull the dress over my head, lightly adjust my hair and open the fitting room.


'.........How do you feel?
'Oh!　That's what you call a costume, even for a horse boy!　Holy shit, you look great!
I'm an idiot.


　Shamelessly and quickly close it. When I looked in the mirror, I saw myself there, my face turning red. At this time, I hadn't yet learned the meaning of this emotion.


　◇


Oh, I'm so tired today.
"Major you didn't do anything....
'Oh?　What did you say?
I didn't do... anything...
You've got a real sense of humor, Belle.


　Normally, this is where I get smacked in the head. Of course I anticipate it, so I duck that attack with plenty of time to spare.


'd*mn, you've only grown up with that kind of cunning.

Ha. You're not nearly as good as me. Well what is half as good as I am?
'It's ... too much. In a cursory glance, I think I'm already pretty...close...to the Major....
f*ck you!
If you can hit me I'll catch you up... and you can try...


　We had such an exchange on the way back from our trip to the twilight together. I've lost count of the number of times the two of us have gone to twilight together. The cooperation with the Major has become extreme, and if I may say so myself... I think I'm as close to a special grade anti-magician as possible. To begin with, I became a first-class anti-magician at the age of 19. I know that I've been told that I have a promising future. Still, the reason I wasn't proud of myself was because of the Major. The one who was stronger than anyone else and looked down on me.


　It was annoying at times, but no it was pretty much the same, but I actually think it made me stronger.


　And I celebrated my 20th birthday. And then poof!　And then there is a sound.

　Apparently it was waiting for me to open the door.

　The stuff inside that pops out of the cracker lands on my head without mercy.......


''What is this.........''
The birth!　Happy 20th birthday!　Bell!


　And then he hides it behind his back and takes out the thing, Major. The moment I see it, my eyes widen. It's because it's a sword that the major has carried with him for a long time.


''Demon sword, Oboro Tsukiyo, it's a celebration of my 20th birthday. Let's do it.
But this is....
You know what I'm talking about. I can't handle this sword anymore...
.....


　He knew. That the Major's heyday was long gone, and that the sword was becoming more and more difficult to handle. Oborozuki Yoru, a distinctive sword with a pitch-black blade but a scorching red color on the blade. It seems to have been handed down from generation to generation, but when you say you're entrusting them with it, that means.......


''Oh, did you perhaps think I was retiring?
Isn't that why I gave it to you...?
I can't handle it anymore, so I gave it to you, but I'm not retiring it, okay?　But more importantly, there's no way I'm retiring when you haven't taken one yet. You're an idiot, man.
...!
Oh, shit!　Don't hit me all of a sudden. If it wasn't for me, you'd have been hit by a moron.


　Major takes an uppercut to the jaw but it's all over. He avoided it easily. We were having such a light exchange now, but I knew it. Indeed, he's still strong. He's stronger than I am but I knew that his life span might be close to being over.


　The other day when I happened to look at his change of clothes his body was covered in a red-black imprint. Twilight disease. It's a disease that can kill a person. It occurs when a person is in the twilight for a long period of time, but even though I hadn't yet contracted it Major's entire body was dominated by that imprint.


　Surely the decline in his physical abilities could also be due to that. The Major doesn't say such things and continues to treat me the same way. But it's okay. It's because he's always been strong since the day I met him. He's not trained in such a wretched way to succumb to the disease. His mind is always strong, his body is always strong, and he's even been described as the strongest of the human race. It is said that no one is better than him in melee combat.


　So he'll be fine. I'll be with him from now on, and my days will always be the same...or so I thought.


　However, I would later learn the hard way that reality is cruel and cold-hearted.