Chapter 620: The Season is Autumn (9)
Chapter 620: The Season is Autumn (9)
Her weeping was long and deep.
As if determined to release all the sorrow of their long separation, dewdrops spilled incessantly from the girl’s eyes. Perhaps it was a psychological urge to be compensated for their tragic parting.
Even after she had wrung out her tears for a long while, the girl showed no intention of leaving the man’s embrace. Instead, with a dazed look in her eyes, she simply cupped his cheeks with her hands.
She still seemed unable to tell whether this was a dream or reality.
“Sob, hic… Why have you aged so much? Just how much have you suffered…?”
I’m in a body younger than when we first met.
The words rose to his throat, but the man held them back. It wasn't his own body, anyway.
Besides, it wasn't as if he didn't understand what she meant.
No matter how young the physical vessel was, it was impossible to hide the unique aura of a man who had weathered the storms of many years.
A soul worn thin.
His emotions and passions were now mere flickers. He was like a machine, operating solely on resentment and a sense of duty.
In fact, it was a miracle that he could even show a reaction like this.
The man tried to muster a bitter smile, but soon gave up.
His lips, which hadn't moved for years, couldn't even form a proper curve. They were like rusted gears that refused to turn.
Instead, the man clumsily stroked the girl’s back.
“I’m sorry, Sister Disciple.”
“Is that all you have to say…?”
The man flinched.
Rarely, his body trembled. A faint look of bewilderment spread through his golden eyes.
If it had been the man from just a short while ago, yes. It wouldn't have been strange for him to say "That's all" in a hollow tone. But the woman asking that question was the one he had loved more than anyone else.
He, too, was a human made of flesh and blood. He realized that fact anew today.
He hesitated, wavering.
Finally, the man spoke the truth he had buried deep within.
“I missed you.”
Only then did the girl break into a smile of pure bliss.
“Hehe.”
She eventually began to nuzzle her head against his chest.
A faint warmth began to radiate from the man’s face as well. His lips curled into the slightest of arcs.
It was just as this tender, ticklish atmosphere began to flow.
“Ahem, cough.”
At the sudden sound of someone clearing their throat, the two startled and turned their heads.
Standing at the source of the sound was a woman with dark blue hair.
The Great Witch.
The moment he realized who it was, the man tried to pull away from the girl, but he failed because she clung to him even tighter.
Of course, given the difference in their strength, he could have pushed her away if he wanted to. It was just that, for some reason, his arms lacked the will to do so.
Facing them, the Great Witch cleared her throat again.
“I tried to watch from a distance… but seeing you two still at it, I can only imagine what you were like in your prime.”
“W-What do you mean by that?”
As she spoke, Elsie tightened her grip on the man’s clothes. It was as if she were determined never to let her precious treasure be taken away.
Her reaction was beyond honest; it was blatant. It was enough to make the Great Witch let out a short, dry laugh.
The man was the one who maintained a more formal decorum.
“Master…”
“Hmph, who’s your master?”
But the Great Witch’s responding voice was merely grumpy. Even so, a playful smile soon played on her lips.
“My disciple isn't an old soul like you. He’s more innocent, more of an idiot… and therefore, someone with more potential to look forward to.”
“You mean that novice?”
“Watch your mouth.”
At the man’s retort, the Great Witch pouted. It seemed she didn't appreciate him insulting her disciple.
Even that sight reminded him of his own master.
For a moment, the man fell into the illusion that he had returned to the past. Those times were difficult, but they were more precious and happy than anything else.
It was then.
The Master, approaching without hesitation, stood on her tiptoes.
The man had been leaning down slightly to hold his petite lover. That was why the Great Witch’s hand was just barely able to reach the crown of his head.
“You did well.”
The man’s breath hitched.
It was a tone he hadn't heard in so very long. The gentle cadence the Master used only when praising her disciple.
It wasn't an imitation. It was a voice that would be impossible to produce without the affection built up over years.
There was no way the man wouldn't recognize it.
Was it not the very voice he had replayed in his mind countless times?
His mouth wouldn't open properly.
“You’ve worked so hard. You did so, so well… No matter what anyone says, you are my proud disciple.”
Then, the man instinctively spoke.
“No.”
He contradicted his master’s words. Even as he said it, he felt a pang of regret, but his argument was unwavering.
“I failed to fulfill your wishes, Master. I lost precious people time and again, I failed, I regretted… If only I had been better…!”
“Do you trust your master?”
Once again, he was silenced.
The man’s lips quivered, but in the end, he couldn't voice a rebuttal. He simply averted his gaze slightly.
“……Yes.”
“Then don't talk back. Honestly, I give you this precious time and I have to listen to my disciple’s lamentations…?”
With that, the Great Witch lightly bit down on her smoking pipe.
“Or so your master wanted to say.”
The next one to react was the girl.
Elsie immediately raised her voice in a question. Her blue pupils were trembling slightly.
“T-Then, Master is…!”
“She is gone now.”
Phew. The answer was exhaled along with a cloud of tobacco smoke.
The short, plain words allowed for not a shred of doubt. While the girl wore a look of daze, the Great Witch spoke the cruel truth once more.
“From the start, it was a will that could only be described as a ‘lingering attachment.’ What I took in wasn't the entirety of a soul or memories, unlike you two. It was just something left behind from a desperate wish made while dying… Even this would have been impossible if my foolish older sister hadn't confused the ‘Boundary’ with her barrier.”
Then, silence.
After hesitating for a while, the Great Witch finally let out a deep sigh and confessed the real reason she had stopped the two.
“……And you aren't unrelated to this, either.”
It was a euphemism, uncharacteristic of her.
It didn't take long to understand the meaning. If the summoning of the ‘Great Witch’ from the world the ‘man’ lived in was an exception, then the same would apply to the other person who had been summoned.
Surprisingly, the man was the first to react to that fact.
“How much time is left?”
His voice was heavy.
It was an ending he had already anticipated. The man had paid a staggering price to cross over to this world. He hadn't even dared to hope that his memories would be brought back for free.
Reuniting with his first love now?
It was an impossible miracle. Naturally, the end would come soon. That was why he had been so reluctant to acknowledge his feelings.
The fact that he had never been able to forget the girl.
It was painful enough as it was, and now today’s meeting would keep haunting him.
The question, laden with all sorts of emotions, brought a short answer.
“Very little.”
Terror returned to the girl’s face. It wasn't even despair; it was pure fear at the prospect of being separated from the man she loved so soon.
She didn't want to part.
That natural desire turned into tears that hung from the corners of her eyes. The man likely felt the same way.
Only then did the girl suddenly realize.
Why the man had looked away even after seeing her. If she was this terrified even before the parting had happened, how must the man feel, having already experienced that separation?
Just as the girl, trembling, gripped the man’s clothes.
“I’m glad.”
In a tone firmer than in her memories, the man tenderly stroked the girl’s hair.
“That we could meet again… and that you hadn't forgotten me all this time.”
As he spoke, the man managed to force the corners of his mouth upward.
At a glance, it looked more like a twitch than a smile, but the girl knew.
That it was the kindest expression the man could possibly make.
“……I’m glad.”
The woman wept. The man did not, but that was likely because he had forgotten how to cry.
However, the time for tears was short.
The remaining time was too precious for that.
Finally, the girl pretended as if nothing were wrong and asked.
“Hey, what are you going to do since you like me so much?”
The man didn't answer. It was a response similar to his usual self.
He didn't say things that were embarrassing to voice.
That fact fueled Elsie’s mischievousness.
“Did you just spend all your time wailing after I died? Saying things like, ‘I can’t forget Senior Elsie’… Hmm? Well? Surely you didn't stay alone after me, did you?”
It was a question meant purely as a joke.
The girl seemed certain of the answer she would receive. However, even after a long while, no answer came.
Because the man remained silent, subtly averting his eyes.
That was when the cracks began to appear in Elsie’s smile.
“A-Ahaha… R-Right! I suppose there could have been one or two after I died. You’re the man this Elsie Lainella fell for, after all. So… how many? Hmm? One? Two?”
Still, no answer.
The man’s gaze shifted even further to the side. Was it just her imagination, or were there faint beads of sweat forming on his forehead?
Soon, the girl’s smile crumbled completely.
“Then, three? Four… five… Hey, you!”
When no answer came to the very end, the girl, having reached the limit of her patience, finally raised her voice.
Even then, the man just silently opened and closed his fingers repeatedly.
Five, six, seven… or maybe a few more?
The girl, whose first love had been snatched away by women whose names she didn't even know, had no choice but to scream with bloodshot eyes.
“You… you philandering bastard!!!”
Thwack, thwack.
The man’s shins were kicked repeatedly by the girl. It was truly a tragic conclusion.
*
The next day.
“Ow, ow, ow…”
Waking up with a hangover, Ian groaned at the mysterious pain in his shins. Soon, a deep frown creased the man’s brow as he rolled up his pant legs.
“What is this…?”
His shins were bruised.
Ian was a powerhouse who had reached the level of High Expert. Naturally, it wasn't easy to inflict injury on his body, and it was even harder for such injuries to last more than a day.
Unless an unnaturally repetitive impact had been applied.
What on earth did I do?
Muttering to himself, Ian instinctively reached for the water bottle by his bedside.
A scrap of paper fluttered down.
Ian tilted his head and picked it up. On it, a short sentence was written in a scribbled hand.
[Thank you.]
Familiar handwriting, unfamiliar content.
Ian stared blankly at the words for a while. After a moment.
With a chuckle, the man’s hand tipped the water bottle back heartily. As the cold water flowed down his throat, he finally felt his mind clearing.
Well then, shall I start the day again?
Just as the man was about to stand up.
Flutter. A small scrap of paper that had been resting by his head fell.
A short sentence was written there as well.
[Meet me behind the observatory tonight.]
Only, he couldn't guess who the owner of that handwriting was.
It seemed the man’s autumn hadn't ended just yet.