Luna
No matter how outstanding a person may be, it is impossible to receive everyone's love.
Rather, the more outstanding someone is, the more they draw jealousy and envy from others.
That is why people tend to keep close those who are similar to themselves or lesser than themselves.
Failing that, they cling to the outstanding ones and try to get on their good side.
Behind their backs they pour out curses too foul to speak aloud, while to their faces they rub their hands together and act like close friends.
That is simply how humans are.
And love, I suppose, is the act of embracing and accepting even those ugly sides of humanity.
I have digressed a little, but this is what I wanted to say.
It seems people are ostracizing me because I am too pretty….
Even when I try to approach them first and strike up a conversation—
"Excuse me."
"Uh, um? I left my coffee in the bathroom… Sorry!"
—they spit out lines like that and flee.
Or else—
"Ah. Ah. These earphones have really good noise canceling."
—they tap their earphones and pretend not to have heard as they walk away.
"Hiiing……."
I was still groaning with a sad expression when the bell rang, announcing the start of class.
The students took their seats, and soon Cecilia opened the door and entered.
Somehow knowing exactly where I was, she turned her head sharply toward me and asked,
"Elysia. How's the wrist?"
"They say it'll be fully healed by tomorrow."
"That's a relief."
Cecilia hummed a soft little tune as she walked to the teacher's desk and began the lesson.
How does Cecilia even teach when she cannot see?
Watching her raises more than one or two questions.
Not only does she move with perfect naturalness, as if her vision were completely clear, but earlier during our spar she had even known that my ability had turned red.
…Could it be that she can actually see?
Or perhaps her ability really is something like the mind's eye.
I still have two chances left to guess correctly.
Truthfully I do not have anything I particularly want to ask yet….
But simply possessing the right to request anything of a beauty like her is important in itself, is it not?
I absolutely must win that bet!
Then, suddenly, my gaze drifted to the seat beside me.
My empty partner's desk.
At first I had simply assumed it was a leftover seat after everyone sat with their close friends, but that was not the case.
Seats had been assigned by the teacher from the beginning.
Which meant the owner of this seat had not yet come to school….
My partner's name was definitely… Luna? Something like that.
A strangely familiar name. Had she appeared in How to Become a Hero?
But among the protagonist's friends there had been no one named Luna… Who was she?
Clatter!
At that moment the back door of the classroom suddenly opened and someone stepped into view.
A relatively petite build.
Loose ash-gray hair cascading all the way to her hips, swaying gently.
Slightly darker gray eyes coldly swept the interior of the classroom, and the students overwhelmed by that gaze froze in place.
An outfit that looked quite distant from the school uniform.
A black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, revealing a chest that seemed a little smaller than average.
A uniform jacket draped over her shoulders, and a school skirt that swayed cutely in contrast to her overall atmosphere.
And… red blood speckled across her slender white fingertips and her delicate face.
Only after seeing that pretty face did I finally remember who my seatmate was.
An organization called one of the two major families alongside the Shamash Family.
Unlike the relatively mild Shamash Family, a family famous for its brutality.
The boss of the Mors Family.
Luna Calliope.
That was the true identity of my seatmate who had not attended school until now.
Cecilia "looked" at Luna for a moment and opened her mouth.
"Aha. So you're Luna."
Luna likewise regarded Cecilia for a moment, then answered with a smile so pretty it could stop the world.
"Yes. That's right."
"I'm sorry. I was busy with family matters, so I could only come to school now."
"It's fine. Class is in session, so go sit in your seat."
"Yeees~."
She then scampered over and plopped down beside me.
"Long time no see. My Eli."
"…Huh?"
I was about to ask why I was hers, but the cute smile hanging on her lips made me seriously consider whether becoming Luna's might not be so bad after all.
Not bad at all?
While I was painting a surprisingly pleasant future inside my head, Luna suddenly nestled straight into my arms.
A thick scent of blood and an ashen smell that somehow called to mind the word "death" washed over me.
"I missed you……."
"Uh, uh?"
The motion was as natural as flowing water, as if she had repeated it dozens of times before.
While I sat there flustered, she burrowed even deeper and buried her face completely against my collarbone.
Then, as if she found my scent pleasant, she sniffed diligently before speaking.
"This scent is… Tania and Adele?"
She turned her head slightly and glared up at me.
At the same time a strange pressure radiated from her, and I heard the surrounding students hold their breath.
Yet somehow that expression and those eyes felt to me like nothing more than a sulk.
Stroke, stroke, stroke.
"……Hmph."
When I stroked her head she let out a tiny nasal sound and nestled back into my embrace.
Luna remained like that for the entire class.
Cecilia either had already been informed that Luna was that sort of child, or she simply chose not to point it out.
Or perhaps she truly could not see and therefore never noticed.
While gently stroking the head of Luna, who had already fallen asleep in my arms, I thought.
Adele, second daughter of the Lucia Guild.
Tania, youngest of the Shamash Family.
And now Luna, boss of the Mors Family.
Every one of them was someone an ordinary person could not even attempt to speak to once.
Yet how on earth had Elysia managed to grow so close to them?
The Elysia of How to Become a Hero had been a rather peculiar person.
Infinitely pure and naïve.
If one wished to put it unkindly, so kind she could be called a fool.
Regardless of who stood before her she approached, spoke, became friends, and even when pushed away she never gave up and approached again.
She covered the wounds her friends received with boundless love and sincerely shed tears for the pain of others.
A tender woman who grieved even over the death of a single small creature.
Always so airheaded that she sometimes ruined things, yet even that was lovable.
That was the Elysia I had seen in How to Become a Hero.
How could such an Elysia have received their love?
How could she have grown close to children who might one day become unprecedented villains?
No—rather, was it not precisely because she was that sort of Elysia that she could grow close to them?
No matter how much they might be called villains, the fact that they were people never changed.
They would have lived lives far more difficult and painful than most.
To survive they would have learned never to show their weak sides.
Having been taught only how to kill others and how to command subordinates effectively, they would have lived lonely lives.
They would have survived a world thick with sticky blood, experiencing murder and betrayal.
Wearing fake smiles before those who pretended to be friends.
Without even knowing what a real friend was.
To such girls, what meaning had Elysia held when she suddenly appeared before them?
She did not care about their origins.
She did not care about the things they had done.
Even if she did care, she told them that from now on they only needed to live kindly.
When they returned covered in blood she worried first.
When they were suffering she always came and held them.
Even when they rejected her and pushed her away she never gave up, approaching again to embrace them with unconditional love.
And being beautiful enough to stop one's breath was simply a bonus.
Was Elysia not, for them, a kind of salvation simply by existing?
If my thoughts were correct, I could somewhat understand why Tania and Adele protected me so fiercely.
Because she had been their first precious friend, and the light that first illuminated their dark lives.
With that, everything became clear, and one perfect conclusion emerged.
I, Elysia, am salvation and light simply by existing!
Moreover, being this pretty, I cannot help but wonder why pure white wings have not sprouted from my back.
No, wait—if wings were attached here, people would look at me and truly believe I was an angel.
They might even mistake themselves for dead, so perhaps it is better that I have no wings after all.
Ding-dong-dang-dong.
It seemed class had ended; the bell announcing the close of the Academy day rang out.
"That's all for today's class! Everyone go home carefully!"
Cecilia, despite being the teacher, got the most excited and dashed out first.
The students stared after her in disbelief, then one by one rose and began preparing to leave.
Then I should also head home… no, today I had promised to sleep at Tania's house, so I ought to go to Tania.
With that thought I tried to stand.
"……Luna?"
Luna, who had fallen asleep in my arms, showed no sign of waking.
"Um…?"
"……."
"Umm…?"
"……."
"If you could just come out a little…."
Since I could hardly fling her off, I was still groaning in place when—
"I knew you'd be like this."
—an unfamiliar voice came from behind me.
I turned and looked… and standing there was a slightly taller Luna with a far more impressive chest.
The long Luna gazed at me and opened her mouth.
"Long time no see, Elysia unnie."
Unnie…? What a wonderful sound that was…!
Just being called unnie once made my chest feel warm.
The long Luna lifted the Luna who had been nestled in my arms and roughly slung her over one shoulder as she spoke.
"You've had it rough because of this unnie since the start of the semester."
"Uh…? No, it's fine…."
The Luna being carried still showed no sign of waking….
The Luna carrying Luna—that is, the girl who appeared to be Luna's younger sister—gave me a small, familiar nod of greeting and left the classroom.