The Flower Crown of Reconciliation
Haruna was burying her face in the bed.
To her, it was similar to the common blanket-kicking behavior.
Why, why, why did I say that! Idiot, idiot, idiot!
And her face pounding on the bed like a drum was as red as a beet.
Moreover, why did they bring me to the mansion...?
Haruna had only known Lugna, her personal maid, and her parents since childhood.
For her, it was the first time in her life to talk directly with girls her age.
The Ray family had a low standing even among nobles, and although Haruna had innate mana, her body was weak by nature, so she lived only in the mansion and the courtyard in front of the house.
But then her father died in a battle against the Demon Race, and on top of that, her mother contracted a severe illness.
It was an unknown rare disease.
A disease where demonic energy accumulates in the body and kills it. Dark Mana Disease.
Originally, humans can expel demonic energy naturally even if it enters, but those afflicted with Dark Mana Disease cannot.
Although it can be expelled to some extent with holy attribute magic, it was only a temporary measure.
No matter how young and immature she was, she knew that her mother wouldn't live long.
Her mother was staying in the monastery for treatment, and while thinking of giving her a flower crown as a gift, she was making one.
She discovered a girl who looked exactly like the girl in her favorite fairy tale book.
Coincidentally, it was the girl Haruna liked most in the fairy tale book.
Platinum blonde hair, platinum eyes.
So, without thinking, she stuck to them, suddenly became friends, and asked if she could use the flower crown.
It was inevitable for Haruna, since she was very happy.
However, the shock of being rejected was also great. Nothing was her own, whether it was her parents' business, the family's business, or her own.
She ended up crying a lot because various complex emotions rose up.
But now, it was extremely embarrassing.
She had to go apologize to her mother.
But outside, it seemed like the kids were talking to Lugna, so she couldn't leave the room.
Waaah... when are they leaving?
She got up from the bed where she had been pounding her head, came back, and listened to the door with her ear. It seemed like they were talking about something.
What were they talking about to bring me to this mansion.
When asked if they wanted to have a meal together, she waved her hand and refused.
To eat a meal with someone who just rejected me again?
I can't do it even if I die.
In fact, she wanted to, but Haruna was afraid of being rejected again.
So, until they leave, she thought she would read a book, so she took out a book from the bookshelf and read it.
Nice. The protagonist in the novel is...
She read the parts she liked over and over again.
How many times she wished to be the protagonist in the novel, but the power given to Haruna was only weak mana that could make a sprout and blow a bit of wind.
If Haruna was the saintess, she could save her father, mother, and anyone.
But she wasn't chosen, nor special.
She already knew that.
In a fit of anger, she was about to throw the book away.
At that moment, a knock sounded from the door.
"Haruna?"
"......?!"
This voice was definitely Therese's. A girl with blonde hair and bright, energetic appearance.
The first kind of knock sound she had heard since excluding the maid and parents. Her room that no one had entered.
Why, why?
Haruna's heart was beating so hard that it was far from just tension.
In a daze, Haruna stumbled and fell.
"Kya!"
With that scream, the door creaked open.
Haruna had no choice but to look at the opening door with a desperate heart.
"Eh... Haruna?"
Before entering the room, she knocked and called the name, then suddenly a big sound "kuung" accompanied by her scream, so she opened the door and entered.
What she saw in her eyes was Haruna sitting with her face covered by her palms.
Assuming she was sitting because she fell, why was she covering her face?
Eli, standing behind her, was also looking at Haruna with surprised eyes.
"Why are you covering your face...?"
Then Haruna, still covering her face, said with a trembling voice.
"You said you don't want to see me again..."
Although it was a bit different from my memory, but since it was the same anyway, she stayed quiet.
The shock of Eli's rejection was so great that it couldn't even be seen in the face. The heart was more hurt than thought.
But now we came to be friends with Haruna.
"Eli."
When I called Eli, Eli stood in front of Haruna.
Then, fiddling with her hands hesitantly, she opened her mouth.
"Um... I'll call you Haruna."
With that, Haruna slightly lifted her hand from covering her face and looked at Eli.
"Eh, you said not to talk to me again. It wasn't sincere."
Haruna removed the hand she was covering with and looked directly at Eli.
Her expression was one of disbelief.
"Really...?"
Eli, upon being asked, opened her mouth and said tick tick.
"Become friends with us.... No, please become friends."
Eli bowed her head.
"Eh, lie. Anyway, I came because Lugna asked, no choice... ? No one likes weird kids like me who have no sense."
Haruna, in embarrassment, unconsciously used casual speech (banmal).
From my memory, Haruna was a character who alternated between banmal and formal speech.
When she got closer, she used banmal unconsciously.
Is it a sign that she's getting closer?
"Ah, anyway, go away. No need to pity me."
She doesn't become friends with just a few words.
If the world was solved like this, the whole world wouldn't suffer while living.
But how old am I now, I'm trapped in the body of a 12-year-old girl, but I've experienced all the bitter tastes of society as an adult.
I had prepared something that Haruna would like in advance.
I hid the thing behind my back and gave it to Eli.
Then Eli took the thing and put flowers on Haruna's head.
The flower crown we made together. Since my handiwork was not good, most of it was made by Eli, but we can say we made it together.
"Eh.... This is..."
"It's a gift."
Eli and I said at the same time.
When reconciling, the way of speaking is important, but above all, a gift with heart is the best.
Haruna fiddled with the flower crown on her head. It was awkward and crooked at first, but it was a thing that showed she made it with effort.
- Eh, eh, it broke Eli! What to do?
- Tere, just stick to me. Grab here. Yeah? No, if you grab like that...
- M-maybe sorry....
I didn't know making a flower crown was that hard.
How many times I broke it. Each time, Eli's eyes looking at me were sharp.
Later, I did nothing, and at the end, I stuck to Eli's side and took on the role of cheering.
"This is, made in the garden over there?"
"Yeah. Lugna said it's okay to make it there."
Haruna, hearing my answer, looked at us again.
Our hands and faces were messy with dirt.
Haruna looked at us, then at the flower crown, and smiled.
Eli and I looked at each other's faces.
This is success.
A sincere gift one shot is the best.
Eli also had a satisfied expression.
I looked at such Eli and recalled the conversation she had before coming here.
※
"So, can you play with the young lady until then?"
"Then the child will lose both parents.... But."
Eli muttered. Who would have thought the girl would be in such a situation.
"Eli?"
Eli just held my hand tightly instead of answering.
I looked at Eli and said.
"Eli. I want to be friends with Haruna. And if possible."
I want to help her parents with the power of the saintess.
But I couldn't say that, so I looked into Eli's eyes.
If the fact that I'm the saintess becomes known and Eli and I distance each other, then it would get closer to the original novel's development.
That was what I feared.
Eli looked at my eyes and stayed quiet for a long time.
After a while, she looked down at the floor, then looked back at me, and turned her head to look at Lugna.
"I understand. And. Please let me meet Haruna's mother."
What? My mouth opened wide at Eli's declaration.
Just a moment ago, Eli was hesitating. Afraid that being a saintess would be revealed, and since Eli values being with me, I thought persuasion would be difficult.
And I was afraid something from the original novel would happen, so I couldn't say I want to save Haruna's mother.
But Eli said it herself.
Eli's this point was happy, but I had a question.
Why? A very simple question.
Then, according to the suggestion to make a flower crown before apologizing, Eli and I went to the garden in front of the mansion to make a flower crown.
I heard that Haruna likes sunflowers the most, so I made the flower crown with sunflowers mainly.
While making the flower crown, I asked Eli.
"... Are you okay? That, in various ways."
"Yeah."
Eli was strangely attached to me, so I thought she wouldn't care about other kids.
"I, I want to apologize."
Eli is the villain in the original novel. The villain who opposes the protagonist at the end.
"After hearing that you'll die soon, I thought inside. It's not related to me. Being with you is important."
But is Eli really Sera from the original novel? I thought of the possibility of twins, but it was an impossible hypothesis.
"But that's not possible. There's power to save."
So if Sera from the original novel is Eli, I don't know why she used a different name.
"Hiding that I'm the saintess, what for. And a person who can't save even one peer, how can she be a saintess."
I don't know why she's so attached to me.
"I want to be with Tere, but I don't want to abandon many things because of that. Because I can't be bold later."
I don't know why she's so righteous and noble yet caused the kingdom's destruction and took many people's lives.
"So, I'll enter the academy as a proper saintess. With you."
Why.
That word kept circling in my mouth.
※
After that, we spent time talking with Haruna.
Haruna was shy at first, then from the middle she was excited and talked the most among the three of us.
And Haruna was the first to fall asleep.
Haruna's bed was very large, so even the three of us could lie down without any shortage.
Eli with Haruna was kinder than I thought.
Of course, she sometimes showed actions similar to jealousy.
For example, when Haruna tried to sit next to me, she took the seat first.
When Haruna talked to me, she spoke before I answered.
When lying on the bed to sleep, she took my seat first, and so on.
It seemed she wanted to be with me when doing something, rather than wanting to do something with me.
In the meantime, she didn't care if someone else was there. Since Haruna sticking didn't make her look unpleasant or bad.
So it was closer to obsession than jealousy.
The emotion was closer to love than obsession.
"Eli."
"Yeah."
Why do you like me so much?
Who are you really?
Who am I?
I wanted to ask that, but my mouth got stuck and eventually closed.
Tomorrow I have to go to the cathedral to meet Haruna's mother.
Eli's task to find Haruna's mother was only one thing.
Don't make her heart sad, let's go.
"Good night."
Eli answered by holding my hand tightly instead.
Everything will be clear when we go to the academy.
I thought that.
Since the prologue of the original novel hasn't started yet.