Chapter 409

* * *

"Eh... w-hyah!?"

The boy, after finishing a good portion of his painting, casually turned to the side... and seeing a pink-haired beautiful girl standing right there, he was so startled that he jumped slightly while still sitting down.

The small boy had his light greyish-brown hair grown long enough to cover his eyes, and he was wearing a pale yellow cardigan... clearly the wrong size, it was way too big.

Sara Salar briefly checked her 'otome game' memories, but there shouldn't have been a capture target character like him.

In other words, he's a mob character.

Someone she doesn't need to act cute for.

"The window... you left it open. Aren't you cold?"

"Ah, w-w-w-sorry! I opened the window because it was a bit hot in the room earlier... but I got so absorbed in painting! I-I-I forgot to close it!"

The boy said that, flustered, and sneezed.

Sara Salar sighed softly, went to close the window, and then walked over to the boy, peering at the canvas over his shoulder.

On the canvas... several fruits piled on the desk in front of them were painted.

Anomukomu fruits, Regegenge, and lemons.

They were piled on top of a basket, some spilling out, bathed in the setting sun, all within a square frame.

It was a still life.

"...It's beautiful."

Sara Salar muttered involuntarily.

Hearing that, the boy blushed, his face breaking into a full-blown smile.

"R-Really!? Wow, I-I'm so happy! Th-Thank you, for complimenting me."

And then the boy looked down, scratching his head.

He's clearly embarrassed.

Ignoring the boy, Sara Salar looked at the real fruits on the desk.

"But I prefer to eat fruit than look at it!"

She said that with a smile.

After saying that...

Sara Salar was dumbfounded.

Whose words were those just now?

She didn't know anymore.

Of course, since she spoke them, they must be her words.

But how could she put it?

It felt like someone else inside her was saying them.

Lately, she's often been having this strange feeling.

Especially when interacting with mob characters.

But if she tries to think about it in detail, her mind gets clouded.

She gets confused, and then quickly forgets that she was even confused.

"Ah, ahaha... you're right, Regegenge, it's sweet and salty and delicious... I'm almost done painting it, want one?"

"Thanks!"

Words came out of her mouth again, naturally.

Sara Salar felt sick from this incomprehensible phenomenon.

She wanted to speak with her own will.

She thought that.

Can she speak with her own will?

She felt uneasy.

"H-Hey, why are you painting?"

So she impulsively asked the boy a question that came to mind.

Ah, good.

I can speak properly.

Sara Salar was relieved.

"Why... why... huh?

Even though the question wasn't asked out of any real interest, the boy took it seriously, touching his chin with his hand, slowly searching for words, and carefully began to answer.

"I-I'm... really bad at everything except painting, and I... can't really talk to everyone in class... No, that's not it..."

Sara Salar felt a little guilty seeing the boy seriously starting to worry.

She felt bad for making him rack his brains for an answer... when she wasn't really interested at all.

So she felt a responsibility to see this conversation through to the end.

"Yeah... that's right, I want to paint beautiful things. That's why I paint."

The boy, after much deliberation, finally chose those words, and gave a shy smile.

"Can't you just take a picture?"

Sara Salar tilted her head and asked another question.

There are magic tools for taking pictures in this world.

Although they are less common than on Earth, and not as widespread.

And after asking that, Sara Salar's face turned pale again.

Something other than her own will...

Had spoken those words.

"Hmm... I guess I could take a picture... but I like painting better, I think."

In contrast to the shaken Sara Salar, the boy's tone was calm.

He seemed to have already found the answer within himself.

"Let's say, I find something 'beautiful'... That something is certainly beautiful in reality, but... that's not it... The feeling of finding it 'beautiful' is mine alone."

The boy's words were... somehow difficult to understand.

It was hard to imagine that a boy of about ten years old was saying them.

"That feeling being mine alone, I think that's such a waste. Yeah... I guess I want to convey my feelings to everyone. And for that, painting is better than photography... For me, that is!"

But those words were definitely the boy's true words.

Words that he himself chose and pulled out from the depths of his heart.

On the other hand, herself?

What are these words that are coming out of her mouth?

No... to begin with...

Whose words are she usually speaking?

Why does she want to find a wonderful love?

A reverse harem?

Why?

Why does she desire such a thing?

Is it Sara Salar who desires it?

Is it the reincarnator who "became" Sara Salar, "Sugi Chihiro", who desires it?

No.

I don't think so.

Then, why?

Sara Salar, confused, felt like throwing up, covering her mouth with both hands.

The fog that usually covers her head seems thinner today.

She can think.

It's unpleasant.

Now then.

Sara Salar, looking sick.

The boy facing her... unfortunately, wasn't very good at reading people's expressions.

That's why he tends to be isolated in class, and spends more and more time painting alone, but putting that aside.

He nonchalantly asked Sara Salar the following question.

"Hey, what do you find is 'beautiful'?"

That question was a salvation for Sara Salar, who was about to be crushed by the unanswerable question she had stumbled upon.

She realized that while trying to answer that question... she could avoid the serious, incomprehensible problem she had become aware of.

"Beautiful... beautiful things..."

What immediately came to mind were the images of her capture target characters.

The second prince of this country, the Marquis's son who's the son of the Prime Minister, the son of the knight captain, the son of the upstart merchant, the boy sent from another country as a spy...

Their faces are all beautiful.

But.

For Sara Salar right now...

She wasn't sure if their beauty was really 'her own' sense of beauty.

This problem arises again.

Sara Salar held her head in her hands.

"Ah, are you that troubled...? Um, um, I have paper and a pencil?"

Seeing Sara Salar like that, the boy handed her some art supplies.

And then, with a scraping sound, he pulled a desk in front of her.

"H-How about you try drawing it?"

And he said that.

The boy is a mob character.

Although he is a mob character, he's a genius.

If you want to draw, you can draw.

He believes that, based on his own experience.

...Fortunately this time, the other person is Sara Salar.

She has the talent "given" to her to be able to do anything well.

If she wants to draw, she can draw without any difficulty.

So the reason she froze in front of the paper, holding the pencil as he instructed... is not because drawing is difficult, but because she doesn't know what's beautiful.

"Hmm, just draw freely, okay? Is there anything? In your memories, your 'beautiful thing'..."

"In my memories...?"

With the boy's help...

Sara Salar's hand... started moving naturally.

Scribble, scribble, scribble.

Only the sound of the pencil running across the paper echoed through the quiet art room.

* * *

"Wow...!"

A few minutes later.

The boy gasped, looking at the pencil drawing on the paper.

Because it was...

It was truly beautiful.

"Amazing... you're amazing, you're amazing!"

The boy, his eyes sparkling with admiration, grabbed Sara Salar's hand with both of his.

And then, the boy for the first time noticed Sara Salar's strange behavior.

She was staring blankly at the pencil drawing she had finished.

With tears silently streaming down her face.

What was drawn on that paper...

Was the figure of a beautiful girl with black hair and black eyes.

"Emi...!"

The girl's name escaped her lips.

At that moment.

The fog covering her mind.

Finally, it was completely cleared!

"Ah... Emi, Emi...!!"

Sara Salar, sobbing, hugged the pencil drawing tightly.

She!

"Sara Salar" finally woke up from her slumber!

And "Sugi Chihiro" finally realized what she had been doing... what she had been "made to do" even if only vaguely!

When, by chance, there was a flaw in the Fate Goddess's mind control!

By chance, she met the boy!

And she...

Remembered her precious friend from the past!

Remembered the wedge driven into her soul!

In other words, by chance upon chance!

Sara Salar!

Sugi Chihiro!

The souls of the two girls!

Were freed from the Fate Goddess's curse!

Here and now.

Not the heroine-like fate she was originally supposed to follow.

Nor the foolish, condemned, consumed, idiotic villain fate that the Fate Goddess twisted her into.

A new life as Sara Salar has begun.

The twisted fate of Sara Salar.

By the wedge toward the existence of Emi driven into the depths of her soul.

Was twisted once again.

And that's probably not a bad thing, for both Sara Salar and Sugi Chihiro.

There are probably many hardships ahead in Sara Salar's life.

Even so, Sara and Chihiro, the two souls that share the same body, will continue to communicate and live their lives properly, I believe.

Story-wise, her reappearance will be much later.

Sara-chan, take care until then.

...This isn't a criticism (I would do the same if necessary)...

But...

No matter what the background may be.

Don't you feel a little sorry for the characters who are condemned and ridiculed?

Isn't it okay for them to be saved sometimes?

Giovanno wasn't able to be saved.

But it's not too late for Sara-chan.