One morning, her sister suddenly said to the eight-year-old Ayaka:
"Father isn't coming back. From today on, it'll be just the two of us."
Sajyou Ayaka already understood what her sister's words meant, and she cried for an entire month.
Yet even during that month, Sajyou Ayaka never stopped practicing magecraft. This was the only way she could respond to her father's expectations.
"And yet, having reached this age, I'm still only mediocre when it comes to magecraft."
Sajyou Ayaka sighed mournfully.
Coming back to herself from her small sadness, the girl left the garden and headed toward the dining room.
Sajyou Ayaka's mother had died not long after she was born. When she was very young, it was her father who handled the housework and cooking.
After her father died, that responsibility fell to Sajyou Ayaka's sister.
She should be in the kitchen preparing breakfast now, the girl thought.
To Sajyou Ayaka, her sister's existence was special—
Not merely because her sister had raised little Ayaka like a mother for the past ten years.
It was absolutely not just gratitude, or something like sisterly affection.
Her sister—
Sajyou Manaka was the person Ayaka admired and worshipped most.
She had felt that way ever since she was very young.
Her sister was beautiful and intelligent.
Though she was only six years older than Ayaka, she was a perfect genius who could do and understand everything.
Even magecraft—
It was said that by the time her sister was six, their father had nothing left to teach her.
As a child, Sajyou Ayaka had even believed that her sister was the reincarnation of a princess from a fairy tale, one who lived in a castle.
She was beautiful and dazzling, shining so brightly that no one could look directly at her.
And