IBHJ 1319

"Help—someone help me, Chocolate Sauce—!" she screamed into the comm, but silence answered her pleas.

The awakening Outer God warped the very fabric of space-time around her. Reality bent and twisted as crushing pressure squeezed her ship from all sides, threatening to flatten both vessel and pilot into cosmic dust.

"I'm going to die—I'm going to die—" Her mind raced with chaotic thoughts, but just as she was certain this was the end, a soft glow caught her attention.

What is that? she wondered, her panic momentarily suspended.

It feels so warm... The comforting sensation was her last thought before darkness claimed her.

…

Time slipped away meaninglessly. Eventually, the girl began to stir, roused by a strange tickling sensation on her face—like someone dragging a pen across her skin.

"Who's there?!" She bolted upright, heart pounding, only to find herself alone in a bright room that resembled a garden.

"Where am I?" she murmured, sliding off the bed. As she glanced around the unfamiliar space, her eyes landed on a mirror. The reflection showed her face completely covered with small "T" shapes.

"Are you kidding me?! My gorgeous face!" she cried out, touching her cheeks in horror. "Which jealous jerk did this? Who would stoop so low?" Her voice echoed through the empty room as she frantically tried to rub the marks away.

At this moment, a faint muttering caught her attention.

"Can't see me, can't see me..."

The young woman whipped around to find a small child, maybe six years old, crouched in the corner. The little girl had snow-white hair and was hugging her knees, trembling. A brush dangled from her tiny fingers.

Heat rushed to the young woman's face as she stomped over. "Did you do this?" she demanded.

The child looked up, her violet eyes immediately filling with tears. "Daddy... Daddy..." she whimpered.

The young woman planted her hands on her hips and scowled. "Drawing all over my face? Crying for your daddy isn't going to fix anything!"

"I'm really sorry about this. My daughter doesn't always think things through." A gentle voice spoke from behind her.

The young woman jumped and spun around to find a man with a warm smile standing there. He wore a simple white shirt and pants, with black-framed glasses, holding a notebook—the very picture of quiet sophistication. What struck her most were his bright eyes, which seemed to glow as if a fire burned within them, leaving a deep impression she knew would stay with her forever.

"Daddy!" the little girl exclaimed as she saw him and scrambled from her hiding spot, launching herself into his arms.

"Been causing trouble again, Mirai?" he asked, kneeling down to her level and stroking her head gently. "You need to say sorry to this lady right now."

"I'm... I'm sorry..." the little girl mumbled to the young woman before ducking behind the man. Her small hands clutched his pants as she peeked out with bright, anxious eyes.

"Well, since you apologized, we can let it go." The young woman sighed with a dismissive wave.

With a subtle gesture, the man produced a handkerchief that seemed to materialize from nowhere and offered it to her.

She accepted it with raised eyebrows. "Wait—projection magecraft? Are you a magus?"

"Just a traveler who knows a few tricks," he replied with an easy smile.

"Creating something from thin air like that... This level of projection isn't something ordinary magi can pull off." As she wiped her face, something clicked in her mind. Her eyes grew wide. "Hold on—are you the mysterious T?"

"T? What's that?" The man's face showed genuine confusion. He shook his head. "By the way, I moved your spaceship behind the mountain. You're free to leave whenever you want, but please don't launch that kind of weapon again. The Outer God sleeping in this region is here legally."

With that, he turned to leave.

"Wait! You have to be the mysterious T!" The young woman scrambled after him, barely containing her excitement. She was certain she'd stumbled across one of space's greatest legends—the mysterious T himself. This discovery was exactly the kind of mystery she lived to solve, even though her obsession with uncovering space legends had put her in the Golden Emperor's crosshairs.

Even Chocolate Sauce, who rarely showed emotion, would often sigh about her unhealthy fixation with space legends.

Still, the young woman made up her mind to stick around on this planet until she cracked the case of the mysterious T.

"If I solve this mystery, Chocolate Sauce will finally see how amazing I am!" she thought, grinning to herself. Despite her best efforts to extract information from the man, he never revealed a single detail about himself. Instead, she somehow ended up spilling her entire life story.

Her stay wasn't completely fruitless, though. She learned the little girl's name—Fujimaru Mirai—and the two became fast friends. After spending more time together, she realized her best chance at uncovering the man's secrets was through his daughter.

"What? You want to know about Daddy's past?" Mirai tilted her head, her white hair swaying. "I don't know anything either. Daddy, Mommy, and my brothers and sisters never talk about what happened before."

"Wait—you have a mom?" The young woman blinked in surprise. "How come I've never seen her?"

"Mommy stays at home," Mirai explained simply.

"Then why are you—"

"Oh! Dad and I are training," Mirai cut in, swinging her legs as she sat.

"Training?" She stared at Mirai blankly. What kind of training could possibly happen in such a beautiful, flower-filled place?

She brushed the thought aside. "Never mind that. What's really important is... would you help me borrow your father's diary without him knowing?"

She'd noticed the man regularly writing in a journal. Since she couldn't get him to reveal anything directly, his diary seemed like the perfect solution.

"Why sneak around?" Mirai looked confused. "Dad leaves his diary in the study all the time. You can just go read it whenever."

This information was too good to pass up. That very night, the young woman crept into the man's study.

"Finally, I'll uncover the secret of the mysterious T!" she whispered excitedly as she opened the leather-bound journal.

She flipped past several pages of mundane daily notes—what he ate, how Mirai was progressing, observations about the local wildlife. Just as she was about to give up, a passage caught her eye.

The diary entry read: "...After saying goodbye to the Eternal Kingdom, humanity and the planet both returned to their natural state. But this isn't truly the end. That summer marked my final adventure, and the conclusion of my story—the story of Fujimaru Shirou."

Her heart raced. She finally had a name.