Ryuu Kusari no Ori -Kokoro no Uchi no 'Kokoro'-

Chapter 8.25

Veri's class had shifted to a purely practical lesson, and both Tima and Veri were giving lectures, in which each of them demonstrated magic.

Nozomu, who had become quite bored, called out to Mars, who was standing next to him.

"Hey, how long have you been coming to this place, Mars?"

"Not long before the opening festival. Around the time you started training with that old man."

"I see..."

It seemed that they started coming to Ecross after Nozomu was trained by Zonne.

Nozomu, too, had been so busy training with Zonne recently that he was completely unaware of the many things that Mars and Tima were doing without his knowing about it.

However, Nozomu felt as if he was seeing an unexpected side of the two of them when he saw them like this.

"It's a little unexpected."

"Hmm? About what?"

"I had never seen Mars here before, and I had never seen Tima-san being so proactive at the academy."

It was surprising that Mars, who was seeking strength and striving to master the art of combining magic and Qi, was devoting his time to something other than training like this, and that Tima was acting like a teacher to the children as well.

In particular, Tima's usual quiet and reserved behavior has completely disappeared, and she was actively giving lectures to the children.

She gave detailed instructions on the techniques to be used and the adjustment of the amount of magic power, and firmly warned the children who showed a bit of adventurous spirit and tried to do something risky.

"Well, she has a younger brother after all. Since they're close in age, it's easier to talk to them."

"You know her quite well..."

In response to Nozomu's words, Mars huffed and fell silent.

He was embarrassed, his cheeks were slightly reddish, and his eyes were a little flustered.

Mars' gaze had always been on Tima, who was in the process of teaching the children, and his mouth was tinged with a somewhat pleasant color.

"You've changed..."

"Huh? You mean her?

"Perhaps because she has been through so much lately, she has stepped up to the challenge with her own strength. And Tima helping out with this class because she herself volunteered to be a part of it."

Nozomu thought that Mars himself had changed, but apparently, Mars thought those words were directed toward Tima.

However, just as Mars was changing, Nozomu felt that Tima, too, was changing as a result of being with Mars.

"Stepped up to the challenge?"

"According to her, she used to dislike her own excessively strong magical power. But now she's glad she has this power..."

"I see..."

In the last less than six months since she began her involvement with Nozomu, Tima has overcome numerous difficulties.

The experience seems to have been enough to change her own mind about her own excessively strong magical powers.

Nozomu glanced over at Mars, who was happily watching Tima and the others.

Perhaps the most significant influence on Tima's change was the presence of Mars.

Their personalities hardly seem to match.

Nevertheless, the distance between the two, which had somehow grown closer, caused Nozomu to be a little surprised, while at the same time making him smile with a joy that welled up in his heart.

As he mulled this over, Nozomu was suddenly called from the side.

"Hey hey, Onii-san. May I have a word?"

When Nozomu looked in the direction of the voice, she saw three girls standing side by side.

Among them, the girl in the middle approached Nozomu.

"Hm? You are..."

Nozomu felt a strange sense of déjà vu as the girl walked up toward him.

While Nozomu was trying to remember where they had met, the girl smiled and spoke to Nozomu.

"It's been a while. Thank you for your help back then."

"Back then, you say..."

"It was when Somia and I were returning home from the library when we were attacked by an assailant."

"Ah, from the incident with Ken. Were you injured?"

The girl was Somia's friend who was involved in Ken's assault case.

Her name is Lansa. She is a classmate of Somia's, and they are such good friends that they study together in the library until late at night.

"Yes! Thanks to Nozomu-onīsan and everyone, I was fine."

With a carefree, bright smile on her face, the girl called Lansa bowed her head to Nozomu.

“Nozomu-onīsan. Since we're able to talk thus, I'd like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind."

"Something you want to ask me? I'm good, but ......, Mars, why do you have such a bad expression on your face?"

“…………”

Nozomu suddenly felt a heavy air coming from next to him, and when he turned his head, he saw that Mars had a face that could not have been more uncomfortable.

"Mars-onīsan, what's wrong? If you make such a sour face, Tima-onēsan will hate you, you know?"

"Shut up, don't talk to me."

"Oi, Mars..."

Nozomu tried to scold Mars for his dismissive behavior toward the younger girl, but Nozomu's words were interrupted by Lansa's voice, who waved her hand in a carefree manner.

"Oh, it's alright Nozomu-onīsan. I know that Mars-onīsan is just embarrassed."

Nozomu was surprised at the girl's boldness in the face of Mars' anger.

Although he had grown quite calm recently, Mars was still quite a troublemaker, just as he appeared to be.

Fights outside of the school were a regular occurrence to him, and as a result, he had been dropped to the 10th class, the lowest class.

Even a young child would have cried out if she were to be confronted by such a former troublemaker.

"So, Nozomu-onīsan. Can I ask you another question?"

"Nozomu, you'd better not."

Mars' words made Nozomu feel strangely uneasy, but he felt bad for the girls younger than him who had taken the trouble to talk to him, so he decided to answer their questions.

"... Well, okay."

"Great! Everyone, he says it's okay!"

With a big smile on her face, Lansa gestured to the two remaining girls in the back, who then approached Nozomu.

"This one is Merry. Over there is Kinea. Onīsan, you're the older brother Somia was talking about, aren't you?"

"Umm, are they all friends of Somia-chan?"

"Yes! That's right! We all study and play together."

It seemed that these two were also very close to Somia.

All three of them were staring at Nozomu with a curious look in their eyes.

However, their gazes were somehow warm and flirtatious, unlike the gazes that Nozomu received when he was showing off his Mikagura-style katana technique earlier.

As Nozomu tilted his head at the strange curiosity directed at him, Lansa asked him a question that could not have been more straightforward.

"Well then, I want to ask you, Nozomu-onīsan, how far did you go with Somia?

"…… Pardon?"

Unable to understand the meaning of what Lansa was saying, Nozomu couldn't help but respond in a dazed voice.

"That girl, although she talks about onīsan a lot, she never wants to talk about how far things have progressed. I thought this would be a good opportunity for us to hear from you onīsan."

"Um, what are you..."

"So, how far did you go? You had a date, and of course, you kissed her, didn't you? What else? Did you take a bath together or something? Oh, and of course, you can tell us about your relationship with Somia's sister!"

"I didn't! What are you talking about out of the blue?"

No matter how one looked at it, the questions that were being thrown out in rapid succession without a pause were ones that would directly probe into Somia's private life.

Moreover, they were extremely sensitive and if they were to go off the rails for a moment, they would be turned into a dangerous things.

Furthermore, they were even trying to get information about Irisdina.

Nozomu, faced with a storm of unexpected questions, unintentionally raised his voice to deny the questions.

On the other hand, Lansa looked at him with wide eyes and an unbelievable expression on her face.

"Are you sure you haven't? Not even a kiss? Don't tell me you haven't even been on a date?"

Lanza continued asking questions in a voice that changed from a cute, cat-like voice to a heavy, threatening one.

The way she was asking the questions was more like a pestering or a probing, and the oddly elegant way she was doing it made Nozomu answer honestly.

"... No, I did go on a date with her."

"I see, so you did go on a date. Then what about kissing? Of course, onīsan was the one who kissed her, right?"

“…………”

It seemed that when one question was answered, two or three more questions were asked in return.

Nozomu, thinking that he could not afford to be asked any more strange questions, answered Lansa's questions in silence.

However, this girl was also perceptive enough to be called a child prodigy, and she sensed the truth from Nozomu's silence.

"I see, so it was Somia... So, what kind of a situation was it!? On a bench where you two sat together? In front of the mansion, you sent her home to? Or maybe on the bed!?"

"Uwaa~……"

No matter whether he answered or kept silent, the repeated barrage of questions made Nozomu sound annoyed and fed up.

Moreover, the situation in which Nozomu was kissed was mixed up firmly in Lansa's words.

Perhaps it was because of the girl's excessive interest in colorful love, which is typical of girls who have reached puberty, but even so, it was too sharp.

Perhaps it was limited to colorful love, but the way Somia kept giving misleading answers to her friend made Nozomu realize once again that she was also a child prodigy.

And so, at the same time, Nozomu thought. This girl is definitely the same type of person as Feo and Mimuru.

If ignited, she would become passionate and get into trouble, and after going out of control, would continue to involve others.

"It's started. That's why I told you not to do it..."

Mars let out an exasperated voice.

Apparently, he too had been a victim of Lansa's questioning attacks.

Rather, it was because he had been a victim that he had reacted so rejectively toward Lansa.

Nozomu was inwardly troubled by the fact that the bad premonition he had felt before he was asked the question had come true.

"U-, umm... Well, if Somia-chan hasn't said anything, I guess I have nothing to say too."

"Eeh~. I thought you were going to tell me about your relationship with Somia without hesitation~~. Could it be that Nozomu-onīsan is just as much of a coward as Mars-onīsan?"

Nozomu was about to say, "Who's a coward, you bastard!". But Nozomu swallowed the words that rose to his throat with all his might.

It was true that it had taken Nozomu years to repair the relationship with his childhood friend, and he still had no idea what the future held for him, and he was still depressed after the incident with Azel, but for Nozomu, he was dealing with a girl who was younger than him, just like Somia.

Knowing that it would be too immature to get pissed off here, Nozomu mobilized every ounce of pride he had and sewed his mouth shut.

"Who's a coward, you bastard!"

On the other hand, Mars, who was made a target along with Nozomu, was, as expected, uncontrollable.

"Eeh~. I can see that Mars-onīsan likes Tima-onēsan, but you won't even admit it. You won't answer me, no matter how hard I try... As I thought, you're a coward, aren't you?"

"T-, this brat..."

Although he seemed to have grown up and calmed down to a reasonable degree, his agitation tolerance remained low, and Mars was trembling and shaking with anger.

Meanwhile, Nozomu was relieved to see Lansa's eyes shift from him to Mars. He attempted to disappear and fade out of the scene as it was.

Although he claimed to be a close friend, Nozomu may be starting to be influenced by Feo and Mimuru quite a bit, as he did not hesitate to use Mars as bait when the conflict was averted.

Nevertheless, it was impossible for them not to stand out if they were making such a racket in class.

"Mars-kun, Lansa-chan. What are you two doing?"

As expected, Tima, who was helping Veri, scolded Lansa and Mars in a scolding tone.

As Mars said, Tima is not as timid when she is at the academy, perhaps because she is dealing with someone her own brother's age, but she exudes the air of a dependable older sister.

"Ti-, Tima-onēsan. No, it's just..."

"Why am I getting scolded too?"

However, for the current Lansa, Tima may seem like a scary older sister.

Perhaps aware that she was doing something unnecessary in class, Lansa, who was being scolded, shrugged her shoulders and became smaller.

On the other hand, Mars, who had just been taunted, seemed dissatisfied.

"I don't know what Lansa-chan said to you, but Mars-kun, you shouldn't raise your voice like that to a younger girl."

However, Mars' dissatisfaction was silenced by a single statement from Tima. It was certainly immature to raise one's voice against a girl as young as Somia. Mars seemed to be aware of this, too, and honestly bowed his head.

"M-, my bad..."

"And also, Lansa-chan, you're still in a class now. You should go back to where Veri-sensei is.”

"Y-, yes!"

"Also, Nozomu-kun is attending this class as a special guest to help us out. I don't know what you told him, but I'm not impressed that you would do something to embarrass him, okay?"

Lanza, who was trying to cover up her awkwardness by replying in a rather energetic manner, was firmly rewarded with an additional preaching session.

Truly, Tima is a dependable older sister now.

"Y-, yes... Nozomu-onīsan, I'm sorry for asking such a strange question."

"Don't worry about it. Though it certainly caught me by surprise."

Lanza bowed his head to Nozomu, despite the look of fear on her face.

As long as she apologized properly, Nozomu wouldn't mind.

Lansa is also a friend of Somia's, and at heart, she is a good and honest girl.

After bowing to Nozomu and Mars, Tima took Lansa and the others and tried to return to Veri.

Not wanting to be a hindrance, Nozomu and Mars also tried to move to the edge of the training area to observe from a little further away.

"U-, umm, Nozomu-onīsan, please wait."

However, Lansa stopped Nozomu as he was about to move.

Leaving her friends to return to class, she rushed to Nozomu again.

"What is it?"

"Umm, just one last thing, may I?"

Lansa's words seem somewhat hesitant.

Instead of the playful attitude she had shown earlier, her expression somehow reflected a strong shadow of anxiety.

When Nozomu glanced over to check on Tima, she made eye contact with Nozomu and gave a small nod.

Apparently, she now wanted him to answer Lansa's question.

As Nozomu turned to face Lansa once again, she opened her mouth a little, looking a little scared.

"Somia will be able to come tomorrow, right? That girl has been working too hard lately, she just got sick, didn't she?"

What she was worried about was her best friend, Somia.

She must also have heard about the meeting between the Francilt and Waziart households.

And because of the situation the Francilt family was in and the absence of her best friend, she felt the same anxiety as Nozomu.

"... Yeah, don't worry. She'll be here tomorrow."

All Nozomu was able to convey were baseless words that could be described as wishful thinking for Nozomu.

Still, Nozomu smiled encouragingly at Lansa, hoping to ease her anxiety, even if only a little.

"… Thank goodness."

Although Lansa smiled when she heard Nozomu's answer, her expression still had a shadow of uneasiness on it.

From her expression, it was clear that Lansa also understood that Nozomu's answer was unfounded.

She, too, knew the situation that Somia's family was facing, and she must have guessed that it would not be a simple matter.

Even so, the fact that she could push away her anxiety and smile showed that this girl was a good friend, but at the same time, she was still a young and fragile being.

"Nozomu-onīsan. Please take good care of Somia and Somia's sister for me."

"... Yeah, if it's something I can do, I'll do my best."

Nozomu replied to Lansa with the words, "I will do my best." If he could not make any statement about the current situation of Somia and her family, he would at least show his own will as much as he could.

Deep in Nozomu's chest, there was a tingle of anxiety and regret that would never disappear. Even with these feelings, Nozomu's unyielding desire remained unchanged.

Hearing Nozomu's intention, Lansa said nothing and ran off to return to class.

Nozomu could not see Lansa's expression as she turned her back and left, but Tima and Veri, who greeted her, had a definite smile on their lips.

Despite their wishes, however, Somia did not come to Ecross again for the following days.

===============================

After Veri's class was over for the day, Nozomu, along with Anri, Mars, and Tima, left Ecross.

They walked through Ecross' main gate and out onto the street facing the central park.

"Anri-sensei, about the furnace..."

"Don't worry, I'll talk it through~"

After assuring Nozomu that Anri would talk it through, she returned to the Ecross school building as if she still had some business to attend to as a teacher.

Nozomu, who saw Anri off as she returned to Ecross, was relieved that he had, for the time being, figured out a way to make the bell.

Nozomu was relieved and was about to return to the dorm when Mars, who was walking next to him, talked to him.

"Well then, Nozomu, I'll see you later."

"Huh? Where are you two going?"

"We still have some business to attend to at the academy regarding Tom's and Mars' magic-Qi combination techniques..."

It seemed that Mars and Tima still had some business to attend to at the school.

"Alright then. I'll see you tomorrow at the school."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

After saying goodbye to Mars, Nozomu walked straight to the city.

"Well then, shall we go?"

After seeing off Nozomu's back as he walked away, Mars went in the opposite direction from Nozomu, toward the school.

Tima was quietly standing next to him.

Mars seemed to be full of energy, and he was quite fired up.

On the other hand, Tima's expression as she watched him was not good.

"Hey, Mars-kun, are you sure you want to do this?

"Yeah. It's about time I took another step forward."

"But……"

Tima's tone was as if to make sure.

Although the two had been training together in the magic-Qi combination technique, the way Tima was worried about Mars was clearly different from usual.

Her expression was somewhat uneasy.

However, Mars' eyes, looking at Tima's expression, were filled with the light of a strong will that would never allow him to back down.

"I can't stop. I can't afford to stop. To catch up with him, I have to keep running."

For Mars, Nozomu is his best friend and rival.

At one time, due to his own lack of experience, he too had failed to control his magic-Qi combination techniques and had gone out of control.

From that experience, he came to understand his immaturity, and he began to have a certain amount of composure when it came to techniques and powers that he could not control, and to take the necessary steps in mastering them.

However, it was also clear that having a certain amount of composure was not enough to move forward.

Although Mars was able to use magic-Qi combination techniques, albeit to a limited extent, with the help of Tom, Tima, and Feo, the range was limited and not enough for Mars.

He could not move forward or overcome the obstacles by simply walking slowly.

He had to make a breakthrough at some point.

The resentment toward his father for leaving him behind and the thirst for power, which had been in his heart when he was a child, still smoldered within Mars.

But more than that, Mars did not want to lose to his best friend.

He clenched his fists as he thought of Nozomu, who was at the mercy of a power greater than that of the magic-Qi combination technique, but was still fighting back.

"Just a little more... Besides, I want to do all I can right now. You know how I feel, don't you?"

"Yes……"

Both Mars and Tima had witnessed the whole events that took place around Nozomu and Irisdina at the opening festival.

Both Mars and Tima had crossed blades with Rugato before, but both of them, being more of outsiders than Nozomu, were unable to do anything at the time of the opening festival.

The Francilt and Waziart households were getting closer, and the vampire princess had an unusual interest in Nozomu.

Mars' feeling, which had recently become more sensitive to the disturbances, told him that their surroundings were once again becoming dicey.

"If I fail, I'll ask for your help again."

"Gosh~. You keep saying things like that..."

Their path was already in sight. All that was needed was one last step.

The final step to jump over the cliff in front of them.

And the courage to take the leap, even though they knew that if they failed, they might fall into the abyss.

On the other hand, Tima let out a sigh of dismay at Mars, who was throwing everything into her hands if he were to fail.

Still, even in the midst of her anxiety, she had also grown to the point where she was able to speak in a casual tone to the opposite sex, something she had been uncomfortable with.

"Let's go."

"… Un."

Mars and Tima nodded as if to confirm each other.

The two shadows lined up on the red colored ground at dusk, as if they were leaning against each other, and drifted off to the school.