CH 160

C160: After the Battle

“You’re too slow to notice! How dull you are, stupid Yuta! Your childhood friend is this close to you; do you know how I felt fighting with you?! Wah, I…”

What came back to me was the nostalgic tone of voice of that childhood friend. It was Nagisa, after all. A burning sensation spread through my chest. It seems that she was angry with me, but rather than worrying about that, I wanted to do something about my feelings, so I unconsciously hugged Nagisa, even though we were in magicrafts.

“Thank God, it’s really Nagisa. I’m glad you’re okay. I was worried about you, Nagisa…….”

“Yu……Yuta……”

I wanted to get off the magicraft immediately and talk to her directly. But then I remembered that we were in the middle of a war and changed my mind.

“Nagisa, we can talk about all this later. But first, let’s finish this battle.”

“Let’s get this over with.”

We were outnumbered but thanks to the Iron Knights efforts the enemy only had about 100 magicrafts left, victory was in sight.

“Don’t miss a single magicraft! Hit them when you can, and they’ll lose the will to fight!”

Jean issued a final notice to the entire army. Certainly, if we think about what will happen later, it is only natural to reduce their forces as much as possible now.

When the Ruja Empire’s forces reached about twenty magicrafts, they showed their intention to surrender and laid down their weapons. No matter how much we wanted to reduce their forces, we would not attack an enemy that had surrendered. All of the riders were unloaded from their magicrafts and taken prisoner.

One of the prisoners we captured was a general. He was the commander of the invasion force this time. The general informed us that 80% of the Ruja Empire’s forces had participated in this invasion. Since we destroyed most of the invasion force, the Ruja Empire would have no more strength left to wage war.

I can finally get some proper rest – or so I thought…….

“Yuta, where’s your ride carrier, show me.”

Speaking of which, I still have a very emotional reunion scene with my childhood friend. It’s going to be a while before I can rest.

I took Nagisa with me and returned to Fugaku. When I entered the hangar and got off the Arleo, Nagisa, who had gotten off her magicraft, came running up to me. I hadn’t seen Nagisa in a long time, and she hadn’t changed at all. I was kind of happy to think that she was right in front of me.

“Yuta, you haven’t changed at all.”

“Of course not, it hasn’t been that long.”

“That’s true…….”

Nagisa stared into my eyes as if she wanted something. This is the kind of gesture she makes when she wants me to do something for her.

“What do you want me to do?”

“No, I don’t want you to do anything, but I was wondering if you could hug me like you did before.”

“No, you idiot, I can’t do that kind of embarrassing stuff in the flesh.”

“It was embarrassing enough for both of our magicrafts! You’re a…..idiot for doing that on the battlefield!”

“If you knew it was me, why didn’t you just say it? You could have said it at a better time!”

“What are you talking about? You’re so dense, I was trying to see how long you could stay oblivious.”

“What? I don’t know why I’m even trying!”

“Hmph, it doesn’t really matter why!”

Nagisa turned away sullenly… I gently pulled Nagisa close to me and hugged her, just like she wanted. At first, she stiffened and was surprised, but then she put her arms around my back and hugged me back. I knew that touching her in the flesh would make me feel that we had met again. I guess that’s what Nagisa was looking for, too.

My friends come back one after another and thank each other for their hard work. However, when they notice Nagisa’s presence……

“Yuta, who is this girl? You seem awfully familiar with…….”

“Nanami saw you. Yuta and the girl were hugging just now!”

“Yuta, what are you doing, that’s so inappropriate…….”

“No, no, it’s not like that, this is my childhood friend Nagisa, we haven’t seen each other in a long time, we were just having an emotional reunion.”

“Childhood Friend……Oh, so I guess it’s okay.”

“Why is it okay to be a childhood friend?”

Nanami asks curiously.

“Oh, don’t you know? Love affairs with childhood friends do not end well.”

I don’t know how she reasoned, but Linnecarlo assured her confidently. Well, it’s true that Nagisa is an important childhood friend, but I can’t think of her becoming my girlfriend.