I Liked You
"There we go! Of course I've been doing great. Did my little brother make the house a bit noisy for you? It's been so quiet lately that I've actually finished every book I own!"
"How about you, big brother? I've been sleeping like a baby. A good night's rest every night means I wake up feeling absolutely wonderful every morning! Is this what they mean when they say it pays to let people into your house?"
Elaine's arms trembled faintly. If this had been the old days, his fist would already be flying. But he had to hold it in now. He ground his teeth together.
"But hey, you've made something of yourself, haven't you? A nobody getting to set foot in the imperial palace—what a success!"
"I suppose you've been behaving yourself at the Academy? You certainly do a good job of playing the model student, don't you?"
"I couldn't care less what you do, but you know what happens on the day you bring shame upon House Forest, don't you?"
"Your very existence is a disgrace to our family! So you'd better work a hundred times, a thousand times harder to make up for it! Do you understand what your big brothers are telling you? Hm?"
One of the brothers jabbed a fist into Elaine's chest. It carried enough force to knock him back a step or two.
"Ugh, seriously!"
That was when Aidan, who had been watching this unfold, finally stepped in. He stomped over to the group.
"You're making all that racket, so how hard can it be to get through to him? Seems like the listening is the difficult part, not the understanding."
"Who the hell are you?"
Elaine was the only one startled by the newcomer's arrival. The brothers merely frowned down at the short, uninvited intruder who had barged in out of nowhere.
"……!"
Of course, that indifference didn't last long. They had spotted Bayul following behind him. In an instant, their faces changed as though they'd swapped one mask for another.
"…What brings you two here?"
"I was curious who was yelling so rudely in a public place, so I came to have a look. Oh, Elaine, you're here? And who's this?"
At Aidan's easygoing tone, Elaine hesitated a moment before making the introduction.
"…These are my older brothers. They graduated from the Academy last year and are helping Father with his work now."
"W-well, nice to meet you. Never thought I'd run into Elaine's friend in a place like this. I'm Farel, and this here is Warner."
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Aidan Shu Leonett."
Aidan said it slowly, putting deliberate weight on his family name. And just as he'd expected—
"Surely not the Count Leonett family?"
The brothers' eyes went round as saucers. The House of Leonett was an venerable family whose accumulated wealth made the Forest family look like nothing more than an afterthought. And the one who had sent the most extravagant gift for the Crown Prince's birthday this season had been none other than Aidan's grandfather, Count Leonett himself.
"My name is Bayul."
By the time Bayul had stepped forward and offered his own polite greeting, the two brothers found themselves momentarily speechless. With the Empire's most distinguished families all gathered here, the scions of two of the very greatest among them were bowing their heads to them.
What was more, by some means or other, they seemed quite close with Elaine. Even a worm will wiggle when it has to, as the saying goes—and this was exactly that kind of moment.
"So, is something the matter? Did Elaine do something wrong? From what we could overhear, it sounded like you were scolding him pretty harshly."
"…No, no! Scolding? It's nothing of the sort!"
"We just hadn't seen each other in a while, so things got a little… heated out of sheer joy at the reunion. There's no problem between us at all. Right, Elaine?"
Warner wrapped an arm around his younger brother's shoulders with an exaggerated laugh. Elaine's height forced him to stand awkwardly on tiptoe, but this was no time to worry about such things.
"That's strange. I could've sworn I heard something about family, and about disgrace… or was I mistaken? Bayul, did you hear anything?"
"Mmm, I think I heard something like that too. Or maybe I didn't? It's hard to say."
After the incident in the Forest of Corruption while searching for the Amal flower, Aidan's feelings toward Elaine hadn't been particularly warm. Even so, he'd stepped in because this was something he simply couldn't let slide.
Many ganging up on one. It was among the things Aidan despised most in this world.
"Elaine, it seems your friends here have some kind of misunderstanding. Why don't you clear it up for them?"
He was smiling, but his eyes were sharp as blades. It was a warning: explain yourself, and do it well.
"…It's just a matter between brothers. It's nothing, so you two stay out of it."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, so go on ahead. I'll talk with my brothers a bit more and head back after."
"Well, that's not going to work."
"…What?"
"Quinn and Logan were looking for you earlier. Let's go together."
"Looking for me…? Quinn and Logan?"
"Said they had something to discuss with you. Right, Bayul?"
"Yeah. Let's hurry before we miss them."
Bayul was equally against leaving Elaine behind like this. He took hold of Elaine's arm and urged him along.
"…Sounds like it must be urgent. Fine, Elaine. Go take care of it for now, and we'll talk more later."
They had no grounds to keep hold of him. And even if they had, given the standing of those boys' families, they would have had no choice but to let go. Farel released his younger brother with obvious reluctance, and Aidan and Bayul swept Elaine away from his brothers without so much as a parting bow.
"This should be far enough."
How long had they walked? When they reached a secluded spot, Elaine finally pulled his arm free of Bayul's grip.
"…You heard all of it, didn't you? What was that about?"
"About what?"
"Why did you drag me out of there?"
It was the sight he least wanted anyone to witness. His shame, his and his alone to bear, something he never wanted seen by anyone.
"What's with the attitude? You think I helped you because I like you or something?"
"Exactly, so why the meddling?! If you'd just left me alone, I would've handled it myself. Who do you two think you are, sticking your noses in?"
"Elaine, don't get angry, calm down. We're just friends, so…"
"Ha! Friends? You think a lowborn nobody like me could be friends with the likes of you?"
"And why not? Now that I'm looking at you properly, you're absolutely riddled with an inferiority complex, aren't you? I thought you were just some pompous pretty-boy living off his own smugness, but boy, was I ever wrong about you!"
At Aidan's needling, Elaine's face flushed crimson. Though his mother was now addressed as the respectable second wife, she had once been a maid. Thanks to her monopolizing their father's affection, Elaine had been tormented by his half-brothers ever since he was a child.
"What could you possibly know about me? People like you will never, ever understand."
"Then tell me. I'll listen, starting right now."
"…What?"
"People only understand each other when they talk. So go ahead—tell us. What are you so bitter about? Why does everything in the world have you so worked up? On the train, you caused that accident and spent the whole time fidgeting over how sorry you were, and now what are you so furious about? Was it really such a terrible crime that we couldn't just walk past while you were getting pushed around by your brothers? Tell me! What exactly is the problem?"
Faced with Aidan's audacious demand, Elaine momentarily lost his words. The last person who had told him to speak, promising they would listen, had been his teacher at the temple. No one since.
'Damn it all.'
It was this wretched, explosive temper of his again. He had lived his whole life pressing it down, down, and down again—only for it to erupt like a volcano the moment the time was ripe. Perhaps he reacted so sharply now because the part of himself he most wanted hidden had been laid bare. And as always, what followed was regret and self-reproach.
"…I'm sorry."
Aidan and Bayul waited for him in silence.
"…Thank you, a moment ago. I thought they were going to keep me stuck there for ages. As you could see, things between us are… not great."
"Same here, more or less. Aren't older brothers all like that, wherever you go?"
"Priest Wagner is someone very special to me. He hurt himself badly treating you, and since you never even said thank you, I was rather angry with you about it."
"Ah… so that's why…"
Suddenly, the boy's behavior made sense at last—the cold shoulder, the pointed silence, all of it.
"I'm a bit… hot-tempered, I suppose. I make mistakes often, and I go back and forth a lot, up here." He tapped his temple. "If you can put up with someone like me… could we be friends?"
The words had come out with great difficulty. Months had passed since he'd enrolled at the Academy, and Elaine still had no one he could call a friend. Largely because he'd built the walls himself.
"Obviously. If hot temper is the bar, I'm every bit as bad as you, so don't worry about it."
At Aidan's snickering laughter, a smile finally crept onto Elaine's lips. And on Bayul's face too bloomed a gentle grin—he knew what it was to clear up a misunderstanding with someone who had hated him without even knowing why, and to become their friend.
"By the way, what was that about Quinn looking for me? Was that true?"
"Oh, that?"
"You were looking for me? For whom, exactly?"
Just as the atmosphere was turning warm and friendly, a familiar voice cut in.
"Quinn, you made it?"
"How did they say you found us? Did you seriously track us down by smell?"
"What about me, exactly?"
"There's this thing. Nothing you need to know about."
"Say what, now?"
Quinn scowled in clear displeasure, but nobody paid him the slightest mind. For a while, the three boys cackled away, trading every last secret of their private lives with one another.
Chapter 7 — I Liked You
Time at the imperial palace passed more quickly than expected. Days of parties stretched on, and attending those parties was the delegation's entire daily duty—yet Bayul and his friends managed to fill the time with something genuinely fun and meaningful.
Tomorrow, they would return to the Academy.
To have somewhere to return to.
He had never known what that feeling was like before. So much had changed in just a few months. He had made friends, become a Spirit User, and for the first time in his life, belonged somewhere.
'Brother would have loved to see this.'
It was a night when thoughts of Bayil surfaced, unbidden. If they could have been together, it would have been a hundred times happier than this. His brother's absence ached anew, sharp and sorrowful.
"He is waiting for you inside."
At the attendant's guidance, Bayul nodded and stepped through the door.
"There you are."