Chapter 167: I Want to Tell You (1)

The feeling of consciousness assimilating with the butterfly.

What I want to do, what I can do, what I want, and what I don’t want.

The butterfly flapped its wings and created a breeze with the answers that are instantly derived.

A clean, clear, unadulterated, pure wind.

All of it responded to me through the butterflies.

Come on, blow.

Let it blow wildly.

Run through the sky, race through the earth.

Swirl and swallow everything.

“What?”

I heard Clay’s startled voice.

“What’s this?”

Alba’s curious voice reached my ears.

A bunch of wind, calm at first, then gaining momentum, then raging.

The wind storm around me turned into a tornado.

“Impossible! This is that woman’s!”

I raised my right hand and held up my index finger as I heard Clay’s cry.

“Gather round, wind.”

At the sound of his voice, the tornado compressed at once.

The storm, now shaped like a green sword, settled in my hands.

“Seraphy’s will is here.”

“Let’s play again with Kunpei.”

“Let us give life to this world.”

“Under the will of the first dragon.”

“Let’s give life to the world.”

The butterflies that filled my field of vision flapped their wings in unison and surrounded my sword.

“Get lost.”

That’s right.

I don’t need this snake.

It’s a bad guy who will hurt me and everything I care about.

I’d be better off without it.

Then I’d better make it go away.

“Ah!”

Clay wriggled his long, thin body away from me.

I took one look at the silver moon shining above and exhaled.

I then swung the sword down.

“No! That’s not good!”

A vortex of wind was unleashed from the tip of the sword.

It was a tornado that moved at my will.

No matter how much Clay tries to escape, I will never let him get away.

“No! That’s not something you can handle! Come to your senses!”

Alba screamed desperately, clinging to my chest.

It’s okay.

It’s going to be okay.

“It’s the primordial wind that started the world! It is a pure thing that brought the seeds of life to the world! Touch it with a human vessel, and it will suck the life out of you!”

I’m not sure what you’re talking about.

It sounds serious, but don’t worry.

I’ll get rid of that snake.

“Damn it! What the hell is going on here? Why is that woman’s technique still!”

The tornado continued to chase Clay as he flew away at a high rate of speed.

Blocking the escape route, getting ahead of it, sometimes splitting, sometimes merging, slowly taking away the snake’s escape.

“Haha.”

A smile appeared on my face.

I don’t know why, but I’m really enjoying this.

“Haha, hahaha!”

Watching that snake run away was very entertaining.

“Unsightly snake.”

“Miserable snake.”

“Ravenous snake.”

“Lonely snake.”

“Think of Seraphy’s pain.”

“Think of Seraphy’s tears.”

“Think of our anger.”

That’s right. That snake must be punished.

He must pay for the butterflies’ hatred, anger, and sorrow.

“Ahahaha! Hahaha! You shall have your retribution! Clay End!”

“No! Do not be swallowed by the will of the butterflies! You must wake up!”

My high-pitched laugh coincided with Alba’s scream.

I can’t listen.

No matter how much you ask, I can’t hear that, Alba.

Alba?

I don’t know who Alba is.

What’s this rat getting so worked up about?

Huh?

What am I doing here?

Me?

Who am I?

“Hahaha! Hahahaha!

“For God’s sake, come to your senses! You’ve got a lot of people waiting for you! Jaja, Nana, your brother, your father!　Aoi and that girl with the glasses are waiting for you to come back! Hildegarde was hoping this wouldn’t happen to you! She even gave up her human form to fight for you and your brother in that hellhole!”

Jaja and Nana?

Oh, those are very nice-sounding names.

Just hearing those words makes my heart beat faster.

Aoi, Aoinoun?

Who’s Aoinoun?

I’ve heard of her.

I think she was very kind, hardworking, and healthy.

She was the girl who told me she loved me.

“Ggh!”

It hurts.

My head hurts.

My chest hurts!

My back! My legs! My arms!

“Ah, gaaaaaahhhhh!”

It’s burning! It’s numbing! It’s like I’m being ripped apart!

It hurts! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!

“Aaaaahhhh!”

“Whoa!”

The wind that was separated from my will split apart, unable to retain its form.

“This is! Clay! If you don’t want to be wiped out, give me a hand!”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Gaaaaaaaahhhh!”

The wind was ripping through the sky, splitting the earth, and blowing with a vicious force.

In the center of the wind, I was curled up in pain.

“You know it! This power is the only power that can destroy us! It’s the same primal power that takes away life itself! If you don’t stop it here and now, it will uproot not only you and me, but all life in this world!”

“Ha! That’s very good! Very funny! Let’s hear it Alba Germain! Who is this little boy? Why does he have the same power as the Founder’s Dragon! Even the Wind Dragon Princess in the Sanctuary couldn’t have that power, so why would a human have it?

“I’m not nice enough to you to answer that! Come on! If this wind continues to blow over this land, even you will have nowhere to run! You have to use my power to stop it, don’t you?”

“Damn! How annoying! What do you want me to do?”

There was a rat and snake screaming, but I had no time to worry about them.

It hurts.

Somebody help me!

Dad! Mom!

It hurts!

I don’t want to be in pain anymore!

“Kunpei-san!”

I heard a voice.

It was a very beautiful and familiar voice.

“Aagh! Who is it!”

Forcing down the incessant pain, I turned toward the voice.

“Kunepi-san! What happened to you? Why do you look like that!”

Through the gusting wind, a girl with blue wings approached me, calling out to someone.

Kunpei, that’s right.

That’s my name, Kunpei.

“Aoi! I told you to wait for me! Why did you come!”

“‘The sky is acting so strange! Of course, it’s because I was worried! More importantly, please tell me! Why is Kunpei-san in dragon from again! Why is he in so much pain! And what’s with this wind? It’s definitely strange that I, a sky dragon, have never seen such a wind before!”

Sky dragon…?

Sky dragon… what is that?

“The sky’s arbitrator has come.”

“Another one has come to take Seraphy’s place.”

“But that’s not Seraphy.”

“But she smells just like Seraphy.”

The butterflies fluttered noisily in the air.

“A-Aoi?”

“Kunpei-san! Are you in pain? Where does it hurt?”

The girl grabbed my shoulder and looked into my face.

“Oh, I’m… Kunpei…?”

That’s right. My name is Kunpei.

Kunpei?

Whose name is that?

“Aoi! Keep calling his name! It seems he’s regaining a little bit of his ego in response to your voice! The current Clumsy-kun is so assimilated with the will of the spirits that he has lost sight of himself! If this continues, his consciousness may be swallowed by the spirit and he may disappear!”

“Hey! Kunpei-san! You can’t! Please come back! Jaja and Nana are waiting for papa’s return!”

I was shaken violently, and my head started to clear a little.

Jaja and Nana, oh how I miss them.

My cute little girls.

They’re probably crying.

They’re probably crying because I’m not here.

“Clay! We’ll just blow up all the spirits around him! We’ve got to get the spirits away from him!”

“Wouldn’t it be faster if we just wiped him out?”

“You can’t do that! I’ll do whatever it takes to destroy you! Even if it costs me my life!”

“All right, all right! I’ll obey you for now!”

Shut up.

Shut up, shut up.

Right now, I’m busy thinking of Jaja and Nana’s faces.

“Kunpei-san, I don’t want to! Don’t leave us behind! Please be Jaja and Nana’s father forever! Please be my Kunpei-san!”

The girl’s hands gently wrapped around both my cheeks.

“Yours, me?”

“Yes! My favorite, my favorite Kunpei-san!”

Aoi’s favorite, me.

Jaja and Nana’s papa.

“Kunpei-san! Please look at me! I won’t let them take you away! I don’t know what these spirits are, but I beg you!　Please give us back our Kunpei-san!”

She’s crying.

Jaja and Nana in my mind and the beautiful girl in front of me is also crying.

Did I make them cry?

Did I make them cry again?

I did. I did. Did I? Me, me, me. I did.

It’s my fault.

“Don’t cry.”

“Eh?”

“Aoi. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry for making you worry all the time. I don’t want to see you cry, but I’m always making you cry.”

“K-Kunpei-san? Kunpei-san! It’s not like that! No, it’s not! Always! It’s my fault that Kunpei-san always gets hurt!　There’s nothing wrong with Kunpei-san!”

But if only I was a little stronger.

“I will definitely stay by your side, Kunpei-san! Even if I cry, even if I’m in pain! I will never leave your side! Until Kunpei-san runs out of love for me, I promise!”

That’s because I’m with you.

I want you to stay by my side.

If it’s true, I want you to keep smiling.

I’ll do anything to keep you and Jaja and Nana laughing.

Because I…

I love you.

“I love you.”

“Huh?”

Yeah.

For a long time, I didn’t know what I was thinking.

I didn’t know that this feeling had a name.

I feel uncomfortable when you’re not around.

I can’t help but feel uneasy when you’re not smiling next to me.

I’ve never forgotten the warmth of your touch.

When I hear your voice, it makes me so happy.

I take your presence for granted, and I don’t want to imagine that you are gone.

Smile for me.

I beg you.

Hold those adorable twins in your arms and smile with the same color as your wings and as pleasant as the sky.

I want to look at that dazzling, sunny smile for a long, long time.

“I like you. Aoi, thank you so much for saying you like me. I love you so much.”

“Kunpei… san?”

My body ached all over.

But I didn’t look away from Aoi and forced myself to smile.

If I look even a little distressed, she’ll probably cry again.

That’s why I have to tell her.

I need to gather my consciousness and tell her what I need to tell her right now.

“I love you.”

I want you to know how I really feel.