Half an hour had passed since I was brought into another room in the orphanage.

(...how did this happen?)

　I think with a sigh.

　There is a large mirror near the wall of this room.

　I see the reflection of a girl in it.

　She is about 10-13 years old.

　Her hair is light brown and reaches to her waist.

　Her face with blue eyes is, well, normal, I think.

　What she wears is a simple cloth shirt and a skirt that reaches to her ankles, and she is a girl with a mature impression.

　Noticing my gaze, she lowers her eyes shyly.

(.........haha)

　I sighed heavily as I looked at my feet.

'That's pretty good work, isn't it, Irna?'
Yes.

　Iltimina-san and Ryuta-san, who had been playing around with me for a while, looking at me like that, looked somewhat satisfied.

''Come on, let's go back to the others.''

　Illtimina said.

　I felt like I was going to cry, and I tried my last resistance.

'....Ho, are you really going back?
You know what I mean. Come on, Merle, buckle up.

　Ugh.....

I'm sure they'll make fun of me.

　With my heavy legs supporting my shoulders, Illtimina-san starts to walk to take me away.

It's going to be okay, Marle.

　Luta-san has a very clean smile.

　Gigi ... slam.

　The door to the other room was opened and the three of us returned to the orphanage's reception room.

　On the visitor's sofa, Asbell-san, Garion-san, and Solstice were sitting on it, and the three of their eyes were focused on me who had come back.　

(Mi, don't look........!)

　The urge to run away now runs through my chest.

　Della said, "Hohoho? His eyes widened in admiration.

'Here you all are,'

　Iltimina said, bringing me forward.

　Miss Asbell said curiously.

''Iltimina-san, who is that girl?''

(...what?)

'What?　Aren't you from an orphanage?

　Solstice asked, surprisingly, looking at Mr. Asbell.

　He shook his head.

'No, I don't know. 'What about Garion?'
I don't know, man. Aren't you the new kid who moved into the orphanage recently?

　Garion-san replies while looking at me with a jittery look.

(............)

　I looked at Illtimina, puzzled.

　She smiles with satisfaction and nods.

　Then she says.

''This is the girl I'm going to ask to be a decoy with Solstice in this decoy operation.
What?
This girl?
Hey, hey.

　All three of us look surprised.

　I flinch as their gazes towards me become more intense.

'Hey, sister Irna?　I don't know anything about that boy but you want me to work with someone like that?

　Solstice is not happy.

　Mr. Asbell nodded.

'Yes. Is the boy an adventurer in the first place?
Yes, of course.

　Illtimina-san responded with a spare look.

　Garion-san clicked his tongue, ''Keh.

''You can't handle a rough affair with such thin arms?　That bait-and-switch operation has the lives of the brats here who are gone, too!

　A sharp look in his eyes hit me.

　Luta laughed.

'It's okay, Garion. You know this boy's skills as well as I do.
...ah?

　Garion looks dubiously at the words of his party mates.

　Ms. Illtimina looks around at the three of them.

'I mean, we all know this girl,'
Yes?
Are we...?

　Solstice and Asbel-san stare at us with a puzzled face.

　The girl who received their gaze, involuntarily, fell on her face.

　Illtimina-san chuckled and slowly opened her lips while gently holding my(...) shoulder like that.

''That's right, ma(...) l-(...)''

　They called my name.

　The air froze tightly, and in the midst of it, I couldn't hold back and hid my face with my hands and crouched down.

''--Marl!

　The three startled voices chant beautifully.

　Illtimina-san and Ryuta-san nodded 'yes, yes' and laughed, seemingly satisfied with their reaction. Only Della-san was smiling bitterly.

(Ah........I didn't expect this to happen.)

　I never expected that I would have to dress up as a woman because of the plan I proposed.

　In a room at the orphanage, with everyone's eyes on me, I wept bitterly....


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇


'Then let's begin. Marle, Sol, we'll step away for a bit and follow you.
Yes.
Please.

　In the street in front of the orphanage, Solstice and I nodded at Iltimina's words.

　The time is evening.
　The sky in the west is slowly beginning to turn red.

　Dressed as a girl, I started walking down the street with Solstice, holding a basket of flowers in my hand.

　The plan of action is this.

　First, we don't go into the favela.

　This is because the girls who were victims were all in the section facing the favela, but they were not favela dwellers.

　So, we, too, pretend to be children from an orphanage and walk along the street facing the favela.

　We're supposed to have Illtimina-san, Asbel-san and Garion-san following us from behind at a regular interval.

　Luta-san has been staying at home.

　The children in the orphanage were shocked by this incident.

''Brother Asbel~!
Sister Lutha!

　They were from an orphanage, and the children clung to them in tears.

　There can't be too many people to chase, and Luta decided to stay behind, hoping to provide a little comfort to the children. We were reminded that the wounds are not only inflicted on the children who are gone, but also on the hearts of those who are left behind.

(Yes, we'll do our best.)

　I'm embarrassed to dress as a woman, but I decide to put up with it too.

　And so the mission is decided.

　As I was walking down the street, Solstice looked at me and muttered softly, "I never thought I'd have to walk with you dressed like this.

''I didn't expect........that I would have to walk with you dressed like this.
...Ugh.

　The shame I was trying to forget comes back.

'Hmph, you look good in it, Ma~lle?'

　The girl next to me smirking and laughing.

　d*mn.........

(I feel like I'm going to be teased about this stuff for the rest of my life.)

　And then Solstice's expression returned to seriousness.

You've got a luminescent signal round?
Oh, yeah. I'm fine.

　I nodded.

　I had them tracking me, but I had a hidden luminescent signal round in case they got away with it. I planned to use it to let them know where I was if their tracking was shaken off.

''........Really, Irna sisters are here, aren't they?

　Solstice looks back anxiously.

　I look at them too, but I don't see them anywhere on the street.

　Since all three of us are "demon hunters" who hunt demons, they seem to have a high level of stealth to hide their presence.

　But the wind will tell you.

''Don't worry, I can still smell the three of you.
Yeah.

　Solstice smiled, dumbfounded by my words, but a little relieved.

'Then we'll do our best too,'
Yes.

　We nodded to each other and continued down the street.

　--Two hours have passed since then.

"Do you want some flowers?
It's a beautiful flower. It's a flower that only blooms in the vicinity of the royal capital, Mulia.

　We sell flowers to tourists in a place called Main Street.

　But we don't sell at all.

　There was only one man who took pity on us and bought some flowers for us. Still, it was only 1 Lido .......100 yen.



　The kids in the orphanage always had to go through this kind of hardship.

　It's mind-boggling to think of that.

　Even Solstice, tired of wearing a sales smile, let out a big sigh and blurted out, "Oh dear," he blurted out.

　I look at the sky to the west.

　The sun was more than halfway down behind the walls of the royal capital, Mulia.

(It's about time, isn't it?)

Solstice, I'm going home.

　I call out to her.

　Her eyes, behind her glasses, look at me.

　From her eyes, the atmosphere of distraction dissipates and the light of a demon hunter is lit.

　Yes, this is where the real work begins.

　As children of the orphanage, we tried to act not funny. As flower sellers, we also made ourselves known. If there really is a kidnapping ring, then I think they've noticed us as well.

(Now all that's left is for them to bite the needle that is us.)

　Solstice nodded, ''Right.

''With an air of '.......you didn't sell today either,'' we left the crowded front street.

　The road to the orphanage is not very popular.

　The two of us walk slowly along the red road lit by the setting sun.

"..........
..........

　He walks in a daze with no conversation.

(.........hmm?)

　We turned into an unpopular road and I noticed it immediately.

'Solstice, it kind of smells like a different flower,'

　I uttered that, nervously.

　Besides the three of us, there's someone else following us - that's the metaphorical cue.

　Solstice glanced at me.

"Yeah. What kind of flower?
I don't know. I think there's like five different kinds of flowers, right?

　And by tracker, I mean five.

"Hmm.

　Solstice nodded and we continued on down the unpopular path, careful not to change our pace of walking.

　We walked for about five minutes.　

(............)

There's a different smell of flowers up ahead.
Really?
Yeah. I think there are maybe three flowers nearby.
..........

　Yes, I can smell about three people who seem to be hiding up front.

　From the back, there are five of them.　

　Eight in total.

　I figured that the three in front were probably waiting for their prey in a place where there were no people around.

　In other words, that's the point of the attack.

''.........''

　Solstice, as expected, you look nervous.

　...I know how you feel.
　Because from now on, we are going to be attacked by this group of people.

(I'm a little scared too.)

　But then they deliberately kidnapped us and we had to track down their hideout.

　Geez.

　I took her hand in mine.

"It's okay. I'll stay with you.

　She looked at me in surprise.

　And then.

Yes.

　He seemed to calm down a bit and gave a gentle smile.

　And so we walked down the street, holding hands.

　The place where the three of us were ambushed by the three of us was intersected by a narrow alleyway that led to the favela.

(...........)

　There were three men leaning against the wall of the alley, chatting.

　They were dressed in an adventurer's style, equipped with swords and armor.

　Other than that, there were no other human figures.

　And - I felt the presence of the five people behind me slowly approaching.

(.........coming)

　We proceeded to walk past the three of them.

　Then.

Oops.

　One of the three took down the spear in his hand.

　Gashan.

　We fell soundly to the ground ahead of us, blocking our steps.

　I stopped in my tracks.

'Sorry,'

　The man laughed and apologized.

　He stepped forward to pick up the spear, blocking our path.

'No,'

　In a hard voice, I replied.

　A moment later - a presence from behind approached at once, rapidly.

(!)　

　He hugs me from the back side and covers my mouth with his hand.

　The same goes for Solstice next to me.

　We flail about, trying to break free of our restraints. It's not natural for us to not resist, even if we are being kidnapped.

　But there was also a simple fear.

　So we rampaged on in a compelling performance.

　Slamming.

　The basket in his hand fell off and the flowers in it scattered. The men trampled on it, carelessly.

(!)

　Suddenly, I lost my strength.

　Before I knew it, I had a cloth in my hand that covered my mouth. The cloth was discolored, as if the medicine had been sunk into it, and there was a strong chemical smell.

''........ick.

　He collapses from his knees.

　I look and see that Solstice next to me is already unconscious, her limp little body being held by two men.

(Sol.........Tis.......)

　My vision spins with a gwangwang and turns black from the periphery.

　While reaching desperately for my precious girl, I lost consciousness as if I were falling straight into the darkness - I lost consciousness.