Chapter 2.3

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After school, Nozomu, who finished his lessons, came to the central park of Alcazar.

This park was built around the school, where students make various stories bloom here on weekdays, and various stalls lined up on holidays, became a place for citizens to relax.

The reason Nozomu came to this park was simply to think.

As he lay down on the park bench, he thought about what he had been thinking many times.

About his past and his future. His relationship with Lisa, the words left by his master, and the power of the dragon within himself.

But no matter how much He thinks about it, Nozomu doesn't know what to do from now on. Of course, that's natural, because he has just begun to look at the "present time".

Looking back on his escape, he doesn't think it's okay to leave it as it is.

But …………

Nozomu remembers the giant dragon inside him. An entity that can swallow, eat, and destroy everything. Even after the battle with Shino, Tiamat still boasted an overwhelming presence in Nozomu.

Nozomu's face is distorted. His expression looked very painful even when viewed from the side.

When he was found out of that overwhelming existence, he couldn't imagine what would become of him later on.

Solminati Academy was established and maintained with the investment of each country in the continent. Since the human resources trained at the school will affect the international situation in the future, the school is attracting attention from the governments of each country, and political bargaining is always carried out on the front and the back.

If a dragon slayer that hadn't appeared for hundreds of years appeared in such a hotspot ………….

For Nozomu, Tiamat that was driven into his spirit is too big of a burden mentally as well as physically.

"What are you doing, Nozomu-san?"

Nozomu is suddenly called out by a voice as he thought about his troubles.

Looking to the side, a girl about 10 years old is peeking at him with a black cat in her arm.

"It looks like you had a very difficult face, are you okay?"

The girl looks very worried. Nozomu hurriedly fix his expression and smiled at the girl.

"Un. I'm okay, Somia-chan."

Her name is Somiliana.

The encounter between Nozomu and her goes back to the time when Nozomu managed to advance to the third year.

Nozomu went out for a walk in the town on a fleeting holiday when the school was closed for a while due to the change of the year. After somehow passing the supplementary exams of the end-of-year exam and the advancement was decided.

He stopped at a food stall in the park to buy lunch. He bought wheat breads with vegetables and sausages sandwiched between them.

As he was walking around and eating the bread that he bought from the food stall, he saw a girl nervously looking up at a tree in the park.

She had no one around, and she didn't seem to be able to do anything by herself.

There was no other choice for Nozomu to went to the girl's side and called her out.

"What's wrong?"

"Eh"

The girl noticed Nozomu's voice and looked at him. She is about 10 years old and has shiny black hair trimmed around her shoulders, a beautiful girl with deep jet-black eyes.

Her facial features are still young and suitable for her age.

"Well, I was actually playing with Kuro-chan ..."

The girl said so and looked up at the tree.

When Nozomu looked up at the tree, there was a black cat on the branch of the tree, and it seems that the cat was the black cat. The black cat was playing with something on a tree branch.

"That is my arm decoration, Kuro-chan it doesn't suit you. Please give it back already Kuro-chan."

Perhaps the black cat really liked the arm decoration, she chose to play with the arm decoration over the girl.

"It can't be helped"

Nozomu put the half-eaten bread into his stomach and began climbing the tree. The black cat raised its tail and felt cautious as it notices him.

"Give that back quietly."

Nozomu climbed to the same height as the black cat and tried to catch the cat, but it threatened him with "Fusha" and swung its claws to resist.

"Hey!! Don't struggle!!"

"Fugya!"

The cat resisted further and finally jumped at him. Unable to move on the tree, Nozomu was scratched by the cat.

"Aw aw aw!!!! This d*mn cat !!!"

A great brawl between Nozomu and a cat takes place on a narrow tree branch. He couldn't move because he was on a tree, and the cat just scratched him as if saying, "It's none of my business!"

The balance of Nozomu was gradually lost, the branches squeaked, gradually can't bear it, and finally snapped. The branch broke with the sound.

"Uwah !!"

"Nyanya !!!"

Attracted by gravity, Nozomu and the cat fell head-on toward the ground.

However, as expected of a cat. The black cat quickly turned around in the air and fit in the girl's arms. Compared to that, Nozomu did not regain his posture and crashed into the ground awkwardly. He crouched on the ground with a miserable groaning, "Buh!".

"... A, Ano ... are you okay?"

"......... Un ... I'm okay"

Nozomu managed to get up while put up with it and replied so.

She looked at him with anxiety, and Nozomu just remembered his previous disgraceful behavior and felt miserable.

"More importantly, is the arm decoration okay?"

The black cat was still attached to the arm decoration inside the girl's arm, but the arm decoration itself seemed to be okay.

"Thank goodness. Thank you."

The girl seemed to be relieved from the bottom of her heart, and she smiled like a flower.  For the first time in a while, Nozomu returned a natural smile to her innocent and pure expression. Nozomu's heart may have been tense without even realizing it because Shino died and he lost his place to belong.

"I'm sorry. I didn't introduce myself. I'm Somiliana. My friends call me Somia!"

"I'm Nozomu Bountis. It's okay with Nozomu. Somia-chan ... Can I call you as such?"

"Yes! Please treat me well, Nozomu-san!"

"Same here, treat me well."

Although they introduced themselves to each other, Nozomu noticed her clothes. Her clothes are Ecross's uniform.

Ecross is an affiliated school of Solminati Academy, and mainly children around 10 years old attend.

The purpose of the school's founding is to educate prospective children at an early age to develop human resources with higher abilities. Children from all over the continent and children with rare abilities are gathered and educated.

"Somia-chan, you're a student of Ecross right."

"Yes! That's right. I'm in fifth grade this year." 

Ecross is a 6-grade school. This means she has been educated for at least five years.

Entering Ecross is equivalent to having her talent already recognized by many countries. Nozomu thought, there was a big difference with him, who had fallen behind for at least ten thousand years.

"But Nozomu-san, you're a student at Solminati Academy right!"

She struck him with a sunflower-like smile on her face.

"Un. Well, I'm an inexperienced person, still a long way to go. I'm at the bottom of the 10th class."

"Is it like that? Then it's the same as me! Still got a long way to go too!"

Somia replied shyly, sticking out her tongue. She is a very expressive girl. When he saw her smile, Nozomu was also mysteriously energized.

(Somehow, Somia-chan seems to be a match with Anri-sensei.)

Nozomu remembered the face of his class teacher. She seemed to be in gear with her laid-back personality and her sun-like smile like Somia.

Her laid-back personality which looks like the sun seemed to fit in with the gears of Somia-chan.

"By the way, does Somia have any goals? You said "still a long way to go", so somehow I felt you have."

"Ah, Yes! My older sister is my goal!"

When asked about "her sister," Somia became more talkative, and her smile was even more with a 50% increase.

"Ane-sama is strong"

"Ane-sama is cool"

"Ane-sama is kind"

The person in question seems to be quite capable, and Somia-chan also loved her "Ane-sama" from her heart, and it was very clear that she was longing for her.

At the same time, Nozomu felt worried. Worried that she would be overwhelmed, injured, or caught by a weird man.

As far as he heard from the story, she seems to be similar to her "Ane-sama", so they really are sisters.

"By the way, this black cat. Did it still playing?"

When Nozomu saw the black cat in Somia-chan's arm, the black cat was still playing with the arm decoration. He looked closely and found that the arm ornaments were delicately decorated and also had small bells that were similarly decorated, which was of considerable value to the untrained eye.

"This arm decoration seems to be quite valuable, but what is it?"

"Oh, this arm decoration seems to be handed down from generation to generation. It seems to be a tradition, and it is said that if you have this, you will surely be able to meet again someday even if you are separated."

"Hee, that tradition sure makes you very happy."

"Yes! It used to gather dust in the warehouse, but ane-sama gave it to me! I hope our bond will continue even if we leave the house."

She happily talks about her arm ornaments. She may want her family ties above all else, as does her tradition for her. She wants to feel her family ties by always wearing the arm-ornament of the tradition.

She was talking about it, but then she remembered the black cat that stuck with the arm ornament and she picked it up.

"Oh, right. Kuro-chan that's enough."

When she picked up her arm ornament, "give it back, give it back" the black cat was fluttering its arm like a baby whose toy was picked up.

"Even so, it's a very naughty male cat."

"Eh!"

"Because he picked up the owner's belongings and played a lot with it, and he still hasn't played enough ..."

"... Um ........."

Somia-chan was trying to say something.

"Um, Nozomu-san. Kuro-chan ... is a girl ........."

"…………E?"

"That's why I told you, It's a girl."

It looks like this black cat is a female. It was so naughty and there was a brawl with Nozomu on a tree branch, so he could only think of it as a male.

(Usually, Kuro is a name given to males)

"Um ... why named it Kuro?"

"Well, somehow I felt it's cute, isn't it?

“………… I see.”

Looks like, her naming sense is a little off.

"Besides, I'm not Kuro-chan's owner, perhaps, I believe this child got strayed."

It's been told in the story that she's been seen around the Ecross school building from time to time, and then Somia-chan was started playing with her.

"Hee, so she's a stray cat? It seems that she's very fond of Somia-chan, so I wonder if Somia-chan trying to keep it ..."

The moment Nozomu reached out to Kuro after saying so.

"Shah !!!"

"Aw !!"

Suddenly Kuro scratched Nozomu's hand.

"Ah! Are you okay? Kuro-chan is really hard to please and difficult to accept people."

"Aw aw aw. Is that so?"

"Yes, all the boys in my class didn't work. But the girls are okay ..."

(Is it that only boys are no good ...)

Somehow, this black cat seemed to be fond of only girls. When Nozomu looked at Kuro while rubbing his scratched hand, he is quiet in her arms and exactly like a borrowed cat.

When Kuro noticed Nozomu looking at him, he turned away and began to relax inside Somia's arms.

(Th, This guy!)

Nozomu glares at Kuro, but Kuro ignores Nozomu completely. He tried to snatch back Somia's arm ornaments again.

"Wa, wait, don't do it Kuro-chan!"

In a sense, it is a very cat-like behavior.

After that, a great scuffle between Kuro who tried to play with the arm decorations, and Nozomu who tried to stop it happened, and then the two got along well when preached by a 10-year-old child. 

***

That was the encounter between Nozomu and Somia. After that, they met in this park several times and had a small talk. Sometimes there is a big decisive battle between one person and one animal.

"By the way, Somia-chan. It's almost your birthday right."

"Yes! I will be 11 years old soon!"

She said so happily with the usual smile, but the next moment her expression is fading.

"But, it seems like my father doesn't come back even though it's my birthday."

According to her story, her father is always busy and rarely comes home. It seems that her mother has already passed away, and she only has an older sister as a family.

"Bu, but Ane-sama will hold a birthday party for me!"

Somia smiled again, keeping her loneliness in her chest and behaving cheerfully.

(... She is a strong child ...)

When he thinks about it now, when Nozomu was about her age, he would have been more pampered by his parents. Seeing her behaving gracefully, Nozomu is impressed and saddened at the same time. It's very painful for her to have no one to spoil when she wants to.

Nozomu remembers about himself. He was isolated at the school, he couldn't rely on anyone, he turned his eyes away, and he could break at any time like a taut thread.

At that time, how many times he was saved by the word "Welcome back" and the hug which his master did.

He was able to remember the love of those who had forgotten.

His frozen heart was gently melted and was able to cry as hard as he could.

He realized that he was not alone.

Thanks to his master's acceptance of him, he was finally able to accept that person's wishes.

He was able to talk in earnest, fought with all his might, and face that person seriously.

And she taught him something important ... to move forward. 

"If it's Somia's birthday, maybe I should give presents too"

"E, is that true ?!!"

She asked with her big smile, maybe she didn't expect Nozomu to prepare a present.

"Yeah, I can't prepare a big one, but I'll prepare a good one."

"Yes! I'm looking forward to it !!"

There was no shadow of loneliness on her face this time, it was just like a "sun".

(I'm glad. Nobody wants to see such a good girl with a dark expression.)

Nozomu saw her smile and felt relieved.

"By the way, was there something to do today?"

Ecross's time to leave school has already passed, and Nozomu didn't understand why Somia is still here.

"Yes, ane-sama coming to pick me up today!"

(Speaking of her sister, the one who was praised by her when I met her, by the way, I hadn't heard about her sister in detail.)

Seeing her in the park beside the school after school, her sister may have a connection with the school.

"Somia-chan, is your sister at Solminati Academy?"

"Yes, ane-sama is also a student at Solminati Academy, the same as Nozomu-san!"

"Hee (n, wait)"

Nozomu looks at Somia's face. She has shiny black hair, jet-black eyes, and a well-organized face. Nozomu saw the image of a person on Somia's face.

"Hey Somia-chan, maybe your sister is..."

"Somia, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

When Nozomu turned around to the sudden voice, Nozomu's body is completely petrified.

Long straight black hair that extends to the waist. With deep jet-black eyes, her appearance is too neat and unrealistic. Her face is dignified, and her limbs, blessed by the goddess of beauty, seemed to reveal an aura worn only by the chosen one.

She is Irisdina Francilt, the top third-grader at Solminati Academy.