A New Side: Daily Memories

Prolog

Emotions has always been an interesting concept. No matter how many discoveries and correlations had been connected with it, even more mysteries were revealed just a moment later.

Humanity could only get so far because of their endless research, limitless breakthroughs, and the eternal desire to achieve their objectives. Perhaps it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to call them 'restless' creatures, hm?

Even so, one thing is certain, that being—

In the end, they are just human.

— [] —

*CLANG!*

???: "Your loss."

The sound of an object being thrown onto the hard floor echoed within the room, followed by a girl's voice, directed toward the opponent before her.

???: "..."

No words left his mouth, instead only rough yet silent breathes came from him as he stared at the one who had just won their spar.

The girl had long purplish hair, paired with the same-colored eyes. The bangs of her hair were swaying slightly as she seemed to be managing her breathing pace—Which wasn't as bad as him.

After what felt like an entire minute filled with nothing but their own breathing noises, the girl—Raiden Mei, sheathed her katana and offered him a hand.

Mei: "Are you hurt, Ray?"

By her intonation alone, he—Ray Kinara, could already tell that she was worried if she had pushed him too hard. To that he responded by grabbing her hand while shaking his head to the sides.

Ray: "I'm fine, it's not that bad compared to our first fight."

Hearing that, Mei smiled faintly and pulled him up. Then, as if some external forces were affecting her, she pulled him a little bit too strong.

Mei: "Hmm—?!"

To the point their faces were inches away from one another. As expected, she instantly stepped back and turned her head around.

Ray: "Eh? You okay?"

And with the follow-up by our dense protagonist, Mei shook her left hand randomly.

Mei: "I-i'm fine! I-it's nothing!"

Ray: "Okay...?"

Standing just a few steps away with her back facing him, Mei was smiling a little bit too wide. Oh, a small blush was also visible on her cheeks. Typical response from a girl in love.

But anyway...

Ray: "Mei."

Mei: "Yes?!"

His deep voice reached her ears, and she yelped in response. But the moment she realized that he was speaking with that kind of tone, her embarrassment vanished as she turned around and stared at his serious look.

Ray: "Compared to you and Kiana, I'm still weak."

Mei: "...that's true."

She nodded. Obviously, she wanted to deny it and told him that it wasn't a big deal, but their current situation wasn't one where she could give him empty and meaningless encouragement. Hence why factual variables like these needed to be addressed as truthfully as possible.

Ray: "What we went through a few weeks ago in Nagazora was a wake-up call on how drastic and dangerous things could be in an instant."

He clenched his hand.

Ray: "And yet, we were lucky enough that things happened as it did. Which resulted in us being able to be here, still with our lives. Sure, there was some... shocking news about the underlying cause of our safety."

A slight memory about Mei's transformation into the 3rd Herrscher crossed their minds, in which the girl in question subconsciously bit her lips.

Ray: "Mei."

His voice returned her to reality.

Ray: "I'll try my best to catch up to the two of you."

There was nothing but determination within his gaze. And to that, a smile had formed on her face.

Mei: "I'm sure that'll happen in no time."

Seeing her smile, he couldn't help but smile too.

Ray: "The gap in our skills is too big though, it would take long before I can stand on the same level as you."

Mei: "Fufufu, someone as smart as you saying that would come off as sarcasm, you know?"

Ray: "Heh? Me? Smart? You sure you're not being sarcastic right now?"

Mei: "I wonder?"

What followed was the sound of laughter from the two of them, before they soon walked over to the exit of the training facility—All while chatting about the evaluation from their spar just now.

...

...

...

???: "If you call yourself as being 'weak', then what am I?"

A girl's voice resounded within the area as the sound of her footsteps echoed into her ears.

She then stopped before the fallen sword, which Ray had used for his recent spar, and grabbed it. After examining it for a moment, the expression on her face changed. Her eyelids got lower as her gaze focused itself on the center of the blade, alongside a single breath coming out of her mouth.

Silence fell.

Before it was soon broken as she turned her feet around and walked toward the weaponry station, putting the slightly damaged metal sword on to its place. Then, she retraced her steps and disappeared into one of the interconnected hallways, one that was directed to the main lobby for said-facility.

But just as she left the door, a glimpse of a certain smiling, floating being appeared at the corner of her eyes. There was nothing she wanted to say to it, resulting in her to not be bothered by it and continued walking off.

Seeing that, the being smiled even wider and followed suit.

She was its host, after all.

— [] —

What a human does best is pushing themselves to the limit. Either causing them to break through their limiters or breaking their bodies apart. Only one of the two would happen.

Nobody could say which one had a higher chance of happening compared to the other. Only guesses and predictions could be made. They don't have the power to see the future, after all.

But even if they do, would it not mean that they wouldn't do their very best since they knew that they would succeed? In which would change the future due to the change of effort they put into pushing themselves through?

As such, wouldn't it result in them not being able to break their own limits?

...quite a weird situation, isn't it?

Things always get weird whenever a strange dilemma is told. So maybe it's not really weird, in the end.

But anyway, regarding the topic at hand...

Most likely for them, not knowing what the future holds is something crucial to their infinite potential to be something to happen properly. And with that in mind, it wouldn't be strange for the desire to see what the 'real' future holds appeared now, would it?

Come now, let's see how things turned out from this point on.

It's time for A New Side to be revealed.