Seeing Elvira just appear out of thin air was honestly surprising.
But the surprise was all washed away as I saw her collapse.
Reacting before I knew it, I had used my pure spiritual energy to catch her.
"So... we're going to be stopping now?"
"Yeah, I mean, she heard my voice after all, there's really nowhere I can run to anymore."
Putting Primrose down, I proceeded to take my tent out of my backpack before laying Elvira inside it.
"She's just suffering from overextending her mana reserves, she'll be fine."
"I know, it's just..."
"You don't have to say anything else. Let's step outside so that she can rest."
Walking out of the tent, Primrose and I started setting up a temporary camp in the area.
After we finished, we both sat down on a couch that we had materialized in her tent, well, one that Marabelle had given her.
"So... Who was she to you?"
"Of course, you don't have to say anything if it's too personal."
"No, no, it's fine, I can say it."
"You see, we were childhood friends..."
9 Years Ago:
Like usual, I had just finished my everyday training and was drying my hair after showering.
"Knock, knock, knock!"
Walking up to the door, I opened it to see my caretaker, and a girl my age standing next to her.
Keep in mind, I had thought that it was just my caretaker bringing me something, so I was currently shirtless after my shower and my hair was seductively flowing down my pecs to my abs.
"AHHHHHH!" The girl immediately backpedaled, putting her palms up in front of her eyes, as if trying to banish me with holy light.
I sent a questioning look to my caretaker.
Reading my expression, she said, "This will be your new neighbor, for, well, the rest of your childhood until you enter the L."
My expression changed.
"She's a space mage."
A different expression.
"Her name is Elvira Astor."
One final expression.
"She's 6, just like you."
Nodding my head, I proceeded to turn around, but, just as I was about to close my door, little Elvira asked, "Miss, why can't he talk?" stopping me straight in my tracks.
"He's been mute since he was brought here from Raikato, we don't know the reason ourselves, it might be trauma, it might be a genetic defect, who knows?"
Looking back over my shoulder, I saw that she was looking at me expectantly.
I nodded, agreeing with the explanation that the caretaker had just given.
Seeing that this was the case, she nodded herself, before extending her hand out.
"Hi, my name is Elvira, what's yours?"
I ran inside my room, before getting a pen and notebook and starting to write,
//My name is Arvil.//
"It's nice to meet you, Arvil."
//It's nice to meet you too.//
...
Back to the Present:
"And that was our first meeting."
"Wait, that's it? Nothing special happened or anything?"
"What did you expect?"
"I don't know, some special "incident" that started your relationship or something?"
"That only happens in novels you know?"
"Then why'd you go into a whole story about it?"
"Cause you were asking about us, so I just told you about how we met?"
"Wow, and here I was expecting an embarrassing story or something..."
"I'm a mixed blood who trained everyday like a maniac, and she is a, well, interesting girl, how would something weird happen? I mean, I literally only saw her for meals, and this was only cause we were the only kids around and the caretaker brought the food for us at the same time."
"Really? Like, could you call each other childhood friends at this point?"
"Yes, you don't know about the moments we shared."
"Huh? And you left her, even though you shared these "moments". Not really believable you know?"
"Some, complications came up, I mean, if you haven't noticed, she's 15, and I'm 13, but in the story we were the same age."
"So?..."
"So, I reverted my age back."
"And what changed?"
"Uh, I never told her I was a mixed blood."
"Again, what does that have to do with your friendship?"
"I lied to her for the longest time, and then I had to go leave mysteriously, for a whole month, and then I never talked to her again."
"So, if I'm understanding this correctly, you kept a secret, you had to leave for personal reasons, and then you never had the balls to talk to her again. Am I right?"
"Well, kinda?"
'I'm also not the original owner of this body and had no idea what to do with his past relationships. But, I guess I can't say this.'
"So, aren't you the problem in this relationship? And, she still chased after you, even exhausting herself to her limits just to meet you again. Don't you think you're just being a dickhead at this point, avoiding her almost desperate attempts just because you're a wimp?"
"So, what do I do?"
"Go lay down with her, here, lemme poison you, its time anyways."
"Okay, but, just don't tell her about me being "Ashen", she knows me as "Arvil", so, please you that name when she is around."
"Will do, now, go, shoo!" She said, waving me off with a flick of her hand.
Taking the strongest poison that she had to give me yet, I excused myself and left her tent.
Stepping into my own tent, my body couldn't help but relax when seeing Elvira's sleeping face.
Laying down next to her in my own sleeping bag, I downed the poison.
"Ugh, this one's strong as hell!"
I immediately blacked out.
<Elvira's POV>
I slowly opened my eyes only to find myself in an unfamiliar place. (A/N: Reincarnation?)
'Where am I? Wait... I found Avril!'
Sitting up quickly, I winced, as I realized that I still hadn't completely recovered yet.
Looking around, I saw a familiar face, one that I had thought I would've never seen again.
'Avril, it really was you.'
Seeing that he was sleeping peacefully, I also laid back down, before reaching my hand over to his.
'You're gonna get hell tomorrow, but... but let's just enjoy each other's company, just for this one moment.'
Gingerly placing the palm of my hand over his, I shuddered, feeling the familiar heat.
As my fingers threaded through the spaces between his, and his threaded between mine, we both couldn't help but subconsciously tighten our hands around each other, gripping each other tightly.
Surprised for a second due to the intensity, I looked up to his face to see if he was still sleeping or if he was now awake, but he was still sleeping.
'Must've just been his reflexes.'
Closing my eyes, basking in the comfortable, homely warmth that he radiated, I slowly fell asleep once again.
Thanks for reading!
75 PS - 1 extra chapter
100 PS - Another extra chapter
150 PS - Another extra chapter
200 - ??? (I'll go there if we even get there, although I seriously doubt it.)