Day Off

Time passed by and it was now noon.

The forest expedition was over and we were now returning to the Academy.

"We’re finally going back—"

"It’s been a long time..."

It seems my body is a lot more exhausted than I thought.

My feet were also killing me.

"Tomorrow is a day off. So, please, take some time and rest your tired bodies."

Bagiran said these words and our forest expedition was finally over.

***

The next day.

After finally waking up from my deep sleep around noon, I decided I wanted to explore the capital.

I’ve never really had the opportunity to before and it would be nice to peacefully explore the capital with no real objective in mind.

The city is always overflowing with people. I guess that’s to be expected, it is the capital.

The amount of people and noise here can’t even be compared to the small village I lived in with Grandpa and Grandma.

As I was thinking about how much I missed those two, someone ran passed me.

It was a child.

A boy, maybe four or five years old, ran through the middle of the main street of the capital.

"He’s energetic..."

I muttered this while scratching my head.

Children are always so energetic.....well, I guess I am only fifteen years old.

I was happily watching this boy run around when he suddenly caught his foot in a hole in the ground.

The boy was running pretty fast, and so, he came crashing to the ground.

The boy looked like he was on the verge of crying. I quickly rushed over to him.

"Are you okay?"

"Oowwww~, it hurts.....Onii-chan, help me......!"

When I looked at him, I could clearly see his foot was bleeding.

I’m guessing he scraped it on the ground.

I’m glad the injury isn’t too bad, but too a small boy, it probably seems serious.

"Onii-chan, my foot.....do you need to cut it off!? Anything but that~.....!"

After saying that, he quickly pulled his foot back to protect it.

Obviously, that wouldn’t be necessary. Still, the boy looks terrified.

I need to calm him down somehow...

"I’m not going to remove your foot. It will be fine. Just leave it to me."

I focused my magical power on the boy's foot and activate【Healing】

【Healing】is a type of recovery magic. From what I’ve learned in class, recover magic is pretty rare. It’s not something you see very often on the streets.

Even though I say that I can only use it to heal small cuts and simple poisons.

The boy’s leg was covered in a white light from【Healing】and then, returned to the undamaged skin from before.

"Uwaa~, you’re amazing onii-chan!"

"You also endured the pain very well. Good job."

The boy seemed to be amazed by my magic and I patted his head.

When I was the same age as this boy, I would have been crying a lot more.

This boy is strong.

The boy, whose wound had now completely healed, began speaking in an excited tone.

"Thank you, onii-chan! Onii–chan can surely become king!"

I guess this boy likes to imagine amazing things.

"Hahaha, I’ll do my best to do that. You just need to be more careful when running around."

With these words, the boy ran off.

....I feel pretty good after doing something like that.

"Hee~, that was pretty nice of you, Lute."

"Uwaa, Luluna, how long have you been here?"

All of a sudden, Luluna was standing next to me.

What kind of coincidence is this!?

"I've been out shopping for a while, I just happened to run into you by accident."

"I-Is that so."

I feel somewhat embarrassed after being praised by her right away.

I didn't help that boy to be praised, but......I don't particularly dislike being praised.

"Ah, right. Did you want to go shopping together?"

"Sure, that would be nice. Let's go."

And suddenly, Luluna and I were shopping together.

Shopping together with my friend.....it's like a dream.

***

Nearly an hour later.

Luluna and I were almost done shopping.

"Shopping with a friend is like a dream to me."

Luluna shows a happy face.

That makes sense. Luluna, just like me, never had any friends.

"Well, I also felt the same way."

"Ahahaha, we think alike.......Maybe we should try to talk about more positive things."

"It's a promise!"

The mood would get depressing! I don't want to ruin our day off talking about sad things.

"Alright, then......Ah, Lute! Do you want to take a look at this shop?"

Luluna suddenly changes the topic.

She wanted to change the mood quickly, just like me.

There was an accessory shop near us.

There were a variety of accessories lined up on a table alongside the road.

Luluna's eyes sparkled as she looked at them.

After all, she is a girl.

"This is what I've been looking for. I want to buy it."

Luluna was looking at a pink misanga.

It was the same color as her hair.

"Hey, so you want that one, Luluna? Isn't that usually something you give someone as a gift?"

To my question, Luluna puffed out her cheeks.

"Yes, that's right. It may not suit me, but I like it."

After hearing her words, I pointed to the black misanga that matched my hair.

"Ah, then Luluna buy this black one, and I'll buy the pink one."

"Eh, why? Well, that's fine...."

We bought misanga for each other and left the store.

***

We had finished shopping, so Luluna and I were resting in a park with a fountain.

The water from the fountain is reflecting the sunlight and shines like a rainbow.

As I sat on the bench, I began looking through my bag for the misanga we just bought.

Luluna saw me take it out and her face became gloomy.

"Hey, Lute."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"The misanga....why did you buy a matching one for yourself? It doesn't suit you, so why did you...."

Luluna pouted her lips and looked at me. Cute.

"No, I just wanted to exchange it.......It's a present."

I handed the pink masanga to Luluna.

Still, it does bother me a little for such a cute girl to say, "It doesn't suit you."

"Umm....what do you mean?"

Luluna showed a confused smile.

Well, my explanation was rather poor. It's not surprising she's confused.

I'll explain with a bit more detail.

"Grandpa once told me, 'Things you get from other people are more valuable than things you buy for yourself.' So, this is a gift for Luluna."

Luluna slowly grabbed the pink misanga I held out to her.

"Thank you. Then I will.....I will give this to you, Lute."

Luluna holds out the black misanga to me.

I laugh a little and take it.

"Thank you!"

We both, immediately, put the misanga on our wrist.

Luluna looked at the pink misanga on her wrist and showed a bright smile.

"It's true. I'm much happier this way!"

"Right?"

"Yes!"

That's good. She seemed really happy to get it.

***

The next day.

I get back to school life from today onwards.

"Good morning —"

Luluna entered the classroom and sat down in her seat.

The pink misanga was tightly wrapped around her wrist.

"A-are you two matching?"

Tsurugi's sharp eyes notice our misanga.

"Ehehehe, does it look good?"

Luluna shows off her misanga while smiling brightly.

"It suits you well."

"Kerokero kero!"

"Thank you both!"

Luluna's smile got even brighter.

Seeing my friend smile makes me happy.

As I'm thinking this, I could hear loud footsteps coming from outside.

They quickly approached our classroom, then the door swung open.

"Ooooouuuuu! Good morning everyone!"

Sensei's voice is still obnoxious! More importantly, what was the point of the first yell!?

"Everyone, your mini-vacation is already over. Make sure to work your hardest during class!"

His words are loud, but we definitely need to do our best in class.

I took a deep breath while thinking this.

School life will start again, I need to prepare my mind!