Farewell

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Noir's face looking at me with a slightly worried expression.

"You're awake."

"Yeah.."

Giving him a hum of acknowledgment, I tried to sit up but was stopped by Noir, who pushed me down again.

"Stop. You need rest."

"I just had enough rest."

I rolled my eyes, sighing as I complained about him restraining me, but chose to surrender.

I just didn't have enough energy to deal with all of that.

"Fine. Do whatever you want."

Sighing, I lay down again.

My head was resting on his thighs, making me look at his head from below. Now that his injuries had healed more or less, I could get a closer look at his face.

Seriously, if I wasn't as cute and otherworldly beautiful as I am right now, I would've been jealous of his looks.

Golden hair that shone like the sun and crimson-red eyes that could make almost any woman swoon with only a glance.

He literally looked like a younger version of Gilgamesh from the fate series. Minus the arrogant expression on Gilgamesh's face, of course.

Noir looked like Gilgamesh, if he was the crown prince in a transmigration manwha.

"You look pretty ugly from down below."

Releasing a weak chuckle, I teased him before suddenly stopping, as I could feel a sharp pain running through my chest.

The sound of a stuffed scream of pain escaped my lips before I forcefully suppressed it.

"Augh—!"

"Don't move too much. You seemed to have overworked your body." Noir said in a worried voice. With a weak sigh, he looked down at me, brushing through my hair.

I shook my head in refusal, pretending as if I really was fine.

"No, it's...alright."

"Don't be stubborn. Just because you don't like to show your weak side doesn't mean that you should act foolishly."

"Huh? I am not acting foolish! I am really fine!"

Truthfully, I actually did feel exhausted as shit, but the longer I rested, relying on Noir, the more embarrassing it seemed to me.

I had just beat the living shit out of him a few hours ago and now I lay on his thigh like a sick little child and he was the one who had to take care of me.

No, no, no.

The more I thought about it, the more shameful the situation seemed to me.

I could feel how a warm feeling built up in my ears, turning my head away from him to hide my flushed face.

God, I am so pathetic.

"Embarassed?"

"No."

"Liar."

Raising his head again, he looked somewhere in the distance, seemingly getting lost in thought as he did so.

I followed his gaze when I noticed that, spotting the same thing he did.

It was the corpse of the widow laying on the ground. Her body was so deformed that the only reasons why I knew it was her were her clothes and the high amount of cursed energy surrounding the corpse.

"What a pathetic death."

Scrunching my nose, I looked at the corpse with an expression of disgust.

I was incapable of understanding why a person would go so far for someone dead. Like yeah, she loved him and all, but sacrificing living people for her dead husband?

I just couldn't understand that decision.

Maybe it is because I was never in love before, but I doubted that my opinion would change even if I did fall for someone.

"Oh? Why so?" Noir said as he lowered his head, looking at me with an expression of curiosity.

"Why would you go so far for someone dead? She even wanted to sacrifice living people for her own selfish reasons. It's just stupid."

"No, I don't think so." Noir shook his head. "How would you feel if the person you loved was killed and you find a reason to get them back?"

He paused, averting his gaze for a moment, before locking eyes with me again.

"Personally, I would take that chance. No matter what it would take."

"You would be considered evil, then."

"I know. But would be worth it."

"That's selfish." I deadpanned, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "Does that mean you understand her, then?"

For a few seconds, Noir just stayed silent, before nodding hesitantly.

"Yes...I think so. I can sympathize with her."

"I don't understand."

"You don't have to."

Noir, who was still only a kid, cracked a weak smile that seemed to belong to someone far older than him.

One filled with pain and sorrow that a child like him shouldn't have experienced.

So why...why does he seem so old right now?

Soon, tears began to stream out of his eyes, his expression staying the same, nonetheless.

It seemed like I triggered some bad memories in him.

Feeling a glimpse of pity tugging at my heartstrings, I raised my arm, wiping the tears away, before trying to respond with a reassuring smile.

"Stop crying. You look ugly."

...

Cheering people up has never been my strong suit, but it's only in situations like this that I'm reminded.

Fortunately, my weak attempt at cheering him up had worked somehow, as his expression softened, forming a weak smile.

Contrary to the first smile. this one seemed to be gentler, lacking the hint of sadness it carried before.

"You really remind me of someone."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?"

"Take it as you wish."

Suppressing the urge to grumble at his irritating response, I tried to turn that irritation into energy, as I cracked a smile.

Well, he didn't look as sad now, so I guessed it was a compliment if it was able to cheer him up like this.

"You're bad at hiding your irritation."

Laughing, he put his fingers into the corners of my mouth, trying to force me to form a smile.

"That's how you smile right."

"Get your hands off me, you creep. Touching a defenseless woman like this is disgusting."

"I wouldn't consider you a woman...you are more like a terrifying monster that would break my neck in my sleep."

Well, you were right about the 'breaking your neck while you're sleeping' part.

I will seriously do that if you don't stop messing with me right now, you fucking weirdo.

However, besides that, he said something outrageous that I just couldn't ignore.

"What do you mean, monster? Are you calling me ugly? Just for your information: you will never find someone more beautiful than me."

I averted my gaze to the side, narrowing my eyes as I continued speaking in a whisper.

"...assuming that you're not into men, of course."

"Huh?" Noir looked at me with an expression of confusion, blinking a few times as if he couldn't believe what I was saying.

"...I would gladly support you if that's the case."

Homophobia was overrated and outdated, anyway.

I, as a modern person, would accept him regardless of what gender he liked. It was his decision anyway and not my business to interfere with his sexual and romantic interests.

"I am not gay." He said in a firm voice, narrowing his eyes as he looked at me.

"You don't have to be so shy abo—"

"You're pretty."

"Huh?"

Where did that suddenly come from?

Even though I knew what he said was, in fact, right, his sudden and direct compliment took me by surprise.

"I'll repeat it for you. I didn't say that you are ugly."

Noir stopped for a second, brushing a few hair strands out my face, as he seemingly started thinking about what to say next.

"In fact, you are probably the prettiest girl I've ever se—"

"Shut up!"

Embarrassed by his words, I jumped up, ignoring the pain, and pressed my hand to his mouth, stopping him from talking further.

What the hell?

How was he able to say such cheesy and embarrassing things as easily as he did?

Did he have absolutely no shame?

Feeling my heart raging in my chest, I tried to calm down my racing breathing before taking my hands off him.

"...that's enough. I don't need to hear anything mor—"

I was interrupted by a sharp pain that shot through my body, caused by my sudden movements.

Slightly wincing, my eyes widened in pain, as I froze up, forming a stiff smile to hide the pain I was feeling.

However, Noir didn't buy into that.

Immediately, he grabbed my shoulders, before pushing me down again, his expression turning into a serious one.

"Stay down. You shouldn't be moving like this."

Biting on my lip, I responded with a defeated voice.

"...yes."

Damn.

Mana exhaustion fucking sucked.

***

***

After defeating the boss, a portal manifested somewhere in the dungeon, leading us back into the normal world.

Usually, after killing a boss, its corpse was used as a tool to craft weapons or armour, but Noir refused to take her corpse.

He insisted on letting her rest inside this place, as it was just too pitiful of an end to turning a prior human into a weapon.

While I had to admit that I felt greedy, the thought of using a prior human as a tool creeped me out, which was the reason why I just went along with it.

However, we still got something out of that kill.

Although we didn't use its body as a material for weapons or armour, I could somehow convince Noir to cut off her hair and use it as a weapon.

I first suggested that we should share the rewards, but Noir refused and insisted that I would take it all, as I had put much more effort in.

Well, more for me, I guess?

When we left the dungeon, I could walk again, which is the reason why I wanted to part ways immediately.

However, he insisted on taking me back to the adventurer's guild, with the reason that we couldn't be sure if I was alright.

He wasn't wrong, which was the reason why I agreed to him taking me back.

Even though we only knew each other for a few hours at most, the experience made us so comfortable with each other that we talked like old friends on the way back.

I think I've read something about dangerous situations making it easier for people to bond with each other, which was the reason why it wasn't very surprising to me.

"Oh, so that's why you were at the cave?"

Noir nodded without even glancing at me.

His eyes were focused on the adventurer's guild in the distance. An expression of disappointment flashed on his face for a split second.

"Ah. Yes, my master had told me to bring her the seal before it breaks and gets dangerous for anyone."

I laughed shortly at that information.

"Well, too bad that it hit us."

Noticing his absent gaze, I followed the direction of his eyes, spotting the adventurer's guild.

For a few seconds, complete silence reigned between us, before I chose to break the silence.

"...seems like that's where we part ways now."

"Yeah."

I didn't know why, but at the look of his disappointed expression, I could feel a light pain running through the area on my chest.

More specifically, my heart.

"Well..."

Bewildered by the indescribable emotion I was feeling, I chose to end this farewell as fast as possible.

"I gotta get going now."

"Wait." Noir grabbed my arm just before I took a step forward. "Hey, Weiss..."

Noir's voice sounded hesitant, pausing his sentence, before taking a deep breath.

Confused by his sudden pause, I turned my head to him, spotting an indescribable look on his face, which made me widen my eyes.

"Will I ever meet you again?"