The First Date in the North Empty Lot
Are we lovers? Lovers—a man and a woman who realize they like each other and start dating. A relationship where they giggle and act all bubbly, or perhaps one where they shyly share sweet moments. 'Is that not it?' I don't really know. Truth be told, I’ve only ever heard about romance. I’ve never actually experienced it myself.
Eline’s unwavering gaze was still fixed on me, and I knew that if this silence dragged on any longer, there was no telling what might happen. I thought calmly. I had confessed. And she had said, "I know." She had waited for me here, on this night road. For me.
"Hey."
I pushed all the stray thoughts aside. With only one thing on my mind, I spoke to her. "Are we... dating?"
Her eyebrows twitched, just a fraction. "..."
The light from the streetlamp cast a shadow over her face, darkening her eyes. It was scary. But I had to be sure of the situation, so I couldn't back down. "I confessed back then... but you didn't give me a clear answer, so I thought you’d rejected me."
Eline let out a faint sigh after hearing my words. "I said... 'I know,' didn't I?"
That was true. "Right."
"Isn't that the answer?"
That was true as well. Hmm... right, I’m dating. I'm dating 'Eline'. ...Wait, why?
Eline watched my reaction for a moment, as if observing me, and then, as if she didn't want to waste any more time, she brushed her hair behind her ears. "Tomorrow."
"Huh?"
"Come to the academy's North Empty Lot by 9:00 AM tomorrow."
"Okay."
She said 'okay.' I’ve learned that sometimes people don't open their mouths because they have nothing to say, but sometimes, they stay silent because they have too much to say.
I stared blankly at Eline’s back as she disappeared after delivering her one-sided notification, as if her business was done. Her back, that unshakeable silhouette of the Eline I had always seen, stayed in my line of sight until she vanished beyond the school grounds.
When the night wind blew fiercely, as if telling me to go inside, I was pushed into my room. I turned off the lights and lay down quietly, staring at the ceiling. A few friendly gnats were drawing arcs in the air.
Tomorrow, 9:00 AM, academy North Empty Lot. Let’s organize my thoughts. Eline said it with her own mouth. 'Lovers.' That means she accepted my confession. So, let’s bring in some extremely reasonable common sense. I closed my eyes and imagined an angel in my head, then posed a question.
'Angel, I confessed and she accepted. Why would she accept?'
'Are you two in love?'
'I don't know.'
'Were you close for a long time?'
'No, we’ve barely even spoken.'
'Uh... um... are you from the same hometown?'
'No?'
'...Then why?'
'I told you, I don't know!'
The angel in my imagination pondered, frowned, then waved its hand and vanished. Not helpful at all.
Then, suddenly, 'Could it be that you had a connection with Eline without knowing it?' The angel in my imagination flashed, asked the question, and flapped its wings away.
'A connection with Eline...'
I rolled through the memories of the past two years. There were two major instances that could be considered a connection. When a troll used for first-year practical training escaped and went on a rampage, I had unintentionally shared the same shelter with her.
Even then, while the other kids were crying and in chaos, she was the only one who maintained her composure. And another time, during the final group project presentation in the first year. Yes, I think we talked a lot then. But I don't recall any conversation that had any real progress.
Thinking back to my second year, once the Alpha Class and Beta Class were divided, she was literally a being above the clouds. At most, I’d see her face once while walking, or catch a glimpse of her in the hallway, and naturally, there was even less chance to meet.
Hmm... I have no idea. Time flowed heartlessly, and a bluish light began to show over the mountains. The weekend morning that should have been happy had long since been cleanly shattered.
All day long, I was dying of curiosity as to what her intentions were, why she called me, and why she agreed to date me. Honestly, it still didn't feel real. Even if I met her today and she said, "Actually, it was a joke," I could have laughed it off.
'No, she told you to date! Why are you so suspicious!' Maybe if people around me heard this story, they would say that, but the person in question is Eline. *That* Eline.
For the past two years, she hadn't made a single friend, excluding group projects or collaborative work. She always went around alone, so it had become a very natural atmosphere. Isn't it just too absurd for her to have someone by her side, not as a friend, but as a lover?
Still, I got up and got ready. When I opened the closet, three identical uniforms were hanging next to each other as if by promise. In the academy, only the uniform was allowed in principle, so I didn't need any other clothes.
Of course, the personality-filled guys who wanted to show off decorated their uniforms themselves. They attached badges or medals, and some guys even wore capes that trailed behind them. Not that it had anything to do with me.
By the time the sun was slowly climbing over the mountain, I drank a glass of water and started heading toward the academy's North Empty Lot. Hoping, please, that nothing happens.
The weather was annoyingly sunny. Birds were chirping noisily, and in the lazy weekend atmosphere, freshmen were looking around the academy grounds, or students were walking around in groups, chatting. I would have been a part of that scenery, but not today. As I headed toward the North Empty Lot, my heart felt heavily weighed down.
The academy is built on a mountain, but its scale is massive. Because of that, even within the same academy, the atmosphere was different in each zone.
Especially the north, where most of the buildings had been demolished or left for repairs after an accident during magic experiments in the past, so a particularly gloomy energy was lingering there compared to other places. As I went further north, I could clearly see the number of students decreasing.
As soon as I arrived at the meeting place, the dilapidated equipment, the fountain that had stopped operating, and the benches caught my eye. The unique aesthetic of the empty lot existed, but it was definitely a quieter atmosphere than other empty lots. And she was sitting there.
Eline. She was sitting on a bench, quietly looking at the trees as if feeling the wind. ...She was beautiful. I might keep saying this, but the atmosphere was truly beautiful. Her silver hair was reflected in the sunlight and fluttered softly, and her blue eyes were as clear as the sea.
What made that atmosphere even more elegant was her attire. It was just a plain uniform, without any badges, capes, or medals to show off, but somehow, that neatness seemed to suit her noble atmosphere. The reason I couldn't easily talk to her was because of that atmosphere, too.
But today, I have to talk to her. I took a deep breath. And walked slowly.
Perhaps because there were no people around, she didn't show it, but Eline turned her head as if she felt my presence immediately, and our eyes met. Right, I'm not scared.
Subconsciously, my footsteps stopped. I had to keep moving, but I stopped. No. Actually, I'm scared to death. After creaking through such a stiff and awkward walk, I barely arrived in front of her, forced a smile as calmly as possible, and opened my mouth.
"Hi."
When I greeted her, Eline calmly looked at the watch on her wrist. "8:59."
She looked up at me. "That was close."
What was close? I didn't want to imagine it. "...Sorry."
Why are you sorry, you arrived on time. Please don't say weird things. Once again, they are fighting among themselves in my head. Regardless of the chaos in my head, Eline was already getting up from her seat. Now that I saw her, she was quite short.
Even when she stood up, she still had to look up at me. I never knew when I only saw her from afar, but the closer I looked, the more I kept learning things. Yesterday, and today. She knows how to express emotions, she's quite short. And unlike the cold feeling she always had, I could also feel a warm sensation.
...A warm sensation?
As I naturally lowered my head, my hands were overlapped. On top of Eline's hand. Wow, it's a hand. And she held my hand?
"...?"
How am I supposed to react to this?
As soon as my thought ended, she pulled me lightly. It was so natural that I didn't even realize it myself. "Let's go."
She was still expressionless, but she wasn't coercive. A fact I learned for the first time today: Eline's hands were very small and soft.
We walked. Probably for about 10 minutes, we walked alone on the quiet, deserted trail in the north of the academy. It wasn't a dream. I could feel the vivid sensation. When I turned my head, Eline, whose hair was fluttering in the cool spring breeze, was by my side. She held my hand and walked slowly through the school grounds, closing her eyes as if feeling the wind.
"Eline."
I gathered my courage and opened my mouth for the first time in 10 minutes.
"Yes."
A reply came back, calmly, just like Eline.
"Why did you accept?"
I didn't know how to speak slyly, and I didn't know how to treat women, so I just said it directly. Why did you accept, were you sure you accepted my confession? It was a statement that contained many meanings.
Her movement stopped for a moment, and she turned her head to look at me. "You confessed."
The same answer as yesterday. Because I confessed, she accepted. In a way, it was an obvious statement, but in another way, it was a statement that I really couldn't understand. So, why did you accept? That's what I'm curious about.
"Is that really the reason?"
"Yes."
She said 'yes.' Did she accept just because I confessed, without any reason? Then, if other people had confessed, would she have accepted theirs too? Thinking that way, my head seemed to be organizing, but at the same time...
"Eline."
"Yes."
"Even if someone else had confessed, would you have accepted?"
"No."
An immediate answer. An immediate answer that came out as soon as the words were finished. She calmly looked around with an expressionless face. As if she had come out for an outing for the first time in a while, she closed her eyes tightly as if feeling the wind and squeezed my hand tightly.
"Just."
And she said, "What?"
"Just because it's you."
"..."
When I confessed, the answer to why she accepted my confession was also 'just.' Actually, it was a penalty, but it didn't matter. Eline. She was a type that was really hard to understand. Does she know what kind of image she has? She is a being that any man in the academy looks up to. She is a person that no one can talk to because of her atmosphere.
'It doesn't seem like she would care about such things, though.'
If it were her, she would probably ignore such gazes. Because for the 2 years I had watched her, she was like that. She was a person who didn't care about other people's gazes.
That was how the walk ended 30 minutes later. Only after walking around the North Empty Lot and returning to the original fountain did she let go of my hand. My hand was a bit damp as if sweat had slightly stained it, but she didn't care.
"It was fun."
What on earth was fun? We just held hands and walked, what was fun? Ah, it's hard to understand. Are all geniuses like this?
"Lutes."
Hearing my name called in her clear voice, I felt truly strange.
"Yeah."
She took a light deep breath as if she were about to say something. "Did you eat?"
Ah, food. I didn't eat, of course. Where would I have time to eat something like that? I was so nervous that it wouldn't go down. But if I said I didn't eat here... I might make her feel sorry for no reason.
"I ate simply."
"Really?"
This would have been a decent answer, right? It was a moment. I saw Eline's lips, which were moving very slightly, go down just a little bit. ...No, wait, don't tell me. You're not disappointed because I didn't eat, are you?
"But I am hungry, so..."
Just in case, I corrected myself, and "I see." Eline's lips went up just a little bit. ...It shows. Perhaps... perhaps the thought that Eline might be a person with richer emotions than I thought began to permeate my head.
"Then let's go."
"To eat?"
She nodded. "Yes."
She held my hand again. "Let's go."
With a firm tone, regardless of my intentions, she was already dragging me. To the cafeteria.