DanMachi Vol.16

PROLOGUE: THE THRESHOLD BETWEEN ORIDINARY FRIENDSHIP AND YEARNING

"Hey, Lyu."

Lyu turned around.

They were walking back like always. She was carrying a bag of groceries, walking the familiar, empty street that led home together with the girl with bluish-gray hair.

Syr smiled when Lyu turned to look at her.

"You've fallen for Bell, haven't you?"

Thud.

The grocery bag she was holding dropped to the stone pavement. Fruits spilled out onto the street, and she frantically knelt down and scrambled to gather them up like a stereotypical clumsy maid.

Her heartbeat thundered in her long ears as she picked up the scattered fruits.

It wasn't just her ears, either. Her face, her neck—her whole body was trembling, and she felt like she was on fire.

What? What did she say? What is she asking? Where did that come from all of a sudden? Why is she asking me that?

"Wh-wh-wh...? What are you...?!"

Her voice had risen to an embarrassingly high pitch, but her young companion paid no heed to that as she helped gather the scattered fruits. She picked up a red one and handed it to Lyu, who was still struggling to respond.

"I—I know you have feelings for him, so there's no way I would do something so boorish as—"

"Lyu," Syr said, interrupting with a smile.

"I like Bell."

Lyu could not understand why, but for some reason that sentence had shocked her to her core.

Was it because Syr had never once explicitly laid out her feelings? Because it seemed like she could see everything Lyu kept hidden deep within herself? Or perhaps it was how absurd she must have appeared to those all-knowing eyes—eyes that could discern black from white, truth from lie.

"Would you mind if I ask Bell out for the Goddess Festival?"

No!

She felt her heart clench.

She should have laughed that feeling off as foolishness. Obviously, she should just say of course and support Syr. There should have been no other choice. And yet, Lyu's heart was still racing.

"Why...are you asking me that?" Lyu barely managed to squeeze out.

"Because I was worried I might end up doing something terrible to you, Lyu." Syr chose her words carefully. "Whether it goes well or not, I might end up ruining everything. We might get in a fight and not be able to make up. Anyway, that's why I wanted to ask."

Running out of things to say, Syr smiled as she looked toward the ground.

Lyu realized that she was being absolutely sincere.

"I—I..."

Lyu could not bring herself to face such honesty head-on.

Still young by the standards of the long-lived elves, Lyu was little more than a young girl herself and had no idea how she should respond. There was no answer at the ready in her heart. So she dropped her sky-blue eyes and remembered what was most important: her bond with the girl standing before her. And the promise she had made five years ago.

"You...saved me. I want to repay you for that. I've told you that before. So..." She took a deep breath, as if struggling to get the words out. "...you may fall in love with whomever you wish. I will support you no matter what."

Her answer seemed to linger. Even though they were in the middle of the street, everything was quiet. Only a narrow strip of blue sky outlined by the surrounding buildings peered down at the two of them. And Lyu still could not bring herself to meet the gaze of those blue-gray eyes.

Finally, the young girl laughed quietly.

"Thank you."