“You want to help me?” Banri wasn’t sure how to take this offer, from this boy that he still knew nothing about. Even after spending more than a month constantly tailed by Roless, the bespectacled boy still wasn’t able to understand his thought processes, and he narrowed his eyes at that.
Roless smiled, retracting his offered hand and placing it back into his pockets. “Yes, help you, just as I’ve always done.”
Help, huh? Banri clenched his jaw, setting a hard line. He had already decided to do this himself. To get stronger alone, so he could look her in the eye and tell her that he came this far by himself, that there were no tricks or hoaxes involved. And now, here his goal was, offering to carry him up that peak.
“No.”
It was the same answer as when the two friends had first met, but this time, Roless could see that there was a difference in intention. The Banri of the past rejected the possibility of friendship because social bonds were an unnecessary addition to his life. The Banri of the present, however, rejected the hand that was offered to him because he wished to attain the power that the amnesiac and the knight possess through his own strength.
It was arrogant, it was stupid, and it was ludicrous.
But Banri was the main character, and Roless could say with confidence that he loved those sorts of hot-blooded, determined, relentless characters.
“No, was it?” Roless smiled, bringing out his hand out of his pocket. This time, it was clenched into a fist, and he raised it up to Banri’s face.
He did not flinch, did not blink. Dark eyes, as black as the night, stared down into the violet void.
“If your answer is no, then I will help you, not as a friend, but as your enemy.”
His fist tightened, Roless’s jutting knuckles become bone-white.
Banri raised his fists up as well, his eyes narrowing, his legs coiling, his senses sharpening.
“Suit yourself.”
---
The next morning, Banri came to class, dark circles around his eyes. He walked between the desks slowly, as if afraid of tripping over something and falling. Roless showed no concern, as he went through his morning routine as happy as ever.
Mirelle narrowed her eyes, but said nothing.
---
The following morning, Banri came to class, his face puffy, his cheek swollen. He limped to his desk, wincing silently whenever weight was put on his right leg. But he did not say a word, and slumped down onto his chair, his glazed eyes directed towards the center of the class. When the lunch bell rang, he fell asleep again, despite how loudly his stomach groaned and complained during class.
Jay watched this from the front of the classroom, but said nothing.
---
The third morning, Banri did not come to class at all, and Mirelle finally stood up.
While Ai was chatting with the others, Mirelle tapped Roless on the shoulder and jerked her head to the side, before walking out. Wordlessly, Roless followed her, all the way until they reached the hallways. The linoleum floor was now a soft, mute turquoise, and it was, hidden by the noise of other’s in the hallway that Mirelle spoke.
YOU ARE READING
From Cracked Open Skies - A World in Fluctuation
FantasyDISCONTINUED In a land of white, the plains of ash stretch endlessly, devoid of all life except for one. Alone in this blank world, a boy falls in ink-black despair, having lost everything before he knew anything. In a stagnant town, connections and...
