Threads Begin to Tangle
She brushed her softly swaying silver hair aside and met my eyes. Then she simply stood there, hands folded demurely before her, gazing quietly up at me.
How on earth had this girl found me here? I truly had no idea.
"How did you get here?"
"I followed you yesterday, Unni! It was easier than I expected!"
That bright, beaming smile of hers was just a little irritating — and no, that was not my imagination. How had she even managed to track me? I may not look it, but my movements were frighteningly quick. This felt a bit much.
"Haa... So why exactly did you follow me? Honestly, I don't think I've been all that kind to you."
I had insulted her to her face and even mocked her as a pathetic mage. What could she possibly be thinking, chasing after me like this?
But Lunel only tilted her head, looking genuinely puzzled.
"Huh? But you helped me with everything you had. Isn't it only natural to come say thank you?"
With everything I had, she said. Good grief... All I had done was smash every monster that popped up in front of us. Granted, dealing with them through magic alone would have been difficult for her, but she was the protagonist. She wasn't going to die. If she ever collapsed, someone would probably appear the moment a monster reached for her — the male lead, for instance.
"No, haa... Never mind. So you came to thank me, then?"
If that were all, I would have counted myself lucky. The problem was that it almost certainly wasn't. If she had come all this way, there had to be something else. The trouble was, I had no idea what.
She nodded with great enthusiasm. There was something faintly puppy-like about her. I half expected her to stick out her tongue and start panting at any moment.
"Because you helped me, Unni! I wanted to be with you, so I came!"
Was she seriously this naive? The person standing in front of you is a villainess, you know. Someone whose head is full of plans to torment you. And yet this foolish girl, knowing nothing of any of that, was saying she wanted to be with me.
It was almost funny. Opening her heart this wide over a single act of help.
The old me would never have imagined such a thing.
"Unni...?"
Somehow it put me in a foul mood. I simply could not believe anyone could be this bright and innocent. She felt like a completely different kind of person from me.
I kept staring at her in silence, and she seemed to catch on at last. Her gaze slid away from mine as she fidgeted, clearly at a loss.
Still, needlessly bullying a girl like this would have been petty even for me. Villainess or not, there was no harm in playing along for now. Besides, if she stayed by my side long enough to slowly realize I disliked her, she might drift away on her own.
"Haa... Fine. What is it you want to do?"
So I asked. What exactly was she after, approaching me like this?
The girl stepped closer and took my hands in hers. She came at me so one-sidedly it was as if she had not the slightest interest in knowing how I felt.
Smiling with pure, unshadowed happiness, she said:
"Spend just one day with me! I went through a lot of trouble looking for you, Unni."
Just that — a simple invitation to hang out. It was not a date. She probably meant it as friends, not as anything romantic.
In that case, using the opportunity to tank her affection for me as much as possible did not seem like a bad idea.
I gave a soft little laugh and nodded readily. She had no idea what I was thinking, and she looked happier than anything.
You foolish girl. I fully intend to treat you so badly you'll regret ever getting involved with me. And yet here you are, delighted without a clue.
I snickered under my breath and took her hands in return, playing the part of someone gentle.
Well, and I knew nothing about this city anyway. Tagging along with Lunel and learning the lay of the land did not sound so terrible.
And right now, I was more than a little overwhelmed.
This girl simply did not know how to get tired. She was tearing all over the place! What even was this? It was terrifying!
"Um, Lunel? Hold on a second. Let's rest just a little, okay?"
"But we haven't finished picking out clothes yet!"
I was genuinely about to lose my mind. When I told her that a villainous young lady like me had no money and could not buy a thing, she had declared she would buy them for me and proceeded to ransack every clothing shop in sight.
"No, wait — why are you buying me clothes in the first place?"
Was it not perfectly reasonable to find this absurd? How long had she even known me? Not so much as a full day had passed since our first meeting, and suddenly she wanted to buy me clothes. Of course I was at a loss!
"But it looks like you're just rotating the same few outfits, Unni."
Ugh... that one stung a little. Was this some kind of woman's intuition? Even so, how had she figured that out? I had been trying reasonably hard not to let it show.
I flicked my eyes elsewhere, and Lunel began looking at me with something like pity. It was strange. Deeply, thoroughly strange.
I could not understand why I disliked this girl so much. I only owned a few outfits; accepting a couple more would hardly have mattered.
It felt like envy — resentment that she had something I did not. An emotion I could not even understand in myself, something strange I could not put into words...
I let out a long breath. At this rate I was going to look like someone who had completely lost it.
A villainous young lady and a madwoman were not the same thing. Mockery had to be grounded in fact; flinging random insults around would not stick. She might pull away, sure, but only into the kind of distance where people feel sorry for the unhinged — not genuine dislike.
I stared at her a moment longer, then opened my mouth.
"Don't tell me you're pitying me."
"Huh?"
My voice came out sounding irritated. Hey... I had not even been aiming for that. It had just slipped out, and somehow it sounded every bit the villainess. Cold enough to send a chill down the spine.
"Well, I wouldn't go so far as to call it pity..."
"Offering to give someone clothes for nothing — if that isn't pity, what is it? And we barely even know each other."
And honestly, I was not wrong. Strictly speaking, we were still little more than strangers who had met less than a day ago.
We were not close friends. Suddenly offering to buy someone clothes would look to anyone like charity tossed at a beggar.
Of course Lunel had not meant it that way. Kind-hearted heroine that she was, she would never have set out to pity me and hand out alms on a whim.
But that was how it felt to me. So I needed to draw a clear line.
Only after hearing me out did Lunel seem to realize what she had been about to do. Her eyes welled up as she hung her head.
"Ah... uh... I-I'm sorry. I really didn't mean it like that."
Hopelessly soft-hearted. How did she expect to survive in a harsh world like this? The game's Eriana had been a sheltered young lady who knew nothing of the world, so she could never have offered advice like this — but I was different.
What filled this body was a man who had lived more than a few years already.
Thinking about it, the whole picture was a little ridiculous. Here I was, doling out life advice like some older woman of experience, when the person inside was some random middle-aged guy.
Hm... Did it matter? Either way, I could not just leave her this naive.
The girl who had been staring at the ground in silence finally seemed to make up her mind and lifted her head. Looking straight into my eyes, still holding my hands, she said:
"Then... could we start by being friends?"
"Huh?"
Suddenly? The conversation was going there? This girl was not entirely normal either. Most people would have given up by this point, but she apparently did not know how to quit when it came to relationships.
I had never met anyone like her. In the game she had been infamous as an endlessly kind, passive protagonist — so why was she so forward here?
I scratched my head. After she had gone this far, brushing her off felt a little awkward. But I needed her to dislike me. What was I supposed to do?
I closed my eyes and thought for a moment, then reached a conclusion.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think that will work."
Still holding her hands, I gently pushed her back. It was pitiful, but it could not be helped. Getting any closer to this girl might wreck my plans for a comfortable, well-fed life.
"Eh...?"
The stunned look in Lunel's eyes was quite something. Damn it. Why did my conscience have to twinge over this...?
"We aren't close enough to be friends. Moving too fast tends to make things uncomfortable."
She stared at me in complete silence, eyes wide. She clearly had not expected this reaction. And yet there was a strange stickiness clinging to her gaze.
It was a hard emotion to understand. As if she wanted to cling to me. A kind of obsession, maybe?
"I see. Ufufu... All right. If you put it that way, I can't really say anything more."
So she understood. I supposed I should call that a relief.
"Still, if the chance ever comes... let's definitely become friends."
Saying so, she quietly stepped closer again — as if she wanted to press her feelings against me until they reached me.
What a strange girl, I thought.
Somehow, I had the distinct feeling she was going to become an enormous headache.