Fourth Arc: Second Chapter

"...Let's go."

"...Georg."

At the voice that reached me out of nowhere, I looked up to find Georg watching me, brows lowered. How pathetic a face had I been making? Embarrassed, I looked away despite myself.

"...You were awake. You've seen me at a pretty sorry moment."

As I murmured it, mocking myself, Georg's big hand suddenly wrapped around mine. Startled, I tried to pull my hand back, but he only gripped it tighter.

Georg's hand was dry and rough. From sword practice, maybe, callused hard here and there, sun-browned, big, and gentle. It was a grown-up's hand now, different from when we were children.

As I gazed at that hand, drawn to it for some reason, Georg carefully opened my fist, the one I'd unknowingly clenched hard, one finger at a time.

...As if he were unraveling my heart along with it.

As I stared absently at him doing it, Georg murmured quietly.

"...I'm your ally, you know."

"Huh...?"

"I'm not clever like the prince or Remias. But even I can tell you're hiding something."

"Georg!"

Georg's serious gaze pierced my eyes, wide with surprise. Looking into those eyes, I felt keenly that no dodging would work, and I moved my mouth soundlessly. As if fleeing that too-strong gaze, I looked away and hung my face again.

"I-I..."

Does Georg know my secret?

No, that can't be. Being seen as a game, as a character in it, isn't something you can easily forgive. The more earnestly you live, the more the idea that your world might have been made by someone else would feel like being trampled. I myself understand this world is real. No, I choose to think of it that way. But it isn't something just anyone could accept.

As my thoughts spun dizzily, I heard Georg's exasperated sigh. Looking up from my lowered face despite myself, I found Georg smiling, exasperated.

"Hey, you're overthinking something pointless again, aren't you? I don't know what's inside your secret."

"Th-then why...!"

Do you say you're my ally.

I couldn't get the rest of the words out. Because if I said them, I felt I would lose the words Georg had given me.

"It's not a matter of why. I'll say it just once more. I am your ally."

"Why..."

The backs of my eyes stung, and my vision blurred and swam.

"Whatever you're hiding, whoever you love. I'll always be your friend and your ally. So it's all right."

"Georg...!"

For some reason, I felt accepted by this world for the first time. It was a strange feeling, different from when Anje, a fellow reincarnator, and I came to understand each other.

Tears spilled onto the hand that held mine. Until my sobbing subsided, Georg stayed silently with me.