Tasogareiro no Uta Tsukai Prologue

—Where does truth lie?

Questions, riddles, and mysteries appear endlessly. But the instant we reach out our hand to touch them, they burst like bubbles and disappear like a mirage.

We intend to look for something, but are we completely overlooking its true essence?

It is like how we can see the tip of an iceberg above the water’s surface, but we are oblivious to the large section of ice hidden beneath the water.

It is like how a beautiful flower catches our attention, but we do not look at the roots in the soil beneath.

If that is true, then are we overlooking the true essence of Recitations?

What is the true essence of Recitations?

Is it catalysts, songs, or possibly…… True Spirits?

Or is it something else that’s still hidden in an area we can’t reach?

Until we arrive at the answer……

For the time being, we may be wandering endlessly down a dark corridor.

—Let me continue my report.

During the events that occurred, I met targets who I am now very deeply interested in.

One of them is a boy who uses an unknown Color.

It is a controversial Color that is not one of the five existing ones. That Color’s song and its True Spirit are all still shrouded in a veil of deep night.

There is also one other. She is a girl whose Recitations completely surpa.s.s what is normal. She is not bound by limitations. The girl’s distinctive feature is her bright scarlet hair.

I am truly deeply interested.

Both of these individuals attend the same school.

Both of them also enrolled at approximately the same time.

Furthermore, they have come to understand each other as if they complement each other.

Is that just a coincidence, or is it a phenomenon caused by some sort of inevitability hidden beneath the water’s surface? ……For now, that is uncertain.

Therefore—

The Night-colored boy and the Scarlet-colored girl.

I will treat them as targets to be observed and ‘watch over’ them.

It was a place where the influence of humans did not reach.

The grey wasteland continued until the distant horizon. It was a land covered with no vegetation, but only small, dry pebbles that rolled around. The wailing of sudden gusts of wind resounded, sounding similar to the sobbing of the dead.

It was a place devoid of life.

“……Well.”

With his short stature, the elderly man wearing a sandy-yellow robe looked up at the thing standing before him.

Its large, jet-black body towered above the grey wasteland. The shadow of its outstretched wings extended far over the land. Even its tail, which was just a single part of its body, couldn’t fully fit into the man’s field of view. It was that large.

—It was a Night-colored dragon.

“Oh my…...”

Under the gaze of the dragon that couldn’t be called friendly, the old man spoke. By his feet was a grey that rolled around lightly. The Recitation it called out had been completely annihilated by the Night-colored dragon.

“……I can’t believe it’s this strong.”

However, even under these circ.u.mstances, what seemed like a satisfied expression appeared on the old man’s face. His expression could even be described as showing a smile.

He was looking at— The powerful dragon’s companion, the woman with glossy black hair.

She was still young, in her mid-twenties at most. However, she wore a composed expression that didn’t fit someone of her age. Her unnaturally cold eyes seemed to see through everything in this world.

“Is that enough already?”

With eyes a similar color to her hair, the woman faced the old man.

“Yes.”

The old man nodded. At the same time, the Night-colored dragon flapped its wings. It flew out of the man’s field of view and landed behind the woman. Gazing at its figure, the old man narrowed his eyes delightfully.

“Night Color Recitations. The small chance that I need seems to be hidden within it.”

“……You’re like a child.”

Surprised, the woman shook her head slightly.

In response, the old man let out a low laugh.

“Hmph. Well, I feel slightly relieved.”

“Relieved about what?”

“Your actions, the aura around you— Whatever it is, you seem to still be human.”

The air in the wasteland trembled like it was chilly and afraid.

“—What do you mean by that?”

A spark of hostility lit up in the eyes of the woman who should have been expressionless. However, paying it no attention, the old man unconcernedly shook his head.

“But then again, I didn’t mean to doubt you.”

For a moment, there was silence.

“What do you mean by that?”

Facing the woman who repeated her words, the man slowly looked down at his feet.

“Speaking of which, I still haven’t properly introduced myself yet. My name is Joshua— I have been looking for you.”

“I thought you were called Lastihyt?”

“……That is the name of the True Spirit I wield.”

With the tip of his toes, the old man kicked the grey that lay on the ground.

“This is something I made.”

The catalyst made a clattering noise as it rolled around. It stopped beside the woman’s feet.

“I created its prototype two years ago. Its core is made of a strange stone I picked up on a certain island…… It was a fragment of something that had patterns like the scales of a large creature.”

“It’s such an extravagant toy, isn’t it?”

Looking down at the grey , the woman frankly spoke her thoughts aloud.

“Indeed. I could be called a child engrossed in manufacturing a toy…… No, that’s wrong. I can’t be a child. After all…… I don’t feel a single ounce of joy from creating this toy.”

With a tired expression, the old man turned to look at the woman once again.

“About the true catalyst within this toy…… I still have not completed my research about it yet. Because— The reason why this catalyst exists isn’t important at all. What I need to tell you about lies even deeper within the abyss.”

He took a single step closer to the woman, who simply listened without replying.

“I met a certain thing on the island where I found this catalyst.”

The man’s lips trembled slightly, as if he was afraid.

“It is a being unknown to this world, a being that is both very beautiful yet very cruel. I want to entrust everything I saw back then to you. You are…… Evhemary, the Night Color Reciter. You are the only one who will do. To me, you are my final hope.”

He let out the breath he had been holding.

With the Night-colored dragon behind her, the Night-colored woman waited for the old man to continue.

“What I saw there was—”