A few minutes before Abel left, Claudia was looking up at the stars.
They were all different colors—blue, gold, soft violet, even a deep crimson that pulsed gently. She had never seen anything like it before. In the real sky, the stars were white or pale yellow. Here, they felt almost alive. It was quiet, and for the first time in a long while, she allowed herself to simply enjoy the view.
Then she noticed movement.
Shiro stood a short distance away with the black-haired woman.
She smiled, then made her way towards Shiro.
"So, Mr. I-don't-sleep, had a nice nap?" she asked.
Shiro turned to face her, then gave a smile of his own.
"Yes, I quite enjoyed it."
Then there was silence.
Now that she'd finally seen Shiro again, there was a question she wanted to ask. A question which she hoped wasn't the case. A question that would break her if she didn't get the answer she expected. But nonetheless, she had to ask. Being ignorant was far worse than knowing the truth.
"Shiro. By any chance, a-are you perhaps one of Abel's summons?"
Abel had mentioned that the woman next to Shiro was his summon, and that got her wondering. Was Shiro perhaps one of Abel's summons as well? If so, it would explain why he tried to help her so much. He was simply following orders.
And to her dismay, Shiro responded with the answer she dreaded to hear the most.
"Yes. I'm Lord Abel's summon. Shiro, the Silver Blade."
I knew it. I knew it.
Tears began welling in her eyes. So it was true. Shiro had only been with her because Abel had ordered him to. Then it would mean that, that—
"However," Shiro continued. "While my master had ordered me to protect you, he had never once said that I should interact with you. Every talk we shared, every moment we spent together, that was all me, not Lord Abel. From the moment I took you away from the capital, I could have just disappeared back into your soul and let the protection spell imbued into you protect you. But I would much rather be able to speak to you and protect you."
He put his hands to his chest and gave a bow.
"Forgive me if you would have preferred the former option, Mistress Claudia."
"Of course not, dummy!"
Claudia immediately responded. She had thought he was only acting nice on behalf of Abel's orders. She thought that every moment they spent together was all just a job to him. But hearing it from his own mouth, that it was his choice to do all this, made her happy.
"I'm so happy you decided to do it. Don't start second-guessing yourself now, you hear. Don't start regretting becoming my friend!"
Ugh, my... friend?
She had a brother, she had a mother and father. She had a loving big sister—despite her current state—but a friend was something she never had. Everyone at the Academy were her schoolmates, but she wasn't close enough to call them friends.
But Shiro... he was her first friend.
"A friend?" Shiro replied.
"A friend. Yes, Shiro, you're my friend. My first friend," she replied as tears began flowing from her eyes.
Shiro gave a light smile as he stood up straight.
"I am honored to be your friend," he replied.
---
Sooo cute.
Astra watched from the side as Mistress Claudia and Shiro were talking.
For as long as she could remember, Mistress Claudia had never once called anyone her friend, and now she was calling Shiro her friend. As a former maid of their household, what else could she do but smile as the young mistress finally made her first friend?
With all her heart, Astra hoped to one day earn the trust needed to be able to call herself a friend of Mistress Claudia.
But—
That's not gonna happen anytime soon. Not unless she begins to trust me.
But still, she smiled as she watched the scene in front of her unfold. She remained silent like the assassin she was, but was still proud like the maid she had once been.
---
Soo cute!
Astra wasn't the only one watching this scene unfold. The purple-haired woman was watching from the sideline as well.
She didn't understand what was going on but she knew for a fact something very, very emotional had just transpired and she couldn't understand any of it.
Stupid language barrier. Every other Isekai protagonist automatically understands the language. Why don't I?
Being isekaied was nearly every teenager's dream. I mean, coming to another world and gaining powers, who wouldn't find that fun? But she wanted to go back home simply because she wanted to see her childhood friend again. Nothing was more important to her than that. But she still wanted to try and enjoy the time she would spend here, just a little bit. The language barrier was hindering that.
Then the black-haired girl spoke. He mumbled something to the others. Then some dark shadow began crawling up her body from the leg up and she disappeared. Within a few seconds dhe came back. This time, though, there was someone with her: a blonde-haired man with blue eyes.
Hey wait, isn't that—!?
The blonde-haired man looked around then his eyes fixated on the purple-haired woman.
"Akari?" He said.
As swift as the wind, the blonde-haired man dashed towards her and gave her the biggest hug she had ever been given.
"Hiro?" The purple-haired woman responded.
Yes this had to be him. It was her classmate and friend, Hiro Homura. He was part of the student council and was usually strict on the outside. But he was a real softy when they weren't at school. She had met him when they entered middle school and have been friends ever since.
The blonde hair and the fact that he could speak Japanese, was all the proof she needed to confirm it was him.
"I'm glad to see you too Hiro but could you please let me down? You're killing me here." She said.
Hiro quickly regained his composure and put her down.
Wow. It's only been ten minutes since I arrived here, and I've already found one of my friends. Speaking of which.
"Hiro. Where is everybody? Where are our classmates?"
She clearly remembered being transported here along with everyone else but there was no one else here, only her. Did something go wrong with the transportation or perhaps something else.
"Huh, you mean no one's with you?"
"Obviously not."
Hiro put his hands on his forehead and began biting his lips.
"Then it means that—!"
His eyes widened as his face was overcome with shock. He lowered his head and began mumbling something.
"It means what?" She asked.
But Hiro didn't answer. He simply kept staring down at the ground like a mindless drone.
Nearly three minutes passed before Hiro spoke again.
"The day we were all teleported," he replied "I ended up in the middle of a throne room of a castle. There was a priest there along with some knights and a king. They had told me I had been summoned from another world to defeat the Demon King." He continued. Despite his way of wording it, his voice was filled with malice.
"I was alone. Every single one of you was gone. The priest told me that if I was the only one here then it means the source of the world system, Cardinal, had deemed me worthy and me alone. She said If I was the only one here then it means the rest of you had stayed in Japan. But now, I know the truth. If you're here at a different time, then it just means that all our classmates were transported to this world but we were transported to different points in time."
"W-what? But if that's the case then, how long have you been here."
"Today marks the seventieth year I've been here. That damn bitch, she lied to me."
Then Hiro lifted up his head.
"Perhaps, some of them had arrived years ago, just like me, but were kept hidden. Maybe some still aren't here yet and they'll appear later in the future."
This was...shockingto say the least. Hiro had a look of despair on his face but within that despair was a small fragile piece of hope. She couldn't quite understand everything but she knew something terrible had happened and now, she was considering herself lucky to have met that girl standing behind Hiro.
I should pay my respects to her.
"Hiro,if you've spent seventy years here, I don't think it's wrong for me to assume you've learned the language. Please, that girl standing behind you, tell her thank you for me. I beg you." She asked.
Now, Hiro's face had turned from a look of despair, to one of confusion.
"Girl, I think you have the wrong idea. Akari, that's a boybehind me."
Huh? The beautiful face belongs to a boy, really? Face aside, his build doesn't even look masculine. It doesn't look completely female either I guess. But he's not even tall. Just how!?
"Well either way, please tell him thank you for me."
"I don't have to really. He can understand you perfectly."
"Hmm. You mean he can understand Japanese? Really? But then why can't he speak it back?"
"That's a mystery to me as well."
"Well, can you at least tell me who he is?"
Hiro gave a light smile then replied.
"This is, Noir Drake."