CH 41

–It’s not a bad thing that Ryuuze has a sane mind. There’s no doubt that one day he would surely be hurt by Brao, and Ryuuze may find himself in a difficult situation. When that happens, he will be able to make the right choice.

And if he was forced to leave, he would probably resent me. I’ve already factored that in, and my goal is to get my father back to his position as lord.

The hatred that could be directed at the house. If the hatred that Brao have is directed at me alone, my parents and brother will not be affected.

Of course, I don’t know what the future holds, but considering my ultimate goal, it’s impossible for me to be friends with Ryuuze.

I was just about to walk away when Ryuuze came around me and yelled at me.

“What the hell, Lars! I thought you forgave me!? Why do you say we can’t be friends?”

“It’s like I said. I just don’t want to be friends with Ryuuze. You can hate me all you want, this is my business.”

“…… Why? You even make up ‘rules’ and stuff like that, and when I apologized, you said thank you. If you really hated me, you wouldn’t have said that, is what I think. ……”

“……”

I didn’t expect him to bite back. …… This was unexpected and confused me. As I pondered what to do, Ryuuze continued.

“I thought it was really cool that you were working. You were doing what our classmates didn’t, and that’s taking requests from the guild! …… They want me to be a lord in the future, but I really want to use my skills to kill demons and stuff. My father would be mad if I told him that, though ……”

“Yes. But it doesn’t matter to me. We’ve got to go back or teacher will be very upset. Shall we go back?”

“No! I’m not letting you go until Lars tells me what he doesn’t like about me ……! If there’s something wrong, I’ll fix it. I’m sure that’s what teacher will say too!”

What on earth did the teacher say to him? …… It’s not possible to imagine that the day after the entrance ceremony and the day after the swearing. Of course, Ryuuze himself apologized to me, so there’s no more tension.

“No, as I said before, it was selfishness. Somehow, I don’t like Ryuuze.”

There was no way I could tell him the truth, so I just answered. Then–

Crack!

“Ouch!? What are you doing?”

“That’s not the reason! Tell me, you ……!”

“Stop it, it doesn’t matter if I’m not your friend! I’m not gonna ignore you.”

“Shut up and tell me the truth!”

“Whoa ……?”

We were rolling around on the ground in a jumbled mess. At an inopportune moment, Ryuuze was on top of me. As I was trying to keep him from hitting me, a drop of water suddenly fell on my face, and the attack stopped.

“……?　Ryuuze, you …….”

“Why ……! I don’t care if you don’t like me, but I don’t want your reason to be just kind of …… tell me why …… You’re smart, so you must hiding something ……!”

He grabbed me by the chest and sniffled, and Ryuuze cried.

(Hey, mom. Why do you say that only ***** is a good boy? Do you hate me ……?)

(Well, I guess …… it’s just a feeling, huh?　Because you don’t look like a good boy, that’s why. You’re the big brother, so you should be more serious. You have homework, right?)

“……!”

Suddenly, the memory of “Hideo Sanmon” from when he was a child flashes back.

I did the same thing as them ……

“Hey, you guys, don’t fight!”

As Ryuuze cried out, Tigre-sensei and my classmates approached us. I’m ready to go and tell this guy.

“…… Okay. I’ll tell you why we can’t be friends. When we are alone. So don’t cry now.”

“S- …… Sniff …… You said it! You promise!”

“Yeah, I promise.”

When I said that, he pulled his hand away from me with a crying smile on his face. Shortly after, Tigre-sensei pulled Ryuuze away.

“What’s wrong with you, Ryuuze? …… Why is the one on top crying?”

“S-Shut up! I-I’m not crying! I just fell down. Come on, Lars.”

“Thank you.”

I took Ryuuze’s hand and stood up, and soon Ryuuze was being chilled by Jack and Helena. As I dusted myself off, Nora and Luciel approached me.

“Are you okay?”

“What happened? It’s dirty here too.”

“Oh, thanks. We had a little argument.”

“Pauper, huh? I’ll say something back to him if he said that again!”

“Yeah. He’s not poor though, because he has money to put into the school.”

“Thank you, both of you. I’ll finish the thing with Ryuuze today, so don’t worry.”

After saying that, we went back to class.

Although the atmosphere was a little awkward, Ryuuze’s teasing of Jack helped to clear the air and the sword fighting class ended.

–Now that I know what Ryuuze is thinking, I’m going to tell him the truth.

It’s a gamble, but I’m hoping that after I tell Brao that Ryuuze knows the truth, he’ll just brush it off as bullshit. I know it’s a bad move, but if he keeps coming at me like that, it’s going to interfere with my daily life.

I thought about talking to Tigre-sensei, but decided to make it my final step.

Hoping it wouldn’t turn out to be the worst-case scenario, I headed for the rooftop where Ryuuze was waiting.

Next time, the conclusion!

(T/N: The conclusion of Lars and Ryuuze’s conversation)

Thank you for reading!

[Afterword Theater]

“*Gulp*……!”

What will happen to these two!