episode_0002

“What the… are you talking about?”

At my sudden declaration of support, Tirisia looked dumbfounded.

“What are you talking about?”

I shook my clasped hands up and down and smiled sincerely.

“I mean it. I’m rooting for you and that person’s relationship.”

“Huh…? Huh…?”

Tyrisia asked back, confusion gleaming in her emerald eyes.

“No… Huh… ? Erto… Why aren’t you angry? I betrayed Erto… No, wait… Isn’t there something wrong… ? Erto, why… ”

She seemed genuinely not understanding my actions.

“Tirisia.”

I let go of both hands and grabbed Tirisia’s shoulders, who didn’t know what to do.

“That’s not it. I didn’t mistake anything.”

“Then why… ”

“Honestly, I’m shocked. I’m still confused, and if this is a bad nightmare, I wish someone would wake me up.”

“Ah… ”

“But,”

ha-

I lowered my head and sighed, then looked up at her white jade face again with a bitter smile.

“How could I hate you anyway?”

“Er… To… ”

“How much time have we known each other since we were five? If we just consider the time we dated, it’s been over a year. Right?”

“Uh, yeah… ”

“If I resent you, our relationship is over. As lovers, as friends.”

“But… ”

Tyrissia tried to argue something, but I shook my head and cut her off.

“I can’t do that. I don’t want to make the time we spent together meaningless. Since you’ve decided to leave me, we can’t be lovers, but at least I want to remain friends.”

“Erto… I, I… ”

The hand holding her shoulder gained strength.

“It’s so vain that the time we’ve accumulated has become nothing. Don’t you think so too?”

“… ”

Tirisia, who had been pondering for a moment with a weary expression, soon nodded.

“Of course… I’m not qualified to say this… but actually… I don’t want to become complete strangers to Erto either… ”

“Really?”

“But, is it really okay? I’m afraid that staying by my side will only hurt Erto more… ”

As she spoke, her jade-colored eyes staring at me were filled with a mixture of guilt and a hint of anticipation.

To live up to that series of expectations, I told her with a powerful smile.

“I’m really okay. We’ll just go back to how we were before we started dating. As childhood friends and best friends. Think of it as rewinding time a little bit. I’d rather support you than lose you completely over something like this.”

Then, a color came to Tirisia’s jade-like face.

“Erto… Yeah, I want to be friends with Erto too.”

“Yeah, that’s enough. It means that we both have the same mind.”

“Yeah, yeah… Thank you… And I’m sorry, Erto… ”

Tirisia’s eyes became moist as various emotions crossed her chest.

This is it,

Conversely, it looks like I’m comforting her.

Now that we’ve roughly discussed what we need to say to each other, I think it’s best to send her away.

“Let’s stop here for now.”

I tapped Tirisia’s shoulder as she lowered her head and took a step back.

“Now go back for real, Tirisia.”

Tirisia, who came to her senses at those words, raised her hand as if to grab my arm and said.

“Ah… But Erto, you don’t look well. Is there anything I can do to help you?”

It was a pity that we had to part ways like this, but what I wanted from Tirisia was for her to leave me alone right now.

“I think I need to rest by myself for a bit. It’s okay. Stop being a slacker and go back.”

“That… If you’re hungry, you should cook something… ”

“What?”

Huh―

I found myself laughing out loud without realizing it.

That’s because Tirissia’s cooking talent is inversely proportional to her looks.

“Hehehe, you idiot, who always prepares your lunch? I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry. ”

“Ah… Yeah… Okay, I got it.”

“Okay, I’ll go now. See you tomorrow, as usual.”

“Yeah… Get some rest, Erto.”

Squeak-

As I was entering the house and about to close the front door,

“Ah,”

I opened the door again because a thought suddenly occurred to me.

“Tirisia!”

“Huh? Yeah!”

And he said this to his ex-girlfriend who was standing in front of the door.

“I will sincerely support you!”

It is truly a heart without a single grain of falsehood.

“I really hope you are happy. Fighting!”

“… ”

Tirisia, whose eyes had been wide open, soon had a faint smile on her lips.

It was the first time I saw her bright expression in three days.

“Thank you… I’m so glad that Erto is my childhood friend.”

“Okay, see you tomorrow!”

“Yeah!”

We waved at each other and this time closed the front door.

Empty-

The pouring sunlight was completely blocked out, and the hallway was once again plunged into darkness.

“… ”

I was unable to move for a moment, my back against the door.

Crack, crack, crack―…

As the sound of shoes outside faded away, complete silence fell on the darkness.

Slowly my legs loosened up―

dump,

I slipped out of the door and sat down on the floor of the shoe cabinet.

Okay, so somehow I managed to pull off the bluff.

“Haa―”

I let out a deep, rotten breath I had been holding, and covered my face with both hands.

“A wound… A wound.”

Tirisia said.

If I stay next to her, she’ll get hurt more.

That’s half true and half false.

If you hang around her, you’ll definitely be watching everything with your own eyes.

You can only stand by and watch helplessly as your loved one flirts with another man.

Yeah, it’s going to hurt a lot. Much more than it does now.

That goes without saying.

It is inevitable that your heart will be torn apart.

but,

It is the law that one who is already dead cannot be killed any more.

Even if I were to suffer countless wounds from now on, it didn’t mean anything.

Because I’m already – ‘finished’.

Otherwise, there would be no way I could remain calm while looking at Tirisia’s face like this.

The sadness and the hatred both evaporated and disappeared somewhere.

Something inside me must have been irreparably broken.

I was able to convince myself.

I’m sure I’ve gone crazy.

Maybe when I fell into a deep sleep, I died and was reborn.

I feel like I’ve been bleached, robbed of even the chance to express my natural emotions as a human being.

So, in a way, there is no reason to hang around Tirisia―

One thing,

Only one thing remained in the deep emptiness within me.

It is curiosity that has taken root at the bottom of the abyss.

‘I want to know.’

It was the path that Tirisia chose, and it was the man that Tirisia chose.

I don’t know where it started or what process it went through.

But at least if I was by Tirisia’s side, I would be able to see the end.

So I put everything down and just want that ending.

What was the true happiness of Tirissia?

If the path she chose herself is a blessed path that even I cannot help but acknowledge,

I would gladly become a corpse to applaud her.

That’s why I was able to convey everything with sincerity.

Be happy, please.

Tirissia.

You must be happy.

Because that is the only hope I have left and the love I give to you.

“Please… Please… ”

Sitting there in front of the entrance, I repeated the same words for a long time.

*

The mornings at the Academy are early.

Since a student’s duty lies in sincerity, the academy starts the day earlier than most workplaces in society.

And my day started even earlier than that.

Beep beep beep beep

I opened my eyes as I hit the head of the loudly chattering alarm-type magic tool.

“Hwaam―”

I stretch my limbs out on the bed and raise my body by bouncing my legs.

“읏차.”

If it were a normal morning, I would feel chronically tired, but I had slept for three full days and rested another night, so lying down actually made me more tired.

“What a damn refreshing morning.”

Is this what it would feel like if the world were reset and started anew?

From today onwards, a completely new day begins, one that I have never experienced before.

But for now, the order was to deal with the immediate matter at hand according to routine.

Of course, it is preparation for entering the academy.

Shoot―

After washing away the dirt that has accumulated over the past few days in the bathroom, I shave off my sparse beard.

After that, I went to the kitchen with my cleansed body and prepared a lunch box for two.

The owners of the lunch boxes are, of course, Tirisia and me.

As the daughter of the prestigious House of Broward, Tirissia could easily have her servants prepare her a luxurious meal, but she had long preferred my packed lunches, so as a childhood friend and boyfriend, I was in charge of preparing her lunches myself.

Now that the title of boyfriend has disappeared, I plan to keep this lunchbox as a tradition that has continued as a childhood friend until there is a separate agreement.

After preparing a meal for two in a lunch box and changing into my uniform, I headed to the Bruards’ mansion to pick up Tirisia as I always did before heading to the academy.

“―Ah.”

And what I witnessed in front of her mansion was,

“Ha… ”

It was Tirisia kissing her lover passionately in the dark shadows outside the gate.