#21
Without any other request for understanding, thanks to Stella and Yuri, who left their seats as soon as they saw me and Rubia together, I was able to have a meal with Rubia, who seemed to have never eaten a meal today.
Rubia, who didn’t seem to have much appetite, knew that she wouldn’t be able to eat so much, so she put very little food on the plate from the beginning.
Sitting in the corner seat by the window, I looked at Rubia from the other side while she was eating rice. His shoulders are drooping from tiredness from walking around all day, and his eyes are dazed. But sometimes he rolls his eyes upwards and looks into my eyes. His cheeks were convex to make sure he didn’t even want to chew the food in his mouth.
“Eat once. Eat to get stronger and don’t even talk.”
“… I am eating.”
“You’ve only been putting it in your mouth since a while ago.”
I don’t actually swallow it.
“I didn’t think much of it today… ”
“Today, it’s not like this. He said he had been skipping meals since I disappeared.”
“that… I was eating right. I just didn’t eat at the restaurant.”
“okay? What specifically did you eat?”
“… Apple or something.”
“That’s all?”
“Boiled eggs and jelly are sometimes… … ”
Are you on any diet?
Jelly doesn’t even fall into the category of meals.
“Um, um. I see Here you go.”
Knowing this, I take out a portion of the plate that I usually have more than my share, and put it on Rubia’s plate.
“Oh, wait… ”
Rubia, who looked down at the amount of food that was never too small, raised her lower lip sullenly.
“I wouldn’t be able to eat it all.”
“Eat by force. It’s okay if you can’t eat it all.”
“… Do I have to eat it?”
“yes. If you don’t eat, I won’t even talk to you.”
“that… … too bad. Ezio.”
Rubia is crying. He glanced at me with the fork in his hand, but I was just staring at Rubia without a word. to eat quickly Then, Rubia can’t help but swipes the food I gave her, such as sausage, with a fork, and starts taking it to her mouth.
Well… Well…
Rubia was quite far from the original news. I’m not used to seeing just a few loaves of wheat bread on a plate like now. Compared to my peers, I tend to eat more. Of course now I eat more, but in the old days Rubia always emptied the bowl faster than me. Still, it was surprising that I didn’t gain any weight at all.
‘Hmm.’
I was thinking about this next conversation as I watched Rubia gnawed at the tip of her head without even thinking of biting more than half of it.
As a result,
A thought came to me about what happened yesterday.
‘I went out… Probably not.’
I’ve never met Mu today.
Even in the gym where I stopped for a while for swordsmanship training with a heavy heart, there was not even a trace of Mew.
They are said to be working in the same living area, but it is a very wide place. I couldn’t see enough for a day or so. After all, when class comes back on weekdays, we’ll see each other in class. There was no reason to be concerned about the fact that Mu was not visible right now.
perhaps… Maybe he’s avoiding me on purpose.
Unable to erase the thought that I must have been like that, I cut the cooked steak into large pieces with a knife and put it in my mouth as always.
Meanwhile.
“Ezio.”
“… uh?”
“Sauce, spilled.”
When I woke up, I felt like there was something on my chin.
“Hold on for a second-.”
After Rubia patted my lips and said that, I wiped my mouth with a tissue on the table before I even took the handkerchief out of my arms.
I tried to refuse for a while because it was an act that would only be done to a child, but I decided not to refuse for nothing because I remembered Rubia’s condition today.
“I thought it was perfect in many ways, but this part is still there. Ezio.”
Rubia, who folded the tissue paper soaked in sauce and put it down on the left, muttered with a smile.
“I don’t think I’ve ever spilled anything before… ”
“Well, how about you?”
Rubia chuckled with a strange smile.
“It’s always when you suddenly get dazed at some point and think of something else, so, Ezio, you probably didn’t know.”
I’m sure I was lost in thought for a while.
“So is it.”
I smiled and said so.
“right.”
Rubia also showed a sullen smile.
immediately after.
“… … ”
“… … ”
Back to normal, I just repeat rubia chewing sausage and slicing steak and putting it in my mouth.
“just now.”
“… … yes?”
I was worried about how to develop the next conversation, I don’t know what Rubia thinks, but with a face that seems to have a lot of things that she wants to ask me here and there, about ten minutes have passed since we ate without talking to each other.
“I just realized it when I touched Ezio’s mouth.”
“… … what?”
Still trying to listen to me somehow, Rubia, who was starting to empty the plate neatly, continues.
“The Ezio in front of me is real. I think this is reality… … ”
“… … ”
“Before, I was dazed… ‘Cause I didn’t even think about it I had no sense of reality… I thought I was dreaming, but I wasn’t.”
“… … ”
“I don’t have to worry anymore… … ”
“… … ”
“I’m glad you’re really alive, I’m glad that I can talk to you normally again, so you can rest your mind and feel relieved… … ”
“… … ”
What does the sauce mixed with tears taste like?
I haven’t tried it so I don’t know.
Rubia couldn’t even eat the last cube steak, so no one could appreciate it.
#22
“It’s cold.”
“I know… ”
As the evening passed and it was getting dark, the wind started to blow slowly, carrying even the slightest coldness, increasing its strength.
“Can I bring you some clothes?”
“No, it’s okay. Because this is enough.”
Having said that, Rubia wiped her shoulder and quietly closed her eyes.
The lips did not move.
—Hurry up!
Since it wasn’t too cold, the surrounding air quickly became warm even with a simple fire.
It was about living magic to overcome the cold, and at Rubia level, it was as easy as eating rice. No, looking at it today, that might not be the right analogy.
“What do you think? Do you want to warm up now?”
“I can take off my coat and put on my shirt.”
“Ehehe… ”
With a small flame floating on the palms of our hands, we left the restaurant and started walking somewhere.
“Other people say chants even when they use life magic… Rubia, I’ve never seen you sing a chant.”
“Ah, because I’m using it as an abbreviation.”
“Abbreviated?”
“yes. You omit the spells required to cast, and you cast magic only through concentration.”
“… … Why is that abbreviated? Isn’t it just a silent window?”
“Um, it’s a bit different from a completely silent chanting. Theoretically, the silent chant does not go through any process inside the caster, but draws magic power from the circuit and casts magic.
“It’s kind of surprising… ”
“The original purpose of Young Chang is to increase the concentration of the caster to form a concrete image. If you approach the concept of ancient runes, the language itself that comes out of your mouth will indulge in power… … Most common magic is like that. Besides, if you use the same magic over and over again, a magic-memory is created in the magic circuit. If you use it well, most low-level magics can omit spells in abbreviated form.”
There is a limit to the speed of oral speech. If you replace the spell required for casting with intention, the casting speed will be significantly faster in proportion to the speed of thought. Depending on how fast the process of intentionalizing an order is, it may seem like a silent window.
However, the method Rubia explained required a great deal of concentration to keep the images in my head uninterrupted.
Above all, it was a task that required a high level of intelligence to handle three thoughts at once, including chanting, arithmetic, and calculations at the same time. ordinary people.
If you use that magic-memory or something, it looks like you can cast magic without cumbersome processes such as calculations… It wasn’t the technology I was interested in right now. No matter what, it was hard to learn something new right now.
“You are a genius, Rubia. That’s great.”
“No, what a genius… ”
“Everyone around you calls you that way, don’t you already know that you are a special being too?”
“That’s it… Ehehe, I don’t know. But acknowledging that with my mouth wouldn’t look too bad… ?”
“Well, what.”
Perhaps he knows that humility over a certain degree causes antipathy, but he doesn’t deny it, but just smiles clumsily.
Such an aspect can be unexpectedly attractive.
“And this is a skill that anyone who has learned magic can do. With a little effort, anything is possible. Of course, it would be unreasonable to briefly cast high-level magic from the beginning… ”
So, if you are a smart country, you will be able to succeed very easily, Rubia added briefly.
“I would like to try it once.”
“okay?”
“yes.”
A cool breeze gently shook the small embers that floated on my hair and Rubia’s palms.
“Because it would have never been possible in the past.”
“… … ”
Perhaps she remembers me when I was not talented, Rubia kept her mouth shut with a clear face that she didn’t know what to say.
After a while, the mouth opened.
“I knew before, Ezio, you were smart… … ”
“It’s not like that. and.”
As I walked next to Rubia, I suddenly exhaled.
“In that case, there would have been at least one thing that I was better at than others.”
“… … ”
inferior in all respects.
astonishingly.
I’m proud of having a slightly higher writing score. Compared to the subjects that the academy places importance on, they are all useless. Besides, there were a lot of students around me who were as good as me. It never did well in any part. That was me. Academy inferior Ezio Cranil.
“… … there was.”
“yes?”
To me, who was such an inferior student, Rubia, who is still praised as a genius for unearned money in the past and present, speaks.
“There were things that I did better than others.”
“… … ”
I glanced to the side.
Rubia bit her lip and tried to say something.
“you… ”
“If you’re just trying to praise your hard work, stop.”
“… … ”
I don’t know if I’ve been stabbed in the right direction, or if my momentum has been shattered by my sighing voice.
I open my mouth next to the silent Rubia.
“I’m not really good at it… It was the only thing I could do. Because other people didn’t have to put in as much time and effort as I did. You wouldn’t have to do it like I did. It was just that.”
if you don’t even try.
Because it meant nothing to me.
And, because I also had a purpose.
After hard work and hard work, you will be successful… Because I had such a determination to stand proudly by the person next to me right now, I was never able to give up.
And that was all a thing of the past.
What I’m trying to do now is purely my greed.
I don’t want to ruin my new opportunity. Even if a future that was already predestined awaited me at the end, I couldn’t stop living my life faithfully. After all, I didn’t want to do anything like regret when it was all over.
“So, it doesn’t really mean anything like a compliment… … ”
“I don’t know if I can do it better than others.”
“… … yes?”
We never discussed the destination in detail.
Even so, the natural step towards it clearly showed that we are currently thinking the same thing.
“If there is something better than others, I know a lot.”
At the entrance of the promenade leading to the hut,
Rubia, who took a step forward, turns to me and says:
“That’s a good thing… … ”
muttering so
Without asking what specifically.
“So, even if it doesn’t make any sense.”
I shrug my shoulders, pass Rubia’s side, and take a step forward inward.
“How many years have you and I been apart? The things you thought were good things may have already disappeared from me.”
Rubia didn’t know me well at that time. There is nothing more difficult than pretending to know without knowing. Perhaps the good thing Rubia knew was the way Ezio Cranil looked from the days she was close.
I have changed. in various ways.
So… When you didn’t know me well, I wish you wouldn’t tell me as if you knew me in detail.
“What are you doing, Rubia? Follow me quickly. I have a lot to tell you, but we don’t have that much time.”
“Ah, yes… … ”
I knew it.
Come on now, I think.
#23
There are really few people who use the huts here.
Therefore, in the cabin, which has not changed at all compared to the scenery we had visited before, Rubia and I sat down on a soft sofa and rocking chair as if familiar.
Brew tea that is sweet enough to rot your teeth, and whoever puts it in, always pick up the stuffed cookies and place them on a tray.
It wasn’t a place with only good memories, but the fact that this place can be more comfortable than any other place hasn’t changed.
Each sipping tea and taking a moment to relax.
“Um, uh… … ”
Normally, the stomach is full, the body is warm, the seat is comfortable, and then Suma will suddenly come.
Whether it was the results of what I forced her to feed, or whether she had suffered quite a bit outside, Rubia had a tired face and eventually began to nod her head, but it seemed that she was trying to come to her senses somehow.
“You know, Rubia.”
“… Yes.”
“I mean, I was missing.”
“… Ah, ah. yes!”
Then, when I bring up the central topic from my side, Rubia suddenly opens her eyelids and wakes up in an instant.
“Mi, I’m sorry. I’m talking about something important… ”
“No, looking at your condition, I just want to put you to sleep. But since today or tomorrow is the exam period right now, I don’t think I have time to talk.”
“Ah, yes. right. exam… ”
For a moment, a sign of anxiety seemed to pass through Rubia’s eyes, but that was already expected.
“You didn’t prepare well for the exam, did you?”
“… … Yes. Sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing to me… ”
Even though it started tomorrow, Rubia was out. I haven’t been able to study properly. I feel sorry for myself because this has made me worry.
“Anyway, I’ll finish it as soon as possible. It’s not a very long story if it’s compressed.”
“Oh, no. You can take it easy.”
“What is your spare time? You should study too. me too… To be honest, I’m already tired, but it’s good to study all night long.”
“Yeah, that’s right. yes… ”
Rubia finally lets out a small sigh. He seemed to be quite worried about the moment when he received the disastrous report card. It was the same with me.
“Anyway, I was missing.”
As luck would have it, Rubia’s eyes widened as if she had fallen asleep and began to focus on what I was saying.
I continued by tapping around my temples.
“I went looking for memories. To the stars of Akasha.”
“… … !”
Rubia took a breath.
The story he told Rubia was roughly the same as the story he told Mew. reason for disappearance. what happened in the meantime. Reasons for not being able to contact outside, etc. I skipped over the parts that didn’t need to be explained in detail, and briefly explained what happened over the two weeks.
After that, some expected reactions followed.
He couldn’t find it there. I went all the way to Akasha’s Star, but I couldn’t find any traces of you anywhere. He showed great interest in saying that he had really met Ma Thap-ju, but in the end, he listened to everything I had to say without showing his interest in person.
“Yeah, it was… So, it’s really good now… ?”
“Yeah, you can touch it if you don’t believe it.”
“Oh, no. How do you do that?”
“When they first saw me, they asked if I could touch them.”
“Oh, that’s… … ”
“It’s a joke. anyway it’s fine Much more than you think.”
“Yes… I will believe you.”
By the time each of them had exposed the bottom of their teacups, I picked up a cookie and bit it to open my mouth again.
“I am.”
“yes.”
The night is getting deeper.
Before I could go deep, I needed to finish the cleanup.
“What are you trying to apologize to me for? Now I know.”
“… … ”
Because I got my lost memories back.
It was time to put everything back.
“… … ”
“… … ”
And today, I decided to throw out one question to Rubia by putting up everything I had never done and bringing up the things I wanted to stop forgetting about.
If not, for sure.
If that’s right…
… …
No one knows after that.
The theory is that I don’t want to know, but I couldn’t. If you keep asking questions like this… Because it seemed like he was going to be infinitely suspicious of Rubia.
Because the childhood friend who dumped me will fall in love with me, and I will not be able to stand still and watch the suffering by my side without being able to do this or that.
nothing,
Rubia is my… Because he was a precious friend.
“Rubia, you—.”
The moment I was about to say another word.
—Tuk, tuk.
—Tuk.
“… … ”
“… … When I get back, it will be a little wet.”
Suddenly, water drops were forming on the window.
I didn’t even notice it at all, but the dark sky suddenly bursts into tears.
it is raining.
The rain that could not stop at any time pounded on the window, and the rain that began to fall did not stop for a while.
and.
Every time it collides, it is shattered and covered in the sound of the scattered rain, until you can’t hear anyone’s sobs or even a low sigh.
rain… continued to fall