Your End, My beginning (2)
On the contrary, June's parents were excited at his signs.
Since he was confirmed to be in perfect health, they believed he was their golden ticket into Kartosh's upper class.
In Kartosh, talent was the most important.
The reason isn't as simple as it appeared.
Most talents of this age are formed thanks to the influence of Ether in one way or another, making talent itself a worthy research subject.
The more discernible, the better the value.
As long as you have talent, you are automatically more valuable than others.
As long as you have talent, your family will make it "big".
However, there is still a process to make it "big". Precisely, there are two ways to this process, one longer than the other.
Either you figure out your talent and develop it to its fullest while contributing to Kartosh...
...or you voluntarily become a "prized companion" for a special program.
Thankfully, his parents chose the former and so as he grew up, they tried to get him to do all sorts of things. Art-oriented, physical, magic, academic,...they didn't shy away from any subjects even though they didn't have that much to spare, considering their barely middle-class status. They truly believed it was worth it when they saw the young him learning slightly faster than others, even ignoring his attempts to dissuade them.
However, the older he gets, the more his words convince them...and despair them.
He could do just about anything one thinks of but at the same time, all the results were average. It wasn't all that apparent at first due to the somewhat varying performance, but Kartosh's statistics showed it aligning with the averages of everything that was compared.
Even with Kartosh's help, he could never pass the capricious wall.
This did fascinate the researchers and so came several letters of invitation to the special program, but his parents refused.
He didn't know the details. When he questioned his parents later on after getting tips from a researcher, all he got was a head shake and a "You don't need to worry about it".
Not long after that, they left the help program, cut off the contact, and prepared him for the academy.
They probably still held onto little hope that he might figure out his talent, though they've made peace with the fact that their dream will never come true with him.
At least, that's all he managed to overhear, including heated arguments that dimmed over time.
It's a surprise he remembered all these details, considering how distanced it felt now.
Loops after loops, memories overlapping and overriding one another, each as helpless as he can be.
He was someone who countless times was forced to watch his first friend in a long time get betrayed and backstabbed by himself; who countless times drove his hand into that poor soul's heart; who countless times died uselessly in front of those despaired, hopeless eyes. His path, seemingly dictated by fate, would spell doom whether or not he initiated changes usually succeeded by regressors in stories.
He envied them.
Before he knew it, he was crawling on the ground like a bug, cursing his lacking self.
Before he knew it, he made a wish countless times, hoping for the salvation of those he held dear yet wronged.
Before he knew it, a strange dull voice muttered-
***
"I was given a choice...a choice that I can make again. I was told that you can...no, you will fulfill it. My wish."
With a solemn tone, June slowly closed their distance. Judging he was close enough, June held Jun's shoulder, mincing his words.
"I saw it. I-I thought it was impossible, but you did it. You saved them with ease as if it was all trivial matter...unlike me-"
"It was no trivial matter." Jun cut in as his head shook slightly, accompanied by a somewhat displeased expression, "Children should yet face such cruelty, even if it's the will of the world."
"…Yes, you're right. I see why now." June stared into Jun's eyes, "You look so lost, yet you don't sound so at all."
"I suppose you're not wrong on that."
There was nothing to hide, not to the one whose body he had infringed on. An epiphany hit him. If he were to inherit this body then...
"Where would you go?"
"I..."
June hesitated, knowing that he was well within the "kids" the man in front of him would save. Lying to the man he currently and will owe a huge debt in the future leaves a bitter taste in his tongue.
On the other hand, the flow of events has gone way off track due to strange developments in the recent loops. There was no guarantee his memory, the only precious asset he could only give in exchange for fulfilling this favor, could help the man that much.
However, if this man can really fulfill his wish while achieving his own as well,...
"My wish...no, my favor, it's simple. Please give my friends the happy ending they deserve."
Guilt and anxiety engulfed his heart, but if that's all it took for him to stop, he wouldn't have come this far.
"They said once you achieved your wish, I could come back. But that might take very long, so I'm going to do a task...one that only I can do! Can you believe it?"
A convincing lie requires a convincing demeanor, so he cracked a cheerful expression, one too natural for him now.
A hint of doubt flashed on Jun's face, but he cleared it right away, just before June noticed it.
'A lie.'
One as obvious as day, but he can feel the earnestness behind June's wish, as well as that attempt to lie.
'That's not fair. Are you telling me...'
Might this boy in front of him, pitiful and tragic he was, decide to let go of everything and sacrifice in his place? This possibility hinges on his mind from a while ago.
The fact that they're inexplicably linked from the start, that the boy said he was going somewhere far away, even if it didn't explain why he was here...
"So please...tell me that wish of yours when we meet again."
Releasing Jun's shoulder, June distanced himself slowly with small strides.
"You...!"
As Jun dashed toward June, June's expression cracked. Even in the last moment, regrets spared him not as tears leaked out of his tired eyes.
'How ridiculous I am.'
He fell.
CHWANG!