The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned

63. Interlude – The Moon Trapped in the Mirror

[Announcement of the Midterm Exam Results of the Inspection Department.]

[1st place Yuren Helios]

[2nd place Maurice Jin]

[3rd place Camilla Vedice]

A hologram appeared on the Hero Watch screen.

Looking at the name ‘Yuren Helios’ proudly written next to 1st place, I let out a sigh of relief.

“First place… I did it.”

Did I really break the unicorn’s bell?

What if I was mistaken?

I had fainted and was lying unconscious throughout the exam, so I didn’t have time to accumulate points. Could it be that the exam ended with me getting zero points?

As soon as I opened my eyes after the exam, such bad thoughts filled my head, but I could finally relax after checking the report card received through the Hero Watch.

“Then Dale…”

I scrolled down the report card to find Dale’s name.

It wasn’t in the top 10, nor in the top 20.

“No way…”

With anxious hands, I kept scrolling down the screen, and at the very bottom of the report card, I saw ‘253rd place Dale Han’ written.

“…Dale.”

A chilling sensation spread down my spine.

I anxiously bit my lip as I stared at Dale’s name at the bottom of the report card.

‘It’s because of me.’

I must have lost control of my magic in the excitement at the end and unleashed too powerful a technique, which must have swept Dale into the attack.

“What should I do…?”

Of course, it wasn’t against the rules for cadets to check each other during the exam, but my attack was far beyond the scope of ‘checking.’

“…I should apologize to Dale later.”

I was overwhelmed with anxiety, worrying that this incident might ruin my relationship with Dale.

“Sigh.”

With a deep sigh, I wandered around the dormitory room that was excessively spacious for one person.

“First… I’ll contact Dale tomorrow.”

There was someone I needed to contact before Dale.

“……”

The room was enveloped in silence.

I swallowed dryly and turned on the Hero Watch.

When I pressed the contact button on the hologram window that appeared before my eyes, a few saved names were listed.

The very first one among them.

I slowly brought my fingertip to the name saved as ‘Mother.’

“……”

My hand stopped in front of the name.

Continuing to ponder silently, I closed my eyes tightly and pressed the button.

Ring ring ring.

A clear bell sound echoed.

The tension that felt like my heart was about to burst burned inside me.

[What’s the matter?]

My mother’s face appeared on the hologram window floating in the air.

Rosanna Helios.

The current head of the Helios family and a hero once known as ‘Rosanna of the Flash.’

Looking at my mother’s face on the screen, I cautiously opened my mouth.

“Um… there was a midterm exam this time.”

[Was there?]

“Yes. So… um, I contacted you because the report card came out today.”

A sensation as if my mouth was drying up.

The sound of my heart pounding echoed in my head.

“It was close, but… I got first place again this time.”

[Close, you say?]

“Ah… um, there was a really strong competitor this time!”

[Competitor? Are you talking about that Maurice Jean, the hybrid from the Republic? Or perhaps Camilla Bedice?]

“N-no! It’s someone else!”

I hurriedly shook my head and continued speaking.

“I have a friend named Dale, and he’s really amazing! He even won a duel against an instructor and recently took down dozens of monsters by himself during the monster incident!”

[Hmm. That’s a name I’ve never heard before.]

“Until recently, he had to hide his abilities due to some circumstances. Nowadays, everyone at school is talking about Dale!”

[So?]

“So… um….”

My voice trembles.

It’s hard to breathe, as if my throat is being squeezed.

“But… I won.”

It was close.

It was precarious.

But in the end, I shattered the unicorn’s bell before Dale did.

Living up to the name ‘Yuren Helios.’

I became number one.

‘So.’

I don’t ask for much.

I don’t want anything grand.

Just once, even if it’s just once, I want you to….

[Ha.]

A cold, descending sneer.

[Are you bragging about that right now?]

“…….”

[You barely managed to come in first place in a cadet evaluation, against some unknown cadet, and you call that a victory?]

Mother clicked her tongue and continued speaking.

[If it were Yuren, it wouldn’t have been close at all.]

“…….”

Again.

That name again.

Yuren, Yuren, Yuren.

To live up to that brilliant name, like the sun, how much longer must I struggle?

[Haah. Truly pathetic.]

The deep sigh weighs heavily on my heart.

[So. Did anyone notice your ‘stigma’ during the exam?]

“Ah… Yes. I hid it well as usual.”

[Good. Be careful never to show it to anyone. If it were discovered that the heir of the Helios family bears the stigma of the ‘Moon God’, it would bring disgrace to the family.]

“……”

It hurts.

Every word my mother utters becomes a blade sharper than any fine sword, cutting through my chest.

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[Is that all you have to say?]

“Ah… Yes.”

[Don’t contact me again for such trivial matters.]

Click.

The communication was cut off.

A silence deeper than death settled in the room.

Why is it?

The dormitory room I’ve lived in for the past three years felt unfamiliar.

It was excessively spacious and suffocatingly lonely.

“……”

I walked through the room, where the ticking of the wall clock’s second hand echoed like thunder, and headed to the washroom.

A large mirror installed above the sink.

I carefully removed the pendant hanging around my neck.

Wooong.

A blue light enveloped my body, and my golden hair, which shone like the radiant sun, turned silver.

My limbs became slender, and my chest rose into a beautiful shape.

On my now prominent chest, the stigma of the ‘Moon God’ was branded like a mark.

“…Yurina.”

I reached out and touched the face reflected in the mirror.

I uttered the unfamiliar name that no one calls me anymore.

“I heard you ranked first in the midterm evaluation?”

The me in the mirror smiled brightly and nodded.

“People say the exams get much harder from the third year. How was it?”

The me in the mirror answers.

Yeah, definitely. It’s a lot different from the first and second years. We had to hunt the monsters ourselves after they were released into the area, just like in real combat!

“Weren’t you scared?”

I was terrified! Especially when the unicorn suddenly charged at me with its eyes blazing, I thought my heart would stop!

“Really? You managed to fight without running away.”

Well… I really wanted to win.

“Against Dale?”

…Yeah.

“How was it, fighting Dale?”

He was amazing. I have no idea how he fights so well with less than half my magic power.

“It must have been tough.”

Yeah, it was tough.

Really… really tough.

“But you won, didn’t you?”

Haha. I don’t know if you can call it winning when I just overpowered him with brute force due to the magic power difference…

“Don’t say that, Yurina. Magic power is your strength too, isn’t it? No matter the method, this victory is something you achieved through your efforts.”

…Is that so?

“Of course. Ah, but it’s your fault for failing to control your power and hurting Dale.”

I’ll definitely apologize to him tomorrow!

“Right. Dale will understand, so don’t worry too much.”

…Yeah, thanks.

“Yurina.”

I speak to the me in the mirror.

Since that day five years ago, when I came home after winning second place in the swordsmanship competition.

The words I wanted to hear the most.

The words I longed for more than anything.

“You did well.”

It was really tough, wasn’t it?

You worked so hard.

I am proud of you.

Even though Yuren is no longer here, I am glad that you are.

So now…

It’s okay not to be afraid.

It’s okay not to be scared.

You.

It’s okay not to shine like the sun.

“……”

A heavy silence descends.

In the mirror, I see myself shedding tears.

With a deeply distorted expression, I silently sob, tearing at my hair.

* * *

“I’m sorry, Dale!”

The day after the exam results were announced.

As soon as I arrived at Yuren’s private training ground after class, Yuren approached me with his head bowed.

“Huh? What are you sorry for?”

“Well… the exam results were announced yesterday.”

“Oh, right. They were.”

The result was still a headache to think about.

‘I thought I could finally escape this wretched last place.’

Whether it was a joke of fate or something else, after fighting the crocodile beast, I fell into a state of exhaustion and fainted, ending up proudly in the last place among the 253 warrior candidates.

‘If I had known this would happen, I would have caught another beast before looking for the unicorn as insurance.’

Well, who could have predicted such a result?

As I sighed deeply and pressed my throbbing forehead with my hand, Yuren, looking like a scolded puppy, opened his mouth.

“…It’s because of me, isn’t it?”

“Huh? What do you mean because of you?”

“At the end, I got you involved, so you couldn’t catch another beast.”

“…Ah.”

I wondered what he had been talking about since earlier.

‘I must have been mistaken, thinking I came in last because of you.’

Well.

From Yuren’s perspective, he wouldn’t know that a Palan-level monster appeared after he fainted, so it was understandable that he had such a misconception.

“No need to apologize. It’s not because of your attack that I couldn’t catch other monsters.”

“…Liar.”

Yuren frowned as if he couldn’t believe it.

‘I can’t tell him everything honestly.’

The fact that an external monster had invaded the test site was a secret only Professor Elisha and I had decided to keep.

‘There’s no other way.’

Clicking my tongue, I added.

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“Even if I couldn’t catch other monsters because I got caught up in your attack, it’s not something you need to apologize for, is it?”

I had also been wary of Yuren to secure the unicorn’s bell.

“Ha, but I lost control of my magic because I got excited.”

“Whether you lost control of your magic or not, it was a fair competition.”

There was no reason to blame Yuren.

“Actually, I was a bit surprised.”

“…Surprised?”

“The technique you used at the end, that was your first time using it, right?”

“Ah…”

A low exclamation escaped Yuren’s lips.

Just as Dale had said.

The ‘White Light Wave’ he used at the end was a technique he had created using the insight he gained from Dale not long ago.

“Y-yeah, that’s right.”

“Wow! It must have been a difficult technique, but you practiced enough to use it in actual combat?”

Even if Yuren was a genius with the sword, he must have put in a lot of effort to create a variation of the White Light.

“Well done.”

I lightly patted Yuren’s shoulder as I spoke.

“…What?”

Yuren’s eyes widened.

“What did you just say…?”

“Huh? No, well. You worked really hard. It must have been really tough to practice that, right?”

“Ah… yeah. Th-that’s right.”

“Well, I haven’t seen it myself, but even Reynald couldn’t handle the Sun Sword this well at your age, right?”

I tried to remove my hand from Yuren’s shoulder with a smirk.

Then.

Yuren grabbed my hand and placed it back on his shoulder, opening his mouth.

“…Dale.”

“Yeah?”

“The words you said earlier… can you say them again?”

“The words I said earlier?”

“Why… that… you know, that I did well.”

Yuren, avoiding my gaze with a flushed face.

“Well… it’s not that hard.”

I couldn’t understand why a guy who hears all kinds of praise and admiration as if it’s his daily bread would want to hear a compliment from me.

I patted Yuren’s shoulder and said again.

“You did well.”

“……”

A short silence.

Yuren’s expression, upon hearing the compliment, melted like butter.

“J-just once more! Just once more!”

“…You did well.”

“Hehehe.”

Have I ever seen Yuren make such a silly face in my life?

I tried to recall my past life memories, but nothing came to mind.

However.

For some reason.

“Hehe. He said… I did well.”

Yuren, with his hands clasped in front of his chest, was smiling brightly, shining more brilliantly than any sun.