âIs there something bugging your mind?â Mom asked with a smile, causing my blank mind to be panicked.
I was still hesitating whether or not I should break the news to someone from my current family, but due to my carelessness, I blurted out my words accidentally...in short, I wasnât ready!
â...Yes, thereâs something that has been bugging my mind,â I gulped and said.
âAnd that thing became the cause of the outbreak before?â Mom asked.
âYeah...No,â I contradicted myself very quickly. Nevertheless, I added, âNot just that
I have
that have been troubling my mind. Perhaps the accumulation of them all caused my uneasiness and my dark magic to be easily manipulated. I donât even know where to start...â
âIs that so? Then, can you start untangling the knots in your heart bit by bit? Maybe starting from the small, easy knot?â Mom suggested.
âFrom the small, easy knot...,â I pondered.
âRemember, you have me, your dad, and your siblings rooting for you. Weâre always here whenever you feel like you need someone to discuss them with, or if you just want to share them,â Mom gently smiled.
My eyes felt hot upon hearing that again.
Before, my mind would tell me, âDonât, they wonât believe you. Or they might believe you, but they will see you as something weird. Can you say with certainty that you are
But right now, in the corner of my heart, there was a voice telling me that it would probably be okay.
Still, I know one thing for sure.
âLyra?â Mom asked me in a worry as I was silent for a moment.
âAh...Okay, Mom. I got it. I will try! I will make sure I tell you or the others if I ever need any help,â I smiled.
âGood. Is there anything else you wish to tell me?â Mom asked.
I hesitated a bit before saying, âUhm, not yet for now...Thanks a lot, Mom! Iâm gonna go to Alt-nii and the twins for another practice!â
I left Mom as I was done with the short rest that I didnât notice Momâs small sigh.
âExcuse me, Madam. There are guests from Sanctuaria family outside,â A maid hurriedly came to Mom. I stopped walking to my siblings and turned to Mom and the maid.
âAh, thatâs right,â Mom turned to look at me before continuing, âGrandpa and Grandma are here to see you, Lyra. Theyâve been very worried about you that they wouldnât be rest assured without seeing you in person.â
âEh? Grandpa and Grandma are old already, they shouldnât have taken the trouble to!â I was genuinely worried over them going all the way here. Usually, we would be the ones to visit them during the holidays.
âDidnât we already call them through Provice? Geez, let me go to the front door to welcome them!â I really felt bad that I ought to welcome them myself.
Mom chuckled upon looking at me like that.
Though I was complaining, I was actually happy to have the two elderly figures be so worried over me. This was something I had never experienced when I was Reinst.
In the end, our training that day stopped as we welcomed our grandparents. As always, they indulged usâtheir grandchildrenâvery much, especially the adorable twins. Well, since the main purpose of their arrival here was me, I was more or less the focus of todayâs visit.
My parents asked them to stay the night for several days after dinner, but my grandparents insisted on going home as it wouldnât take much time going back to their residence using the teleportation service.
***
The next day, I came back to school. My close friends already saw me, yet they were still happy to see me back at school. Meanwhile, my classmates heard that an accident happened to me at school and I was injured, so they asked me how I was feeling right now.
When break time arrived, as expected, there were other people who wanted to see me beside my close friends.
The first one was unexpectedly Celeste.
She tagged along with Altaire, Clavis, and Harvey. I guess she had become the member of Altaireâs circle of friends, I guess? I heard that she had always been a loner and that it was hard getting close to her. The fact that she accepted being nominated in the competition was something that everyone in her class was glad of. Then, she and Alt-niiâs team bonded over the course of training.
Either way, it was good to see the additional member of female friend for my big brother.
âI heard from Altaire that you were attacked. Iâm so glad to see you alright,â Celeste said as she gently smiled.
âThank you for your concern, Celeste-san!â I thanked her for her concern.
âSo you...have both dark and light magic?â Celeste seemed a bit hesitant to ask me about it.
Oh well...I kind of expected this to happen. Not like I wanted to hide the fact that I had dark magic anymore, so it was fine.
âYes, thatâs right,â I nodded.
âAh, then wouldnât that be good? I heard that mastering dark magic isnât easy and some people were engulfed in the darkness. The light magic can surely help you and increase your success rate of winning over the darkness of your heart,â Celeste kindly told me.
âReally? I better do some more research about magic,â I was surprised that she knew this fact. Did she try finding this for me due to the incident that befell me, or did she find out about it out of curiosity over light and dark magic? Her strongest magic was light, after all.
But well, Iâm glad to know that Celeste seems to be a good person. Sheâs beautiful, strong, and kind. Kinda reminds me of Mom, to be honest.
I glanced a bit at Alt-nii.
Anyway, the second person asking for an audience with meâor more like, wanting to meet me was none other than Erneste. He was one of the causes of my dark magic outbreak.
Looking at his face right before my eyes, I no longer felt the urge to avoid him because of what I overheard before. Rather, I was amused by his two-faced act that was so perfect. Even his look of worry right nowâit was good enough to deceive people that I might be deceived should I not know that he was insincere towards me.
Ironically, he reminded me of my past self, of Reinst. Putting on a facade in front of others. Such perfect mask. The difference between us was that he put on his mask to achieve the things he wanted to have, while I put on a mask to protect my fragile self and to answer othersâ expectations of me.
âErneste, letâs have a talk alone,â I said as I turned to give my friends the âItâs alrightâ kind of look.
Erneste might be thinking about something else as a glimpse of happiness flashed in his face.
âOf course, letâs,â he said.
I brought the two of us to the schoolâs empty back garden before I turned to look at him in the eyes.
âIâm ready to give my answer,â I said.
Ernesteâs face turned a bit stiff, despite him being able to maintain his smile.
âMy answer is...,â I took a deep breath before I said, âI canât.â
âLyra...! Thereâs no need to give me a hurried answer now. Letâs just be good friends, okay?â Erneste immediately asked.
âNo. I donât think we can even become good friends,â I said with a determined look at him.
At the same time, I thought about how pathetic I was for wanting to avoid this confrontation that was bound to happen anyway.
Perhaps it was because I wasnât used to rejecting people and was still in denial.
But with just summoning a bit of courage, I could stop being anxious. The uncomfortable feeling of confronting someone would only last while I was confronting them, and after that, it should give me a longer feeling of relief.
Perhaps after coming back from âthe deathâs doorâ that my clarity of mind returned. No, it was more like after being cornered and pressured to actually address my issues. If not, I didnât know when I would eventually face them.
âWhy?â Erneste asked as he made a pitiful face, akin to a puppy getting abandoned by its master. But I knew it was a facade, so letâs not get affected by it.
âErneste, letâs be honest,â I said as I walked around.
âWhat do you mean?â Erneste asked, still pretending to be oblivious.
â...I overheard you talking with your friends. You donât really like me, right? Itâs all for your own ego and benefits, right?â I asked straightforwardly.
â...!!â Ernesteâs angelic face twisted.
âSo, donât lie to me. Donât even show your face in front of me. From now on, you and Iâeven our acquaintance-shipâis over,â I decisively stated.
âYou--,â Ernesteâs tone changed altogether from his angelic gentle voice, into that of a threatening voice.
âWhat?â I tried to lift up my chin and locked eyes with him.
âDonât you dare tell about that to anyone else,â Erneste still threatened me.
âTell that to anyone and be ridiculed instead? Hah, as if. Your facade is really awesome, you know? I wonder how long you can keep up the pretense,â I said with a tone of ridicule.
Of course I wasnât as stupid as to tell everyone about this. While my friends would trust me, others might not. I would be seen as someone who wanted to ruin Ernesteâs reputation instead. It would be fine for me as long as I didnât have anything to do with him anymore.
But still...! To think that he even threatened me! I definitely couldnât accept this. I wasnât the one at fault. He should be ashamed and even apologize, hey!
I was really upset now. If only I knew how to induce fear just like Luca did, I would definitely use it at this moment.
I guess thatâs more reason I should learn dark magic diligently, then?
âGoodbye, then,â Erneste said as he went past me to go away.
When he went past me, I had an idea.
I used my silent incantation to secretly form a tiny bit of ice on the ground that Erneste was about to walk in. Sure enough, Erneste wasnât watching the ground where he was walking and had his feet slipped there.
With a loud thud, Erneste fell to the ground.
âOuch!â
âPfft, hahaha!â I intentionally didnât cover my laugh and let it all out.
âYou, what did you--,â Erneste raised his voice again at me as he looked up at me, still sitting on the ground.
âOh? Do you have any proof? Youâre just too embarrassed to admit that you fell out of nothing, right?â I lifted my chin again.
â...!!â Erneste gritted his teeth.
âLet me tell you before you get your head up in the clouds,â I said as I looked down at him.
âYou should be thankful enough that I just want you to never appear in front of me again. I didnât even demand an apology nor did I expose the matter. I can actually do more than that, you know? Between you and I, I wonder whoâs stronger here?â I smirked.
At my mention, Ernesteâs face that was all bark turned hesitant.
âAnd maybe youâve forgotten about it since Harmonia Academy is all about equality. But again, between you and I, who has the lower status?â
I actually didnât like to make use of my status this way, but hopefully this would be the only exception I made.
Ernesteâs pupils widened as if he just remembered it.
âI actually can go and tell my parents about this whole matter, then see what they can do to you or your family...,â I tugged on his necktie as I tried to unleash my dark auraâhopefully enough to suppress him.
Actually, I believe my parents wouldnât use their status unwisely like that, but with how overprotective Dad was, he would at least be a bit more difficult towards Ernesteâs family.
But not all nobles would let it off at that. Some could even do horrible things...
Realizing this, and perhaps due to my unleashed dark magic aura as well, Ernesteâs face turned pale.
I think this should be enough.
I let go of Ernesteâs tie and said, âNow go.â
Erneste didnât even utter anything else as he quickly got up and ran away from the spot.
...
But then again, that was to be expected when one noticed they offended someone of higher status. That was a given. If he didnât feel intimidated like this, then he was simply too brazen.
I combed my hair as I looked up at the sky and huffed a sigh.
[Achievement Unlocked: Threatened A Male Senior~ â©]
The Almighty Lyra mode was back for a moment...I guess?
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