Volume 6 Chapter 3 Part 5
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Translation and editing by Team Foxsunes
However, the medium immediately shut down my suggestion.
「No way. It has to be you. I want it from someone who finds names as important as you. If you gave me a name, I would acknowledge you. And then… then… yes, I know. I would properly come to like you this time.」
Seeing the medium in front of me like this, puffed up with pride, pointing his index finger at me, I was at loss for words. What a thing that he just told me so self-importantly. No, it might actually be remarkable. I thought that the reason that this boy was so fixated on it being me, was no more than that I first suggested it, but precisely because that reason was not decided so easily, it was that much harder for me to refuse. The medium, who seemed to have noticed that my reply, as I was troubled and looking for words, was not as I wished, tilted his head to the side like a little bird.
「Why are you hesitating? I said that I would like you, you know? Everyone wants to be liked by me. Being liked by me namely holds the same meaning as being liked by my friends. That is what everyone thinks. Even you want to be liked by me or my friends, don’t you?」
「Well, yes that is right.」
「I know, right? In that case…」
「However, I am sorry. I gratefully refuse.」
At my words, the medium opened his eyes wide. In his wildest dream he wouldn’t think he could be refused; that was all over his face. When he asked why, the way he talked expressed his question more than the words he used. When I looked back at those eyes, he shook his eyes as if he was confused. While I looked down at the face of the young boy who finally, steadily sat down at my feet, my eyebrows dropped and I continued my words.
「I think that being liked by the honored medium is an exceedingly desirable condition. However, love and hate are not feelings that can be earned under something like a condition. And on top of that…」
「What?」
「You, and all of the holy spirits, are entirely different beings.」
Hearing my words, the medium vigorously raised his head. He seemed a lot younger than his actual age. I took the hand of the medium, who had an astonished expression. And again, I lowered my knees to the floor. Then I looked at his beautiful face.
He seemingly tried to get away from my gaze. I put just a little bit of strength in the hand that was holding the medium’s hand, when he tried to turn his face away from me. When I smiled at his coppery eyes who timidly came to face this way, the young boy took a small breath.
「Being liked by you, doesn’t mean being liked by the holy spirits, and the reverse is true as well. Young medium, do you yourself understand this?」
「That is…」
The medium was at loss for words and bit on his lip. Seeing that I did not receive any counter-argument, it seemed like I had been on the spot. However, it looked like this had never been pointed out to him until this moment. The medium was desperately looking for words, but I quickly understood him from an outsider’s perspective.
I regretted asking the medium such a childish and mean question. The identification of the medium with the holy spirits was not something the medium himself had come up with after all. His surroundings had wished such a thing to be true, and as a result they had undoubtedly treated him as if it was.
「Honored medium, no matter for which spirits you are the proxy, you are only one person.」
Just like I was just me. Edi was just Edi. This boy was also just this boy.
It was not like I didn’t understand the feelings of the people who think that, if they are liked by the medium, they can control the spirits at will, either. But this young boy was a human, not a spirit. He is not one part of a spirit-like hybrid, not a creature of which there is only one in the world, wherever you search, he is just one single human-being.
Not matter how much this boy is loved by the spirits, whatever kind of spirits they are, he doesn’t wish to substitute for them. Somewhere deep down, the medium himself is probably aware of this too. That is why he wishes for me to give him a name. To verify his 『self』.
Thinking like this, I ended up sympathizing with him, but my real intention was to make him waver about picking a name here and now without thinking about what happens after. As he was thinking about various ways out, if he wasn’t being deceived, the medium’s hand in mine grew heavier. His coppery eyes came to intently look at me, as if examining me.
「Filmina, if you say that me and my friends are different beings, then I want a name even more.」
「Is it okay if I don’t decide on one?」
「I want you to pick one! Someone like you who considers a 『name』to be as precious as you, would pick a name that is just for me, won’t you? Then quickly, give me a name. If you don’t, then this time I’ll start hating you!」
His voice was thundering as if asking if I would prefer such a thing. I lowered my eyebrows further as this was becoming a mess. The medium himself had planned for it to be a threat, but he hadn’t noticed it wasn’t threatening to me at all.
Even when I was hated by the boy who would one day become the princess’s partner, I didn’t think it would change the princess’s attitude towards me. Because the princess was very proper when it came to things like that. I would rather be liked than hated by the medium, but without being liked, I could do what I needed to do if I put my mind to it. For that reason, even if I was hated it wouldn’t hurt or even itch, but I did think it would be a bother.
This is no good. I made a mistake. This kid is becoming completely stubborn. It might have been better if I had phrased things a little bit differently, but this was the limit of my vocabulary, was that even an excuse?
If I continued to refuse him any less tactfully, the medium’s mood was bound to become worse and worse. Those eyes that were becoming a bit wet, it seemed like I wasn’t going to win this. It was more like an utter defeat. Since it has become like this, there is no way to defeat him, is there?
「Well then, only at times when it’s just the two of us, shall I call you Snow-sama?」
Upon hearing my words, his copper-red colored eyes lit up. He batted his long eyelashes with a snap and he regurgitated my words under his breath.
「Snow?」
「Yes. It is a word that means yuki, or snow, in a secret language.」
(translator note: yuki is the Japanese word for snow, which the author used to explain the name Snow, since this name is also English in the original novel.)
It was a word that had the meaning snow in a different language that existed in my “previous” world. If that was a word that had the meaning of something that would be a miracle here in Blue Sky Desert, then it was surely befitting of a miraculous existence like the favorite child of the spirits.
「In this land, so that good fortune will meet the honored medium, it is a heartfelt prayer.」
Giving a name was a blessing, a prayer and a wish, is what I had just said as well. For me, who was hated by the spirits, to give a name to this boy who is loved by the spirits, it might be called too disrespectful. Truly, it was. But only for the times when we were with just the two of us, I think I wanted to be allowed to call this boy not by a name based on his standing like “Medium”, but by an “individual” name. That was, because I knew that names are something very important.
「Snow. Snow? I see. I like it!」
To let his tongue get used to the unfamiliar sounding word, the medium repeated his “name” over and over and smiled happily. Or rather, the boy named Snow smiled innocently.
「Filmina. Although my friends hate you, I do like you. I just came to like you!」
Seeing this boy laughing like he was having so much fun, I ultimately let my face naturally break into a smile as well.
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