CHAPTER 7
Two People’s Story Continued
Two mages were walking along through a certain city.
Both of them had tied their pink hair up into ponytails behind their heads.
The two of them, smiling harmoniously at one another, looked just like sisters. In fact, when they walked through the city gates wearing matching robes, the proprietor of a roadside stall called out to them, “Oh, this is a rare sight. Twin travelers?”
It probably wasn’t unusual for people to assume that the two of them were twin sisters.
“You mean us?”
The girl who appeared to be the older of the two—the one who was a little bit taller—walked over.
She seemed like a strong-willed young woman.
She looked over the bread that was on display in the stall.
“Mm-hmm.”
As if scrutinizing them carefully, the girl who appeared to be the older sister brought her face close to each piece of bread one by one. Finally, after looking them over for a while, she asked briefly, “Don’t you have any with mushrooms?”
“Huh? Mushrooms?”
“I’m looking for bread with mushrooms in it.”
“Huh…well, I know we have some—this bread here has mushrooms in it. Will you buy some?”
“Mm-hmm.” The girl who appeared to be the older sister nodded. Then, after a moment, she asked the girl who appeared to be the younger sister, “You gonna eat anything?”
The longer the shopkeeper looked at the two girls up close, the more identical their faces seemed to be.
But their personalities probably couldn’t have been more different.
The girl who seemed to be the older sister laughed flippantly, while in contrast, the girl who seemed to be the younger sister wore a somewhat indignant expression.
“I am not you.”
The girl who seemed to be the younger sister turned her face away sharply.
Perhaps they were on bad terms.
“Ah, fine, fine. Sorry. What would you like, Liella?”
Apparently the younger sister’s name was Liella. Just being called by her name seemed to be enough to lift her foul mood.
She looked at the shopkeeper and asked one thing.
“Do they have any bread without mushrooms in it?”
“That describes most bread,” the older sister said.
“All the bread except for what your sister just bought does not have mushrooms in it…” the shopkeeper confirmed.
“I see.”
With a nod, the younger sister, whose name was Liella, examined each piece of bread in turn, just as her older sister had done, then finally said, “All right, this one please,” and chose a safe piece of bread.
“Much obliged.”
The shopkeeper wrapped up each piece of bread, and handed them to the two young women in exchange for money.
The sisters who closely resembled each other each took their bread, one with mushrooms in it and one without, and bowed in unison.
Then the younger sister, who had been called Liella, beckoned to the older sister with her hand, and walked off.
“All right, we’re going, Liella,” she said as she went.
The younger sister had addressed the older sister by the same name.
“Yeah, yeah,” the older sister responded. She sounded annoyed.
The two travelers, who had exactly the same name, disappeared into the hustle and bustle of the city.
“I do still think it might be better if you used a different name when you’re addressing me, though,” Evening Liella said to Morning Liella as they walked through the crowd.
Morning Liella had been the one who had unilaterally decided to call the girl who was actually a cursed sword Liella. “You’ve gone by Liella for these whole two years, so surely Liella is fine,” she’d said, and determined that Evening Liella would go by the same name as her.
“Won’t that be confusing?”
Evening Liella had been rather dubious.
However, in response to her question, Morning Liella had casually shaken her head.
“It won’t be confusing at all,” she had answered casually.
“…………”
—I have long since become a part of you. And you are a part of me.
Those words, which Morning Liella had said to Evening Liella at some point, suddenly came back into the mind of the young woman who was also a cursed sword.
If the two of them were indeed one person, then being called by different names probably would be strange, after all.
“But wow, this is quite a crowd, huh…? I feel sick…”
As the two of them were walking side by side—
Morning Liella let out a sigh.
She was introverted by nature, and didn’t do too well in boisterous, crowded spaces. She frowned, and her eyes darted around at the groups of people that were passing by.
Even though the two girls had planned to walk around as they ate the bread they had just purchased, the streets of the city were overflowing with so many people that there wasn’t any room.
“Ahhh…”
Morning Liella started to swoon, grasping her wand tightly.
“…………”
Evening Liella saw the state she was in.
“Ahhh…”
“…………”
Even so, the flood of people kept flowing past them relentlessly.
“You are a part of me…”
As Morning Liella said these words, she looked as pitiful as could be.
Then, gradually, tiny bit by tiny bit, Morning Liella fell behind Evening Liella.
She was really struggling to keep up.
With a sigh, Evening Liella stopped, turned around, and extended a hand.
“Mm.”
In the middle of the crowd, without saying much of anything at all, her hand hung there, extended awkwardly.
When Morning Liella finally stood up, she looked at that hand and smiled. She looked just a little bit happy.
“Thank you.”
Then Morning Liella took that hand, and started walking again.
Together with her curse.
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