Volume 5
Chapter 23
Unlike the bustling city, the outskirts of Arcazam were enveloped in the darkness of night. Moonlight illuminated the lush vegetation, and moonlit insects, feeding on the lunar glow, danced, emitting faint light. Nozomu was in a place far from where he usually trained with Irisdina and the others.
He was alone,
desperately swinging his katana on the grassy ground. His figure seemed to be
frantically trying to shake off something that clung to him.
"!!"
He poured ki
throughout his body without restraint, swinging his katana relentlessly. The
sword flashes that flickered in the night's darkness were wild, standing out
even in the cool light emitted by the moon and the moonlit insects.
"Haa, haa, haa...
kuh!!"
His meager ki, due to
the effects of his ability suppression, quickly depleted, and intense fatigue
assaulted Nozomu's body. However, Nozomu bit his lip, using the pain as a
support, and swung his katana with all his might.
"Kuh! This...
ugh!"
But due to the
depletion of ki, his footing became unsteady. He still tried to regain his
balance and continue swinging his katana, but once his balance began to
crumble, it didn't return to normal. On the contrary, swinging the katana in an
unnatural posture caused his balance to break fatally.
"Whoa!!"
Nozomu put his hands
on the ground, somehow supporting his body. He tried to stand up again and
swing his katana, but no matter how much force he put into his legs, they
wouldn't move.
"Damn it...
this!"
Nozomu plunged his
katana into the ground like a staff, desperately trying to stand up.
However, his trembling
body refused to move against his will. After arriving in Arcazam, Nozomu had
come straight to these outskirts and continued swinging his katana. His raging
heart and exhausted body had completely disconnected.
"Kuhh!"
Nozomu even reached
for the invisible chains binding him. Because of this... With a frustrated
look, he tried to tear the chains as if taking out his anger.
But the invisible chains,
which used to tear as easily as paper, were now tightly wrapped around Nozomu's
body like real chains, binding him.
"... Damn it,
damn it..."
What assailed his
immobilized heart was intense guilt, deep regret, and self-pity.
On top of that, the
disgusting way he had wielded the katana just now. If his master had seen it,
he would have been punched without question, had his katana confiscated, and
been ordered to restart his training.
Anger surged within
him at his pathetic swordsmanship, and Nozomu slammed his fist into the ground
with all his might.
Blood dripped from his
bitten lip, falling onto his clenched fist, which he had slammed onto the
ground. The light of the moonlit insects fluttering around him seemed to be
comforting him in his immobilized state.
"... So you were
here."
A bell-like voice
echoed around. Nozomu looked up, and his eyes met the sight of long, blue hair
swaying in the wind and porcelain-like white skin illuminated by the moonlight.
"You... what are
you doing here..."
Standing there was
Shina Juliel. Her long, blue hair was disheveled in places, perhaps she had
rushed here in a panic.
"You too... Why
are you here..."
Nozomu asked back with
a stunned expression, wondering why she was there.
Shina, exasperated,
replied to Nozomu, asking why he was asking such a foolish question.
"Of course, I
came to look for you. You disappeared suddenly without even returning to the
academy... Everyone was looking for you."
"Everyone..."
Nozomu muttered, his
expression vacant. Shina sat down next to the listless Nozomu and supported
him, settling him onto the ground.
"That's right.
Irisdina-san, Tima-san, Somia-san. Anri-sensei, Mimuru, Tom. Even that
troublesome Feo was there, you know?"
"I see..."
Shina tried to speak
cheerfully, but she couldn't change Nozomu's clouded expression. His lips were
tightly sealed, refusing to speak further.
"............"
"............"
Nozomu and Shina fell
silent. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, but he showed no sign of
starting to speak.
Shina sighed, seeing
there was no choice, and began to speak of the trump card-like story she had
heard from Irisdina earlier.
"I heard from
Irisdina-san. About your power..."
"!!"
Nozomu's face
instantly tensed. His expression was one of astonishment and fear. Shina didn't
know what he was afraid of, but she felt she had to speak no matter what, so
she continued regardless.
"Ability
suppression release. I've never heard of such a thing. I haven't seen it in any
books in the academy library either."
"............"
Nozomu's answer was
silence. Was he unwilling to answer, or unable to? Shina couldn't tell, but she
surmised it was probably both.
"And what's more,
you fought and won against a vampire from the Wajiart family, one of the Seven
Clans that govern the Dizart Imperial Kingdom. It's an unbelievable
story..."
The story Shina told
him informed him that they knew about Nozomu's power, and at the same time,
Nozomu's guilt about having hidden such power swelled within him.
"... Right? Even
from an outsider's perspective, it's just nonsense..."
Nozomu managed to
squeeze out words, bitter and desperate. Of course, Shina summarily dismissed
such meaningless words.
"You're right.
Someone who didn't know you would think so. If they 'only knew Nozomu Bountis
at the academy'..."
"............"
Shina deliberately
emphasized "him at the academy." This was proof that she believed
Irisdina's story and a precaution to prevent Nozomu from making excuses.
"But we know.
That you are actually completely different from the person in the rumors. Both
your ability and your personality. Otherwise, you wouldn't have helped me,
after all the nasty things I said to you."
Shina smiled at
Nozomu. But Nozomu couldn't look at her smile. He looked down, unable to even
meet her gaze, let alone turn his face towards her.
"... But, in the
end, I couldn't do it then either. If I had fought with all my might at that
time, Tom wouldn't have been injured, and Shina wouldn't have acted so
recklessly. I had the means to do something, but I couldn't do it..."
The words that came
from his mouth were words of regret and repentance, as if he were condemning
himself.
Nozomu felt guilty for
not being able to remove his shackles when Shina and her team were attacked by
the black beast before. It was the cry of his heart, which wanted to move
forward but couldn't.
"But I'm
grateful. Thanks to you, I was able to face Mimuru, Tom, and the spirits
again."
However, even after
hearing Nozomu's confession, Shina did not deny him.
From her mouth came
not reproach, but words of gratitude towards him. Nozomu looked at Shina with
an expression that seemed to say he didn't understand why she was saying such
words.
"Indeed, you
might not have been able to use that power, but thanks to that, I learned
something important. When I, who had only thought about moving forward with my
hatred and anger, crashed into an impossible wall, you gave me the opportunity
to remember that I had friends who would support me. If you hadn't come to
help, I would surely have been killed by that magical beast."
Shina had previously
been desperate to get revenge on the black beast and reclaim her homeland.
When she encountered
the black beast, the same kind as her enemy, she faced it consumed by revenge,
but in the end, she was brutally defeated without being able to do anything.
Furthermore, due to
her own recklessness, Tom was injured, which caused her to clash with Mimuru.
Afterward, Shina,
tormented by her sense of responsibility and powerlessness, left the injured
Tom and others to Nozomu and tried to fight the black beast alone.
However, she was no
match for the black beast by herself. Her well-trained archery skills couldn't
reach it, and she desperately called out to borrow the spirits' power, but her
unstable heart, filled with revenge and self-reproach, couldn't reach the
spirits, who were afraid of the black beast.
What appeared before
Shina, who had given up, seeing no other option, was Nozomu, who had chased
after her.
Nozomu faced the black
beast, saying "You idiot!" to Shina, who was shouting, "Why did
you come after me?!"
After that, Shina was
able to defeat the black beast by clashing her true feelings with Tom and
Mimuru and coming to an understanding, which allowed her to contract with
spirits. But that was also only because Nozomu had made it in time.
(That's right. You're
not pathetic at all. Even if you can't move forward, you still desperately
helped us...)
At that time, he truly
helped Shina and the others many times. He acted as a decoy to allow the
injured Tom to escape, and even after they regrouped, he prepared meals for
them.
Shina couldn't
possibly think of Nozomu, who helped them despite carrying his own painful
troubles, as a pathetic person.
"And besides...
if I had seen your power at that time, I'm sure I would have been even more
impatient. Thinking that one person could possess such power."
Judging from
Irisdina's story, Shina believed that Nozomu's power when he unleashed his
ability suppression was considerable. Enough to fight that black magical beast
on equal terms.
That's why, if her
past self had seen that power, she would undoubtedly have been desperate to
acquire it.
At that time, she
probably wouldn't have even noticed Tom, Mimuru, and the spirits who were
supporting her.
"So this was for
the best. At least, that's what I think."
She declared that this
was fine, still staring straight at Nozomu. Nozomu simply stared blankly at
Shina, who had spoken those words with a dignified expression.
"Besides, it
bothers me when you have such a pathetic look on your face. So... that's
why..."
Shina felt her face
suddenly grow hot under Nozomu's gaze. It made her too embarrassed to look at
Nozomu's face, so she averted her gaze.
Nozomu tilted his head
at Shina's sudden change, but then a familiar voice echoed from a distance.
"Found
you~~~!"
" " Eh?
" "
Shina looked towards
the drawn-out voice, and a shadow came charging towards them, kicking up dust.
Looking closely, it was a slender, feminine shadow, but the dust cloud rising
behind it was so large that the two couldn't accept the sight as realistic.
"Nozomu-kuuun!!"
The charging shadow
was Anri-sensei, who had been looking for Nozomu. She rushed towards Nozomu at
full speed and launched herself at him.
"Blugh!!"
Nozomu, dazed,
couldn't brace himself. He was immediately knocked down by Anri, and his head
hit the ground hard as his face buried into her chest.
"Why did you
suddenly disappear~? I looked for you~! I was worried~~! Where have you
been~~!!?"
Anri-sensei firmly
grabbed Nozomu's face, pressing his face into her chest, and violently swung
Nozomu's body back and forth.
Nozomu was caught
between the pain in the back of his head and the soft sensation on his face,
helpless, just letting Anri do as she pleased.
"... Anri-sensei,
please calm down."
An exasperated Shina
pulled Anri away from Nozomu. Anri had a displeased look on her face, but Shina
naturally ignored it.
Nozomu, now free,
muttered Anri's name in surprise at her sudden appearance.
"Anri-sensei..."
"Nozomu-kun, are
you alright~?"
The back of his head
still ached from the hard blow, but Nozomu couldn't take his eyes off Anri.
"Are you not hurt
anywhere~? Irisdina-san and everyone else were worried too~."
Seeing Anri's worried
eyes fixed on him, Nozomu finally realized that everyone else had been worried.
At the same time, the
realization that he wasn't alone welled up within him.
What came to Nozomu's
mind was his master's face, smiling with relief at his survival after the
fierce battle with Tiamat. For some reason, that face now seemed to overlap
with Anri's face in front of him.
"Anri-sensei.
I..."
"Hm? What is
it~?"
Her usual smiling
expression remained unchanged. Her gaze was as warm as his master's, who had
said "Welcome back" after his battle with Tiamat.
Perhaps prompted by
that gaze, or perhaps because he had confessed to Shina and the others that he
had the means to defeat the Corpse Dragon. Nozomu realized that he had
naturally spoken words he hadn't been able to say until now.
"... What should
I have done?"
"Hmm~?"
Anri tilted her head
at Nozomu's words.
"... I have
something I'm hiding. You might not believe it, but actually, at that time, I
had a way to defeat the Corpse Dragon."
"............"
Nozomu's confession
began suddenly. She said nothing, only listening to Nozomu's words.
"Today, when we
were attacked by the Corpse Dragon, I had the power to do something... But I
couldn't do it. Because of that, everyone got injured unnecessarily..."
Nozomu's words stopped
there, due to regret over his own incompetence.
Anri, who had been
watching Nozomu as he fell silent, slowly opened her mouth, but at the words
that came from her, Nozomu cried out in surprise.
"Hey Nozomu-kun~.
Did you consult about it to your master, Nozomu-kun~~?"
"Eh!?"
"Master?"
Shina, who couldn't
grasp the conversation at all, tilted her head, but Nozomu paid no attention to
Shina's appearance and stared wide-eyed at Anri.
That was natural.
Nozomu had never told them about Shino.
"H-how do you
know about my master!? I never told anyone..."
"Well~. Nozomu-kun,
you were using a sword, not a katana, at the beginning of your first year,
right~~? So, if Nozomu-kun has become so skilled with a katana in just a few
years~, I thought someone must have taught you~."
A breath escaped
Nozomu's lips.
But indeed, no matter
how much talent one possessed, it wasn't easy to transition from swordsmanship
to katana techniques through self-study. Therefore, it would be normal to
assume that someone else taught him katana techniques.
It wasn't strange for
Anri, who had been his homeroom teacher since his first year, to notice that.
"... Yes. I had a
master who taught me katana techniques."
"And that person
was~~?"
"... She passed
away just recently."
Nozomu's face showed a
pained expression. Anri also heard Nozomu's words and looked down
apologetically.
".... I'm
sorry~."
"It's alright.
Master was smiling at the end, too..."
Perhaps even
mentioning Shino briefly was enough to get him to talk. Nozomu began to speak
in a low voice about the days he spent with her.
"When I was
practicing in the forest, despairing after being rejected by Lisa, I was
attacked by a magical beast, and it was Master who saved me. That was the
trigger for her to teach me katana techniques, and I spent most of my
after-school hours and days without classes training with Master in the
forest."
He met Shino and began
wielding a katana instead of a sword.
From then on, the
hellish days of training began. Running around in the forest filled with
magical beasts, repeatedly engaging in sparring that could result in severe
injury if he made a single mistake.
After he began asking
for her teachings, he was desperately trying to survive each day.
However, the tone of
Nozomu's voice when he spoke of it, contrary to the content of the story, was
very soft, and there was even a smile on his lips.
Nozomu spoke of his
days with Shino as if boasting about a precious gem.
He was now showing
them a different side of himself than when he was at the academy.
"Nozomu-kun~, you
really loved that person, huh~~."
"... Yes. She was
a very unreasonable person, and she tormented me during training... but she was
a very important person."
Indeed, she was an
unreasonable person. Despite possessing extraordinary skill and experience, her
inner self was childish. Sometimes she would throw tantrums, and other times
her face would beam with joy over sweets.
The period he trained
with her was about two years. The time they spent together wasn't long compared
to Lisa and the others, but the intense time they spent in that hut still held
a significant place in Nozomu's heart.
"... She, at the
very end, said this: 'It's alright to run away. But don't turn your eyes away
from the fact that you ran. Even if you run, if you don't forget it, you'll be
able to move forward someday'..."
Shino's last words. A
promise Nozomu made to her, and a promise that supported Nozomu now.
"She told me
that, and I thought I would try again with that in mind... But I ran away
again..."
Even though he kept
his promise and knew he was running away, he couldn't move forward. Nozomu's
face showed a mocking smile, as if despising himself.
".... You're
right~. Nozomu-kun might have run away~. But you can still start over, can't
you~? Because Irisdina-san and the others are still looking for
Nozomu-kun~."
"That's right!
Irisdina-san and the others are looking for you. If they were disgusted and
thought you were worthless, they wouldn't even think to look for you."
"............"
Anri and Shina tried
to encourage Nozomu, but he still couldn't take a big step forward. However,
the mere act of being listened to gave Nozomu the courage to take half a step
forward. For Nozomu, who had been enduring growing anxiety all alone, it was
like a ray of moonlight piercing through dense branches, guiding him when he
was lost in a pitch-black night forest.
"Nozomu-kun, what
do you want to do?"
"I want to be...
with everyone."
He wanted to be with
everyone. He didn't want to return to being alone. This was undoubtedly
Nozomu's true feeling. He had been betrayed by his best friend, his lover had
left his side, and the thoughtless words and gazes of those around him
continued to stab him in the heart. His own heart withered, becoming incapable
of thought. He had spent his days constantly looking down and closing his ears.
"I was always
alone at the academy. I kept running away and tried to stay alone. The only
time I genuinely talked to people was when I was with my master..."
As Anri's previous
words suggested, not everyone at the academy looked down on Nozomu. However,
Nozomu, who had closed his heart, didn't notice such people. He had become
unable to notice them.
"When I came back
wounded from battle, my master sometimes stayed up all night nursing me. There
were times I unintentionally cried when my master said, 'Welcome home'... But
then, my master passed away."
And then Shino died.
If Nozomu had remained as he was before, with his heart closed at the academy,
he would have been truly alone. However, he didn't end up that way. He had a
promise with his master. And he had met Mars, Irisdina, and Tima.
"But being with
Iris, Mars, and the others was genuinely fun... I was happy to have someone by
my side, and I'd forget time just talking with them."
"Then..."
Before Anri could even
prompt, "Then why don't you talk about it?", Nozomu interjected.
"But! ...But
still, I'm scared. The power I gained has a will other than my own. That will
think of Iris and the people in this city as nothing more than prey. If it's
unleashed... it will undoubtedly be a massacre."
"...I see~. So
that's what it was~~."
When Anri heard
Nozomu's words about another will accompanying his power, she understood that
Nozomu had been influenced by it in some way.
Nozomu had previously
lost someone precious, Lisa, and then his master, who was like family. He had,
in effect, lost the warmth he held in his hands twice. Nozomu had continuously
lost important people. His heart hadn't broken due to the promise with his
master, but without that promise, what would have become of him? Would he have
been swallowed by that other will within him, or would he have drowned in the
power he wielded? In either case, wouldn't the Nozomu they knew have ceased to
exist?
It was precisely
because he had lost precious people twice that he understood why he couldn't
confess his feelings to Irisdina and the others. Precious people kept
disappearing from his life. Perhaps he was continuously plagued by the fear
that Irisdina and the others might disappear too. The problem was the true
nature of the power Nozomu possessed. Until she understood that, she couldn't
truly comprehend Nozomu's anxiety.
Anri, thinking this,
looked straight at Nozomu and asked about the true nature of his fear.
"Nozomu-kun, what
is the true nature of the power that frightens you so much?"
"That is..."
Nozomu remained
silent, gritting his teeth. Anri, judging that directly asking about its nature
was impossible from his reaction, changed her question.
"Then, I'll
change the question. Did your master know about it?"
"...Yes."
Perhaps... Nozomu had
told his master the truth about his power. Hearing that fact, and perhaps
gaining some confidence in her own suspicions, she questioned Nozomu again in
quick succession.
"Then,
Nozomu-kun? Did your master tell you anything else important?"
"Anything
important?"
"Yes. Besides
what you heard, about 'even if you run, don't turn your eyes away from the fact
that you ran'."
"My master didn't
say anything else..."
Nozomu thought hard
with a troubled expression at Anri's question, but he couldn't recall anything
Anri was referring to.
"Try to remember.
Nozomu-kun's master must have told you. She might not have said it in words,
and she herself might not have intended to. But what Nozomu-kun needs to
overcome your current anxiety must be hidden in some form."
Hearing Anri's words,
Nozomu closed his eyelids and recalled his last training session with his
master. The first thing he remembered was his master's last words to him, the
promise not to turn away from the fact that he ran.
"What my master
conveyed to me..."
"Yes. How was
that conveyed to you, Nozomu-kun?"
Anri prompted, and
Nozomu slowly began to recall the last night he spent with Shino.
"...Master was
suffering from Sleeping Death Disease. At the time, I didn't know about it, but
on the last night, saying it was our final training, Master suddenly attacked
me."
"And then?"
Shino, suffering from
the Sleeping Death Disease, had hidden it and suddenly attacked. Nozomu, though
agitated by the sudden turn of events, tried his best to resist.
"Master attacked
me with the full intent to kill. I desperately resisted, but Master wouldn't
listen... In the end, I was cleanly cut down with a diagonal slash."
"Eh!?"
However, against the
serious Shino, Nozomu had no chance of victory. He was caught off guard by her exquisite
technique of canceling out his own Phantom Void with hers, which should have
been impossible to see or defend against, and suffered a deep wound. Shina
cried out in surprise at the ominous words of being suddenly cut down, but
Nozomu continued speaking, unconcerned.
"I was on the
verge of death, but Master didn't ease up on her attacks. I even thought, if
it's Master, I wouldn't mind being killed..."
At that time, even
though he was nearly killed, Nozomu had lost the will to resist. His desire to
live didn't well up but withered, and he watched himself, as if from an
outsider's perspective, trying to somehow parry her attacking blade.
"...At that
moment, Master suddenly began to speak of why she came to this continent."
"Master's past
story?"
"...Yes, Master
said that the person she used to love was her sister's beloved, and she came to
this continent after being betrayed by her sister..."
Perhaps because it
concerned a painful past for his master, Nozomu's voice tone dropped. For him
too, his master's past wasn't easy to talk about. Anri, understanding this,
made her usually gentle tone even softer, speaking to Nozomu to encourage him.
Shina also said nothing, quietly listening to their conversation.
"...When she told
that story, how did Master seem?"
"...How she
seemed?"
What came to Nozomu's
mind was the sight of Shino, swinging her katana but for some reason wearing a
pained expression.
"...She looked...
like she was about to cry."
"Nozomu-kun, why
do you think your master had that kind of face?"
"...It was
because... what Master wanted to convey to me didn't get through to me."
Yes, that's what
Nozomu truly thought. Shino lamented that her feelings hadn't successfully
reached Nozomu at that time. For her, it must have felt as if her heart was
being torn apart.
"...Only
that?"
"...Eh?"
"Why did Master
look like she was about to cry? Was that really the only reason?"
But according to Anri,
there seemed to be other reasons as well. Reasons why she looked like she was
about to cry, besides her feelings not getting through. When he heard that,
Nozomu remembered the words Shino had tearfully muttered when she suddenly
attacked him.
Please, my
last wish. Will you not accept it?
Her long-held feelings
overflowed, and her expression was like that of a lost child. A face on the
verge of tears, anxious whether she would be accepted.
"...Because she
was anxious... anxious if I would properly accept Master."
"Yes. I'm sure
that's how it was for her too. It takes courage for anyone to talk about their
painful past."
"...You're right.
I, too, found it hard to recall things about my family and hometown until
recently."
"............"
Shina closed her eyes
as if remembering, then spoke her thoughts as if in a soliloquy. For her, the
calamity that befell her hometown ten years ago remained a deep wound. Humans
are inherently timid creatures, tending to hide painful things or things they
don't want to remember, and confessing them requires immense mental strength.
Furthermore, what Shino said was a confession of her conflict with her sister,
which caused her to seclude herself in such a place, to her only disciple, who
was like family. It was not hard to imagine how much anxiety she must have been
suffering from because of that.
"But, Nozomu-kun,
you were able to properly accept your master, weren't you?"
"...Yes. Even
though Master thought she might be rejected, because she told me about herself,
I was able to unleash my ability suppression and face Master."
To answer Shino's
feelings, who confessed her lifespan and past while crying, Nozomu unleashed
Tiamat's power for the first time and confronted it by the shores of the lake.
Tiamat furiously attacked Nozomu. It was no longer a battle, but a one-sided
execution. Unlike the first time he fought it, Tiamat came to kill Nozomu from
the start. Nozomu, who couldn't even put up a fight when it was toying with
him, had no chance of winning against a serious Tiamat with pure strength.
Nozomu was consumed, half of his body obliterated, eaten, and chewed. He was on
the verge of being completely absorbed by Tiamat, but he still didn't yield his
will. He didn't give up until the very end, and his continuously outstretched
hand succeeded in seizing a part of Tiamat's power. The moment he seized its
power, Nozomu returned to reality and faced Shino. By fighting with all his
might, he was able to answer Shino's feelings.
"That's because
Nozomu-kun wanted to accept your master, wasn't it? Shina-san, Irisdina-san,
and Mars-kun, they all surely want to accept Nozomu-kun, just like Nozomu-kun
wanted to accept his master."
"That's right!
That's why everyone is looking for you like this, isn't it?"
"............"
Nozomu's fists were
clenched tightly. His trembling hands, lowered gaze, and tightly bitten lips
symbolized his hesitation.
Facing such a Nozomu,
Shina and Anri moved in front of him and gently enveloped his trembling hands
with both of theirs.
"... Ah."
"It's alright~.
Nozomu-kun."
"That's right. I
think you can face it properly."
The warmth that
gradually transmitted from their palms gently guided Nozomu's heart.
"Both of
you..."
"You might be a
little timid right now, but you've already faced someone you truly care about,
once. So you should be able to face the people you care about again."
Shina's clear eyes
continued to hold Nozomu's gaze. The translucent skin and hair, characteristic
of elves, created an ethereal scene in the moonlight.
Looking at Shina,
Nozomu felt a small spark ignite in his heart.
A small flame lit up
in his chest. Though a faint, fragile light, it valiantly tried to dispel the
darkness that had nested in Nozomu's heart.
"You gave me the
opportunity to learn the importance of facing things. ...I'm truly grateful. So
this time, I want to be your strength."
"Shina..."
I want to be
your strength.
Those words exploded
in Nozomu's heart.
The small flame that
had been lit in Nozomu's heart ignited at once upon Shina's confession, heat
surged through his body, and all his blood boiled.
Next to her,
Anri-sensei wore her usual smile.
Shina, who said she
wanted to be his strength. Anri, who remained the same as always.
With their warmth and
kindness, Nozomu's heart, which had been timid and withdrawn, instantly
regained its vitality.
"I..."
Previously, Nozomu was
told by Shino that he had become a Dragon Slayer, and he was confronted with
the fact that he was running away.
She, who confronted
Nozomu with reality, who had been continuously running away. But afterwards,
the expression she wore was a smile of relief.
............Welcome
back. You did well.
The words Shino had
spoken to him. She didn't change even after knowing he was a Dragon Slayer.
Because she was such a
person, Nozomu could expose his entire self, and he could accept the past Shino
had confessed. The two in front of him now had the same faces as Shino at that
time.
Then, what about
himself now, Nozomu asked himself once more.
Irisdina, who despite
her dignified self in the academy, secretly had a playful side, such as
punishing a perverted old man disguised as a fortune-teller, or secretly
following her sister on a date out of worry.
Somia, always smiling,
bright and honest. But also a girl who had the strength to act cheerfully precisely
because she had experienced painful things.
Mars, feared by
everyone for his rough temperament, large physique, and strong will, but
completely at a loss when it came to his sister.
Tima, a bit timid and
usually nervous, but strong-willed enough to protect her friends even against a
superior opponent, putting herself at risk.
The faces of the
people who were by his side now, and his memories with them, flashed through
his mind.
It had only been a few
months since they met, but they were important people he didn't want to lose.
If he could laugh with
them again...
"I... want
everyone to hear..."
When he uttered those
words himself, Nozomu's wish clearly took shape in his heart.
What he wanted to do
next. And what he needed to do to achieve it.
The necessary thing
was to convey his true feelings to the other person. If he didn't expose his
true self, his true self wouldn't be conveyed to the other person.
That appearance might
be ugly in the eyes of others. It might cause disgust. It might incite fear,
and as a result, he might be rejected.
But there were people
who said they wanted to be his strength. There were people who remained
unchanged even after knowing that his heart was being interfered with by
others. Just like his master at that time.
Then he thought it
would be alright. There was fear. There was anxiety. But he felt he could take
at least one step forward.
"... Shina,
Anri-sensei. Can I ask you for a favor?"
He wanted to face them
like Shina and Mimuru, and laugh with Irisdina and the others again. For that,
he would tell them himself, just like his master.
With that thought in
his heart, Nozomu strengthened his resolve to take another step forward.
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