Once again, his mind went blank.
But this time it was forcibly interrupted.
“Kuro! You’re the guest of honor, so enjoy the party with the booze and the booze and the booze to your heart’s content! Look, the waiter is over there, let’s go take them all!”
With that, Elfi takes Kousuke by arm.
“Elfi. Towa will be lecturing the newcomer now. I believe it would be wise not to get in Towa’s way.”
“Ara? I’m superior to you, aren’t I? Afterall, I’m your doctor. So I’ll be taking this one.”
Towa turned away quickly, looking reluctant for a moment.
“Do as you please. I’ll give him a sermon some other time.”
“Wha- Wa- wait a minute, Elf—”
Elfi pulls her bewitching lips toward Kousuke’s ear and lets out an audible breath.
“I didn’t expect you to be ‘Kou-chan’.”
“……..Where did you hear that?”
No.
From the current conversation…I see, it’s all coming together.
Towa, or in this case, Twilight?
She apparently doesn’t remember me.
Elfi said she is Towa’s physician.
Which means that Towa is a patient in need of Elfi’s attention.
And Elfi knows my nickname.
…This is where I should do as she says.
“…What’s up with that new guy? If Lucius had disciplined him before Towa came, Towa wouldn’t have been this unpleased. Do you mind if I demand an apology?”
“I’m surprised too. He was a far cry from the man we just met. And if my head is enough to get you in a good mood, let’s lower it as much as you want, my lady.”
“That’s enough. Moreover, juice. Find me some column of that stuff, and bring it to me.”
“As you wish.”
They heard the conversation between Lucius and Towa as they moved away.
They plunged into the crowd from the military side of the room. Elfi forces her way into the place.
She snatched two champagne glasses from the waiter and handed one to Kousuke.
The liquid that filled the glass was amber in color.
Bubbles rose to the surface and popped.
In contrast to Kousuke, who couldn’t bring himself to drink it, Elfi drank it in one gulp.
“Phew~. By the way, Quin, what are you following me for?”
That’s right.
Kousuke was taken away by Elfi.
Towa began speaking with Lucius.
Meanwhile, Quin had attached herself to Kousuke.
“It’s fine. I mean, what’s wrong with, being together with, your friend? It isn’t strange, is it?”
“’Friend’ is not such a convenient word you know~?”
“Elfi, is the one, who is acting, a little too familiar, with, Kuro.”
“That’s because we’re close friends~”
“I’m a close friend too. I’m close friends with you. We’re close friends, right? Kuro?”
“I’m about to have a very important talk with Kousuke. So, go away for now.”
“You can’t tell, me what to do. You have no right, Elfi.”
Quin’s eyes glowed maniacally.
“Maybe. But what I’m about to speak of is something I don’t want outsiders to hear. As for Kuro, he might come to dislike you if you stay here.”
Instantly, the madness fizzled out and she looked up at Kousuke anxiously.
“Really…? Will Kuro hate me? I don’t want that…”
The reason why Elfi is interested in Kousuke is because of her intellectual curiosity.
But what about Quin?
There is only one thing that comes to mind.
It was the conversation they had when they first met.
She wants to quit being a hero, is what Quin said back then.
Kousuke casually affirmed this, but given her circumstances, it was a near-impossible task.
A problem that she couldn’t tell anyone about.
Every human being wants to be understood.
More precisely, we want others to understand, and then respond the way we want them to.
Naturally, it’s hard to find someone who truly understands, because the issue has nothing to do with them.
And because it’s this difficult, when you find such a person, that empathy becomes of tremendous value.
For Quin, Kousuke is the only one who affirms what she wants.
He is someone who understood her.
It’s natural, in a way, to have an obsession or a fondness for him.
However, that is not important right now.
“No, it’s fine. Anyway, let me hear what you have to say.”
Then Quin looked at Elfi with a slight but triumphant look on her face.
“My, win.”
“I’m not trying to compete with you~”
Elfi chuckled, but then made a serious face.
“Normally, I wouldn’t be one to blurt out information about a patient.”
It seems there is a concept of confidentiality in this world as well.
Though I don’t know if it’s strictly enforced by law or not.
Anyway, she’s aware that she’s violating the rules and etiquette, but she kept her voice down and starts talking about Towa.
“About Towa…It was five years ago that she appeared. The place she appeared in was not the [Temple of the Forest] in Giltias, but the [Temple of the Hills] in the city of [Zainkanfus], which is located just north of here.”
Kousuke was slightly relieved.
Because, if the guide was Shiro, she might have possibly been hiding the truth from him.
He was strongly ashamed of himself for suspecting Shiro even for a moment, and continued to listen.
“When she showed up, Towa was in a state of panic.”
No wonder.
Visitors come to Arkrea in the state before their death.
So, Towa appeared in this world defiled, stripped naked, and with her body dead cold.
It was almost impossible to stay calm in that situation.
The person who examined her after she was brought in was Elfi.
Since a person with a high Status, on par with a hero, was having mental disorders, the person in charge of treating him or her must be a top-notch magician.
In other words, Elfi.
She spent a long time healing Towa.
In the midst of it all, she says that she heard about her past life, at intermission.
That’s where she heard the nickname, Kou-chan, too.
That Towa used to call him Big Brother, she said.
And then, Towa asked Elfi to help her forget the past.
She said she wanted to forget the past.
Ah, naturally.
That’s what anyone would do when they have gone through something like that.
No one would want to remember such a horrible event.
“You see, you can’t erase memories, not with human magic. Or rather, there is no memory-erasing spell. There is “Loss of memory” as the cost of using “White” magic, but that is just a cost for using that power. The nature of that is different from magic effect. What I can do with magic is to lock the said memories. “
“Lock it?”
“Yeah. Memory is just information. Human beings store this information in certain parts of the brain, sorting it into different categories. I put a key on each of them to block out the option of ‘Remembering’. Although all of the memories are still in her brain, they will never surface in her consciousness.”
A safe, for example.
A safe with a large amount of money in it.
Suppose you stole the said safe.
But what if you don’t know how to open it?
The money is certainly there, but you can’t use it.
I see. So that’s how it is.
“So, I’m the one who has the key. However, that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. If Quin wanted to, she could just pretend that “My key didn’t exist”. Also, there are burglars who can invade through the door.”
He understood what she wanted to say.
The only person who knew the number on the safe was Elfi.
But, like Kousuke, contact with someone who knew about Towa’s past might break it open.
Instead of challenging the lock from the front, there should be a way to open it with a drill or the like.
An unintentional comment from her brother might reveal everything she had locked in the box.
The reason Elfi had taken Kousuke out earlier was not for Kousuke’s sake, but Towa’s.
“Well you’re a doctor, aren’t you?”
Perhaps taking that as sarcasm, Elfi shook her empty glass emphatically.
Kousuke wanted to kill himself again.
Hearing Elfi’s story – he was relieved.
He was glad that he could avoid the reality of being blamed by his sister.
The worst.
It’s really, really inexcusable. I’m the worst.
EiengnirTranslation 
Damn poor guy, hope they both canm be healed in the future!!!!!!!!!
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