Another few days passed. The sky grew cloudier with each passing day, and the spaceti machine regained its original form with each day that passed. Just thinking about that sight made her heart pound, so Esperanza didn't set foot in the inner room of the laboratory.
"By my estimation, it should be completed around the day after tomorrow."
That ant only two days left. Though it still didn't feel real, farewell was approaching with large strides.
During this ti, Esperanza wrote letters to her friends as she had told Cider. Apologies for the poor way of saying goodbye, farewell reasons at a level they could understand, the enjoyable things up until now, the things she was grateful for, greetings wishing them luck and health always.
She also wrote letters to send to Annie and Cordelia, Jack, Alastair, and other people she had shallow acquaintances with. Slowly, over several days, she wrote and wrote again. As she did this, ti flew by in an instant. Finally, she put down her pen, leaving only the last sheet of letter paper.
'I had more to write than I thought.'
Though it was a short ti, many things had happened. She had many things she wanted to say. Connections made unexpectedly. If she returned, she would miss them too.
'Do I want to go back?'
When there are so many precious things here. Even picking them without thinking deeply. A strong and free body, leisure, friends, scenery, Cider Claiborne.
But that place was where everything Esperanza had built up until she turned twenty-seven existed. It shouldn't even compare to just one year's ti.
It should be that way, but...
Though she had worked hard to build it up, there wasn't really anything great there. Even if it was sothing achieved with ti and effort, there was nothing she couldn't abandon.
In the end, what remained in her heart until the very last was family.
'Unni will be fine.'
She would be sad but would soon overco it. Because she had a husband and children. However, she didn't want to give her unni the pain of losing family again. She didn't want to lose her last remaining family.
That was the only reason she had to return.
Unable to fill the last page in the end, Esperanza put the finished letters in envelopes, sealed them, and ca out of her room. Heading to the study as usual, she encountered an unexpected person in the corridor.
"...You ca back early?"
"I just ca for a mont."
Cyrus, who was rolling up his sleeve as if he had already had blood drawn once, bowed his head in greeting. Co to think of it, was it already ti to collect magic power? Ti had passed too quickly.
"Did you finish what you said you'd do?"
"It's not work that has an end, but... I've done everything I can do right now."
When Esperanza left, Cyrus would remain here. She had never properly thought about that fact. Just the vague thought that he would remain here without anyone to rely on.
"What are you planning to do after staying here?"
Cyrus looked at Esperanza with a face like he'd been hit. As if he hadn't expected to receive such a question.
He hesitated before speaking vaguely.
"I'll clean up the wrongs committed by myself and Daria at this point in ti."
He didn't seem to have any intention of explaining in detail. Was he planning to help dungeon victims or sothing?
"Sothing like charity?"
"Strictly speaking, it's different, but..."
"You don't plan to tell
properly?"
Cyrus closed his lips. In fact, he couldn't understand why he shouldn't tell Esperanza.
But there must be a reason why Cider told him not to say anything. He didn't trust Cider Claiborne, but at least he believed that he wouldn't do anything harmful to Esperanza.
"I can't say."
He can't say. What was there to hide at this point? She couldn't understand. But she didn't have enough interest to press him about it. If she was leaving, there would be no point in knowing anyway, and even if she didn't leave... it would be the sa.
"Is it dangerous?"
"Not for us."
In that case. Esperanza nodded and was about to pass by Cyrus when she suddenly stopped walking.
"Don't you want to go back?"
"Pardon?"
Cyrus, who was startled, shook his head a beat late. But it probably wasn't sincere. Esperanza asked again soothingly.
"If it were possible, I an. Would you still have stayed?"
If it were possible... Cyrus, who realized there was no other aning, nodded. With a serious face even to the pointless question, he answered without hesitation.
"If that were the case, I naturally would have returned. Even if it's painful and miserable, my life is there."
Cyrus was resolute. It was an attitude of never having thought otherwise. For him, staying here was ultimately sothing unavoidable.
Why can't I be that resolute? My life there wasn't painful or miserable. There was enough happiness.
"What would you do if you could go back?"
"Why would you ask such a thing..."
Cyrus, who stopped speaking, clenched his rough hands. He had an original plan. Until the accident where Esperanza moved instead happened. But it had been so long since things turned out this way that there was rarely occasion to bring up his old plan.
After a mont of silence, he chose his words and slowly opened his mouth.
"I would have safely logged people out until the ga disappeared and taken legal responsibility. I would have made Daria take responsibility too. And if possible, I might have stayed in this world like now."
In that world, there was no Cider Claiborne, no Golden Claw. It was truly complete isolation. However, she felt she could understand the reason for making such a decision.
"It's not easy for a person to bear the weight of their own life. Right?"
"It seems so."
Cyrus answered with a bitter smile. That was the debt Cyrus had to pay, a debt that couldn't be repaid even after a hundred years. Esperanza turned around lost in thought. The sound of Cyrus offering another greeting grew distant behind her.
Her steps quickened. Esperanza, who arrived at the study in an instant, threw open the door without knocking. The air that had beco humid from a rain earlier in the day was perated with the scent of books. Cider, who had been organizing the blood collection kit, got up.
"Did you see Cyrus in the corridor? He just left, but he seed to have insufficient magic power from whatever he was doing, so he decided to rest and draw blood again..."
Before the words even finished, Esperanza embraced him as if hanging on Cider's neck.
"My."
Cider, who had roughly thrown away the syringe in his hand, embraced Esperanza's back in return. Both the body scent and embrace were comfortable and familiar as if they matched perfectly.
'If Cyrus left and I stayed.'
Esperanza's future remaining here could always be drawn clearly as usual. However, it seed today was the first ti Esperanza had thought about her original world without herself.
Only one thing weighed on her mind. Her only family.
That night, Esperanza filled the last remaining sheet of letter paper. At the end of the letter, while writing the recipient's na, she just quietly stared at the flickering lamplight.
The clock pointed to midnight. The heavy ringing of the bell. Now there was one day left until operating the spaceti machine.
Even though it was the last day, there was nothing special. Esperanza spent a day like any other. Early morning breakfast, reading in the study after the al, late afternoon tea ti. She returned to her room and cleaned the gun she might never see again. She put the well-sealed letters in the drawer and held only the last one in her hand.
Cider said nothing at all. Even though today might be the last. Even though they might never see each other again. So Esperanza also couldn't say anything. It was a day like any other, but it was the most silent day of all.
She couldn't end it this way.
Esperanza opened the window wide and slipped out. Crossing several windows to get to the study balcony was instantaneous. However, instead of opening the unlocked window, Esperanza quietly watched Cider.
Even facing farewell, he seed fine. As if only Esperanza was at a loss from missing this farewell, as if he would forget everything in an instant and move forward if she left like this.
Only by the speed at which Paoran cigarettes piled up in the ashtray could she guess that he wasn't as okay as he appeared.
Long, delicate fingertips crushed the cigarette. The red ember went out. As if crushing his heart, he didn't take his hand off the cigarette until the ember died out. Hair gently disheveled by night wind from sowhere revealed the forehead it had covered, and slightly deepened eyes just stared at the scattering smoke.
Her heart stirred watching that sight. Esperanza pressed her chest firmly with both hands.
'I won't stay here for your sake.'
This feeling was easy to be swept away by. That man was easy to be enchanted by. So Esperanza established a great principle. She would not stay here for Cider's sake. If she made such a decision, it had to be only for herself.
But when Cider was happy, Esperanza was also pleased. When he was sad, she was sad together. What was for him was sotis for Esperanza. Distinguishing that wasn't easy.
"Co in."
Cider, who had wiped his hands with a wet cloth, said. The hazy smoke escaped. Esperanza carefully pushed the window and entered, settling on the familiar sofa.
"It's the last night."
Cider took out liquor and glasses from the cabinet. The glass wiped with a white towel sparkled with light. The liquor with its brilliant red glow looked precious just from the bottle.
Cider, who had poured two glasses, approached with the glasses. He sat facing her close enough for their knees to touch and offered her a glass.
"That's why you ca too, right?"
Esperanza slowly nodded and received the glass. Looking down at the red glass, the fact that tomorrow was the last beca increasingly real. It was an unwanted sensation.
"I wanted to talk. Tomorrow might be too hectic."
"Talk? Farewell, I suppose."
"Either way."
"Is that so? What did you want to talk about..."
A large hand covered Esperanza's cheek. A faint perfu scent ca from the wrist under his shirt. This was also a fragrance she had never slled in her original world. So there would be no chance of yearning suddenly welling up from accidentally slling the scent while passing by.
Esperanza raised her hand to cover Cider's hand. Cider smiled broadly and opened his mouth.
"When I first t you."
"That's not what I was going to talk about."
"Listen. When I first t you, it was really fascinating. A person from the future. What luck to be able to keep 'such a thing' in my house and use it whenever needed."
It really wasn't a story to tell in front of a pretty wine glass.
"You're not even treating
like a person."
"First etings are usually like that. But soon you beca a good friend and the biggest part of my life."
It was the sa for Esperanza. At first, a person about to die, an eccentric magical engineer. Friend, lover, only support. As months passed, the scale of their connection grew heavier. She shouldn't have let it get that way. If she hadn't, today wouldn't be this sorrowful.
"As you know, I don't have a hobby of making friends, so you alone were enough. But you said you had family, unlike ... So I knew whatever I said would be useless."
"Back then, I probably didn't have the luxury to worry about such things."
"Ah, right. I was busy protecting my pride."
It was an autumn when storms had also swept over Cider. Brief peace, truth that knocked on the door as if envying peace. Broken trust. And the bloody reunion on a ship off the Sterling coast.
"Do you know how surprised I was when we t again in Sterling? How could you appear there in such a state?"
"That part."
"You have nothing to say, right?"
"...Regrettably."
Esperanza, who had clinked glasses, laughed lightly. Actually, it wasn't sothing Cider had done wrong. It was just that a plan made with light thinking had failed miserably. Though they achieved their intended purpose, the mont she learned Cider was hurt, all the grand plans flew out of her head.
"When our eyes t on that ship."
As if thinking of the sa scene as Esperanza, Cider smiled broadly. He finished emptying his glass, put it down, and said.
"I thought then. That I should send you back."
And they had reached today. During that ti, he had never said otherwise. Because he didn't say it, Esperanza couldn't ask either. Words like 'Should I not go?'
From so point, he might have wanted to ask.
The bell announcing midnight could be faintly heard, and Cider moved his lips. Swallowing words he wanted to say was sothing that rarely happened to him. However, it was the last night. To a person he couldn't see again after today passed, words he could never say after today passed.
Cider sat with his knees against Esperanza's feet. Their gazes were firmly entangled so he couldn't turn his head.
"It's the last."
"...Yes."
"Since it's the last, I'll say it just once."
His eyes were red. His pupils were also slightly wet. However, he didn't shed tears. He just exhaled quietly.
"Don't go."
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