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Chapter 193: Interlude – Because You Were There, I Was Here
The evening after returning to school from the field trip.
As I tucked away the joyful memories and prepared to return to daily life, I sent a message to my companions, asking them to gather at Professor Elisha’s office.
[Everyone, gather in Professor Elisha's office.]
Gathered in the office were Iris, Yurina, Camilla, Sophia, Berald, Lanes, and finally, Professor Elisha herself.
Everyone looked at me silently, startled by the sudden summons.
“Something important… Did something happen?”
Yurina asked in a worried voice.
“This is the first time Brother Dale has called us all together like this, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. If he’s calling us right after the trip, it must be urgent.”
“C-Could it be… you had a fight with Iris…?”
The room grew noisy.
I looked at my companions murmuring among themselves and let out a deep sigh.
‘I always thought I’d have to tell them someday.’
The story of my previous life.
I’d been struggling to decide when to reveal it.
‘I didn’t think… it would happen for this reason.’
I brushed my face with a complicated expression.
Turning to look at Iris, I noticed her glancing at me anxiously.
I hadn’t yet explained the details of my past life to her.
‘Since I’m going to reveal it anyway, it’s better to say it while everyone is together.’
I considered telling Iris privately, like I had done with Professor Elisha, but at this point, there was no reason to hide it from some and reveal it to others.
After all, I had already told Professor Elisha long ago, and my trust in my other companions had grown so deep that there was no reason to keep secrets any longer.
“Candidate Dale, don’t tell me… you’re going to talk about that?”
Professor Elisha, seemingly guessing what I was about to say, spoke with a firm expression.
I quietly nodded and began to speak.
“Everyone… It might be hard to believe, but please listen to my story.”
Thus began my tale of my previous life.
The long story of a failed, unsung hero.
What began in the early evening stretched on until nearly midnight.
“Phew. And that’s… how it led to now.”
Whether it was from talking too much or seeing the gradually hardening expressions of my companions, my throat felt dry.
I reached for the glass of water on the table to wet my parched throat.
“Unbelievable…”
“Hah… The story’s so shocking that my head feels dizzy.”
After the long story ended, my companions wore expressions filled with emotions too complex to put into words.
Well, if I were in their shoes, I would probably react the same way.
“……”
“……”
The silence stretched on.
My companions seemed lost in thought, processing what they had heard.
Then, one by one, as something dawned on them, they began to murmur softly.
“So that’s why Dale looked so sad the first time he saw me…”
“Ah, that day…”
Camilla furrowed her brows, recalling her first encounter with me.
“Right. That was when Dale sent Camilla flying.”
“S-Sent me flying…! It wasn’t that bad!”
“Oh my, if I recall correctly, you did a spectacular somersault, didn’t you?”
“Ugh…”
Camilla swallowed hard and let out a short sigh, nodding.
“Honestly, I always thought it was strange. Even if I let my guard down, it didn’t make sense that someone who had always been at the bottom of the class could take me down with a single move…”
“I’m sorry about that. I’d just regressed, and my emotions were all over the place.”
“Ahem! W-Well, if I hadn’t been careless, that wouldn’t have happened!”
“Sure, sure.”
I replied with a bitter smile and a nod.
“Brother, is the reason you suddenly started teaching me martial arts because of your past life?”
“Yes.”
“Ah… That makes sense now.”
Berald looked down at his worn, bandaged hand and continued.
“I was always curious, you know. Why did you name the martial art you taught me ‘Berald Martial Arts’?”
It was strange, after all.
Normally, a martial art would bear the name of the person who taught it, not the person learning it.
“The martial art I taught you… was something you created.”
I nodded as I spoke.
“I just passed on what I learned from you.”
That’s why I couldn’t bring myself to change the name ‘Berald’s Martial Arts’.
It was a legacy he left behind—memories and stories I didn’t want to alter with my own hands.
“I created it, huh…”
Berald looked at his fist with a conflicted expression.
“Wait a minute—so you learned magic from me?”
Sophia, with her arms crossed, looked at me.
“Yes, I did.”
“Hmph, no wonder. I always thought it was weird for someone in the warrior division to have such exceptional magical skills. So it’s because I taught you?”
I smiled faintly and nodded.
“It’s all thanks to having a great senior.”
“Of course! I’m amazing, after all.”
Sophia proudly tilted her chin up, but her expression soon turned bittersweet.
“So… in your past life, you and Professor Jade were enemies, huh?”
Her magic had undergone a major transformation after she met Professor Jade.
But the magic I’d learned was from before that transformation.
Sophia wasn’t foolish—she understood what that meant.
“Yes.”
“…I see.”
She smiled faintly, as though she had expected my answer.
“Then that means you changed my future. Thanks to you.”
“……”
“Thank you. For changing my future.”
Thank you for changing my future, huh.
Why is it that...
Those words shook me to the core, almost unbearably so.
“Dale. I have something I want to ask, too.”
Yurina slowly stood up from her seat.
She carefully removed the pendant around her neck.
With a dazzling light, she returned to her original form.
“In my past life… I ended up as ‘Yuren,’ didn’t I?”
“…Yeah.”
I nodded heavily.
“Haha. I see.”
Yurina stared at the mirror hanging on the professor's office wall with a complex expression, then turned to look at me.
“So, you’re the one who changed it, Dale. My future.”
“Not just yours.”
Iris spoke, glancing around at the gathered companions.
“Dale… you changed all of our futures. Alone.”
“…No.”
Their gazes fell on me.
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Overcome with an indescribable mix of emotions, I clenched my trembling fists.
“I didn’t do it alone.”
Suddenly, a memory surfaced.
A night filled with falling stars.
Me and Berald, sitting around a warm campfire, drinking together.
Iris smiling as she watched us.
Yuren leaning against a tree, sipping tea, and Sophia calmly reading a book, uninterested.
‘I…’
They may not remember.
But I do.
The warmth of that night.
Those endlessly happy days.
“The reason I’m here right now… is because you were all with me.”
In truth, I was the one who owed them thanks.
“Thank you.”
Because you were there.
I was, too.
“…Thank you.”
Lowering my head, I quietly swallowed my tears.
Why does it feel like...
In my memory, my companions are all smiling gently at me?
* * *
Everyone still had so much to say, but at Professor Elisha's urging that it was too late, my companions returned to their rooms.
Like that memory, the night sky was filled with stars, as if they might pour down at any moment.
I didn’t return to my room right away.
Instead, I climbed up to the rooftop and gazed up at the night sky.
“So you were here.”
Professor Elisha had followed me up.
“How did you know I’d be here?”
“A woman’s intuition.”
She said this while gracefully pulling back the ‘spider web’ attached to me.
I smirked and nodded.
“How do you feel now that you’ve told everyone?”
“Well… relieved.”
When I first gathered my companions, I wasn’t sure if revealing the truth was the right thing to do.
But now that I’ve laid everything bare, I feel as though a heavy burden has been lifted.
“For me, it’s a little disappointing to lose a secret I kept all to myself.”
Professor Elisha grinned playfully as she sat next to me.
She took a cigarette from her coat, lit it, and spoke softly.
“I wondered why it was now.”
“What do you mean?”
“The reason Candidate Dale suddenly revealed the truth about returning to the past.”
She looked at me with a faint smile.
“Well, I always thought I’d say it eventually.”
“And yet, there must be a reason the ‘eventually’ became now.”
“Well…”
If I had to say… there was a reason…
“Was it because of Candidate Iris?”
“……!!!”
“Ha. I’ve hit the mark, haven’t I?”
Professor Elisha nodded knowingly, as if she expected this.
“Well… I mean. That’s not exactly how it—”
“Oh, no need to explain. I can more or less guess the situation.”
“……”
You can guess?
“Being with Candidate Iris must have brought up complicated emotions. You hid the truth about being lovers in a past life, after all.”
“Uh…”
“Guilt, I suppose? Or something like it? After all, you were hiding the truth from her, weren’t you?”
“Well, it’s not exactly…”
It wasn’t guilt.
There was another reason entirely…
“Don’t think too much of it. Everyone knows you hid the truth for their sake.”
Professor Elisha smiled softly as she snuffed out her cigarette.
“That’s what I wanted to tell you.”
“……”
“Has it… been hard?”
She gently cupped my cheek as she asked.
Looking into her kind gaze…
“Yes. I’ve… always felt this weight on my heart.”
I wiped the tears forming at the corners of my eyes.
“To my precious companions… no, to the person I love… I didn’t want to lie anymore.”
“There, there.”
“How long… would I have to keep wearing this mask…? The thought of it was so suffocating. So painful.”
“I understand it all.”
Professor Elisha patted my back with a warm smile.
“Honestly, Candidate Dale… you’re just too pure-hearted, aren’t you?”
“…I’m sorry.”
“There’s nothing to apologize for. In any case, now that you’ve told the truth, there’s no need to suffer from guilt.”
With Professor Elisha’s gentle comfort...
The night of truth came to an end, and a new morning dawned.
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