Maydare Volume 1 Other Side: Tanaka Airi, to the World of Stories.

 The very final chapter of Volume 1! I'll be taking a short break, probably a couple of weeks, before I get started on Volume 2. I also want to make a pdf and epub for this, hopefully soon. Also it would be cool to have a discord server to discuss this series with other fans. Unfortunately I have no idea how discord works or I would do it myself. Honestly this series really should be more popular.

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My name is Tanaka Airi.

This name seemed to be a combination of a standard surname with nothing special about it and what was trendy at the time.

“Lady Savior Airi, eh…”

At the desk in my room in the palace, I was writing in my notebook with a quill pen by the light of a spell-light lamp.

The title was “The Story Where I Will be Happy (Tentative)”. 

Yes. I was writing a novel.

A special girl falls from another world, gets protected by four knights, fights against evil enemies, overcomes obstacles, and saves the world. It was that kind of story.

Currently, she was gathering companions and looking for the last knight.

“The final Guardian is probably a blond knight. Since Thor has black hair…”

Even so, Thor was my ideal hero. 

He had the dark hair and beautiful face that was my favorite, and he was strong with a cool personality.

I didn’t expect him to be a former slave, but I think he might have been from a foreign royal family but lost his status and fell into slavery for some reason. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be fit for the role of hero.

Another thing I didn’t expect was…

“Makia O’Drielle. The descendant of the worst witch in the world…”

The former mistress of Thor, a noble lady with almond-shaped eyes and red hair.

Thor seemed to have been tyrannized by that girl, but their bond was unexpectedly strong.

No, it must just be Thor having a strong sense of duty. Or maybe he’s been brainwashed.

I was convinced of this when I saw that sinister magic Miss Makia had cast at the ball.

“I’m sure Miss Makia will try to kill me in the future, as a wicked witch. She’ll try to get Thor back and go insane with jealousy. I know how it goes. She’s definitely an enemy character…”

I’ve always hated witches. Because they always bullied the main character in every story.

Now that I know she’s that witch, I can take action. I won’t let her get in my way.

“Phew...”

I’ve been concentrating on writing, but I’ll take a break here. I picked up the mug of cocoa my favorite maid brought me and went out to the balcony of my room.

And then, I looked down at the glittering streets of Miladriede, a place that lived and breathed magic.

It was glittering even more now that the thunderstorm that had been so noisy earlier had lifted.

“Maydare is a wonderful world. My ideal world. The world where everything I’ve ever imagined comes true.”

I’m sure I was chosen. 

On that day, at that time, in that place.

〇 

“I think I like you, Saitou-kun.”

On that day after school, I certainly did confess my feelings to Saitou-kun.

Saitou-kun was a handsome boy with dark hair who looked like he was from a school-based shoujo manga, and he had a cool side, but he had a gentle personality.

“Sorry. I already have someone I like.”

But Saitou-kun easily rejected me. I’m sure that was why he came up to the rooftop.

Well, I knew that, but…

“Someone you like...is that Oda-san?”

“...That’s—”

Saitou-kun was just about to open his mouth to say something when it happened.

The door to the rooftop opened with a bang. A man with his hood pulled deep over his face appeared.

He walked up to us quickly without saying a word.

“...?”

I didn’t know what was going on at first.

However, by the time I realized that something was off, Saitou-kun had already been stabbed right in the front by the man’s knife.

“Your exile is over…”

The hooded man muttered something cryptic and pulled out the knife, stained red.

“Saitou-kun!?”

Saitou-kun collapsed as though he was slipping down. Blood was gushing out of his stomach, and his eyes had become dull, the light of life already gone from them.

What should I do, what should I do? I never thought something like this could happen.

“Saitou-kun, Saitou-kun!”

I turned pale and shook him while trembling, but the next thing I knew, the man was hanging over me and probably going to stab me as well.

I only remembered the demon-like red eyes of that hooded man.

I had no memory after that. But when I woke up, I was the only one alive.

Saitou-kun had died, and Oda-san had gone missing for some reason. 

It was an inexplicable incident that happened on the roof of the school, and it alarmed society…

“I heard they got entangled in a love triangle. Apparently, Oda-san stabbed Saitou-kun and Tanaka-san and ran away. That’s why she’s missing.”

“Oh, so Tanaka-san tried to steal Saitou-kun away from Oda-san. She’s always like that. That girl always wants what other people have.”

“No, no. I think there was a suspicious person. When Tanaka-san was about to confess to Saitou-kun, a suspicious man came and stabbed him. Tanaka-san was also stabbed, but the wound was not fatal.”

“So...why did Oda-san disappear?”

“Honestly, Oda-san acts like an honor student, but I have no idea what she’s thinking half the time. She probably set that man on them. There’s a lot of cases of women inciting men, right?”

“But the police said that there was a high possibility that Oda-san also got caught up in the incident. Apparently there are traces of her blood. Maybe her body is hidden somewhere in the school?”

“Kyaaa, stop that, you’re scaring me!”

...The people around me talked however they liked.

I didn't even know what happened either. I wanted someone to explain it to me. 

Meaningless conjecture. Trivial gossip.

Just like how you can’t stop the flow of water, lies beget lies and spread.

People who had nothing to do with this blamed me. They chased me down.

They looked down on us. While laughing about delusional stories that weren’t even interesting.

I just...just wanted...Oda-san to…

(TN: Japanese grammar is subject-object-verb, so what Airi is actually saying is she wanted to do something to/for Oda-san.)

“Poor Oda-san.”

A while ago, the girls who had left me out of their group said that as they passed by me in the school hallway.

“If you hadn’t tried to confess to Saitou on the roof, none of that would have happened, would it?”

No. That was just bad luck.

“Even if you survived, no one’s happy.”

“...”

That...wasn’t wrong.

It was true that no one was happy that I survived.

I was raised by a single mother, but she was crazy about her new boyfriend and usually didn’t pay any attention to me. She was hardly ever home.

She did come to see me a few times while I was in the hospital, but after I was discharged, she blatantly tried to avoid the topic and left me at home to go to her boyfriend’s, as usual.

She didn’t want to be face to face with me. She didn’t even want to listen.

I wonder if it would have been better for Mom if I had died, because then she would have been free.

Saitou-kun’s parents had gone to pieces and sobbed at the funeral after their son, their pride and joy, was killed.

I heard that even Oda-san’s parents, who didn’t seem to have a good relationship with her, were haggard and worn out after their daughter disappeared.

But no one was happy that I was alive.

Nobody. Nobody nobody nobody.

It’s strange, isn’t it. Even though I’m alive. Even though it’s a wonderful thing to be alive.

But this was like a punishment for a crime.

The fact that I survived made me realize that I was all alone.

Those two were no longer here.

“Those two…?”

What was I saying. I was the one who messed up my relationships with those two.

I was alone from the beginning. I was just a parasite on those two.

“...Save me.”

It was difficult to live in this world. Painful. I wanted to escape.

I wanted to go far away. I wanted to disappear.

Because no one would be sad if I were to disappear from this world.

“...Save me...save me…”

To escape from reality, you needed a “story.”

I continued to imagine my own story. I continued to write it. When I felt lonely. When I felt sad.

Because it was lonely being by myself, I needed characters to comfort me, I needed exciting plots, and I needed a world where everyone wanted me. 

My ideal story. A story that excited my heart. A story where I would be loved.

A story where I defeat the villain and become a hero.

A story where happiness is just around the corner and easy to obtain…!

“Do you want to go to a world different from this one?”

On the way home from school. I was aimlessly walking in the rain without an umbrella.

My mind was probably at its limit by this time.

Before I knew it, the hooded man was standing in front of me and asking that question.

Even though I knew he was the guy who killed Saitou-kun, I nodded.

“...I want to go. To a different world.”

“Very well. Then, you should go to that world as a Savior. That other world is called Maydare, and it may be quite different from the kind world you’re looking for.”

Another world…?

“I don’t care. I don’t care what will happen as long as I can get out of here.”

The man took out a knife.

I thought he was going to kill me, but he put it in an elegant sheath and presented it to me.

“I’ll give you this dagger. You’ll need it. Because you’re the ‘Savior.’”

“Savior…?”

“The one who can kill the great magicians.”

“Does that mean defeating the villains? I was chosen?”

A smile appeared on the hooded man’s mouth.

Immediately afterwards, a light spread out from my feet, and then it turned into a big hole that sucked in my body.

Darkness surrounded me. Or was it night? I was standing on dark water.

The starry sky reflected in the water that continued as far as I could see made me feel as though I was in the center of the universe.

“Wait…!”

I chased after countless shooting stars. I just looked up and cried as I ran and ran and ran…

No school. No classmates who were mean and said whatever they liked. 

No mother who thought of me as bothersome.

No curious people who kept following me and asking me questions, even though they had nothing to do with me.

If I could reach such a place, I could surely forget everything.

Everything and anything.

There was no need for me to be tied to that incident anymore, and I didn’t need to blame myself for what happened to Saitou-kun and Oda-san anymore.

All that was there was the door of beginnings to an unknown world.

Without hesitation, I opened that door. 

Maydare. This was surely the place where all my wishes would come true.

A world for me.

A story——where I will be happy.

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