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Friend – Part 01

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Translator: Kell

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It was a beautiful sunny day.

The early summer sun shone brightly on the dry, hard-packed dirt of the main street. The vines crawling on the wooden houses, and the red geranium flowers hanging from the second-floor windows sparkled under the sunlight.

A peaceful and pleasant afternoon.

The door of a small post office in the corner of the village slowly opened, and a small oriental boy dressed in the uniform of St. Marguerite Academy stepped out. He put his schoolcap on, straightened his back, and started walking.

In his hands was a small square parcel that had arrived by international mail.

From the small flower shop across the street, a slim, tall girl in the same uniform emerged. She had short, blonde hair and a bright, lively features.

The girl’s face lit up when he saw the boy, Kazuya Kujou.

“Kujou!” she called.

Kazuya smiled when he saw the girl, Avril Bradley. “Hello, Avril.”

“What are you doing? Ah, the post office again this week, huh? Is that mail from back home?”

“Yeah. I finally got the book I asked for from my brother—”

Avril snatched the package from Kazuya and opened the seal.

“Wh-What are you doing?”

“Allowance? Aw, what a bummer.”

Avril was disappointed to find that the parcel only contained an old-looking book written in an Asian language.

“I told you it was a book. I wrote to my brother a while ago asking him to send it to me,” Kazuya said as he resumed walking. “It finally arrived. A bit later than I hoped, though.”

“I see… What kind of a book is it?”

“It’s, uh… Nah, never mind. It’s nothing special.”

Kazuya suddenly turned red and snatched the green-covered book from Avril.

Pouting, Avril took it back again. She flipped through the book and studied it, but since she could not understand Asian languages, she returned it to Kazuya reluctantly.

The street was a little hazy from the clouds of dust. A wagon pulled by a hairy old horse passed by them, loaded with a mountain of hay. It smelled slightly sweet and sour—the smell of early summer.

As they neared the academy, the street became less crowded. There were fewer houses, and the gentle slope stretched into the distance, toward the mountains.

“Oh, by the way,” Kazuya said, trying to change the subject. “A lot of things happened last week, and I don’t want to talk about it because it would take forever, but do you remember the nun we met at the bazaar?”

“Yeah.”

“We actually got acquainted. Her name is Mildred. She said she’d give me one of the items she was selling at the bazaar, so I, uh… got this for you.” Kazuya rummaged through his bag.

Avril’s face lit up, and she cheerfully peered inside as well. “For me?”

“Yeah. It looked like you really wanted it, so…”

An ominous, golden glow came from the bag.

The smile vanished from Avril’s face.

“You were whining about how you really wanted it, so here, I got it for you,” he said. Kazuya glanced up, holding the golden object, and saw Avril pouting. She seemed furious. “Hmm? What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Kazuya stared at Avril with a fist-sized golden skull on his head like a clown.

Avril stared back at him. For some reason, tears began to form at the corners of her bright, blue eyes.

“Uh, hello?” Kazuya said. His head shifted, and the golden skull fell. It rolled down the gently-sloping street, sending dust in the air. He quickly went after it.

“Kujou, you dummy!” Avril cried.

“Uh, what?”

When Kazuya finally picked up the skull and looked up, Avril was running down the street with the graceful motion of an antelope.

Stunned, Kazuya gave chase, but Avril was so fast that he barely managed to close the distance even a little. When he reached the front of the academy, he saw the edge of Avril’s skirt disappearing into the campus through the hole she had made by slashing branches with a machete.

“Wait, Avril! Why are you mad at me? Hey!”

Kazuya hurried through the hole, thin branches poking him, and made it to the academy grounds, leaves all over his body.

“Avril… Oh, Ms. Cecile. H-Hi…”

Avril was no longer there. She seemed to have run off, and instead, he found Ms. Cecile with her large, round glasses, crouched down on the lawn, admiring the violets. Their eyes met.

“Kujou…?”

Kazuya quickly brushed away the leaves and twigs on his clothes. Ms. Cecile regarded him curiously, and when she finally realized what was going on, her breath caught, and she gazed at the hedge.

There was something that shouldn’t be there—a small hole, just big enough for one person to pass through.

“Kujou?!”

“I’m sorry!”

“So the one who stepped on my violets…”

“It was me. I’m really sorry.”

“I see. So Victorique snuck out last week using this hole. You and Victorique both insisted that the main gate was open, so I believed you. But you actually passed through here. A-Am I right, Kujou?!”

“I-I’m sorry…”

Kazuya bowed and apologized repeatedly. Furious, Ms. Cecile went on to lecture him about the violets, the lawn, and Victorique.

The hole was later closed by the gardener.

Avril’s gonna be really disappointed, Kazuya thought. He glimpsed golden hair from behind a tree.

Avril, he realized. She had returned to the academy before him, but she must have noticed Kazuya getting caught by the teacher and came to check on him.

In the end, Ms. Cecile sentenced Kazuya to one month of toilet cleaning and a week-long ban from going out at night.

As he walked away, hanging his head low, something hit him on the head. Rubbing his head, he turned around and saw Avril running away. A rolled-up piece of paper was lying at his feet. Is this what hit me?

He picked it up and opened it. He was right. It contained a message written in Avril’s round and thin handwriting.

Dear Kujou,

Thanks for not telling the teacher that I was the one who created the hole.

And I don’t want the skull, you dummy!

From Avril

Kazuya smoothened the crumpled paper, folded it into a square, and placed it in his breast pocket.

He was still clueless.

“I guess I’m a dummy, cause I don’t know why I’m a dummy,” he muttered.

A strong wind suddenly blew past, ruffling his black hair and his school uniform. When it died down, it felt very warm. Summer was just right around the corner.

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