Her manner of speaking was rather wobbly and vexatious. The Viridian immediately figured out that it was due to discrepancies in her tone and illogical pauses—as if she had a voice of an old-fashioned machine translator. Frowning, he commented, “She is trying to speak in two persons at the same time. Is this typical of patients with dissociative disorder?”

“Psychology is not my strongest suit, but I think not.”

“This will be tough for me.”

“Just in case, all interactions are recorded and then deciphered into separate phrases. I can ask for translation, if you want.”

Takeshi lifted two chairs from the floor and set them closer to the bed, so the mages could settle themselves nearby Eleonor.

“My name is Takeshi Izumi. I am sixteen, and I am a student of the Academy for Magic Users. Do you know who you are and why you are here?”

“Sure I am Elia name is twelve Elio I it am here is because nobody sad loves Elio.”

Confused, Takeshi exchanged glances with Aoi. He had the feeling that he was listening to a couple of broken records with different music at the same time. “Does she always speak this way?”

“Most of the time. I’m sure that you’ll get used to it faster than others. You can try addressing one of her personalities directly, then there will be less ‘interference.’”

“Elio and Elia are her personalities?”

“See, you’ve already grasped everything. don’t even need to read the doctors’ notes,” Aoi smiled warmly at him again. Too warmly for a teacher.

“Um… could I speak to Elia?” asked the mage with caution, staring directly at the girl’s eyes.

She hung back for a while, but then met his look and uttered. “Yes.”

“Tell me please—who’s Elio? Please ask him not to interrupt.”

She made a face and stretched out her stiff legs. “Elio is me.”

“Who are you, then?”

“I am Elia.”

“And Elio is you too?”

“Elio is not Elia. But he is me.”

“Sou desu ka.”

After a pause, Takeshi spoke to his professor. “It seemed to me that a split personality suggests a clear boundary between the identities, doesn’t it?”

“Even if it doesn’t, there’s no more suitable diagnosis so far.” She shrugged and the Viridian continued with the conversation.

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“Elia, tell me about him, will you? Are you friends?”

“No, but I want to be friends. If you are a friend of yourself, it’s good,” she nodded.

“This is a very acute observation, Elia. Yet why are you not yet? Are you at odds?”

“No, it’s just… just…” Eleanor clasped her head, eyes filled with mind-clouding terror.

“Easy, Takeshi-kun,” Aoi warned him.

“It’s fine. Elia, if I’ve got it right, people deny Elio’s existence and nobody apart from you gives him some credit. Is it true?”

Takeshi’s confident voice seemed to calm the girl for a moment, but the effect didn’t linger as her speech became gibberish again. “Yes I Elio feel wants bad to be but that I he don’t is not exist allowed why that is so cruel, painful, terrible, LET ME GO! Where is he? Where am I? Where are we?!”

Eleonor started to shake. After this passionate coming-out, it was impossible to re-establish an adequate dialogue; the sobbing girl only kept on muttering in hysteria. The medics bursted into the ward and injected her with a sedative, then demanded the mages should leave.

Speechless, they went to the elevator area. After pressing the button, the Celestial finally pronounced: “So, any ideas?”

“This is perplexing. The scale of her mental disorder is enormous. As I see it, she is simultaneously at odds with herself and not. The latter is mainly because her second personality is not acknowledged by the others, and she becomes desperate when a glimpse of understanding that this Elio does not exist hits her hard.”

“What would you suggest?”

“Warakimasen, sensei.” Takeshi gave out a worn-out sigh when two of them entered the elevator. “Forgive me for not meeting your expectations. You have too high opinion of me. Yes, I might have enrolled into the Academy two years younger than it should be, but this does not put me on a par with the best doctors in the country. Moreover, my arcane cell shade is not for solving problems in the sphere of medicine. Not to mention that I lack knowledge of the language.”

“But you can think out of the box while others still wander in the darkness. They call you genius for a reason.”

What people feel is my own kind of darkness, and I call it “alexithymia” for a reason too, he thought, but said something different: “I will carefully examine the contents of this folder. In the meantime, I must go to another floor. Shitsureishimasu.”

He went out earlier than Aoi. Unlike other sections of the MedCorps, the doors on this floor were armored and the visitor’s card didn’t work. Takeshi called the supervisor via intercom, and he escorted the mage to a zone with the sign “Restricted area, authorized personnel only” and below it—“Violets.” The student entered one of the wards, which was completely different from the habitat of the last patient, resembling what could be an ordinary children’s room: shelves with books, fresh flowers, a lot of toys around. A little girl, a bit younger than Eleanor, was lying on bed and reading a magazine, numerous tubes and droppers were attached to her fragile body. Takeshi’s heart bleeded once more, but he cracked a smile.

“Hello, Moku-chan.”

~~~

“Elia ...” the investigator was unable to distract the girl from uncontrollable weeping, so he only hugged her as tight as he could.

“What’s… what’s the matter?” Niji could barely speak in shock. The rest of the mages, however, looked at the scene with deep regret, but nobody seemed too surprised.

“Too long to explain,” Izumi picked the enervated Elia up. “Just count that we have one fighter less. Or two, it depends. We should keep searching for Viktor and Mirabel, it is highly unlikely they have gone too far… if a standard measure of distance is applicable here at all.”

Shadow made a couple of steps forward. “The voice… Mirabel was following the voice. It’s still begging for help, and it’s even more distinct.”

“Well, it is no use staying here. Show us the way, Shadow-san. Let’s hold on to each other so we won’t get lost. Yosh, ikimashou,” said Izumi, and the whole group advanced through the light purple overcast, accompanied by Elia’s sobs.

They were slow to realize that this fog had begun to thicken: it was swallowing their bodies as well as filling their minds. But when they noticed that, it was too late.