025. Sincerity (3)
025. Sincerity (3)
"Wait! Where are you going, leaving the conversation like that..."
Clara cleanly ignored the likes of Rachel who was right in front of her.
And she hurriedly wedged herself between the two.
'Disgusting. It's seriously disgusting.'
Clara frowned as she scrutinized Alisa.
It felt like someone had brought a high-end doll and just scaled it up to human size.
Silver hair that sparkled blindingly under the artificial light caught her eye.
Looking at how messy it was, it didn't seem like she took much care of it, either.
'How dare she.'
How dare someone like that look at Aria with those eyes?
As if she were looking at some kind of lover, so lovingly.......
"Ha."
She had roughly grasped what kind of feelings that blonde bitch's group held for Aria Witri.
Even if she said so herself, Aria was second to none in the Academy when it came to looks.
Of course, the same went for herself, who looked exactly like Aria.
"Get away! Who do you think you're touching?"
"Huh?"
"I told you to get away, you lowlife! How dare you lay your dirty hands on a young lady of the Witri Family!"
Having said that, Clara smacked Alisa's hand away.
Clara had tried to put as much strength into it as she could, but.
"Uung......."
To Alisa, it felt like being hit by a cotton ball.
Which meant it didn't feel all that unpleasant.
It was Rachel who ended up getting upset instead.
"What is this? If you didn't like Alisa approaching Aria, you should have just said so. How could you resort to such physical abuse...!"
"Hmph, just stop it and mind your own business. Before I make it so you can't hold your head up in this Academy."
"Have you said your piece? And is Aria even your property?"
That's right.
Clara quietly nodded.
You people are just dirty hypocrites anyway.
You're the type who only thinks about how to use Aria's looks.
You're the same type as that blonde bitch.
So, rather than yielding to bitches like that.
It was better for her to monopolize her.
Clara strode over to Aria, who was looking completely bewildered.
'Hing-hing. Are they, like, fighting because of me?'
Aria was genuinely, like, super confused.
Why were their voices suddenly getting so loud?
Why was her name being mentioned so much?
It was hard to understand.
It was, like, a bit hard to find the context of the conversation.
'Ugh. My head is, like, seriously hurting so much.......'
So, she just, like, put on a smiling face.
They wouldn't slap her if she was, like, smiling.
Uhehe. That was, like, a super smart thought.
Totally the best, just in itself.
However.
"Hmph, both of you listen well. Aria Witri is leaving the Academy now. This is all your fault."
Aria couldn't help but doubt her own ears.
"W-what does that mean......?"
"You promised, sister."
She had definitely helped Aria get into the ballroom.
Now it was Aria's turn to pay the price.
A fragrant flower.
Countless pests that shouldn't be associated with will swarm around a flower that is beautiful and fragrant beyond compare.
If it had no thorns and was brimming with nectar, it would only be worse, not better.
The same went for Aria.
She was a flower too fragrant and beautiful to be left at the Academy.
A being so dazzling that she drew everyone's attention at once.
Those guys were just bewitched by such a being.
People with no love, no cause, no friendship, nothing.
It was truly beyond contempt.
'Sister bullied you? You're going to take revenge using just that as an excuse?'
What a ridiculous thing to say.
The strong rule the weak.
The Aria Witri of the past was a strong person in both name and reality.
So, it was fine to bully others. It was fine to make them suffer until they couldn't take it anymore.
Because sister was strong.
But for those who were sneakily bullying Aria Witri using that natural order as an excuse.
Clara could no longer stand it.
So, she made a decision.
"......As the next successor of the Witri Family, I order Aria Witri to withdraw. Right now. And as soon as preparations are complete, I will escort her to the Northern Territory."
However.
An unexpected, loud shout came from behind.
"No, no, no!!!"
Aria screamed as if she were wailing and lunged at Clara.
"I-iik!!! What are you doing!"
"I don't want to! I-it's not time yet! No! It's not time yet!"
"Wait! Let go! Let go and talk! D-don't pull my hair!!!"
Clara was the successor of the Witri Family.
And she was, like, a piece of meat lower than a human who had just been kicked out of the Witri Family.
Like, like, how on earth did she even escape that place?
She couldn't just crawl back in on her own two feet.
At least, not yet.
'Yuna.'
She had passed on something, like, super, super important to Yuna.
But she didn't know if Yuna had checked it or not.
So, she had to see it with her own two eyes.
Yuna would face a significant hurdle in this Advancement Evaluation.
It was super unreasonable, and if she messed up, she'd head straight for a bad ending.
Even if she made just one wrong choice by mistake, like, like.......
'Yuna will become a wreck.'
For Yuna, who was super prone to loneliness.
Like, like, losing all her friends would be, like, a totally super serious thing.
So she had to go.
So, at least until then.
Until then, she still.......
'I, I want to, move, my body.'
The two began to struggle wildly while clinging to each other.
Then, thud. Clara lost her center of gravity and fell onto the bed.
And this time, it became a situation where Aria was pinning her down from above.
"J-just let go of my hair and talk!!!"
"No, I'm not going! I won't go! Absolutely not! It's not time yet!!!"
"You promised!!! Why are you so stubborn!!!"
"No, no, no!!!"
The two watched in silence as the two girls who looked similar fought with each other.
"W-what is this."
Around the time Rachel was momentarily speechless and dazed.
'Aria, hang in there....'
Alisa quietly clasped her hands together and prayed earnestly.
"I get it, so let go!!! Let go! J-just let go and talk!!!"
"R-really? Is that true?"
"Yes!!! Sister, please let go!!!"
As Aria let go of her hair and backed away.
Clara, who had tears pricking her eyes from the pain, checked her disheveled clothes.
'It, it didn't feel bad, though. But this is too violent....'
Thinking that, Clara glared at Aria and shouted.
"But you promised! You said you would go!"
"That's true...... but...."
Hing-hing.
A promise is a promise.
Besides, Clara Witri.
Even though she clearly hated her, she had helped her twice.
And she had provided huge help so that she could appear in the ballroom with a bang.
Hing-hing-hing.
She couldn't, like, betray her benefactor and do something like that.
Whether that person hated her or not.
'But right now, it's absolutely impossible.'
Because Yuna.
Because Yuna Castilla hadn't fully stood on her own two feet yet.
Like, like, she would definitely need her help.......
So she couldn't, like, set off on a journey to the North with no promise of return, hing-hing.
'S-she must be thinking that letting me go was a mistake.......'
Aria's father was a super, super strict person.
Even when she tried to recall the faint memories of her childhood.
There was only one moment when her father was happy.
'So.......'
He must have felt a huge, huge sense of betrayal and anger when Aria Witri's 'true' lineage was revealed.
I-it really hurt. Really. Hing-hing-hing.
She had barely escaped from a place like that, and now he wanted her to go back.
'I'm not even part of the Witri Family anymore.'
Aria thought so.
And.
Those thoughts were reflected in her expression without filter.
Aria made a, like, hing-hing, teary-eyed expression.
Right in front of Clara.
At that moment.
'Are you...... scared?'
Clara was a bit bewildered.
Because this was the first time she had seen Aria's terrified expression.
'Was it...... that scary?'
She realized a little bit what kind of things she had done.
She even ended up dwelling on what Aria had gone through there.
"Ha...."
For once, it was a bit disgusting.
Even Clara, who possessed a broken personality and a temperament that resembled Aria's—cold and heartless—couldn't help but feel a bit sick.
For once, she couldn't brazenly hold her head up.
After all, Clara had admired Aria.
And she didn't exactly have a hobby of watching the person she admired make such a teary-eyed expression.
There are times when you can mock someone, and times when you shouldn't.
Now was exactly that kind of time.
'......I can't, force her.'
It was just that.
Aria slowly.
Very slowly, she placed her hand on Clara's messy hair.
And very gently and softly.
She stroked it.
'Don't, like, little kids super, super love this?'
She didn't have any other intentions.
Memories of her past life had just surfaced faintly.
An orphanage.
When the younger siblings had a gloomy expression, there was only one way to cheer them up.
Like, stroking them a lot.
Then the siblings would, like, love it so much.
Clara also smiled a little with a relaxed face.
Seeing that, Aria felt super relieved.
She was a young lady of the Witri Family.
It was natural for her to hate her, but.
'Still, at least, for now.'
Like, like, she wanted to take care of her.
So she was just doing what she could.
Because Aria was fundamentally kind.
Though she herself didn't really know it.
"B-but...... why can't you. Aria-unni."
Because, like, a super important thing was coming up for Yuna soon.
Because she had to help Yuna.
"Because the Advancement Evaluation is coming up soon...... I, I have to go to that."
Everyone looked at Aria with surprised eyes.
'With a body like that......?'