CH 34

Unkind Words (4)

There were only two things I do when I was angry with someone.

“…….”

I don’t say anything. Even after the liberal arts class was over, I didn’t say a word to Leto. Instead, I stared at Leto, who was sitting right in front of me.

“B-Bree.”

“What?”

“Did Leah owe you money and never paid it back?”

It was probably intimidating that even the kid next to me asked while stuttering.

“Not really? Since I was in the way.”

When I spoke loudly on purpose, Leto flinched before moving his quill again. During class, as if he felt my stinging gaze, he glanced my way and made eye contact. The two of us stared at each other. Leto’s expression screamed, ‘I’d rather curse.’

The first thing that caught my attention was Leto’s expression. He had a look as if he had a lot to say, but decided to keep his mouth shut and turned his head away. This continued until Professor Hartz’s class. Professor Hartz frowned when he saw Leto and I sitting separately for the first time. 

“You two must have had a fight.”

I was afraid that Leto, who was taking notes, was stabbed by Professor Hartz’s words.

“No, we didn’t fight.”

I responded with a reserved smile. Professor Hartz looked at me with disbelief before resuming the class again. I was well aware that my attitude was making Leto uncomfortable. But I also had no intention of changing this attitude until Leto apologises first.

“Alright, let’s talk for a second.”

When class was over, Leto stood in front of me. It was the complete opposite situation than before.

“Oh, but I don’t have anything to say to you, Miss Leah Arsene.”

“Briseis.”

“I’m so hungry that my stomach is about to lurch out……I’ll be going first, Miss Leah Arsene.”

Before Leto could catch me, I quickly headed to the cafeteria. But there was one problem…Apart from Leto, I had no one else to dine with. Standing with a tray, I decided to just eat sausages alone today. 

As I was passing by some seats, someone tugged the hem of my clothes.

“Why are you alone today?”

It was Senior Jimbo. Senior was having his meal with three other friends.

“I had a situation today.”

“Do you want to sit here?”

Senior Jimbo offered, pointing towards the empty seat in front of him. I was contemplating on taking the seat, but when I glanced at senior’s friends, they were staring at me with curious eyes. The gaze was rather burdensome, but it was also difficult to refuse, so I sat down timidly.

“Thank you, senior.”

Senior shrugged his shoulders in response.

“Wow, it’s my first time seeing Jimbo talk to a girl first.”

“Same!”

When the other senior next to me spoke, the rest nodded. Only Senior Jimbo, the person involved, was silently stuffing his salad into his mouth. However, Senior Jimbo’s friends kept staring at me as we ate, as if they had many things they wanted to ask.

“Stop staring. You’ll scare the kid.”

In the end, Senior Jimbo couldn’t stand it and spoke up.

“Jimbo is even taking care of her.”

“Are you Jimbo’s girlfriend?”

Unable to contain their curiosity, a senior asked me a question.

“Oh, no. I’m just a mentee.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“Or what?”

Senior Jimbo said bluntly, as if he was displeased with his friends that were curious of me. At Senior Jimbo’s words, his friends exclaimed, “Ohh!”. I felt like it was a bad idea sitting here. Perhaps he noticed, Senior Jimbo suddenly stole the salad from the other senior’s plate.

“You bastard! What was that for?”

Senior Jimbo casually chewed the salad in his mouth as if nothing had happened, then tapped the empty plate with a fork. 

“You’re done eating, right? Leave.”

“I see, you want to have a good time together……Ack!”

As they got up from their seats with a sly smile, Senior Jimbo kicked his friend’s knee with his leg. “Scram,” said the senior and his friends laughed and left their seats. I watched senior’s friends shout ‘Fighting, Jimbo.’ as they left the cafeteria.

It was quite surprising. I thought senior’s friends were like the people I saw in the medical department, but they were more lively and noisier than I thought.

“Those brats are normally like that.”

“Oh, I see.”

Unlike his other friends who ate their meals quickly, senior ate his tomatoes slowly. It felt as if he was being considerate of me when he spun the tomato in the air without putting it right into his mouth.

“……You can go first.”

“Did you fight with your friend?”

Senior and my words overlapped. The issue with Leto, which I had forgotten for a moment, made me upset again. In the end, he didn’t show up in the cafeteria. No matter how angry I was with him, I still worry about Leto skipping meals.

“……It’s their fault.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Well, I’m thinking about what to do.”

“What are you going to do?”

Senior placed the tomato in his mouth and crushed it.

“Usually when I’m angry, I don’t say anything.”

“Then it’ll be difficult if things pile up.”

“It’s already piled up.”

“So?”

“I’ll move to Plan B.”

I had two things in mind. It was either to make a five line poem like I did last time, or speak up at the academy’s broadcasting station and make it air on the speakers. When I told my thoughts seriously, senior burst into laughter. 

“What is this?”

My body froze at senior’s laugh. It was my first time seeing senior laugh so loudly.

Perhaps he felt my gaze, senior suddenly quieted down and feigned a cough.

“Well, it was funny.”

“……Senior, you have a pretty smile. You should smile more.”

Senior flinched at my words. I’ve never seen this side of senior before.

“I refuse.”

I pouted my lips at senior’s resolute words. I wanted to see that sight again. I told senior a few more of my ideas. Each time, he would listen to me carefully and give proper advice.

It felt refreshing to tell senior about my frustration and inner situation that I had been enduring for a long time. Before I knew it, I got caught in the mood and ranted to senior about several other things. When we emptied our plates, senior got up from his seat. 

“I wish you all the best, Bree.”

“Thank you, senior.”

“One more thing. You should fix your eating speed when you eat with other people.”

Senior patted my head and left. Come to think of it, senior’s plate had been empty for a long while. Oh…so he was waiting for me to empty my plate while listening to me. My heart was warmed by senior’s careful consideration.

＊ ＊ ＊

Upon entering the dorm, I found Leto sitting at his desk, studying. Leto felt my presence and looked up. There was an awkward silence. Unable to bear the atmosphere, I headed to the bed and laid down.

I had just told Senior Jimbo about my multiple ideas, but it was difficult to actually do it. Leto wasn’t the type to enjoy unexpected things, so he might get even more angry if I do it for no reason. At that moment, only the distant echoes could be heard. I was hoping that Leto would talk to me first, but I guess I was wrong.

There was nothing to do, so I rolled over the bed and got up. Sensing my movement, Leto’s shoulders flinched before he read the book calmly again. I took a blank piece of paper and randomly drew several magic circles.

The heavy tension flowed again, and only the sounds of the clock ticking and the quills moving filled the dorm room.

“…That magic circle…you drew it wrongly.”

Leto’s voice was heard. When I raised my head, he suddenly shut his book and sat on the floor to watch me draw the magic circle.

“The formula is wrong. You need to match the proportions. At this rate, the magic will be weak.”

Even at this moment, my magic circle formula was still wrong. But that wasn’t the point. Leto had talked to me first.

“……I don’t know.”

I don’t know how you feel.

“I’ll teach you.”

Leto heard my murmur and approached me. He sat in front of me and without hesitation, he drew an X over the wrong formula and proceeded to draw the proper magic circle. I held my breath as I stared at Leto’s movements, skilfully drawing the formula.

“Here, it’s like this. Do you get it now?”

“……How about you?”

“Huh?”

“How do I get to you? What’s the answer?”

Leto paused at my frank words, then immediately blushed.

“……You.”

“What?”

“If it’s you, then it’s fine. You’re the answer.”

“What does that mean?”

“S-Sorry.”

He apologised first.

“I was mean. I didn’t mean to. I was just anxious…I was scared. So I thought it would be better if I kept my distance from you, but it wasn’t.”

Leto spoke honestly. The legendary Leto Arsene. Was this a good sign? I was relieved to see Leto talk even if he avoided my gaze, eyes shaking with nervousness. All the anxiety that remained inside me disappeared as if they were washed away by the waves.

I couldn’t help but laugh. Then, I saw Leto’s hand trembling slightly. So he was worried too. I grabbed his hand. Leto looked at me with his eyes wide open in surprise. Now, it was my turn to speak.

It was time to accept his apology.

“Leah Arsene!”

A knock on the door was heard, and at the same time, the warden’s voice penetrated through the door. Leto and I turned our heads to the door simultaneously.

“Hurry and come out! Madam Arsene is here!”

“……Mother?”

Leto quickly rose up.