Chapter Text
Re:Emilia
Starting Life in a Race for the Throne as a Half-Elf!
Chapter 1
Have you ever considered the idea that one day, you might be transported into another world?
I had before. It had never really been serious though—a passing thought or an imagined scenario, one that I knew was essentially impossible in real life. Even if there was such a thing as souls or magic, it wasn’t as if you were going to be whisked away to a brand new world on a whim of some unknowable, ineffable being.
At least, I’d thought that until a few years ago.
I sighed, poking my head out of the coach window to look into the distance. The Royal Capital of Lugunica loomed on the horizon—or whatever passed for a horizon of this strange world I’d found myself on, given it was basically a Flat Earther’s dream.
The reason I was going to the capital—the reason I had found myself in this coach in the first place, even, and had fallen in with the group that I had—was kind of absurd to me as well. I mean, I was the last type of person one would expect if they were to think of royalty.
“Lady Emilia, what are you doing?” came a voice from the other side of the coach cabin.
“Ah!” I flinched, both at the words pointed at me and the honorific the speaker had used. I pulled my head back inside and turned to face the girl opposite me, holding my hands up to appease her. “I-I’m just taking a look at the Royal Capital, that’s all! I’ve never seen it before… It’s massive. I’m a little nervous, you know?”
The coach I was in was, to put it simply, extravagant. It had paintings, glass windows with awnings, even luxurious chairs to sit on and wine storage areas, and I was sharing it with another person.
The girl sitting across from me, Ram, was a maid who I’d come to call a friend. She had short pink hair, pink eyes, and in addition to her maid outfit wore a headdress on her head. I had met her a few months ago at the mansion I was living in now, when my backer for the race to the throne (as surreal as that thought still was to me)—a magician who dressed like a clown called Roswaal L. Mathers—had introduced me to her and her sister. She was honestly pretty adorable, despite the fact that she was often incredibly sarcastic. I liked her; it was nice, spending time with her and talking about the way things were.
After a couple of months, she’d confessed to me that I’d been savvier than she had expected, and occasionally came to speak with me of her own accord.
I was honestly glad that had ended up being the case. Her sister had been… well, less inviting.
At the moment though, she was frowning. “If Lady Emilia sticks her head out the side too often, she’ll get it taken off by a tree eventually.”
“No need to worry about it, Ram!” chirped an adorable voice, as a tiny catlike creature phased into existence. “If anything were going to happen to Lia, I’d protect her!” he said confidently.
“But even a great spirit like you can’t see everything, Lord Puck,” Ram said, shooting a glance at him.
“Ouch! Your lack of confidence in me hurts, you know?” Despite his words, Puck still wore a mischievous smile on his face. “I’ll always work to be my adorable daughter’s number one protector!”
My cheeks grew hot. “Puuuck!” I whined, crossing my arms. “I’m not a child! I’m a grown woman; I can protect myself just fine!”
Puck giggled, floating over towards me and patting my head. “Sure, sure, Lia. You’re still the same adorable little girl to me!”
I leaned back with a huff. “I’m an adorable big girl, thank you very much!” I said, trying my best to maintain a serious composure; it was hard though when both Puck and I were being so silly.
“Fine, fine!” Puck sighed dramatically, his cheery demeanour never disappearing even as he held out his arms to the side and shook his head. “Lia, you’re an adorable big girl! Okay?” The English loanword just sounded extremely silly coming from Puck, his accent enhancing the effect.
I couldn’t take it anymore, and the corners of my mouth were starting to turn upwards. “Th-thank you, Puck,” I said, extremely magnanimously and not clearly trying to hide a giggle. “I am an adorable big girl—” My words were interrupted by a snort, which quickly turned into a giggle.
Soon enough, both Puck and I were laughing together.
The laughter died down quickly, though, leaving me with a smile on my face. I thought back to when I’d first met him, seven years ago.
Puck hadn’t been lying when he’d called me his ‘daughter’ of sorts; ever since I’d awoken in this world, he’d been there for me and helped me survive, from the forest I’d awoken in to the wilderness of Lugunica I’d travelled in. He’d even been the one to tell me my name.
Or at least the name that belonged to this body.
I felt my smile fall away as I began to stew on existential things. Demons that I still hadn't quite dealt with entirely, instead festering in my thoughts for years.
“Lia? Are you alright?”
The sudden appearance of Puck’s face in my vision brought me out of my funk, and I took a deep breath. Not gonna think about that! Instead I plastered a smile on my face. “I’m fine! Not nervous anymore or anything! Thank you for helping to cheer me up, Puck…”
Puck was silent for a second, but eventually he smiled back. “I’m glad it helped!” he said.
Ram cleared her throat on the other side of the coach. “Lady Emilia, instead of focusing on useless celebrations and jokes, remember that we’re here for a reason.”
“Right.” That sobered me up right away. The reason we’d come to the Royal Capital was that Roswaal had wanted me to take a guided tour of the city, seeing that I’d never really visited it before, and after that I was supposed to introduce myself to the Council of Wise Men.
With a name like that, I was pretty sure the only thing wise about them was going to be their asses.
“Have you read up on the Royal Selection enough?” Ram asked.
I just barely stopped myself from scowling, my face settling on a neutral expression instead. “Yes, I have. I’ve read up on etiquette, customs, and everything that Roswaal’s asked of me.”
I was pretty sure the disdain still came across in my voice, though, because Ram raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I lied.
Being real, the idea of me even becoming something close to royalty still left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. I wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of monarchical societies; hell, I wasn’t a fan of hierarchical societies in general.
Even if none of that was a problem, though, there was a much more pertinent issue—the kingdom itself. Before Roswaal had taken me in, I’d spent a while travelling the outskirts of the kingdom. Puck had been against it at first after I’d woken up, but he’d eventually relented a few years later, once I’d proven myself strong enough and in control of myself.
After everything I’d been through before, I didn’t want to be lonely ever again. And the Forest was worse than what I’d been through by miles.
It hadn’t been long until I started to understand his hesitance.
Lugunica had a lot of prejudiced views floating around. Most of the villages I’d spent time in seemed cozy, but it was only really skin deep. Any sign of queerness seemed to be met with derision or hatred from the authorities and plenty of the locals as well, and racial prejudice in regards to demihumans almost felt like I was walking through Jim Crow-era America. Some of the worst of it was towards half-breeds—half-elves in particular catching more flak for that than most, especially ones with silver hair.
I knew that because I was now a silver-haired half elf.
Once I’d learned to read after being taken in by Roswaal, I’d come to learn that Lugunica’s history hadn’t been much better, judging by the biased perspectives in writing.
In short, every problem in Lugunica right now that wasn’t caused by an act of a Witch or something was thanks to the noble class. There were kind, or at least fair, nobles—like Roswaal himself, who didn’t seem discriminate on anything even if he was otherwise a creepy asshole—but they were few and far between, and as the saying goes, a few bad apples spoil the bunch.
And that was why I wanted to destroy the noble class.
“Lady Emilia is a horrible liar.”
Ram’s words jarred me out of my thoughts, and I flinched. “What are you talking about?” I asked.
“If there was nothing wrong, you wouldn’t have an expression like that on your face,” she said. “Instead, you’re acting like you’ve eaten something extremely sour. So tell me what’s wrong before it gets too much for you to bear.”
I tried to keep looking her in the eyes, but her intense gaze was more than I could handle at that moment. Eventually I folded, slumping into my chair and sighing. “You’re right. It’s just, I have a long way to go to fix all the shit that’s wrong with this place—huh?”
Ram had snorted, before covering her mouth. “N-nothing,” she said. It sounded like she was barely holding back laughter.
I frowned. “What’s so funny?”
Finally the dam broke, and she started to snicker. “Hearing such a delicate voice like yours curse like that is hilarious.”
I blushed again right away. “H-hey! Are you saying the state of Lugunica right now hasn’t gone to shit?”
Ram just started laughing harder.
After a few seconds, I huffed, looking out the window and crossing my arms. The sight of the capital reminded me of the first half of the day again, though, and my face turned thoughtful when I looked back at Ram. “How long do you think we have until we reach our guide, by the way?”
Ram’s chuckling died down immediately and her face became serious once again. “Judging by the position of the sun in the sky, and taking into account traffic in the royal capital, I would say we’ll be there… in 10 minutes? Maybe 15.”
I blinked. “That long?” The capital didn’t seem that large.
Ram scoffed. “You’d be surprised by how horrible the traffic can get in the capital at times. Either way, we shouldn’t be too long away.” Turning around, she poked her head towards the driver’s window slot of the coach. “Hey, is the traffic decent, or are this beautiful young lady and her mistress going to have to wait even longer?”
The driver—a middle-aged man who’d been hired by Roswaal—glanced back. “Seems to be just fine, missy. Should be there real quick.”
Ram sighed in relief. “Hearing something like that is good…”
She said something else, but I wasn’t listening anymore. The conversation between the two faded into the background as my mind returned to thinking about the whole situation I’d gotten myself into, this fuckass Royal Selection.
The fact that I’d have to compete with four others vying for the crown, each of them with their own political baggage… Well, it wasn’t looking pretty, especially if the other candidates had similar prejudices to the general population.
I reached into the bag I had at my waist and pulled out the Dragon Insignia—a magic piece of jewellery, with a small gemstone in the centre. The gemstone glowed faintly as the insignia sat in my hands.
Roswaal handing me this was what had gotten me into this whole situation in the first place. It was what marked me as a candidate for the throne—as one who could make a pact with the Divine Dragon and bring prosperity back to Lugunica.
But all I saw when I looked at it was something that marked me as separate from other people. Like I wasn’t meant to mingle with the common folk.
I hated it.
There were a lot of good people in Lugunica—a lot of people couldn’t care less about whether or not you were some kind of half-human once they got to know you. Though, that was when they did get to know you, and even when they did, if you were a silver haired half-elf... Well, people weren't perfect, and I wouldn't blame anyone for being instinctively a little scared of someone who looked like the most destructive person in all of existence.
Still, the main thing they cared about was if you were a good person. And I didn’t want to separate myself from them—I wanted to work with them. I wanted to make things better for those people, both by simply making life better and by shattering the pedestal the nobles of Lugunica had put themselves upon.
Roswaal L. Mathers had known that since the day I first met him. In fact, it was almost as if he’d known exactly what to say to get me on board. I didn’t trust that man, not one tiny sliver. But if what he’d said was true… Well, I would’ve had to be an idiot to pass that offer up.
Besides, he’d also told me I’d be able to unfreeze the forest I’d lived my first few years here in. And once I did, I could finally find out the truth.
The truth of who Emilia used to be, right from the mouths of those she had lived her life with.
The first half of the day went really well. Somehow, Roswaal had managed to get Reinhard van Astrea, the Sword Saint, to guide me around the capital. He’d been kind and overall a decent guy, and I felt like I’d made myself a new friend.
Ram had felt a little tired after the tour though, and had decided to take a short nap. A nap that I’d taken advantage of to run off and see the rest of the city for myself. Reinhard had only really shown me the more approachable parts, and I hadn’t really had much time to shop. So while Ram was taking a little rest, that was the perfect time to have myself a little adventure.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before disaster struck.
Someone had stolen my insignia. And even if I could have cared less about it, I had the feeling that if I lost it, it wouldn’t matter just how much Roswaal was sucking up to me before; he would likely have my head.
That was why I was running through the streets of the Royal Capital at full speed, just barely able to stop myself from cursing under my breath.
“Lia, you should probably be more careful with your belongings, you know?” Puck’s voice rang out in my head from within his crystal.
“Puck, now isn’t the time!” I hissed under my breath. “We have to catch the thief first!”
“Maybe, but make sure to watch your language, okay? I don’t want my daughter cursing in public, nya!”
“I am trying my best,” I ground out through clenched teeth. Looking around, I couldn’t see anyone around who was running at high speed. Instead, everyone on the street was either walking through them, or waiting at a stand. I felt my shoulders slump. “Dammit,” I muttered, then promptly winced and readied myself for the barrage of chastisement from Puck.
“Gasp! My daughter, swearing!” Puck’s mental voice was almost mocking. “Lia, you’re very silly, you know that? I’m not going to get upset at you for saying something so mild.”
I let go of a breath I hadn’t even realised I’d taken. “Right. Yeah,” I said, mostly to myself. Really, I was just stressed out. I had no way of knowing where the thief had gone.
But that didn’t mean that no-one here did.
I took a deep breath and let the stress fade away. Scanning the merchants by the walls, I picked one out who seemed friendly enough—a demihuman woman with fox ears but otherwise human features—and approached her, still feeling tense but not nearly as much as I had been. “Um, hello miss?”
“Oh!” The woman looked towards me and smiled. “Hello, young lady. What do you need?”
The tension bled out of my muscles. “Well, I was just wondering, did you see anyone run down this street earlier? Very quickly; they probably would have gone into an alleyway.”
The fox woman tapped her chin, thinking for a second. “Well, I do vaguely remember seeing a figure… I think they went into that alleyway, over there.” She pointed towards an alley that had a stone arch over the top of it.
Relief started to fill my bones. “Oh, thank goodness… Thank you so much, miss!” I pulled out my purse, pulled out a couple silver coins, and handed them to her. “I really appreciate your help!” I bowed a little, then ran off to the alleyway.
Puck snorted to me mentally. “Lia, you know you didn’t need to do that, right?”
I bristled a little. “Well, she helped me, so I wanted to help her back. Is that really so wrong?” I shot back.
Before Puck could respond, I’d already reached the alleyway. I’d been expecting the thief to be there, maybe, or to have already run through it. But instead there was something much more upsetting.
Three men, standing around someone who was lying sprawled on the ground, kicking at their body. One was large, broad, and bulky around his upper abdomen. Another had half-dyed hair and was wielding daggers, but was otherwise skinny. And the third looked like he was a dwarf with a bowl cut. All of them were beating this poor person to death.
I breathed in sharply. This didn’t feel right, it didn’t feel right at all. Whoever this person they were beating up was, no-one deserved to be treated like that whatsoever. And I was sure those men had their extenuating circumstances—they’d probably been let down by the system in some way or another, if they were doing something like this, but that didn’t justify the kind of brutality they were showing to this person. And my insignia was important, but compared to a person in danger…
Well, it could wait.
“You know, I’m not even surprised at this point anymore, daughter. Go play the hero, okay? Beat them up, if you want to.”
Ignoring Puck’s nonsense, since this was just something anyone decent would do and I very much did not plan to beat them up, I stepped forward. “Hey, you three! Stop this!”
The kicking stopped. The men froze where they were, all three of them looking at me at once.
“The hell are you?!” Hair-dye snapped, glaring at me.
“I said, stop what you’re doing, right now. I’m sure whatever reason you’re doing it for isn’t worth any of the trouble.” My eyes wandered over the three. “There are more productive things that you could be doing than hurting this person. I don’t want to have to hurt you, and I don’t think any of you want that either. So please, leave.”
“Lia, don’t just ask them to leave! Maybe they saw the person who stole your insignia!” Puck said.
The three men were just standing there, staring at me without a word, dumbfounded.
I frowned. “But Puck, it’s more important to save that person, isn’t it?” I mumbled back under my breath.
“Sure, but I don’t want you to get in trouble with Roswaal because you forgot about it, you know?”
“...Fine. I’ll do it.” I muttered, then spoke out loud again. “Actually, first, before you leave, and because I don’t want to get in trouble or anything, I’m going to ask you a question.” I took a deep breath. “Have any of you three stolen anything from me?”
The three of them blinked. Looking between each other, they seemed to have a silent conversation with just their gazes. Then they turned those gazes back onto me. “What kind of crap are you talking about, lady?” Bulky said. “None of us have ever seen you before in our lives. If it was anyone who stole your thing, it was that girl who ran through here earlier! Now scram!”
My eyes narrowed, even as I noted that down in my head. “Not while you’re still hurting that innocent!” I said hotly. “I’d really appreciate it if you would just leave now, before anyone else gets hurt.”
“Innocent? This punk kicked me!” the dwarf snapped.
“He punched me too,” Bulky added. “Out of nowhere!”
My gaze went deadpan. I looked back at Hair-dye. “Was it really out of nowhere?” I asked. “Or was he fighting to prevent himself from getting robbed?”
“What does it matter? There’s three of us, and one of you!” Hair-dye said. “Now get the hell outta here unless you want your ass beat too, bitch!”
I sighed. “Okay. If that’s the way you’re going to play things…” I held out my arm, reaching within myself and summoning up my magic—my Mana. Three small ice crystals appeared in midair. “Get out of here, otherwise I’m not going to hesitate any longer!”
“Shit!” the dwarf swore. “She’s a Magic user!”
Hair-dye’s face twisted into an ugly grimace. “I don’t give a shit if you can use magic! I’m gonna slit your throat and watch you bleed to death, you bitch!”
I scowled. “I warned you!” It was sad, but sometimes people just didn’t listen to reason. With a command in my head, the ice crystals shot through the air, faster than many different types of arrows. One hit the dwarf in the head and knocked him out cold, the second hit Hair-dye in the chest and knocked him onto his ass, and the third hit Bulky in the arm which staggered him but didn’t do much else.
Hair-dye got to his feet, a massive scowl on his face. “Now I’m extra pissed And besides, it’s still two against one!”
“That’s true; two against one might be a liiiittle unfair, still.” I said, holding up one hand with my palm out.
Puck sighed. “I suppose you want an assist here, Lia?”
"That would help," I muttered, even though it would have been fine without his help. These people didn't seem particularly dangerous, and I didn’t want to overdo it and actually hurt anyone, so scaring them off with Puck was probably my best bet.
“But how about two against two?” came Puck’s voice. He manifested his physical form out of his gem, and gave what I could tell was an extremely adorable wink.
“...Shit! She’s a spirit arts user! Let’s scram!” Bulky said.
“I don’t give a shit if she’s a Spirit Arts User; I’m gonna beat her ass!” Hair-dye screamed.
“Oh, you don’t want to try doing anything with her,” Puck said, voice playful but with a vicious undertone. “If you do that, I’ll haunt your entire family until the day you die. Not that you’ll have a family for much longer~!”
Hair-dye stiffened. “D-don’t think I’m running away because I’m scared! I’ll get you one day!” he blustered. The two of them ran around the alleyway corner, Hair-dye picking up the dwarf as he did, although they did knock over one of the things that had been sitting on the steps leading upwards.
“You… you saved me…”
I blinked. Looking down at the person who had been beaten down beforehand—it was a boy, one who looked to be around my age.
To put it bluntly, he looked like absolute shit.
After a few seconds, he averted his eyes, his cheeks turning red.
Now that the three thugs were gone, I made my way towards him, crouching down. “Are you alright? How are you feeling? It looked like you were in a lot of trouble there.”
“Ah… I-I’ll be fine, I think?” he said, a weak smile on his face that didn’t inspire any confidence whatsoever. “I’ll be okay…”
I furrowed my eyebrows. What he’d just said had sounded off for some reason, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, and helping the boy get better was more important than anything else right now. “Well… It doesn’t look like you’ll be fine. You look like you need a whole lot of rest, at the absolute least.” There were massive lumps all over his exposed arms and face—I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had a concussion, if not worse.
“N-no, I’ll just laugh it off! It’s fine!” the boy said. He tried to push himself to his feet, but before he could get anywhere he fell down further, hissing.
“Shouldn’t have tried to get up there,” Puck commented, his voice light despite the observation.
I took a deep breath in. “Puck, please,” I said. Then I looked back down at the boy. It already looked like he was losing consciousness. “I’m going to heal you now, okay?” I said, even as his eyes drifted closed. “I promise, you’re going to be fine.”
“A bleeding heart as always, Lia,” Puck said. Despite his weary tone of voice, though, his words carried an undertone of pride and affection.
“Quiet, you,” I mumbled. Then I focused, drawing on the lesser water spirits that I’d contracted to help with healing.
They weren’t particularly talkative spirits, honestly—they were friendly enough, but they preferred to be left to their own devices, unlike Puck. That being said, whenever I needed them, they would always be there for me.
I guided them towards the boy, and the spirits began to heal him up at my instruction. The magic flowed through his body, healing the wounds and repairing the internal structures. It wasn’t long before he looked like he hadn’t even been scratched, let alone kicked into the pavement.
I breathed a sigh of relief, sending my thanks towards the water spirits as I stood up. They graciously accepted it, then disappeared into the aether again. “Puck,” I said, speaking up, “could you make sure to keep an eye on him? I saw some things over there, and I think they belong to him; I just want to make sure they’re alright.”
“Sure thing, daughter, nya!” Puck winked, floating over towards the boy. Sometimes, Puck really was adorable…
Well, often, but sometimes he was more adorable.
While Puck watched over him, I walked towards the steps, looking down at the items that were sitting there—
I froze.
“What?” I whispered. That couldn’t be right. Something like this wasn’t possible. Was it?
I crouched down to take a closer look at the objects. One of them was an outfit that, in Lugunica, or anywhere in the New World really, would have looked extremely strange. But to me, it looked extremely familiar. It was a tracksuit—a jacket for wearing when you physically exercised, one with a zipper and pockets.
Lugunica hadn’t invented tracksuits yet, though, and I had only ever seen them before I woke up here.
Still, there was always the possibility that some eccentric fashion designer had decided to work their magic; I’d heard of stranger outfits here before. Kararagi had traditional Japanese attire, even.
No, it was the other item—or rather, collection of items—that were a dead giveaway to the fact that this boy wasn’t what he appeared to be.
A plastic bag, containing a packet of cup noodles labelled ‘Noodle the Tonkotsu’ in plain English as well as a bunch of Japanese kana, and a bag of what looked to be some kind of cheese-flavoured chips. Most people from Lugunica would probably just dismiss them as some weird curiosities with nonsense text on them, but I knew better.
English wasn’t a written language in Lugunica at all. It just wasn’t. I didn’t know if Japanese kana was either, but judging by Kararagi I wouldn’t have been surprised even though I hadn’t seen it. There was a particular irony to that part, though, given that the language I spent the vast majority of my time speaking was Japanese—or at least identical enough that it was indistinguishable from it.
Then there were the materials involved; the chip bag was made of aluminium foil, and the plastic bag was made of, well, plastic. Those sorts of things weren’t possible to make with the current industrial practices in Lugunica.
To make plastic you needed to extract oil or natural gas from the crust, and to make alfoil… I wasn’t certain of the process, but I knew it involved some kind of machinery that this world didn’t have. Maybe it could have been done with magic? But that probably wasn’t worth it.
I crouched down, reaching towards the plastic bag.
“Lia? What are you doing?”
I stiffened, and whipped my head around to look at the spirit, who had now grown to about the size of a person and had the boy’s head on his lap. “Ah, uh, nothing! I’m just. Checking his stuff is alright, you know?” I stammered out—then did a double take. “Puck? What are you doing?”
Puck chuckled. “I figured I’d at least make the boy comfortable while he woke up. You would have asked me to do something like that anyway, right?”
My cheeks felt like they were about to explode. “S-sure, but not like that!”
“Suit yourself, nya!” Puck gave me a little wink.
Sighing, I turned my head around to face the bag again. Knowing Puck, he wasn’t going to change his mind for anything. I reached out again, touching the bag and rubbing it between my fingers.
It was plastic, alright. Even though it had been a long time since I’d felt it between my fingers, I could still recognize the distinctive texture. The rustling was even familiar; it had been the longest time since I’d heard it, but it activated something in my brain.
“Lia, he’s going to wake up any moment now,” Puck said from behind me. “And you know how those thugs earlier said that it might have been the girl who ran through this alleyway earlier was the culprit? If they saw it, then who’s to say he didn’t?”
I sighed. “I suppose you make a fair enough point…” Standing up, I turned around and walked back through the alley towards them. I sat on the ground next to Puck and waited. “That being said… After we ask him about that, I want to ask him something else, okay?”
“But isn’t the Dragon Insignia more important, though?” Puck asked.
I took a deep breath in. “Sure, it’s important, but this—this is important as well.” After all, who knew if I’d ever see this boy again after this?
Puck was silent for a few seconds. “...Fine,” he eventually said.
It took a few minutes, but eventually I heard the boy breathe in. “Is my head on someone’s lap?” he mumbled, moving his head a little.
“You’re awake? That’s good,” I said, breathing a sigh of relief.
“I didn’t know cute girls could be this hairy… Wait, that’s not right!” The boy rolled his head up to see Puck, and I could see the shock on his face. He scrambled off Puck’s lap an instant later, almost jumping across the alleyway.
“It’s just a thoughtful arrangement we made so you’d be comfortable until you woke up,” Puck said, pitching his already pretty soft voice up even higher.
I bristled, but before I could respond, the boy had already started speaking.
“First of all, stop talking in that voice!” he blustered. “It’s impossible for anyone sane to confuse a cat for the main heroine!”
The words were a shock to my system. My mind went blank, the words I was about to say disappearing.
It took a few seconds for me to regain my senses; by that point, the boy was already staring at me, like he was expecting me to answer something he’d said to me. “U-uh, I’m sorry. I didn’t really hear what you said.” I gave a sheepish smile.
“Ah—you were distracted? I’m sorry…” The boy scratched his head, stepping away from the wall. “I was just saying, I’m sorry for taking up all your time… You’re looking for something that was stolen from you, right? So you must have wasted all your time waiting.”
I felt a frown beginning to crease on my face. “Hey, there’s no need to apologise so much. I stayed here because I wanted to, okay? I was worried. And, I also wanted to ask you a few questions, if you’d be okay with answering them.”
The boy’s cheeks flushed. “Um, sure, I’d be fine with that,” he said, looking to the side. “After all, I owe you for healing me up…”
I took a deep breath. “Those three men, they said they saw a girl running through this alleyway. Do you remember what she looked like?”
“Oh!” He perked up, losing his blush. “Yes, I do! She had blonde hair and red eyes, and was wearing a skimpy outfit! She had her midriff exposed. Like some kind of fantasy thief or something.” He nodded, holding his hand to his chin in a thinking pose. “At least, that’s what I can remember.”
Despite myself, the other question roared up in my head, the urge almost too much for me to bear. So I got to my feet and started walking towards him.
“E-eh? What are you doing?” He suddenly looked nervous all of a sudden, but I didn’t really care. I had to know the answer to this question. I had to.
I put my hands onto the boy’s shoulders, and he froze. He was a little taller than me, so I had to look up to make eye contact with him, but that didn’t matter.
I voiced the question that had been on my mind since I’d first seen his belongings, the one which the need I had for it to be answered had only grown the more he’d spoken.
“Have you ever heard of a planet called Earth?”
Something in the boy’s eyes changed. He started to shake. I could see a sudden fear in them.
I hurriedly pulled my arms off, preparing an apology in my head. I hadn’t realised I’d looked so terrifying to him, and a cold guilt stabbed at my stomach.
But before I could say anything, the boy pushed me away, turned around, and puked his guts out onto the pavement.