After the battle, several days passed.
As the human side of Khaos Schwartz continued their furious struggle against the monsters, Redge returned home from his battle with me. Once recovered from his wounds, he displayed a level of power unlike anything anyone had seen before, and saved his people from the monster invasion.
Personally, I didn’t like Redge, but we both had a duty to protect a large number of people. Neither of us could stand to watch innocent people suffer. From that standpoint, I should have been happy to hear that Redge’s army was winning against the monsters... But there was one important difference between us.
Redge had compared my world with his own and decided that he didn’t care what happened to ours. If I had been faced with the same problem, I may have made the same decision – but I had my own responsibility, and my own duty to fulfill now. Both of us had no choice but to go on fighting and protect our loved ones.
“Headmaster... Headmaster! Hey, Kurono!”
Those were the thoughts that filled my mind as I listened to Nagisaki’s report. I had just taken over Yukihime’s duties as Headmaster, and was in way over my head. Since Nagisaki had also been a candidate, he had a deep understanding of the Headmaster’s duties, so he taught me as much as he could. It was a bit pathetic, but I was grateful for his help. Lately, he’d been calling me ‘Headmaster’ more than ‘Kurono.’
I heard the news about Khaos Schwartz from Semuleice, a world that we were on friendly terms with. Out of all the other worlds, Semuleice and Khaos Schwartz shared the most traffic, so they were very up to date on the latest news. No world up until now had ever gotten involved with another on a large scale. Communications were always handled privately through a very limited number of people – until Khaos Schwartz broke tradition with what we called the Otherworld Wars.
The first one had been 16 years ago, and the second took place seven years later. Then, there was the war I had just fought in. Apparently, Semuleice had suffered a similar fate – it seemed like their wars had been even more violent than ours. It was clear that as time went on, Khaos Schwartz had begun launching more and more invasions. Regardless of what Redge truly wanted, this trend would most likely continue in the future. Therefore, while we made preparations on our side, we also needed to strengthen our relations with Semuleice.
“Kurono, are you paying attention?”
“...Oh, sorry, what?”
“Gimme a break... Are you for real? Why did Yukigane pick you, of all people?” Nagisaki sighed. “Fine, I’ll explain it again. We’re going to have a meeting with Semuleice soon, so we need to discuss the topics and policies that we want to bring up...”
Gotta focus here... I pushed all the other things out of my mind and focused on what Nagisaki was saying. I was still a far cry from what she had been, so I had to hurry and catch up. I promised that I’d finish what she’d started, after all.
“Oh, you’re awake!”
I opened my eyes to see Towa standing next to my bed with her arms out.
“Huh? Good morning, Towa.”
“Good morning, big brother. Looks like you’re finally able to wake up on your own now.”
“Yeah, today, at least... There are a lot of people who’d get on my case if I didn’t.”
Yukihime often had to wake me up whenever I slept too late. These days, it was Nagisaki who got mad at me when I overslept.
I still couldn’t get used to life without Yukihime. Every time I awoke, I’d remember her coming in to wake me up. Every single morning, we’d start bickering over the tiniest things. I used to wish she’d just shut up.
Now, when we ate, it was just me and Towa. There was always one seat left open, and it felt so lonely. At night, Yukihime and I used to stay up and talk after Towa fell asleep. We’d usually just talk about random things, but sometimes we’d get into some deep stuff. She’d also nag me to do my homework and stop sleeping during class – but now, I was set on cleaning up my act. As the Headmaster, I sort of had to.
...See? I told you I wasn’t cut out for this.
In the end, I lost to her 1,001 times. She claimed that she lost to me once, but I didn’t count that. I had wanted to beat her with my own strength... But instead, she beat me and disappeared.
I still have so much stuff to get off my chest. Guess I’ll have to list it all off later.
Today, I was going to see Yukihime.
“During the funeral, Nagisaki cried his eyes out... It was like two rivers of tears just streaming down his face.”
As the chilly winter days set in, I stood with Towa in front of Yukihime’s grave. I was wearing a red scarf around my neck.
“You cried, too, big brother,” Towa said with a smile. Well, yeah, but not as much as Nagisaki.
Are you really that lonely without me? I could hear a strong-willed voice. I had been hearing it quite a bit recently. It wasn’t real, of course. Yukihime was dead. Just like how my parents never came back, I’d never get to see Yukihime ever again.
But...
I gripped the scarf.
We’ll still be together forever.
As long as I kept her memories in my heart, she’d live on forever.
I put the scarf and hair ornament that Towa and I had bought together in front of Yukihime’s grave. I hadn’t been able to give her my presents, but she managed to give me hers. I gripped the scarf tighter.
Christmas had passed, but there would always be next year.
You’ve got a whole bunch of presents coming. Just you wait.
✦ ✦ ✦
THE END