Aina tried to rein in her cries, but she couldn't seem to do so. At a moment like this, Leonel would have already swooped in and placed a silencing array everywhere and even hidden her from the crowd. But, he wasn't by her side at the moment.
Having had such a thought, she only seemed to cry harder.
Milan, who had taken up the duty of 'guarding' Aina as he felt he should as one of Leonel's teammates, suddenly became flustered beyond compare. How was he supposed to deal with this? What the hell was going on?
"Ah…" Milan grabbed onto his back. "… Dammit, Cap… Couldn't you have been more light handed?"
The blaring alarms of the pillar made it difficult for even Milan to hear himself, and yet Aina's sobs felt so clear to him. He didn't know if it was because he was close by or if it was something else, but it was almost as though her emotions were being painted onto the air.
The truth was that Aina had completely lost control of her mental coercion. Let alone Milan, even if one couldn't hear her, it felt as though her sobs were being projected right into their minds. And, instead of growing quieter, they only seemed to grow in strength.
Just when Milan truly had no idea what to do anymore, Yuri seemed to appear out of nowhere, sinking to her knees before Aina.
Aina, sensing that someone was before her, tried to look up. But, all she saw was the blurry silhouette of someone she felt she would recognize if not for her tears.
"Young Mistress…?"
"Y-Yuri?"
Aina hardly finished her words before she plunged into Yuri's chest. Her tears fell like a waterfall, casting a melancholy halo over the surroundings.
Yuri was stunned. She had never seen Aina like this before. In fact, she could never remember having seen Aina cry at all. The Young Mistress she knew was like a towering fortress, unaffected by mundane things around her.
Even back in the days of Royal Blue Academy, most everything was just a fa?ade. Aina pretended to be the shy, quiet and reserved type in order to not draw attention to herself, but her true personality was nothing like that.
Yuri's arm lightly wrapped around Aina's back. She could feel the pulsating trembling and hear the cadence of the ugly cries through her palm. Everything from Aina's wheezing exhales to her sniveling attempts at breathing was felt by her.
She could almost feel Aina collapsing from the inside out. Her grip around her only grew tighter, her emotions less and less in her control.
"… I can't… I can't do it, Yuri… He's… He's going to … to hate me…"
The last words were like a time piece falling to the ground.
The clattering of shattered glass… The destruction of perfectly crafted gears… The ruin of a delicate mechanism sculpted with care and affection…
Yuri's expression flickered. This was about Leonel? But why did it sound like Leonel hadn't done anything wrong? But if he hadn't done wrong, then why was her Mistress crying?
"… He's… He's… He's going to hate me…"
Yuri rubbed Aina's back, trying to console her. She had come with good news, ready to tell Aina that she had contacted her father again for the first time in such a long while. But, she hadn't expected that things would turn out this way.
Yuri didn't know what to do.
At that moment, her expression suddenly changed. Her aura flared and a strength many didn't think she had was about to lash out.
Just when she was about to reveal something she probably shouldn't, she calmed, realizing that the energy had no malicious intent.
It collided with Aina, knocking her out completely. At that moment the blaring sounds of the alarms seemed to grow a pitch louder, but the reality was that they were finally perceiving it as they should.
Yuri looked toward Head Hutchin in the distance, her gaze expressionless. But, neither of them said or exchanged anything more than a glance.
…
"Will this be a problem?"
One of the mysterious elders spoke. The four of them along with Head Hutchin had all sent a glance toward Aina. Usually, they wouldn't care about the relationships between their students. They didn't have a practice of arranged marriages, so they cared little for it all. However, Aina and Leonel were obviously a special case.
There was clearly something wrong here.
They were aware that Leonel was from the Morales family. The power he wielded or could potentially wield in the future was enough to crush them several times over. They were already in such a predicament to begin with, they didn't need another enemy.
Originally, their main goal was to use Aina to keep Leonel on their side. As time progressed, though, they realized that Aina was a shining talent all to her own and was highly likely to be a Spark.
Once they learned this, their goals slightly shifted and they began to value them equally, not because Aina would definitely rise to Leonel's level, but because she was their best option. Sometimes, having a genius that was too great was more a detriment than a good to an organization as weak as their own.
Of course… They didn't quite understand the boundaries of Aina's talent. Even now, she was keeping her curse within herself to push and train to her absolute limits. She didn't care about showing off to people, her main goal was revenge for her mother.
The issue was, though, that if there was something that splintered Aina and Leonel, this could become something extremely troublesome, especially if there was animosity that remained.
From their understanding of young master's, a category they seemed to place Leonel in, they might chase after a girl to win her heart. But, the moment they failed…
If Leonel turned his rage onto Valiant Heart Mountain, what would they do?
Head Hutchin remained silent for a long while before he spoke.
"… Wherever it was that the young Leonel Morales entered these last two years, he was able to mature to a point that left his past self far behind. Little Aina, however, has not taken a single step forward.
"Their maturities are misaligned. Their values are misaligned. This was bound to happen.
"All we can do is brace for the worst and hope for the best."
[Important announcement below 04/28/2022!!!!!!]