Mistaken for a Masked Munchkin

Don Quixote's Reverie (12)

A few days had passed since they returned from the temple.

The noisy air had quieted before anyone knew it.

Their vacation had also reached its final days, and the date to return to the academy was drawing near.

“......”

And on the final dawn at House Kihano.

A blond girl stood alone, looking up at the night sky.

-Until I left the main house, I used to look at the night sky here every day.

-Mm! Looking at the night sky calms my heart, you see.

A child who carried a blessing within her, born to sparkle from the moment of her birth.

Her violet eyes blinked amid the empty snowfield.

She looked at the stars as if longing for the home she had come from.

Whoooosh.

A wind carrying the North’s distinct scent of winter blew in.

Her hair was tousled, then tidied by the hand that swept it back.

“Haa...”

Ranne’s breath was quiet.

That alone made white flowers bloom. The North was that cold.

Her breath bloomed in clusters like petals, until it seemed to flower into an armful at the end.

“......”

Snowflakes.

Winter.

Snow.

Night sky.

Dawn.

Night.

White.

Black.

A colorless world.

A world where no other color had been painted.

Over that rough black and white, the girl, its only color, let contemplation fill her sight.

Gold and violet were added, and the world swelled into four colors.

Crunch, crunch.

The boots she had roughly slipped on creaked whenever she walked through the garden.

Ranne Kihano.

Don Quixote.

Girl.

Star.

Her footsteps were the only thing raising the brightness of the night sky, and the only thing lowering the saturation of the snowfield.

So the girl seemed like one of the few points of focus in that polarized ink painting, beneath heaven and earth split into two extremes.

Ranne quietly admired the scenery.

The pure white brushed at her feet, and the jet-black spread above her head.

A lonely but not shabby canvas layered itself over her pupils.

“Miss Ranne.”

“......Ah.”

The contemplation that felt eternal broke deep into the dawn.

A voice suddenly rang by her ear.

The girl turned around.

There stood a boy who carried the same black as the night.

“You were here.”

Viktor.

His face was unmasked.

“I was looking for you because you were not in bed.”

“Mm! I was just getting some air for a moment.”

“You were looking at the night sky, I see.”

“We will return to the academy in the morning! I suppose I must say goodbye to this wonderful scenery for a while.”

Her hazy pupils quickly regained their light.

It was one of the compulsions she suffered from.

She refused to look weak in front of others.

Even though she had been sunk in thought just a moment ago, a bright smile suddenly settled on her lips.

“It seems you cannot sleep.”

“That is right! Is that not the same for you, Sir Viktor?”

“I suppose so... After spending several days lying in bed, I end up wide awake at dawn.”

A brief exchange of small talk.

The boy softly stepped closer and stood beside the girl.

Viktor looked up at the same night sky as Ranne and spoke.

“Now we will return to the academy in the morning.”

“Mm! It strangely feels like it has been a long time!”

“It has been quite a while. Nearly a month, I think.”

“There was the School Trip, and we were given a fortnight of vacation immediately afterward!”

“Once we return, we will have to start preparing for the final exam right away.”

“This time, I shall surpass your grades, Sir Viktor.”

Warmly, busily.

Their conversation sounded cozy even in the snowy field.

A few words were enough to make bubbly laughter spill out.

“Sir Viktor.”

“Yes?”

“Do you not feel worried about the future, or think about things like that?”

“Worried? What kind of worries do you mean, exactly?”

“I mean all worries, regardless of form.”

“That question makes me curious about the reason behind it.”

“It is just... There have been many incidents lately, have there not?”

On the day of the entrance exam.

When they encountered the Apostle of the Evil God on the way to the academy.

A few months ago, during the practical.

When they ran into another Apostle of the Evil God at the exam grounds.

The last School Trip.

When they were caught up in the hidden Cultist Branch.

And this vacation.

All the way to being abducted into a mysterious place called a courtroom.

“So many bizarre incidents came one after another in less than half a year.”

Glance.

Ranne quietly checked Viktor’s reaction.

She had worried over it several times, then finally asked as if setting the thought down.

“So... I wanted to ask what you thought of it all, Sir Viktor.”

The words felt small once she actually spoke them aloud.

She grew needlessly careful, and despite her resolve, her words bent and folded.

The girl laughed awkwardly.

“Was that an unnecessary question?”

But she had wanted to hear his answer.

Because every one of those incidents had been resolved by his hands.

Even things that had been too much for the girl herself were wiped clean whenever the boy stepped forward.

“Hard to say.”

Pat.

Viktor’s hand rested on her blond hair.

As he had done several times before, his gentle touch stroked through her hair.

“Won’t things work out somehow?”

“Somehow... you say.”

“What about you, Miss Ranne? Are you the worrying type?”

“......I think I am a little worried.”

Ranne nodded with difficulty.

Then the hand resting on the crown of her head pressed down.

“Uht... Sir Vik, Viktor?”

“Living with worries is good. It makes you prepare for the future, and makes you prepare more of yourself. But you must not let them swallow you, all right?”

“......”

“You always have many worries, Miss Ranne. Though you do not show them on the outside.”

Smile.

The black eyes she suddenly met curved into a smile.

His words seemed to peer straight inside her.

For a moment, the girl stopped breathing.

Then Viktor’s fingertip tapped her forehead.

“Please worry a little less.”

“......”

“If you feel like you are losing your way, I will be in front to guide you.”

His answer sounded indifferent, but the warmth that approached her was delicate.

It was a lightly thrown promise, yet it felt reliable.

There was a sense of peace carried through that touch.

‘It’s warm.’

Yes, he was always that kind of person.

Someone like a lighthouse standing tall in a storm.

Someone like a buoy beyond the waves.

Someone who did not shake, who was not weak, who made her want to use him as a guidepost.

-You are doing well.

-You are doing more than enough, Miss Ranne.

Someone who always told her she was all right.

Someone who still saw her as young.

“......”

That was why he was difficult.

No matter how tightly she hid herself, he quietly approached and found her.

-Miss Ranne, your problem is that you always try to shoulder too much.

-It would be all right to learn how to rely on others a little more.

Words no one else said to her.

Only he told her not to try so hard.

Then he smiled playfully, saying he would take care of it somehow.

“......Sir Viktor.”

A dawn where all sorts of feelings crossed.

Ranne spoke in a voice she would never have used under normal circumstances.

“I do not know.”

Weakness.

Anxiety.

Worry.

Pressure.

“I have no confidence.”

“Miss Ranne.”

“I was born blessed by the stars. I have been granted power far beyond my vessel and station.”

The brave and cheerful Don Quixote.

And her thoughts about Ranne Kihano, who existed behind that.

“As I told you before, this power sometimes gives me hints. I explained it to you as something like instinct.”

“I remember.”

“Lately... the starlight in my heart has been stirring often. To be precise, since this year. That trembling feels as if it is terrified, or anxious about something, so it seems to hint at the days that will soon come.”

“......”

“In the not too distant future, it seems a terrible calamity will descend upon the continent.”

A story she had never told anyone.

“So the starlight whispers. It tells me I must face such a calamity, that I must become everyone’s hero, that I am the only one who can take on that role.”

Her voice was faint, but it was trembling.

For the first time in her life, the girl let herself out into the world.

“......But I do not know. A hero? Could someone as lacking as me fulfill such an important role? My strength is clumsy, and my experience is narrow. I always try to stay positive so I can be an example, but even that is only a mask I created. Even so, the world tells me to become a hero. That makes me anxious.”

“......”

“When I was that anxious, I came to know you.”

Viktor.

She had met him.

“You guided me. Whenever an incident broke out, you always stepped forward and resolved it, and you always showed outstanding martial prowess and an upright mindset. So the more time I spent with you, the more I thought I wanted to rely on you. I wanted to abandon the mission given to me and run from my duty. I wanted to feel at ease.”

If the world truly needed a hero, she thought he might be the one who belonged in that place.

So she had followed behind him.

Because she was not afraid if she was with him.

Because the sight of his back walking ahead made her steps move forward too.

Because no matter what calamity came, no matter what mire she fell into, it felt like he would break everything apart.

“Funny, is it not?”

In the end, she was saying she had hidden.

She lacked certainty in herself, so she had used another person as her refuge.

“I am like a fool. In the end, the one who moves forward must be myself, not someone else...”

“......”

“I do not even know if someone like me truly has the right.”

“......”

The girl’s true feelings poured out clearly, unfiltered.

Viktor listened the whole time with bated breath.

He did not cut her off, nor did he try to comfort her.

He only quietly listened to what overflowed from Ranne.

Only after her lips completely stopped did the boy return the thoughts he had held while listening.

“What does it matter?”

“Pardon?”

“Wanting to run away, wanting to rely on someone, feeling anxious... Those things happen. Everyone is like that.”

“But I...”

“Even that night sky gives off light because hundreds of millions of stars gather together. Even one blossom of magic must have hundreds of thousands of mana particles combined. This is a world where nothing can exist without being joined to something else. Even a being called a hero could not possibly illuminate the world alone.”

“......”

“So it is all right to shine together. Rely on others. The companions standing beside you, the people you love, and even the world you wish to protect... In the end, they will all become part of the brightness. That will not be funny or foolish at all. Instead, it will remain like a beautiful painting.”

Srrk.

The boy’s hand stroked her golden hair.

It was gentle.

The girl silently looked up at him.

Because it was delicate and kind, she liked his touch.

‘This is why...’

This was why she had no choice but to admire him.

Why she started thinking, without even meaning to, that she wanted to be like him.

“......I, see.”

“You certainly do.”

A corner of her heart softened for no reason.

Though they were only a few words, her mind seemed to clear.

“Thank you. I think my thoughts have settled a little.”

“I am glad my advice helped you, Miss Ranne.”

Ranne felt the starlight within.

She breathed quietly.

Moments with the boy were that peaceful.

As silence settled between them, a scene from several days ago came to mind.

-Kim Muro.

The words spoken by the judge who had turned pitch-black.

It seemed to be someone’s name.

Viktor had been called that by the Grand Justice.

Even so, he had not denied that it was him.

‘It seemed like a sensitive matter, so I did not tell the others...’

The girl parted her lips.

She asked the boy.

“Sir Viktor. If it is not rude, may I ask you one thing?”

“Hm? Of course. If it is you, Miss Ranne, even a rude question is all right.”

“Kim Muro.”

“......”

“Is that... something like your real name, Sir Viktor?”

“......Hard to say. Rather than real or fake, it is simply a name I no longer use.”

The boy answered only after a long pause.

Because he was not wearing a mask, Ranne could easily read his expression.

Viktor laughed quietly.

“So please keep it to yourself, Miss Ranne.”

“......I understand.”

She had many questions, but she could not dig any deeper.

Kim Muro.

Because his eyes as he turned that name over seemed somehow lonely.

Her violet eyes moved, glancing at the boy’s right cheek.

-Orphanage burned down.

-Arson committed by a human.

Burn scars bloomed like flowers on his face.

Ranne felt her heart sink.

‘What kind of story is hidden inside you?’

Viktor’s expression was complicated.

That frustrated her.

Could she still not become someone he could rely on?

She just did not want him to wear that kind of expression.

‘I want to become stronger.’

Just as he had done for her, she also wanted to shelter him.

He was her guide.

A star that showed her the road ahead.

Then what she wanted to become now was...

‘I want to become your star too.’

Even if that was nothing more than a mere reverie.

In the night where dreams rippled like waves, the girl quietly took the boy’s hand.

Finger and finger intertwined.

“Sir Viktor.”

“Yes, Miss Ranne.”

“I will become stronger. Strong enough to surpass you, Sir Viktor.”

“You intend to become even stronger from here? Compared to our peers, you already seem plenty strong.”

“I have gained a goal I wish to achieve.”

“Oho, a goal?”

“The details are a secret.”

“Oh no! What am I supposed to do with my curiosity?”

“Once I achieve it someday, I shall tell you then.”

She would become his star.

So she hoped he would always stay by her side, without disappearing somewhere.

“Huhu, I look forward to it.”

“I shall try my best.”

Before they knew it, dawn had passed, and daybreak shone beyond the horizon.

The two of them looked up at that scenery side by side.

Morning came, breaking down the colorless world.

The first sunlight that poured down sparkled as brightly as the girl’s resolve.

***

A few days later.

Vacation ended, and we returned to the academy.

The Class E lecture hall, where I was sitting for the first time in quite a while.

“Whew...”

It had been a very eventful schedule.

So, just as I thought I could finally enjoy a somewhat peaceful daily life...

“Class E top seat.”

Someone came looking for me as soon as I returned.

Blue hair, blue eyes, and an inorganic gaze.

It was a girl who gave off cold air like frost flowers.

She was sitting in one corner of the Class E lecture hall.

“Hello.”

“Deh.”

“I’m in Class E starting today too.”

Rin Glacia.

The strongest first-year in Grandia, and the year’s top seat whom I had defeated before.

She was also a genius counted among the current generation’s overwhelming talents.

“You told me to come, so I came.”

That girl was waving at me.

She spoke with the most expressionless face in the world.

“Please take care of me.”

“Yes...?”

No, fuck.

Why was the Class A top seat here...?

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