On the rooftop tiled with yellow ceramics, Master and I stand observing the city engulfed in early twilight.

Under the darkened blue sky, the lamps and lanterns glow bright orange, forming lines of light that cut and crisscross throughout the city. The crowd that fills them looks no different from rivers of pebbles.

"So within 10 minutes. Robert and VV are going to walk across that street, right?"

I trace my finger along one of the lines of orange lights in the distance. It seems to be a less crowded route that leads directly westward from the Colosseum into the inner ring—though because of the festival, being comparatively less crowded doesn’t really mean all that much. 

"And the Scry boy will come from there to steal food from the festival.”

I look a little to the right. In contrast to the rest of the city, the far northern edge of the middle ring is a single thin slice shrouded in darkness—the Elysian Capital’s Slum.

“Will their paths intersect?”

“They won’t. But we can make them.”

Master rubs his right ear as he looks out at the vast city.

“Robert and VV would have a head start on their travel, and as the Scry boy moves, the two of them would also move. The good news is that they aren't in a particular hurry either. So if he was, say, being chased by a bunch of large men in armor, he could probably catch up."

“So all that’s left is to make sure he survives until then.”

The first time we saw him, the Scry boy was caught stealing food and was attacked by an ice mage of some kind. Which forced him to hide in an alley until the cold finally took his life, along with hunger and fatigue. In order to avoid that, we need to alter a few things. 

The plan is to lead him to steal from a different target, intentionally get caught so that the guards would have a reason to chase him, sustain some injury so that there would be a reason to rest and hide, all while making a beeline straight to where Robert and VV are heading.

—If we could do all that, then the beginning of the story is all set.

"So how long do we have until the Scry body shows up?"

“He’ll be here in threeeeeee~”

Master puts up three fingers.

“Hours? Minutes?”

“Two. One.”

C-clack…!

I turn around at the sound of stones rolling off the ceramic tiles. 

A small, boney hand appears from below and grabs onto the edge of the roof, before the owner of that hand then pulls himself up and plants his feet firmly on the surface of the building.

Unkempt black-haired, dazed, lifeless eyes, not so different from a walking corpse, bracing himself as the blowing wind tries its hardest to rip the piece of rag covering his body off of him if it doesn’t lift him entirely off his feet first—is how I would describe the appearance of the boy who’s standing in front of me right now. The very same one that I saw dying in front of me a few hours ago.

I glance at Master. He nods.

“Let’s begin.”

Using the interconnected rooftops as walkways, the Scry boy starts to move, dragging his frail body to the lights coming from the streets below like moths attracted to flames. 

Once he reaches the edge of the roof, he prones down to peer over it. 

Below, tables are laid out on the streets, people are drinking, musicians are playing, and everyone is enjoying themselves way too much to notice how loud and noisy everything else is. I feel like I can make out several arguments over how much they should pay for an entire cart filled with barrels of wine even from up here.

—Which is to say, it’s the perfect time for any thieves to strike.

“So how did he get caught in the first place?” I crouch down by the Scry boy’s right and ask.

“Obviously because they already knew that something like this could happen, so there are guards stationed around every corner. By the way, those two are Charles Beru and Kyle Vertias.

Master, who’s also crouching on the Scry boy's left, points at the two men in armors standing by the side of a building. A blonde young man and an older man with brown hair. Both of them have a mug of beer in their hands, though they don’t appear to be intoxicated.

“But didn’t you say that a Scry is naturally stealthy? Oh, wait... being the only near-invisible person in a crowded place like this would probably work against him, huh?”

“Yes. Plus if we are also going to take the shortest possible route to the location of Robert and VV, we would also have to deal with two more guards for every corner taken. All armed with swords and all know how to use them.”

I quickly scan the Scry boy’s frail body one more time, and yep, he’s not going to be able to put up a fight against anyone.

“Well, it doesn’t matter if we get caught, does it? Our real goal is simply to get away.”

I optimistically point out. But once again, Master's ready to shut me down. 

“That part isn’t guaranteed either.”

“It isn’t?”

“Um, because the only reason the Scry boy was able to get away in the first place was because of him.”

This time, Master points to a black-haired boy standing in front of a stall that sells noodles—a rather exotic kind of food compared to everything else I’ve seen around here.

“His name is Kei Sera. As a member of one of the four houses of Umara, he knew that it was pretty important for him to do well in the tournament—and then he went and got eliminated in the first round. ”

—I do vaguely remember seeing him during the lineup, yes.

“For the last few days, he was very irritable. So when the Scry boy ran by and ruined his favorite meal, he just sort of attacked him on reflex.”

Down below, the black-haired boy, Kei Sera, grinningly picks up a tray with two bowls of noodles and continues walking along the street. And I think I now have a pretty good idea as to what’s going to happen—or has happened. 

“So basically, after they realized that the Scry boy was severely injured by Kei, the guards consciously lowered their effort to try to catch him, which allowed him to run away from them?”

“Basically.”

Master nods his head. At the same time, the Scry boy also seems to have made up his mind about his course of action and gotten up.

As I wonder how he’s going to reach his target all the way down there, the Scry boy immediately does a running start, leaps off the roof, and lands on the opposite side in a single, experienced motion.

So that's it. Because of how and where the Elysian Capital was built, every few blocks or so would have to be at different levels of elevation in order to compensate for the natural slopes and inclines, which can be taken advantage of to jump from a level higher across large gaps.

—Still, kid, can’t you be a little less gung-ho about literally running to your doom?

“Do you need a little more time to think, Steve? We can repeat this part a few times if you want.”

Master asks me as I watch the Scry boy climb down another level of the roofs’ tops by jumping off a chimney. But ultimately, I shake my head and turn him down.

“No, I think I already have the basic ideas.”

Saying so, I begin floating after the Scry boy.

“Step one: we’ll let everything play out until he gets chased by the two guards.”

After getting a better sense of the situation from Master, it doesn’t seem necessary for the Scry boy to change his target anymore. Plus by letting the events play out naturally, we won’t have to worry about finding a way to get the two guards’ attention either.

Jumping down another rooftop, the Scry boy comes to stop at a sharp drop that leads to a narrow alley below, perfectly unlit and hidden from sight. If he managed to get down there, he would be able to safely reach the main street without anyone noticing.

—Of course, Master's somehow already standing at the edge of the roof before both of us, as per usual. 

“What are you going to do about Kei Sera then?”

The Scry boy turns his head left and right, trying to find a safe spot to begin his descent. Eventually, he hangs himself cautiously from the roof using the edge of a windowsill as a foothold, and begins to make his way down.

Meanwhile, I walk over to Master’s side and answer his question with another question.

“Can’t we just avoid him? If at all possible, I don’t want to have to deal with someone who could kill a living person like swatting a housefly.”

“But if we avoid him we would have to deal with the chasing guards’ full attention. Depending on the route we take there could be quite a few of them.”

“That’s why we need to create a distraction on step two. Something that would keep all of them occupied long enough for the Scry boy to gain some distance from them…”

While Master and I talk, the Scry boy is carefully judging the distance between the balconies. Then, he reaches out with his hand to the opposite railing, lets go of the other, and quickly catches himself before falling.

“What about the step after he got away?”

“Step three... right… about step three.”

—If all goes well and the Scry boy gets to Robert and VV with minimal injury, then what?

After hanging from the railing for a few seconds, the Scry boy drops down onto a stack of wooden boxes. Where he then easily climbs his way down into the dark alley without making a sound.

At the same time the Scry boy’s feet touch the ground, my thought process also finishes, and a smile unconsciously appears on my lips.

“We don’t actually have to worry about step three, don’t we? If we can take care of the first two, it’s basically going to write itself.”

“Heeeeeh…”

Master makes a vague hum, but doesn’t say anything else. We then follow the Scry boy as he makes his way to the open street from the rooftops. 

The alley eventually opens up to the brilliant lights of the festival. The Scry boy sticks close to the shadow of the wall while peeking his head out to survey the surroundings.

Right next to the alley’s entrance on the same side of the street is a relatively small store. The front half of the building is repurposed into the front of a shop, with four small tables set up in the front to provide extra seats just like many other stores on tonight’s streets do.

—And on one of those four tables, a brown paper bag filled with bread and sweets, unguarded.

“He got killed because he was trying to steal some bread?”

Peering over the roof, I furrow my eyebrows. 

“The people of this world take their laws very seriously.”

Master shrugs. Down below, the Scry boy takes a quick glance left and right, and seems to eventually decide to go for it in spite of the endlessly passing crowd.

The Scry boy walks confidently toward the table, perhaps hoping that if he does so quickly enough no one would even notice him. Which actually works. The Scry boy is able to easily grab the bag of bread... however, that is unfortunately as far as he gets.

Because when he turns around, he finds the two male knights in amour, towering over him.

The two guards take a step toward the Scry boy with cold expressions, before the brown-haired one opens their mouth, and then... 

“We don’t think that belongs to you, Scry.”

—The chase begins!

"Hey! Watch out!"

Immediately, the Scry boy spins around and dashes in the opposite direction, clutching the bag of bread tightly as he runs into every person, table, and decoration in his path!

Meanwhile, the two guards glance at each other before putting down the mugs of beer in their hands on the nearby table and start running after him!

At the same time, I step off the edge of the roof and float after them. 

“What’s the fewest possible turns to get to Robert and VV?”

While observing the situation from above, I throw a question at Master. The white-haired man then reappears continuously on the buildings in front of me as I continue to float after the Scry boy.

“Five turns. Two lefts. Two rights. Then one more left.”

“The number of guards stationed on each post?”

“Two, but only one from each would assist in chasing the criminal according to their standard protocol, while the other would remain in the same post.”

—The total number could be up to seven. Enough to completely surround him.

Back on the streets, the Scry boy leads the two chasing guards up a flight of stairs, almost causing a random passerby to fall in the process. Fortunately, the blonde-haired guard is able to safely catch the woman before continuing to chase after him.

But the worst has yet to come, because a little further ahead, at a small intersection with another set of steps leading to the left, Kei Sera is walking along with a tray of noodles in his hands, smiling blissfully in ignorance.

I turn to Master who's currently sitting on a signboard of a restaurant.

"Would it be difficult to convince the Scry boy to take a left turn and avoid running into Kei Sera?"

"Not really. He doesn't exactly have a plan, and the more chaotic a person's mind is, the easier they are to manipulate."

"Can you take care of it?"

Master doesn't answer. Rather, he has already disappeared from the restaurant's signboard as soon as I finish that sentence. 

When I turn around, the Scry boy is still parting his way through the seas of people on a collision course towards Kei Sera.

However, this time, Master stands in his way.

"This way."

Master points to the series of steps as soon as the Scry boy reaches him.

The Scry boy immediately takes a sharp turn to the left and misses Kei Sera's back by a hair's breadth.

Crisis averted… not. Because one of the two guards who were stationed at that corner heard the call of his fellow officers, meaning that there are three guards coming after him now.

Fortunately, even with three of them, the Scry boy's ability to weave through the crowd using his small size still enables him to maintain relative distance. 

—Now, it's a matter of using that advantage to go as far as we can.

"This way."

—Second turn. Master leads the Scry boy to take another left turn, past a bustling theater. One more guard is now chasing after him.

"Now this way."

—Third turn. The Scry boy takes a right and runs into an elevator-like rail station that's full of people. He's able to navigate through it fairly easily, however, the three other guards that have come to assist the first two are now trying to go around and cut in front of him.

"Then this way."

—Fourth turn. The winding streets and alleys lead the Scry boy back onto the main road. Still clutching the bag of bread, the exhausted Scry boy treads along with shaky steps.

The two chasing guards are also getting tired too, so it looks like if he can muster the will to keep running a little longer he would be able to get away.

But—

"This is as far as we can go."

—Right now, any hope of that is no longer present.

Master reappears on the building next to me and confirms my thoughts.

Due to the street being less crowded, as the Scry boy walks forward, the people around him also start to notice and warily move away, creating a path for the two guards to catch up and allowing the other three guards who have more stamina to easily cut in front of him.

And so, the Scry boy is now completely surrounded by six armed men—all of which are several times his size—while the crowd looks on with a mixture of curiosity and contempt.

The guards brandish their swords, and the world comes to a halt.

"That distraction of yours would come in handy right about now."

"..."

—Even if I did say that. It's not like I actually have any specific plans for step two, you know. 

I look around, trying to find something that could be taken advantage of. More food stalls, more lights, more decorations, more people, nothing really sticks out as particularly attention-grabbing.

—But there has to be something. I'm sure if I just keep looking, I'll be able to find it.

I float down the Scry boy's side to see the situation from his perspective.

The guards surrounding him are all human males. Their ages range from early 20s to late 30s, with the youngest one being the blonde one from the beginning who looks to be even younger than 20 years old—perhaps 18-19 at the very least? 

The guards aren't the only thing in his way either. There's also the small gathering of civilians and the fact that the next turn isn't even within sight.

—A way to distract them all, and a path to escape...

—If the environment can not be used then...

.....

"I have an idea."

I turn around, removing my fingers from the bridge of my nose. And sure enough, Master's reading the book right behind me. 

I look at him, and point at the sword in the hand of the brown-haired guard, the one who was with the blonde-haired one in the beginning.

“They're trying to capture him, not trying to kill him, right? So if they attack to maim not to kill, his legs or arms are likely going to be targeted....”

I leave the rest unsaid, not because I’m trying to be coy or anything, but because I’m not 100% sure it’s even possible. Only Master can be certain about something like that.

—However, despite my doubts, this time my idea doesn’t get immediately shut down. 

Master closes his book and tilts his head sideways.

"What you’re thinking of is possible. But there's no guarantee that they would go for the attack at all."

"Hmm..."

—He's right. Without the right motivation, there’s almost no reason for them to fall for the trick. But perhaps that motivation exists already.

I look at the brown-haired guard who’s raising his sword toward the Scry boy with a fierce expression and the younger, blonde-haired one who’s catching his breath while doing the same.

"These two… what is their relationship?"

“Charles was conscripted into the Paladin Order at 15, and for the last three years Kyle has been acting as his mentor.”

"So they’re close?”

"Very."

—I see. Is that so?

"Earlier during the chase, I saw this guy prioritizing the well-being of others more than catching the Scry boy."

I look at Charles, measuring him up from head to toe. The image of him reaffirms my earlier impression.

"Knowing that, it shouldn't be that difficult to force them to make a move."

At my declaration, Master’s lips part in exaggerated awe.

"Heeee~ If you're that confident then you should just do it yourself, Steve."

"I can?"

"Of course. Why not? I’ll even make it easier for you."

Shrugging, Master walks past me and puts his hand on Charles's shoulder. Then he whispers to him.

“You know how a cornered rat tends to behave, don’t you?”

At that instant, the world moves forward.

—Already? But I haven’t even thought about what to say yet! 

Without giving me any time to think, the guard closes in. The Scry boy shakily clutches the bag of bread even tighter, seemingly unwilling to part with it even in death.

—The brown-haired guard, Kyle, raises the sword in his hand.

“Sorry, but you don’t belong here.”

I quickly turn to the Scry boy! My mind racing for something I can say that would prompt him into action.

If you want to survive you have to run at him, or create an opportunity and slip past them, or you can turn them against each other? No! I'm definitely overthinking this. What I say doesn’t even need to make sense. When it comes to matters related to survival, there’s nothing more decisive than the fight or flight response.

I circle behind the Scry boy and put both of my hands on his shoulder, then lower my head close to his right ear.

"This is your last chance."

—Last chance to get away, last chance to live another day. Do or die. As soon as the Scry boy realizes that, he immediately charges toward Kyle in silent desperation!

The brown-haired guard adjusts the angle of his sword and remains composed. He knows that there’s nothing that the Scry boy could do to threaten him.

But that’s exactly what we’re counting on!

Because what Kyle doesn’t expect is that in the split second that it takes for him to finish his sword swing....

—Charles, who has been put on edge by Master, swung his sword in the same direction!

Same attack, colliding trajectories! The Scry boy jumps. The two swords both miss their target and struck each other, creating a spark and then—  

Klank—!

—Kyle's sword immediately overpowers Charles's, cutting it completely in half!

The broken blade flies into the air, spinning wildly, before disappearing into high the night sky... 

Before anyone can even comprehend the situation, the Scry boy has taken advantage of the window of opportunity and slipped out of the encirclement.

“Hey! You there, stop!”

One of the guards recovers from being dumbfounded and shouts after the Scry boy, which prompts the rest of them to begin chasing after him again. And with a straight road with no branching path like this one, it would be only a matter of time before they catch up.

—However, this is also a street filled with food stalls and store signs... and none other than Master himself has shown me that there's another way.

The Scry boy drops the bag of bread after putting a single piece in his mouth in order to free his hands!

Arriving at a stack of wine barrels on the side of the road, he jumps on top of them, pulls himself up, then leaps onto the roof of the nearby food stall! Then, he climbs on top of the store sign, where he is able to reach the edge of the roof!

The guards quickly split up to try to get ahead of the Scry boy. They know that with their armor and sizes as fully grown adults, they can only try to find another route if they want to reach him.

But no matter what, they can no longer prevent him from going where we want him to go.

—Finally, the Scry boy returns to the top of the roof. And Robert and VV are only a single block away.

[Kyrias——0.000...99%——Divergence.]

—And we did it!

Floating in the air, I breathe out a sigh of relief as I watch the Scry boy start to move once again.

“With this, the next step is pretty much guaranteed to go off without a hitch.”

Step three, the most important part of any romance story; the [boy meets girl] scenario.

Whether it’ll be because they live right next to one another, because they coincidentally bump into one another at the train station at the last minute, or because of some inexplicable hands of fate from beyond space and time guiding them to meet—or in this case, us.

"If Robert didn’t meet VV his regret about Meru wouldn’t have resurfaced. If the Scry boy escapes from the guard too easily then there wouldn’t be any reason for him to run into Robert and VV. If VV didn’t decide to follow Robert and act as a reminder of his past even if he met the Scry boy there wouldn’t be anything to push Robert to save him. And if her being there isn’t enough, showing VV’s ignorance about the Scry would definitely put the nail in the coffin.”

—All the pieces are already in place, albeit unintentionally, and now we have ourselves an easy one-move checkmate.

“Killing all the birds with one stone! What do you think about that, Master?”

“I wonder if it would really be that simple...”

Master who’s now standing on the rooftop of a nearby building says while looking up at the sky.

“Steve, do you remember the [False Entropy] thing I talked about earlier?”

“That thing about how entropy increases the same way every time?”

I answer without tearing my eyes from the Scry boy's running figure.

“Um-hm. I know it’s kind of hard to conceptualize but...”

Master’s head moves as he speaks, seeming to also be tracking the movement of something across the sky.

Then, I see a glint, something shining in the cloud.

And before my mind can even figure out what it is...

—The broken blade from earlier falls out of the sky and pierces the side of the Scry boy’s head as he’s leaping off of a building to another one.

The Scry boy tumbles down, and violently crash-land on one of the food stall’s roofs.

KraaaAmmm—! 

Young children scream. Then old children scream. Then everyone screams.

At the face of all that, Master reveals a subtle grin.

“In practice, it means that something like this tends to happen a lot.”

“...”

[Kyrias——0%——Divergence.]