Not good, Ziel thought.

It was because he was running down the hallway.

Most of the time, feeling that running in the hallway is a bad idea stems from excessive speed, and this was no exception. He couldn't stop suddenly. Yet, he sensed someone's presence just around the corner. While the fact that he noticed was fortunate, the content of what he noticed was not fortunate at all.

However, Ziel knew a way to deal with this, even if he couldn't stop.

And he acted on it faster than he could check who was beyond the corner.

“Hup—”

With a leap.

Not just any leap. Even a frog of the same size—(which might actually exist in the forest)—wouldn't jump like that. Rather than letting inertia carry him sideways, he stretched upward. Using the wall as a foothold, he twisted his body mid-air. With a soft thud, he landed on all fours. There were no handholds, yet he clung on, using finger strength or something of the sort. Then, as inertia finally caught up, he took a step, then another, walking along the ceiling.

“……Is walking on ceilings a trend among the younger generation these days?”

Drawn by the sound, the person on the other side of the corner looked up, their expression caught between surprise and exasperation.

Wilae.

The indigo-haired mentor of Eunice.

“…No, not really.”

“Sorry,” Ziel said as he descended from the ceiling. Stretching his body while still supported by just his fingers, he dropped lightly to the floor, then asked:

“I wasn't paying attention. Are you okay? No injuries?”

“Not at all. I didn't even realize Ziel was nearby until I heard the sound from the ceiling. You have astonishing strength.”

“Thanks,” Ziel replied, adding, “I'll be more careful from now on.”

“No need to be so formal,” Wilae responded with a faint smile.

“By the way, is this alright? You seemed to be in a hurry, yet here you are, talking to me…”

She trailed off before finishing the sentence.

Then, as if something had just struck her, she continued:

“Could it be that you’re looking for… oh, no, I mean, Eunice?”

“Ah,”

“Yes,” Ziel nodded. He didn’t wonder how she knew. She had likely run into Eunice while he was running away.

“Where did you see him?”

He asked directly.

For two seconds, Wilae seemed to deliberate.

Then, without hesitation, she brought her thumb and middle finger together.

With a snap of her fingers, a long blue line appeared on the floor, as if it had always been there.

“Since Ziel doesn’t have the best sense of direction. If this is unnecessary, just laugh it off as something an overprotective person would do.”

“No, this helps tremendously.”

Ziel spoke from the heart, making Wilae chuckle instead.

“If you follow it, you’ll find him,” she said.

“Ah, this is an amazing spell,” Ziel thought, steadying his emotions to avoid being overwhelmed by admiration.

“Thanks,” he said, preparing to leave.

“Ziel.”

She called his name before he could go.

“Yes?”

He turned to find Wilae looking at him. Sunlight streamed into the hallway, illuminating one side of her hair so brightly that it almost appeared white.

“…The other day, you helped carry the shopping bags. I never got the chance to thank you.”

That probably wasn’t what she really wanted to say.

Still, Ziel accepted her words with a “You’re welcome,” and walked away.

The line ended.

But there was no sign or presence of Eunice anywhere.

The first thing that surfaced in Ziel’s mind was a familiar resignation. Ah, I must be lost. That thought led to a cascade of others. Should I turn back? No, turning back might make things worse. He considered himself relatively good at navigating straight paths, but once he started retracing his steps, that confidence wavered. This is bad. I don’t know what to do.

“……?”

But then, he remembered.

Just moments ago, Wilae had said—

That is to say,

Is walking on ceilings a trend among the younger generation these days?

“……”

“……”

“…You’ve been found out.”

“…I had a feeling.”

He was above.

From an outsider’s perspective, this must be a bizarre scene, Ziel thought, not ignoring the absurdity of his own actions. That realization dampened his mood a little. As he brooded, Eunice descended to the ground, adjusting the hem of his clothes. He then stole a glance in Ziel’s direction.

Edging slightly, preparing to move—

“…Is this pointless?”

“Not… necessarily. But if you have a proper reason, I won’t chase you anymore.”

“And if I don’t tell you?”

Ziel considered the question, keeping an eye on Eunice, who seemed ready to slip away. He confirmed that stopping him wouldn’t be difficult if he tried.

“If it’s something you don’t want to talk about, I won’t press too deeply.”

At that moment, two faces surfaced in his mind.

Dewey. And Roylen.

The two of them appeared vividly in his thoughts, standing side by side, telling him, “We told you to chase him down and hug him, didn’t we?”

“Didn’t we?”

“Go home,” Ziel mentally shoved them away.

Only Eunice’s face remained.

“…Somehow, talking to you makes all my strength drain away,”

He smiled wryly, beautifully.

“I won’t run,” he said.

Even as he spoke, he wandered aimlessly, prompting Ziel to follow. He later realized that Eunice probably had no real destination in mind. Neither of them had any sense of direction indoors, so even if he did have somewhere to go, he likely wouldn’t have gotten there.

He ended up sitting in an unremarkable corner of the hallway.

The light streaming through the window rippled across the floor like the surface of a water tank. Leaning just enough against the wall to avoid having his hair scorched by the light, yet sitting in a way that his feet could easily drift into the sunlit patch with a slight movement, the two of them settled down together.

The scent of summer grass filled the air.

“……”

“……”

“…Hey.”

“Yeah.”

“Aren’t strangers scary? When you're with them, it’s hard to start a conversation…”

He nearly let out a loud “Huh?!” but managed to hold it back.

Fortunately, Ziel possessed an ironclad sense of reason and sharp judgment. Instantly assessing that “he probably wouldn’t want me to loudly question that right now,” he swallowed his breath and sent it right back to his lungs. Even a cow wouldn’t pull off such a maneuver, he thought.

…Not that such consideration was necessary.

“I mean, didn’t I already tell you in a letter that I’d be shocked if you actually had friends?!”

Suddenly, Eunice raised his voice instead.

Ziel nodded. Ninety percent of his thoughts were occupied with relief—“Thank goodness, he’s feeling better.” But the remaining ten percent managed to recall that he had indeed received such a letter while he was in the eastern country. With his mental resources fully exhausted, the only words Ziel could muster were:

“I thought that was a joke.”

“What the hell are you saying?!”

He got scolded.

That, too, felt like some kind of joke, but for now, Ziel decided to take it seriously. “Sorry,” he said. “Well, whatever,” Eunice muttered as he sat back down, though he had half-risen from his spot. That, too, seemed like a joke.

“…No, but seriously. That’s just how I am.”

Until he started speaking in earnest.

“It’s a hassle, isn’t it? Stuff like this.”

“Not really a hassl— Wait, hold on. Can I explain this from my perspective first?”

“You dodged giving a clear answer just now.”

“But sure, go ahead,” Eunice said, granting permission.

“So, Eunice, you come across as pretty friendly, right?”

“Not at all.”

“When we first met—”

“I planned everything out in advance.”

“Planned…”

“…out?”

Repeating the word, Ziel was momentarily stunned.

“But even after that, you were totally normal—”

“That’s because I thought, ‘They accepted me!’ and got into the groove. My family says I have a reputation for being lively and cheerful.”

Apparently, during the first three days, he had been writing a script each night before going to bed.

Ziel mulled this over. Back then, when his vision had been blurry from losing his glasses, had such preparations been happening? Would Lililia have noticed?

“I see,” Ziel said.

Rather, he wasn’t sure what else to say.

“…A script, huh.”

Repeating the most surprising word, he barely managed to follow up with:

“I’ve never written one myself…”

“Yeah, that figures. You’re kind of rough around the edges.”

“Huh?”

“Huh? Oh, I meant that in a good way. A good way.”

“I mean, I get that, but… Really? I get called ‘meticulous’ a lot, though.”

“Huh? …Then maybe you are.”

“‘Maybe’?”

“Sorry, I don’t talk to people much, so I can’t really compare. Maybe I’m just way too meticulous.”

“That’s not really—” Ziel attempted a completely hollow reassurance.

It probably didn’t sound convincing at all, but Eunice still accepted it with a simple “Yeah.”

And then he continued.

“So, you know, even though summer’s almost over, I still can’t talk to them properly. Dewey, Ney, and even Klaha.”

“…I see.”

“But Ziel, you’re always with Dewey and Klaha, right?”

The word “always” was a bit of an exaggeration.

At the very least, Dewey often complained that he could never pin him down, and while he trained with Klaha, they spent their free time separately. But it wasn’t a big enough point to nitpick, so he let it slide.

“And when that happens, I suddenly find myself completely unable to approach them.”

“Ah.”

“And when I see you or Lililia chatting with someone else, I start feeling like I’m not as close to you as they are, and then I get all depressed.”

“…I see.”

“Also, I keep having this dream where everyone’s playing cards, and I can’t bring myself to speak up, so I just sit there crying.”

Once again, Dewey and Roylen appeared in his mind.

“Go after him and hug him,” they both insisted.

He mentally shooed them away.

Not that dismissing them in his head did anything to erase the lingering thoughts.

“…That last one’s a joke, okay?”

Peering at him, Eunice said that.

Then, just like that, he stood up.

“Just so you know, I’m not saying this because I want you to do something about it, Ziel. I don’t intend to be that dependent. I just wanted to explain so that you don’t end up feeling bad about it.”

As if to say, “That’s the end of that.”

He started walking away—though where exactly he intended to go was unclear.

If that was what he wanted, then that was fine. And at least Ziel now understood why he had felt like Eunice had been avoiding him.

But still—

Ziel called out to his retreating back with just one sentence.

“Wouldn’t it be fine to rely on others a little?”

Eunice turned back around, startled.