#34
——After all, it happens again.
Rubia squeezed the hand that had been placed on her thigh. The body seated in the chair naturally shuddered. Maybe it was because of the chilly wind and the chilly feeling. For some reason, it was difficult to properly meet Shriel’s eyes, who looked directly at him and uttered so deeply.
okay.
… … That’s how it was.
someone he knows
Having someone close to you like this in front of you suddenly becomes a burden.
Rubia felt a sense of déjà vu about what had happened in the past three years, but at the same time she also felt very sad.
“I, um… that is… … ”
She pretends to be okay, but her eyes are full of trembling, her lips are dry, and she has no idea what to say to Shuriel, who is supposed to say thanks, so her head turns white.
The mind is the emotion. Individuals could not decide on their own. It was really contradictory.
It must have been the mind he had, but he couldn’t control it as he wanted.
You feel as if blood rushes to your face and chest. The interval between breathing is lost, and the head goes down little by little. The sound around me faded away, and soon I couldn’t hear anything.
… … thump, thump.
in a quiet space.
Rubia’s heart starts beating louder and louder.
Shriel was a good senior.
He was a wonderful person who was respected by the academy students for his personality, ability, background, and everything else.
He was jealous of him, and bad rumors were circulating among the students, but there were no rumors about Shriel de Laparte, arguably, during the three years he was in school.
It is clean. nice. Good looks. respectful The words of the girls praising Shriel to keep her saliva dry had such a word.
Moreover, following last year’s head of the Ministry of Magic, this time he became an official wizard belonging to the Star of Akasha. He’s a really great person. Even for Rubia, the value of respecting the wizard Shuriel was more than enough.
right. Rubia respected Shuriel.
I also thought he was a good person.
He always took good care of Rubia, and as a result, Rubia had to repay the many favors she received from Shuriel. Thank you or whatever.
Above all, Shriel… … At that time, he was the one who rescued him from serious injuries when he said he had been kidnapped. It was natural to sincerely give to my juniors, and beyond that… …
… … It was like that.
I thought it might be a little different than Shuriel. Looking at his usual words and deeds, I could see that he cared for him more than the other juniors, but in the end he only knew that.
A good senior-junior relationship that is beneficial to each other. For Rubia, a senior named Shuriel is a teacher or a friend… He was a person who could see
it wasn’t
At some point, Shriel didn’t already see Rubia as an ordinary junior.
as soon as you realize that.
Rubia felt an undeniable fear.
Shriel-senpai, who always seemed kind and gentle… … Now, it just seemed kind of scary.
Many futures were foreseen.
By refusing this, Rubia will be separated from Shuriel. It wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. Rubia wanted to be friendly with everyone as much as possible.
But it was impossible.
Even if Rubia treats her with a little kindness, the boys in her class secretly summoned Rubia and made an unexpected confession like this.
It was such a day.
Rubia, who had not yet had a definite form for the emotion of love, had no choice but to apologize when she faced the confession of male students who, of course, did not have a reasonable affinity for it.
Their refusal will hurt them. It was just sad and apologetic. But it’s unavoidable. I didn’t like it or loved it, but there was no way I could accept a confession.
If you were going to accept them… … Long before that, when he received a sudden confession from Ezio, he must have already accepted it.
okay.
If it were Ezio.
… … I think I felt the same way when Ezio confessed. I was afraid, I was afraid. But something seems different. The current Shuriel was burdensome. I felt rejection. Many things that would have happened if he became a lover aroused feelings of dislike for Rubia.
At this point, the answer was almost certain.
——Rubia did not love Shriel.
Thoughts that fall deeply flow like flowing water and reach somewhere. It was with Ezio.
When Ezio, who had been avoiding her without being able to do this or that, called her to sleep. Rubia was very happy. And there, I heard Ezio’s sincerity. As it is now, it was terrifying and terrifying.
6 years with Ezio, 1 year with Shriel. It’s always scary to destroy the relationship you’ve built up dearly. It was common. But the two were distinctly different.
If he thinks that when he becomes a lover with them, as if he had heard stories from his friends from time to time, he thinks that various actions will follow. It was an instinctive rejection.
However, Ezio… … I do not know.
One thing I can say for sure was that it wasn’t to the point where I felt disgusted like Shriel.
If you look a little more closely, you can see that it is close to the fear of the unknown, but Rubia has not reached that point.
Above all, there was no certainty. Most of the love that Rubia knew in the first place was what she realized while growing up watching her parents who loved her and gave birth to her.
They looked happy and carefree. They seemed more comfortable than anyone else when they were next to each other. They were open-minded and dependable, and their relationship was unlikely to break forever. As if forever.
was that so Even after entering the Larsen Academy and watching her friends fall in love, Rubia did not understand her well. Before feeling happy or good, Rubia’s sensibility was fundamentally different from that of many adolescent girls.
He could not find the comfort of the feeling of love he knew in any of the opposite s*xes, so it was good to say that it was impossible to even start in the first place.
Even Shriel, who might have felt a little comfortable after becoming friends over the course of a year, was the same in the end.
Now that those words came out of his mouth, it seemed that Rubia would no longer be able to treat Shuriel like she used to… …
“Ah, um… … ”
Rubia rolled her words in her mouth for a long time.
The two minutes seemed to be thinking while sitting still. Both cheeks were burning hot, and he didn’t even know how to start talking.
How do you say thank you?
Even if he had such a heart from the beginning, if he cared for him like that, he was truly giving for Rubia.
Not only that, even if it was the benefactor who saved his life from death… … Rubia couldn’t make up her mind in the end.
“… … I, yo. Seniors.”
Rubia licked her lips for a while.
Finally, he decided to raise his head.
“There are still a lot of words of thanks that I haven’t said to my senior, and I want to repay you for helping me so far. This time, I owe even more to my senior, so I don’t want to dare do anything bad to Shriel-senpai———”
right then
“Oh, don’t go there. It is now.”
“… … Yes Yes?”
Shuriel suddenly raised a hand.
He waited patiently for Rubia’s answer to come back, and then cut it off without listening to Rubia’s words that finally came out.
Immediately after, Shriel smiled bitterly.
“I was roughly expecting it, but the damage wasn’t that great. I said it’s okay to spend time thinking, but if you give me an answer in such a short time, no matter how much I’m going to notice. Well, even if it wasn’t, it was the result I had already expected… … That’s a good thing to say.”
Then he turns to Rubia and asks.
“Anyway, isn’t that what rejection means?”
“… … ”
You end up hurting Shuriel-senpai too.
Rubia closed her mouth and nodded her head very slowly.
“Yeah, that’s how it happened… … ”
Shriel was muttering like that.
“Rubia.”
“… … Yes, sir.”
Suddenly, he said something quite shocking.
“I– I’m going to return the official mage’s rank that I’ve been given this time.”
“… … Yeah? Bar, return?”
Rubia’s eyes widened.
“okay.”
“Uh, why… … ”
Shriel said with a dull expression.
“Because that is wrong.”
“… … Wrong, work?”
What does it mean?
“Of course. Even if it was wrong, it was wrong for a long time. Will I be able to sleep with my feet comfortably stretched out by deceiving the people around me and the world with an achievement that I did not build myself? I haven’t slept for two hours a day for the past few weeks. I keep thinking about that time.”
“What do you mean… … ”
“Well, it didn’t even fit the fountain anyway. I tried to put it down earlier, but I didn’t believe it.”
As if it was natural to see Rubia’s questionable gaze, Shriel said as if she was wiping her sleeves and sleeves covered with snowflakes that had blown from afar.
“After getting promoted, it was very difficult in many ways. I know it from my own experience. I realized that it would be better to just do chores for a while and gain experience. It’s almost like dying for a beginner like me to get caught among the great people. Ha ha ha ha!”
“Shu, Shriel-senpai… … ?”
Rubia was slightly perplexed.
Shriel smiled shyly, scratching the back of his head. For Rubia, who had seen him for a long time, it was awkward, perhaps the first time he had seen Shuriel.
“Ah- yeah, it’s better to laugh like this than to cry, don’t you think? I think so. Well, I knew you were going to refuse, but I thought I wouldn’t be able to get any energy out of this, haha… … ”
Rubia slowly lowered her head with a sinful heart as her tone became increasingly bitter.
“… … I’m sorry. Seniors.”
“What do I need to be sorry for?”
Shriel chuckled.
“Love is not something that can be achieved through hard work.”
“… … ”
Rubia shut her mouth.
There was a sudden silence, and Shriel looked down at his watch to check the time, then lightly bent his neck a few times and opened his mouth again.
“Now that I have said everything I wanted to say and the words of invitation to enter Akasha’s Star, there is only one last thing I have to say to you.”
Shh.
Shuriel looked back at Rubia and continued.
“——Rubia, I have something to tell you. As much as you, no one else… … It’s a must hear.”
#35
A deep night when the moonlight pours down like a mist.
“… … ”
Rubia is.
I sat idly on a bench on the outdoor patio.
— The day you and I went missing.
Still.
I vividly remember the conversation around lunchtime.
— What saved you… … it wasn’t me
— Unlike that boy, I was pathetic, unable to break through the barrier that you were sucked into, and was being chased by other demons that appeared and suffered. The scars on my body were from fighting with them.
— It’s true that I risked my life to save you, but… … I mean, I didn’t do anything to help you survive.
— Unlike me, the boy pierced the barrier with his own power. It was like a lump of light.
— The boy entered the barrier by himself in front of me, and confronted the three demons who were supposed to be there, alone. And, by the time I barely survived the monster and peeped for another chance in the forest, everything was over.
— The boy killed all the demons.
– after that… I saved you safely.
— His whole body was stained with blood. From what I saw at the scene… … I wondered if it was really alive. It wouldn’t be strange to die right there, but the boy moved. Holding on to the state of kneading, I went somewhere, saying there was a place I had to go.
— Leaving you to me.
— … … This is the whole story of an externally unknown incident.
— Rubia, I thought I needed to know as much as you, who is a party to the case, and no one else.
— The boy told me not to tell the truth, but… … How can you do that? No matter how much you thought about it, it didn’t seem like the way for you, Rubia, to hide the truth. Above all else, I had to say these words to relieve my guilt.
— … … who is that boy?
— The boy you talked about often is right. It is very easy to recognize as there is not much difference from the picture.
— No, everything I say is true. Now there’s no reason to come here and lie. So, I’m here today to tell you that it wasn’t me who saved you, but that boy– Ezio Cranil. Rubia.
“… … ”
Reminds me of that conversation.
town-
Rubia covered her mouth with her hand.
memories come to mind faint memory.
While I was unconscious, I vaguely called someone’s name… … A brief shadow of that moment passes through Rubia’s head.
… … The person who was holding me back then.
Was it Ezio?
Rubia’s emerald-colored eyes, which covered their mouths, fluttered relentlessly. Shriel wasn’t the kind of person to even lie like that. It’s not something to be taken lightly as a joke. It was unbelievable.
Ezio’s sudden resignation.
What I heard from Mu.
Shriel’s testimony… …
All of that.
If it all happened to save yourself.
If it is true that there is no lie that Ezio, who has become so tattered as to question whether he is truly alive, even sacrificed his life to save his own life, rather than Shriel’s condition, which at first glance looked serious… …
When Ezio was holding him in his arms, he called out Shuriel-senpai’s name while ignoring everything.
… … There was actually someone else who saved him.
What was Ezio thinking at the time?
would you be disappointed with me? would you despair
Either way, it was never considered a good flow.
I… What the hell did you do?
It is unacceptable to say that he may not have known that Ezio was there. I understand. No, I don’t understand. Why did you do that, Rubia? You said it was Ezio, not Shriel-senpai, who was there.
To get Ezio involved in such a terrible thing. make it a shamrock. Kill three demons? dough sound? Are you really okay? It was hard to even make a rational decision as my brain was twisted.
“Ahh… … ”
Ezio.
Ezio…
… … where are you now
In the end, it was all about you.
Even when she heard that from Shuriel, Rubia had to take out her handkerchief and pick it up urgently because of the tears that suddenly started to flow.
It still was.
“… OMG. Aww, uh… … ”
My heart was pounding like it was going to break.
Thinking of Ezio who must have been seriously injured because of him, and hating himself so much that even after rescuing him, he mistakenly gave himself another injury, how much trouble must have happened to Ezio, how Ezio must have felt at that time… …
I have to apologize, I have to apologize.
One time is not enough, and one time is not enough. I don’t even have the right to say thank you.
Hearing the news that Ezio was slightly injured would certainly cause great concern, but as soon as he heard that he was in a state of kneading while trying to save him, his heart sank. It felt like my heart had stopped.
and.
Ezio… … I’m not saying that even though you got away from me like that, you did such a reckless thing to save me in the end.
On the contrary.
I,
I… …
“… bu, uh, uh, uh… Ah… ah… … ”
Just by reminiscing about the past, my throat was stuffed and my eyes were clouded.
As the night passed, Rubia, with her eyes closed, covered her mouth and bowed her head, letting a mournful cry flow through her hands.
… … It was Rubia, who was getting more and more exhausted day by day because of his worries.
All exams are over and winter break is coming soon. Originally, there were a lot of things that had to be prepared by January, but when Rubia realized the truth, she stopped paying attention to those things.
since the start of winter vacation.
Rubia immediately bought the train ticket.
——A little profit… …
cold winter day.
In the snowy station, Rubia pressed the hood on her robe a little deeper. The weather was cold, but Rubia’s frozen heart was colder than that.
The train, which stopped on the railroad tracks, squeaked and opened the door. Rubia went up to the Cannes without a word.
“… … ”
Then, inside the empty compartment, he sat down on the window seat, fixed the suitcase with his luggage on the floor, and looked out the window quietly with his mouth shut.
… … I thought I’d listen to it at least once.
There was definitely something I had to go to.
He took off his hood and leaned against the back of the chair.
Then he quietly closed his eyes.
profit… …
The train soon started running on the railroad tracks.
Although Rubia closed her eyes, she never fell asleep. I just think and think again. The dark circles around her eyes were telling how much Rubia had had trouble sleeping.
So the train runs towards somewhere.
The first place Rubia headed to find Ezio, who had disappeared———the place where all their relationships began, their hometown.
#35
“… … Are you going?”
asked the wrinkled priest.
bruise.
With the darkened night street in front of me, I looked back at the voice of the man who had put the border of the wide open temple under his feet.
It was a man in a spare robe prepared for the temple. Looking back, his figure was shining divinely in the moonlight as a backlight.
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Due to the auspicious atmosphere in harmony with his holy face, the priest felt as if he was incarnation in front of him. … … No, maybe it wasn’t just a feeling.
The man said softly, stroking the protruding throat as if he was not used to it.
“I have to leave. There is nothing more to see.”
“… Is that so.”
“Yes. Thank you, even for a short time, priest.”
“What? We… … Rather, it was an honor to have you. Someday next time, please visit our temple.”
Lufres Einhargen.
As a high priest, she managed this Lorsen Temple of the Sun, and she clearly saw the miracle that happened the day before.
A boy in a serious condition that seemed impossible to save no matter what he did. As the energy of life was getting weaker day by day, it would have no meaning to pour out divine power any more.
In the end, when the boy’s body stopped breathing even shallowly, a miracle happened in front of Lufres, who realized that he was completely dead.
that… It was like a single shining egg.
It happened while he was about to put a white cloth over the body of the dead boy. It was such an intense light that it made my eyes dizzy just by looking at it. As if facing the sun right in front of you… …
No priest, including Lufres, could enter the room. A full day had passed since the halo that filled every corner of the room had ceased. Lupus was the first to open the door and go inside, having a sense that something had happened.
Then, there was a man he had never seen before.
Originally, it was a young and small boy lying on the blood-soaked bed, but the person in front of them was a healthy young man in name and reality.
All of this happened in just one night. that… Needless to say, it deserved to be called a miracle of God.
“The letter… I believe you will do well.”
“… … Of course, Ezio-sama.”
Lufres quietly called out the man’s name.
Watching Ezio prepare to leave quickly, Lupres at the same time closely observed the energy flowing through his body.
indescribable divinity.
He must have come to see the Lord last night.
But he didn’t seem to remember.
That was normal.
Lupres, like Ezio, has seen many new born against fate. The number was so small that the three-digit number across the entire continent was intermittently.
If there is one person I can remember most recently, it was probably Elena Crymore, the protagonist of the southern demonic expedition that took place nine years ago.
As Lupus knows.
Elena said that she lasted fifty years.
In the process, he lost one eye and gained a new one instead. What Elena could not see did not exist in this world.
Then, Ezio in front of you.
How much time must he have spent while he couldn’t remember this man, who had only faint traces of his own body.
Although God loved humans, He was infinitely fair and should have taken the price that was appropriate for the miracle.
It was difficult to imagine as a loopless.
when the time comes
He, too, would naturally know.
So for now, I’m just letting it go.
“May God always be with you along the way.”
Lufres bowed reverently.
… … bruises, bruises.
With that, Ezio set out a long way in search of where the faint memory pointed.