“Yup!” Celia responded happily, and the three of them made dinner together that night.
◇ ◇ ◇
The next morning, as Rio prepared to depart for the village...
“I’ll be going now,” he said after he’d stepped out of the rock house. “I’ll be gone for two weeks, so please look after each other.” He looked at Aishia as he spoke to Celia.
“Of course. Leave Aishia to me,” Celia said proudly.
“Will do. You take care too, Aishia,” Rio said with a chuckle.
“...Got it,” Aishia said, before suddenly hugging Rio.
“Wha?!” Rio himself was surprised, but Celia was even more surprised than him. Her eyes were round as she watched Aishia hug Rio dumbfoundedly.
“What’s wrong, Aishia?” Rio asked Aishia quietly. While the two of them were always close to each other, this was the first time they had hugged like this.
“No matter how far we’re separated or where Haruto is heading towards, I will always be with you. So don’t fear, don’t falter, and go down the path that you choose,” Aishia said in a rare show of talkativeness. Her words were rather hesitant and vague, but Rio could make a guess at why she had chosen to speak like this. It was most likely because Rio had fulfilled his fated reunion with Lucius in such an unexpected way.
“...There’s nothing that gets past you, Aishia. Thanks,” Rio said a little awkwardly with a faint smile.
Ever since his fight with Lucius, the desire for revenge had been boiling intensely within Rio’s chest. Despite that, he had thought he had been behaving normally to those around him, but there was no fooling the one his soul was bound to. While it was a little awkward to have his own heart seen through so easily, it also felt comfortable for some reason. Rio obediently entrusted himself to Aishia’s embrace, but Celia returned to her senses with a gasp and spoke up in a panic. “H-Hey, hey! How long are you going to be hugging for?! That’s so unfair — let go already! I can’t let my guard down at all around you!”
“Okay.” Rio nodded in amusement and slowly distanced himself from Aishia.
“I was just saying my farewells. Aren’t you going to do that, Celia?” Aishia cocked her head sideways.
“N... R-Right. You’ll be gone for a while, s-so I guess...” Celia reflexively tried to decline, but then blushed as she agreed reluctantly.
“Well...” Rio tried to object, but Celia began to approach. Since he had been certain Celia would be too flabbergasted to do anything, Rio swallowed his words in slight surprise.
“...B-Be careful, Rio. I’ll practice the recipes you taught me and wait here!” With a bright red face, Celia hugged Rio with all her might. Celia’s body was small, but warm.
“...Yes. I’ll be back soon.” Rio smiled a little uncomfortably and returned Celia’s hug.
◇ ◇ ◇
Rio moved a small distance away from the rock house and took out the teleport crystal. He could have used it in front of Celia, but if he did he could imagine how her panicked eyes would search Aishia for an explanation. Even if he told her about it beforehand, the discussion would’ve become pretty long-winded.
“Transilio.” Rio chanted the spell and activated the teleport crystal in his hand. The air distorted and warped around the teleport crystal, vanishing Rio into thin air. In the next moment the forest surrounding the village filled his vision. His teleportation was successful.
“I’m sure someone will come here if I just wait, but...” He decided to approach the village himself this time. Kicking off the ground, Rio rose into the air with spirit arts and moved across the forest. The buildings of the village were lined in rows just below him, and towering past them was the giant tree that was Dryas’ main body. Rio flew along leisurely, heading for the tree where the village’s town hall was located — which was large, but nothing compared to the size of Dryas’ tree. Before long, a large bird rose into the sky from the ground. It was Ariel, Orphia’s contracted spirit.
“Onii-chan!”
And the first one to welcome Rio was, as expected, Latifa. As an adopted sister, she didn’t want to give up that role to anyone else. Riding on the back of Ariel, she waved her arms enthusiastically from a dozen or so meters away. Orphia and Miharu were also on Ariel’s back.
When Rio first spotted Latifa, his mouth softened in a smile, but when he spotted Miharu next, his face clouded faintly.
Miharu...
He averted his eyes; he couldn’t look at her directly. She was so bright, it felt like someone had a stranglehold on his chest.
“...?” Miharu noticed that Rio had averted his eyes and made a worried face. She continued staring at Rio’s face after that, but he still refused to meet her gaze. In the meantime, Rio and Ariel made contact midair.
“Welcome back, Onii-chan!” Latifa called out with a beaming smile.
“...I’ve returned, Latifa. You look like you’ve been well,” Rio replied with a gentle smile on his face.
“Yup!” Latifa nodded energetically.
“It’s nice to see you again too, Orphia, Miharu. I’m not used to the sight of having the two of you come out to greet me; it’s rather unexpected,” Rio said to the two of them, somewhat shyly. This time, he was able to give his usual warm smile to Miharu without averting his gaze.
“Is that so? While you were gone from the village, we became really close friends. Isn’t that right, Miharu?” Orphia giggled.
“Yup. We’re always together, after all,” Miharu said with a happy laugh. Perhaps the averted eye contact with Rio earlier was just her imagination...
“Say, Onii-chan. Can I jump over there?” Latifa pleaded restlessly, seemingly without the patience to wait until they arrived on the ground.
“Of course not — it’s dangerous. It’s just a little longer until we reach the ground. Be patient,” Rio admonished Latifa with a wry smile.
“Hmph, why can’t we go faster?” Latifa puffed up her cheeks a little and looked downwards. The town hall was already right before their eyes as the group slowly descended past it.
“Come to think of it, I don’t see Lady Aishia with you...” Orphia said.
“Aishia’s watching over the house back in Strahl.”
“Oh, really?” Orphia’s eyes widened.
“Yes. The teacher I am indebted to is actually under my protection right now, so we’re living together. She’s staying back to look after her, like an escort.”
“That indebted teacher is the one you mentioned before, right? The woman who was five years older. Her name was Celia, if I recall correctly?” Orphia asked. Latifa’s fluffy fox ears twitched when she heard that Rio was living with a young woman. However, she didn’t make any moves to interrupt their talk.
Rio’s eyes widened slightly. “Yes. You have a good memory.”
“Fufu. Of course I’d remember — it was something we discussed together. But that aside, why are you back this time? It hasn’t been that long since you last left...” Orphia said slightly bashfully, before tilting her head and changing the subject.
Rio looked at Miharu. “I’ve found the whereabouts of Miharu’s upperclassman, Sumeragi Satsuki. I wanted to report that and discuss my plans for the future, if possible.”
“...You found... Satsuki...” Miharu must have been quite shocked, as she was blinking with a blank look on her face.
“First I will go inform the head elders of my return, but then I’d like to have Aki and Masato join my explanation of the situation. Where are they right now?” Rio asked.
“Ah, I think they’re training with Sara and Alma right now,” Miharu answered with a gasp.
“But Sara and the others must have realized that Onii-chan’s returned, so maybe they’re heading towards the town hall already?” Latifa added.
“That’s true,” Orphia agreed. “I think we should just head to the town hall like this,” she said, gesturing for Rio to continue descending.
“I understand. Actually, I see them now.” Rio looked down a
t the square in front of the town hall and smiled when he spotted Sara and the others. A short time later, they reached the ground.
Latifa immediately went to hug Rio. “Once again, welcome home, Onii-chan!”
“Good to be back, Latifa. I’m glad to see you all look well, too, Sara.” Rio caught Latifa’s body with a smiling huff, then looked at Sara, who had come running over earlier.
“Welcome back, Rio.” Sara greeted Rio with a lively voice, either from running over or out of happiness at seeing Rio again. However, she wasn’t out of breath. Sara hadn’t endured all her tough training just to be out of breath from a little jog. Which meant the reason for her lively voice became obvious enough.
It was at that point that Alma finally appeared, dashing over with Masato and Aki in tow. Alma wasn’t particularly out of breath either, but Masato and Aki were huffing slightly.
“Sara was so fast, we could barely keep up,” Alma said tiredly while shooting Sara a look.
“Honestly. We have enough trouble as is running fast without magic artifacts,” Masato agreed with a grin.
“Ahaha,” Aki laughed in amusement, looking at Sara.
“Fufu, is that so? Why were you in such a rush, Sara?” Orphia asked, also laughing.
“I-I just didn’t want to lose sight of Rio, so I ran ahead of everyone to catch him first and wait for the others,” Sara answered in a high-pitched voice, having placed a strong emphasis on the fact that she’d done so for everyone’s sake.
“Geez, even if you didn’t hurry he would have waited. Right, Rio?” Orphia asked, turning to address Rio.
“Yes, there was something I wanted to tell Aki and Masato too, after all,” Rio said calmly with a nod.
“...To us?” Aki and Masato exchanged glances and looked at him in confusion.
“I’ve found Satsuki’s location.”
“R-Really?! What about my brother?!” Aki stammered, being the first to react right away.
“Unfortunately, I still haven’t been able to locate your older brother...”
“I-Is that so...” Aki’s shoulders slumped in disappointment.
“But now that we know Satsuki is here, it’s almost certain that your brother is in this world too. So far, all the heroes have been affiliated with a kingdom without exception, so I think it’s more than plausible.” While being affiliated with a kingdom brought up more problems in itself, Rio had said that to cheer up Aki. Latifa watched their exchange closely while still clinging to Rio.
“...Yes. Just knowing where Satsuki is makes me happy. It might be possible that my brother and Satsuki are together, or something,” Aki thought optimistically.
“That’s true. For now, I’d like to go to the head elders to make my report, so let’s continue discussing this there,” Rio suggested with a small smile.
“Yes!” Aki agreed enthusiastically. Meanwhile, Miharu had been staring at Rio’s side profile as he conversed with Aki.
“...” Her memories were vague and indistinct, but that dream she saw the other day... She couldn’t forget it. It was the trigger that caused her to strongly overlap this man and her childhood friend.
“What’s wrong, Miharu? ...Miharu?” Because Latifa was clinging onto Rio, she felt the gaze Miharu had directed to him and called out to her.
“...Eh? What?” Miharu snapped back to her senses and tilted her head awkwardly.
“Nothing, you were just watching Onii-chan in a daze...” Latifa said, giving Miharu a searching look. Rio and the others were also drawn in by Latifa’s words and looked at Miharu.
“Ah, really? Was I doing that?” Miharu noticed that attention was gathering on her and ducked her head uncomfortably.
“...Oh, was it because you wanted to hug Onii-chan too, Miharu?” Latifa asked in a bright voice. At that, Sara, Orphia, and Alma all looked at Miharu with great interest.
“Huh? ...Ah, no, that’s...” Miharu was taken aback, her body shaking with a flinch. When her eyes met Rio’s, she hid her face to avoid his gaze.
“Hey, Latifa. Don’t go picking on Miharu,” Rio warned her with a wry smile.
“...Okay!” Latifa agreed obediently and turned her gaze to Miharu to observe her expression.
“All right, let’s go then,” Rio urged the party to head towards the head elders.
Sara took the lead and agreed, walking towards the entrance of the town hall. “Yes, let’s.”
Orphia and Alma glanced at Miharu before following her. Similarly, Aki and Masato sent Miharu a look before walking off.
Before he started walking after Sara and the others, Rio stopped and looked down at the girl that still clung to him. “Are you not going to walk by yourself, Latifa?”
“Hmm... Then, can I hold hands with you, Onii-chan?” Latifa asked Rio like a spoiled child. She probably valued every short moment she could spend touching Rio, which was why she could speak so openly to him.
“Yeah, sure.” Rio nodded immediately.
“Yay! Ehehe.” Latifa’s features relaxed as she grabbed Rio’s left hand. Her expression was one of pure bliss.
“...” Miharu stood still as she watched their exchange.
“Shall we go, Latifa?” While Rio noticed Miharu’s gaze, he chose not to look at her and pulled Latifa’s hand as he walked off. Latifa seemed to sense that and nodded awkwardly as they walked, before looking back.
“Let’s go, Miharu!”
“Ah, yeah. That’s right.” Miharu smiled widely and slowly started walking, but her gaze was still fixed on Rio’s back —
“...Is that you, Haru-kun?” she whispered inaudibly at his back, but her voice must not have reached him, as Rio did not react.
◇ ◇ ◇
The group headed up to the top floor of the town hall to meet the three head elders of the village. Rio greeted them first, then told them about how he had located Satsuki, just as he had told Miharu and the others already.
“I see — I understand now. So what do you intend on doing, Lord Rio?” High elf Syldora asked Rio.
“In a month and a half’s time, there will be a banquet to officially introduce the existence of the hero, Satsuki. I have actually made a connection with a certain noble that will allow me to attend that banquet.”
“Ah, so you plan on meeting that Satsuki girl at that banquet, then?” Elder dwarf Dominic asked.
“Yes, that is correct,” Rio replied. Ursula, the werefox head elder, looked doubtful.
“...But will it really go so smoothly?”
“It should. The other party is a fairly well-known noble of the Galarc Kingdom, and is aware of my aim to meet Satsuki. My request to accompany them to the banquet was accepted on top of that,” Rio replied.
“I see. Did you tell them about Lady Miharu and the others?” Syldora asked with wide eyes. Rio shook his head slowly.
“No, I’ve kept Miharu’s situation hidden.”
At that, the head elders looked at each other and tilted their heads.
“...It seems like the conditions are rather favorable for you, Lord Rio. Are you sure there is no ulterior motive here?” Syldora asked on behalf of the other head elders.
“While I can’t say for certain, there shouldn’t be. The time we spent together was short, but I believe the noble is intelligent with a strong sense of duty,” Rio said on his impression of Liselotte.
“I see. If you are going that far to describe them, then we shall trust the character of this person too,” Syldora said, smile widening with a chuckle.
“However, this will be a gathering of heroes and human royalty and nobility. There’s no way they would allow you entry for free, no? Just what series of events occurred for you to gain access to the banquet?” Dominic dug a little further in regards to how Rio’s invitation came to be. Despite his rough appearance, he was actually a thoughtful person who didn’t have the role of a head elder for nothing.
“I saved the noble in question during their crisis. I had partially assisted them for that intent, but it seem
ed like they felt very indebted and made such arrangements in gratitude.”
“I see. So that’s how it is,” Dominic smiled in understanding.
“Knowing your personality, they must have good judgment too,” Ursula said with a small smile. Syldora huffed and smiled, too.
“Well, we can hear more about that later over a drink or two. We now understand the general situation. Based on what you’ve told us, there is no need for us to intervene anywhere for now. Is that correct?” Dominic asked.
“Yes.”
“Indeed.”
Syldora and Ursula both responded immediately.
“That’s how it is. The main players are the young ones, after all. Of course, we’ll give you our opinions if needed, but it would be proper for you to discuss and decide among yourselves. How about that, Rio?” Dominic asked.
“Yes,” Rio agreed. “That was what I intended too. Miharu, what do you think?”
“...I...” Miharu was unable to respond right away, a look of hesitation on her face. She returned the look Rio was giving her, but she bit her lip, at a loss for words.
“I-I want to see her! I want to see Satsuki! It’s possible my brother might be with her, and even if he isn’t, she might know something about him! I have to go and ask!” Aki said.
“Hmm...” Masato seemed to be thinking something, his arms crossed and a contemplative look on his face. Apparently, Aki was the only one with no doubt in her feelings.
“W-What’s the matter, Masato? Don’t you want to see our brother?”
“No, of course I want to see him. It’s just... I’m still in the middle of my sword training, and it doesn’t seem like we can come back that easily if we leave,” Masato said.
“T-That’s...” The look on Aki’s face changed, making her speechless with discomfort. Even Aki didn’t become emotional and say that Masato could continue his sword training elsewhere, because Aki knew that it wasn’t about that. Masato was able to devote himself to his sword training in this village, where he had friends he could compete with. Aki herself had made irreplaceable friends in the village, and she had seen Masato work his hardest on his sword training. He probably didn’t want to fail at it halfway through.
Beyond Memories Page 6
