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I couldn’t see his face because I was holding him from behind, but when I received that short answer, I finally realized that I had found Dante.
Do you know how hard I struggled to get hold of you? Do you know how much I wandered around the maze-like Magic Tower?
Of course, Dante, who had been watching me all along, couldn’t have been unaware of that fact. I got angry again, and I tightened my arms to hold on to Dante even harder.
“How have you been without me?”
I felt a flinch from Dante, who had been frozen without taking any action, for a moment. Even though the words contained a hint of laughter, it was clear that he noticed my feelings when I saw this reaction.
Or maybe he felt the anger I couldn’t hide from my arms holding Dante tightly.
If I had known that I would be able to catch him so easily just because I had someone to help me, I would have pursued Lisa instead of Dante from the start. Unlike Dante, I caught Lisa relatively easily.
I looked in the direction Lisa had left for a moment, then looked back at Dante.
To be precise, the back of Dante’s head, who was at a loss.
“I think Lisa is too kind because she doesn’t resemble her master.”
Dante, who understood the meaning of the words at once, let out a small pained sound.
“That’s why I told you not to meet me at all.”
“You’re guilty because of that. Do you prevent me from meeting you because you’re not good enough to control your mouth?”
“Because I knew I would try to help you like this once we met…”
Dante’s voice gradually faded toward the end.
“Lisa didn’t mean to help me first. I just asked her for a small favor.”
“… What favor?”
“Please secretly take me to a place where you might appear.”
[If the Master isn’t watching Sister, he usually stays on the top floor of the Magic Tower!]
Lisa’s clear answer seemed to ring in my ears again.
Lisa, who seemed to be worried about whether it was okay to do this at first, became more excited and tried to help with this and that later..
Whenever Dante is watching me, and whenever he seems to have taken his eyes off to go to other things, she hides in this gap and tells me.
She even drew his attention to the very end as she spoke to Dante. Um, it’s really strange that it’s listed like this. I’ll have to give her some candies later.
Dante, who had been silently listening to my story, immediately responded with a dejected response.
“Because meeting you wasn’t enough, she went so far as to ignore her master’s orders.”
“Don’t think of scolding the child. Because I caught Lisa running away.”
Dante just shook his head at the sound of my voice trying to become vicious again. From the moment I caught him, everything from his voice to his actions was drained of energy, as if he had admitted defeat.
But what can I do? If I feel relieved after seeing that attitude, I don’t know when he will run away again.
At the same time as I tightened my grip again, Dante cautiously opened his mouth.
“Then can’t you let your arms go now?”
“If I let you go now, you will run, or won’t you.”
“…”
Seeing the hesitant attitude of not answering right away, I gave strength to my arms again, and a hasty answer followed.
“I won’t.”
“You’re the one who said that first, keep it. If you run away again this time, I will be really angry.”
“Mm…”
No matter how sullenly he answers, he won’t look at me. When I let go of the waist that my hands were holding tight enough to turn white, Dante slowly turned around.
Aside from the outrageous things, it was nice to see his face after a long time. The slightly disheveled hair, and the purple eyes that avoid eye contact.
If he ran away so hard, he would have been doing well, yet his complexion was just dark, like someone who had suffered a lot.
Unknowingly, I raised my hand to tidy up his bangs, and Dante, who blinked slowly without saying a word, lowered his head quietly. Normally, I would have thought that he was lowering his head so that I wouldn’t be uncomfortable, but today, somehow, it didn’t seem like that was the only intention.
Just as I was examining Dante’s face, his gaze continued to reach me as if it were examining me.
The persistent eye contact fight ended when I lowered my hand.
I found his purple eyes filled with slight regret, and I felt absurd for a moment. Why are you acting like someone who can’t see me in a long time? The one who can’t see you even if I miss you is me, though.
“Now, shall we hear why you have been avoiding me so hard?”
Contrary to my smile when I said that, Dante put on a resigned look.
First, I randomly dragged a nearby chair and sat Dante down. I crossed my arms crookedly and looked down at Dante, yet he hesitated, then stirred his hand to bring a chair from somewhere else. I certainly don’t think he’s going to run away at this point. He even gave me a seat to sit down.
But he only didn’t run away, and as if he still didn’t intend to talk, Dante diligently avoided my gaze even after I sat down.
“I heard all of your conversations with Lisa. You’re going to tell me what’s going on ‘after it’s all sorted out’?”
“…Mm.”
“Alright. So you intend to tell me.”
But that’s not what I want. It was only after everything was resolved. Ah, that happened, I’m glad it was resolved. I don’t want to end by saying that.
“Will it hurt you if you tell me in advance what you’re going to tell me?”
“…”
“Dante.”
It’s also a repetition of that frustrating situation. Dante, who couldn’t lie or tell the truth, just kept his mouth shut, and I unilaterally questioned Dante.
If this continues, it seems it will end without receiving any answer, just like the last time, so I said in a very subdued voice.
The most extreme example I’ve ever thought of while Dante was gone.
“You think I’ll get in the way of solving that very problem?”
Of course, I know Dante won’t be like that. That even if there were moments where I was really in the way, Dante wouldn’t think I was in the way.
As I expected, Dante took my hand in amazement. Even as I was expecting Dante’s reaction, it was surprisingly fast.
“It’s not like that.”
“If not, what is it? Honestly, you’ve never been like this before. Weren’t we supposed not to keep secrets from each other?”
It seems that the more I talk, the more I feel like soothing him, but I can’t help it. Seeing how his momentum has waned since he was captured by me, I think it’s better to just provoke Dante’s guilt rather than blindly grabbing him and arguing with him.
Whether or not he noticed that I was making up my mind, I could see Dante starting to sway here and there.
“If you couldn’t tell me at all, why didn’t you just tell me that. To be honest, I’m a little…”
Do I even have to say this in front of him? It seemed like he was sighing somewhere inside, but I ignored it for now.
“A little, no. I’m very sad.”
Even without intentionally trying to do so, the words came out in a sullen tone. Dante was shaking and restless now, unable to keep his hands still.
The hand that was trying to wrap my shoulder, just tried to hug me, fell off, and ended up clasping his other hand.
Predictably, it seemed to be a compromise of his own. In order not to weaken his mind.
But wasn’t it already over when he held his own hand?
While glancing at Dante’s hand so as not to catch the ridiculous gaze, at the same time, I had a somewhat unexpected idea.
I wondered if this was a couple fight that I had only heard about.
It was a self-awareness that didn’t suit this confrontation, but at least it was perfect for relaxing. It’s too bland for a fight, and it’s not like we’re in a grandiose conflict, but at first glance, it’s like that.
Thinking that way made me feel a little funny about this situation, and my hands naturally loosened up.
“…Ei?”
However, Dante, who had been silent for a long time, called my name in a timid voice, as if my appearance had come to Dante differently.
“Why are you calling me?”
“…I want to say… that I was wrong.”
“Didn’t you say that you were wrong the other day? You wrote it carefully on a piece of paper and sent it.”
At the bone-chilling joke, I saw Dante skim my face and then lower his eyes again.
“At that time, I was saying that I was wrong about avoiding you blindly.”
“Then now?”
“Now…”
Dante let out a dull sigh, like someone who had given up on everything. Unlike Dante, who was getting more and more discouraged, I also seemed a little excited. It was as if I could finally hear why Dante had avoided me.
“If you say you were wrong, I’ll accept it if you tell me everything about what you didn’t want to tell me.”
But even after I said that, Dante hesitated for a really long time. As if he didn’t like it even though this situation has happened.
Before my patience ran out, Dante barely opened his mouth.
“You’ll understand why I didn’t want to tell you.”
Well, I don’t think I can understand why you tried so hard to avoid me. However, I had no choice but to cut off my thoughts at the words that continued quietly.
For my head seemed to be going blank in an instant.
“It’s about the people who bombed the village when you died.”
Dante’s voice fell heavily in my ears.