Leona's heart pounded as he called your name in the hallway. He did not know if you would listen to him, or if you would just walk away from him.
You were surprised when you hear Leona's voice. Your emotions were telling you that you want to stay, but your rationality was telling you otherwise. What Leona said back in Ramshackle Dorm and Mostro Lounge popped up in your mind. His cold voice caused your rationality to win over your emotions.
You stopped, and Leona was glad for a second when he saw that, but the tiny relief slowly faded as he heard what you said.
"I am in a rush, Kingscholar-senpai." was all you left for him with an emotionless voice before you started walking away again.
"I only need 2 minutes," Leona voiced while reaching out his hand, but it stopped in midair followed by him taking it back. His chest area felt heavy and hollowed for the way you called him as if you two were strangers, but he could not give up like that. "please."
Your determination to leave was moved. You once again stopped. You gave in to your own feelings. Perhaps deep down, you did want to stay for him.
"Wait a minute!!" All of a sudden, someone yelled behind Leona. The next second, the idiot trio—— Ace, Deuce, and Grim ran out from the Mirror Chamber. They rushed to your front and widened their arms, building a 'wall' and blocking Leona from you.
You did not know that the trio would do that, and you had no idea what their plan was. Similarly, Leona was startled by the sudden action of his underclassmen. He looked at the three freshmen with confusion, "What is this?"
"If you want to talk to Y/n, you have to get through us first!" Grim, who was standing on the shoulders of Ace and Deuce was the one who voiced first, but that only made the lion even more puzzled.
"Who knows if you would make Y/n sad again?" Ace followed his kitten friend and added.
"If you make Y/n sad again, my fist and my cauldron will not show any mercy!" Deuce turned into his gangster mode with his fist crushing into his other palm.
Leona did not expect the trio would be so protective, that they stood firm right in front of you, not letting him get closer to you.
"Tsk, what do you kids want exactly?" Leona sighed impatiently. There wasn't any way he could walk over the boys and get to you.
A smirk appeared on Ace's face. He turned to Grim and asked, "Ah Grim, what did you say that was sold in the cafeteria today?"
When it came to food, it never failed to excite the kitten. "Grilled cheese it is!!" he cheered.
Hearing the question of Ace, Deuce already knew his friend's intention, and so he corporated immediately. "Oh yes! The bakery from the town has come to our school today! It has been a while since lunch, and I feel hungry..." Deuce shook his head dramatically.
"If someone gives us a treat, we must run to the cafeteria immediately." Ace sighed, pretending to be hungry and upset.
Leona figured out what the freshmen were trying to ask for. He sighed while taking out his wallet from his pocket and picked out a card. He then gave it to the trio, "Take it. Order whatever you want."
Seeing the credit card in their upperclassman's hand, the trio immediately took it. "Thank you Leona-senpai!! Take your time to talk with Y/n!" they cheered before running away to the cafeteria.
When Ace walked past Leona, the playful smile on his faded. Instead, a serious expression was shown as he looked at his upperclassman, giving him a warning look before he again put on the grin and caught up with his friends.
"Don't you dare hurt her feelings again." Leona could get that message although Ace did not say a word. He silently nodded to assure the freshman.
"Hey wait-!" you wanted to stop them but they had already run to the other side of the hallway. There were again only you and Leona. You could feel your heartbeat rising, no matter if it was because of nervousness or anything else. Just when you were still thinking of how to react to the situation, you heard Leona break the silence.
"I know I have been saying sorry, since that time I put you onto the broom, and perhaps you've already gotten tired of that." Leona said. You were still facing him with your back, not knowing if you should turn around.
"To you, my credibility may have already been sullied that you don't even want to believe anything I say right now." Leona lowered his head as he expressed. He then looked up at you, "But please, let me say this for the one last time."
"I am sorry, Y/n," he apologized, "for everything I've said or done. I hurt your friends, and I hurt you."
"I shouldn't have said any of those. I was... I was angry and I... I know I cannot take back any of them, and I am not that shameless to find excuses or ask for your forgiveness." He continued, trying his best to keep his voice calm, "I just want to apologize, and thank you for saving my life when I... overblotted. You did not have to risk your safety doing that, especially when I have done such terrible things to you. Thank you."
Leona finished what he had to say, but still, you did not turn to him. You stared at the ground, hands holding fists. That heavy feeling that you had back in Ramshackle Dorm when you confront Leona, it was still there. Your emotions told you to turn around to him as you wanted, but at the same time, your rationality could not help but ask a question: What if these were no more than other lies? You thought you two were something, but what Leona had told Azul in Mostro Lounge had proved you wrong. You were no more than a tool.
Not getting any response, all Leona could do was letting out a tiny wry smile. Ah, how would you forgive him? After all those crossing-line things that he had shouted at you, as expected. "Sorry for wasting your time, Y/n." Was all he left before he turned around, getting ready to leave, but the next second, he stopped.
"One more thing." he said.
"What I said back in Ramshackle Dorm wasn't true. You're talented and smart, and definitely not coward or weak."
"I am glad that you had expectations for me, and I'm again sorry for failing you."
"I just want to tell you that... you're not just nothing or a tool, a chess piece, an entertainment or anything like that. To me, Y/n, you're not just nothing." Leona expressed. You could ignore all the things that he had said to you right here today, but at least, he hoped that you could listen and believe him on this. He was never good at expressing himself, because since a long time ago, he had given up explaining to the others, as they would not change their thoughts because of his explanation, but still when it came to you, he wanted to try his best to explain, even if you would not listen to him.
"It may be hard to believe that you may think I'm finding excuses, but truly, those were just lies that I had to tell Azul. None of them were true." It was all he said before he turned to the other end of the hallway.
Your eyes widened a bit when you heard Leona's words, followed by your heart slightly fluttering. You were not nothing to him, and that meant, perhaps, what between the two of you, was genuine.
"You gotta be considering me too stingy, Leona."
Leona paused when he heard your voice. He looked back, and found that you were turning to him either.
"Don't you remember what I've said before?" You asked. "As long as you apologize, I'll always forgive you." You reminded him with a playful tone with a light grin, so as to hide the fact that you were moved. The sunlight passed through the glass window and shone on you. Under the sunlight, something was sparkling around the corner of your eyes. You would never tell that those were tears of joy.
"Yokatta, Leona." You widened the beam. (Yokatta= It's great+I'm relieved)
Leona could not react and remained in the same position with the still emotion shown on his face. He did not expect that. He did not expect, or even just imagine that you would forgive him. It was just like that time when he apologize to you for throwing you onto the broom when you forgave him with a smile, and when he first felt that his heart beat for you.
No matter when, and after all this time, your smile never failed to make his heart flutter.
You walked towards Leona, who was still not being able to react. You instinctually reached your hand to the lion's arm, but how Leona reacted shocked you.
Before your hand could even touch him, Leona moved his arm away and dodge you. Your hand paused in midair as startle was written all over your face. It was not an illusion or your wrong interpretation, Leona did intentionally withdraw his hand away from yours back in the Mirror Chamber, just like what he did now.
You looked at your own hand which was slightly shaking. You did not understand. Why? He came to apologize, and you had forgiven him. Everything had returned to the normal track, hadn't it? But why? Why did he dodge that?
"What-" you were about to ask him, but you were cut off by a loud voice before you could finish your question.
"Leona! Your card can't be used in the cafeteria!" It was Grim's voice. You looked towards where the voice came from and saw the trio running to the two of you.
"Leona! The card machine in the cafeteria is broken. They only accept cash payment today." Grim told his upperclassman.
Ace and Deuce held Leona's arms respectively and started pulling him to the cafeteria.
"Leona-senpai, you have promised us a meal. Just stop refraining." Ace let out a playful smirk while ignoring the struggle of Leona.
Deuce turned to you and said, "Sorry Y/n, we have to borrow Kingscholar-senpai. The grilled cheese is gonna be sold out." And they could not lose the only chance in a month to taste the bakery products from the town.
"Hey, wait for a second- You- Move your hands. I will walk by myself." Leona grumbled as he withdrew his arms from the freshmen, fastening his paces to walk at the front.
Looking at the back figure of Leona, Ace could not help but tsked, "Humph! Such a troublesome and arrogant lion."
Deuce turned to you while pulling your arm, "Come with us, Y/n! They are selling strawberry cheese donuts today!" You did not even have a second to refuse before Grim helped by pulling you forward from behind.
"Wait, Grim- Deuce!" You tried to stop them but ended up giving up. You swallowed the confusion and feeling of hurt, along with your question about Leona's action, following the trio to the cafeteria.
——
It had been days since Leona apologized to you outside the Mirror Chamber. Yet, things seemed to only make you even more confused and vexed.
When Leona said sorry to you, you thought finally, things were getting back to normal, and perhaps, the thing between you and Leona could no longer be just unspoken and unclear that even yourself was not sure about it and would even question it. However, since that day, you realized that Leona had been dodging you, both mentally and physically.
When you met him in the hallway and waved at him, he would just slightly nod and immediately walk away while looking away. In the past, he would always stop by, although it might just be for another small bicker or teasing.
Leona returned to 1A's classroom again as Crewel's helper. He still teamed up with you during the experiment sessions, but whenever he sat down, he would pull his chair away from you. During the experiment, he would be so careful that his hand would not touch yours.
What's more, he did not even invite you to play chess with him even for once. He even declined your invitation.
You were not a pervert that craved him or an attention seeker for him, but how he dodged you was so abnormal and obvious that even the trio could notice that.
You could not help but once again doubt what was going on between you two. If he was to dodge you and avoid you like you were carrying some kind of deathly virus, why came to apologize in the first place? Although he had acted politely to you since his apology, there was still an invisible barrier between the two of you, that made things could not go back to how it was. It felt like he was acting like nothing had happened, and it was just you who was overthinking like a girl in her puberty. He gave you a fake hope and then slowly tore it apart, which was, to be honest, not much less hurtful and annoying than what he had said to you when you confront him.
"Put on your goggles! You will have 20 minutes to finish the potion." Crewel announced when you were resting your chin in your palm and zoning out. You took a look at the textbook. Today, you were required to make a colour-changing potion. You peeped at Leona, who was sitting next to you, but with an empty seat between you two. You had never felt more annoyed yet painful than how you felt when you looked at the empty chair. If he came here just to show you how much he dislike you, why came in the first place?
Leona picked up a beaker and a few tubes from the desk. "I'll get the ingredients, maybe you-"
"I think I'll finish the task by myself." You uttered with a cold voice without looking at him before you took another beaker and left your seat to get the ingredients. You could no longer stand the way he treated you. "Maybe you can team up with the other classmate. I think I can do it without your help." You added and walked away.
Looking at your back, Leona could not stop you. He parted his lips, wanting to say something, but ended up saying nothing. He stood up from his seat and walked towards the door of the classroom.
"Leona, what are you doing? Go back to your seat-" Crewel questioned the junior as he walked past the teacher's desk as if Crewel was invisible, but was cut off by Leona.
"Urusei Crewel." Leona uttered while ignoring the teacher's question, leaving the room with everyone having their eyes on him.
You, who were extracting the ingredients did not look back at him. There was no need to do so, you told yourself. If he apologized just to play this whatever sick 'getting close and pulling away game', you would not accompany him.
Seeing the two of you again end up in another fight, the idiot trio and also Crewel, could not help but sigh. "When will these two stop pushing each other away and finally get together?" this question popped into the mind of the four of them.
The bell rang, indicating the start of lunchtime. You carried the books in your arms and left the classroom. The problem between you and Leona was still in your head, and there was no way you could get rid of it.
"Yo, Y/n-chan!" Suddenly, you heard someone call your name. You looked up from the ground and realized that it was Ruggie. After the Spelldrive incident, Ruggie, along with the other Savanaclaw dorm mates had already apologized to the victims, and there were no grudges between you and them anymore.
"Good afternoon, Ruggie-senpai." You greeted, "Are you finding someone in our class? I can help you call-"
"I am here to find you actually." Ruggie answered, and that was out of your expectation. "Me?" You raised a brow and wondered.
Ruggie showed the two sandwiches in his hand as he invited, "Are you free to have lunch together? I've got something to discuss with you. Oh, and I've already brought you lunch. Fried egg sandwich, you like that?"
Ruggie's reply made you even more confused. "Discuss what?" You asked.
"About Leona-san." Was all the hyena answered.
——
"Kingscholar-kun, do you remember the reason for your overblot?"
"My plan failed."
"What plan?"
"...My plan of cheating in the Spelldrive tournament."
"Why did it end up failing?"
"Because it was exposed and I quit it."
"And why exactly did you quit it after having planned it for such a long time?"
"Because I got tired of that. The tournament was no more than a useless intra-school game for a bunch of students."
"And it comes to the question of why you still spent so much time on the plan. I supposed you held that principle from the beginning."
"I see no reason for me to keep on answering a bunch of your useless questions." Leona finally could not stand it and doubted. It was the second time that he was forced to sit on the sofa chair in the counselor's room for more than half an hour. It was the post-overblot mental counsel arranged by the school, and guess what's worse? It was compulsory, and cannot be canceled.
"So this is what Crowley said, 'professional mental support', huh?" Leona mocked while rolling his eyes out of annoyance.
The psychiatrist sitting opposite Leona slightly pushed her glasses. "Kingscholar-kun, I hope you understand that the purpose of this therapy is to help you understand your own feelings and motivation behind your overblot, so you can walk out from the shadow and move on to your normal life." she explained.
"Well, now I'm telling you that it is useless." Leona retorted as he frowned and pressed his fingers against his forehead.
"It will not be useful if you refuse to open up-"
"How am I supposed to open up to a complete stranger that I have only met once?" Leona cut off the psychiatrist and threw a question.
The psychiatrist paused for a second, before she sighed and continued, "Kingscholar-kun, I understand that-"
"Ah, here we go again. The 'I understand your feeling', 'I feel your pain', and 'You're not alone' speech, right? You said it once last week and I can already recite that." The lion provoked while shaking his head. He then stood up from the sofa chair, getting ready to leave.
Knowing that she would not be able to stop him or force him to stay, the psychiatrist did not even try to. She closed the notebook and greeted, "Well then, I guess I will see you at the same time next week, Kingscholar-kun."
"No, you guessed wrong. You won't see me next week." Leona replied without looking back and went straight to the door, leaving the psychiatrist sighing in her office.
Walking into the hallway, Leona was annoyed by the fact that the sun was already setting when he was finally able to leave that room. It was still blue when he unwillingly entered the counselor's room.
"Tsk, shitty arrangement..." Leona mumbled annoyedly while walking. All of a sudden, he noticed that someone was standing not far away from him. He looked up from the floor and found that it was you who was resting your forearms on the baluster and looking at the view outside. You turned to him when he walked towards you.
"Herbivore- I mean, Y/n. Why are you here?" Leona clearly did not expect to see you here, at this time. After all, you did not seem happy when he left the lesson in the afternoon.
"Since you just finish your counsel over there, I guess it's kinda obvious that I'm waiting for you." You teased with a small smile.
Waiting for him? How? Leona surely had no idea what was going on. Weren't you hating him for his confusing and annoying attitude?
"Let's talk on the balcony, shall we?" You suggested before Leona could react and turned to the direction of the balcony. Having all those question marks in his head, Leona could only follow you.
You two arrived at the external balcony of the school building. The view there was panoramic, and the golden orange setting sun could be seen clearly.
You rested your arms on the stone baluster, and so did Leona. Of course, he did not forget to move away a bit and keep a distance from you, which you had expected. He could feel the soft breeze running through his hair.
You took out two packs of ice tea and placed one on the baluster. "This is yours." You said while slightly pushing it towards Leona.
Not understanding your intention, Leona still took it and poked the straw into the box.
"How was the therapy?" You asked while taking a sip of your ice tea.
"It was... fine." Leona simply answered. He did not even know what word he should use to describe it so it would not sound as awful as it actually was.
You nodded as you heard his reply. "Glad to hear that." You gave a small beam.
There was an awkward atmosphere between you two, and Leona could feel it. It was probably because you two did not end your conversation pleasingly.
You secretly peeped at Leona while drinking the ice tea. He was having his eyes on the sunset view. You then intentionally raised your voice while pointing at the back of Leona with a frightened face, "Watch out, Leona! Behind you!"
Your shout caught Leona's attention. He immediately turned to the back with his body blocking in front of you, trying to protect you from whatever danger behind him. You could notice that, but you were not going to say that out loud. You caught the moment Leona looked away and took the chance to grab Leona's hand.
Leona could not see anything behind him. Just when he was still confused about what you were afraid of, he felt that a hand was grabbing his. He looked to the back at once and saw that it was yours.
"What are you doing?! Let go of my hand! I will-" Nervousness and anxiety were all shown on his face when he saw your hand was being in contact with his. He immediately tried the withdraw it but you refused to let go.
"You will... turn me into sand? Is that what you're going to say?" You asked with a smile and added your other hand on grabbing his.
"You know that either! So quickly take away your hand before I once again hurt you!" Leona shouted anxiously. His hand in yours tried to struggle but failed, and he wanted to remove your hands from his with his other hand, but was worried that it would injure you even worse.
"I will not let go." You voiced with your hands still tightly holding his. You could feel that it was slightly trembling. "God knows if you will immediately run away again just like what you've been doing these days." You added.
The struggling of Leona's hand slowed down when he heard your words, but still, he insisted, "Y/n, this is not the time to talk about that. Just, please, let go of my hand. I don't... I don't want to hurt you, please."
You let out a sigh with a wry smile. You then moved your eyes from your entwined hands to his worried eyes, "It's really like that, isn't it?"
"What...?" Leona murmured as he looked at the soft smile on your face.
"You've been avoiding and dodging me, and everyone else, because you are afraid that you'd lose control of your unique spell and turn us into sand, right?" You asked.
The worried expression on the lion's face slowly turned a bit surprised. He parted his lips in shock but he did not even know what he should ask. How did you know that? Or, Why were you still holding his hand even when you knew exactly how dangerous he was?
"You're probably thinking why I knew that, and why I'm still doing this even when I knew what you were worrying about, aren't you?" You asked again.
It surprised Leona that you literally knew what he was exactly thinking. "I never knew you're good at reading mind."
"As for how I figure this out, Ruggie-senpai came to me today..."
——
"Leona-san has been avoiding you recently, right?" Ruggie asked and took a bite of the cheese sandwich.
You nodded while opening the packaging, "Yes... How did you know about that?"
Ruggie swallowed the food in his mouth before he took another bite, "It's simple. He's doing the same to me."
You were a bit shocked by the upperclassman's answer, and Ruggie could notice that, so he immediately continued to explain, "You know, since I entered NRC, I have been taking care of Leona-san's daily life. Cleaning his room, waking him up, doing his laundry and buying his lunch, etc, you name it. These were all the things that I've been doing all the time, so I can earn some tips from him, and he does not have to do them by himself."
"However, since he overblotted, he has told me that I do not have to clean his room or wake him up in the morning. He did not ask me to do all the things that I had to do automatically in the past. I can't even find him during lunch hour." Ruggie elaborated.
"I will not believe the way he explained himself about how overblot has changed his whole lazy personality. That's bullshit!"
"Y/n-chan, you and I both know Leona-san is a person who will never say his thoughts out even if he was thinking for others."
"It's why I believe that Leona-san is acting weird because he's worried that he would lose control of his unique spell, King's Roar, again after having the overblot experience."
That explains everything, You thought. His apology outside the Mirror Chamber did not seem playful or fake. You could feel his sincerity, if not, you would not have chosen to forgive him. Yet, his action of avoiding you was indeed weird. It was also probably why he refused to carry Cheka before Cheka returned to Sunset Savanna. If it was like what Ruggie said, then everything would make sense. He avoided you, avoided Ruggie, avoided everyone else, because he feared that he would injure those around him.
——
Should've known Ruggie was involved, Leona sighed helplessly. That hyena could read his boss like a book. However, that did not make him less tense. "I understand that. Now, if you're not stupid enough to seek death in this way, just let go of my hand, ok?" He warned, if not begged, once again.
"Leona," you called his name. "I'm gonna answer your second question."
"I'm here, right now, because I want to tell you the truth." You looked at his emerald eyes and stated.
"The fact is, I was never, and will never be afraid of you."
"You're not dangerous, and I'm certainly not scared of you. No one else is, because we know, I know that you will not use King's Roar to hurt us." You told him while slightly tightening your hands.
Leona looked at your eyes and shook his head while withdrawing his hand with increasing strength. Having the edge of being stronger, Leona succeeded in doing that. "No... Don't you remember what I have done when I overblotted? I almost turned the whole freaking stadium into sand. I cracked the skin of Ruggie's arm. I dried Ace's throat. I... I almost turn you into sand either." He did not realize that his voice was so cracked and how it was quivering.
He supported himself on the baluster. "At first, I couldn't remember everything that happened when I overblotted."
"But then, slowly, the memories came back in my dream. I remember how I create that sandstorm. I remember how Ruggie's skin cracked in my hand. I... I remember reaching my hand to your arm. I activated King's Roar. If you hadn't been protected by the potion, I would've turned you into sand."
"So please, don't say anything about me being innocent, because I'm not. I don't know when I will lose control of myself and injure you and the others."
Leona's nightmare started during Cheka's vacation in NRC. At first, he thought those were just dreams and were not true. However, he slowly realized that those were his own memories.
From the bottom of his heart, he wanted to return to how you two were before. Yet, his rationality kept reminding him of the possibility that he might lose control of his magic again, and ended up hurting you. It was why he decided to only apologize to you, because it was what he should do, but he told himself that he had to keep himself away from you, so that he would not hurt you again. Having such contradictory feelings, Leona acted weirdly especially when it came to you.
"You overblotted. You were not yourself, and that's why you lost control. But what is the probability of a mage overblotting? One over a million?" You tried to persuade him.
"Yet I DID overblot."
"Yes, you did, but what is the probability of overblotting twice? One over the square of a million. You're welcome."
You walked towards him, "Leona, you don't have to be scared of yourself, because we are not scared of you either. Don't describe yourself like a monster."
"What if I am?" Leona turned to you and asked. You could see sadness and fear in his eyes.
"A monster does not let itself suffer so as to protect the others." You comforted him with a smile, with your hand slowly reaching to his. This time, he did not dodge it.
"You're overrating me, herbivore. I'm certainly not that kind and selfless." Leona looked away while putting on a self-mocking smirk, but his hand did not move away.
"Ah, here are your iconic lines, trying to act cold." You let out a small laugh, "It turns out you're much more gracious than you try to act like."
"How can you see that?" Leona doubted while raising his brow with a smile.
"You made three deals with Azul, right?"
"Nope, two." Leona replied at once.
But you knew the lion would not tell the truth even till the end if you did not expose that, "Three. I'll count them for you."
"First, the changing in the position of players' entrance."
Leona nodded.
"Second, the potion to extend the affected area of Ruggie-senpai's unique spell."
Leona nodded again. "By the way, just to let you know, I'm not going to apologize to Malleus." he added jokingly. You rolled your eyes as response, "I'll talk with you about that later."
"And third, to transfer Ruggie-senpai's blot to you."
Although he tried to hide that, you noticed the shock on Leona's face from his widened eyes when you mentioned his third deal with Azul.
Seconds later, Leona spoke again, "How did you know about that? I thought I had never mentioned it in front of anyone else."
"It's pure reasoning." you started the explanation.
You first heard Azul mentioned having already deal with Leona twice, but at that time, Leona had not paid for the potion, and that meant before that, Leona had already made two deals with the merchant.
Ruggie-senpai told you a weird thing. He noticed that the mage stone on his magic pen had not turned black lately whenever he used his magic. "Guess I'm some sort of powerful mage." you remembered how Ruggie praised himself.
"Then I thought of how you overblotted. You did not use much magic except for King's Roar. The equation for overblot is exceeding blot plus negative emotions."
"You were having negative emotions, but how about the blot? If there were not enough blot accumulated in your body, there was no way you would overblot."
"Therefore, I came up with this conclusion: you made some kind of deal with Azul-senpai, that could transfer Ruggie-senpai's blot with you. You knew Ruggie-senpai would be in danger if he kept on using his unique spell, and you were confident about your blot pool, so you chose to carry Ruggie-senpai's blot, even if you knew there might be a chance that you would also be in danger." you summed up, "You actually care about your dorm mates, so much, don't you?"
Leona let out a smile, "There's is nothing that can hide from your eyes, isn't it?"
"It was some sort of ancient spell. It allowed me to transfer Ruggie's blot to my blot pool." he revealed, but emphasizing that Ruggie did not know about that.
"There's still a lot of proof for the view 'Leona Kingscholar is a kind person'. You wanna hear all of them?" you teased.
Leona shook his head with a helpless beam, "Save them."
When you two were talking, half of the sun had already sunk into the horizon. You two had your eyes on the setting sky, while you slightly moving your sight to your hands that were still holding each other. Both of you were calm as if it was nothing special, yet none of you decided to take your hand away.
"Well I guess you're finally willing to talk with me normally." you said with your eyes looking at the sun. You were glad that the sky was setting and had turned into golden orange, so Leona would not see how red your cheeks were.
Leona smiled while resting his chin on his other palm. "Thank you, herbivore. Thank you for coming here." he uttered "And sorry, again, for my rude and weird attitude in the past few days."
You beamed at Leona's words, "I've already forgiven you days ago."
Leona all of a sudden pointed at a cloud in the sky, "Look at that cloud. It kind of looks like your cat."
You looked towards where he was pointing at. "How does it look like Grim?" you could not help but chuckle.
"No seriously. Can't you see those ears? Look, that part is his tail. It looks exactly like him." Leona insisted while telling you how similar that piece of cloud and Grim were.
"Leona, do you remember what I said back in Ramshackle Dorm?" during the laughing, you asked Leona a question.
"Why asking all of a sudden?" he replied to you with another question.
You shook your head before you looked away, "No, I just remember that suddenly, and want to tell you that it was bullshit and it was not true. But it seems that you've forgotten about that, so nothing." you ended that with a tiny shrug.
Leona looked at you and thought for a second, before he all of a sudden realized what you were talking about.
He did not try to hide that smile. "Ah, maybe I have really forgotten about that. Or maybe I haven't. Who knows?" he shrugged.
You've known that we're more than schoolmates, haven't you, herbivore?
NOTE
I can't find another word that can express the tone of Y/n at that moment other than yokatta¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Btw, I added the theory about Ruggie's blot because I thought Leona's overblot in the game was tbh a bit too sudden and unexplainable.
It's the end of the Spelldrive Arc :D I thought I would have given up long before I arrive at the Spelldrive Arc when I first started writing this story. Thank you so much (=ﾟωﾟ)ﾉ