“What’s this?”
“Lily of the valley.”
“I know what it is. I meant… why?”
“It’s April first,” Ryuto said simply, brushing wet hair from his forehead. “I just picked them a little while ago.”
“You’re still keeping up with that old village tradition? Even now? You got soaked doing this.”
“Yeah. Soaked and all.”
“You’ll catch a cold.”
But instead of concern, he gave me that bright, ridiculous grin of his, the kind that could light up a whole room.
“Didn’t you hear? Idiots don’t get colds.”
“Seriously.” I sighed, exasperated, and yet, somehow, not entirely annoyed. Honestly, he did seem like the kind of person who’d stubbornly dodge every virus just out of sheer idiocy. “Do you even remember what giving flowers on April first is supposed to mean?”
He looked at me, calm and steady. “You give them to your family, or someone you care about. It’s about wanting to see them smile.”
The words hung in the air.
Neither of us said anything for a moment.
It was I who broke the silence first.
“Are you giving anything to Lilith?”
Ryuto blinked. “Hm?”
“…”
“Nah. Nothing. She’s not from our village, so it wouldn’t mean anything to her.”
“I see.”
Another quiet lull. The sound of the rain filled the space between us.
Again, I was the one who spoke first.
“Hey.”
“Yeah?” he replied, his voice soft now and attentive.
“Lilith… She’s your sex slave, isn’t she?” I asked, barely managing to keep my voice steady.
Ryuto didn’t flinch. “Yeah, that’s… technically what the arrangement says.”
“I-I see… um… so…” My cheeks were burning. I could feel the heat rising beneath my skin. But no matter how embarrassing it was, I couldn’t leave the question unasked. “Have you… done anything? You know. With her?”
“Nope,” he replied, casual as ever. “Lilith’s basically like you. Just an old friend. That’s all.”
I probably looked ridiculous, frozen and blinking like I’d been slapped with a wet cloth. After all that spiraling, all that stewing in silence and doubt… That was his answer? Just… nothing? My chest felt lighter, and yet heavier at the same time.
Neither of us spoke. The silence stretched on, thick and awkward and full of everything I couldn’t say.
✦ ✦ ✦
Cordelia’s face twisted into something caught between shock and confusion, and I, Ryuto Maclaine, had absolutely no idea what to do with that look.
She’d been cold for a week now, shutting me out with clipped words and unreadable stares. It was never like this. A single flower used to keep her grinning all day. But now? She barely talked. She barely looked at me. I knew girls changed as they got older, but seriously, was it supposed to be this complicated?
Just when I was about to say something to fill the silence, she dropped her gaze, her lashes casting shadows across her cheeks.
“Thanks,” she said, almost too softly to hear.
“Huh?”
“For the flowers.”
“Oh. Yeah.”
Then she looked up, eyes locking on mine with something quiet and fragile behind them. And for the first time in what felt like forever, she smiled. Just barely. But it was there.
“Thank you,” she repeated, more clearly this time.
“Yeah,” I replied.
Cordelia gave a sheepish laugh and rubbed her stomach. “Hehe… Hey, did you eat lunch yet?”
“Not yet.”
She pointed toward the school building. “Let’s go to the cafeteria. Together.”
“Sure, sounds good,” I said, nodding.
But for some reason, she didn’t move. She just stood there, staring at me expectantly.
“What? Aren’t we going?”
“You go first.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Because that’s how it’s always been,” she said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
And she was right. Back then, no matter where we went, she was always trailing just behind me, her little footsteps pattering close by, never quite catching up.
“Yeah. I guess so.”
Smiling faintly, I turned and started walking.
“Wait,” she called out.
When I looked back, she was standing there, her cheeks tinged pink, her arm extended toward me.
She wanted me to take her hand, just like I used to.
I sighed. Some things never change, huh? Still the same little kid underneath it all.
And just like that, our life at the academy began.