Finally, at last, the day of the graduation ceremony arrived.

I hadn’t been able to meet with Cecily since then.  What was more, I hadn’t even decided what I was going to do from now on.

“How surprising.  Even Nora has times when she becomes indecisive?”

“This might be the most difficult issue I’ve ever faced in my 800 years of life?”

My body was now that of a doll’s, after all.  I also disappeared without saying anything to Cecily.  And yet despite that, the truth was that I had been active during this same time as her as Hana.  “Please continue being friends with me from now on too♡” 

…Wouldn’t it be far too self-serving to say something like that?

On the stage, the principal continued his long and gracious speech.

Originally, His Majesty the King had apparently been invited as a guest to bestow his words to us.  However, the crucial His Majesty the King had apparently been suffering from a bout of illness and was confining himself to his bedchamber.

I don’t specifically think maybe I should go visit him someday, but… well, maybe if I find the time for it.  Honestly, my peace of mind was at its lowest point in my life.

While I shifted around restlessly, Eivind whispered in my ear.

“You’re scared, aren’t you?”

“Of what?”

“That Cecily will hate you.”

Incidentally, Eivind had been living at the academy without any problems since then.  The Eivind of this era had secluded himself deep in the mountains right after the Royal Institute of Magic’s entrance examination.  As he is the actual person himself, he had, without any trouble, completely taken the place of the “18-year-old Modern Sage Eivind Dahl.”

I turned away from that sly man.

“Wh-what are you talking about?  I’m the Incorrigible Villainess, you know?”

“Your getting this flustered means you’re basically admitting it, you know～”

Damn it. Lately, more and more often I really hadn’t been able to look Eivind in the eye.  Yet, he seemed to enjoy my being like that, as he would stare at me with a smirk.

Helped by the dim lighting in the venue, I looked up at him.

“…Is that bad?”

“Not at all.  Worrying about a friend, isn’t that exactly what youth is all about?”

“Easy for you to say when it’s not your problem…”

At that moment, the principal’s lengthy speech finally came to an end.  Regardless, the speeches of dignitaries continued to drone on.  While half listening to congratulatory telegrams and other messages, I muttered softly.

“Cecily will be fine as she is without me…”

In truth, I am an unnecessary existence for Cecily.  She was strong, even without me by her side. After all, she had achieved the grades required to be selected to give the valedictorian’s address, said to be given by the top scorer of the graduation exam.

Naturally, the reactions of the surrounding students as Cecily went onto the stage varied.  Some were genuinely surprised.  Some gazed at her with admiration.  Some suspected she might had cheated.

Faced with all these different gazes, Cecily tucked her short hair behind her ear and placed the sheet of paper with her farewell address on the podium.  Apparently, she had memorized it.

I knew how good her memory was, so there was nothing to worry about…

…but Cecily’s words after taking a deep breath almost had me falling off my chair.

“For the past year, my body has been possessed by the Incorrigible Villainess, Nora Noz.”

Wh-wh-what are you saying all of a sudden, Cecily!?  That’s no good.  That’s something that must never be said!

I was just about to get up and forcibly drag Cecily from the stage—

Eivind grabbed my arm.

“What happened to not being needed anymore?”

“That’s…”

I knew he wasn’t the kind of guy to let my mutterings pass without notice.

I tried to shake his hand off, but this doll’s body didn’t have the strength to win against a man’s grip.  Without the time to even feel resentful that this body had been so conveniently designed this way, Cecily continued her speech.

“In exchange for giving up my body, she made a promise.  That she would give me friends, that she would give me a lover, that she would give me a kind family, and that she would give me the best future in life.”

Aah, well… that really brings back fond memories.

To my sense of time, it was only two years ago.

And yet… that moment we made that pinky promise within Cecily’s pitch-black heart feels like it were a distant memory.

“Just as she promised, she gave me almost all of it and then disappeared— except, she didn’t give me all of it, she didn’t give me that which I wanted the most… That liar… The Incorrigible Villainess really was a lying, bad woman after all.”

Muu, how rude.  I was under the impression I had done everything I needed to before disappearing?

Even if her path in life turns out different from expected, Anita would surely lend her a hand if she were to run into trouble.  And with Mark, her boyfriend, becoming this country’s most envied queen wouldn’t be an impossible dream as long as everything went well.

As for her family, even if her parents were divorced, she should still be able to get along well with her older sister Neria.  As for her future, I already heard that she had received an offer of employment from the Royal Institute of Magic.

What more could you possibly want? I properly saw everything through!

And yet, Cecily, her eyes briming with tears, shouted out.

“Nora was obviously my most precious friend!  And yet… for the most important Nora to disappear… that’s just too much!”

Eh, me…?

When I, dumbfounded, found myself pointing at Cecily on the stage, Eivind laughed as he said, “Well, that’s true.”

This guy—he knew from the start and didn’t say a word to me!?

Meanwhile, Cecily’s very personal plea, which could hardly be called a farewell address, was reaching its climax.

“Even if shouting this may no longer reach her, I haven’t given up.  I’ve decided that someday, without fail, I will see her again…  So please, allow me to use this opportunity to say something.”

I could hear her taking a breath even from afar.

And the words she shouted were unbelievably simple.

“Nora, you biiiiiiig idiot!”

Ah, come on. Really…?

She was the first person to ever label Nora Noz, the Great Sage, with “idiot”

“I’ll definitely become a villainess who surpasses Nora Noz, and I’ll make her apologize for disappearing all on—”

“You’ve got some nerve saying that!”

Thus, I simply couldn’t hold back any longer.

I stood up, untied my hair, and swept it up in a grand motion.  Magical power coursed through it, making it shine with a violet hue.  Every gaze in the hall gathered on me.

Well, of course it would.  After all, I was Hana Field, the quiet and reserved transfer student. Sometimes, I’d show the courage to rise up to the lead role in the drama club, but for the most part, I was an innocuous, mild-mannered student.

…But, who cares anymore?

I threw aside my heavy glasses.

Still, deep down, I was a bit worried.  Will she actually recognize me?

However, her happy smile blew away my needless worries.

“Nora!”

Cecily leapt from the stage and threw herself straight into my arms.

Her warmth, and the heat of her tears, felt so comfortable.

Even as we tumbled over the floor, I embraced her, truly embraced her, for the first time.

Eivind smiled wryly as he looked down at us.

“Oh dear… ruining the graduation ceremony… You two really are bad girls.”

We looked at each other at his words.

As we grinned, our voices naturally synced.

““Just who do you think we are?””

Nora Noz, the Incorrigible Villainess.
And Cecily Travasta, the former withered-grass noble daughter.

After 800 years, we miraculously met, and our youth was still only just beginning—

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