Chapter 14
Translator: True Detective
014. Destiny
Hehehehe.
There is a saying called 'the beat of life'.
It's a very famous saying in France.
Does it mean to enjoy being alive itself?
I don't really know, hehe.
At first, I thought I was going to die, but I just ended up surviving.
...Why?
I totally love it, ahehe.
Should I say I'm amazed by my own wondrous vitality?
"...D-do you really not have any thoughts of just recuperating..."
"I don't, Teacher. I want to continue attending the academy."
I heard I barely managed to overcome the crisis thanks to the active role of the school nurse, Teacher Lena, who happened to be at the banquet hall or whatever. Hehehe.
But now just walking around has become difficult.
I have to go around leaning heavily on crutches for the time being or something?
Hehe. But that much is a total piece of cake.
I can do anything.
"Hey. With what intention are you even coming to classes? The ball got completely ruined because of you! I waited a whole year, but it's all because of you!"
"S-sorry..."
I absolutely must not skip things like magic classes or swordsmanship classes.
Because that's a direct route to failing a grade, suspension, and expulsion...!
Hehehe.
The teachers don't particularly pretend to know me either, they just check attendance, so it's fine if I secretly go and sit in the back.
It seems like they are trying to force me to drop out voluntarily, but it's all fine.
Because I just need to be by Yuna's side.
"...This won't do. The princess is denying everything related to the incident, Sister. That bitch must be truly crazy."
"Yeah. You have to be careful. Someday again..."
"You're saying that because you're worried she might harm you, Sister, right? Hmph, there's no need to particularly care about that. I'll handle everything. And..."
No, that's not it.
I was worried about what to do if she pulls something like that on Yuna again...
The princess didn't target Yuna for any particular special reason.
It was just because she looked similar to her.
It's to pin the death of her body double, Yuna, on her siblings and gain the upper hand in the race for the throne, ughhh.
Absolute evil itself.
She probably has no particular hard feelings towards me or Yuna personally.
Because she's truly an emotionless, psycho-like bitch...
Hehehe.
"Rest assured now. That blonde bitch we saw back then, I absolutely won't leave her alone. Hmph... Of course, it's not like I'm going to do anything in particular."
Clara backed away with a slightly murderous and scary look in her eyes.
But who is that bitch?
Is she talking about the princess?
More importantly than that, Yuna's birthday is coming up soon in April...!
I want to prepare a birthday present for her, but I don't see Yuna these days, whine, whine.
I heard she hasn't been coming to classes either...
"She asked me to convey her apologies for what happened last time instead, Aria Witri."
"...Yeah, yeah."
"However, I still don't know with what intention you committed such an act. How in the world did you know there was poison in that, and why did you go out of your way to save Yuna again."
That is...
I didn't save her.
My true identity must absolutely not be revealed.
Because then Yuna will receive a truly incredibly huge emotional wound.
So I have to restrain myself as much as possible.
Hehe.
So I hardened my expression.
"I have no particular intention. Just because I was bored. The person I'm bullying can't die like that."
Arcana narrowed her eyes.
I-is she suspecting me?
That won't do...
Arcana is Yuna's incredibly mysterious and peculiar friend.
A supporting character who occupies a considerable portion even within the game.
But because of her always expressionless face, I don't really know what she's thinking, whine whine.
"...Tell Yuna Castilla."
Tell her to take good care of herself because it's absolutely not her fault.
Hehe, tell her to show me her smiling face just once.
"That I don't care what happens to a bitch like her. That it was all a coincidence. That I was trying to gain trust by saving the princess, but ended up saving her by mistake."
"Yeah, understood."
When Arcana, with a puzzled expression, went back in and slammed the door shut bang!, a feeling of relief washed over me, phew...
Now it's almost Yuna's birthday.
Yuna will throw a super huge birthday party and invite all her friends in the neighborhood.
Because, because she's a child who easily feels lonely.
But naturally, I won't be invited there.
Even so, I want to give her a present.
Because wanting to give a present to the person you like is incredibly natural...
But I don't have any money right now.
Asking Clara to lend me some seems like an incredible nuisance too.
Then what would be a present that doesn't cost money that Yuna would like?
Hehehe. Actually, I already know the answer!
The answer is exactly...
Flowers!
Yuna is as pretty as a flower, so she likes flowers, hehe.
So if I gather this many bouquets of flowers and secretly deliver them to Yuna?
She'll be so happy she won't know what to do and will probably faint!
"Ah, ugh, ah..."
"What's with you? With what nerve do you keep showing up? If you catch my eye one more time, it won't just end with a kick to the shins then."
"Y-yeah..."
I moved busily and wandered all around the academy's flowerbeds.
And with my dirt-covered hands, I carefully dug out the flowers from the flowerbeds here and there and preciously brought them with me, hehehe.
This is a secluded forest path even within the super huge and wide academy.
If you keep going straight, it's a place connected to the mountain behind the academy to the north, where monsters appear in droves.
I was randomly picking pretty flowers that Yuna might like off the street there, when.
"...What are you doing, you."
Disheveled silver hair.
I faced a girl with a similar physique to mine, possessing dull and listless eyes.
The girl was crouching by the edge of a shaded tree, in the middle of watching me.
I knew who she was.
Alisa.
The true heroine of this game.
A 'regressing heroine' who becomes an irreplaceable companion to Yuna if you go for the hidden ending.
I heard that, according to the setting, her mind was worn down because she repeated the exact same loop over, and over, and over again, getting murdered and looping, getting murdered and looping, and getting murdered and looping.
Whine, whine. She's incredibly pitiful.
But it's all fine.
Because in the 'protagonist's playthrough' that Yuna plays, she gets saved by Yuna's active role.
Because even though she had given up, she sheds tears, rejoices incredibly, and snugly embraces Yuna's form.
Alisa thinks that destiny is already predetermined.
She thinks it's something that absolutely cannot be shattered.
But I don't think so.
Hehe. Right now, in the original game, I'm already dead.
But here, I am perfectly alive!
I changed my predetermined destiny.
Even a very faint movement or trivial action is enough.
The opportunity to change destiny comes looking for you just like that.
What remains is personal effort.
If you grit your teeth countless times, challenge the wall of irrational and absurd destiny, and repeat hundreds, thousands of failures.
Eventually, destiny is bound to change.
There is no such thing as a destiny that cannot be changed or a predetermined ending.
Because Yuna will make it so.
Ah. I talked about something too philosophical and difficult. Uhehe.
"...Aria Witri."
"Huh?"
"Why are you, still. That... hah. Never mind."
She wants to ask, 'Why are you alive?'
Of course.
Because in the worlds Alisa looped through, in a hundred out of a hundred, Aria would have totally died.
Whine, whine. But this isn't that kind of world.
"But, what are you doing?"
"Can't you tell by looking? I'm picking flowers!"
"...Flowers?"
Even though Alisa is a total little kid, she acts like a huge adult just because she looped a few times.
Even right now, she's wearing a fluttering pure white dress and a large straw hat to block the sunlight.
Hehehe. Total little kid fashion!
But she plonked down right next to me!
With our butts touching!
"...Why are you doing this?"
"Hehehe. It's a present."
"A present... A present? You are...?"
I quietly nodded my head.
"I see."
Alisa seemed a little piqued with interest.
Because a very slight vitality returned to her emerald eyes.
"Is it fun?"
"Yeah, yeah!"
"Who are you going to give it to?"
"That's a secret!"
Hehehe.
Of course it's Yuna.
I absolutely won't give them to you.
Of course, Alisa is pitiful and pretty too, but compared to Yuna, she falls far short!
Besides, her chest and height are exactly the same as mine!
"...Shall I help you?"
"No."
"Don't be like that. I'll help you a little. But are you coming tomorrow too?"
Hehehe. She must be incredibly bored.
I nodded my head enthusiastically.
Alisa.
She could not escape the academy.
Countless times, countless times.
Before graduating, she became a cold, dead corpse lying on the ground.
"I'm exhausted now..."
Having given up on everything, she was leaning her back against a tree like that.
Aria Witri.
A villainess who shouldn't exist in this current timeline is alive.
And with an incredibly bright face, as if something is so good.
'Hah.'
Alisa decided to watch her for the time being.
The single variable that occurred within the eternal loop.
'Well, not that I expected anything to particularly change...'
The moments spent with Aria Witri were.
For some reason, very, slightly.
Enjoyable.
So today as well, just as she was about to pop her face out toward Aria.
"...I guess today won't do."
There was a previous guest.
Yuna Castilla.
She was trudging toward Aria in a ruined state.
'...She looks a little dangerous.'
Alisa thought so.