Interlude

She had grown so tired of walking.

She was tired of the inconvenience of the barren wasteland, of the lack of entertainment or satisfaction. Walking down the road, Akari had no energy left. She didn’t have the strength to talk, to smile, to do anything but trudge forward.

“Come on, we’re almost there!”

“…Uh-huh.” Akari didn’t lift her head, just grunted a quiet response. The girl walking by her side was trying to encourage her by talking to her cheerfully, but her heart was so worn down that she didn’t even have the energy to really respond.

Even the gentle slope of this small hill was frustrating to her. At this point, she was sick of just about everything.

“Akari. Look up.”

She dragged her gaze up from the ground and finally looked around.

In front of her was a sparkling blue sea, glittering in the sunlight.

She hadn’t even noticed when they made it to the top of the hill. The view in front of her filled her with a quiet sense of accomplishment.

“Well? That feels pretty good, doesn’t it?”

“……” Akari lowered her head again. She could tell without looking that the other girl had on a strained smile.

“I’m sorry. I know this has been hard for you. We’ll be able to rest in just a few more minutes!”

“…Uh-huh.” Akari hated herself for being too gloomy to voice her feelings.

In retrospect, she had caused nothing but trouble on the way here, too. Even in that first city, they were too late to catch the train they had tickets for because of Akari’s dawdling and ended up having to wait more than half a day for the next one. Although the other girl said they were able to avoid a disaster because of it, Akari knew she was nothing but baggage.

She did have a so-called Pure Concept power, but all it could do was fix objects and injuries. And she’d been told that she didn’t have to use that power. Since her companion was a seasoned traveler, she never even got injured in the first place.

Akari wanted to be happier, to be true to her feelings.

At least, that was how she felt when the other girl talked to her brightly to cheer her up.

Instead of only noticing the bad things, she wanted to be the kind of person who could innocently enjoy a journey to the point of seeming simple-minded. She kept thinking about it as she set foot into the port city.

That was Akari’s first time seeing Libelle.