“…What do you mean, what’s going on?”
When Crechill raised her head, the expression on her face looked gloomy and stiff with strain. It made me wonder which of us was actually undergoing the interview.
“What do you actually want to do? Tell us honestly.”
“……”
“If you actually did want to win a bout against her, I doubt you would turn to complete strangers, mages you don’t even know, to be your teachers a third time, would you? If I was in your shoes, I’d get someone to refer me to a famous mage or to a real teacher.”
Crechill was silent.
Huh? Whatever could be the matter?
“…Is it all right if I say something weird?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
My big sister agreed.
Then Crechill went on at length, relating a story that could have been taken for a confession.
“Honestly, recently I’ve been wondering myself what I should do…”
She told us that at the beginning, it had merely been a passing fancy.
Nadona was the top girl on campus. Crechill also had good grades, and her ranking on their examinations always put her in a place close to her rival. Naturally, she had to get the other girl to notice her.
However, she didn’t have the courage to talk to her directly.
As a result, what sort of trick had she come up with?
Apparently, this kind of trick.
“Heh-heh-heh…you’re Nadona, top of the class, right? Have a battle with me.”
……
She’d seized on this method. I couldn’t help but wonder why. Well, the answer to my question was because she was a self-proclaimed genius and, of course, a weird person!
“Ultimately, I called her out for a duel over forty times after that, for the same reason…”
Then, as they continued battling against each other, Crechill had become aware of her own feelings.
“Whenever I considered the fact that we wouldn’t be able to duel anymore if I won one of our matches, I just couldn’t bring myself to win. Last time, when I challenged her to a fight, in the end I couldn’t do a thing and just ran away. I’m not sure how to say it. At this point, all I want is to become good friends with Nadona. But ever since I ran away from her, now I feel awkward to go speak to her with an innocent look on my face, and I find myself wondering what I should do now. There’s also no question that I was only fooling myself, thinking I would be able to do something if I was following someone else’s instructions. For the time being, anything will do. I just wanted some advice.”
“Sounds about right.”
My big sister immediately agreed with her.
She probably hadn’t listened to half of what Crechill had said. That was the sort of expression she had on.
It was certainly possible that Crechill hadn’t really let her emotions show on the outside. Either that, or maybe she wanted to make things easier by finally letting out the feelings she had been hiding for so long. The words spilling from her mouth came pouring out like a dam had burst.
However, we had not necessarily prepared ourselves for the torrent of emotions that came pouring out of her.
If there was one person who would have been able to deal with her emotions, surely that would be Nadona, who had thus far accepted the ceaseless challenges to battle.
Well, I don’t think we can expect her to appear at this perfect moment, though.
“—Crechill?”
The door to her room opened with a click of the latch.
When I turned around, I saw a girl there, about the same age as Crechill.
“…! Na-Nadona?”
Apparently, that’s Nadona.
Why is she here now?
“I was listening to your whole conversation…”
“Huh? You were eavesdropping?”
“Yeah, I had my ear against the door.”
“Wait, back up, why are you here?”
“After we ended things like that yesterday, I wanted to talk to you again, so I came over. Do you mind?”
“I don’t mind, but…”
I see, so this girl’s a little weird, too?
After that, Nadona came into the room and addressed Crechill. “I feel the same way you do.”
I’m just guessing, but this girl probably doesn’t even see me and my sister.
“I ran away from you… I’m not worthy of standing face-to-face with you anymore…”
She sure did start spitting out cool lines all of a sudden, huh?
“Nah, it’s okay. I’ve known for a while that there was a little something off about you.”
“What was that?”
“I mean, we’ve battled over forty times. How could I not know?” Nadona cackled as she approached Crechill. “But don’t run away from me anymore, okay?” As she spoke, she stood in front of Crechill, as if to block her means of escape.
My sister and I, on the other hand, were forced toward the door of the room.
“Nadona…”
“Crechill…”
It was somehow difficult for us to stay there in that incredibly sickly sweet atmosphere. Already, it seemed like no one at all would be able to encroach on their little bubble.
“Big Sister, what exactly is unfolding here?”
“I don’t really know.”
The two of us were bewildered by the situation. We wanted to leave.
“Oh…how wonderful, Crechill…”
In the middle of it all, an adult woman suddenly appeared, standing between us and the door.
“Big Sister, who is this person?”
“I don’t really know.”
“I’m Crechill’s mother.”
Her mother, huh?
Crechill’s mother was tearing up, gazing at the two girls who were looking at each other intimately.
“Really, I’m so happy for you, Crechill… I worried about you because you couldn’t make friends for so long, but all of a sudden you have three of them… Mama is just delighted…!” said her mother.
Three? How’s that?
There’s Nadona, and then maybe she’s including my sister and I in that count?
…I’d like to avoid letting this situation get any more confusing than it already is.
“Um, ma’am?”
“My little sister and I just came here for an interview. We’re not really friends—”
“Eh………………………………………………………………”
“On second thought, we are her friends.”
“That’s right, super-best friends!”
And so that’s how my sister and I both ended up getting dragged into the strange situation. It probably never would have happened if the two mages who had given Crechill her training had recognized her true feelings at a slightly earlier stage.
Although, I suppose one could argue it was thanks to their oversight that the friendship between the two girls had grown so close.
“Crechill…”
“Nadona…”
But wow, this sure is an awfully sappy atmosphere…
It’s enough to give me indigestion—
“…Ah!”
Just then, a bolt of lightning flashed through my head.
Given the mood in this room, I bet I could say just about anything—?
I whirled around to look directly at my older sister.
I said—
“Amnesia, could I say something strange?”
When I asked, she answered me with a wide smile.
“Mm. No.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The second time I visited that city was about one month after my first trip.
Without any particular purpose in mind, I went for some sightseeing around the city again, doing as I always did and killing some time by idly shopping, visiting a café, reading a book on a bench in the plaza, and so on.
It sure is nice to be able to use your time freely.
I guess you could say it’s the special privilege of travelers to be able to always use our time in indulgent leisure.
However, the flip side of that is we constantly have anxiety about our wallets hanging over our heads.
“…This is freedom.”
If I listened carefully, I could hear the hustle and bustle of the city.
People doing business along the street. People giving food to songbirds in the plaza. People playing music for passersby. And people enjoying their free time, just like I was.
Come to think of it, after I took up the role of teacher for three days…or at least pretended to…I wonder what exactly became of that girl after that?
“I never expected to find a book that I wouldn’t be able to speed-read…”
“Didn’t I tell you? This book’s really interesting. You won’t be able to fall asleep reading it.”
Two totally ordinary girls walked past in front of me. Completely ordinary girls, the kind you could see around town on any weekend.
One of them, the girl with dark blue hair, suddenly looked back and waved her hand at me slightly. The smile on her face belonged to a totally ordinary girl.
A girl indifferent to things like duels, a girl whom you would have a hard time describing as a genius, just a completely normal girl.
I gave her a little wave back.
On such a fine day, being overly curious about the results of a complete stranger’s battle would surely be quite—
“Insensitive, huh?”
So I went back to my idling.