BY the time they returned to the student council room to sort things out and report to Noah, the sun had completely set.
“So that’s what happened,” he remarked, his expression serious after hearing the full story from Lyle.
“It boggles my mind to think of all that occurring while I was unconscious…” Edward folded his arms and frowned. Thanks to Erina’s healing magic, his wounds had completely healed, and he had changed into a new uniform, so it looked like nothing had happened. However, the mental damage caused by the intense pain he’d suffered had left him pale.
“That bastard ran away without finishing the fight… He’ll get what’s coming to him next time I meet his sorry ass…” Jack, who’d been injured as badly as Edward, was lying in his hammock, back to his usual self. Out of all the student council members, he might be the toughest mentally.
Lyle spoke up next. “If he hadn’t used illusion magic, we would have assumed until the end that Gordo was human. Which means he probably double-crossed the demons… Yuffie! What are you doing?!”
“I’m so sorry!” She suddenly thwacked her head on the ground and dropped to her knees, groveling. Everyone was stunned and confused by her behavior. “I…I think I got carried away and lost sight of everything around me… Anyway, I’m so sorry for being so pushy!”
“Yuffie, calm down, will you?!” Lyle bent down and tried to stop her as she banged her against the floor. “You don’t have anything to apologize for. If anything, we’re the ones who should be grateful.”
“That’s right! Without you, our lives would have been in danger… Thank you so much,” Erina added.
“And I’m still alive because of you, Yuffie. You have my thanks.” Edward gave her a short bow.
“Yuffie, you know you’re a hero, right?! So be confident and swagger like one! You blew that disgusting thing away in one shot. You’re so amazing, I wouldn’t mind if you became my mentor!” Jack exclaimed excitedly.
“Huh…? N-No, I’m really not… You’ve got it all wrong…”
She was taken aback by the shower of gratitude the other four rained down on her. Their reactions were completely unexpected since she’d been sure they would rake her over the coals for what she’d done, so she blushed a little.
“I’m happy to hear you say that…” she kept going even as invisible steam born of embarrassment escaped from her head. “The truth is, I don’t remember much about the battle with…what was it called? A King Cyclops? I was so far gone that after I came to my senses again, I worried that I might have hurt you all with my magic…”
“You didn’t, so don’t worry about that. It’s just…”
“Yes?”
Lyle looked away.
I cannot make her angry…
Everyone there was thinking the same thing.
Yuffie cocked her head quizzically, but Noah steered the conversation from there.
“I regret doing paperwork instead of accompanying you all because I would have loved to see such an incredible sight. In any case…” Noah continued with a serious expression. “This matter is too serious for us to handle on our own, so I think we should ask the school’s administration for their advice. However, when we make our report, we’ll have to mention Yuffie’s ability to use offensive magic.”
His words created tension within the rest of the student council.
“As I mentioned the other day, we need to be careful about who we loop in. Ergo, I plan on giving this issue a good, hard think. I’ll let you all know once I’ve made my decision.”
Everyone nodded. Noah was right; this latest incident meant that whatever was going on, it was too much for them to handle as mere students. The decision to ask for help from adults was the right one.
“Also, from what I’ve heard, I realize you had to use your magic because it was an emergency. But henceforth, unless it’s absolutely necessary, please refrain from doing so again in public.”
“Y-Yes! Of course!” Yuffie stammered, straightening up.
Then Erina suddenly asked, “That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask. How did you acquire such powerful attack magic, Yuffie?”
“What she said.” The other three boys chimed in unison.
Everyone’s attention was focused on Yuffie.
“W-Well, nothing serious…” she replied uncertainly. “I just practiced every day for about seven years.”
“Every day for seven years?!” Erina shrieked.
“C-Can I ask where?” Lyle prompted.
“At first, in the forest on the outskirts of the village, but once my spells grew more and more powerful, I realized I could cause serious trouble for the folks living there, so I used wind magic to move to the mountains in the north region and practiced there.”
“The mountains in the north… Do you mean the Eldora region? Where there are barely any trees and just sharp cliffs and rock faces?” Edward asked, sounding surprised.
“I don’t know the name, but the mountains are pretty pointy…”
“I thought as much! That’s close to the Demon King’s territory, a dangerous area thick with miasma! There are King Cyclops-class monsters everywhere. It isn’t somewhere for ordinary people to visit!”
“Huh? Really? It seemed like a good place to practice since it was deserted… Now that you mention it, though, there were a ton of monsters…”
Lyle tapped his chin thoughtfully in response. “Come to think of it, I heard that the monster population in Eldora has gone down drastically in the past few years.”
“Well, we learned in our church school that monsters were a threat to people, so I figured it would be a good idea to kill two birds with one stone by practicing my magic and getting rid of them,” Yuffie said casually. “And that’s what I did whenever I ran into one…”
“Ohhh…” three of her friends groaned at the same time.
“Your lot has defeated many monsters in the Eldora region, yes?”
Gordo’s words rang in Lyle, Erina, and Jack’s minds.
“What? What is it? Did I say something weird?”
An amount of practice too insane to believe. And the fact that Yuffie had unknowingly whittled away at the Demon King’s army’s strength. Both of these things were enough to shock everyone.
Except that their reactions only activated her negativity.
“So, it is strange for a girl to be able to use attack magic, huh…?” she panicked quietly. “I actually wanted to learn healing magic, not offensive magic.” The words spilled out against her will. “When I was a child, I admired the Saint… I thought if I could learn healing magic, people would love me too, like they loved her…”
She didn’t mean to say any of this. Blurting out something so dark would just make them all uncomfortable. Even though she knew that, the resentment she’d been harboring for so long came flooding out, and she was helpless to stop the deluge.
“But I messed up, and for seven years, I devoted myself to practicing offensive magic. After that, I tried really hard to work on my healing magic, but no matter how much I practiced, I couldn’t do it… In the end, attack magic was all I had.” With a self-deprecating smile, Yuffie continued, “If you take away my offensive magic, there’s nothing left. Without it…I’m just a gloomy, spineless, hunch-backed, annoying girl who only causes trouble for everyone…”
“That’s not true,” Lyle interrupted her.
She slowly raised her head at his words.
“You aren’t just your magic, Yuffie. You were angry for your friends and tried your best for them—and that matters so much more.” He smiled gently at her. “Even if you couldn’t use offensive magic, I’d still be your friend.”
She had always wanted to hear those words. “Um… Well… I…”
“You all agree too, don’t you?”
While Yuffie fumbled for a reply, Lyle looked around at the student council members.
“I think you’re a wonderful person, Yuffie. Otherwise, I would never have allowed you to join the student council,” Noah commented, the corners of his mouth curled up.
“I hate that you’re so timid despite having such insane power… Then again, that may be one of your strong points, Yuffie,” Jack followed up, now lying in the hammock.
“At first, I thought you were a boorish lackwit, but now I know differently. My personal opinion is that you’re a decent sort, Yuffie.” Edward pushed up his glasses in his usual pompous manner.
“As for me, it goes without saying that I love you, Yuffie! You’re cute, funny, and, more than anything, you’re a very kind and wonderful girl!”
Their words of affirmation thawed and healed her frozen heart. She felt a sudden, unexpected heat in her eyes.
Huh…? Something’s wrong…
Her vision was blurring too…
“Yuffie!” Lyle sounded alarmed.
“Oh my goodness, are you all right?!” Erina exclaimed.
They both panicked when she started crying.
“Does anything hurt? Hold on, I’ll heal you right now! O god of healing…”
“N-no, it’s nothing like that…” Yuffie answered, rubbing her eyes and shaking her head. “I’m just so happy…”
“Yuffie, you’re always alone.”
Those words might as well have been a hex binding her. Since a young age, she’d never been good at talking to people or doing things with them, so she had always been alone. Deep down, she wanted to be with someone. But her anxiety got in the way, and even when she tried her best and thought she had finally made a friend, they didn’t think of her as that—leaving her alone again. She had given up, thinking that people were abandoning her because she was a boring person. After all, her personality kept others away.
Then Lyle told her she was wrong, and it made her happy to hear that. Yuffie was so glad that she cried for the first time in ages.
The student council members, who didn’t know her backstory, had no idea what was wrong. Even so, they realized that her tears weren’t ones of sadness or pain, but actually the exact opposite.
“You’re so sweet, Yuffie,” Erina soothed, hugging her tightly.
It felt so warm she thought her chest would explode.
Maybe it’s okay for me to be a little bit confident in myself…
Maybe it was time to be more positive about herself as a person. This was what Yuffie thought after hearing what her first real friends had to say about her since enrolling in the Academy of Magic.