Volume 2 - CH 12

After discussing some more territorial reforms with Patrick, I’m back to lazing around. He was sitting in a chair reading a book after I kicked him out of bed. My bed, my sanctuary, I must protect it with all my might.

He suddenly looked up from the book he was reading and asked.

「Where do you wanna go in your spare time?」

「The weather is really nice today.」

I jumped up and moved towards the window. The sky above the royal capital was spotless, with no cloud in sight.

With the exception of a single black shadow in the blue sky. The shadow that flew up and away from this residence and was getting smaller as time went by.

「Oh, looks like Ryuu is going out too.」

Maybe I’m too hands-off with Ryuu but I don’t know where he usually goes. Even when I was still attending the academy, he always flew off somewhere else whenever I was in class.

But then again, I haven’t been most attentive to him these past few days. But, I can’t help but wonder where my beloved child goes.

I opened the window and leaned out.

「I’m going to see out what my kid’s up to. Bye.」

「Hey, don’t go in and out through the window… don’t forget to be home by night!」

「All right!」

As Patrick’s voice faded into the background, my feet were already propped up on the window sill before I jumped up to the roof.

Ryuu was leisurely flying, when I started following him there was already quite some distance between us. If I keep following him along the road, I’m going to lose sight of him.

I had no choice but to fly for this one.

I stopped and stepped back. I ran to catch some speed before jumping onto one of my neighbours’ rooftop.

My feet landed on my neighbour’s rooftop, before doing the same to reach the next roof.

I was jumping from one roof to another while chasing Ryuu’s retreating figure.

「This is fun.」

Should I skip the roof jumping as well? Why hadn’t I thought of this before?

I don’t have wings. But, by releasing magical energy, I might be able to do some aerial maneuvering, not enough to take me off into the air but enough to change my stance and momentum.

Guess coming to the royal capital was not a waste of time after all. This was one of the few places where the buildings were so close to each other, I would’ve never thought about this in an open environment.

Leaping through the sky, I followed Ryuu.

However, I made sure to avoid stepping on buildings that looked fragile as I couldn’t follow him in a straight line. As I made my way around, I lost my sight of him.

「Well, at least I know the general area of where he headed.」

Being separated by the distance didn’t mean I had no idea where he was going. Ryuu was still in the capital, and if he was going to land it had to be near the walls.

Since I got the general idea, it’s time to head out to the capital’s outskirts.

Ryuu was just outside of the city walls that surrounded the capital. There were guards posted at the gates but they only checked the carriage loads but people could come and go as they pleased.

In other words, the walls were there only in case of emergencies. And unless there was a large shipment, people aren’t allowed to come and go as freely… what I’m trying to say is, I can jump over the walls, right?

After playing skipping stones with the rooftops, I landed on the top of the walls. Alright, now the next game: The floor is lava. If I fall down I’m dead.  It might have helped if there had been a curb or white line.

「Is that… Phil-kun?」

Phil is a boy I’ve met before in the royal capital. At the time, he was being bullied because of his dark brown hair.

Other than Phil, there were several other boys in the meadow just outside the walls.

They play with wooden sticks by swinging them around. Seeing them play a game of make-believe, they looked so adorable.

What’s the setting? Is Ryuu playing along as the antagonist? Despite the dragon’s appearance, Ryuu is very cute. My child watches these interactions between the boys with great interest.

「Ugh, the power of darkness that dwells in my right hand…」

「Pull yourself together or you’d get swallowed up!」

…They don’t even look like they’re ten years old. The disease develops too quickly. It is hard to see these boys in front of me waste their entire adult lives like that.

Without a second thought, I jump down from the walls and approach them.

The first one to notice my presence was Ryuu followed by Phil. With a surprised look on his face, he said.

「Oh! Yumiela-san!」

「Who is she? Your sister?」

One of the boys rudely asked. At that rude remark, the flustered Phil covered his mouth.

It’s okay, what the boy talks about me doesn’t bother me or make me angry. Fufufu, this is how adults work.

「Ah, she’s a noble. If you say that—」

「It’s all right. You can speak like you always do.」

「So? What are you doing here, nee-chan?」

The blond-haired boy asks as he gives me a wary look. I guess he could be thinking that I’m someone suspicious or scary… too many things come to my mind. And I’ve lived with those kinds of misconceptions all my life.

I was thinking about how to gain their trust, but he spoke first.

「Ryuu is our friend! He’s not something a noble can take!」

I’m impressed. Ah, what a beautiful friendship between man and dragon. To think that a child would care so much about my child.

Meanwhile, Ryuu was engrossed with the butterflies that were fluttering in front of his face. Ah, he ate it.

Perhaps Phil should clear up any misunderstandings that could happen rather than clearing it myself. He seemed to catch on when I looked at him. He then explains to the blond-haired boy.

「Don’t worry about her. She’s… Ryuu’s mother?」

「Eh? You’re that dragon tamer?!」

「Um, I think so?」

「Wow! You were the one with the dark power sealed in your right hand, right?」

The boy’s dubious expression changes and he looks at me with a sparkle in his eyes. His innocent gaze was too dazzling and painful to look at.

It wasn’t only in my head. This might be an example that the disease is spreading in the royal capital.

「…Why did you wonder if it was sealed? Where did you hear about it?」

「I heard it from a nii-san who sang about it in the square. I think it was… the day before yesterday?」

I only met that guy two days ago, and it looked like he was working really fast..

The blond-haired kid was more susceptible because they’re still innocent and since Phil seems mature he will be fine.

「Did you hear about it too, Phil?」

「Yup! When I heard the song, I knew right away he was talking about Yumiela-san. And the song spoke about Ryuu, too. It was awesome!」

No, it’s different, boys. That’s not how the original story goes, that story has been dramatized. Guess I need to add training for information literacy among the reformation.

The other boy was my last hope. He hadn’t spoken a single word for a while, I wonder if he is a quiet person or just shy. Surely he understands that his friends were doing something embarrassing.

「And what about you? What do you think about the story?」

「…ling.」

「Eh?」

「…My evil eye is tingling, the fated time has come.」

His case was the most serious. He’s holding his left eye with his hand and mumbling something. How did he get to this level in two days? Ahh, the children grow up so fast.

For their future’s sake, I have to help them come to their senses. If I deny one of the causes, this localized epidemic will subside.

「I don’t think that’s cool, how about something a little better than that?」

「Do you want to join us, nee-chan?」

Something different.

The blond-haired boy looks like he can’t help it, or something along the line.. That’s why it’s different.

Wait, I can’t just deny them. To mitigate this disaster, I’ll have to create an alternative or some new trend.

Something… that’s safe and kid-friendly… Something like a squadron? But I don’t know much about it. Let’s try working on it.

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Like figure skating, I jumped up high and spun before landing on one foot. The ending pose for the quadruple axel is me doing a peace sign in front of their face.

「Magical girl Yumiela has arrived!」

…Ah, I want to die. Somebody, please end me. This won’t work, I’m creating another disaster, aren’t I?

The three boys freeze at the sight of my disgraceful behavior. And Ryuu, what are you doing? He looks at me with a distrustful expression.

After an infernal silence, Phil nervously opens his mouth and says.

「Did…. we used to look like Yumiela-san to the people around us when we did that?」

「Yeah, but the method was different.」

「…Let’s stop.」

The comments they gave to my performance was 「Painful」 but it’s a different kind of pain. If I had to say which one hurts more, no. Let’s not do something that will reopen old wounds.

Thus, they were cured from chuunibyou.

From a distance, I watched the boys climbing and playing on Ryuu’s body. Sitting on the ground, holding my knees, I sigh.

It was a Sunday morning but felt like a Monday morning.

「Hey, are you okay?」

The owner from that voice that called me from the side was Phil. He’s a sweet kid, despite a history of being bullied because of his dark brown hair, he’s grown up nice.

「Yeah, it’s fine. More importantly, I’m glad you made some friends.」

「Yup!」

「How long have you guys been friends?」

「—The day before yesterday.」

The day before yesterday?! They behaved like they were friends for a long time… do kids get along faster or are their communication skills better?

Curious about how they got to know each other, I asked him and he told me what happened.

「Two days ago, I heard a song with Yumiela-san as the protagonist in the public square. Afterward, two people approached me to tell me that my dark hair was cool… Yumiela-san was the reason why I’ve had friends other than Ryuu.」

Okay, so it was the bard. No matter how embarrassing the story was, if it helps someone, then…

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Chuunibyou isn’t as bad as I thought.

「Huh? But then, chuuni… the dark time where it seemed cool is over.」

「That’s…」

Phil’s expression was clouded with apprehension.

Don’t tell me… did you think you had done something incredibly extra? But my fears were unfounded.

Before I knew it, the two boys were coming up to me. Both of them grabbed Ryuu’s tail dragging him along with them.

「That’s not true! Phil and I are friends now, aren’t we?!」they said.