I Became the Childhood Friend Who Commits Sui**de

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In the conference room of the temple,

the White Lamb, who followed the Black Goat inside, checked the faces in the meeting room.

Excluding a few, including the Blue Shark who couldn’t attend due to the side effects of her abilities, most of the apostles were gathered in one place.

There were even three new individuals whom the girl had never seen before.

As she looked around, she approached the most familiar face, the Pink Hawk.

After all, she was the only companion with whom a bond had formed to some extent while carrying out missions together.

“Ma’am, how are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. Congratulations on becoming a formal apostle. I should call you White Lamb now, not Candidate.”

Last time, she didn’t seem to be in good spirits, but it seemed she was doing quite well now.

Relieved internally, the White Lamb naturally sat down next to her.

“Are you okay? I heard there was a battle in Japan.”

“It was a bit dangerous, but thanks to the Shark, I got out safely. I ended up losing the Holy Grail, though…”

“Everyone stumbles sometimes. You don’t need to blame yourself too much.”

Feeling comforted by her warm words, the White Lamb sensed her heart healing.

Though she hadn’t made friends with everyone yet, the kindest person among the apostles still seemed to be the Pink Hawk.

Perhaps the teacher considered that when pairing her with the team.

At that moment, she felt a gentle touch on her shoulder.

Startled, the White Lamb immediately turned around.

“Ah, you’re such a cute little one. So, you must be the new recruit who joined this time. Nice to meet you.”

A voice exuding an aura of mystique.

Her softly glowing purple eyes seemed to contain a peculiar magic.

“Hello…”

“I’m the Purple Fox. Are you the White Rabbit?”

“I’m White Lamb.”

“You’re way cuter as a rabbit than a lamb.”

With a beaming smile, she quickly patted the White Lamb’s head without permission. The White Lamb couldn’t help but accept the touch, feeling a little perplexed.

Eventually, after a sigh, the Pink Hawk intervened, stopping the playful antics.

“That’s enough. Isn’t White Lamb feeling uncomfortable?”

“Oh, are you protecting her because she’s on the same team? That’s a bit disappointing. I want to partner with a pretty and cute recruit too.”

“If you want to do that, you should ask the Captain.”

“Huh, that’s impossible. The Captain is scary.”

Even though she spoke that way, the Purple Fox appeared completely unafraid, wearing a relaxed smile instead.

Soon, she waved her hand at the dazed White Lamb and returned to her seat.

“Let’s chat more slowly later, cutie.”

“…Yes, Fox.”

Watching the Purple Fox leave, the White Lamb was slightly surprised.

The fluffy tail swaying near her backside looked so realistic that it was hard to believe it wasn’t real.

…Could it really be a real tail?

Her wandering thoughts were quickly brushed aside as the Black Goat spoke up.

“It’s been a while since we’ve gathered like this.”

Apostles were fundamentally individualistic.

Especially since the leader, the Black Goat, practically allowed them to proceed with complete freedom, they had been acting autonomously until now.

But that was about to change.

“We’re going to dive into the main plan. For our long-awaited goal: ‘Descend.’”

Descend.

The White Lamb repeated that word in her mind.

She didn’t quite know what it meant exactly.

In fact, even now, as she had officially become a member of the apostles, she still didn’t know precisely what the organization of the apostles was for.

She only had piecemeal fragments of information, like puzzle pieces.

A group of powerful elite demons. Each member seemed to have little in common to the point of being unique, but they all seemed to share a hatred for humans.

They acted according to a plan to achieve a special purpose centered around the Black Goat, their leader.

That was all she knew.

And even that might have been misinterpreted or distorted by her misunderstanding.

“For the current plan, we need the Holy Grail. We aimed for the Holy Grail but ended up failing. Currently, the Holy Grail is in the possession of an academy student.”

The Gold Lion coughed lightly, revealing his discomfort without holding back.

It must be hard for anyone to accept that their plan became disrupted due to failing a mission. Especially for someone who was confident in their abilities.

“They’ll likely try to keep the Holy Grail inside the academy now, since there’s no safer place than that.”

“So, what are you planning to do?”

In response to the Green Horse’s question, the Black Goat answered right away.

“The goal remains unchanged. Ultimately, we’ll have to destroy the academy since it’s a hindrance to the plan.”

“Hm. It’s going to be a tough fight.”

The Black Goat nodded in agreement without objection.

“The academy is almost invulnerable. Especially due to the wide-area teleportation established by the Great Mage, we’ll have to face all S-class heroes at once.”

Although there exist individual differences in strength, apostles and S-class heroes possess almost similar powers.

In other words, a direct confrontation between apostles and S-class would turn into an unprecedented large-scale battle.

If that were to happen, the disadvantaged force would inevitably be the apostles.

After all, the academy is their home ground.

“So, before we retrieve the Holy Grail, we’ll first go on an S-class hunt.”

“…S-class hunt?”

“After minimizing their numbers as much as possible, we’ll proceed with the operation to reclaim the Holy Grail.”

While quietly listening to the plan, the Red Dragon spoke up.

“Maybe we can catch them off guard a couple of times at first, but they’ll quickly react. What will you do if they focus on guarding the Holy Grail inside the academy?”

“We’ll just massacre the civilians. In the end, as heroes, they’ll have no choice but to come out to protect the people.”

No one raised objections to that drastic strategy.

After all, they were demons created to hate humans.

If anything, the Gold Lion seemed to like it, smiling happily as he welcomed the plan.

“So that’s it. We can kill lots of human scum, and when a hero shows up, we just kill them all too, right?”

“Exactly. Now we don’t have to worry about the aftermath. The team will act in pairs as usual.”

Meanwhile, while the meeting continued, the White Lamb sat in silence, showing no reactions at all.

Aside from her, who seemed to be deep in thought, the planning went smoothly without any interruptions.

The Pink Hawk watched the White Lamb intently from beside her.

As the Purple Fox asked about the operation, she said,

“When does the operation start?”

“Right now.”

*

“…Really.”

Sehee murmured as if she couldn’t believe it while checking her condition.

No matter how many times she checked, it was undoubtedly the truth.

It wasn’t a dream.

The pain that had been tormenting her completely vanished, and she could use her power again as if there had been no problem. No, it was actually better than before.

“Sister,”

“Si-hyun.”

The two sisters looked at each other and, without thinking, embraced each other tightly.

The boy quietly watched the touching moment, and soon Sehee wiped her tears and thanked him.

“Thank you. I’m really grateful for the healing…”

“I didn’t do anything.”

He simply borrowed the power of the Holy Grail.

The slight fatigue that had overtaken him just after using his powers quickly faded away.

Time passed, and after calming down, they started talking.

“Are you sure there was only one?”

Si-hyun, who had fallen after getting hit, hadn’t witnessed the situation that followed.

He nodded firmly at her question without the slightest hesitation.

“Yes. It was definitely one.”

“Did you see the face?”

“…Not that.”

Due to the interruption during the critical moment, he couldn’t confirm Hana’s face and ended up parting ways.

But his instincts told him.

That girl was certainly Hana. Moreover, she had reacted to the last words he shouted.

He could feel the agitation in her trembling gaze caused by the name Sophie.

“That girl…”

Sehee muttered with a complicated expression.

The girl who stabbed her and ran away to the academy. But she chose death as a human, not as a demon.

At that time, she had no consciousness, so she couldn’t remember how she got stabbed.

In the first place, her memories from that time were blurry like a dream and didn’t come back vividly.

When she came to her senses, several months had passed, and due to a serious injury, she couldn’t even move properly, suffering endless pain.

She had blamed Yu Hana at times.

But after some time and reflection, she figured that girl must’ve had her own circumstances.

It doesn’t mean she’d forgive her foolishly right away. If she truly wanted to forgive, wouldn’t meeting her first be a priority?

But how?

Judging from the circumstances, it seems Yu Hana had lost her memory and joined the apostles.

Moreover, back then, she was human, but even now, six months later, whether she still was remains uncertain.

“Did you check her blood?”

“…No.”

If black blood came out…

If she ended up becoming a demon, the outcome wouldn’t be good for her, that was for sure.

Shin Woo answered in a low voice.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Huh?”

“Whether she’s human or a demon. This time, I’ve decided not to worry about it. I’ve resolved to act for Hana.”

It was a rather risky statement.

It could easily be interpreted as intending to betray humanity and side with the demons.

Nevertheless, the boy’s demeanor was bold.

There showed not a hint of hesitation in his will.

At that moment, the door opened, and someone entered the lounge where they were.

It was Valentina. She rushed in, looking panicked as she shouted toward Shin Woo’s group.

“It’s bad! The apostles are attacking again…!”