3 Green, Gold and Black

"Haa... Haa... Finally here."

Trying to regain some air, I'm currently standing in front of the gate of what I pressumed to be the "school" I'm looking for.

I used to attended local classes in my old village in the past, but never an actual school.

This is the first time I've attended one, and to be honest, it's bigger than I imagined.

There's a lot of students here, but it seems that I had a bit of a miscalculation. I still somehow managed to come here earlier than expected.

So I start looking around, trying to find her.

Who you might ask? The person that helped me attend this school in the first place, the person who is my childhood frie-

...

I don't know if I still have the rights to call her my friend, but she helped me out.

After all, I'm the one who...

Nevermind that, I found her.

The girl who ties her hair into two long pigtails, the one whose hair is green.

Hildagea.

----------------------------------------------------------------

How many years has it been since then?

We hadn't meet each other for a long time, I'd thought he had forgotten about me.

But he didn't.

I was trully surprised when I received his letter asking for help to apply for school.

Had he forgotten about the event that had happened?

Or is it because of it that he asked for my help?

I don't really know, but putting that aside for now.

After waiting for a while, I finally see him.

That white hair. Those crimson eyes. And a... ponytail?

I'm not questioning about his style of choice, but that's definitely him.

He seems to have seen me too, as he's walking this way.

And the moment our eyes meet, he immidiately bow down to me.

Wait, what?

"Thank you so much for your help." He says.

"You don't need to be. After all, helping each other out is what friends does right?" I say without hesitation.

"Friend...So you still consider me one..."

And then an awkward silence stands between us.

O-Oi! What's this all about?

Aren't old friends's meeting supposed to be exciting and fun, with us talking about the old times?

What is this silence?!?!??!

Can't stand this awkward mood, I try to find a topic to speak, "...You have grown pretty tall, have you? I remember that you use to be much shorter than me, and now you've grown even taller than me."

"..."

Crap! Did I make the situation worse?

"Did I? I was too busy trying to make a living for my family I haven't notice."

Wait.

'make a living for my family'?

"...What's happened to you and your mother after... "that"?" I ask in hesitation.

He looks like he's about to cry.

He's truly easy to read, in the past and now.

"...We went back to our old house in the forest, and a year later, she fell ill... So I had to kill monsters to earn money to buy medicine for her."

What?!

"Killing monsters!? By yourself!?"

"...Yes."

Does that mean he had been the one to take care of everything?

He had been living alone in the shadow, unable to sympathize with anyone, and unable to be sympathized.

I blame myself for not being able to be by his side at that time.

But...

"Chear up! This isn't the past anymore. This isn't five-"

"Seven."

"-seven years ago. So, let's start over and be friend again, okay?"

This is also a chance for me to stop hiding in the past.

"So you are willing to forgive me?"

"...yes." I say.

He raises his head and looks at me, then suddenly burst into tears.

So I spent almost five minutes trying to calm him down from his outburst.

Apparently he cried because he never expected her to forgive him, and he was so happy he started crying.

I'm glad that he's still the Yaritsuke I know.

...Huh.

There seems to be something happening at the gate.

Out of curiosity, we pass through the crowd and manage to get to the front row.

And I can't believe my eyes.

------------------------------------------------------------

The cart stops.

"Mari-sama, we have arrived." The rider says.

"I know."

I then look to my side, at my sister, who seems to be shaking.

"It's gonna be alright." I ensure her.

But it's normal for her to be worry. After all, she used to be the target of bully due to her black hair.

But I will protect her, because no matter what people says, she will always be my little sister.

-----------------------------------------------------------

The cart opens its door.

Walking out of it are two girls, one with shiny gold hair, the other one with deep, black hair.

Their beauty are like the gravity, attracting almost all of the boys currently in the school.

The girls also seem to be pulled by that same beauty.

But, to me, she looks familiar for some reason... me, a person with near-perfect memorizing ability, failed to remember if I had met her or not.

She probably looks similar to someone I met in the past, but I will keep this fact in mind.

She looks at my direction, and then a faint shock appears on her face.

Err... What?

She suddenly turns her head away when our eyes met, her face starts blushing.

Strange.

And finally the bell ring. We are told to line up for what we heard to be some kind of "aptitude test".

Apparently this test is taken to put students in the class that fit what they are most capable of, and it is carried out by some kind of magical globe over there.

And so my school life officially begun.