“W-Wait! Just give me a minute! I have to silence my feelings first!” Celia waved her hands in a panic, trying to stop him from leaning in and getting a look at her face.
“...Yes?” Rio continued to tilt his head, but obeyed Celia for now.
“...Okay, done,” She said after a few deep breaths, looking up at Rio’s face. Belatedly noticing how they were still close enough to be hugging, she backed away slightly. She had been held in a bridal carry the entire way here, so it really was a rather belated realization.
That being said, being carried here was a necessity, and there was no need to be so close to each other right now. That difference was extremely important to Celia.
“Then, let’s head inside the house. Please, come this way. You too, Aishia — let’s go in.” Rio looked at Celia’s face and made sure she was all right, before turning on his heel to call out to Aishia and head towards the front door.
“Okay.” Aishia gave a short nod and followed Rio. Celia started walking forward hesitantly. Once the three of them entered the house, Celia looked around the open living space and widened her eyes.
“...I never imagined there could be such a pleasant living space inside a rock...”
“I can guarantee you that it’s comfortable to live in. Let’s get you changed first, shall we? We can’t have you remain in that wedding dress forever, now.”
“...Yeah. But... Do you have a change of clothes...?” Celia said, looking at Rio doubtfully. She had left the capital with nothing but the clothes on her back, so she didn’t have a change of clothes handy. Not to mention how they hadn’t stopped anywhere on the way here, as they wanted to put as much distance between the capital as possible, leaving them no time for shopping.
“Let’s see. We’ll definitely go shopping tomorrow, but for today, you can just...”
Rio stared at Celia’s stature closely.
◇ ◇ ◇
Rio changed from his overcoat and combat clothing into his usual casual wear and went about preparing tea in the living room. Some time later, Celia and Aishia finished changing in a different room and returned to the living room wearing comfortable dresses.
“Say, whose clothes are these?” Celia asked Rio and Aishia as she looked down at her completed outfit.
“They belong to one of the girls who was summoned along during the hero summonings. They lived in this house for a short while, so...”
The clothes that Celia was wearing right now were the ones that Miharu and the others had forgotten to take from the laundry when they moved to the spirit folk village. It was obvious at a glance that Miharu’s clothes wouldn’t fit Celia in terms of height and fit, so Rio had given her Aki’s clothes to try on.
It looks like Aki’s clothes are perfect for the Professor, just as I expected.
Rio couldn’t help but smile in amusement at how Celia could fit into the clothes of a middle school student.
“...Just out of curiosity, how old was the girl who owned these clothes?” Celia suddenly asked out of the blue.
“Umm... thirteen,” Rio answered after an awkward pause.
“And the other girl you mentioned?” Celia puffed up her cheeks a little.
“...Sixteen. Ah, is it a little small after all? Umm, Aki — that’s the girl’s name — is just about your height, Professor, so I thought it would work. If you’d like, I can prepare the other girl — Miharu’s — clothes instead...?” It was as clear as day that the clothes wouldn’t fit, but Rio tried to be considerate and offer anyway.
“I-It’s okay. Yeah, it’s okay... it’s okay, but... umm, i-it’s a little tight around my chest, maybe. Yes, just a little, tight... B-But it’s fine!” she refused in a shrill and upset voice, shaking her head. She’d realized that Miharu’s clothes wouldn’t fit her. Although, her criticism of the chest area of the clothing may have simply been for show...
“I see, around your chest...” The flow of the conversation naturally let Rio’s gaze towards Celia’s chest. Celia certainly did seem more feminine than Aki in that regard.
“G-Geez, don’t stare so much. I know they’re small, gosh! I’m sure you like big ones too, don’t you, Rio? Ugh...” Though she hadn’t exactly been ogled at, Celia’s face turned red and she hid her chest out of embarrassment. The woes of a young lady were complicated.
“Ahaha, that’s not true.” Rio shook his head with a strained smile.
“...H-Hmm. R-Really?” Celia’s eyes widened faintly as her interest was piqued by his response.
“Yes, I don’t believe a woman’s charms are decided by the size of her bust. You’re plenty charming, Professor, so please have more confidence in yourself,” Rio said, his answer a textbook response. However, he must have truly felt that way, as his words didn’t seem contrived.
For a moment, Celia blinked in a daze. “T-Thanks... Wait, what are we even talking about here? I-I’m sorry.” With a flustered thanks and apology, she smiled in relief. Rio also smiled shyly.
“That aside, which would you like to talk about first? The reason why I could communicate with the kids that were summoned along with the hero, or spirit arts and the Time-Space Cache? Or would you like a bath first?” he asked, awkwardly changing the subject.
“R-Right. Can we talk first, then? Since you’ve poured the tea and all already.” Celia nodded uncomfortably, on board with talking.
“Of course. Let’s sit down, then... You too, Aishia. Come to think of it, it’s been a long time since I’ve had tea with you, Professor.” Rio chuckled with a smile, inviting Celia to take a seat on the sofa, before serving the three of them tea.
“Yeah, that’s true. It brings back memories...” Celia nodded with a smile as she recalled those times, before her expression suddenly changed. “Ah, but is it really okay for you to tell me?”
Rio tilted his head in question. “What do you mean?”
“Umm, the stuff about spirit arts and the Time-Space Cache aside, you seemed to be thinking kind of hard about how to explain the reason why you could communicate, so it seemed like you didn’t really want to say...” Celia explained nervously.
“Ah, no, it isn’t that I don’t want to say it. It’s just that I need to prepare my heart and find the right words to do so. You’ll probably be surprised, Professor,” Rio said with a troubled expression.
“I’ll be surprised?” Celia inclined her head curiously.
“Yes. I’m going to tell you something that doesn’t sound believable by any logical means... But I am not lying. I don’t want to keep it a secret from you forever, Professor, so will you listen to what I have to say?” Rio stared directly into Celia’s eyes.
“...About the reason why you could communicate, right?” Celia said nervously, having noticed that the air around Rio had changed.
Rio nodded quietly. “Yes.”
“Okay. I’ll believe you.” Celia nodded simply, without any sign of doubt.
“Wasn’t that a little quick?” Rio’s eyes widened a little in surprise.
“Because it’s you, Rio. I’ll believe anything you have to say,” Celia said, then smiled in amusement.
“...Thank you very much.” Rio was a little uneasy, and yet he smiled happily. Though it was faint, Aishia was smiling gently, too. Then, after a moment, he spoke up abruptly.
“I have the memories of a version of myself from another life.”
“...The memories of yourself... from another life?” Celia’s eyes rounded slightly.
“They’re the memories of my past life, probably,” Rio supplemented.
“Memories... of your past life... Huh...” Celia looked dazed as she parroted Rio’s words back at him.
“...I guess it is hard to believe after all?” Rio asked timidly. As the concerned party, his senses were numbed into naturally accepting the fact, but any normal person would be more likely to find the statement delusional.
“Ah, no, that’s not it. I believe you. I believe you, and I’m not shocked... If anything, I can actually acce
pt it so easily, I’m having trouble finding the words to explain why... Could you tell me a little more about it, for now?” Celia answered impatiently, pressing for more.
Rio widened his eyes and gently continued to speak. “...To start from the conclusion, the children who were summoned along with the hero happened to be from the same country and world that I lived in within my memories.”
“...So that’s why you were able to understand their words. But what did you mean by saying that they’re ‘probably’ the memories of your past life?”
“...There’s no way for me to tell if those memories are real, if they’re really my memories, if they are real, or if they’re simply the memories of another person.” There was only a subjective connection, and no objective connections at all. But because Rio was talking about himself from such a distant point of view and speaking so sadly, Celia raised her voice subtly, feeling some strange sense of resistance to what he was saying.
“That... may be true... But you really do have those memories, and the people who arrived were really from a world exactly the same as those memories, right?”
Rio nodded with a faint smile on his face. “...Yes. But whether those memories are mine or not does not matter right now. What’s more important is if this explains why I could communicate with them. What do you think?”
“I accept your reason about that, but...” Celia didn’t seem quite satisfied.
Rio grimaced at Celia’s reaction. “If I were to add one thing, these memories awakened within me shortly after I turned seven years old. As you know, Professor, I was an orphan in the slums until then,” he said, adding to his explanation.
“...That’s around when we first met, right?”
“Yes. Actually, the first time we met in the slums was just after I regained those memories. I was still in the middle of my confusion when you spoke to me.” Rio looked back on that time and spoke with nostalgia.
“R...Really... No wonder you’ve seemed like a really calm and intelligent child ever since we met. It was as though you weren’t actually younger than me... Ahh, I see. No wonder... So that was why. I see...” Celia’s eyes widened as though she had realized something.
“Is something the matter?” Rio tilted his head and asked.
“Ah, no, it’s just about the reason why I accepted your words about your previous life’s memories so easily. I think it’s because it explains why you were always so mature in the past.”
“I see... What did I seem like to you back then, Professor?” Rio asked somewhat curiously.
“How did you seem... Well, you were mature and kind of isolated from your surroundings, and it was like I couldn’t see the limits of your potential...? Ah, but once I started talking to you properly, we became friends quite easily, so I thought you were a nice and polite child.” Celia recalled the Rio from back then as she spoke.
“...Is that so? Then if my memories hadn’t reawakened, you may have had a different impression of me,” Rio said, grimacing with a guilty look.
“Really?”
“I would have been more bitter and twisted. Because I was rather naive in those memories, I think what you saw, Professor, was a result of adding that to my orphan self.”
“I... see... So your personality changed when your memories returned. But I’m a little interested in exactly what kind of child you were before your memories returned, too. You think if we met a little earlier, my impression of you would have changed, right?” Celia asked, peering at Rio’s face.
“...We probably wouldn’t have gotten along, honestly. I wouldn’t have replied properly if you asked me for directions, and I wouldn’t have tried to save Princess Flora.”
“Eh? R-Really?!” Celia’s eyes widened in shock.
“Yes. I was aggressive and didn’t trust other people. I believe I would have rejected your kindness, too, Professor.” His distrust of other people was still the same even today, however.
“Uh... B-But I wouldn’t have backed down! I would have been friends with that Rio, too,” Celia said eagerly, making Rio laugh with amusement.
“Ahaha.” It was all hypothetical, but with Celia, he may have been able to open his heart to her.
“I-It’s no laughing matter. I want to be friends with you no matter what, Rio!” Celia glared at him reproachfully.
“...Thank you very much. I’m glad we became friends, Professor.” Rio laughed happily.
“Y-Yeah,” Celia nodded with a blush, changing the topic to hide her embarrassment. “Wait, but how old was the Rio within your memories?”
Rio paused for a moment before answering the question. “In my memories... I was twenty years old.”
“T-Twenty... Which means... Huh? Wait a minute. Then mentally, this means you’re older than me, right? Because I was around twelve years old when we first met...” Combining the personality of a seven-year-old with the memories of a twenty-year-old didn’t mean that their mentality would combine to become a twenty seven years old. But, at the very least, his mental age was still older than Celia when they first met.
“Hmm... Is that so? Even though I may have merged with the memories and personality of myself as Haruto, I’m still mostly myself as Rio, so I’m more aware of my sixteen year old self as Rio right now, though I think the young part of me may be strongly influenced...” Rio cocked his head as he answered, smiling faintly.
“Is that, so. Well, I guess... that’s how it is?” Celia responded rather disjointedly. She had suddenly become nervous at the idea of someone she had thought was younger the whole time being older. And Rio was being oddly unperturbed about it all.
“I don’t normally pay attention to it, so I’m not sure myself. It’s not something that can be answered by just thinking it over, either... At the same time, I don’t feel anything strange if you call me by my past name, Haruto,” Rio said, laughing loudly.
“Your name was Haruto... Oh, I see. That’s why you chose it as your alias,” Celia realized with satisfaction.
“Yes. I figured it’d be easier to relate to than a completely unknown name.”
“Aishia called you Haruto as well. Oh, I’m sorry, Aishia — We’ve been completely conversing between ourselves,” Celia apologized to Aishia, who had been silently listening beside Rio.
“It’s okay. Now is the time for Celia to talk to Haruto. I’m a little sleepy anyway.” Aishia yawned cutely and shook her head.
“Ahaha, thank you,” Celia thanked Aishia, then turned to address Rio. “...She’s quiet, but she’s a really nice girl.”
Aishia sleepily leaned her head against Rio’s shoulder. “Yes, Aishia’s helped me out a lot.” Rio smiled with familiarity and nodded, but Celia’s eyes rounded with shock.
“S-So it seems. And she’s really cute and pretty, too,” Celia said in a strangely high pitched voice.
W-What?! Why has she suddenly started clinging to him so naturally?! While the smile from their conversation remained on her face, Celia’s thoughts nearly came to a screeching halt.
Rio detected the change in Celia’s expression. “Professor?”
“B-By the way, I heard some things from Aishia during the time we were waiting to meet up with you in the capital. About spirit arts, and the fact Aishia’s a spirit.” Celia snapped back to her senses and guided the conversation towards Aishia. She was afraid of directly asking why the two of them were sticking so closely together.
“Yes. How much did you hear from Aishia?” Rio asked calmly.
“Umm, that Aishia was your contracted spirit, and a little about the basic knowledge regarding spirit arts. I was worried about whether we’d be able to meet up properly back then, so I wasn’t able to really pay attention as I would have liked. Could you tell me more about that too? As well as about your relationship. What is a contracted spirit, anyway?” Celia narrowed her eyes as she emphasized the part about their relationship and questioned spirit arts and spirits in a way that couldn’t be avoided.
“Umm, how much do you know about
spirits and spirit arts to begin with, Professor?” Rio felt a strange sense of vigor from Celia, making him reply a bit nervously.
As far as the Strahl region went, those two topics were not common knowledge. Reading a wide range of old literature would reveal books that dealt with the topic a little, but there was nothing that went into much detail.
“...I’ve known about the existence of spirits for a while. But I’ve only seen them mentioned in books, and never imagined them to actually exist. Aishia looks like a normal girl to me, so she doesn’t really seem like it.”
“In other words, you don’t have much background knowledge about spirits nor spirit arts, but you’re willing to believe that she’s a spirit?”
“Well, she did turn into her spirit form while we were waiting for you outside the capital. It didn’t seem like a spirit art that could simply turn her invisible... So I had no choice but to believe what I was seeing,” Celia said, sighing tiredly.
“I see. Then, to start with a simple explanation of spirits first, spirits are incorporeal forms of mana with a sense of self.”
“...Mana?”
“Unlike ode... or magic essence, which is life energy, would it be easier if I told you to imagine mana as the natural energy that’s simply hanging in the air? Both sorcery and spirit arts manipulate essence to interfere with mana and create world-altering phenomena. That’s a point they have in common.”
“What is that? This is the first time I’m hearing it...” Celia made a dumbfounded face, though she seemed quite interested. Her thirst for knowledge had been activated.
“Unlike how sorcery relies on the spell formula to interfere with mana, spirit arts is characteristic by how the user directly interferes with mana. That relation means it’s easier to standardize the event of activating sorcery, and while spirit arts are more flexible in controlling events, it is harder to learn.”
“Would I be able to use spirit arts, too?”
“Yes. If you train, you can refine the skills in order to use spirit arts. However, you will need to remove all the spell formulas you have taken into your body through spell contracts.”
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