Tomorrow

“Huu… Huk… Keuk… Hukkeuk…”

Rubia’s tears, which had been streaming down for hours as she sat slumped on the spot, finally stopped.

“Noah… Huu… Noah, Noah. Noaah…”

“Yes, yes… It’s Noah…”

Then, looking completely melted, she hugged my body tightly. She buried her nose in my neck and smelled me, touched my body with bewitching hands, and even… stroked my butt.

And again, she embraced my body.

Her trembling arms grew thinner. More than before.

The hands she held, the waist she hugged, the cheeks she stroked. All of Rubia, her heart, was broken as if torn apart.

How much time had passed? If it had been a long time, how hard must Rubia have had it?

Did she skip meals? Did she sleep well?

Did she have any bad thoughts?

Still, Rubia worried about me a lot.

…I felt so upset and like I had done something terribly wrong, but a little, just a little… a little more than a little, I felt good.

I felt to the bone how big a role I played for Rubia.

I knew that I could make Rubia suffer this much.

As I savored such… an unknown sense of depravity, guilt, and joy.

“…Noah.”

Hermilla, who had been covering her mouth with both hands and shedding tears just like Rubia throughout her crying, approached me.

I tried to get up to greet Hermilla, but…

“Huu… Noah… Noaah…”

I couldn’t get up because Rubia was hugging my whole body as if not to let go.

I had no choice but to peek out my head to greet Hermilla.

“Oh, it’s been a while, Hermilla…”

“Huk… Ha… Yes, it’s been a really… long time.”

Hermilla, kneeling in front of me with a strange expression that I couldn’t tell whether she was crying or laughing.

Slowly, as if caressing a very delicate glasswork, she stroked my head.

And she seemed to be trying to say something.

But no sound came out, and she just kept moving her lips.

Behind her was Delia.

Delia, who was sitting weakly as if she had lost strength in her legs, was staring alternately at my face and the place where I had appeared with wide eyes.

And Heinzel.

Heinzel was.

“…Hmm.”

Standing upright in place, looking up at the sky, he was only uttering unknown sounds like hmm… or umm…

I thought he would laugh as usual, ‘Kyahahahahak!!’ but it’s awkward to see him react like that.

I’m sitting, and Heinzel is standing.

He’s already tall, so I can’t see his expression, and he’s even looking up, so I can’t tell what kind of expression he’s making.

But it’s not the atmosphere to take out the greatsword and unleash [Ki sense].

Hmm… Should I call him?

“H, Heinzel, Mister…?”

“Hmm…?!”

Heinzel trembled and swallowed hard several times before opening his mouth.

“Little one, our arm-wrestling match is not over yet.”

“…Pardon?”

“Hmm.”

What on earth is he talking about?

I couldn’t turn around to see Rubia’s face, who was hugging me from behind, so I looked alternately at Hermilla and Delia, but they just shrugged.

Arm wrestling…?

I was about to ask, ‘What are you talking about?’

But the water droplets that fell from Heinzel’s chin stopped me from speaking.

So, just.

“…Next time, let’s do it for sure.”

After saying that, I smiled awkwardly.

After that, a cold silence came.

Amidst the sounds of Rubia and Hermilla sobbing. From behind, where I couldn’t see but could hear the sound.

The shouts of countless people echoed.

I slowly turned my head and looked at that place.

There were many people.

Really, really many.

And those people were constantly shouting and approaching us.

Stepping on widely spread tree roots, stepping on steel roads, they kept running.

Each time, the shouts they uttered became clearer.

At first, it was an unknown language, a noise that couldn’t be heard properly.

Now I can hear it.

Their shouts.

What they are shouting.

Whose name they are saying.

“Noah.”

Hermilla called my name.

“…Noah.”

Delia called my name.

“Hmm.”

Heinzel… didn’t call.

And, after that.

From a place where I can now see clearly with my eyes.

The people gathered there.

Countless people.

—Shin Noah! —Shin Noah!

Everyone was shouting my name.

“…O, oh… P, people… Why are there so many people…?”

I couldn’t see Rubia’s face behind me, so I looked at Hermilla’s face.

Hermilla said with a very bright smile.

“They are all people who wanted to find Noah.”

Delia said.

“They are also people who owe you their lives and were saved by you.”

Heinzel said.

“Hmm.”

“…Wow…”

The ground my butt was touching was ringing, and the sound was echoing so much that it might even shake my vision, no, my name, I couldn’t help but be amazed.

Amidst such heart-wrenching shouts.

Rubia called my name.

“Noah.”

Even though it was mixed with the smell of ink, a very lovely and cozy scent wafted.

Although it had become so thin that I could feel the shape of her bones, her gentle body still embraced me.

Wriggling, I turned around.

I looked up at her blue eyes.

I looked at my face reflected in her beautifully curved blue eyes.

Our foreheads touched.

The tips of our noses touched.

And her lips opened.

“Welcome back.”

I couldn’t answer.

The emotions I had been holding back, holding back, holding back, holding back, burst out at once.

I couldn’t say anything.

I just, in Rubia’s arms.

I couldn’t help but cry like a child.

Unlike the noisy outside, the inside of the tent was quiet as if it had been magically treated.

There I was.

Munching-

In Rubia’s arms, I’m receiving so many jellies that my jaw is starting to hurt.

Gulp- Gulp-

I’m also drinking the strawberry milk that Hermilla gave me.

But now.

“Euhek…”

I can’t eat anymore.

No, is it possible to get full just from eating jelly and strawberry milk?

“T, that’s enough… I feel like I’m going to explode…”

I patted my stomach, which was full of jelly and strawberry milk, and shook my head.

I’m really too full.

If I press my stomach, jelly will pop out of my belly button.

“Then, just eat one more.”

But Rubia held out a jelly in front of my mouth.

“Ugh… You’ve been saying just one more, just one more since earlier…?”

That’s right. Rubia had been putting jelly in my mouth, telling me to eat just one more, for an hour, maybe even two hours.

I refused every time.

If I refused like that, Rubia would.

“…Do you not like it?”

Like this… she drooped her head sadly and her body slumped.

Then… of course, I.

“T, then… I’ll eat… just one more.”

I said I would eat it.

Rubia, who smiled brightly in an instant, put the jelly into my mouth.

Again… Munching…

My jaw hurts…

After chewing for a long time, I barely swallowed the jelly and let out a sweet breath.

The scent of jelly wafts.

“Well, I ate well…”

In case Rubia would offer me jelly again, I immediately bowed my head and gently stroked Rubia’s hand.

As expected. Rubia’s other hand was already on the jelly.

“Did you eat as much as you wanted?”

“Yes, yes…! I really, really ate as much as I wanted…”

“Hehehe, then that’s a relief.”

Rubia, who finally took her hand off the jelly, hugged my body with her remaining hand.

Then, stroking my stomach, which was full of jelly and strawberry milk, she called me.

“Noah.”

“Yes?”

“Now… is it really all over?”

Anxious voice.

Arms that hugged me tightly as if not to let me go.

She seemed to be trying to pretend to be okay, but because our bodies were so close, I could fully feel her body trembling.

“Uh, um…”

I was about to answer right away, but I closed my mouth for a moment and turned my body.

That way, facing Rubia’s face.

Looking into her eyes.

So that she, so that Rubia could completely relax, I said a little strongly.

“Yes. We will never be separated again.”

There will be no separation.

The Nameless One has been destroyed.

‘I’ and ‘Rubia’ were saved.

And, like this, I returned to Rubia’s arms.

Of course… there are still things to do.

There will be more in the future, but I will not be separated from Rubia. I will not be away for a long time.

So.

Now.

“You don’t have to worry.”

Rubia’s cloudy expression cleared up.

Her trembling eyes, her twitching nose, her distorted lips, all changed into a bright smile, and she nodded.

“Yes.”

And, without saying who was first, we kissed. A short kiss. Not a long kiss like before that made my body tingle and my lower abdomen hot, but a kiss filled with trust and affection.

Peck- Peck-

While we were exchanging short kisses several times like that.

“K, hmm… Th, that… Noah? Rubia?”

Hermilla, who called our names from behind as if she was very uncomfortable, tapped the desk.

“I’m here too…?”

“Hot…”

I finally stopped kissing and wriggled to turn my body and look at Hermilla.

“S, sorry…”

“Are you jealous?”

I apologized, and Rubia kissed my cheek once more as if teasing Hermilla.

“…Are you the same person who was dying until yesterday?”

Hermilla, seeing that, raised one eyebrow and smiled bitterly.

“Haa… Still… Yes. That’s a relief. Really… It’s been a long time, Noah. Thank you for coming back… and for protecting us, thank you so much.”

“Ah, uh… Yes… I also… I also thank you. For a long time, you… you… uh…”

Come to think of it.

How long have I been missing?

The flow of time was strange in the place where I was, and there was no clock, so I had no way of knowing.

But it doesn’t seem like it was that long… um…

“Noah?”

Because I trailed off and stopped talking, Rubia called my name in a worried voice.

“Is something wrong?”

Hermilla also asked me with a serious expression.

“…Th, uh… you know…”

I stroked Rubia’s arm, which was hugging my body and starting to tremble, and said.

“How long has it been since I disappeared…?”

“394 days, 21 hours, and 36 minutes.”

An answer that came out immediately.

I was startled by Rubia’s very… very detailed answer. I was surprised that Rubia told me the time and minutes, but.

“Pardon…? A year…?”

I was most surprised that a year had passed.

“…Yes.”

Rubia answered in a voice that sounded like she was going to cry again. Judging from the sound of her sniffing, it seems like she’s crying again.

I released Rubia’s arms that were hugging me, and intertwined my fingers with her small, trembling hands.

Then, Rubia, who seemed to have calmed down a little, took a few breaths and opened her mouth.

“Could you… tell me what happened during that time…?”

“Uhm…”

I nodded and thought about how to explain what had happened in the most appropriate way, and then answered.

“…Hierarchy reorganization?”

Hermilla’s expression twisted strangely.

“Nuehng…?”

From Rubia’s mouth, a little… a little too foolish sound that she had never made before flowed out. A sound that seemed to be a mix of ‘Huh?’ and ‘Eh?’.

Hearing such a foolish but cute voice from Rubia, I laughed and told them in a little more detail what I had done.

“Hehe… I came back after establishing some rules.”