Chapter 5-3: But Here I Am

Then Idia says, "I think there's only one guy here you ACTUALLY hate—yourself. Your brother suffered right in front of you, and you couldn't save him. You hate yourself for being weak and worthless.

Rollo is shocked by the statement.

Rollo then asks, "What...are you…"

"We know about your younger brother, Rollo," Briar says.

"He had powerful magic that manifested at a young age," Idia says.

Shocked, Rollo demands in anger, "How do you know that?!"

Briar then says, "We found your secret diary in the secret compartment at the fireplace in the student council room, and well, we know about everything, about what happened to him."

Idia nods, "So, lemme speculate a little. I'm guessing your brother got really big into magic. And he never had a proper teacher."

Rollo eyes wide in shock to learn that Briar and Idia learn about his brother, and his diary.

"Yeah, figures," Idia says, "The scariest cases are always the ones with mages who get their power real young. Even if they're not powerful enough to accumulate blot, you have to be extremely careful with kids using magic. Any magic is dangerous when used the wrong way—just like with matches or knives. And now we come to what you wrote about."

Rollo softly says, "Stop…"

"I also saw a photo of you and your brother, and from what I can tell, you both must have also been very close… " Briar says.

And Idia says, "One day, you two were playing, and he was using magic. He lost control, and it overwhelmed him. You couldn't use magic yet. There was nothing you could do but watch your brother suffer. Until…"

Suddenly, Rollo screams, "Stop it...!"

Everyone looks at Rollo who is full of anger, but tears begin streaming from his face. And soon, Rollo remembers the last moment he ever saw his younger brother.

Briar looks at Rollo in sadness to see the tears streaming down his face. Suddenly, Briar senses something and ends up seeing what Rollo is remembering.

Flashback:

Rollo and his younger brother were playing together, especially his younger brother who is making firework magic.

Rollo's younger brother happily calls out, "Rollo, look! The fireworks are so bright and sparkly... This is amazing! Magic's so neat! I wanna use more magic! Then I can show you spells that are even more fun!"

And soon, Rollo's younger brother cries out for help, "Rollo— HELP ME, ROLLO!"

And the next thing Rollo sees is fire… burning fire…

Flashback ends:

Briar begins to shed tears of what she has seen. She ended up seeing Rollo's memories, of the accident that took his brother away.

Rollo continues to shed tears of sadness, remembering how he lost his brother, forever.

Rollo then says, "No…" And his anger grows, "No... You're wrong! I wasn't the one who failed to act! The blame doesn't lie with me! It lies with all the other mages who were around us! They had power and didn't save him! The one time we needed them, and they stood by while my brother suffered, doing NOTHING!"

"So that's why you hate mages. A wholly misplaced grudge, in my view, "Malleus says.

"It must have torn you up when your magic first manifested. You gained the very power that took your brother away, making you no different from all the mages you despised. Hating mages while being one yourself... Your anguish eventually drove you to commit this atrocity," Azul says.

Then Azul says, "'I will use the firelotuses to rid the world of magic. Then no one will ever go through what my brother did again.' 'Such is my duty.' That's how your little mission statement went in your diary, right? But here's the thing… That's patently absurd. It's so much of a joke, I can't even LOL about it."

Rollo shouts, "SHUT UP! WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!"

Idia chuckles, "Hee hee. Sry, I didn't ask to be an authority on this subject, but here I am.

We're p. similar, actually."

He then calmly says, "It's not remotely hard for me to imagine all the hatred and anguish you feel. You bang your head against the wall, and when that doesn't bring him back, you start thinking that maybe you'll tear everything down…"

Briar looks at Idia, and is rather shocked to hear it. Then again, Briar remembers that Idia has suffered like Rollo did as a child, and it ended up costing the original Ortho is life. Briar also understands what it's like to lose someone so dear to them, she lost her sister, family, friends, and her home.

"...Shroud?" Malleus questions.

"Idia, I'm sure it goes without saying, but please don't get any funny ideas," Azul says.

"Yeah, it DID go without saying. Can you not lump me in with this wrongheaded clod?" Idia says.

"Wrongheaded...?" Rollo questions, bitterly.

"Come on, you still don't get it? All you're doing is throwing a giant tantrum," Idia says.

Then continues, "You're salty about the hand life dealt you, so you decided to take it out on others. If you're bent on destroying something, then just direct that energy toward yourself. Quit draggin' everyone else into your massive ego trip. The way you're throwing a tanty while spouting hot garbo about this being for your brother and the world… LAWL. Just rolling on the floor laughing, 'cuz it's such a joke!

"Shut up…" Rollo says angrily, and continues shouting, "Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up! I'm not the problem here... IT'S NOT ME! IT'S NOT ME, I TELL YOU!"

Azul shouts, "Everyone, get down!"

"ASHENGROTTO!" Malleus calls out.

And with that, Azul ends up beginning to fight Rollo with his own magic.