“I’m disappointed in you.”
The moment he said those words, I felt as if the ground had suddenly dropped out from beneath my feet. I was in freefall, endlessly plunging down into a bottomless abyss.
Would I never again be allowed to see the dazzling light that had illuminated my heart, no matter how hard I reached for it? When that thought occurred to me, everything before me went dark.
No.
No, no, no!
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…
✦ ✦ ✦
I stared down at Mia, who was now clinging to my leg and crying. She sniffled and gasped for breath between choking, panicked sobs.
…You’ve got to be kidding me. What’s she crying for? I don’t get it.
“I-I don’t need to be your number one,” she wailed. “J-just let me be by your side…please…please…”
Mia looked up at me, her eyes murky and pleading.
What the heck is she doing? Seriously, why is this happening…?
“Look, just listen to me,” I said firmly. “Try it on your own first. If you won’t even try, I’ll never have any idea of what you’re capable of on your own.”
She sniffled again pitifully.
“You have to stop immediately relying on other people. That’s a real bad habit of yours,” I told her. “Discipline means having a conversation with yourself, and that only happens when you’re alone. Magic especially so… But, yeah, I’ll show you the path.”
“I’m s-sowwy… I’ll try m-my best, I will, s-s-so…d-don’t abandon meee…”
“…All right. Get off me already, jeez. You’re annoying.”
“Don’t s-say…I-I’m annoying…”
“…”
What even is this? Who is that irritating little thing down there? Surely not the same Mia I considered capable of being my pawn. I mean, what’s with her?! Man, it’s even giving me a stomachache just thinking about it. Damn it…why do I have to worry about this?
“I’ll give you one piece of advice,” I told Mia, one hand lightly clasped over my stomach. “Focus on Healing more than Lightning. The latter will hurt you, so just keep healing the parts of yourself that break. Lightning is raw power, but Healing will keep you alive, you got that?”
“Yeah… Okay.”
“…”
She was still crying. I didn’t understand how anyone could be so upset over something as small as this. It was sort of exhausting to deal with, truthfully.
I should go take a nap or something…
Before I could hurry off to do that, though, I had a sudden epiphany. That happened to me sometimes, where I’d just instinctively know what I should do next.
Gently, I placed a hand on Mia’s shoulder as my intuition guided me to do. I knew without a doubt that my actions now would steer her toward the best possible course.
“I went too far,” I said stiffly.
“Huh?”
“Forgive me. I was harsh because I expect so much of you.”
“Ah…um…”
Mia’s mouth opened and closed in silence. I thought I saw the swirling void behind her eyes growing darker, but I ignored it.
“I don’t make mistakes. I know I was correct in choosing you. You can do this, right?”
“Yeah…I can…I can do it…”
Mia furiously nodded her head in reply.
Oof…man, I’m tired of all this. I think I’m done with making new pawns for a while…
“I’m going then.”
“O-okay! I’ll try my best!”
I felt a strong will within her.
That’s a good strong look she’s got in her eyes…probably? Or is it…? Ah, forget that now, I should just put all of this out of my mind.
Finally, I took my leave in earnest. However, near the exit, something caught my eye.
Someone was there—someone who was almost certainly watching us. Before I could get a proper look at them, the shadow darted away and disappeared.
I thought that was Alice at first, but it definitely wasn’t. Huh.
“Who’s there?” I said curtly, once I was out of the training area. I looked around—they likely couldn’t have gotten far.
I didn’t sense a massive amount of mana from them either. Probably not enough to escape via magical means. They must still be close, but where could they be hiding in a place like this…?
I glanced around, but failed to notice any potential hiding spots except for a big cleaning locker.
Wait a second.
As if adding insult to the injury of my tired mind, I realized that my constantly active Mana Perception spell indicated that there was a source of mana coming from the aforementioned locker. It seemed that whoever was inside was trying to use magic to cover up their presence, but perhaps due to their panic, they hadn’t quite managed it fully.
“Come out. I know you’re hiding in there.”
“…”
No response. Doesn’t seem like they plan on coming out any time soon.
“Right. I’ll just have to open this locker, then.”
As soon as I touched the handle, the double-doored locker burst open—and I saw her.
“…Huh?”
It was someone I very much hadn’t expected to see.
“Well, fancy meeting you in a place like this, Luke Witharia Gilbert.”
There, crammed in the locker with several cleaning tools in her arms, was our first-year homeroom teacher, Instructor Freya.
She’s just gonna greet me as if she weren’t perched in a storage locker? Like it’s only a bit of a coincidence to run into her here? Man, I don’t know what the heck’s going on here, but I’m already exhausted from all this Mia stuff. Why is all this nonsense happening on the same day?
The confusion that swirled within my mind showed no signs of slowing, as fresh questions sprung forth.
“I know what you’re thinking: ‘Why?’ That’s it, isn’t it? But that question is an incredibly foolish one.”
“…”
“Perhaps consider something like ‘Who?’ or ‘How?’ instead. There is an instructor hiding in a locker that is meant for cleaning supplies. The chances of such a thing occurring are not high, of course, but they are by no means zero. What you see is an uncontested fact. It is a reality that is not up for debate.”
“…”
“Well then, I’ll be leaving. I have work to do.”
I still had no idea how to respond to any of that, and I had already mentally checked out of this absurd conversation. So many inexplicable things had happened to me in such quick succession, I couldn’t help but switch off.