137. two winters (1)
As if someone was trying to sneak in, the door creaked timidly as it opened. The footsteps were uncertain, but did not hide their presence. The late evening wind came in through the crack in the door.
I can still vividly recall the day I first met you. If you put it in writing, your small gestures, your changing facial expressions, and even the gymnasium in the evening darkness can be captured without missing a single word. If you draw it as a picture, you can even draw a single strand of your fluttering hair or the long shadow cast by the scarecrow.
‘Are you still training?’
you talked to me like that My heart raced, but I didn’t show it. A smile passed over the face filled with curiosity. From then on, you are with me, and that smile remains.
It was the first time I felt the slowness of my steps taught by my teacher. Even the speed of the blowing wind felt stuffy. more, faster. Embrace the blowing gale, faster than the wind that blows through the alley.
Like an arrow passing through the air, Maxim threw himself into the sky of the royal capital. The jet-black Arsene Bern’s hair fluttered like a raven’s feathers. The cold air filled with the smell of winter filled his lungs, and soon came out again. It was like a blizzard running through his veins. From the head, to every nook and cranny of the body, there was no place beyond consciousness.
‘Maxi.’
I remember the nickname you used to call me. Your voice was light and mischievous, and landed in my ears like snowflakes. When your hands overlapped mine, I didn’t say anything, but I was so happy. That warm feeling, even if I clench my fist now, I can’t feel it again. The memory of you, which I thought would fade, remains intact even after time passes along with the pain engraved in my body.
‘Where shall we go tomorrow?’
I remember when you and I were woven together by the word ‘we’. At that time, I don’t know why I was so ashamed of the word ‘we’. The word ‘we’ did not make you a stranger. Without any walls or lines, I soon became you and you soon became me.
‘After graduation, where do you want to go?’
I remembered the time when we talked about the future like that. Since we were young, I was optimistic that our time together would be much longer than the time we had together so far, so it was so much fun to think about what’s next. I drew tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, next month, and next year.
The street was blurry. Unlike yesterday, cloudy clouds filled the sky. Gray, dark clouds that look just like your eyes. I’m not saying that your pupils resemble those clouds, I should say that those clouds resemble your pupils. Maxim stamped his feet. The breath rising from the corner of Maxim’s mouth, which soared into the air and sank again, drew a blurry line like an afterimage.
‘Let’s break up.’
Words I shouldn’t have told you. The words that he wanted to tear his mouth apart even as he spit it out, the thought that it really should have ended there was a deception. I didn’t want to end it. I wanted to look at the same place all the time. I hoped that the next thing each other wanted was always the same. At least, it shouldn’t have ended that way.
The edge of the arena came into Maxim’s field of vision. Maxim accelerated his steps even more. you were getting closer It’s not just that each other’s bodies are close, I’m really approaching you.
People’s eyes were focused. Maxim was literally being sent back to the arena as an arrow. A murmur approaches. Guards were strictly controlling people. pushed people away The guards blocked the knights who flew towards the entrance of the arena at great speed.
“for a moment-!”
“Finals, it’s not too late.”
The knight recognized Arsene’s face and quickly nodded.
“Come on in! There really isn’t much left now. Where have you been and are you back now?”
The noise of the crowd that heard the guardsman’s words spread from place to place as if it were contagious. Maxim did not stop even after passing through the main gate of the arena. In the middle, the staff tried to stop Maxim in a panic, but the staff had no justification or ability to stop Maxim pushing them away. He was just looking at his eyes, saying he couldn’t figure out why he was able to come back.
Maxim’s run passed them and headed for the corridor of the waiting room. You will see a door leading to the waiting room. over there waiting for you You are standing at the door opposite me, waiting for me.
Maxim opened the door to the waiting room without delay. I grabbed the hilt of Baek Ah’s sword.
There was no next for us. between you and me again. The word “we” also became nonsensical. Still, still I want to see the next one. It’s okay even if it’s forced. If the road has already been cut, I will pull the ends to connect it. Because I want to see you so hard.
I’m going to see you.
arena, grandstand.
The spectators who had gathered to watch the final were expressing their dissatisfaction while watching the referee still waiting.
“It’s almost time for the finals to start, but your opponent hasn’t arrived yet?”
“Aren’t we going to forfeit like we did in the quarterfinals again? If you can’t even keep the time to start… , you will automatically be eliminated.”
Charlotte kept her mouth shut and watched the referee nervously counting the clock. Christine, who was sitting next to her, was almost contemplative and was about to collapse at any moment. Charlotte spoke anxiously, placing her hand on her lap.
“Christine… .”
“Senior, you will arrive.”
Christine smiled and pretended to be okay. She must be the one eagerly waiting for Arsene to appear more than anyone else, so Charlotte didn’t say anything anymore and just followed her and waited.
“Arsene.”
Louis called out the name in a small voice, then bit his teeth. Her teacher always showed something beyond her expectations, but she couldn’t be so optimistic about the situation right now.
“… You don’t show up.”
Princess Michelle said that in a voice full of disappointment. It was Louis’s knights, not his own, who survived and made it to the finals. Marion, who was sitting next to Michelle, shook her head.
“If it is Sir Arsene, he will appear.”
Michelle looked at Marion curiously. How long had it been since she voiced her opinion like this? Marion’s blue eyes did not fall from the arena, but they were shining with a certain certainty.
“It’s surprising, to say such a thing. Are you even acquainted with that knight?”
“… Yes. And Sir Arsene gave me a reward as much as I trusted and waited.”
“Didn’t you think that there might be interference?”
Marion’s eyes shook, but her strength did not collapse. As she spoke, her eyes sometimes became so confident and strong as those of a determined person. Michelle thought that she was sometimes envious of her.
“Nevertheless, I want to believe.”
“The 120th Martial Arts Competition Finals, players enter!!”
The referee’s voice rang out loud. The crowd, still unaware of Arsene’s arrival, was agitated. Anxiety was spreading that even the final would end in a victory by abstaining.
“Theodora Benning of the Raven Knights!!”
Aside from Gi Kwon-seung, those who supported Theodora cheered enthusiastically and chanted her name when her name was called. Entering the arena, Theodora’s expression was not very bright. With a somewhat empty expression, Theodora trudged to the center of the arena.
“And-! Arsene Bern of the 2nd Guards!”
The cheering crowd held their breath. Even though the referee raised his voice, there was no sign that Arsene would appear right away. The referee also secretly turned his head toward the entrance where Arsene was supposed to appear. The entrance was still silent.
As expected, the word abstaining did not come in, but is it proceeding according to what I had heard beforehand?
The referee narrowed his eyes. The crowd roared. The hostess should have come and told them that they had been eliminated from the screening, but as if something had happened, the hostess didn’t think to come in.
The entire arena sank quietly, as if waiting for Arsene. When people couldn’t stand the silence and began to hum little by little, the sound of the door to the waiting room being opened was heard.
“uh?”
“Come in! It was not an abstention!”
“Then why are you coming in so late?”
“I don’t know, it’s fine as long as I don’t give up!”
The crowd’s confusion soon turned to enthusiasm. From the other side of the waiting room, footsteps were heard. And, Arsene Bern, whose black hair has become all messy, stepped into the arena. It must have been a snowstorm, but Arsene’s breathing was smooth, but her appearance was a mess. When the final, which was expected to end in a drawdown, went ahead as scheduled, the crowd roared with cheers.
The referee saw Arsene entering with a dry spit. Arsene was only looking at his opponent, not paying attention to the referee. The referee cleared his throat once and then spread his arms.
“Yang players, get ready!”
When I met that face, my head was completely empty. The scenery of the past that had passed before Maxim’s eyes became powerless in front of the dark cloud light that was looking at him right away. Maxim selected Baek-ah according to the referee’s order to prepare. Theodora looked at herself and put on a somewhat relieved expression. Heilang was already in her hand, howling low.
“I thought you wouldn’t show up.”
Theodora will fight with all her might. Maxim felt that way as he looked at Theodora, who said she was glad she appeared. The corner of her mouth with a loose smile was a bit more bitter and far more awkward than she remembered.
“… You came out victorious.”
I’ve never made such a childish promise to meet you in the finals. When we met for a while at the workshop, the only conversation they exchanged was a simple greeting to win the next match. But Maxim thought it was a promise to go to the finals and meet him. Maxim asked, raising the corners of his mouth.
“Did you think I wouldn’t be able to come up?”
“If you want to win, it’s much better than winning because there are abstainers.”
Theodora’s words were no joke. No matter what Count Benning had told her, she was determined to win. Perhaps he was responsible for preventing Dennis’ death. Still, the burden she was carrying seemed heavy.
“Yes, I see.”
Theodora regained her strength and unraveled it slowly, as if unwinding a skein of thread. The space called the arena began to be eroded by the mixed momentum of Theodora’s mana. Just by facing her sword to face, Maxim could feel that she had become much stronger than before.
But I won’t be so easy on you either, Theodora.
The wind blows. Maxim was assimilated into an environment that Theodora had no control over. He made the gray cloudy sky, the wind carrying minute moisture, and the hardened earth his side. Seeing Maxim not far behind his own momentum, Theodora widened her eyes as if a little surprised.
Maxim laughed a little, finding Theodora’s reaction amusing.
Come to think of it, I’ve never faced swords with you like this. After 3 years, when I first met you. When I was still wearing the same black uniform as you. When your eyes looking at me were swirling with longing, contempt, and regret. Theodora couldn’t bear to kick me out and just threw me off the vice-captain position. Those eyes that could be seen through the rain were like daggers.
Theodora, seeing Maxim’s laughter, raised her eyebrows and frowned. As if she was going to get revenge on Arsene for laughing at her, her momentum grew stronger.
Baek Ah cried softly. If Baek-ah’s cry was faintly like a song coming from the north, Heilang’s sword cry from the opposite side of Baek-a was like the cry of a fierce, lonely beast. The songs of the two swords overlapped and created a strange harmony.
“I will win.”
At Maxim’s words, Theodora nodded.
“Then, it’s better to be prepared.”
be prepared Things in the world couldn’t be solved with resolution alone. Maxim smiled bitterly again. However, without that kind of determination, there was no choice but to live with being swept away.
“any amount.”
The referee broke out in a cold sweat as his fighting spirit inflated like a balloon about to explode. Then, he lowered his raised hands and lit the fuse.
“The match begins!”
A tremendous roar erupted. Maxim rushed first without delay. Theodora seemed to just stand still and see how she came out. The blade of the sword that swept through the air came right in front of Theodora’s eyes.
The sound of the collision was different. Maxim felt that way as he looked at Theodora’s sword that blocked his own. I knew it, but I felt that I had become really strong.
Are you simply trying to figure out how I’ll come out?
Maxim raised the corner of his mouth. Even thinking about it back then, I was really pathetic. On a rainy day in early summer, you just waited for the aura to rise from my sword. And, when the aura bloomed from your unbearable sword, I collapsed on the floor and shed tears.
How about now, Theodora.
The aura won’t come out like it did back then, but I wonder if it can make me feel a little different.
Maxim’s sword drew an afterimage. Theodora opened her eyes at the sword attack that continued much faster than expected. Silently, Baek Ah’s sword touched Theodora’s sword.
Kang-!
Maxim’s sword slipped and flowed down, and Theodora swung it in line with it. A blade that comes in with a strange rhythm. Theodora continued to strike the sword and made a strange expression. The sense of sword that Maxim’s sword conveyed was very clear.
Theodora continued to move loudly as if to shake off the sword, but Maxim did not let Theodora’s movements be completed. When he interrupted the movement of raising his sword to strike, and turned his arm to the side to push it down, he struck his sword on the trajectory.
Asrai, in the rainy early summer competition, memories that I couldn’t recall come to mind. It reminded me of the time when we overlapped each other’s swords in the gymnasium at the academy, when swords that were still immature collided on equal footing.
Whenever Heilang and Baekah fired sparks into the air, Theodora’s expression shook. Maxim’s sword attack continued without slowing down. Maxim felt Theodora’s mana getting thicker and thicker. As Heilang’s sword path, which had only continued an uncertain search battle, became entangled in Baek Ah’s sword path and became blurred, the momentum soared more strongly.
“-no.”
I heard Theodora muttering like that. The pure white blade and the black blade stopped interlocking in the air. And,
bang-!
A huge explosion of mana occurred. Maxim was pushed back by the anti-elasticity and left a long mark on the floor. It was white and thick with dust. Maxim could see a haze of platinum rising through the settling dust. Maxim caught his breath and faced Theodora who appeared.
Theodora’s expression, wrapped in an aura over Heilang, was engulfed in confusion and looked like she was about to cry at any moment.