episode_0105

Ritsu’s face was so welcome.

How long had it been? It felt as if she had traveled for two months again.

The moment she saw that handsome face, it felt like all the hardships she had endured were rewarded.

He must have come to get her out of here.

She resented herself for not being fully awake yet.

She wanted to see Ritsu with clear eyes, quickly.

She wanted to get up and hug Ritsu.

She would hug him tightly and chatter away.

How she had diligently cleaned the warehouse, just as Ritsu had told her to.

…Her chest swelled with such anticipation.

But why was it?

Ritsu’s eyes… looked incredibly angry.

Was she really that hated?

Ritsu’s voice thundered in her ears.

“Everyone saw. You, they said you were holed up in this warehouse, sleeping all day.”

Only slept?

“N-no!”

She really worked hard.

Yesterday. Today. She organized the warehouse.

She worked so hard… to the point she couldn’t eat anything until evening.

“I dozed off, but it was only for a moment… and I definitely tidied it up…”

“So everyone lied?”

“That’s not it—”

“Don’t make excuses, listen to me.”

Ritsu’s fingers gripped her shoulder tightly.

She felt like she couldn’t breathe.

She was scared.

She didn’t want to imagine what an angry Ritsu would say.

“Tia. This is your last chance. Do you know people are speaking ill of you? I vouched for you, guaranteeing you weren’t like that, and entrusted you with this task. But it hasn’t even been a day, and you’re just sleeping here, so what are you doing?”

His furious gaze and voice were like Uncle Marvin’s scolding.

It didn’t feel like Ritsu.

Was Uncle Marvin yelling in Ritsu’s form?

Was she seeing a hallucination of Ritsu in a dream right now?

“Ritsu…”

“I’m doing all this for you. And what are *you* doing?!”

An invisible knife plunged into her chest.

Blood gushed out.

It hurt.

It hurt so much she couldn’t breathe.

She felt like she was going to die like this, so she instinctively slapped Ritsu’s hand away.

“…I—?! I also… for you… to save you… I did everything I could!”

“…What?”

She shouldn’t be doing this.

It felt like a thread in her mind snapped, and before she knew it, she had lost control and was yelling wildly.

“Because it’s my fault! Because I made a mistake! As long as you, Ritsu, live…! It doesn’t matter what happens to someone like me…!”

“What are you talking about?”

Ritsu looked at her with a bewildered expression.

“It’s okay…”

It’s okay if you don’t understand.

“It’s okay if people curse me. I… I’m okay. So for me… I only need you, Ritsu…”

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

“It’s strange. I feel nothing… People pointed fingers, cursed me behind my back, ignored me, and I felt nothing… But when Ritsu… when Ritsu yelled at me…”

She clawed at her chest with her fingernails.

She scratched wildly, trying to pull out something firmly lodged in her heart.

But there was nothing to grasp.

She felt like she was going crazy.

“My chest feels like it’s tearing… It hurts so much… It hurts too much to speak, to speak…”

“Tia.”

Ritsu looked flustered.

“This is Breezdon. As long as you live here, you have to face people. If your reputation gets bad, it will be hard to live together.”

His tone was softer than before, but his expression still showed bewilderment.

Reputation.

Ritsu would be bound by that word his entire life.

Because he was Breezdon itself.

To be the face of the village. To be a role model, he would work even harder.

“That’s why I wanted to leave… right now.”

She felt that it was over now.

She thought if it wasn’t now, she might never be able to say it.

So.

She confessed with all her heart.

“I… I’ve lived, smiling at everyone… clumsy but brave. But all of that has lost its meaning. The gazes of the uncles and aunts who were once welcoming and grateful… now feel too terrifying. Ritsu, do you know this feeling of being unable to lift my head, this desire to hide forever?”

“…”

Ritsu wore a face of unknowing.

“It’s okay if you don’t know. It’s all my fault. Because I made Ritsu like that… If I had listened to Ritsu back then and returned to the village… The Village Head-nim, Grandmother-nim, Ritsu, Ruyef, and Marie. We would all have lived smiling together until now, wouldn’t we?”

“No. That’s wrong. That’s…”

“I regretted it countless times. If I could go back to the past, I would give an arm to return. Back to that time, I want to kill the me who boasted I would protect Ritsu when I couldn’t, who egged us on to go deeper…!!”

If a knife had been in her hand.

She truly wanted to cut off this bruised arm.

She would do anything if it meant she could be forgiven for it.

She looked at her right hand clutching her left arm.

The moment she saw the tendons standing out, as if ready to crush bones, goosebumps prickled her skin.

It was scary.

Ritsu too.

She too.

She felt stifled.

She suddenly had a strange feeling that the warehouse would collapse and crush her.

“Tia…”

She immediately exited the warehouse.

She quickly tried to compose her breath to calm her tangled chest, but only wheezing, deflated sounds emerged.

Even though she wanted to run, her exhausted steps were slow.

“Tia!”

Ritsu chased after her from behind.

“Don’t think like that too much. Let’s think positively. Okay? Let’s think about what to do from now on. You can’t help what’s already happened.”

“…It’s because it can’t be helped that it’s even more miserable.”

Whoosh—.

The winter wind blew.

Her red hair fluttered with the wind.

What should she do?

She didn’t know.

Now, she didn’t even feel like she was cornered at the edge of a cliff.

She had thought there might be a way back then.

But in truth, it wasn’t like that.

She was standing on an isolated peak, with cliffs on all sides, no way back.

The only way to escape this hellish fate.

Was to fall off the cliff and die.

Or else…

“Ritsu.”

To receive salvation from the Divine Dragon-nim.

“I know… I think I’m too willful and selfish, but… can you grant me a wish?”

“Of course. Anything you ask. Tell me.”

She turned and looked back at Ritsu.

“Let’s go together. Just the two of us, far away… very far away. To the Land of Flowers. Let’s go on a journey together.”

She hated it now.

She wanted to abandon everything and leave.

Just… with no one around. No worries.

She wanted to live with Ritsu.

The words rose to her throat.

But they melted away on the tip of her tongue.

She had always dreamed of it. A journey with Ritsu.

Traveling together everywhere, seeing new things, and wonderful scenery.

They would smile happily.

Breaking free from this prison-like Breezdon and wandering the vast world.

They would be together to find their own dream.

But.

She knew Ritsu couldn’t do that.

Because Ritsu alone carried this village.

Because he was responsible for people’s lives.

Because he had grown up that way, learned that way, and it was his destiny.

Yet, for insignificant her.

Yes.

Could he just say this one thing?

Please. Even if it’s just words.

Please…

She hoped and wished for that desperation to reach him.

Ritsu lowered his head.

“I’m sorry, Tia. That… I can’t do that right now.”

“…”

Tears gently fell.

As expected.

Ritsu was an amazing man.

A man far too good for her.

“…Yes. I know.”

She smiled.

It felt like the first time she had smiled so brightly since returning to Breezdon.

Because she felt it was all over.

Only laughter escaped her.

“I thought Ritsu would answer like that…”

Soft steps. Soft steps.

She turned away.

She had her answer.

Now… it was time to fall from the cliff.

Whoosh—!

Especially today, the wind felt cold.

* * *

Whoosh—!

Thud!

He dropped to his knees.

He barely stopped his body from falling forward by bracing himself with his hands.

But the next thing was the problem.

“…Ugh!”

He felt like throwing up.

His stomach was so nauseous he felt he had to vomit to breathe.

“Uwaagh! Cough— Choke!”

He regained his senses.

The tearing pain in his chest from moments ago instantly felt forgotten.

It still ached and hurt, but.

The moment ‘reality’ set in, he realized what had happened.

He had come out of Tia’s memory.

“Ugh.”

He lay sprawled on the floor and looked around.

This was Fosao’s bedroom.

Right. He had come here to chase the memories.

And… this was also where Tia had been harassed by Fosao.

“…”

He clutched his chest.

It was starting to hurt again.

He wanted to close his eyes from the pain, but he couldn’t.

Because what he had just seen was too shocking.

He felt like he was going crazy, as if those terrible memories would slowly creep back.

“How could this be…”

He still couldn’t believe it.

Tia… How could Tia do such a thing…?

Going to Fosao behind his back all night…

Showed that guy her chest, touched his genitals, even sucked him…?

“N-no. That can’t be…”

His hands trembled violently.

A lie. It’s a lie.

It had to be.

Tia was not someone who would ever do such a thing.

Because they were engaged to be married.

They had kissed at the Lake of Promises, and even made a solemn vow to the Divine Dragon-nim.

…But how could she be doing such things with Fosao?

It… it made no sense.

She was a woman who would immediately see through that pig’s lecherous intentions.

A woman who knew how to handle things skillfully and gracefully.

The ‘Tia’ he knew was like that.

She had to be.

“Why…”

Tears streamed down.

His chest felt like it had been pierced by a spear.

“Why—!!”

He hated this pain that wouldn’t heal even when he screamed.

At the same time, Tia’s heart, which he thought he could never understand.

He hated that he was slowly starting to understand it.

She had been relying on Fosao.

Exhausted by the villagers’ torment, burdened by the heavy sin and debt she owed him.

Because he, the only one she could trust and find comfort in, had been too cold.

Cornered, Tia had no choice but to make this general store her refuge.

How could he curse such a Tia?

How could he scold her for doing something so foolish as crossing the line with Fosao?

No.

Tia had merely acted like Tia.

She hadn’t changed at all.

With her kind and wise heart, she had merely fulfilled her duties.

Only because she had hurt him with one mistake.

Only because she had rushed headlong with the sole goal of saving him.

Only because she could no longer bear the terrifying conspiracies that had arisen from it.

But despite all that, Fosao was the only one who had protected Tia.

…She had been ensnared by that perverted bastard.

If it had been him.

No, if even just one person had understood and embraced Tia.

It wouldn’t have come to this…!

His teeth gritted.

He clenched his fists.

“Not yet… Not yet.”

He was certain.

It wasn’t too late yet.

Now, he could save Tia.

He could grab her, who was about to step off the edge of the cliff.

He stood up.

He kicked open the bedroom door and stumbled down the stairs.

“Cough. Cough!”

Tia had said she went to the lower village.

He would go first and find Tia.

He would go and silently embrace Tia.

His only friend.

His love.

Tia.

He finally understood her completely.

Her mistakes, her errors.

He could forgive and accept all of it.

“Wait… I’m… coming now…”

He took a step forward to go outside.

At that moment.

Creak—.

Suddenly, the general store’s entrance opened.

“…!”

Thump.

Thump.

A huge shadow, making irregular thumping sounds.

Was slowly rising from the entrance.

“…”

He stared silently in that direction.

What cruel trick of fate was this again?

What stopped his steps towards Tia was…

“Th-there you are.”

Fosao.

“…Hehe.”

It was that pig-bastard.