Chapter 458: Favourite
Chapter 458: Favourite
“Belonging to… belonging to me?”
It was the first time someone said something like this to her.
What was this strange feeling?
She felt like a quilt spread in the sunlight; every part of her was filled with warmth.
She felt satisfied and warm.
Mr. Himekoji really was a good person.
He cared. He actually cared about me! Not Rikka, but me, the Wicked Lord’s Eye.
Different from sis’s gentleness.
Sis’s gentleness was for that other me. Even when sis looked at me, her gaze was always searching for her Rikka.
But when Mr. Himekoji looked at me, he was really looking at me!
She was happy inside, yet the tears came harder, uncontrollably.
She couldn’t stop them, couldn’t hold them back.
“But… but… once tomorrow comes, it will again…”
Mr. Himekoji couldn’t make out the choked, broken words lost amidst the sobs.
Carefully, as if afraid of hurting her, he wiped away her tears and softly asked,
“What?”
“I will cherish it properly!”
Then he saw Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye, her eyes still wet, answer with firm resolve.
“I won’t forget. I absolutely won’t forget it this time!”
“Because…”
“This memory belongs to me. It belongs to me and Mr. Himekoji.”
“I won’t forget it…”
“No matter what.”
“Mm.”
Mr. Himekoji gently embraced Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye, her face tear-streaked.
He didn’t want the people outside the cinema to see the girl’s distress.
But perhaps he didn’t need to worry.
The people passing by seemed not to see them. No glances came their way. No one stopped because Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye was crying hard.
In the rushing crowd, the two of them seemed nonexistent.
Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye didn’t exist in the eyes of ordinary people.
…
“C-Can you take me to see the sea?”
“It’s already very late.”
“…I want to see it.”
“Okay.”
The last bus to the seaside had stopped running half an hour ago.
Mr. Himekoji borrowed a bicycle.
The stamina he built during the System’s physical training came in handy. Sweat poured down his face; he panted heavily, but he didn’t stop halfway, no matter what.
Roughly calculating, it took about an hour and a half, maybe even longer.
Finally seeing the sea, Mr. Himekoji threw down the bike and collapsed face-first onto the sand, gasping like a dying dog.
“For the way back, we can use the magic teleportation circle.”
Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye knelt beside him. She bought sports drinks from a vending machine and handed one to Mr. Himekoji, casually offering this suggestion.
“Huh?! You can get there with a magic teleportation circle?!”
Mr. Himekoji, who had been lying sprawled out moments before with no energy left for anything but gasping, was so shocked he flipped up like a flopping fish, startlingly sudden.
“Then we should have used it coming here!!”
Since something as convenient as a magic teleportation circle existed, why did he have to struggle and pedal so frantically?!
It just made him look really foolish!
“You should have told me earlier!”
Mr. Himekoji was filled with regret.
Honestly, thinking about it now, all his sweat and effort were completely pointless!
“N-no, it’s not like that…”
The girl, looked at so intently by Mr. Himekoji, seemed a bit awkward and embarrassed, turning her face away.
“Because… because sitting behind, watching Mr. Himekoji trying so hard for me… I thought… I thought it was really cool…”
“S-So cool… I got lost watching and… forgot completely about the magic teleportation circle…”
“It was only because I wanted to see the sea…”
“To satisfy my selfish, unreasonable request… you did it without complaint, sweating buckets, never stopping…”
“This Mr. Himekoji… really, really, really…”
What she meant to say next must have been very embarrassing, very hard to voice. For Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye who knew little beyond combat and death, this was the first time she’d felt such complicated, delicate emotions.
Sweet yet sharp, hopeful yet scared.
You shouldn’t say what comes after this.
One voice in her head told her.
If you don’t say it now, you never will!
But another voice gave her a completely different option.
…
When they finally saw the sea, the sun had long since set.
There probably wasn’t much time left for Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye.
She had to do it before tomorrow… before tomorrow…
So, embarrassment or difficulty speaking out, even though she knew little beyond fighting and dying, she didn’t care. Before she forgot Mr. Himekoji, she had to, had to convey that feeling—
“This Mr. Himekoji… really, really, really…”
Tears filled her eyes once more, yet she was smiling.
This feeling was reluctant, attached, vaguely familiar—
“…I… I like you the most.”
Just saying these words aloud felt like suddenly finding the meaning of her existence as the Wicked Lord’s Eye.
She had no memories. She had no future. She had never had a direction. She only knew to repeat, numb and mechanical, the dying day after day.
But now, Mr. Himekoji was his direction.
…
When he stepped in front of her, blocking her path like a reckless mantis trying to stop a chariot.
He even said he would kill the Brave for her.
That sounded so silly, because how could the Brave possibly be killed?
But why did her heart flutter in that moment?
He only saw her as the Evil Eye of the Wicked Lord, saying she was just herself, an important existence.
For her who had no memories, he created a whole day full of new ones.
Every word he spoke to her was gentle. When he ruffled her hair, when he hugged her…
It was too much!
How could she not end up liking him?
There was no other choice but to like him!
…
“…I like you the most.”
Hearing those words, she froze completely.
“M-Mr. Himekoji?”
Only after he called her name twice did she finally snap out of it.
Facing the shy, flickering gaze the girl cautiously directed at him, Mr. Himekoji brushed the fine sand off his clothes—
“Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye, on the way back, please let me give you a ride on my bike again.”
“Huh? Ah, ah… okay…”
The Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye nodded, her face red with fluster.
“Well then, let’s go see the sea.”
The sea breeze blowing towards them seemed to sweep away all the tiredness from before. Mr. Himekoji walked forward along the water’s edge.
Footprints appeared one after another in the damp sand.
The Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye followed closely behind him.
With every step, her feet fell exactly into the footprints he left behind.
A wave washed in, wiping away both sets of footprints.
“Mr. Himekoji!”
At one point, the girl suddenly called out to him like this.
Mr. Himekoji turned back.
He saw her pressing down her hair, tousled by the sea wind, with one hand, while the other hand held down her windblown skirt.
“I won’t forget!”
The Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye shouted loudly. Though she called Mr. Himekoji’s name, the words were really meant for herself.
This time, her eyes weren’t filled with tears, and she wasn’t smiling either.
“Hmm.”
Mr. Himekoji was smiling,
“I know.”
He said that.
…
…