Hildagea

"From today onward, this village will be your new home."

A man was holding a young Nayari by his hand, standing before the entrance to a small village.

Its name was Dust Village.

8 years ago, he and his family moved from the forest to a nearby village in order to have better education for him.

After being introduced to his current house, he took a walk around the village.

While walking, he met with a group of kids that tried to make trouble of him.

"Oi. You're the new kid, right? Do you know the rule around here?"

"..."

"The rule is that the new kid must pay respects to the senior, us, by giving us something worth mentioning. Then we'll protect you from the danger that's lurking in the wood over there."

"..."

"Hey. Say something! Are you ignoring us!?"

"..."

"You little...!!!"

One of the kids raised his hand to punch Nayari, but was quickly grabbed ahold of.

"Eh?"

"You guys...are annoying. You're blocking my path."

"Huh? What did you just said?! Are you looking down on us?!"

"I said...get out of my way!!"

Nayari let out a punch, and a fight broke out between him and the group.

Being personally trained by an ex-soldier that is his father, he had a fair share of fighting skills.

But not having any actual experience, while being able to hold out for a while, Nayari eventually got overwhelmed by their numbers.

"Hah! How do you like that?!"

"Hey! What are you guys doing?!"

A voice was heard, saving Nayari by a strand of hair.

"E-Ah! Hildagea! We were just...erm...teaching this guy a lesson for not paying respect to his senior, yeah!"

"All I see is you guys ganging up on a boy. Stop right now or I'll call my father!"

"Tch. Let's go guys. We'll deal with him later."

Hildagea, at the time was the daughter of the village chief, so they, of course, feared her.

"Are you ok?"

She reached her hand out to Nayari.

But he knocked it away.

"I don't need your help."

Before slightly bowed down.

"But...thanks anyway."

He wouldn't do something as completely brushing off the unneeding help someone has given him.

"You're new around here, right? What's your name?"

"...Nayari."

"Mine is-"

"Hildagea, right? I heard it from the group."

"-Yes, and I want to ask you a question."

"?"

"Would you...be my friend?"

"Eh?"

Nayari was shocked at Hildagea's word.

He had never had anyone as friend before.

"...Considering I just owed you once, I accept."

"Then, can I call you Yari?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, friends have to have nickname to call each other, right? At least that's what my father told me...You can call me Hilda!"

"...Fine..."

Their first meeting was like that.

----

"Monster!"

"Get out of here!! You murderer!"

Nayari was kneeling on the floor, uncaring to the words the others were spewing, holding in his arms a woman whose wound was so large it drenched him.

And then the decisive blow into his heart was Hildagea's words.

"Get out of our village, you...you monster!!"

Realizing what she had done, she quickly covered her mouth, but knew that it couldn't be retracted.

Having lost both of her parents, she was overcomed with grief and sadness, and that made her lost control of herself for a moment.

After that, Nayari carried the unconsicous wounded woman into the woods, and hadn't seen him ever since.

----

And now fate had led them to meet again at this place that is called "school".

Standing in front of the class, he proceeded to introduce himself to the class.

"My name is Nayari, and I'll be a student in this class from this point onward. Please take care of me."

His eyes took a glance at Hildagea which had a shocked expression.

The person she hadn't meet for 6 years suddenly made his appearance here.

He then made way for Lilith to introduce herself.

"Erm...My name is Lilith, and I'm a new student here. Please take care of me."

After that, both of them found seats at the back of the classroom and sit there next to one another.

Their first periods of lesson started and ended.

After that, they were led to the dormitory and were introduced to their room.

"Uoah! It's so spacious!"

Lilith, her face brimmed with excitement, walked around the room.

"..." Nayari remained silent, his eyes scanned around and noticed a bunk bed.

"But...isn't it a bit too big for one person?"

Lilith asked.

"What do you mean? Both of you are going to stay in the same room."

The guard that took them here, the same one that led them to the principle's room, spoke up.

"Eh?"

"Hmm? The principle didn't told you? In order to conserve space, we have two students to stay in the same room. Seeing that both of you are male, it shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"E-Ah..."

Her disguise came to bite her in the arse.

"Well then, I'm off."

The guard left.

"Urgh...Nayari, are you ok with this?"

"I'm fine."

"Eh? Really?! You're going to stay in the same room with a girl, you know?"

"So what? At least we got a place to stay now. I'm going out for a walk."

"Hey! Wait!"

----

Noon.

Nayari wandered around to the school's garden.

And there he saw a familiar face.

She was looking at the flowers, her hair fluttered in the wind.

Noticing someone was coming, she turned to see Nayari standing there.

"...it's been six years, hasn't it?"

"...Yeah..."

"I'd never thought that I would meet you here, of all the place."

"...Hildagea, I..."

"I'm sorry!"

She suddenly bowed her head down to Nayari.

Nayari, who hadn't expected it, was taken aback.

"...Why? Why are you the one to sorry?! It was me! It's my fault that...that..."

"Wrong! We were the one at fault here! We was so scared of the demon back then that we didn't even consider what you and your family had done for us. We-I...I'm deeply sorry for all the trouble we've cause!"

"Shut up!!"

"!!!"

"Even if you said so, I...I...I KILLED THEM!!! I don't deserve forgiveness! I don't..."

Nayari had already broke into tears by this point, and the same went for Hildagea.

"E-Eh?!?"

Lilith, who was listening in to their conversation due to her following Nayari had no idea what was happening, accidentally let out her voice.

"Who's there?!"

Both of then turned their look to the direction Lilith was hiding.

"H-Hi there..."

Having no other choices, she walked out of her hiding.

Nayari slowly walked toward her, before knocked her on the head.

"Hey! That hurts!"

"That's for following me without telling me a thing. I said leave me alone, didn't I?"

"But..."

"Now I've done venting my fustration on Lilith-"

"Hey!"

"Come. We're leaving."

Hildagea looked like she wanted to say something, but decided not to.

Nayari didn't turn his head back as he returned to his room.