Ryuu Kusari no Ori -Kokoro no Uchi no “Kokoro”-

Volume 4 Chapter 2.2

Patchwork Obsession Part 2

Translator : PolterGlast

A room in the boys' dormitory.

Nozomu, the owner of this room, was getting ready for school in a brisk manner.

The town was still enveloped in dim darkness. It was clearly too early. He dressed in his school uniform and was about to put his katana at his waist......

"......!"

The numbness that suddenly ran up his arm made him wince. He frowned at the numbness that suddenly ran up his arm. He put strength into his arm, which was about to drop the katana.

He managed to put it strapped to his waist without dropping his master's memento.

"That was-...... as expected."

The numbness quickly subsided and the sensation returned. Nozomu could guess what was causing this numbness. Last night, too, he had dreamed of the Dragon King.

"Phew....... alright."

He took a deep breath. Although the anxiety lingered, it quickly calmed down.

After checking his appearance and steeling himself, Nozomu left his room with a bag containing his breakfast and study materials that he had prepared in advance.

Upon leaving the dormitory, Nozomu headed north. The border between the civil and administrative districts. There, he found the building he was heading for.

The Solminati Academy girls' dormitory. Nozomu waited for the person in question to come out of the main gate across the street.

Female students came out of the entrance of the dormitory one after another. When they saw Nozomu in front of the girls' dormitory, they all tilted their heads in unison. Waiting in a place like this would naturally attract attention.

However, Nozomu paid no heed to their stares and kept his eyes fixed on the front gate of the girls' dormitory.

Then, the expected person appeared.

"Lisa, are you all right?"

"Like I said, I'm fine......"

There stood two girls, Lisa with a somewhat gloomy expression on her face, and Camilla, who was standing by her side showing concern for her.

The face of Lisa was pale and she had dark circles under her eyes. She was obviously sleep-deprived. Despite his concern about her condition, Nozomu shifted his mind and walked over to them.

"You......!?"

Camilla wore a surprised expression, then stepped in between Lisa and Nozomu as if to protect her.

But her eyes wavered erratically and lacked composure.

She, too, was one of the people who had framed Nozomu, but at the same time, she was carrying some special circumstances. Nozomu took a deep breath to relax himself, then slowly opened his mouth to Lisa and Camilla.

"Lisa, it's been a while. I believe it's been about two weeks?"

The voice that came out of his mouth as he faced them once again was calmer than Nozomu himself had expected.

"So do you, Camilla. Though I lost myself in anger in the forest, sorry about that."

"How......?"

(......Yep, my mind is calm.)

Facing them like this, Nozomu came to realize something.

His anger did not well up anymore.

Camilla probably did not expect to be spoken to in such a calm tone. She was surprised by Nozomu's quiet and calm voice. Her eyes widened.

"A-A-......."

"Lisa?"

However, on the other hand, Lisa's behavior was strange. Her complexion had gone pale. Her eyes were unfocused and wide open.

Her expression did not seem to indicate that she was okay.

Another important person also appeared here.

"W-Why are you here ......!?"

"Ken, huh......."

Ken was so surprised to see Nozomu here that his face contorted into an ugly smile for a moment, but then he immediately smiled as usual. After that, he ignored Nozomu and walked toward Lisa.

"Good morning Lisa. Sorry, I'm late. It must be a disaster to get tangled up with this guy so early in the morning. Come on, let's go ......"

Ken tried to take Lisa's hand with a deft gesture, as if he was accustomed to doing so.

"~, -no......!"

"Huh?"

But the next moment, slap! With a dry smack, Lisa brushed Ken's hand away.

Ken's face twitched in pain, followed by a look of disbelief.

Lisa, on the other hand, also stiffened, her eyes widening at her own actions. Silence fell, as if time had stood still.

"L-Lisa ......?"

A trembling voice escaped from Ken's mouth. Lisa, also realizing what she had done, her face grew pale with fear.

"~......!"

Then she ran away.

While Ken was taken aback by the abruptness of the event, Nozomu hurried after her.

Lisa went from in front of the main gate of the girls' dormitory to the main street of the civic district. She was physically talented by nature. By the time Nozomu reached the main street, Lisa was already on her way into intricate alleyways.

"Lisa, wait!"

Nozomu called out to her, but she did not stop, instead, her steps became faster and faster.

If one looked closely, one could see the residue of magic power covering her body. She was unconsciously boosting her physical capabilities with her magic power.

Strengthening only by magic power without any magic spells would not have much effect. But even so, an ordinary person would easily be shaken off.

At this rate, he would lose sight of her. Nozomu, who had made this judgment, released his Qi, strengthened his physical abilities, and pursued after her.

But as he rounded a few alleys, his eyes widened at the sight of an object blocking his path.

"Is this ...... a wall of water?"

A three-meter-high wall of water towered over the alleyway.

Nozomu immediately sprang up, putting all his Qi into his legs, and leaped. He leaped over the water wall with his hand on the eaves of the roof of a house.

When the water wall failed to block Nozomu, it crumbled down with a splashing sound.

But by the time he landed, it had already reconstructed itself in the direction he was going.

"The work of Ken's contracted spirit, huh?"

Nozomu, aware of the entity controlling the water wall, applied his Qi to the katana at his waist and drew it. With a single stroke, the water wall was cut in half and collapsed. This time, he broke through the water wall without slowing down.

However, the other party must have decided that a simple wall would not be enough to stop Nozomu. This time, they took a different approach.

"Mist......!?"

Suddenly, a dense fog formed around Nozomu. His vision was so white that he could not see a single meter ahead of him. Naturally, Lisa's back was completely obscured. The next moment, a huge stone wall rushed in front of Nozomu, who was running.

"Damn it......!!"

Just before he slammed into the wall, Nozomu reflexively put his foot on the wall and changed the direction of forward momentum to upward. He ran up the wall of the house and onto the roof.

By the time Nozomu was on the roof, the fog had dissipated and the gentle spring sunlight was illuminating the rows of houses.

Lisa was already out of sight, not a shadow remained.

"I lost her......"

He bit his lip and clenched my fists. But there was one thing he knew.

He had to do something about that spirit if he wanted to talk to Lisa again. That means he can't do it on his own.

"I'll have to start over......"

Nozomu looked once again in the direction in which she would have run away. What came to mind was the promise he made to support her when he was a little boy.

(A promise that I clung to in order to escape, a promise that no longer has any meaning. But still......)

After closing his eyes for a moment, Nozomu turned on his heel and jumped down from the roof.

Once again, he held the once-forgotten determination in his heart.

?

The civic district where Nozomu left. In a corner of a damp back alley, there were two figures. One was Lisa. The other was Ken. If one were to look closely, one could see another small shadow floating in the air beside the two.

"Mefi, are you not done yet......?"

[Just a little more.......]

Its appearance is reminiscent of a light blue child. Called Mefi, it was a lesser water spirit who had contracted with Ken.

A light blue source element flowed from the spirit's hand as it raised toward Lisa, enveloping her entire body. This power erased the events that had just taken place from her memory.

"What do you mean? Why is she rejecting me!?"

Ken's voice was hoarse, as if he couldn't stand it any longer. Mefi had created a soundproof barrier around them so that no one could hear what they were saying, but the expression on his face was clearly that of someone who was being cornered.

"Her memories are coming back. It wasn't supposed to be like this. ...... Alright, I'm done resealing her memories."

Nozomu sent a letter saying he wanted to talk to her, and Ken tried to get rid of him. Having seen their exchange in the forest, Lisa half realized that Ken had tricked her and Nozomu.

Not wanting to let Lisa go, Ken took measures to seal her memories, but the reversal of the facts she had believed had devastated her more than Ken had anticipated.

As a result, she had been seeing her sealed memories repeatedly in the form of nightmares, and even his spirit's suggestion was becoming ineffective.

[Like I said, when you were in the first year, I told you that you should have just killed him. But you prolonged it so badly just because you wanted to see him fall, that's why this happened~~]

Ken gritted his teeth at Mefi's words.

The reason Ken decided to remove Nozomu from Lisa's side was because of the manifestation of Ability Suppression.

A flashback of his old days ...... back in his hometown of Oire Village came back to his mind.

Unlike Nozomu, who was an only child, Ken had many brothers and sisters. There were eight of them.

Including his parents, he had a large family of ten. Among them, he was the sixth child. He was not as young as the younger ones, but not as dependable as the older ones. Moreover, his younger siblings were born in rapid succession, and as soon as he could remember, his parents and older siblings had already stopped paying attention to him.

He had to take care of his young siblings, and above all, farm work required manpower. Inevitably, Ken was expected to do some work ahead of being pampered.

Ken felt isolated amid a large family. This cast a shadow over Ken's childhood.

It was not that he had any ill will toward his family. He just happened to be a little out of the family circle.

He became friends with Nozomu and Lisa, who were the same age as him.

[What's wrong~~?]

"............"

The first friend he made.

The first time he was not lonely. How comforting that must have been to him.

So it was inevitable that Ken was attracted to Lisa.

And he knew that Nozomu and Lisa would be attracted to each other. They were two of his beloved people.

He was happy for them. But at the same time, he also felt a stale, comatose feeling.

Why it wasn't ime? Why did she always look at Nozomu first?

I want her to look at me. Such small jealousy had been smoldering in his heart for a long time.

It was still good in the past. Ken was rather quiet at that time, and Nozomu was the one who pulled Ken along.

So he was able to express his blessing. He was able to rejoice. Even if there was a small lump in his heart.

It couldn't be helped. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was able to think that way and give up.

It was around this time that he met Mefi. She had repeatedly told Ken that he had talent and that there was no need to be reserved, but he had always shaken his head at her words.

But when they came to Solminati Academy, their positions were reversed.

Ken grew up to be one of the best students in his grade, while Nozomu fell to the bottom of the class.

And the jealousy that had been building up since he was a child began to grow. Before he knew it, the sight of Nozomu crawling around in the practical class made his heart ache, and his stomach began to churn every time Lisa stood by him as he was unable to grow, no matter how hard he tried.

Then, his growing jealousy exploded. He took advantage of Camilla, who was close to Lisa at the time, by holding on to her secret and using it to blackmail her and bring down Nozomu.

[That being said, what the hell is that Camilla doing?]

While Ken remained silent, Mefi complained about Camilla, who had yet to arrive. She had already sent a telepathy to tell her where they were, so she should have arrived by now. At that moment, Camilla appeared from the shadows of a back alley.

[What have you been doing!?]

"She ran out of nowhere, so there's no way I can catch up with her easily."

Camilla rushed toward Lisa, brushing aside Mefi's complaints.

Camilla frowned and bit her lip at the sight of Lisa standing there unconscious as if she were a doll.

"......Forget it. Mefi, go assimilate with Lisa. The commotion has grown too loud. Now that it's come to this, you'll need to manipulate Lisa's memories at all times."

[It can't be helped, huh.]

While Camilla was shocked upon hearing the word "assimilate," Mefi's body transformed into a light blue source material and entered into Lisa's body.

"How selfish are you going to be......!?"

"What a bother. You're also our accomplice, remember? You sold Nozomu out to save your own skin."

"That's because you- ......"

"No matter how you try to fix it, the fact remains. Or do you want to be handed over to your homeland?"

Hearing these words, Camilla's expression, which had been exuding anger, turned completely pale.

"After fleeing from the Empire to the Free City, how many people sacrificed their lives so that you could live? Don't act so innocent now. Your mother is dead, what can you do now that you're alone?"

Ken glanced at Camilla, whose shoulders were trembling, and left with Lisa, who was assimilated with Mefi. As the two disappeared into the shadows of the alley, the barrier that had been deployed around them disappeared.

The silent space disappeared, and Camilla crumpled to the ground as the bustle of people streamed in from the main street.

"*Hic hic* ......"

Sobs leaked from the gaps between the palms of her hands that covered her face, and the tears she could not catch formed a smear on the dimly lit ground.

End of Chapter 2

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