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Arpel thought that the world he was seeing would return to normal. But it didn’t.
“…Rohan?”
As soon as he felt the situation was turning strange, he reflexively looked at Rohan. And Arpel’s expression quickly froze. The black and white colors had somehow invaded Rohan’s body.
“What are you doing?”
The only being capable of such an act would undoubtedly be the Demon Sword. A fierce gaze turned towards the quietly standing statue. Soon, it rattled and shook slightly. It was evidence that the descent had not yet finished.
A complaining voice flowed from the statue. Of course, Arpel’s expression didn’t soften. A dejected laugh burst out at the subtle air of wariness. He knew they were circling around each other, but really, the level was more serious than he thought.
Well, it seemed they were birds of a feather. As far as he could guess, unless Rohan’s obsession was even worse, it wasn’t any less than this. Truly, it would be hard to find a more insane pair than these two.
After being momentarily excited by the unexpected situation, Arpel calmed down as he belatedly realized that the Demon Sword wouldn’t harm Rohan.
He stared blankly at the statue, from which the sound of clicking tongues leaked clearly. That gaze resembled a silent pressure. It seemed to be asking about the intention behind this sudden action.
“You eavesdropped, didn’t you?”
As expected, the Demon Sword was brazen. Since it was a wish he didn’t intend to share with anyone, be it the Demon Sword or anyone else, a strange irritation mixed into Arpel’s expression. If it was going to be like this, he shouldn’t have made a wish in front of the statue. He deeply regretted it.
“…What?”
Arpel couldn’t gather his thoughts for a moment at the words flowing out. He could clearly hear the voice, but he couldn’t fully understand what was being said. Nevertheless, one word stood out very clearly.
“…Marriage? What on earth are you talking about…”
His hurried question faltered. His mind was rattling like it was broken, unable to string together proper thoughts. Right now, it was all he could do just to calm his tumultuous insides.
After a long while, Arpel finally spoke.
“…Rohan and I are not in that kind of relationship.”
A very brief silence followed. As if trying to gauge his thoughts, the statue’s gaze remained fixed on Arpel. That persistence seemed to be asking for a reason. To organize his complicated thoughts, Arpel obediently answered that question.
“I don’t know love. So I can’t respond to Rohan’s affection…”
The moment he heard those words, Arpel felt as if lightning had struck his mind. His gaze towards the small statue was dazed.
A snickering laugh leaked from the statue. It found Arpel, who was acting as if he had gained an incredible realization, quite cute and amusing. From its perspective, the two had already shared the same feelings. It was just that one side hadn’t noticed due to a problem with their personality.
Should I help a bit?
Since it was partly responsible for how things turned out, the Demon Sword decided to willingly help Arpel. It didn’t bother denying that it was half a desire to help, and half a desire to watch because it would be quite entertaining.
“Then, what… how should I…”
“…”
Arpel finally fell for those words. Light returned to his eyes, which had been dazedly wavering, unable to grasp anything.
If there was one problem,
“How… do I confess?”
It was that Arpel knew almost nothing about how to confess. The bigger problem was that the one he asked was the Demon Sword, who was absolutely no less ignorant than Arpel, if not more so.
At this confident statement, Arpel thought the Demon Sword was more reliable than ever before. Unfortunately.
***
The black and white world gradually began to be tinged with color. That sight was truly marvelous. As Arpel was docilely led by Rohan’s hand pulling him, he closely watched Rohan’s expression.
Behind them, there were still many people waiting with white flowers in their hands to make wishes.
“Shall we go after the festival ends?”
“…Yeah.”
They had such a conversation. Since Arpel had been talking with the Demon Sword for a long time in the world where even Rohan had stopped, he didn’t immediately catch on to the subject of Rohan’s words. As a result, there was a slight hesitation in his answer.
“Don’t worry too much. If we go with Owen, there shouldn’t be any particular problems.”
Thinking that this behavior stemmed from worry, Rohan whispered, slightly lowering his head. It was a murmur full of affection and consideration.
Of course, Arpel wasn’t worried at all. Right now, his mind was completely filled with the ‘method of confession’ that the Demon Sword had talked about.
It was just that he had hesitated, unable to grasp his feelings since the moment he thought he didn’t want to lose Rohan, regardless of human duty or whatever. That’s why he had completely fallen for the Demon Sword’s words.
‘Just a little, later…’
He looked up at the sky as if gauging the time. It wasn’t yet the time the Demon Sword had told him about. His patience was sizzling.
In the black night sky where the red of the sunset could no longer be seen, there was a noble shining moon and stars clustered together. It was such a glistening sight that one might believe even the moon and stars were enjoying the festival.
The beautiful sky shouldn’t have given Arpel any particular emotion. However, the situation of walking back after making a wish while holding hands with Rohan, the fact that the moment to carry out what the Demon Sword had earnestly requested was approaching, made the sky look like a silk road.
He felt somewhat dizzy from the rising tension. Arpel slightly tightened his grip on Rohan’s hand.
“They say… there’ll be fireworks. Want to watch before we go?”
“…I’d love to.”
A bright smile spread across Rohan’s face. His white cheeks, tinged with pink as if dyed with flower petals, particularly caught the eye.
-The essential condition for a confession is, of course, a romantic atmosphere.
Suddenly, the Demon Sword’s voice came to mind. It had earnestly advised that there would be fireworks hosted by the capital’s temple on the third night, saying it would carefully explain how to confess. And then…
“Arpel.”
“Huh?”
“Is there something on your mind?”
He was caught right in the middle of his intense thoughts. A subtle hint of surprise flickered in Arpel’s eyes as he turned to look at Rohan. Rohan, who couldn’t have missed this fact, leaked a desire to immediately rummage through Arpel’s mind.
“No. It’s nothing.”
His additional words were full of urgency. He couldn’t tell Rohan yet since the fireworks hadn’t even started.
Rohan, quietly looking down at Arpel, clearly didn’t seem to believe it. But Arpel, whose attention was focused elsewhere, didn’t notice this, and Rohan didn’t press further. Instead, he just tightened his grip on Arpel’s hand a little more.
Although the festival lasted for four days, the fireworks were only on the third night. Perhaps because of this, despite the late hour, there were still many people on the streets. Rohan, readjusting his interlocked hand with Arpel, carefully led him to avoid getting swept up in the crowd.
“Actually, I wanted to watch with Arpel… so I found a nice spot.”
The murmuring voice was so soft that an ordinary person would have to listen carefully to hear it. But to Arpel’s ears, those words came through more clearly than anything else.
The firm touch of the hand that seemed like it would never let go, the face faintly illuminated by the lights of the street vendors. The cheeks, tinged with a subtle red as if crushed rose petals had been used to dye them, were particularly noticeable.
Some might call it trivial, but not to Arpel. The sensation felt at his fingertips, and each small change flickering in his eyes, always came across as incredibly significant.
As if the claim of knowing a good spot wasn’t a lie, the place they reached after pushing through the crowd was a sparsely populated hilltop. Unlike the heart of the capital brimming with a festive atmosphere, this place had a static and quiet feeling.
“We’ll be able to see better from here.”
Since the two had always gone everywhere together since they first met, normally Arpel would have known any place Rohan knew. So it was clear that the ‘good spot for watching fireworks’ must have been heard from someone else.
The usual Arpel would have been bothered by this point and asked about the source of the information. But the current Arpel had no room to care about that fact.
He liked this place, where they were alone, far better than looking up at the sky from the middle of the bustling main street. Yet, he couldn’t be entirely satisfied because…
‘Is this… romantic?’
The voice of the Demon Sword, emphasizing over and over that ‘confession requires a romantic atmosphere’, wouldn’t leave his mind.
Romance, and fireworks.
These two words were the only ones firmly planted in Arpel’s mind.
