Chapter 477: Thank You, Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye
Chapter 477: Thank You, Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye
When Himekoji returned, Rikka was alone, bored, resting her chin on her hand and looking out the window.
“The sky is blue, the clouds are white. Why?”
It felt familiar, like she had just seen this recently, but she had no memory of it.
A pure white wedding dress? A blue sea? Blue and white underwear?
She didn’t know why she suddenly thought of these things.
It was strange…
“Blue and white… perhaps God is also a fan of Argentina?”
Himekoji, stepping into the room, casually joked like that when he heard it.
That’s how he let Rikka know he was back.
“Akito?!”
The moment she heard Himekoji’s voice, all the messy thoughts in her head vanished. Rikka turned her face, her gaze urgently searching for Himekoji.
Only after really seeing that figure and truly knowing he was standing there did Rikka reveal a slightly relieved smile.
“Where did you go just now?”
Quickly trotting over, she grabbed the hem of Himekoji’s clothes and refused to let go like she was sulking, pulling it tight.
“I was so scared… scared you had just disappeared like that.”
“Eh?”
Himekoji froze for a moment, then felt a sense of absurdity.
The figures of Rikka and Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye overlapped continuously in his eyes. He held back the pain and irritably flicked the girl’s forehead hard.
“The one who left without telling has the nerve to say that!”
“Left without telling?”
Rikka understood this as her earlier act of skipping school to go back to the countryside with her sister, so she pouted her lips, bowed her head low, and apologized honestly.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry?”
No, he was actually talking about Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye just now…
Himekoji opened his mouth, unsure how to answer, so he just smiled bitterly and shook his head.
But Rikka didn’t seem to want to drop the topic. The girl gripped Himekoji’s clothes even tighter—
“But, being scared… that was real! Akito, it feels like we’re being watched by the Boundary Management Agency! When you disappeared earlier, I thought… I thought they had taken you away.”
It was her usual over-the-top chuunibyou speech, but this time her emotions were more intense than ever. Rikka’s brows drooped sadly and forlornly.
“Although… although I don’t know what it is, it seems like something very important… has already been taken away.”
Rikka looked up at Himekoji, her face full of fear and worry, appearing like she was about to cry.
For a moment, Himekoji’s eyes flashed with pity, but soon, they were replaced by determination. He smiled gently and softly spoke—
“Is that right? What a tough Boundary Management Agency, but we won’t lose to them. Even if it’s taken away, we’ll go get it back, because it is very, very important.”
After a brief pause, Himekoji took a deep breath and said in a half-testing, half-serious tone.
“Rikka, have you forgotten? You are the Evil Eye of the Wicked Lord. With us together, we can’t lose.”
“The… Evil Eye of the Wicked Lord?”
Only when she heard this, the words she used to always say, Rikka’s whole body shivered suddenly. She released Himekoji’s clothes, looking dazed, stumbling back a step.
Right then, the phone rang.
It was Rikka’s phone.
Rikka trembled even more fiercely.
She looked at the phone, her face pale and panicked.
Wanting to flee, she moved her feet but was instantly and firmly hugged by Himekoji before she could act.
“What’s wrong? Why are you scared?”
Himekoji’s gentle voice sounded in Rikka’s ear.
Just like back then at the Hotel.
It felt like a harbor from the storm appeared in the dark, thunderous night. A drenched, shivering baby bird rushed straight into Himekoji’s embrace.
“Was I… scared? I don’t remember… don’t remember…”
“I told you, Rikka only needs to remember what Rikka should remember.”
“What I should remember?”
But what was that?
Rikka didn’t want to remember anything right now!
Anything that made her suffer, grieve, feel guilty, or hate herself… her memories.
“Didn’t you just get thanked by someone? So, what Rikka forgot might be something that someone really wanted to thank you for.”
Himekoji guided her like that in a low, soft voice by her ear.
Rikka’s mind instinctively conjured an image—
A girl in a pure white wedding dress holding flowers, happily thanking her with a grateful expression.
“Was it… something worth being thanked for?”
She asked in an unsure voice.
She got Himekoji’s immediate, unhesitating yes—
“Of course.”
“I thought it would be something painful…”
Rikka cried out, burying her face in Himekoji’s chest.
“Not at all. If anything, it’s the opposite.”
Patting Rikka’s back, Himekoji smiled with relief.
“It’s something that makes you feel happy, something you’d want to thank someone for… it’s something Rikka should remember.”
“I’m… sorry!”
Rikka sobbed like that, tears quickly soaking all of Himekoji’s chest.
She remembered. She remembered what she should have.
…
“I was so scared! Too scared! I kept thinking… I kept wishing someone would come help me, someone would rescue me, someone… someone would take my place instead!”
The one who took her place was Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye.
Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye helped her. Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye saved her. Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye died in her place.
This is what she should have remembered.
Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye did so much for her, endured so much, and thanked her. But all Rikka could do was say sorry.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry…”
Over and over, Rikka cried, choking on her sobs.
Facing death, facing repeated deaths, she ran away. She got scared. She dumped all that fear and despair onto Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye. She put it onto Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye, who died again and again in her place.
She was useless!
A weak, selfish coward. She hated herself like that.
That’s why she didn’t want to remember.
…
“Instead of crying, shouldn’t you do something more worthwhile, Rikka?”
He was quiet until Rikka’s emotions calmed down some, then he spoke at the right moment.
After that, her crying finally stopped.
Rikka lifted her face, her eyes red and teary, asking Himekoji what to do.
Himekoji told her straight—
“Not tears or apologies, but a smile and thank you. Like Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye did before, Rikka, you should say thank you to her too. Smile, and feel happy.”
Instead of tears, smiles are better.
Instead of “sorry,” “thank you” is better.
Instead of sadness, happiness is better.
All of this was taught to Himekoji by Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye.
…