Despite many people looking for him, there was no progress in finding Reinhardt until Friday.
-Shaaaaaaaaaa…
“…”
Reinhardt was still missing.
Them not finding Reinhardt until Friday might mean that things had already become irreversible.
Ellen trudged through the rain, carrying her umbrella. It had let up a bit, but the damn rain had yet to completely stop. Class was over, and she had nothing to do.
However, Ellen couldn’t even remember what classes she had that day.
She couldn’t focus on anything because the only thought that went through her head was that Reinhardt might be dead.
Ellen aimlessly walked through Temple.
‘I made another mistake again.’
“…”
Everyone had memories that they wanted to erase…
Or a past event they wanted to change.
‘Don’t lie.’
‘Ellen…’
‘You don’t love me at all. Don’t say you love me.’
‘Ellen, what are you saying? I’m your brother… I love you so much.’
Ellen was a quiet person.
However, things hadn’t always been like that.
‘Really? Then why are you leaving me again, giving me this sword while throwing me away like this? Where are you going? What are you going to do? How long will it be? Will you be gone a few years this time? You never tell me anything! You just tell me that you love me! If you’re going to be like that, you don’t have to ever come back! How many days has it been since you last stayed here? You always just tell me that I’ll be someone better than you. So what does that mean? That I should work hard? Why? Why should I work hard? What’s the point of wielding this sword well? Everyone calls you a great hero, but I don’t think you’re such a great person!’
‘Ellen… I’m sorry. I have to do this. All I have to do is…’
‘Fine! So, that’s what’s important! Everything’s more important than me! More important than family! You won’t even tell me what you’re going to do! Those things have always been more precious to you! Those things you can’t even tell are more precious than me to you! You don’t love us at all! I hate you, brother!’
Then she got slapped.
It was her dad, not her brother.
‘F-father!’
‘Don’t act like a child.’
‘H-hick! sob, waah!’
‘Go, son.’
‘…Ellen. I’m sorry.’
‘Sob! I hate you! I hate all of you! I-I hate every single one of you! And I hate you the most!’
Ellen Artorius hated her brother.
However, she hated herself more than anyone else.
That day.
It also rained just as heavily that day in her memories.
She hated herself for saying those things to her older brother, who left after agonizing over it. She told him that she hated him, not that he loved him. Those were her last words to him.
She didn’t immediately realize what was going on. She just thought her brother had left on some very long journey, but she was convinced that he would return to her in the end.
She thought he would suddenly appear on their doorstep again after a few years or so, like always.
However, when she found out that her brother didn’t just go on one of his adventures again but went to the Darklands to fight the Demon King, she was convinced that he would never come back again.
It was then that she realized what he had been trying to tell her.
He was prepared to die and finally went to his family to say his goodbyes, only to be attacked by her harsh words.
Thinking about what her brother must have felt back then made Ellen want to kill her past self.
The last face she showed her brother was a crying one, only shouting that he hated him. How hurt he must have been. Just thinking about it made Ellen suffer.
So, since then, Ellen had become less talkative.
Her words hurt someone so deeply before, so she decided to say as little as possible, afraid she would make the same mistake again.
She only gave short answers and only held short conversations. Ellen gradually hid herself in her shell like a snail.
That’s how it was.
That was why she didn’t say much.
‘I hate people like you.’
She made another mistake.
She hurt someone because of her own selfish reasons. She hurt Reinhardt by forcing her own standards on him—standards he had no reason to live by.
The thought that she made a mistake once again came to her after Reinhardt disappeared.
Naturally, she thought Reinhardt might disappear one day, but she didn’t think it would be right away.
However, almost as soon as she told him that he actually disappeared…
Reinhardt went missing.
He might have already died.
The last memory of herself that Reinhardt would hold was of her telling him that she hated him.
Did her words turn into a curse that actually made Reinhardt disappear?
Or did he hide himself because her words hurt him that much?
Ellen’s thoughts were thrown into such disarray that she came to those ridiculous conclusions.
She had told Reinhardt those words because she thought she’d be okay even without him. She did it because she thought she had to push him away before he became too precious to her.
When he suddenly disappeared, Ellen couldn’t help but realize something…
She wasn’t okay without him.
She thought she would be, but she wasn’t.
“…”
It wasn’t easy for her to ignore him, but she wanted to get away from him somehow. Whenever she saw Reinhardt, she thought of her brother, so she couldn’t bear it. She felt pained because she remembered how she wronged her brother that night every time their eyes met.
Eventually, she ended up doing the same thing to Reinhardt; as soon as the words slipped out of her mouth, Reinhardt disappeared.
She was careful, and yet she still ended up committing the same mistake again.
In the end, she just did the same thing as before.
Was she getting punished for it?
Was she getting punished for breaking her oath to never make the same mistake again?
Ellen wandered around for a long time until she found someone sitting on a bench. She was standing on a promenade, and it was still raining hard. The only ones around were her and the person in front of her.
It was a girl crying in the rain without an umbrella. She covered her face with both her hands.
“…Hick, sob! Waah!”
Ellen approached the girl quietly and held her umbrella over her.
“…Sobsob… Huh?”
The girl suddenly raised her head when she noticed that someone was holding an umbrella over her. It was Harriet de Saint-Owan.
Normally, she would have been extremely embarrassed if someone caught her crying; Harriet had no intentions of acting like that; she only lowered her head again and continued to cry.
Ellen knew why Harriet was crying.
She knew why she was hiding away, crying in the rain without even an umbrella.
Because she wanted to do the same.
Seeing her like that, Ellen knew what she had to do.
She didn’t want to do nothing.
She didn’t just want to sit around crying all day like she did when her brother left.
“… Let’s go.”
“…Sob! Sobsob! H-huh? W-where to?”
Ellen looked down at her, speaking calmly.
“Let’s go find him.”
Harriet looked up at Ellen, her eyes wide open. She had cried for a long time, so she rubbed her eyes before she nodded to her words.
She didn’t specify who they would look for.
“…Okay.”
However, even if she didn’t, both of them had the same thought in mind.
* * *
* * *
***
Harriet reported to the teachers that she would be resting in her residence in the Capital for the weekend, and Ellen gave them the excuse that she would sleep over at Harriet’s house.
It was Friday.
Their classes were already over, so they could go outside of Temple for the weekend.
Harriet changed out of her wet clothes, and Ellen changed out of her uniform into some casual clothes before they left Class A’s dormitory.
-Shaaaaaaaaa!
“What do we do now?”
Both Harriet and Ellen wanted to find Reinhardt, but they didn’t know how. They just took their umbrellas with them; they acted rather impulsively.
Harriet tried to wrack her brain for any piece of information she might hold.
She knew that Reinhardt belonged to the group of beggars living under the bridge.
“I think he belonged to some beggars living under a bridge… I think he went out to check on them.”
She didn’t know how things had developed since then, but she presumed that was his destination at first.
“Do you know which bridge he went to?”
“I… Don’t.”
There were more than ten bridges going across the Irine river from north to south. They didn’t know which one of those bridges was inhabited by the beggars since neither of them was from the Imperial Capital.
Harriet had also realized what Ellen had figured out before.
She didn’t really know much about Reinhardt. She had teased him for being a beggar but had no idea where he lived, what he did, and how he came to Temple.
She hadn’t even questioned it.
Ellen tilted her head.
“But didn’t Reinhardt say he lived with the beggars under the bridge?”
“Ah… Right.”
Ellen didn’t really know any details, but Harriet at least knew some things because of the rumors.
Cayer Vioden and Erich de Lafaeri followed Reinhardt once, so they saw Reinhardt hanging out with the beggars under a bridge, which meant he wasn’t from some great family.
“Vioden and Lafaeri, those two, they would know which bridge he went to.”
Harriet knew exactly who to ask.
***
The two went to find Cayer and Erich in Class A’s dormitory and get some clues.
Those two didn’t remember all the details, but they said he seemed to live under the Bronzegate Bridge, so they guessed they were right.
The two asked why they were curious, but Ellen and Harriet didn’t say anything further and just got going because if any of it ever reached a teacher’s ear, they might get told not to do useless things.
The two were ready to leave the dormitory; however, just then, they encountered a group of people coming out of Class B’s dormitory.
“Stop!”
Charlotte seemed a little angry.
“Cha-charlotte…”
“But we have to do something…”
And it seemed like she was scolding Ludwig and Delphin Izadra for some reason.
“What are you guys even going to do? On the contrary, this might even put you two in danger!”
Charlotte was staring at the two who were about to leave the dormitory with both her hands on her hips.
“You’re not the only ones worried about Reinhardt. The teachers of Temple are also mobilizing everything they can. Don’t make things worse; just rest in the dormitory. Reinhardt will be okay. Trust me.”
“Yes…”
“We will…”
It seemed that Delphin and Ludwig planned on going out to look for the missing Reinhardt as well but were caught by Charlotte. The two of them seemed unable to bear with the situation, as they grew rather close to Reinhardt ever since the island group mission.
In the end, Ludwig and Delphin had no other choice but to return to Class B’s dormitory, disappointed. It seemed that they couldn’t go against Charlotte’s extreme momentum. As Charlotte was about to enter after the two of them, she glanced at Ellen and Harriet, who were prepared to go out.
They weren’t really close, but they did know each other.
“…Where are you guys going?”
“We’re le—“
Harriet intervened as soon as Ellen tried to say something.
“We’re, erm, going out for dinner.”
“Oh, really? It’s raining, so be careful.”
“Y-yeah! Thanks for worrying about us!”
Harriet grabbed Ellen’s hand and left the dormitory in a hurry, just in case they would get caught. Charlotte had a stern look in her eyes.
They were from different classes, so she couldn’t do much, but if they were from Class B, she probably would have dragged them back.
Harriet stared at Ellen, who nearly told her the truth subconsciously, but she only tilted her head.
