When the Yanderes Whose Affection Reversed Regained Their Memories - Chapter 18: I'll Save You

Chapter 18: I’ll Save You

About two weeks had passed since I started attending school. The stares directed at me remained as if I were some object to be handled with caution. Lately, the looks had grown increasingly fearful.

The reasons behind this could be attributed to the incident on my first day of school, where I had made a spectacle of the nobles. An even larger factor seemed to be something the girls had done, referred to as a “purge.”

“Purge.”

I had only heard this term a few days ago. 

As it turned out, the girls had been “purging” those who had tormented me behind my back or those who still saw me as a target for abuse. 

When I asked them for specifics, I was told, “We’re just making sure that you don’t have any difficulties in your school life, Roa-sama,” “Don’t worry about anything, Roa,” “Leave it to me, Roa,” and “Leave it to your big sister; you don’t have to worry about anything.” Despite their reassurances, those who were purged began to bow down and beg for forgiveness when they saw me.

…I didn’t want to imagine it, but I couldn’t help but hope that they weren’t doing behind the scenes what they did on my first day of school. Even if I asked them to stop, they likely wouldn’t; the most I could ask for was for them not to go overboard.

It was somewhat exhausting, but little by little, I was regaining a semblance of daily life, albeit a distorted one.

“Ellie, may I come in?”

“Sure, come in.”

Today, I had received an invitation from Ellie, so I made my way to her lab. While it was true that I had some unpleasant memories in this lab from when she hated me, there were also good memories.

As I moved further into the room, I found her sitting on a chair amidst piles of papers, staring intently at me.

“What brings me here today? Do you need help cleaning the room?”

“No, it’s fine. I can’t ask Roa to do something like that. I’ll just take care of it later with some magic. Come, sit next to me.”

She patted the chair next to her, and when I obediently took a seat, she snuggled up right next to me.

“So, Ellie, what’s the reason for today?”

“I have something I want to talk about.”

“Something to talk about?”

I wondered what it could be. It probably wasn’t about the purge, so what else? Though I couldn’t think of anything specific, I sensed from her tone that it must be something important to her.

“The thing I want to talk about is…”

“Ah, wait a moment. If this is going to be a long conversation, I’ll go make some tea like before.”

“Eh, ah, no, it’s fine. I’ll make it. Just stay where you are.”

“No, I want to make it like before. It’s also good practice for me to move around. So, okay?”

“…But”

“Please, Ellie.”

“…Alright. But if it gets dangerous, stop immediately. Just remember that.”

“Yeah.”

Ellie had a hesitant look on her face, and it had been a while since I last made tea for her, so I wanted to do that. Also, I wanted to wipe away the bad memories associated with this lab.

Although it wasn’t quite like before, my body remembered how to make tea, and I managed to finish it. I thought about bringing it over myself, but it seemed Ellie couldn’t stand just watching me; she came over and ended up carrying the tea herself. Despite her generally stoic face, the sight of her looking somewhat nervous was refreshing and made me smile a bit.

We both took our seats and caught our breath before resuming the conversation.

“So, what I wanted to ask you about was, well, that matter.”

“That matter?”

“It’s about… um… how we… uh… treated you, Roa…”

“Ah, I see. You don’t have to say it.”

“…Thank you. So, Roa, do you want to forget what happened during that time? Do you not even want to remember it? …I’m sorry. It must be hard for you. I don’t want to talk about this either.”

Ellie said, her face filled with sorrow. There must be some reason for this.

Do I want to forget about that period? The unimaginable pain that they inflicted upon me—although it should be healed, just remembering those wounds makes both my heart and body ache.

To be honest, I want to forget.

“…To tell the truth, I’d like to forget. At that time, I even thought I wanted to die.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Look, I’m fine now.”

“I’m truly sorry.”

Just as I was about to say “but,” trying to resume the conversation after patting Ellie’s head to calm her down, the lab door opened.

“Roa-kun, are you in here?”

“Yeah, I’m here.”

Because Lilia had entered the room, our conversation came to a temporary halt. Soon after, Mia and Aria, who had apparently heard about it from somewhere, also came into the lab, and my conversation with Ellie had to be postponed to another opportunity.

§

Midnight in the lab.

Alone, Ellie was engrossed in her research, mulling over what Roa had told her during the day. 

The subject matter was…

“I will save Roa.”

Her murmur disappeared into the dark night.