Vol 2 Chapter 12 – Heat【Vol 2 — Youth in the Midst of Calamity】

“So-Sophia Onee-chan, where are we, exactly?”

After leaving the inn where we had spent the night, the two of us walked down an unusually lively main street.

Sophia had told me we needed to get out of here as quickly as possible.

At the time, I had not thought much of it.

But now it was starting to bother me.

Run away, sure, but from who?

“Honestly, Will-kun, you really can be hopeless sometimes. This is the royal capital. The royal capital.”

Sophia puffed out her cheeks and planted both hands on her hips.

Even that exaggerated little gesture was unbearably cute. I could not help thinking so.

Before I knew it, I had reached over and taken the hand of the girl walking beside me.

“Oh? It’s rare for you to do something like this, Will-kun. That makes me really happy.”

Her voice was light and cheerful as she squeezed my hand back.

Just that alone, just being able to touch her, calmed me down more than I could describe.

◯

Once we left the royal capital, we were supposed to head south.

That meant going in the complete opposite direction from the village where I was born.

We would be traveling by shared carriage.

Sophia could use teleportation magic, but it only worked if she had already been to the destination or had at least seen it before.

Since this place was new to her, we had no choice but to take the long way.

The shared carriage stop was about twenty minutes from the inn where we had stayed.

As we walked, I traded bits of idle conversation with Sophia.

It was nothing important, just casual chatter, but somehow it felt like pure happiness.

Then, when we had gone about halfway, Sophia suddenly twitched.

She stopped dead in her tracks, closed her eyes, and fell silent.

“S-Sophia Onee-chan?”

The suddenness of it made me call out to her without thinking.

“Much earlier than I expected…”

“Huh?”

Along with that quiet murmur, I heard the faint click of her tongue.

“Will-kun, this way.”

Still confused, I let Sophia pull me by the hand as she led me into a side alley.

We wound our way through a maze of narrow back streets.

At last, Sophia stopped and turned to me.

“Sorry, Will-kun. Onee-chan will catch up with you right away, so could you go on a little ahead without me?”

As she said that, she pointed in the direction opposite the main street we had been on earlier.

“W-What do you mean…?”

In other words…

Was she telling me to leave her behind?

The instant I understood, a chill unlike anything I had ever felt shot through my entire body.

No.

I can’t.

Something inside me screamed that I must not leave her.

My body burned.

The heat in the pit of my stomach was especially intense, like a fire raging inside me.

I had to stay by Sophia’s side.

My head felt like it was on fire, and a violent wave of nausea surged up from within me.

I wanted to throw up.

I wanted to empty everything inside me.

If I could just vomit it all out, it felt like I might finally be free of this nameless terror, this dread, this searing heat.

Then something soft wrapped around me.

In that instant, the heat clinging to my body vanished all at once.

When I looked up, I realized Sophia was holding me in her arms.

“I’m sorry, Will-kun. It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m only stepping away for a little while, and I’ll be right back. So it’s okay… all right?”

When I lifted my face, something soft brushed against my lips.

A kiss.

Just a gentle touch.

“I love you, Will-kun…”

That alone calmed me down so much.

“Will you go on ahead for me?”

“Y-Yeah… okay.”

I did as Sophia asked and forced myself to move, almost shoving my own back just to make my legs work.

Once I had put some distance between us, Sophia turned away from me and fixed her gaze quietly on the path ahead.

◯

Following the direction Sophia had given me, I eventually came out onto another main street, different from the one before.

She had told me to go on ahead.

So all I had to do now was make my way to the shared carriage stop.

Even with the feeling that my heart was being pulled backward, I forced my feet to keep moving.

My body felt cold.

My heart felt frozen.

A chill so deep it felt like I might freeze solid wrapped around my entire body.

I did not need anyone to tell me why.

It was because Sophia was no longer by my side.

Even though the rest of me felt cold, the depths of my stomach still burned like fire.

Something inside me was screaming at me to go back to her.

Urging me.

Commanding me.

I crushed that impulse down with everything I had.

Ignoring the pounding pain in my head, I kept walking.

Little by little, familiar scenery began to enter my field of vision.

A long time ago, when I was still a child, I had come here with someone.

With my family.

I was sure of it.

Maybe I had been too distracted by the scenery around me.

Maybe it was the constant stabbing pain in my head.

Whatever the reason, my feet tangled beneath me, and I fell hard.

My face slammed straight into the ground.

“…Ow…”

“Hey, kid, you okay?”

“Ah, th-thank you…”

A kind man who happened to be nearby helped me back to my feet.

Rubbing my forehead where I had hit it, I looked up at the face of the man who had helped me.

My eyes widened.

So did his.

“What are you doing in a place like this, Will?”

It was my father.

Lucas Role.