On the second day, students gathered in a hall in the fortress to take a special class. There, a magic barrier had been erected that made casting spells possible. While everyone in attendance was working hard to make an impression, Yui was completely unenthusiastic—the singular, impure reason she was there at all was that she wanted to eat sweets in Bahal—and she had slipped out of the class as soon as possible to explore the facility. She had been afraid of the ominous fortress at first, but after Theodore had told her that he had built it for fun, her fear had disappeared. Not that the fortress wasn’t still ominous.
Exploring almost felt like a game of hide-and-seek, and she hid whenever she happened to catch sight of a teacher. If she was found cutting class, she would be forcibly dragged back. The teachers didn’t seem to expect that any students would dare skip out on the class, not when it was so difficult to even be selected to participate in the camp, so they weren’t paying much attention to their surroundings. It was pretty easy to stay hidden. Yui just had to get behind something and wait for them to pass by.
She was heading to the garden Theodore had mentioned the night before. In contrast with the well-manicured garden at the royal palace that was expertly maintained by outstanding gardeners, the garden at the fortress was like a slice of nature itself, without any alterations. However, that didn’t mean that it had been neglected. Yui could tell from the harmonious way the flowers were arranged that the garden was regularly cared for. The flowers growing there weren’t large, flashy ones either; they were simple, cute, and unassuming, like the ones you might see on the side of a forest path. As Yui walked, she felt excited, like she was going somewhere for a picnic. Just as Theodore had predicted, the garden was to her liking.
Some of the flowers were tall—the perfect height for hiding behind—and it looked like she’d be able to easily get away on the off chance someone noticed she wasn’t in class and came looking for her. Nevertheless, while the garden was pleasant during the day, she had a feeling that at night, the fortress’s atmosphere would make it feel quite foreboding. She resolved to return before dark and set off wandering the garden.
After some walking around, she had ventured rather far into the garden. Suddenly, she discovered a large tree. There was shade underneath, and it looked perfect for a short rest. But when she got closer, she found a visitor already there. When she set eyes on him, she froze.
“El,” Yui said after a pause.
“Yui?” Filiel noticed her, and a smile crept onto his face. “What, are you cutting class too?”
He was the same, usual Filiel. However, Yui couldn’t reply. This was her first time speaking with him since the night she had rejected his confession. She was completely mentally unprepared, and without knowing what expression to make or what attitude she should adopt, her confused brain tried its hardest to string some words together.
“Uh...um, yeah, cutting class. You too? I, well... Sorry, I must be bothering you, so I’ll get going.” Judging that running away quickly was a good policy, Yui said all she wanted and turned around to go.
“Yui.” Filiel called her name in a disapproving voice, so she had no choice but to stop.
“Y-Yes?” she replied, feeling like she couldn’t bear to stay there a single second more.
Filiel sighed. “I know that it’s awkward, but please, don’t start avoiding me...” He furrowed his eyebrows. “It’s lonely.” He had always lived apart from others because of his powerful magic, so he was always very afraid that people who were close to him might one day leave him.
Yui had known that, and she deeply regretted her reaction. No matter how surprised she had been, it wasn’t an excuse for her carelessness.
“I’m sorry, I was a bit shaken...”
“Yeah, I get it. More importantly, standing there must be hot. Come over and sit down?”
“Okay...” Yui still wasn’t ready, but she didn’t want to sadden him anymore, so she slowly approached Filiel and started to sit down next to him. However, just as she did, he pulled her arm, and she ended up sitting between his legs with his arms wrapped around her from behind.
She felt intensely shaken. “E-E-El!”
“What?”
“Don’t ‘what’ me! Why did you...? Let go!” Yui demanded, flustered, but Filiel just smiled. He didn’t let her go, so she thought of struggling to break herself out, but then she stopped moving. Filiel was holding his hand out in front of her, and there was a box wrapped in pretty paper with a ribbon on top sitting on his palm. “What’s this?” she asked.
“Try opening it,” he replied.
Though Yui thought this was odd, she opened the box, and she was surprised by what was inside. It was a lighter. Not only that, it was the lighter she had tearfully given up on buying at the Langert Company’s shop—the one engraved with the Elphie flower.
“Why’re you giving me this?!” Yui exclaimed.
“It’s a present.”
“What for?”
“It’s your birthday tomorrow, isn’t it?”
“Oh.” Yui had completely forgotten. She only finally remembered when Filiel mentioned it. Tomorrow was her sixteenth birthday.
“Did you forget? I wanted to give it to you tomorrow, but I didn’t know whether I’d have the chance then.”
She briefly wondered why Filiel had gotten her the lighter she had wanted as a present, but then she quickly remembered her brother’s face, and she had her answer. As she had suspected, Carlo had told Filiel that she wanted the lighter. She was overcome by happiness at this unexpected reunion with the lighter, but then she remembered how much it cost, and she felt gloomy.