Side Story – To You Waiting at the Ending (2
by Afuhfuihgs
Side Story – To You Waiting at the Ending (2)
The place Yunis took me to meet Hero-nim was truly unexpected. It was the Transcendence Academy, rebuilt even more splendidly than before it had collapsed. The meeting place was the Messiah Club room, which I hadn’t visited since graduating from there.
It’s a place so precious to me, a place where I could feel happiness, so I deliberately avoided visiting it. I felt like the absence of my precious friends would be too strongly felt.
So, I couldn’t follow Yunis and hesitated outside the door, fidgeting with my fingers. Yunis, noticing my feelings, silently offered her hand. Only after holding that hand tightly could I finally cross the threshold.
It doesn’t seem to have changed from my last memory. I clearly heard that it was completely destroyed in the fight with the cult leader, though. The one who resolved that question was none other than Hero-nim.
“I restored it as close to its original form as possible. Because it’s the place that the heroes who selflessly sacrificed themselves to save the world loved the most.”
Hero-nim, who slowly appeared from inside the club room, sat on the chair that the members often used to sit on and looked straight at me. Hero-nim, with eyes like a kind adult praising a child, looked somewhat tired. Did he pull an all-nighter or something?
“I really wanted to meet you, Luna.”
Hero-nim nonchalantly said something rather difficult to react to and smiled gently. I, who was trying to escape the awkwardness as much as possible by rolling my eyes around, tilted my head at the following words.
“I can finally understand my younger sibling now.”
Younger sibling…?
“As far as I know, Hero-nim is an only child, though?”
Saying that, I looked at Yunis, who was next to me, wondering if my memory was wrong, but she just shrugged with a bewildered expression, as if she was hearing it for the first time as well.
“Could it be a half-sibling?”
“…”
Startled by Yunis’s whisper, I pursed my lips at Hero-nim’s gaze that was staring straight at us, and shrugged exaggeratedly, pretending to be nonchalant.
Hero-nim, who was quietly looking at me, pointed to the opposite chair as if telling me to sit comfortably, scratched his forehead for a while as if contemplating, and then spoke.
“Don’t you feel something strange in your daily life? Like a feeling of having lost something precious. But no matter how much you think about it, it’s not like you’ve lost anything that precious… that kind of inexplicable sense of loss.”
I felt my eyes widen in an instant. It was as if he had seen right through me. That’s right. I often stretch out my uncomfortable left hand to the side when walking, or when food that requires using a knife and fork at the same time comes out, I sometimes just stand still as if waiting for someone to do it for me.
And then, I feel a strange sense of loss when I see the emptiness of my left hand and the perfectly fine steak on the plate. It feels like tears will fall if I don’t focus my eyes.
“How did you…?”
“Because I had the same experience. While eliminating the Chaosification with the Demon King in the Demon Realm, I tried to find out the reason for feeling that way. And I found the answer.”
Seeing me gulp, Hero-nim moved his lips.
“■■.”
“…?”
Hero-nim’s voice, which clearly came out of his mouth, reached my ears. But I couldn’t tell at all whether it was a word, a song, or a sound. It was like someone had immediately erased the thought that came to my mind. Hero-nim, who was observing me as if examining me, gave a faint smile.
“That guy was worried about you until the very end. He did everything he could so that you wouldn’t feel the same sadness as him, so that you could be happy. Even though he knew exactly what he had lost, he willingly chose something worse than any hell for you.”
“…”
“You won’t be able to recall that name right away. But… you’ll definitely remember it.”
There were many things I wanted to ask about the incomprehensible words, but the words that came out of my mouth were also quite absurd.
“…How can you be so sure?”
“Because God always has a plan.”
Saying that, Hero-nim pointed to my left hand with his finger. Following the tip of Hero-nim’s finger, I lowered my gaze to my uncomfortable left hand, then raised my head and saw that his finger was pointing straight at my eyes.
“You’ve already paid the price there.”
Was he saying that it was God’s plan that I had an accident when I was young and became physically disabled? I wanted to ask back… but somehow, I couldn’t open my mouth. It’s not for the common-sense reason that I couldn’t dare to speak carelessly in front of the great Hero-nim.
Just,
It was because I had a vague feeling that it would be useless to argue with Hero-nim.
Because….
Hero-nim looked so tired, like he just wanted to rest now. He looked so exhausted that he seemed like he would close his eyes as soon as he leaned his head somewhere. I couldn’t make Hero-nim, who had worked so hard for everyone, suffer any more. No matter how unfair it was. Besides, Hero-nim wasn’t God either. He wasn’t someone I could argue with.
“…Acorn.”
Yunis and I, who were looking at each other and getting up from our seats, tilted our heads at the words that came out of Hero-nim’s mouth.
“Excuse me?”
“When you’ve lost the path you need to take… follow the acorn.”
With those words, Hero-nim slowly closed his eyes as if he had no intention of talking any further. I repeated the advice, “Acorn,” several times so as not to forget it, and quietly left the club room with Yunis.
***
With the sound of the door closing, I slowly opened my eyes that I had closed. I leaned my back completely against the chair and looked up at the ceiling. It was a ceiling with pink clouds slowly flowing by. Surprisingly, it’s Bella’s favorite style. She said she liked the soft and comfortable feeling that she didn’t have.
“…Bella.”
I say that name out loud for the first time in a while. I feel like my lips are twisting for no reason. Without resisting the eyelids that are slowly closing due to the long fatigue, I keep taking out the precious names that I had engraved deep in my heart.
“Ilia.”
“Flavia.”
“Rosalyn.”
“Ellie.”
There are no answers coming back, but I muttered quietly, feeling guilt and joy, and eventually a sense of relief that I had kept my promise.
“…I, really worked hard.”
Now that I’ve finished the last thing I had to do, it’ll be okay now.
“So, I’ll rest for a little while now.”
Because I don’t have to chase after dreams anymore.
***
Hero Roel returned to the embrace of God and was finally able to end his long dream in peace.
***
After finishing my meeting with Yunis and returning home, I read the letter that Navier had given me and wrote a reply that was satisfactory enough, then lay down on the bed. Somehow, I couldn’t fall asleep like this. After meeting Hero-nim, the curiosity to find out the cause of the sense of loss that I feel is growing bigger and bigger in my head.
What does the acorn that Hero-nim mentioned mean? A tree where acorns grow? Or could it simply be referring to an acorn? Hmm, I heard that there’s a food called ‘muk’ that uses acorns in the south, so maybe it’s related to that.
There are no trees that grow acorns near my house, so I haven’t seen an acorn recently―――
“…!”
I remembered something I had stupidly forgotten. The acorn was always with me, so why couldn’t I think of it right away? I looked at the old compass with an acorn engraved on the bottom, which was placed on the bedside table next to the bed.
As expected, it’s moving around without being able to find its direction on its own. I’ve tried to fix the compass before, but I gave up a long time ago when I was told that it had an unrepairable structure.
It was a broken compass, but it was something I cherished, so it was something I always carried around out of habit. It has no practicality at all, though. But the compass is the only acorn-related item I have. I don’t have any acorn-made furniture or acorn-shaped jewels.
“…Uuuuuuuuum.”
I was fiddling with the compass and pondering deeply when I was distracted by the large full moon that was visible through the window. And suddenly, I muttered to myself.
“…All seasons end, even if no one remembers, forever.”
I think I said those words to someone. If that’s not the case, there’s no reason for me to be crying while looking at the full moon like this.
“I want to remember.”
Just like when I read romance novels as a child and wished upon the moon to meet a man I would love for the rest of my life, I desperately asked the moon.
But nothing changed. No magical things happened, no magical phenomena, no mysterious sensations were felt. Only the broken compass was pointing straight at the full moon.
Follow the acorn!
Recalling Hero-nim’s advice, I climbed out of the mansion through the window without my family knowing. Riding a horse and blindly following where the compass was pointing, I was finally able to arrive at the Death Canyon, which was far away from the city where I lived. The horse was scared by the eerie energy and refused to go any further, so I had no choice but to get off the horse and walk on my own.
The compass moved around as I moved, guiding me. After walking for a long time, I was finally able to arrive at the place where the compass was spinning around. Is this the destination that the compass guided me to?
“…Where is this?”
Only then, looking around instead of at the compass, did I realize that this was on top of a cliff in the canyon. I peeked my head out and looked at the canyon, but I couldn’t see anything but an abyss-like darkness because the moonlight didn’t reach it.
I felt a sudden fear. I turned around to get off the cliff, but the place where the compass was pointing caught my eye. The compass is guiding me to jump off the cliff.
“…Are you out of your goddamn mind?”
Thinking that there must be something wrong with the compass, I shook the compass hard and moved to the side, but the place where the compass was pointing didn’t change.
“…”
I looked at the place where the compass was pointing. It’s still scary. But I couldn’t turn around and run away. Because I really wanted to know. What exactly was the precious thing I had lost.
Instead of the hand holding the compass, I stretched out my left hand to the side, wanting someone to hold it. It’s a natural action, but I don’t know why. But now I’ll be able to know the reason.
Tadadadak―――!
Once I made up my mind, I didn’t hesitate to run towards the edge of the cliff. The wind brushed past me, and I fell endlessly into the depths of the canyon.
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