Vol 1 Chapter 19 (1/2)
LEVEL 1: A Whisper, an Aria, a Prayer, an Awakening
Chapter 19: Ad Interim, Tomorrow
Before theyasleep the previous night—Haruhiro and the others racked their brains over what they would do, what they would say to her But no one could think of anything Then, when they reached Damro’s Old Town, they had to focus on work, and they didn’t have the luxury to worry about anything else
This crucial time for all of them seemed to fly by, and it wasn’t until they returned to Altana in the evening that Haruhiro finally mustered up the resolve to approach Mary
“Mary, there’s so I want to talk to you about,” Haruhiro said frankly, as they exited the store where they sold their day’s loot
“I see,” Mary replied, bringing her arms around herself defensively “Get on with it then”
Because everyone had been preoccupied last night hat turns their relationshi+p with Mary ht take, none of them could act like their normal selves around her today They had heard Mary’s story from Hayashi+, and Mary couldn’t have known that; but she couldn’t have e in everyone’s behavior either, and shewas up
She probably thought that they were preparing to kick her out of the party She was probably playing out the scenario in her , “Sorry Mary, but can I ask you to leave our party?”
And not wanting to make a fuss, she would immediately reply, “Fine”, and take her leave of them
She was steeling herself for the announcement, or so it seemed to Haruhiro It had probably happened like that numerous times before, with , the way it always ended like that for her
“Mary…” Haruhiro said, saying her name as a friend’s, as one of them
He met her eyes and held them, as if to say, It’s not what you think Mary’s eyebrows narrowed slightly Haruhiro wasn’t alone in this intent gaze; Mogzo, Yume, shi+horu, and Ranta had their eyes locked on her too She noticed their stares and stiffened, uneasyNo, it’s not what you think… Haruhiro repeated inwardly again
“Mary,” Haruhiro said, out loud this time “We had a Priest in our party before His name was Manato, and he died… or ot him killed You could say that he was almost a perfectionist, and we depended on hihts, he would heal us even if it was just a scratch
“Manato was our leader,” said Haruhiro, “a healer we trusted, and he and Mogzo would always fight in the front, so he was a tank too It was like he was three people in one He was really an a person, but at the tiuy to us I don’t think any of it was easy on Manato, but he never showed it, and none of us ever tried to iine how hard it really was for hiine… but he’s dead He’s not here anymore”
Mary surely must have seen the siured out that Haruhiro was telling her all this because they knew the story of her past
Haruhiro had been debating it for soood idea of what happened to Mary, and he could kind of understand why she was the way she was But should he tell Mary that he knew?
Soh
“A” happened, therefore “B” Haruhiro knew that huhtforward creatures, and he didn’t pretend to be able to see into Mary’s heart No one was going to be so flippant as to clai there was to know about her So, the only thing he could tell her about was himself
“To be honest, with Manato gone, I thought that it was over,” began Haruhiro “I thought that it was i this without him But even if he was dead, ere still alive We had to live on, and we couldn’t live on by sitting around We stayed on as Crimson Moon trainees, if only to feed ourselves
“Then we invited you the join the party A party has to have a Priest, that hy No other reason Now,dregs frohill, but got thrown out after they took all hisas we ht’ve been, and we became teammates, and friends too
“That was all there was to it in the beginning But since then, we’ve becoreat, soht, but in the end, we still consider each other friends The circuether don’t matter What matters is that here and now, everyone is my precious friend and companion That includes you, Mary”
Mary didn’t say a word She stared long and hard at Haruhiro, motionless, except to blink now and then
“Me too” shi+horu quietly raised her hand “I consider you a friend, too”