Strike the Blood - Volume 21 - Chapter 3.2

2

Blue light poured down from the glass ceiling as though you were looking up at the water’s surface.

The cafeteria was crowded with students during their lunch break. Avrora was just putting her lunch plate down on an open table near the window that had taken some effort to find.

“Ava, is this chair open? Let’s eat together.”

She suddenly heard a friendly voice beside her. The schoolgirl carrying a white canvas tote bag grinned, waving a hand as she looked down at Avrora. It was a girl with long, steel-colored hair—Glenda.

“Y-yeah.”

“You’re having the pasta lunch, Ava? Hmm, eggplant and red pepper penne, huh. Smells great—”

Glenda was already sitting in the opposite chair by the time Avrora gave that strained reply. She was a little perplexed by the nickname the girl had arbitrarily picked for her at some point, but strangely, she didn’t mind.

“A-actually I’m not good with spicy things, but I don’t like meat very much.”

Avrora’s cheeks reddened while she gave that subdued reply.

She could not stomach any meat dishes whatsoever. The smell of blood-infused meat was a no-go for her. The other thing on the lunch menu was a hamburger plate, so the pasta had been her only choice.

“Heh, I didn’t see that one coming.”

Glenda raised her eyebrows, her interest visibly piqued. Exposed to her innocent gaze, Avrora seemed constrained as she shook her head.

“G…Glenda, what are you having for lunch?”

“I’m having this. I bought this before I came to school!”

“Heh-heh-heh,” went Glenda as she took a paper bag out of her tote. It was stuffed to the brim with five large doughnuts. There was one strawberry, one cream, one chocolate, and one butternut chocolate. There was even one of the French crullers made with choux that Avrora loved so much.

“No fair… Is eating doughnuts at lunch even a thing?!”

“Of course it is. I’ve decided to make it one.”

When Avrora turned a jealous gaze toward her, Glenda smiled proudly and took out a plastic bottle of café au lait and a snack bag containing the latest brand of potato chips.

“Even chips…!”

“I’d get bored if it was all sweet stuff.”

The girl spoke with complete composure as she picked up the strawberry doughnut. When this left Ava utterly shocked, Glenda gently glanced back at her.

“Ava, you’re a good girl, but you’re a little stiff. You should be living free.”

“…Free?”

The unanticipated comment left Avrora bewildered. She knew what the word free meant. It meant to act of your own volition. It meant taking responsibility for your decisions.

But the word had a hollow ring to it. Someone had built her to be used, and she was there because she was caught up in someone else’s scheme. Avrora knew this.

“Here, have one.”

She dangled a doughnut before Avrora’s eyes. It was the French cruller with sugar sprinkled on top.

“You mustn’t forget what you really want deep down. That’s the key to remembering who you really are.”

“Glenda…?”

When Avrora gingerly took the doughnut, she suddenly remembered a particular boy.

If there was something she could call freedom in her past, it was the time she’d spent together with him, a fleeting moment that did not amount to even half a year.

She could no longer even remember his name. But her being alive was proof that it had happened. Avrora knew this.

“Hey, Ava…does the world look weird to you right now?”

Glenda took a sip of her café au lait as she inquired, as though testing the other girl.

“I can’t tell.”

Avrora gently shook her head as she shifted her gaze to the scenery beyond the window.

It was a world of blue that continued for who knew how far. Overhead was the vast surface of the sea, and below her eyes, the sky. As she currently was, Avrora could not tell whether this was how the world was supposed to be.

“Ah.”

Glenda sighed gently, not reproaching Avrora in any way.

Abruptly, a smile came over the mature-looking girl’s face. It was the smile of a little girl. Glenda brought her lips close to Avrora’s ear, whispering with a giggle in her voice.

“Hey, did you know? They say there’s a room in this school where the secrets of the world are locked inside.”

“Secrets of…the world?”

Avrora stared at Glenda with widened eyes.

“Yeah. Maybe you can reach it.”

Glenda nodded with a mysterious expression. Avrora couldn’t read her.

“Secrets of the world,” Avrora murmured quietly to herself. “Will something…change if I find these secrets?”

“You’ll get the precious things you’ve forgotten back. I’m sure Kojou will be happy, too.”

“…Kojou?”

Her body reacted faster than her head could comprehend. Her heart leaped as if she’d been struck by a jolt of electricity. Memories flooded into her mind. She remembered the particular boy she’d met on the artificial isle of never-ending summer.

Avrora couldn’t believe that she’d forgotten his name.

Now that her memory had been jogged, like it or not, she knew she did not belong in that world.

Wearing the same uniform and leading a boring but pleasant school life—these were not the things she truly wanted.

For it was a world without Kojou Akatsuki.

“Good luck searching, Avrora.”

The girl with steel-colored hair munched a potato chip with a dry snap.

For some reason, the girl who felt so mature now looked so very young.