Chapter 96 Yuki Chihiro ⑤
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
I rap my knuckles against the heavy door of the Chairwoman’s office.
”It’s Yuki Chihiro and Yamato Haruna,” I said. “May we come in?”
”Eh? Ah! Wait! Give me a second!”
The Chairwoman’s voice drifts from inside, frantic and high-pitched. I hear the muffled thump-thump of things being kicked and the unmistakable rustle of someone frantically shoving a mess into a corner.
Is this woman really over five centuries old? I wondered.
After a long pause, she finally speaks.
”Sorry to keep you waiting,” the Chairwoman said. “Come on in.”
”Excuse us,” I replied.
I push the door open. For a “Chairwoman’s Office,” the place is surprisingly sparse. I suppose she doesn’t have much of a taste for the gaudy. Books are crammed into every available inch of the shelves. But on the floor… well, there’s a trail of discarded laundry. A dress shirt and a skirt lie crumpled where they were dropped, looking like they’d been shed only seconds ago.
”Ah… ahaha. Sorry about the mess. I was just changing, you see,” the Chairwoman said with a sheepish grin. “Can’t really be helped when you’re in a rush, right?”
She lunges to scoop up the pile, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead. I honestly don’t think she needed to change just for us. As usual, she’s now draped in her signature black robe, a heavy garment embroidered with intricate gold thread.
Is she just… incapable of tidying up? I wondered. Among the heap of clothes she just grabbed, I could’ve sworn I saw a flash of black lace – something dangerously sheer that definitely wasn’t part of a school uniform. I guess even a legendary hero has her secrets when it comes to her lingerie drawer.
But that’s not what stops me in my tracks.
”Um… you are the Chairwoman… right?” Yamato-san asked.
She blurts it out before she can stop herself. I don’t blame her. The Chairwoman’s hair and eyes… they aren’t the exotic colors of this world anymore. They are the deep, honest black of a native Japanese.
* * *
We take our seats on the sofa, facing her.
”Chairwoman… your hair. Your eyes…” I muttered.
”These? This is how I actually look,” she replied. “I usually keep an illusion up to blend in. But since we’re being honest: My name is Carmilla Oliver. I was one of the Heroes summoned to this land once upon a time – the one who slew the Demon King. But my real name is Oribe Mira.”
”Oribe Mira!?” I shouted.
The name hits me like a physical weight. Even as a high schooler, she was a legendary voice actress – a household name for anyone even remotely plugged into the industry. She’d made her debut back in her second year of middle school.
”Yuki-kun, do you know her?” Yamato-san asked.
She looks lost. The name doesn’t seem to ring any bells for her.
”Know her? She’s a star,” I explained. “She voiced the lead in Magical Girl War Chronicles¹… wait.”
”What is it?” Yamato-san asked.
”Wait… no. I’m sure it was her,” I said, after a pause. “But… why does it feel so wrong? My memory says it was someone else… a different actress entirely.”
Something is wrong. My skin crawls with a sense of dissonance. Magical Girl War Chronicles came out three years ago. My sister, Natsumi, was obsessed with it. I watched the DVDs with her so many times I could quote the lines. I’ve always had a good memory, but now it’s like two different versions of reality are fighting for space in my head.
”Yuki-kun, I don’t know the show, but couldn’t they have just recast the role?” Yamato-san asked.
”No, it’s not that,” I replied. “I can see Oribe Mira’s name on the credits in my head. But at the same time, I remember seeing a completely different name. If it was a recast, it would have happened mid-season, but I remember it being someone else from the very first episode.”
The “wrongness” is nauseating. Two conflicting memories, perfectly preserved, overlapping. But the woman herself just shrugs it off.
”A voice actress, huh? I guess I did that. It’s been five hundred years, kid,” the Chairwoman said. “Honestly, I’ve forgotten almost everything from before I was teleported.”
She says it so casually it’s jarring.
”Is that even possible?” I asked.
”Yeah. I’ve kept a diary ever since I arrived, so I can look back and see what I’ve done in this world,” she explained. “I’ve been married, I’ve had a life… haha, I know the names of my husbands, but I couldn’t tell you what their faces looked like if my life depended on it.”
Is that the price of immortality? Oribe-san – or Carmilla – talks about her own past like she’s reading a stranger’s biography. Then, a detail catches up to me.
”You were married!?” I asked.
”Hey, that’s a bit rude,” the Chairwoman said, with a sharp edge. “When you live this long, you’re bound to walk down the aisle once or twice. My first husband was actually the founding King of Envyos, Zirnal I.”
”Wait… so you were the Queen!?” Yamato-san asked.
”The former Queen,” she replied. “Even now, my many-times-great-grandson – the current King or the Crown Prince – drops by to visit. Not that I touch politics. I’m just the Chairwoman of the Magic Academy now.”
The Mother of the Nation. It makes sense why the royals would visit her. I’ve heard there are portraits of her and the Founding King in the castle. Maybe I should go see them. But we’re getting off track. I try to push her on the “wrongness” I felt, but she just shakes her head.
”Mmm. Like I said, the ‘Old World’ is a blank to me. I can’t even remember my parents’ names,” the Chairwoman said. “If you’re feeling a ‘glitch,’ I can’t tell you why… actually, wait. Maybe.”
She stands and heads to a bookshelf, pulling out a thin, weathered volume.
”Um, what’s that?” I asked.
”Take a look for yourself,” she said, opening the book.
It’s her diary, written in Japanese.
”This is from the very beginning. It lists the names of everyone who was teleported here with me,” she explained.
”You mean…” I trailed off.
”Yeah. Yamato-san, as you’ve probably guessed, they were my classmates,” the Chairwoman said. “My diary says so, even if my brain doesn’t. Take a look… do any of these names mean anything to you?”
I scan the list. Nothing.
”No, I don’t recognize anyone,” I said. “Yamato-san?”
”…No, it couldn’t be,” Yamato-san said, her voice dropping. “It’s probably just a coincidence… but…”
”Yamato-san? Did you find someone?” the Chairwoman asked.
”Yes. One name. Nagato Musashi,” Yamato-san replied. “It’s the same as my grandfather. He was a man of mystery. People called him a delusional eccentric when he was young because he kept ‘predicting’ things that hadn’t happened yet.”
I know that story. Everyone does. The “Prophet” who predicted the future with terrifying accuracy. He married, built a corporate empire by riding the tides of the era, and navigated global economic crises like they were nothing. The Yamato name came from her grandmother’s side; her grandfather took her name when they married. No one ever knew why.
But if her grandfather and the boy in this diary are the same person…
”Nagato-kun went back to our world after we killed the Demon King,” the Chairwoman said. “If he’s your grandfather, there’s a massive time dilation. Yamato-san, when did your grandfather… for lack of a better word, ‘appear’ in our world?”
”About fifty years ago, I think,” Yamato-san replied. “The police couldn’t find his records. There was someone with the same name, but the age was all wrong. He had to start his family register from scratch.”
”Then it’s just as I feared,” the Chairwoman said. “Chihiro-kun, Yamato-san… you might want to give up on the idea of ‘going home.’”
The Chairwoman’s playfulness vanishes. Her face is stone-cold.
”What… what are you saying?” Yamato-san asked, her voice trembling.
”Yamato-san, what she means is that even if we kill the Demon King and find a way back… there’s no guarantee we’ll return to the same time we left,” I explained.
”Exactly,” the Chairwoman added. “Nagato-kun was lucky; he only lost fifty years. The others? They could have been dropped centuries in the past or far into the future. Or worse, the coordinates could shift. They could have materialized in the middle of the ocean… or deep underground.”
”…Ah!” Yamato-san gasped.
The horror finally hits her. All those Ooparts² you see in occult magazines – a smartphone found in a coal seam from ten thousand years ago, a modern watch in an ancient tomb… those weren’t aliens. They were us. They were the people who tried to go home and missed the mark.
”Chihiro-kun, Yamato-san, take this as a warning,” the Chairwoman said. “Never, under any circumstances, trust Goddess Aurelia. She is not what she claims to be.”
I nod. I can tell Yamato-san feels the same chill I do. We already knew she was suspicious, but hearing it from a survivor makes it real.
”Well, enough about my ancient history,” the Chairwoman said, her tone softening. “Why don’t you two tell me what brought you all the way here?”
So, we told her everything. The Chairwoman didn’t interrupt. She just listened. As the words spilled out, I felt the weight on my chest begin to lift. Both I and Yamato-san had blood on our hands. We had committed sins that could never be washed away. I understood now why people go to confession. You just need someone to hear the truth.
”Just so we’re clear,” the Chairwoman said quietly, “I can’t forgive you. I don’t have that right. And you should never forget what you did. But if you let that guilt crush the life out of you, you’ll never move forward. Don’t let the weight break you.”
She spoke with a kindness that felt earned. After that, the tension broke. We spent a while just talking – idle chatter, mostly. I told her about the “Oribe Mira” I remembered, the star she had once been. By the time we finished, the sun was low, painting the room in long, amber shadows.
”Oh, look at the time. Thank you for today, both of you,” the Chairwoman said. “And Chihiro-kun… thanks for telling me about the girl I used to be.”
”It was nothing,” I replied. “We should be going… excuse us.”
We stood, offered a small bow, and stepped out of the office into the quiet hallway.
—
Summary:
Chihiro and Haruna visit the Chairwoman, who reveals her true identity as the legendary hero Carmilla Oliver and former voice actress Oribe Mira. She delivers a grim warning about the ‘Time Lag’ that occurs when returning to Earth, proving it with a diary linking Haruna’s grandfather to her past. The chapter concludes with a serious warning against trusting Goddess Aurelia and a moment of shared confession regarding Chihiro and Haruna’s past crimes.
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Trivia:
- The Chairwoman is over 500 years old.
- Chihiro has conflicting memories about who voiced the lead in ‘Magical Girl War Chronicles’.
- Haruna’s grandfather, Nagato Musashi, was a ‘prophet’ who appeared in Japan 50 years ago without a past.
- Returning to Earth results in a random temporal and spatial ‘drift’.
- The Chairwoman was the first Queen of Envyos.
- She explicitly told them NOT to trust Goddess Aurelia
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Character Insight:
Oribe Mira shows a ‘gap moe’ trait—being a legendary, powerful hero but also a messy, flustered person who can’t keep her room tidy. Chihiro demonstrates a high level of perception, noticing the ‘glitch’ in his own memory which suggests external manipulation of the world or history. Both protagonists seek a form of secular confession, highlighting their lingering guilt.
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Behind the Scenes:
The author notes that the Chairwoman was intended to be more mysterious but ended up being a more casual, ‘human’ character due to the writing process.
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TL Notes:
Notes:
• Chihiro – Height 178 cm, weight 70 kg (Male). Natsumi’s childhood friend. A handsome, athletic top student in the soccer club.
• Yamato – Yamato Hina. Student council vice-president. Serious, beautiful, with long straight hair and sharp eyes.
• Haru – The authoritative leader of the Merchant Guild Royal.
• Yuki – Yuki Chihiro. Height 178 cm, weight 70 kg (Male). Natsumi’s childhood friend. A handsome, athletic top student in the soccer club.
• Carmilla – Also known as Oribe Mira. The five-hundred-year-old founder and Chairwoman of the academy with silver hair and green eyes. Former Queen of Envyos. Originally a Japanese high school student and legendary voice actress. Has black hair and black eyes in her true form. Wears a luxurious black robe with gold embroidery.
• Mira – Also known as Carmilla Oliver. Over 500 years old. Former Queen of Envyos and current Chairman of the Magic Academy. Originally a Japanese high school student and legendary voice actress. Has black hair and black eyes in her true form. Wears a luxurious black robe with gold embroidery.
• Lil – One of the heroines. Height 166 cm, B-W-H: 90-56-90. She is a top-tier beauty with long indigo hair down to her waist, a large scar on her abdomen and sharp golden eyes. She has wolf ears and a tail.
• Rei – One of the Kijima twin sisters. The eldest one. She uses a spear and acts as the frontline defense for her sister. She demonstrates ‘perfect sync’ with Mei.
• Natsumi – The protagonist. Height 168 to 171 cm, weight 57 to 59 kg. He has a baby face, but he hides his eyes with his bangs. He was bullied by the Sugita gang just because his name sounded like a girl’s name.
• Musashi – Haruna’s Grandfather.
• Aurelia – A goddess who contacts the class via the school intercom to announce their reincarnation. Characterized by the protagonist and the Administrator as ‘useless’ and selfish.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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