Chapter 155 – 70-6 the 4th Day of the Festival.

“To eat all that much by yourself… That’s amazing.”
“It’s a snack, so a snack.”

Allen and Vivian are sitting on a bench under the clock tower.

After devouring a mountain of hamburgers and side menus, Allen was quickly inhaling the variety of shaved ice sold in the booth next to him.

“Do you go over the shaved ice even after eating that much?”
“Huh? Don’t you like shaved ice? Or I’ll eat…”

Allen got up to snatch Vivian’s shaved ice from the edge of the bench.

However, Vivian hurriedly covers the shaved ice with both hands and turns around to protect the shaved ice.

“This is mine.”
“Okay. Who said you stole it? By the way, are you eating well too?”
“…I eat it because it’s a waste of melting.”
“You’re just looking around.”
“What?”
“Never mind.”

Sitting at the edge of the bench again, Allen ate the shaved ice in her hand as if drinking water, and quickly started eating the slightly melted shaved ice.

“…”

Vivian ate shaved ice with a disposable spoon and looked at the sky without realizing it.

Blue sky. And white cumulus clouds that cover the scorching red sun.

Even the sound of shaved ice crackling cheerfully from the side and the wind blowing far away.

“It’s peaceful…”

Vivian, with or without Allen, speaks quietly of his impressions of what he has seen and felt.

“I know. It is peaceful.”

Allen responds to Vivian’s words as if she was talking to herself.

“…I hope days like this will continue.”

And Vivian too, answering Allen’s words, slowly opened her eyes and saw the people melting into the festival, each laughing and chatting happily.

“But I get tired of festivals that happen every day.”
“I am surprised. How could someone like you say such a thing?”
“Hey, hey. Even if I look like this, I am a person with deep thoughts.”
“I see. Yeah… You look deep in thought. As expected, he was ranked first in the entire freshman year.”
“Are you good at irony? If there was a test related to irony, I think you would be number one in the first grade?”
“Thanks for the compliment, Allen Mestia.”

When Vivian, who had been tinged with peace, smiled pretentiously, it was as if she was forced to come to a ballroom she didn’t want to go to and spread a false smile so that the other person wouldn’t feel bad.

“Would you like to set up a theater company with me after you graduate? I am the director and scriptwriter. You are the vice-captain and the ace actress of the theater troupe. How is it? Aren’t you okay?”
“Whoops. It’s an absurd idea.”
“Looking at you smiling, don’t you think you don’t have a heart? Yes?”
“I was laughing because I was dumbfounded.”

She said she laughed because she was dumbfounded, but her expression wasn’t at all.

Seeing this, Allen also smiled lightly and continued her words.

“Okay? I seriously suggested it because I fell in love with your acting. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
“Blether. The second son of Viscount Mestia’s family became the head of the theater. That’s funny. I’m sure everyone is pointing fingers at you for being stupid…”
“What if you are the second son of Mestiago and a noble? It means I do what I want to do.”

He had such an optimistic personality.

Do you not know the world? Or is he just overconfident in his abilities?

“Anyway, even if people point fingers at me and criticize, ridicule, and say that I am stupid, I will always do what I want to do. It’s my life anyway.”

At Allen’s words about her life being her own, Vivian became more thoughtful.

“…Allen Mestia.”
“Why.”
“Why are you learning the sword? Like I said before, are you learning the sword because you want to do it or because you want to learn it?”

Suddenly, Vivian seriously asks herself why she is learning the sword.

‘This question… This is the question I asked in the warehouse when I thanked me before…’

“It was a question I asked at the old gym depot. At that time, you said that you just chose to learn the sword… But the exact reason… I want you to answer properly why you are learning the sword.”
“…That’s… Um…”
“Don’t be shy, tell me quickly… Or is it that it’s hard for me to tell you?”

What kind of answer does Vivian want to hear?

What answer do you want from me with such a sad expression?

To Vivian’s earnest expression, Allen responds by drinking half-melted shaved ice.

“Then let’s ask the other way around. Why are you learning the sword?”
“That’s it… To protect me. Someday… Like me…”
“Like me?”
“…You won’t understand.”
“Are you a bit cowardly?”
“What…?”

At Allen’s words that he was cowardly, Vivian looked surprised, then glared at Allen.

“What are you talking about… Cowardly?”
“…The reason I’m learning the sword is simple.”

Dodging her cowardly question, Allen began to explain why she was learning the sword.

“At first, it started out with some impure motives.”
“Improper motives…?”
“That… Women like men who use swords, don’t they? So I learned swordsmanship…”

When I saw Vivian’s eyes glaring at me enough to puncture her head, she couldn’t speak easily.

“…Kuhm. Well, even if the motives are impure… But it’s more fun than I thought because I learned about it one by one. At first, she really learned to be popular with the girls, but apart from that, she gradually became stronger herself…”
“…It’s okay.”
“We haven’t finished talking yet…”
“…Still, you’re brave. No one could ever tell another of his ulterior motives. In that sense, you are very, very great, Allen Mestia.”
“Are you complimenting me?”
“It’s up to you to listen.”

Seeing him eating shaved ice with cold eyes, it didn’t seem like a compliment.

“Yeah, but it was fun because I was learning more and more. To be honest, since women themselves are getting stronger separately, this made me want to become stronger…”
“Allen Mestia. Do you know why I am learning the sword?”

Vivian’s question made Allen’s mouth shut, as if he was making excuses.

“Did I tell you before? That I almost suffered bad things in the past…”
“I don’t remember. I told you in the gym.”
“…Actually, I… The reason I want to learn the sword is…”

It would be difficult to tell her own wounds to someone who has just met a trauma she still has not been able to get out of.

No, it would just be hard to say.

‘When I was young… I mean… Very young. I wanted to take a look outside…”

The sparsely spoken voice mixes with memories and sorrowful emotions, making Vivian even more anxious.

“It’s full of fun things outside the mansion… I thought everyone was nice, like something out of a storybook…”

Laughter.

Vivien gave Alan a laugh mixed with tears, but she looked glum again and, dimly, enduring pain, Vivien continued her words with her head hanging.

“Some guy said he was giving me candy… Candy. When I was young, I often forbade sweets because I had cavities… That’s why I was happy… A man I hadn’t seen before gave me candy… I already knew how sweet it was… So I followed…”

The wind blew.

As the wind blew her long blue-white hair, tiny water droplets formed around Vivian’s eyes.

“…But… The man who gave me candy… No, he took my hand and headed somewhere… Not a bright street… A dark back alley… I didn’t even suspect it at first. I did… Just a nice man candy…”

A ripple occurs in the half-melted shaved ice.

Soon after, as if it were raining, countless tears fell on the shaved ice, and now their shape is nowhere to be found…

Vivian’s tears filled with pain and wounds began to fall silently.

“…”

Even if Vivian were to reveal her scars, I already knew.

I knew it, but when I heard it directly from the person concerned… I was confused.

It’s just the past setting of the heroine of the game, Luanes Fantasia.

In preparation for the war that will happen in the next few years, I was thinking of winning the heroines of Lusen so that I wouldn’t die.

But … Seeing Vivian sadly crying like a child who lost his mother in an amusement park apart from his purpose made his heart ache inexhaustibly.

“Huh… Huh!”

A bowl of shaved ice filled with Vivian’s tears rolls across the lawn.

“Vivian Araxis. Don’t cry. Nothing is solved by crying.”

Allen gives a handkerchief to the crying Vivian, saying bitter words.

Percussion!

“Shut up…!! You… You… What do you know!?”

Vivian, who had been crying sadly, cries as she slaps the handkerchief Allen gave her, and hits Allen’s hand roughly.

Sadly, the finely folded handkerchief fell into the bowl of shaved ice, staining the white handkerchief in a variety of colors.

“…Do you… Do you… Know that fear!? Forcibly covering the eyes… Mean laughter and dirty gestures…! Do you even know!!”
“I don’t know. I have no idea.”

Vivian, who was sitting at the end of the bench, quickly approached Allen’s side and stared at the indifferent Allen’s face, crying.

“I don’t know what almost happened to you. All I can think about is that I’m glad Miss Christine saved me. By the way…”

Allen wipes Vivian’s face and her tears with the sleeve of his white shirt.

“You’re the bravest man I’ve ever seen, Vivian.”
“…Huh…”

As her white sleeves gradually get wet with tears, Allen continues her words.

“You can’t easily show others the scars you have. I can’t shake it either. But you… Told me the pain and hurt you were carrying. So you are an absurdly brave man in the world.”

Her chest was hot.

Maybe the girl with blue-white hair wants to stop crying that doesn’t stop easily…

Or maybe I just needed a place to turn, I don’t know.

But all I could do was gently pat Vivian’s fragile back.

Exceptionally clear skies today.

How nice would it be if it rained coolly at this time?

If so, wouldn’t this sadness be washed away even a little?