Pilot (2)
Pitter-patter-.
Fine raindrops fell.
The dark sky seemed to be gradually swallowed by dark clouds, and soon it began to draw streaks of rain.
Faint dots were engraved on the dry ground, drop by drop.
The wet marks gradually widened, covering the ground with moisture.
It was a fierce spring rain.
It seemed like it was going to pour.
People scattered to avoid the unexpected downpour.
But even in the falling raindrops, there was a girl wandering around the academy town alone.
"..."
Her school uniform was a mess.
Through her pink hair, soaked with rainwater, unfocused green eyes could be seen.
The girl was staggering as she walked.
Where was this?
Where was she going?
Crude fragments of questions clouded her mind... but they were washed away by the rain as if they had never been there.
The girl merely took each step to keep herself from collapsing.
Thump, thump-.
Emptiness lingered in her unsteady gait.
As she swayed several times from the intense exhaustion, a cold voice suddenly whispered in her ear.
- How pathetic.
The scene from just a few hours ago flashed before her eyes.
A blue-haired girl standing in the center of the circular arena. Regia was looking up at her, kneeling on the ground.
Emotions of annihilation shone brightly in her blue eyes.
- To think you were considered a 'prospect' with such skills... It's laughable.
She couldn't do anything.
She was helplessly defeated.
Perhaps due to the pressure, mistakes kept popping up.
Her familiar didn't respond to her call, and the basic magic she managed to muster was abysmal.
- You need to realize your place.
- This is a place for those who are qualified... It's not a place for a mere commoner to covet.
Regia hung her head low.
She was scared.
Whether it was her pathetic appearance or her overwhelming presence, the blue-haired girl turned her back after leaving a single remark.
- Leave, outsider.
Those words were especially painful.
Sharp thorns pierced the girl's heart.
Her center of gravity swayed precariously.
"...Ah."
Her vision blurred with heat.
Lukewarm streaks were drawn across her cold cheeks.
"How foolish."
The girl muttered and wiped away her tears.
She hurriedly hid her vulnerable appearance, worried that someone might see her.
She bit her lip tightly.
'Perhaps.'
Perhaps she had been too naive.
She thought that good things would happen if she entered the academy.
She thought she would put an end to her wandering life... and make many friends of her age and have fun.
It seemed that there was no place for her here either.
It was a familiar loneliness.
She tried not to cry, but she couldn't erase the welling emotions.
The thin rain grew heavier.
It soon turned into a downpour.
Pssssshhh-!
The girl continued walking despite the heavy rain.
She kept wiping away the unending stream of water, spitting out the bitter sorrow between her lips.
"Sob, uh... sniff..."
She was literally a drowned rat.
Her pathetic steps continued to wander.
Just as her legs began to ache, and her eyes, wet with tears and rain, started to sting...
The rain suddenly stopped.
"...?"
No, it hadn't actually stopped.
She could still hear the sound of rain in her ears, and wet drops still splashed at her feet.
Something was simply blocking the rain.
What could it be all of a sudden?
With that question in mind, she lifted her bowed head, and golden hair entered her vision.
His characteristically narrowed eyes were smiling.
The boy was standing there, holding an umbrella in each hand.
"...Young Master Snakus?"
Regia muttered blankly.
Even though her reaction was somewhat dazed, the boy didn't seem to mind.
"There you are, Miss Regia."
"What brings you to a place like this, Young Master...?"
"Hehe."
He simply replied.
"I came to find a friend."
Pitter-patter, pitter-patter.
Raindrops fell from the edge of the umbrella that was kindly tilted towards her.
The unexpected appearance of the boy, and his unexpected words. Regia was speechless for a moment.
***
"I came to find a friend."
I said with a faint smile.
Green eyes stared at me blankly.
As I met her gaze for a moment, a belated sense of relief washed over me like a wave.
'I finally found you.'
I had been worried because of the heavy rain.
I was afraid she might be crying somewhere strange... but thankfully, she was standing right where he remembered.
It seemed the original story was still unfolding.
"Miss Regia."
"...Yes."
"Shall we get out of the rain first?"
The girl replied weakly.
Her slender shoulders were trembling as if from the cold.
Tear stains on her rain-soaked face added to her pitiful appearance.
She seemed to have mixed feelings.
Pssssshhh-!
First, we needed to get out of this awful weather.
I held the umbrella over her and walked towards a nearby structure with a roof.
There was a carriage stop nearby.
"This is perfect for getting out of the rain for a bit."
We sat side by side on the bench.
We didn't really say anything.
It seemed like she needed some time to calm down, so I just kept silent.
Pitter-patter-!
The raindrops falling on the roof are quite noisy.
Thanks to that, the sound of her swallowing her tears is muffled.
No, actually, it's not muffled, but... I decided to pretend I couldn't hear it.
For our protagonist.
"······"
The silence continues for a while.
The rigid stillness is broken by none other than Regia's voice.
She seemed to have calmed down somewhat.
"I'm sorry, Young Master."
However, that didn't mean her tears stopped.
She turned her head away, pretending not to, but streaks of water still remained on her cheeks.
I asked softly.
"What are you sorry for?"
"You said we would go back together after the exam... I just left on my own."
"That's right."
"You came to find me, Young Master. Even in this harsh weather, for hours..."
Her green eyes tremble sadly.
Dew forms on her eyelids. The sparkling light can't bear its own weight and falls drop by drop.
"I, I never meant to burden you, Young Master...! It's just, I, suddenly, my stomach churned..."
"I see."
"I, really...! Suddenly, my head went blank, and I, I couldn't think of anything. I'm, I'm sorry."
"Hmm."
I gave a bitter laugh.
Even in this situation, she's desperately trying to be considerate. Truly a Regia-like reaction.
A feeling of both pity and affection arises.
I quietly raise my hand.
And place it on top of the girl's head who is rambling.
"Miss Regia."
"So, I wasn't trying to ignore you, Sir… Huh? Yes, yes?"
Regia was taken aback by the sudden touch.
With a smile, I paused for a moment before calmly speaking.
"You worked hard."
"Yes…?"
"The class assignment test today. You really worked hard."
The girl looked dumbfounded at the unexpected words.
She probably didn't expect to hear something like that.
Following the loose pink strands, I slowly stroked her hair.
Like treating a hurt child.
"I just wanted to tell you that."
In the original story, no one comforted her.
A girl who was disliked by the eldest daughter of the Duke's family. Even being a commoner, no one would want to be close to her.
So Regia cried alone.
Until the relentless downpour stopped.
- The Outsider.
She had lived her whole life in loneliness.
She had finally ended her wandering and set foot in the world, but loneliness still awaited Regia.
The girl couldn't bear it and sobbed for a long time.
'I wanted to comfort her so many times.'
It might be pathetic sympathy, of course.
Soon, good friends would be by her side, and she was destined to be loved by many.
She might not need this kind of meager encouragement then.
But.
"It's okay to falter a little. You're only taking your first steps."
Not yet.
Because right now, no one will offer you warm comfort.
I wanted to be by her side.
'If your story hadn't existed… I would have lived as a loser long ago.'
This was a kind of repayment of gratitude.
I had endured the period filled with despair thanks to your story, so it was my turn to be the pillar this time.
I quietly murmured.
"Everything will be fine."
Regia stares at me silently.
The girl, who had been sitting there in a daze.
Waiting for a response for a moment, tears suddenly start to well up in her eyes again.
Thud, thud, the tears fall.
"Oh dear."
"······Huh?"
She realizes belatedly that she is crying.
Regia hastily wipes her eyes and tries to put on a face that says she's okay.
"Ah… th, this is nothing, ah, no. It's just that, dust, dust got in my eyes…."
"Miss Regia."
"Yes?"
"Are you really okay?"
"······."
Her lips closed involuntarily.
It seemed to have hit the mark.
The girl seemed to stammer for a while, then bowed her head and mumbled.
"I'm... fine."
"Really?"
"Really. Just a few months ago, when I was traveling alone, I was wandering through a desert with no one around. Compared to that, this is nothing."
"Why do you think that?"
"Well... the desert is lonely. There are no people."
The desert is lonely.
The endless expanse of sand is reminiscent of the vast ocean.
Naturally, it was an environment where humans could not live, and even if they did, there would be very few.
Compared to the academy bustling with students...
"But Miss Regia."
Is that really the case?
"It's the same in a crowd of people."
It doesn't matter how many people there are.
What matters is whether you have someone to lean on.
Most people can't readily nod their heads to this question.
This is why we suffer from endless loneliness even though we live in a forest of people.
"Sometimes, being around people... can be lonelier than the desert."
"······."
Regia did not deny it.
Is she agreeing?
Or is she just spacing out?
The pitiful silence that follows. I don't know what meaning lies behind it.
But her expression was sad.
I didn't like it.
It hurt my heart to see the protagonist so downcast.
I wanted her to always shine brightly.
That was why I was still alive to see it.
"So I wanted to ask."
"······Yes?"
"As I mentioned last time... I genuinely want Miss Regia to be my friend."
"Me... ?"
She asks with a question mark in her eyes, as if she doesn't understand.
Tears still trace her cheeks. I gently wipe her cheek.
"If Miss Regia would allow it."
I can't do anything great.
"But I still want to ease some of your loneliness."
Her slender shoulders tremble.
Her voice, broken by sobs, is filled with a profound question.
"······Why."
The girl asks,
"Why are you doing all this for me, Young Master?"
He had been overly kind to her since their first meeting.
During the entrance exam, he had saved her from being bullied, and later, he was the only one who congratulated her on her admission.
At the academy, he accompanied her to prevent her from being bored.
Today, he comforted her after she felt devastated by the class placement test.
And now...
"I don't understand why you're interested in someone as insignificant as me."
He was offering himself as the friend she had desperately longed for.
It was a terribly sweet temptation.
Like the deceitful tongue of a snake, it flickered.
There was something unsettling about the atmosphere, but the girl couldn't bring herself to refuse.
"Why...?"
"Well," he said, placing his index finger on his lips and smiling playfully, "It's a secret."
The sound of the rain had stopped.
After the downpour, sunlight pierced through the clouds.
Her final question followed.
"What do you think, Regia? Will you allow me to get closer to you?"
Regia bit her lip.
The dew on her eyelashes glistened beautifully in the warm sunlight.
The girl stopped crying.
Instead, she simply smiled brightly.
"Yes...!"
Her cheerful reply.
She seemed to be regaining her strength. This expression suited Regia after all.
I rose from my seat, feeling a sense of satisfaction.
"The rain has stopped. Shall we go back?"
"Yes, Young Master!"
"Haha, you can just call me by my name now. We're friends, remember?"
"Oh... I, I'm still not used to it..."
"What a shame."
Our conversation continued lightly.
We walked along the path, still wet from the rain.
"Don't worry about the test today. Regia, you're going to be in the top class."
"What? But I did so badly on the test..."
"Someone recognized your potential. They'll probably take care of it."
"Such a kind thing... But how do you know all this, Young Master?"
"That's a secret too."
"... You're so mean."
The academy's official schedule begins in two days.
The story of [The World as Seen by the Little Prince], as I remember it, was unfolding.
My heart was filled with excitement.
Rejia, Charlotte, Emilia, and various other characters would meet in one classroom.
Since I was also at the top, I would be in the top-ranked class.
'The head professor of the top-ranked class... I'm sure his name was Kadel?'
I moved my feet, recalling the face I would soon see.
It was definitely him...
"Nice to meet you all. I am Selena Drunkard, the head professor of the top-ranked class for the next year."
Why the hell are you here?
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Thanks for the chapter! I hope you feel better from being sick recently!
ReplyDeleteThank for the chapter 👍🏻
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