Prologue It was an extremely random meeting.
To Synola or Alsheyra Almonise, sleeping wasn"t an equivalent of being defenseless. Although her senses were clumsier than usual, even a Heaven"s Blade successor would find it difficult to attack her in her sleep. Synola could prove it with Kanaris. She could tell Kanaris was within 100 steps of where she was even while she was using Kei to mask her presence. This wasn"t a matter of confidence, but reality.
On that day, Synola spent the entire night in the lab. She had had a meeting till dawn with the other researchers, and had staggered drunkenly onto the lawn outside and slept there. The air smelled fresh and crisp in the morning. An entrance ceremony was currently in progress in the senior school next door. The researchers over on this side had gone over to help, so there weren"t that many people in the lab now. Synola"s strange behavior was well known among her fellow researchers. Sleeping outside on the lawn was nothing to them. Since she thought no one would bother her since they were all busy, she had laid down on the lawn and slept with ease. Even if the stubborn professor found her, it would be interesting to make him mad about it. Synola"s personality was created to fulfill the desires of Alsheyra Almonise. Making a professor mad was something Alsheyra would do without ever getting tired of it.
Synola wanted to get up, but she had no motivation to do so. She knew she"d quickly tire of her life as Synola if she kept living in this ident.i.ty. Life couldn"t be always full of joy. There always were boredom and arguments. She took on the ident.i.ty of Synola because she wanted to remove the boredom of being Alsheyra, but at the end there was still boredom, and she could do nothing about that. As she thought of that, she gradually drifted off to sleep. But she never thought someone would get so close to her before she realized it.
(Who is it!?)
She opened her eyes without making a noise. A seemingly slow reaction. In fact, she was reacting with ease to the next move that the person would make.
She never thought the other person"s next action was to cry.
"Huh?"
It was a normal girl. Synola didn"t sense any traces of her hiding anything. The stirring of a Kei vein could not be masked from the sensitivity of Synola"s ears.
(This child.........?)
Unbelievable. A normal girl walking up to her without hiding her presence and she hadn"t even noticed her. That was her first time.
"Oi, why are you crying?"
Tears slid down her cheeks as the girl looked at Synola. If she was sad about something, she should go somewhere and cry. If she wanted someone to comfort her, then why come to interfere with Synola"s sleep? And she cried after seeing her, why?
"I"m sorry. I think I"m lost," she hastily wiped her tears.
She looked too young to be in the research inst.i.tution. Then she must be a new senior student.
"Never mind that, but why?"
"I......... I don"t know either..."
She didn"t seem to be lying.
"I don"t know why but I feel something in my chest, and I can"t turn away my gaze........."
"Uh........."
Synola looked into the girl"s eyes. Her own reflected image......that should be in there.
"Huh?"
"What is it?"
"Ah, Aaaaah......sorry. Nothing," she smiled to cover up the doubt in her, and looked at the girl"s eyes again.
The reflected image in her eyes really wasn"t Synola. Why.........? Instead, she saw a beast with four legs. Grendan, the Electronic Fairy that was in charge of the Lance Sh.e.l.led city, the insane Electronic Fairy that hated filth monsters. Another shadow stood behind Grendan. The other truth of the Lance Sh.e.l.led City that the family of Almonise was hiding, the other soul that slumbered in Grendan. That was what the girl was seeing. Was this Synola"s imagination? She was just a normal girl.
(Is that it?)
Only one conclusion emerged from her pondering. This girl wasn"t even a Military Artist, but to be caught in such a fate.........? Or had the genes spread out to such a level?
Regios.........The Alchemists made them to fight the world. The genes of fate. But this was also just something random. Even Alchemists weren"t omnipotent. The existence of such a world as this had proven it. Perhaps this really was just something random that had happened outside expectations.
(But if things have become this......)
"I"m Synola, you?"
"Ah......Leerin Marfes."
"Uh, if possible, can we be friends?"
If this defenseless girl was caught in a fate that even Synola couldn"t fight against.........
(I"ll do my best to protect her.)
No matter what that means. And this moment witnessed the real birth of Synola as a person.