Evening.
The red sky was spreading, peoples shadows were growing thin as it stretched, the shadow of a person stood still in front of a huge stone monument made from the stones from the mountain range at the northwest of the royal palace.
[I’m sorry….]
Right, the shadow of the person muttering was Aiko.
The monument towering in front of her, a so-called monument for the faithful who died in battle (A tower which symbolized praise to the souls who died while loyal to their country). It was for the people killed in action and victims who carried out their duties out of loyalty towards the Kingdom, their names were carved here without exception. Even now, there are lots of flower offerings and mementos left by people in front of the monument for those who have died.
Right now, although it’s unconfirmed how many people’s names were carved onto the stone but, Meld’s name will also be added onto here.
Aiko gently placed weapons within the mementos left behind. It was the damaged western sword and spear. It was the artifacts of Aiko’s students who passed away------Daisuke Hiyama and Reiichi Kondo.
Aiko voiced out her confession while alone, just what should I be conflicted with. That I wasn’t able to bring back Hiyama and them back to Japan, or, because one of my students caused many people to die, or, everything including what I’ve done……
While AIko was looking down with a dejected atmosphere, she remained standing as if she was enduring something, ~Za zaa~ footsteps resounded. The violently echoing sound was likely to purposely inform others of their own existence approaching. Usually he wouldn’t make such noises.
Aiko was startled and raised her face towards the sound.
[Nagumo-kun…..]
[What a coincidence, Sensei]
What was making that noise earlier was Hajime. His eyes were lightened up by the shine of the setting orange sun and stared right at Aiko. He had flowers in his hand. It’s obvious to understand that he was there to offer flowers as tributes. Aiko showed a slightly unexpected expression towards his actions.
Hajime noticed that Aiko’s expression and guessed that she was probably wondering what he was planning on doing, with a wry smile he placed the flowers onto the floral tribute stand.
[Even I feel like mourning for the dead people a bit, Sensei?]
[Eh? Ah, no, I mean, I don’t particularly……]
Hajime suddenly talked to Aiko in an unexpectedly regrettable voice which caused Aiko to be shaken and tried to deceive him by waving her hands back and forth in a hurry. Then Hajime shrugged his shoulders like it was a joke and stood silently by Aiko.
As Aiko frequently glanced at Hajime, it appeared that Hajime was looking up at the huge stone monument and didn’t particularly care about Aiko, he didn’t seem to have any signs of talking either. Somehow, silence suddenly fell into the area and Aiko decided to reluctantly start a conversation.
[Eh~tto, those flower are…..is it…..for Hiyama-kun and them?]
[There’s no way of that happening. It’s for Meld]
Hajime raised an eyebrow and plainly replied at the wrong guess.
[For Meld-san…..]
[Ahh, though we weren’t acquainted that much, I don’t particularly hate people of his nature. Contrary to his position, he worry quite a lot, failed a lot, and was always trying to improve himself…..although I’m only offering flowers its more along the feelings of “how regrettable” towards the people]
[Nagumo-kun…..that’s right huh….]
Towards Hajime’s words, Aiko’s expression suddenly turned gentle. Even though Hajime mercilessly killed his enemies, he still had the proper feelings to mourn for a person’s death so Aiko became happy at that. Her cheeks naturally loosened up that he purposely took the time to come and bring an offering.
Actually, Yue and them were taking a bath, he ran away when the women gave off a carnivorous glare in their eyes of wanting to take him into the bath room with them, since there was still time he became free, when he by chance glanced at the flowers being displayed in a vase, he thought, how about killing time by offering flowers? and he pulled some flowers from the vase but…..although his feelings about regret for Meld was real, he couldn't actually tell the truth.
Hajime was taking in the circumstances of the surroundings and frowned at Aiko who loosened her cheeks.
[You’re not going to blame me…..]
[Eh?]
Towards Hajime’s sudden words, Aiko tilted her neck.
[That thing about Hiyama. The circumstances were different from Shimizu’s case. It appears that he was eaten by a demon in the end but, I was the one who pretty much killed him. I killed another of Sensei’s beloved students again? Kondo as well, although he was already dead, the one who pretty much destroyed his shape was me. …….I had thought that Sensei would have hit me once or twice out of anger]
[..........]
Aiko’s smile was erased and she looked down once again. Hajime was silent. He wasn’t pressing her for an answer. How much time was spent silently?........Before long, Aiko began to gradually voice out her words.
[......To be honest, I can’t easily give out a clear answer. I don’t believe that it can be forgiven that Hiyama-kun killed Shirasaki-san but, if possible, I would have liked that he live out his life to atone for those sins. It was shocking that Kondo-kun turned out like that. But, I can understand why Nagumo-kun was enraged and showed your strength. An important person was killed in front of your eyes…..with that, although it’s against what I’d ideally want, you couldn’t do anything but vent out your anger on them. …...Besides, I don’t have the qualifications to blame Nagumo-kun]
Aiko crossed her arms and rubbed them both. It was as if her body was getting cold and she was trying to keep warm.
[Are you talking about what you did at the head temple?]
[........]
A silent confirmation. Temporarily, although Aiko’s mind’s balance was broken, Hajime and Teio had somehow reverted it back to normal with reproduction magic, once again, it appears that her mind is being worn down by her sense of guilt and ethics. If you looked carefully under her eyes, you’d notice that she had dark circles that she tried to cover up with makeup, it was clear that she wasn’t able to sleep for the past several days. It’s possible that she was having nightmares.
Silence descended down once again. Hajime didn’t say anything and stood still. Was she unable to endure the atmosphere anymore? Aiko asked Hajime while lacking drive.
[......Is it…...not painful for you Nagumo-kun?]
[Killing people? I don’t particularly think it’s painful…...I think that that part of me probably broke when I fell into the abyss. That’s why I can’t sympathise with you]
[........]
Towards Hajime’s words, Aiko’s face distorts in bitterness. Something important in Hajime was broken and, in a single strike, Aiko’s state of mind further tightened up.
[.....No one…..blames me]
[Eh?]
Aiko leaked out her voice as if she couldn’t endure it.
[No one blames me. The eyes of the children in our class doesn’t look at me any differently, as for the Kingdom’s citizens, they were looking at me with praise]
That was a fact. All classmates, had a strong impression from Hajime who was too gruesome in his battle, they didn’t really have much feelings about Aiko’s assistance in homicide, rather they were under the impression that Aiko fought for herself and took on the brunt of the load for their sakes, the Kingdom aristocrats and government officials were thankful that the brainwashing problem was solved.
[Though I’ve talked about it all to David-san and them, even they wanted a bit of time to think about and left it rather than immediately blaming me. Even though I robbed them of their important things]
Blood dripped from her lip that she bit. Aiko probably wanted to be blamed for it. The act of killing a person…..is heavy. As long as they’re not a maniac or rotten person, normally their minds would be hurt by the blades named guilt and ethics. So for such people, taking the blame and accepting the punishment, are in a sense a kind of salvation.
Aiko herself probably unconsciously seeked for that. However, that wasn’t given to her.
Although Hajime can agree that she played a part in overthrowing the church, he believed that even without Aiko, Teio would have still somehow managed to exterminate them someway or another, he thought that bearing the burden alone was a bit much, so as if he was troubled he scratched his cheek as he opened his mouth.
[Even if you say that, Sensei. The direct cause was due to Teio’s breath, Sensei only helped out a little? I don’t think you should take on the burden as if everything was your fault…..]
[Those kind of things don’t matter! I certainly…...understood the possibility of them being killed but I still helped Teio-san. That’s no different than directly murdering them!]
Unexpectedly, Aiko gave out her rebuttal strongly. Aiko herself probably felt ashamed that she raised her voice as she shrank down apologetically. Looking at Aiko with a side glance, after a moment of silence, Hajime calmly asked.