Volume 8
Chapter 32
Time rewinds a little, to around the time Nozomu was led away by Lisa, leaving her favorite accessory shop.
Shina and Mimuru were
on their way back from the academy to the girls' dormitory. They left the
academy's main gate and walked side-by-side through Central Park, which was
surrounded by trees that had lost all their leaves. The season was already
approaching winter, a time when it could start snowing at any moment. This land
was originally blessed with enough precipitation to form a forest. It was
inevitable that the rain would turn to snow as the temperature dropped. The
presence of winter was very close. The city air was cold. And between the two
of them, walking through the garden of fallen leaves, flowed a tense, chilly
atmosphere.
Mimuru, who usually
never lost her lively words and actions, now had her energy hidden. Her ears
twitched restlessly, as if she were trying to gauge her best friend's state.
Meanwhile, the forest beauty walking next to her stared fixedly ahead, her
elegant lips drawn into a tight, straight line. Her entire body was emitting an
aura that screamed "Do not talk to
me."
"Hey, Shina. We
should really tell Nozomu. It's not good to stay silent."
The two had been
silent for a while, but Mimuru finally couldn't stand it and spoke up. The
topic was the problem her best friend was facing. Shina's current situation was
that, by performing the Blood Pact Ritual
with Nozomu, she was affected by the
Soul-Sealing Chains. This had made it
difficult for her to use her spirit magic, let alone handle magic power
properly. It was a secret Shina had intended to keep forever. But, because of
her great-grandfather and the fiancé candidate who had visited during the
Opening Festival, Mimuru had found out. Since then, her best friend had been
admonishing Shina at every opportunity, saying she should consult Nozomu.
"Mimuru, I told
you. I can't put any more burdens on him right now..."
But Shina dismissed
Mimuru's proposal with a single sentence. Previously, Shina had been told by
her best friend to tell Nozomu the problem she was facing, but at that time
too, the elven girl had dismissed Mimuru's advice. Furthermore, when an
impatient Mimuru tried to tell Nozomu herself, Shina had tearfully begged her
to stop.
"You keep saying
'burden, burden,' but staying silent
is worse! This kind of thing becomes a bigger problem if he finds out
later!"
Mimuru had backed down
at her friend's tears once. However, perhaps having reconsidered after some
time, she showed no signs of backing down today, even when Shina tried to
persuade her. Her tail was bolt upright, her fur bristling, showing she was
absolutely furious.
"You usually hide
everything that might get you in trouble, but now you decide to speak
reason..."
"The fact you
call it 'reason' means you know what
you're doing is wrong, doesn't it, Shina?"
"..."
Tripped up by her own
words, which were meant to be evasive, Shina fell silent. Mimuru usually stood
out for her rash words and actions, to the point where you'd think her brain
had sprung a leak, constantly bringing misfortune on herself. But when it came
to romance, she sometimes showed an abnormal clarity of thought. Shina
instinctively averted her eyes from her best friend, who was in a kind of
"zone," but that action
only stimulated Mimuru further.
"Don't look away!
Hey, Shina. This is a real chance. You can slip in between those two right
now."
Mimuru, despite her
teasing, had always been supportive of Shina's love. Her friend had been stiff
and seemed to be in a rush, and then there was the turmoil caused by Shina’s
enemy. Their relationship had temporarily cracked when Mimuru's boyfriend, Tom,
was injured, but in the end, they were able to form an even stronger bond. The
one who had triggered this was the boy named Nozomu Bountis. Mimuru, contrary
to her lighthearted behavior, felt indebted to Nozomu, and even if it was
meddling, she truly wanted her best friend to find happiness. Mimuru's head was
full of nothing but romance, but that's precisely why she wouldn't compromise
on that path, and she couldn't overlook her friend's actions, which seemed to
be pushing happiness away.
"...I'm not
wishing for that. In the first place, I didn't come to this academy
for..."
Shina quickened her
pace, as if to further escape Mimuru's direct gaze. I don't want to talk about this anymore. Her actions clearly showed
that emotion. And that's precisely why Mimuru wouldn't back down. She grabbed
the hand of Shina, who was trying to walk away quickly, and tried to force her
to meet her gaze, which she was trying to avert.
"...Are you,
perhaps, scared?"
"...Of
what?"
"Of falling in
love. Of chasing someone you love. Of throwing everything away for someone you
love. Of the very act of 'loving'
itself."
Mimuru's sharp words
stabbed into her heart from behind. Her heart pounded violently. Contrary to
that, her limbs grew cold, as if frostbitten. Shina swallowed, trying to endure
the trembling in her body, and denied Mimuru's words in a shaking voice.
"That's not...
true."
"Liar. Because
you're running away. You're running away from telling the person you love that
you love him."
"...I don't know
what you're talking about, Mimuru."
Shina tried to shake
off Mimuru's hand, as if brushing off a clinging spiderweb. But there was no
way Shina's slender arm could break Mimuru's grip. On the contrary, Shina's
uncharacteristic resistance only emboldened Mimuru further.
"So you do admit
you like Nozomu. Even if you're running away, you do like him. Right? You
wouldn't have done the Blood Pact Ritual otherwise. For the prim-and-proper Shina
to go that far... that's what it means, right?"
"So what if I
do!"
At Mimuru's intense
tirade, Shina also raised her voice.
"Yes, fine! It's
true, I'm drawn to him. But what do you want me to do?! I can't be of any more
help to him!"
She hadn't told Nozomu
what the Blood Pact Ritual meant to an elf. It was an act born from
her wish to help him gain the ability to learn spirit magic. At the same time,
she hadn't wanted to place a mental burden on him during this, his most
difficult and crucial time. But that act had affected her more negatively than
she'd ever expected. Right now, Shina couldn't feel Nozomu's presence through
the link. Not only that, perhaps due to the growing influence of the Soul-Sealing Chains, she was becoming
unable to sense even the presence of the spirits. Previously, Shina had lost
her ability to contract with spirits due to the trauma of losing her sister,
but she had never reached a point where she couldn't feel their presence at
all. But now, she couldn't even sense the small spirits hiding in the roadside
shadows. His strange ability had closed the link before, but even then, his
presence hadn't vanished completely. But now, she couldn't find even a fragment
of that connection.
(I can't... feel
anything anymore...)
Until now, even when
Lisa and Irisdina were shaken, Shina's own feelings had rarely wavered. That
was because she had a "contract"
with Nozomu, a bond that ordinary humans could never forge. And that bond had
given her the confidence that she could always be a strength to him, and the
peace of mind that she could always feel his presence by her side. But now, the
boons of that contract's power had completely reversed. The sense of security
that had always been in her heart had been overturned, transforming into
something that plunged her into anxiety and loneliness. She couldn't sense the
spirits she'd been with since childhood, nor the person she loved. For an elf,
who lives by the soul-deep connections of contracts, this was fatal. What's
more, she had already lost her connection with the spirits once before and
regained it. Because she had lost something precious and gotten it back, the
sense of loss from losing it again was extraordinary. It brought a powerful
sense of helplessness to Shina, and along with the guilt of not being able to
tell Nozomu about the Blood Pact Ritual ,
it caused her heart to shrink significantly.
"As I am now, I
can't help him... If anything, I'll just drag him down."
"That's exactly
what's wrong! Because none of this is getting through to Nozomu!"
Mimuru's voice grew
even sharper at Shina's words. These were words from Mimuru, who had always
voiced her own feelings and conveyed them to the one she loved. From her
perspective, Shina's actions were having the complete opposite effect. Being
kept in the dark and pushed away was what really hurt the other person. Then they
would just drift apart, and in the end, the distance between them would become
so vast it could never be crossed. It was something she would understand if she
just calmed down and thought about it. But right now, Shina had fallen into a
state of self-isolation due to her helplessness and guilt, and she couldn't
properly see herself or her surroundings objectively.
"Right now,
Irisdina-san and Lisa-san are more..."
And a negative heart
interprets everything negatively. That included the relationship between Nozomu
and Lisa. The woman who had regained her bond, and herself, who had lost it.
She couldn't help but feel that she was a miserable sight.
"What do those
two matter! The past has nothing to do with you, Shina! You like him, don't
you! Forget the contract or losing your power, if you like him, tell him you
like him! Don't run away!"
And then, as Shina was
becoming negative just like the old Nozomu, the worst possible sight flew into
her eyes.
"Eh..."
"Is that...
Nozomu and... Wha-!?"
A long bench at the
edge of Central Park. Two people, a man and a woman, were there. From their
Solminati Academy uniforms, they could tell they were students, but the problem
was that these two were the very man and woman Shina had just been talking
about. Furthermore, Lisa was sitting on the lap of a flustered Nozomu, cupping
his cheeks in her hands, and pressing her body close as she brought her lips
near. Shina's eyes flew wide open. Her vision spun, and her mouth went dry in
an instant.
"Ngh...!"
What welled up next
was intense anger. Her heart, which had been so negative just moments ago,
flipped, and her dumbfounded gaze became dyed with the color of passion. It
was, without a doubt, the feeling of jealousy. Since elves connect with the
person they truly love in the depths of their souls, they almost never feel
jealousy toward their partners. However, she was currently holding a sense of
loneliness that a normal elf would never experience. And the feeling of
jealousy spread instantly through her weakened spirit. Perhaps noticing Shina's
gaze, Lisa pulled away from Nozomu just before their lips touched. She swiped
several of the bells Nozomu had, waved to him with a smile, and disappeared
into the bustling city streets.
"Does this
mean... those two are... Shina!"
Ignoring her best
friend's voice from behind, Shina chased after Lisa. Mimuru also panicked and
ran after her friend.
(What... What are you
doing? What are you thinking?!)
Driven by the jealousy
swirling in her chest, Shina pushed through the crowd.
(He's at a crucial
time right now!)
Her thoughts were
already incoherent and nonsensical. She had just told Mimuru she should stay
away from Nozomu, but now she was rebelling against a girl who was closing the
distance with him. But, due to the tunnel vision of jealousy, she couldn't even
realize that. While this was happening, Shina caught up to Lisa. No, Lisa had
turned into an alley and stopped, as if waiting for them. A little behind
Shina, Mimuru also caught up to the two.
"Such bad
timing... Peeping isn't nice. Don't you agree, Shina-san?"
Lisa, who had noticed
them peeping from the start, turned around without any sign of being flustered.
Toward Lisa's triumphant expression, Shina glared, her jealousy laid bare. Why
are you doing things to confuse Nozomu? She hurled that feeling at Lisa with
her gaze. Meanwhile, Lisa smiled, brushing off Shina's silent protest as if it
were nothing, and jingled the bells in her hand. Those were the bells Lisa had
swiped from Nozomu. Having seen that, Shina's gaze turned even more dangerous.
"Bells Nozomu
made. You're jealous, aren't you?"
"...I'm not
impressed."
"About what? I
just told the person I like that I like him. It's better than weirdly holding
back."
"Doing things to
confuse him..."
"I wouldn't do
that. He was starting to lose sight of himself again, so I just gave him a
little advice." Lisa continued, "Well, it's true I wanted to kiss
him, and if I had my way, I'd have liked to rent a romantic room and spend the
night."
She spoke in a joking
tone. But Shina sensed acutely that Lisa truly wished for those lighthearted
words to come true. She ground her back teeth at the jealousy swirling in her
chest. Her cheeks tensed, and the sharpness of her gaze intensified. Lisa found
Shina's unusual state suspicious. From her perspective, she had thought the
elven girl before her was the closest to Nozomu, the most intelligent, and the
one who understood him best.
"Can't you see?
He was clearly panicking. His training with that old man probably isn't going
as well as he thought. At least, Nozomu is convinced of that..."
"I know that.
That's why..."
I know that
without you telling me. That's why I did what I could. She had performed
the Blood Pact Ritual , a sacred
ceremony for elves, to help him sense the spirits. But as a result of that act,
she had literally lost everything she had. The anxiety and loneliness, surging
back like a wave, instantly calmed her raging jealousy, and instead began to
freeze her heart.
"That's why...
what?"
As Lisa fixed a
questioning gaze on Shina, the elven girl crossed her arms as if hugging
herself and looked away, as if fleeing Lisa's gaze. Lisa's expression turned
puzzled at that negative gesture.
"How strange. I
thought you two were much closer to Nozomu."
"What..."
A shadow crossed
Shina's face. Lisa's eyes, seeing through it, lit up with a sharp glint, like a
cat spotting prey.
"But, at this
rate, I think I can catch up. You all have the lead right now, but you seem to
be fumbling more than I thought. Or maybe... there's a reason you can't take
the plunge?"
A reason you
can't take the plunge. The moment she heard those words, the shadow on
Shina's face deepened intensely.
"Bullseye, it
seems. Honestly, I know I'm playing dirty. I am grateful to both you and
Irisdina-san."
Lisa was neither
heartless nor ungrateful. After Nozomu fought Ken, who had been possessed by Abyss Grief, she had been on the verge
of collapsing from guilt over the comatose Nozomu. At that time, it was
Irisdina who had scolded her, and Shina who had given her words of hope. Lisa
truly felt grateful to them both. But, there were still things she wouldn't
give up. She wants to become a fully-fledged adventurer. And if possible, she
wants to chase the unknown of this continent with him once more. That was her
current, powerful, driving force. An unquenchable flame of passion lit deep in
her chest. That is why Lisa Hounds would not back down.
"Still, this
time, I don't want to have any regrets. Not with my dream, and not with my
love... Well, if it's just too painful to watch, I'll take him without
hesitation, 'kay?"
The red-haired girl
said this quietly, as if admonishing Shina. And so, she declared war on the
wavering Shina, while also trying to light a fire under her. Hiding her
gratitude behind that provocative smile. And then, giving the silent Shina a
somewhat complicated look, she turned on her heel and vanished into the alley.
Mimuru also watched
with a heavy expression as Shina stood, looked down and unable to say anything.
Just then, a hoarse voice, full of dignity, flowed into the alley.
"Shina..."
"Troforium-sama...
Why are you here?"
A corner of the alley
that should have been empty. From there, as if a fog were clearing, two elves
appeared before Shina.
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