For a moment, I thought that time had stopped. I became color blind and deaf at the same time. In that moment, everything other than her simply faded away. Those were the words I had wanted to say so many times, but I just kept swallowing them down.
“Your stubbornness, the way you try to act tough, how you can never be honest about things, how you hate to lose, how you always get so focused on certain things, how you’re surprisingly easy to get disheartened, how you’re an idiot and a pervert, how you keep trying to get stronger, I love it all...”
They were the words I kept pushing deep down inside, lying to myself about how I wasn’t fit for her yet.
“Me too! I love you, too!” I said it. “I love everything about you, too. How stupid you are, how ridiculously proud you are, how you always get depressed about the tiniest things, how you try to act cool in the dumbest places, how you always get so easily scared, everything... Your hair, your eyes, your voice, the beautiful ice you create, I love it, I love it all!” Once I started, I just couldn’t stop. “I was never able to tell you until now, but I’ve always...”
“...Idiot. I already knew that.”
“I’m sorry it took me so long.”
“It’s okay. You managed to say it now, right? We both should have been more honest with each other...”
“...Yeah.”
I know I took way too long, but please... Just please don’t die.
“Would you knock it off already?”
I lost track of how many times I’d said it. And yet he kept walking up to me – Kokuya Kurono. I was the one who challenged him first. It was just so frustrating after he beat me with the Ruinmaker. I felt sure I could beat him when he wasn’t using it, though.
“It isn’t that hard to understand.”
“...”
“I’m the strongest star sorcerer in the world, and you’re a G Ranker. You could never beat me, not even if you turned the entire world upside down.”
“Shut up.”
“...What did you say?”
“I said shut up. You’re the strongest? And I’m a G Ranker? Who cares about stupid ranks? I’m going to turn your entire world upside down, right here and now.”
“Where do you get all that stubbornness from?”
“I promised I’d protect her.”
“Your little sister? Why don’t you just leave that to me?”
“Towa’s my little sister. I need to protect her. Me, and no one else.”
He really seemed hung up on his little sister for some reason. Towa Kurono was the Ruinmaker, a weapon capable of destroying the world. Since I was the strongest, it was my duty to protect her and make sure she didn’t fall into the wrong hands. I didn’t understand what he could possibly have a problem with.
But Kokuya continued to challenge me. Day after day, he fought and lost to me, but he never gave up. All the other students at the academy made fun of him. “He’ll never beat her. There’s no way. Can’t he see how much stronger she is?” He had to listen to that every day. I’d even thought similar things myself.
Still, there was one thing I understood that the others didn’t – Kokuya would do anything for his little sister. He was obsessed with her, it almost seemed like he was crazy. I sort of understood, though. After all, I’d do anything for my parents. No matter how impossible something may have seemed, I didn’t care. Just because something was impossible at the time didn’t make me want to give up one bit. If I couldn’t do it once, I’d just have to keep trying until I did – just like how he insisted on fighting me until he won. We were the same, in a way.
He was also the only one who treated me like an equal. When I was born, so many things were instantly decided for me. I was to become the world’s strongest star sorcerer and the Headmistress of the academy. It was all planned before I even spoke my first word. I even heard people calling me the ‘finest masterpiece of the Yukigane house.’ Since I was born from exceptional parents, it was my duty to be exceptional as well.
I could understand why some people felt that deciding things based on heritage is a bad thing. It’s not like I was a fan of having others decide things for me either. But what if those things happened to coincide with what you wanted to be? What if you liked the path they set out for you? I was proud of the path my parents had set out for me, and the duty they entrusted me with.
I had my share of complaints, though. The people around me only ever saw me as the daughter of the Yukigane house, and only treated me as such. Some respected me, some envied me, and others desperately tried to curry favor with me. No matter which attitude they assumed, every single person only saw me as the daughter of the Yukigane house, and nothing more.
He was the only one – Kokuya was the only one who paid no mind to those things and saw me for me. He didn’t care that I was the daughter of the Yukigane house, or even that I was the strongest star sorcerer in the world. He just kept challenging me because he knew that I was stronger than him. And it made me so happy. It made me so happy to know that in his eyes, I wasn’t the daughter of the Yukigane house, but Yukihime Yukigane.
In his eyes alone, I could truly be myself. He took me from the top of the world and turned me into just another normal girl.
It felt like I was watching a kaleidoscope. Old memories of the time I’d spent with Kokuya flashed through my mind one after another – then I saw it. Redge, firing his silver slash.
If I was to fulfill my duty as the Headmistress, I needed to protect Towa with my life. We could always find another compatible user, but there was only one Ruinmaker.
In other words, I should have let Kokuya die. But I didn’t. There was no way I could have.
In that moment, I was no longer acting as the Headmistress. I was doing what I wanted to do. I was just a run-of-the-mill girl, prepared to do anything to protect the one she loved.
I had no regrets... No, that was a lie. I failed to fulfill my duty with him. I had wanted to stay by his side forever.
And yet, strangely enough, I felt satisfied – for I knew that he would inherit and finish all that I had started.
Blood gushed out from my body. Next to me, I could see Kokuya, wailing as tears streamed down his face. I knew I was a goner... I knew it. But...
“I was never able to tell you until now, but I’ve always...”
“...Idiot. I already knew that.”
“I’m sorry it took me so long.”
“It’s okay. You managed to say it now, right? We both should have been more honest with each other...”
I squeezed out the next words. If I was going to die here, I knew what I needed to say next.
“But I’m satisfied.”
I told him how I really felt. I could finally close my eyes.
At last, I managed to say it, right before I died.
“But I’m satisfied,” Yukihime said, as she kissed me.
Her lips felt cold and soft.
She grabbed my left hand, which was gripping the remains of her sword, then, moved it up toward her chest.
“I want to give everything to you. My love, my life... I did all the hard work up until now, so if you don’t win this, you’re gonna have to answer to me...”
Yukihime thrust the sword toward her chest and made my hands grip it.
Why? But I already knew the answer. And soon, a great power began to fill my body.
The Ruinmaker had the ability to steal star power from whoever she killed.
Just before she died, Yukihime gave me all her strength.