“Ugh…”
A painful groan permeates the space.
Struggling to open my eyes, I see my usual companion looking at me with a worried expression.
“Tena, are you awake?”
“Jake…? Why am I…?”
I flinch as something feels stuck in my throat.
A cast?
I can’t lower my neck.
Looking down, I see my legs are wrapped in thick casts, rendering me completely immobile.
“What’s going on?”
I felt confused.
As I regained my senses, it seemed I was practically incapacitated…
“Just wait a moment. I’ll call the doctor.”
“Oh, okay.”
Jake fusses as he leaves the hospital room, and Tena ponders what had happened.
Then, the scene that comes to mind is…
A ten-year-old kid kicking my knee, followed by a horrible sound as I toppled forward.
After that, I got hit on the back of my neck and lost consciousness.
Recalling the memory sends chills down my spine as I remember the sensation of my leg joints twisting in the opposite direction.
‘Crazy, how could a ten-year-old…’
I wouldn’t have been so weak as to have my knee broken by a kid…
Or maybe I am weak.
I had been arrogant.
I thought no one in school could beat me and let my pride get the better of me.
Then, the doctor who came in after had something shocking to say.
“If you had come to the hospital just a bit later, you might have never been able to use your legs again.”
“What did you say?”
It meant I would have been on crutches for the rest of my life if I had been even slightly late.
——–
“Jake, you’re my benefactor.”
I nodded silently at Tena’s mumbling.
This guy’s benefactor…
Honestly, it didn’t feel bad. To be known as the benefactor of Tena, the top ranker in our school…
This could change my status in school!
As I smiled to myself, Tena asked in his deep voice.
“By the way, you aren’t hurt at all?”
I paused.
“What happened to that kid?”
He probably wasn’t asking out of genuine curiosity.
His eyes were burning with zeal as evidence.
What should I say…?
———
I told Tena that I had given that kid a lesson.
Showed him proof that I hadn’t been robbed at all, and he seemed to somewhat believe me.
Tena seemed completely unaware of how crazy that girl had been.
While spewing that kind of violence, he didn’t even lose focus in his eyes or breathing while threatening.
With blood dripping from the umbrella!
In fact, the two of them, excluding Tena, were still unconscious…
After that incident, Tena diligently trained his body.
When asked, he realized that I was still weak.
For some reason, Tena seemed to be asking me how I trained.
Hmm, trained? I didn’t do that.
I just hung around with Tena, who was the top ranker, and I became second by just blending into the atmosphere.
I was born a bit sturdier, that’s all.
Muscle? That’s just fat.
When I wear clothes, it looks strangely like muscle, but I always wear long sleeves, feeling hot because of it.
That’s why I seem quite strong.
There’s no way I would’ve become second without ever fighting.
But I am still freaking weak.
However, now that I had told Tena that I taught that kid a lesson… he clearly thought I was stronger than him. What do I do…
…I don’t know. Damn it.
“Well, even if I tell you, with that leg, there’s no way you can properly exercise. Just focus on your recovery.”
“Yeah, Jake. You’re right.”
Tena chuckles.
Damn it! Should I start looking up how to exercise from today?
As I pondered this, I saw that loser who tried to rob me the other day.
This is all that loser’s fault! I told Tena I had something to do with that guy and stood up.
As I approached, the loser flinched, shrinking away with a squeak.
Yeah, this is why I can’t quit this act.
This sense of superiority!
He hurriedly turned away and pretended to mess with his phone to avoid my gaze.
I snatched his phone and grinned maliciously.
Tap,
“Hey, coward. Am I going to eat you or something?”
But the loser didn’t seem the same as before.
I felt something was off and checked the phone.
There, I found…
“……”
A picture of me, sitting down, crying in front of that ten-year-old kid.
When was this taken?
My face flushed, and I broke out in a cold sweat.
I quickly deleted the photo and grabbed him by the collar.
Then, he spoke in a very small voice.
“I backed it up.”
…
This creepy guy… his resourcefulness is impressive.
I imagined what would happen if that photo came to Tena’s attention.
If he found out I had been lying… of course, that would be bad.
Tena isn’t the top ranker for nothing.
Right now, he’s very friendly towards me, but that’s because he thinks I’m his benefactor.
He believes I was the reason he could treat his leg in time, thanks to me teaching that kid a lesson.
But if it turned out that it was merely that the kid showed a sliver of mercy to help…
Swallow.
I returned the phone and kicked the desk for no reason as I went back to sit next to Tena.
He asked me, “What’s up?”
“Oh, nothing. Just nothing.”
Damn it, I can’t rob him anymore…
———-
When Luke got home, Yerna was there.
Dressed casually, she looked a bit disheveled, which made her appear rather tired.
“I’m back, Yerna.”
“Ah, Lu. Weren’t you supposed to stay in the dorm with friends? You said you’d be using the music room too.”
“Ha ha, I can’t use it for a while now.”
Luke stuck his umbrella in the umbrella stand and leaned his cello against the wall as he stepped inside.
He took off his blazer and hung it up while saying, “I have something I want to ask you.”
“You have something to ask me?”
Yerna tilted her head.
What could there be that Luke would be curious about concerning himself?
Nothing specific came to mind.
After a short wait, Luke changed into comfortable clothes, sat next to Yerna, and asked, “Kids are saying that there are no spirits.”
Yerna felt her heart drop.
“…What? Who says there are no spirits?”
“All the kids seemed to think so. It was as if it was ‘common sense.'”
Luke continued to speak seriously.
“But didn’t you say that spirits exist in the world and that they just aren’t visible to those who are not their friends?”
“Did I…? Yes, I did!”
Yerna recalled vaguely but thought how well the kids remembered it.
“Yet common sense seems to be otherwise. Did you lie to me?”
Luke’s expression was very innocent.
Perhaps that is why it pricked her heart even more.
“Answer me truthfully, Yerna.”
Prompted by Luke, Yerna averted her gaze, mumbling as if she were a sinner.
“Y-yes… I lied.”
Luke was quite taken aback by her words.
He had simply thought that it was a rare era of spirit affinity, but to think it was an era where spirits didn’t exist at all?
Yet the fact that he only realized this so late left Luke utterly startled.
Then, everything he had previously assumed about spirits suddenly became doubtful.
Why was it that only he could see spirits? Why was there no means to prove they were sentient? Why had spirits lost their sentience and form, reduced to mere fairy tales, etc.?
These questions had never crossed his mind before.
He had simply believed Yerna’s lie.
A taboo that a mage must never commit.
He had uncritically accepted another’s assertions.
He thought there was no reason for Yerna to lie to him.
“…Why?”
“What…?”
I don’t know. Why did I do that back then!
Yet my heart was too soft to crush a child’s innocence.
I had never imagined that it would break in this way from an unexpected angle.
If I had known, I would have said that spirits don’t exist, that they are your fantasies and imaginary friends…
“Ugh, I really can’t raise a child…”
I want to cry.
“It’s hard to see that expression on your face…”
“Yerna.”
At the sound of Luke calling her, Yerna reluctantly looked up.
“What other lies have you told me?”
Luke’s expression seemed resolute.
“Another…?”
Yerna pondered deeply.
What else had she lied about?
As her thoughts lingered, Luke asked.
“Is everything you’ve said about Renie the truth?”
Luke’s expression was determined, but there was a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
Yerna almost carelessly started to say that was a lie too… but she held back.
“That’s true.”
“I see… I had some hope.”
Luke’s expression visibly dropped.
Seeing that, Yerna hugged Luke’s head and said, “I’m sorry for lying, Lu. I didn’t want to see you make that face. I will never lie to you again.”
“Yerna…”
‘There was no need to suddenly do this.’
Luke quickly wriggled out of Yerna’s embrace.
To the slightly disappointed Yerna, Luke said, “However, I’m not angry with you, so don’t worry.”
“Then I’m relieved…”
Common sense is just a perception, not the truth.
After all, Py hadn’t just disappeared.
Rather, if we study why spirits have been hidden away, one day we could create a nature where spirits frolic once again in the future.
Luke opened his mouth to convey this news to Yerna.
“Oh, by the way, Yerna.”
“Yes?”
“Spirits do exist. Look forward to the future; you might even be able to see them for real.”
Luke said that before heading into his room.
At the bold and cute declaration of a child, Yerna could only smile and nod.
“……Heh, okay. I’ll be looking forward to it.”
Yerna relaxed and took a deep breath.
“Hmm?”
But what is that smell?
Yerna’s senses were keen enough from her long battle experiences to detect the scent of ‘blood’ more vividly than anyone else.
There was no way she had mistaken or missed it.
And as for the source of that smell,
It was, without a doubt, Luke’s school uniform.
Yerna immediately sprang to her feet and searched Luke’s blazer.
A blood-stained handkerchief…?
Why is this here?
