Chapter 19
Plop plop-.
Thin raindrops falling.
The dark sky seemed to be gradually devoured by storm clouds, then soon began to draw rain streaks.
Diluted dots are engraved drop by drop on the dry ground.
The wet marks gradually widen, covering the ground with moisture.
The momentum is fierce for spring rain.
It looked like it would pour down heavily.
People avoid their spots due to the unexpected rainfall.
But even in such falling raindrops, there was one girl wandering alone in the academy area.
"......"
A disheveled uniform in disarray.
Between the pink hair moistened with water, unfocused green eyes are visible.
The girl was walking staggeringly.
Where is this?
Where is she heading?
Fragments of crude questions muddle her head... but they're washed away by the rain as if it never happened.
The girl was merely stepping to avoid falling.
Trudge trudge-.
Emptiness lingers in her precarious steps.
As she staggers several times due to intense exhaustion, suddenly a cool voice whispers in her ear.
-How unsightly.
A scene from just a few hours ago flashes before her eyes.
A blue-haired girl standing in the center of the circular arena. Regia was kneeling, looking up at her.
Contempt clearly sparkles in her blue eyes.
-To think you were evaluated as a 'promising talent' with such meager skills... It's not even funny.
She couldn't do anything.
She was helplessly defeated.
Perhaps due to the pressure, mistakes kept popping out.
The summoned beasts didn't respond to her call, and even the basic magic she managed to squeeze out was at a miserable level.
-You need to be aware of your place.
-This is a place for those who are qualified... not somewhere a mere commoner should aspire to.
Regia bowed her head deeply.
She must have been scared.
Perhaps disgusted by such a shabby appearance, the blue girl turns her back, leaving one last remark.
-Leave, outsider.
It was an especially painful word.
A sharp thorn pierces the girl's lungs.
The center of her body wavers precariously.
"...Ah."
Vision turning hot.
A lukewarm line is drawn on her coldly cooled cheek.
"How foolish."
The girl mutters while wiping away her tears.
Worried that someone might see, she hurriedly hides her weak appearance.
She bites her lip tightly.
'Perhaps.'
Perhaps she had thought too naively?
She thought only good things would happen when she entered the academy.
She thought she would settle her wandering life... and make many friends her age and have fun.
It seemed there was no place for her to stay here either.
It was a familiar loneliness.
Though she didn't want to cry, she couldn't erase the sobs that leaked out.
The thin rain streaks thicken.
It soon turns into a downpour.
Swoosh-!
Even in the fiercely pouring rain, the girl walked on.
Constantly wiping away moisture she couldn't wipe off, she spits out bitter sorrow between her lips.
"Hic, uh... sniff..."
Truly like a drowned rat.
Her shabby steps continue her wandering.
As her legs start to go numb, and her eyes stinging from tears and rain begin to hurt, suddenly the rain stops.
"...?"
No, actually it didn't stop.
The sound of rain still remains in her ears, and wet droplets still splash at her feet.
Something was just blocking the rain.
What could it be suddenly?
With such a question, she raises her lowered head, and golden hair shimmering in her vision.
Characteristic slit eyes smile.
The boy was standing holding umbrellas in both hands.
"...Young Master Snakers?"
Regia mutters blankly.
Despite her somewhat dazed response, the boy doesn't mind.
"So you were here, Miss Regia."
"Why are you in a place like this, Young Master..."
"Huhu."
He simply answers.
"I came to find a friend."
Plop plop plop-.
Water drops fall from the end of the umbrella kindly tilted.
At the boy's unexpected appearance and unexpected words, Regia had to freeze for a moment.
***
"I came to find a friend."
I say with a faint smile.
Green eyes blankly looking this way.
As we exchange gazes for a moment, belated relief washes over me like a wave.
'Finally found her.'
I was just worrying because of the fierce rain.
I was worried she might be crying somewhere strange... but fortunately, she was standing in the place I remembered.
It seems things are still flowing according to the original work so far.
"Miss Regia."
"...Yes."
"Shall we take shelter from the rain first?"
The girl answers weakly.
Her slender shoulders are trembling as if cold.
The tear stains covered by rainwater add to her pitiful appearance.
She seemed to have complicated feelings.
Swoosh-!
First, we need to escape this terrible weather.
I put the umbrella over the girl and move towards a nearby structure with a roof.
Fortunately, there was a carriage stop nearby.
"This is perfect for taking shelter from the rain for a while."
We sat side by side on the bench.
We didn't say anything in particular.
Thinking she might need some time to calm her crying, I simply maintained silence.
Pitter-patter-!
The raindrops falling on the roof are quite noisy.
Thanks to that, even the sound of swallowing tears is buried.
No, actually it wasn't buried... but I decided to think I couldn't hear it.
For our protagonist's sake.
"......"
The silence continues like that for a while.
What breaks the frozen stillness is none other than Regia's voice.
She seemed to have calmed down to some extent.
"I'm sorry, Young Master."
However, that doesn't mean her tears had stopped.
Though she was turning her head as if nothing was wrong, there were still traces of water on her cheeks.
I asked quietly.
"What are you sorry for?"
"You said we should go back together after the test... but I went off alone on my own."
"That's right."
"You came to find me. Even in this harsh weather, for several hours..."
Her green pupils waver sadly.
Dew forming on her eyelids. The sparkling light can't bear its own weight and drops.
"I, I absolutely didn't mean to cause you trouble...! It's just that, suddenly, my stomach felt queasy..."
"I see."
"I, I really mean it...! For a moment my mind, went blank, and, I, I couldn't think of anything. I'm, I'm sorry."
"Hmm hmm."
I smiled bitterly.
To be so desperately mindful even in this situation, it was truly a Regia-like reaction.
A feeling of both pity and affection blooms.
I quietly raise my hand.
And place it on the head of the girl who was rambling.
"Miss Regia."
"So I wasn't trying to ignore you, Young Master... Huh? Y-yes?"
Regia is flustered by the sudden touch.
After pausing for a moment with a smile, I calmly opened my mouth.
"You did well."
"Pardon...?"
"The class assignment test today. You really did well."
The girl makes a dumbfounded expression at the sudden words.
She probably didn't expect to hear such words.
Following the disheveled pink, I slowly stroked the girl's hair.
As if treating an injured child.
"I just wanted to tell you this."
In the original work, no one comforted her.
A girl hated by none other than a duke's eldest daughter. Moreover, being a commoner, no one would have wanted to get close to her.
So Regia cried alone.
Until the terrible downpour stopped.
-Outsider.
She had lived trembling in loneliness her whole life.
Now that she finally ended her wandering and stepped into the world, what awaited Regia was still solitude.
The girl couldn't bear it and sobbed for a long time.
'I wanted to comfort her many times.'
Of course, it might be mere pity.
Soon, good friends will appear by her side, and she's destined to be loved by many.
At that time, such shabby encouragement might not be needed.
But.
"It's okay to waver a little. You're just taking your first step."
Because it's not yet that time.
Because right now, no one else will offer you warm comfort.
I wanted to stay by her side.
'If it weren't for your stories... I would have lived as a loser long ago.'
This was a kind of repayment.
Because I endured a time full of despair with your stories, now it was my turn to be a pillar.
I quietly recite.
"Everything will be alright."
Regia is silently staring this way.
The girl sitting in a daze.
As I wait for a response for a moment, suddenly moisture begins to gather in her eyes again.
Plop plop, tears fall.
"Oh my."
"...Huh?"
She belatedly realizes that she's crying.
Regia hurriedly wipes her eyes, trying hard to put on an expression that she's fine.
"Ah... th-this is nothing, it's not... J-just got some dust in my eye suddenly..."
"Miss Regia."
"Yes?"
"Are you really alright?"
"......"
Her lips close automatically.
It seems I hit the mark.
The girl seems to stutter for a while, then bows her head deeply and mutters.
"I'm... fine."
"Really?"
"Really. Just a few months ago, when I was traveling alone, I wandered deserts without a single person. Compared to then, this is nothing."
"Why do you think so?"
"Well... because the desert is lonely. There are no people."
The desert is lonely.
The endlessly spread sandy plains remind one of the vast ocean.
Of course, it was an environment where humans couldn't live, and even if they did, the numbers would be very few.
Compared to the academy bustling with students...
"But Miss Regia."
Is that really so?
"You can be just as lonely among people."
How many people there are isn't important.
What's important is whether there are people you can lean on.
Most people can't readily nod to this question.
This is why we suffer from endless loneliness even though we live in a forest of people.
"Sometimes being among people... can be lonelier than the desert."
"......"
Regia didn't deny it.
Is she agreeing?
Or is she just in a daze?
A pitiful silence continues. I didn't know what meaning was hidden behind it.
But it was a sad expression.
I didn't like that.
It hurt my heart to see the protagonist so discouraged.
I wanted her to always shine brightly.
That's what I was living for until now.
"So I want to ask."
"...Yes?"
"As I said last time... I sincerely hope Miss Regia will become my friend."
"Me...?"
She raises a question mark as if not understanding.
Tears still tracing lines. I carefully wipe the girl's cheeks.
"If Miss Regia would allow it."
I probably can't do anything great for you.
"But I'd like to at least ease some of your loneliness."
Her slender shoulders tremble.
Her voice, hoarse from crying, is tinged with intense doubt.
"...Why."
The girl asks.
"Why... are you doing so much for me, Young Master?"
From our first meeting, he was overly friendly.
During the entrance exam, he saved her from being bullied, and afterwards was the only one to congratulate her on entering.
At the academy, he accompanied her so she wouldn't be bored.
Today he comforted her heart that was in shambles because of the class assignment test.
And now...
"I don't understand why you're showing interest in someone as unsightly as me."
He was volunteering to be the friend she had longed for so much.
It was a terribly sweet temptation.
A snake's tongue flickering cunningly.
Although it gave off a somewhat uncomfortable atmosphere, the girl couldn't bring herself to refuse.
"Why on earth..."
"Well..."
I put my index finger to my lips and smile playfully.
"It's a secret."
The sound of rain is no longer heard.
What comes after the downpour stops is sunlight peeking through the clouds.
The final question follows.
"What do you think, Miss Regia? Will you allow me to come close?"
Regia bit her lip tightly.
Following the warmly shining sunlight, the dew hanging in her eyes sparkles with beautiful light.
The girl stops crying.
Instead, she only smiles brightly.
"Yes...!"
A cheerful answer comes back.
It seems she was regaining her spirits. This kind of expression suits Regia after all.
I stood up from my seat, feeling satisfied.
"The rain has stopped. Shall we go back?"
"Yes, Young Master!"
"Haha, you can just call me by name now? We're friends, aren't we?"
"Ah... that's still, difficult..."
"How disappointing."
Light conversation continues.
We walked on the pavement wet with rain.
"You don't need to worry about the test today. Miss Regia will be in the top-tier class."
"What? B-but I failed the test so badly..."
"There's someone who recognized Miss Regia's potential. That person will probably take care of it."
"Such a grateful thing... But how do you know these things, Young Master?"
"It's a secret this time too."
"...Th-that's unfair."
In two days, the full academy schedule will start.
The story of [The World as Seen by the Little Prince] that I remember will unfold.
My heart is dyed with excitement.
Various characters like Regia, Charlotte, Emilia will meet in one classroom.
Since I'm in the top position, I'll be in the top-tier class too.
'The homeroom professor for the top-tier class... I'm sure the name was Cardel?'
I moved my feet, recalling the face I would soon see.
I was certain of it, but...
"Nice to meet you all. I'm the Chief Professor who will be in charge of the top-tier class for a year starting today. My name is Selena Drunkard."
Why the hell are you here?