Chapter 238 – Education and Encounters (9)
“What… Summoning is dangerous, so it’s hard to tell you about it, but I’ll tell you about theories and applications. I have some notebooks I studied in first grade, so I’ll lend them to you. Let’s try hard.”
Celine nodded her head helplessly. She was still in the middle of the semester, so she laughed a little at the young boy who seemed to be full of motivation, got up from her seat, and said, “I’ll see you on Friday,” She said and left.
It was like a mighty snow storm. She looked at the spot everyone had left and Marais could barely exhale. A huge storm that brought her blocks of ice. The amount of time that could be called a moment passed, but the aftereffects remained for a very long time.
Adaptation to city life in a small town where you can’t even find the name of aristocrat was more surprising than I thought, but I was somehow getting used to the hectic day by day, and it was a level that could be called successful, but to the point where it felt brutal. Next to the people who were hostile to each other, Marey was just trembling, not knowing what to do.
Boys and girls of a similar age had already clearly distinguished themselves and were running recklessly to win them. No, the word reckless was meant to ridicule their efforts, so cancelled.
She said Marey was drawing a big picture she couldn’t have imagined, and she was finishing it. All of them were older than Marey, but unlike Rabela and Idrien, the students seemed to be the same age.
The bloody expressions they show, and the way they express themselves casually, were very shocking and frightening to Marey. As they bit each other, they did not look like people, but like ferocious beasts.
Even Philia, her logical, quiet voice of her own, uttered her swear words and mocked her opponents. Bellin, who had been harassing her fiancée in front of her partner for the first time, hadn’t screamed right away, but she only smiled in a strange state.
A beast in the form of a man. It was a moment, but it seemed that way. Marey couldn’t stand it because she feared that she might be like that too. She looked at the sky blankly for a long time like that, as if her own troubles were nothing, she felt funny, so she robbed her seat and got up.
To be precise, should I say that I saw a familiar blonde girl passing by? Marey, the girl who went on her way as if not knowing anything, cautiously followed her. Even when she moved to a place where no one was there, she just followed without question.
“Who is this… ?”
Merande, who had been walking for a long time, asked without looking back. Her voice resembled a young beast, like a low cry, and although she was Marey who involuntarily kept her mouth shut, she hurriedly regained her senses and answered.
“It’s me, Marey.”
The blonde girl looked behind her. Her eyes widened, and the corners of her mouth rose slightly, but she immediately pursed her lips and wrinkled her face partly to show that she was okay, but it was just cute.
“…Hi.”
“Hello, Melan.”
To the point where it feels stiff, no. She greeted her awkwardly enough that it felt unnatural, and Merande was avoiding her gaze. She tried to pretend she wasn’t interested, should she match the acting, she even thought that, she was told. At the sight of her staring at herself, she kicks her bare ground with the heel of her shoe.
“Where are you going?”
At her lightly flowed question, Merande lifted her head with her smirk. She then quietly lifted the basket, which she was holding tightly with both hands. She had a rough idea of where she was going as she remembered the last time she was feeding the animals.
“Are you going to feed the animals again?”
“I will go with you… No. Okay. Yes, I am going to share.”
Her eyes twinkled for a moment, but Merande tried to avert her gaze and acted casually. Is it strange that I feel that she is clumsy and cute enough that I just want to hug her tightly and take her by force?
“Do you want to go with me?”
“…No, no need to go. I’m used to being alone… Because I can do it again.”
What was Merende dissatisfied with, she kicked the ground again. She didn’t respond and she looked nervous as she flung her glance at Marey as she flinched.
“Can we go together?”
“…It doesn’t matter. If you really want to go.”
Incoherent words. Awkward speech. And a rigid body. You are very nervous. When Maray saw Merende, she felt strangely sorry for her. As if she would be loved by everyone, the doll-like little girl used to act as if something was suppressed. Looking at her, she felt that she would have to force herself to reach out and take her hand.
“Then I want to go.”
Her drooping shoulders of her mrende her slender strength crept into her. With her hum and a small snort, Merande quietly approached Marey and stood side by side.
“Where should I go… ? I still have a bit of school geography…”
“Ah, yes. Follow me.”
Merande, who had been standing side by side with Marey, saw her sneakily at Marais and started walking ahead of her. She was walking enough to think it was a bit fast, but she looked back halfway through. No, every few steps she took, she sneakily looked behind her. At Mrende, where she matched her steps with Marei, Marai was somehow able to follow her.
Her blonde hair, glistening in the halo of light that permeated the shadows of the forest, looked as if it would melt in no time. Marais sometimes slowed down while staring blankly at her hair, which seemed like she could touch it if she stretched out her hand, so Merande had no choice but to stop her in between her steps.
As I immersed myself in the shadows of the trees, my blonde hair, fading like the setting sun, gave off an unknown, bitter scent of flowers. Why does a girl of similar height to her look so fragile? I was just uneasy about her way ahead. Even though she was lightly carrying a basket that was too heavy for Marey, she didn’t know why.
She didn’t say anything and just walked away in silence at Merande, who seemed like she was about to fall, about to break, about to collapse at any moment. True to her words, she wondered if she was too light-hearted to be by Merende’s side. She goes straight to depressing thoughts.
Do you know Marey’s thoughts or not? Merendet stopped abruptly and began blowing a long whistle. Small animals immediately began to gather at the very long and high-spreading sound. As if it was a promise, Marey involuntarily exclaimed in admiration.
“And… Great.”
From small animals such as rabbits and squirrels. Mountain birds flying around, roe deer, and even reindeer that were incomparably small compared to the size I saw in the north. It seemed that all the herbivorous animals in the forest had gathered, and the scene with the blonde girl in the center was a mysterious scene that seemed like something you would see in a fairy tale.
“Hmmmm..!”
Merende cleared her throat slightly, perhaps feeling ashamed, and stretched out her chest. In the sight of the vampire girl who, unlike usual, didn’t feed her, the beasts, who didn’t have any patience, started to put their faces into the big basket.
“Oh, no! I mean wait! Kyaa, kyaang!”
When the reindeer licked the back of Merande’s neck loudly, with a cute sound, a gap formed in the hand holding the basket, and the animals immediately rushed toward the basket.
“Ha, don’t! Don’t do it!”
Clinging to Merande and sticking her face into the basket, Merande took the basket as it was, unable to do anything about it, fearing that the children would get hurt.
“Always… It’s always like this… Mess…”
Merendet held up the broken basket with holes in it here and there and bit her mouth tightly. When she opens her mouth, between her small lips she murmurs as if her sighs are about to flow. She straightened her back even more to pretend that nothing was wrong. And she looked at the ground.
I feel like I’m going to burst into tears any minute. Merendet still looked precarious. But more than when she was walking down the street alone, more than when she was laughing weakly, she seemed more alive. She looked precarious, but there was a strange certainty that she was unlikely to collapse or be crushed.
Marais moved to Merende’s side, and Merende lowered her head even more. Her eyes were red and bloodshot, and she was exhaling and exhaling very slowly to calm her breathing.
“Melan, it’s okay… ?”
“…Huh. Are you okay. For a moment… For a moment… Seriously, wait a minute…”
Merande’s cheeks wriggled. She looked up at the sky, then she lowered her head again. Drops of water trickled down her, but Marais tried to ignore it, and Merande rubbed her eyes and smiled at Marais as if nothing had happened.
“Look, it’s like this every day. Ruining every day, nothing ever going right. It’s not only this, but it’s just the same with human relationships. Ruin, ruin and get angry, so…”
Merendet let out a sigh of relief. She still reached out her hand as she saw the little animals like rabbits left around. Perhaps she was full and satisfied, she easily accepted the vampire lady’s touch.
“Don’t come closer. Because I’m an idiot who can’t do anything right. I don’t want to be hurt by trusting anyone, and I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
That’s my truth Merendet let out her breath in her low. When a small white rabbit approaches, it crouches down, holds it in its arms, and collapses as if it were collapsing.
It seemed to swell and explode. Like a balloon Seeing Merende made her think so. I wanted to be okay, but it quickly turned weird. It was so easy, just like a floating weed, that Merande was overjoyed and even more sad than that.
Like bipolar disorder.
Boom soon! It sounded like it was about to burst and shatter without leaving a trace. The look was so unsettling that I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Does Lee Ha-woon feel the same way? She pressed the rabbit’s cheek and sat down next to the silent Merande.
Merande, who flinched slightly, pursed her lips again and focused on the rabbit.
“It was cute to see the animals working hard. Really.”
Merande raised her head and saw her Marey. Then she snorted her little snort and she hugged the rabbit tightly. Looking closely, she was a white rabbit like I’d seen before.
“It hurts…”
She spat out a word for Merande, who seemed like she would run away at any moment, but Merande seemed to be enough.
A faint smile appeared on his lips. Merande seemed more relieved than Marey. Merande, who had kept her mouth shut for a while, began to open it slowly.
“It is very difficult to express feelings. Because the words I spit express different emotions before I know it. So you have to think of the right words, and you have to say them in a situation that the other person can understand. So I’m afraid every time I say it… But still… I hope my words don’t sound strange. So what I want to say is… Sorry. And thank you.”
It was a word that could be heard often, but was it difficult for Merande to say even that common word? It seemed that he was babbling and spitting out every single word.
“Yes, thank you too.”
“Why are you thankful…”
Merande puffed out her cheeks in anger. And she smiled a little. As if trying to change the subject, she held out the rabbit she was playing with to Marey.
“Now I’m going to give this child a name, can you help me?”
The hare, which was limp with its sides held, looked longer than usual, giving the illusion that it was very large. The white rabbit’s red eyes were staring at Marey like Merande. Hugged a rabbit It was very warm.
“It’s a crybaby, because its red eyes resemble Merende.”
“This child’s name is Galbi! Crybaby is not okay!”
Merande gave a firm reply, frowning slightly as if in anger. She seems to have already decided on her name, so why did she ask herself for help?
“Isn’t it Galbi?”
Merande, who took the rabbit out of Marey’s hand as if snatching it away, whispered in the rabbit’s ear as if she could hear it. The hare wriggled its body to and fro, hurriedly slipping out of Merande’s grasp, then ran off and disappeared into the woods.
“Ah…”
Merande was dazed, she was looking at the hare’s back.
“I don’t think the name Galbi is good either.”
“I guess so…”
I heard her blank reply.
That was all of her conversation with Merende. It was because she naturally helped her pack her luggage, waved her hand in front of her school gate, and parted as if it were natural. Or was it because of the kiss that left a faint warmth on her lips as she said thank you.
A subtle warmth lingered on her lips. The inside of her lips was sore from an ignorant French kiss that brought to mind the word headbutt. Marei patted her lips, where her strange feeling and her pain lingered, and she let out a small sigh.
The fact that a cute kid like Merende kissed her made her happy, but strangely, her aftertaste was too bitter for her. Maybe it’s because her French kiss feels more like a struggle than an expression of affection.
Recalling that today was the day she promised Gillia, Marey naturally sat in the plaza around her school and waited for her. Recalling that she was a devoted fan of Ravela (?), She could only look forward to what kind of expression Ravela would make when she saw Gillia.
Since she had no ties to the aristocratic family, she was a Marey who considered Gillia of the Marita family to be her kind of family, but from Ravela’s point of view, they were only her husband. The young boy, unaware of that fact, wondered what kind of expression Ravela would make when he saw a girl his own age.
She wanted to see her pretty smile, but also wanted her sticky possessiveness to look at her Gillia and treat her with her sober expression and voice without accent, the way she treats others. Marey was killing her time, turning her spoon around in her teacup in her slight anticipation and boredom.
Mornings and evenings around the wall come very early, so sometimes the time in the city felt unfamiliar. The sunset would set in less than an hour, but the streets at night were still sparkling with bright lights.
