Ch.36Chapter 36: The Magic Spell

With a deeply subdued voice, Shizu finished her relatively brief story, calmly reciting the dream in which I turned to ashes and disappeared.

All that remained was for me to perform my sacred ritual to ensure this premonition would remain just one possibility among many.

As I mentioned earlier, since childhood, I’ve had several experiences of avoiding threats related to Shizu’s premonitions, even if not perfectly.

You might wonder how I managed to avoid events from premonitory dreams?

After several trials and errors, I developed my own method.

It didn’t work well for others who were subjects of her dreams, but it was uniquely effective for me—a peculiar approach.

Though I call it a sacred ritual, it’s nothing particularly grand.

“Yes, thank you for telling me.”

The method involves listening to her story completely and then responding with words like those above, acknowledging that I’ve heard her tale.

I make sure to infuse my voice with as much warmth as I can muster.

As soon as my words fell, warmth gradually bloomed in Shizu’s previously downcast expression.

“Hehe… thanks for listening.”

Her voice was warm, accompanied by a small laugh that comforted the hearts of those who heard and saw her.

The emptiness in my heart after experiencing two deaths began to fill with warmth.

‘It really is a magic spell.’

No matter how frightening or chilling the premonition from her lips, this magic spell always prevented serious harm from befalling me, even if it couldn’t help me avoid the situation completely.

Some might find this ridiculous as a solution.

But I’ll say it again.

This is a solution with an extremely high success rate.

It all began when I was young—when I first met Shizu, back when I was just slightly taller than the height of a cross-legged desk chair.

#

Let me tell you a story from long ago.

It was a time when I had lost my mother to illness, and my young heart was wounded and surrounded by heightened sensitivity.

I first met Shizu when she visited the Lanos mansion as a member of the Proxian family during one of the irregular gatherings between the two great sword houses, Lanos and Proxian.

I felt it from our first meeting—she was truly beautiful.

With bright golden hair that seemed as if it had been melted and cast from gold, revealing her Proxian lineage.

And blue eyes that wouldn’t be outmatched by any other eyes of similar color.

I was filled with admiration for her radiant appearance, which was incomparably more brilliant than mine—despite being a member of Lanos, I was one of the very rare few who hadn’t inherited the silver hair that was the Lanos family’s mark.

However, back then, she was a child who didn’t express emotions that would complement her pretty appearance—so much so that my own expressions, dampened and downcast as they were, might have seemed rich in comparison.

Anyway, while I found her peculiar at first glance, she was a member of the visiting family here for social relations, so I tried to greet her politely.

But she abruptly told me, a complete stranger, to be careful because an uncooked egg would soon fly toward my head.

Dismissing her nonsensical warning, I wandered around the mansion’s courtyard, only to have an uncooked egg fly through a gap in an open kitchen window and hit me squarely on the crown of my head. The absurdity of that moment, and the sight of Shizu watching with that same inscrutable, expressionless face from not too far away, still commands a substantial presence in my memory.

After that, I heard several more of her premonitions.

Due to certain circumstances, she ended up staying at the Lanos mansion, and every morning she would come to me and tell me about dreams where I got injured, whether seriously or not.

Quite a lot happened.

Like when she warned me to be careful about falling from a tree, which I ignored, and then nearly got seriously hurt after slipping while playing with Excel at our secret hideout with a big tree.

Or when, just a few days later, she told me I would be hit on the head by a falling branch. I scoffed and ignored her again, but even though I was afraid of getting hurt and stayed away from trees, a branch broken by strong winds flew through an open window and struck my head.

She also warned me to be careful because I could get hurt by water. I stubbornly ignored this too and deliberately stayed away from any water, remaining only in the mansion. Yet a servant’s mistake sent a tray flying, and afternoon tea with just the right amount of heat was poured over my head.

I was reaching my limit with frustration as I watched Shizu, who always observed these scenes expressionlessly from a suitable distance. One day, when she came to tell me about a dream where I got hurt somewhere—

“Hey! Is it fun to see me suffer when you tell me things I can’t avoid anyway?!”

I ended up yelling at her with words that, even now, I think were too harsh.

Shizu looked slightly surprised when she heard this, but—

“There is… a way to avoid it.”

“What is it?”

“It’s… a magic spell.”

When she hesitantly told me there was a way to avoid it, I asked roughly what this magic spell was. Upon hearing it, I became even more angry out of disbelief.

Looking back now, I have nothing but regrets, but the younger me would have certainly gotten angry at such a solution even if I’d heard it in a different situation.

The solution was to say “Yes, thank you for telling me” to the person who shared the premonitory dream.

My voice grew louder with incredulity, and increasingly hurtful words began to slip out.

While most of it is now a blur, there’s one sentence that still comes back to me with painful clarity.

I sharply asked if there was anyone whose fate she had successfully altered by sharing her premonitions.

As soon as my words fell, tears welled up in her eyes and began to drop. I realized I had said something I shouldn’t have, but by then it was too late.

“Hic… hic… hic.”

While tears streamed down her face, she tried her best not to burst into full crying, then left my side as if bolting from her seat.

As she brushed past me, all I could see was the sight of her finally bursting into tears.

With my childish heart, I looked around trying to find her to apologize, but I couldn’t. Feeling an indescribable, subtle emotion, I entered the mansion only to be severely scolded by my father and sister, and that’s when I learned:

She, like me, had lost her mother to illness.

That’s when the indescribable, subtle emotion transformed into a remorse that left a corner of my heart numb.

Just as the thought of needing to apologize to her somehow began to dominate my mind—

Upon hearing the report that Shizu had not yet returned to the Lanos mansion, I left as if possessed to search for her.

Even the heavens seemed indifferent; not long after I went out to look for her, dark clouds gathered in the sky, followed by heavy rain and wind.

Whether it was punishment for making a girl cry—making me endure as much rain as the tears I’d caused—the force of the rain was extremely difficult for my young body to withstand.

Yet even as the cold rain soaked my entire body, my steps were directed not toward the Lanos mansion but focused solely on finding Shizu, who still hadn’t come home despite the weather.

After a considerable amount of time, when lightning began to strike intermittently through the rain—

I finally managed to find Shizu.

She was crouched under the large tree at the center of the secret hideout where Excel and I had played since we were young—the same place where she had warned me in a dream that I would fall from a tree.

She was sitting there, sobbing loudly.

I was relieved that she wasn’t too wet due to the large tree’s cover.

But as I approached, I noticed her right ankle was severely sprained.

So that’s why she couldn’t return.

Still, I was glad to have found her.

I put my coat over her to protect her from the rain and wind.

Knowing that staying under the large tree could be life-threatening due to lightning, I carried her on my back toward the mansion before the situation worsened.

Her body, trembling slightly from the cold, was smaller than mine and not heavy at all.

The guilt and remorse of having vented my frustrations on such a frail girl weighed down my body and mind even more.

As I slowly walked, I felt moisture gradually soaking my back.

Whether it was rainwater or Shizu’s tears shed because of me, the humidity was so subtle that I couldn’t distinguish between them.

But I wasn’t foolish enough to turn my head to check.

Even if it was just rainwater, it was certainly substituting for the tears that a girl with a heart wounded by me should have shed.

My steps were heavy but manageable enough to continue.

Perhaps because I had found the crying girl?

The heavy rain calmed down somewhat during our return to the Lanos mansion, and the lightning that had been fiercely striking my ears didn’t strike while I was carrying her.

With a sense of relief, I barely made it back to the mansion. As soon as I set her down, the tension in my body released, and I collapsed on the spot.

“…Huh?”

The sight of Shizu looking extremely surprised was the last thing I saw before losing consciousness.

I don’t know how much time had passed, but when my eyes barely opened, the first person I saw wasn’t my father or sister.

It was Shizu, who had been expressionless since our first meeting.

As if she had been waiting for me to wake up for days, she had set up a chair right next to the bed, and when she confirmed I was awake, tears were streaming down her face just like when I had made her cry.

“I’m sorry.”

She kept repeating that she was sorry, for reasons I didn’t understand.

Her appearance was so poignant that it reminded me of my mother, who had shed tears and repeatedly apologized to me before she passed away. The rigid barrier I had built around my heart, maintaining a prickly exterior, began to crack little by little.

I was puzzled as to why she was apologizing when I was the one who should be sorry.

Anyway, I tried to tell her I was sorry for saying harsh things and making her cry, and to get her to stop apologizing to me.

But my mind, having just regained consciousness and still foggy, wouldn’t let my mouth open, and all I could hear was Shizu’s sobbing voice apologizing to me.

It was an apology far too generous for a stupid boy who had made her run around outside all day in the rain, resulting in a high fever that kept him bedridden for days—all because she hadn’t properly warned him about a dream she’d had.

And not just an apology.

She also expressed gratitude, equally undeserved, for carrying her back to the mansion when she had sprained her ankle badly while running away in tears.

Looking at each incident individually, these emotional expressions were due to events that wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for me.

Hah… what a foolish child she was.

If it hadn’t been for someone like me, you wouldn’t have sprained your ankle or cried in the first place.

But I wasn’t heartless enough to say something insensitive to a girl who was shedding tears while repeatedly apologizing and thanking me.

“Th-thank you for telling me.”

I simply offered the magic spell you had taught me.

“I… didn’t have any dreams today.”

When you stopped crying for a moment and expressed confusion in a sobbing voice, I answered like this:

“For telling me about all those dreams where I got hurt… anyway, th-thank you for everything.”

I can still clearly remember how you looked when I said those words.

“…Yes!”

You gradually stopped shedding tears and gave me a bright smile.

That smile that bloomed amidst tears was truly beautiful, even though I encountered it in my thoughtless childhood.

It must have been because it was the first smile I saw on an already pretty face.

The pain and fever that had been heavily weighing down my entire body until I opened my eyes instantly faded when I saw the smile I encountered after expressing gratitude to her.

Feeling that it was truly a magic spell, a pleasant fatigue washed over me, and my eyes slowly closed again.

Some time later, when I woke up from sleep, my body, weakened by the high fever, quickly recovered its health.

Several more days passed, and you approached me again to tell me about a dream where I got hurt.

After hearing it, instead of showing my previous curt attitude and ignoring it—

“Th-thank you for telling me.”

I simply recited the magic spell you had taught me, with a voice tinged with awkwardness and stiffness.

But the awkwardness and stiffness didn’t last long.

It wasn’t long before I expressed gratitude to you with the magic spell in a voice so warm that I wondered if it was really my own voice.

And when I recited the magic spell with that warm energy, none of the premonitions you told me about me getting hurt came true.

It was truly a magical spell.

What was amazing wasn’t just that I avoided harm simply by expressing gratitude to the person who told me the premonition.

What was truly amazing was that the spell I recited just to avoid getting hurt taught me how to harbor incomparable feelings for the person who taught me that spell.

#

As I was lost in old memories, savoring the effectiveness of the magic spell she had taught me, the sunlight coming through the window gradually grew stronger.

“…What time is it?”

Feeling that I had neglected my sense of time while reminiscing, I immediately looked toward the wall clock, which was already pointing to 6:30 AM.

“Phew…”

I sighed in relief that not as much time had passed as I thought, but 6:30 AM is when the silence of the cradle begins to break.

It’s the time when most students, who must follow a tight academic schedule without gaps, gradually wake up and start their busy day, naturally creating increasing signs of activity.

“Well then. I’ve told you the story, so I’ll be going now.”

That’s why I had to stop Shizu, who had done her part and was getting up to return to her room.

“Shizu, wait a moment.”

I hurriedly called out to stop her, knowing that if she went outside with her disheveled hair and tear stains still visible on her face, she would definitely become a topic of conversation in one form or another.

“Hm? Why?”

“I think you’ll be in trouble if you go outside like that right now.”

“What’s wrong with this?”

“…What do you mean, ‘what’s wrong with this’?”

“Sometimes when I oversleep in the morning, I just go out without fixing my hair, so what?”

…Is she for real?

Honestly, she’s pretty even without grooming, so I can’t say much, but that’s not right.

“Ahem…”

After clearing my throat to create a serious atmosphere, I lowered my voice significantly and said:

“I’ll prepare some water and a towel, so wash your face.”

I didn’t give her a chance to escape, urging her to wash up.

“…Okay.”

After briefly maintaining her nonchalant expression, Shizu followed my instructions without protest.

I filled the basin with water and took out an unused towel to hand to her.

“After you wash your face, I’ll brush your hair for you.”

*Ears perk up*

Shizu’s ears, which hadn’t shown much reaction to being told to wash her face, perked up.

“O-okay!”

She was extremely delighted at my offer to brush her hair.

She probably dislikes the hassle of brushing her hair, so she’s very happy when I offer to do it for her.

I should probably advise her to tie up her long hair when she has time.

It’s separate from being pretty—it will definitely be a hindrance when fighting.

Even in the previous timeline, she always tied her hair back neatly, though she never cut it.

As I watched Shizu washing her face at the basin, thinking carefully about how to get her to tie her hair back neatly before brushing it, the sunlight coming through the window was gradually growing stronger.

Today seems like it will be perfect weather for training.