Five hundred years ago, up to the very moment the hero’s sword pierced him and he closed his eyes, Reinhild had not fully understood what it was he felt.
Just recalling Xion’s smile lifted his spirits; he would stare endlessly out the window, waiting and wondering when he might see him next. The mere fact that Xion had come made his heart tremble.
He felt sad when the gaze turned on him changed; being betrayed frightened and pained him more than dying.
All of it was that thing humans are so fond of—love—and back then he could not comprehend it.
Love.
Reinhild still did not trust that feeling.
He did not think it was an emotion a demon could feel.
And yet, seeing how agonizing it was, it was clearly the most demon-like emotion of all.
With all his memories back, Reinhild left Xion carrying only painful feelings in his chest.
❖ ❖ ❖
Shaaahhhh—
Late at night, with the sky over Root Village smothered in storm clouds so that not even moonlight showed, rain began to fall.
Startled by the great crash that had rattled the whole village, and as the rain grew fiercer, the villagers didn’t even step outside. They only peered through their windows.
Xion stood in the cold downpour before the collapsed front of Rebecca’s house, simply standing there.
Rein…
He had been confident… right up until the moment his eyes met Reinhild’s, now that all his memories had returned.
He thought that, during their time together in Root, he had revealed his feelings to Reinhild enough, had conveyed that they were genuine.
He thought that, even if Reinhild’s memories returned, it would be all right, that he could explain that everything from five hundred years ago had been a misunderstanding.
But Reinhild gave him no chance to clear anything up.
“Rein.”
“Don’t come closer.”
“You’re mistaken, Rein. Please give me time to explain. Please…”
“How am I supposed to believe that?”
From the moment he heard those words, Xion could do nothing.
So you won’t believe anything I say.
You’re going to treat all the time we spent together and the moments we laughed while your memory of Rexion West was gone as nothing but lies.
It felt like the entire five hundred years were being denied.
He had thought he had poured sincerity into every moment he faced Reinhild. He had hoped that if he tried, he would be understood. He was wrong.
To Reinhild, Xion was merely the hero who deceived him to win the glory of ramming a sword into the Demon King’s heart. No more than that.
Shaaahhhh—
The rain grew harsher, lashing his whole body as if laughing at Xion, but he did not even think of going inside to get out of it.
What if Rein catches a cold?
Even as his body cooled to the core, his thoughts were only of Reinhild.
Protecting Reinhild came first now.
“Rein, let’s go home. If you don’t want to see my face, I’ll stay here. Please, somewhere warm…”
Xion could not finish.
He felt mana stirring around Reinhild.
Barely able to stand, Reinhild was wringing out the last of his mana to cast a spell.
Teleportation magic, at that. The kind that places a tremendous burden on the caster’s body.
“Reinhild!”
Shaaahhhh—
Xion’s cry was swallowed by the roar of the rain.
No. If he forces his mana now, his mana circuits could be damaged.
Does he want to get out of here that badly?
Even if it ruins his body, does he want that much to leave me?
Was it because that thought struck him that, as he sprinted toward Reinhild, Xion hesitated for the briefest moment?
Not missing that instant when Xion halted, Reinhild left.
Gasping as though breathing itself were hard, without even looking back, Reinhild fled from Xion.
“…Rein…”
He could not make sense of this.
It all felt like a lie.
He should have stopped Reinhild.
Excuses like “forcing a spell already cast could cause mana backlash” or “I didn’t want to agitate Reinhild, who was in pain” were nothing but pretexts.
In truth, he had simply been afraid.
He was a coward who couldn’t even try to stop him, for fear of being rejected by Reinhild again.
“Rein… Reinhild… Rein!”
Xion screamed Reinhild’s name, now already gone, as though in a wail.
Shaaahhhh—
He had thought he had only just managed to patch his world back together after it first collapsed when he met Reinhild’s blame-filled eyes five hundred years ago.
But a world piled back up by force crumbled easily, shattering to pieces.
Everything he had thought he had meticulously prepared for Reinhild was, in the end, like a sandcastle.
Something, tears or rain, poured down Xion’s face.
He stood there without moving for a long time. Until the storm clouds cleared, the sun rose, and a new day began.
At daybreak, people who had spent a restless night watching and waiting finally came outside, one by one.
Crowding toward Rebecca’s house to see what on earth had caused such a blast in the night, the villagers found Xion standing before the wreckage.
Thinking that the new house Xion had acquired had collapsed and he was standing there in shock, they were startled to see him drenched to the skin as though he had stood in the rain the whole night.
“What on earth… soaked to the bone. Now what.”
“Thunder and lightning hit so hard last night, the house got smashed to pieces.”
“But you can’t just stand here. You’ll get yourself killed if lightning strikes again.”
“Hurry inside, wash up with hot water, get some soup in you. We’ll try to tidy up… tsk, there’s nothing here to tidy.”
The magic circle drawn with Reinhild’s blood had long since been washed away by the rain; all that remained was the wreckage of the collapsed house.
The villagers believed the disturbance had been caused by the downpour and thunder.
Lightning targeting just one house made no sense, but in their world, “the Demon King blew up a house to break the seal laid by a former hero” was far less convincing than a biased act of nature.
Deciding that Xion, having seen the house collapse, had kept watch all night trying somehow to repair it, they worried over him, chilled through.
Even as they fussed around him, Xion merely stood there, blank.
“He’s completely out of it.”
“Of course he is. A house he scraped together for all his life gone in a single night, how could he be in his right mind?”
“Lucky. Lucky there was no one inside.”
“I’d better check whether the newly repaired village gate is down again.”
“Hey, I’ll go with you.”
Some of the villagers headed off to check on the village’s condition.
Xion stayed there, silent, for a long while after.
Until he could no longer feel even the faintest trace of Reinhild’s mana, washed away by the rain.
“You going to stand here forever? Think of the missus. Get inside and rest.”
“Right, what can you do about a house that’s already down. People have to live.”
None of their words reached Xion’s ears.
It really was the end. Everything was over.
If only he could turn back time, he would.
Where did it all go wrong?
Was it arrogance thinking he could win Reinhild’s heart even if his memories returned?
He should not have been so sure of himself.
He wished he had resolved to hide the truth outright.
If his memories had not returned, Reinhild would have been happier.
Let the whole world call it selfish, so be it. Even so, he wanted to be by Reinhild’s side. He wanted to hold his hand and spend the day.
Where did it all go wrong?
Not dealing properly with the hero’s sword?
Leaving those meddlesome villagers in Root?
There’s no changing it now, however much you regret it.
There was nothing he could undo.
Not unless he started everything over from the beginning…
“…From the beginning…”
“What was that? Hey, Xion. Wait!”
Xion bolted.
Without even the presence of mind to stop by home for his things, he simply ran. He didn’t stop until he reached a small city far from Audrit.
He couldn’t even remember what he had thought as he ran.
He thought of nothing but getting Reinhild back.
Xion only halted once he stood before an ordinary house on the outskirts of the city.
Bang, bang, bang!
He pounded on the door as if to break it down.
When no response came after a moment, he pounded again, and again.
He banged as if he would smash the door if it wasn’t opened.
Bang bang bang bang bang!
“Keep it down!”
Even as a neighbor’s complaint burst out, he didn’t stop.
By now, one would normally decide no one was home and leave, but Xion did not stop.
Bang, bang, bang!
“Let us sleep!”
Was it night now? He didn’t know. Since Reinhild had left, he couldn’t judge what was happening around him.
The neighbor’s shouting didn’t reach him at all. He only wanted to put an end to this… no, to start again.
To be with Reinhild again. To be at Rein’s side. Rein mustn’t be in pain.
He had already pushed himself. Before his condition worsened and he collapsed, Xion had to find him and help him.
He couldn’t bear to see Rein in pain, not for even a second.
Rein. Reinhild. My Demon King…
Clack.
“Who the hell is it at this hour!”
The door opened and the homeowner stuck out his face.
In a low, heavy voice, Xion spoke his name.
“Ainel.”
Ainel, the owner of this house and the mage who had been Xion’s comrade five hundred years ago, was taken aback by the unexpected visitor.
“…Xion?”
“I want to start everything over.”
From the beginning.
From the moment Reinhild did not remember him.
T/N: My heaaart omg TT_TT
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