Please Bully Me, Miss Villainess!

Chapter 210 : Beyond One_s Control 4

"...They shouldn't be chasing us anymore."

"Ha... huff..."

With their short legs, they couldn't run very far. Soon they were out of breath, stopping at a street corner and leaning against the wall, panting heavily.

Only their rapidly beating hearts refused to slow down.

Their spirits had never felt so free.

Although the process was nerve-wracking, somehow running while holding her hand felt so joyful.

It felt as exhilarating as that distant time in their student days when she had rescued her from those big bullies, while she cried with her head covered.

"...Brin!! You're too reckless!!"

"I'm sorry!!"

As expected, she had angered her. Brin assumed a defensive posture, covering her head, but what greeted her was a series of not-so-painful punches.

"That person is an envoy from another country!... Doing something like this could make you lose your job, you know?! Do you understand that at all?!"

Her small fists, lacking strength and filled with a crying tone, softly pummeled down.

The status and reputation she had worked so hard to accumulate, don't waste it on someone like me...!!

"Pfft..."

As she was being hit, she suddenly laughed.

"Hey!!... At a time like this, how can you still laugh?"

"Sorry, sorry,"

She took off her glasses and put them in her pocket, undoing her hair and returning to her usual appearance.

"Something similar happened before, didn't it..."

The sense of déjà vu was too strong, so she couldn't help it.

Memories flooded back like the rising tide.

"...You always have such a good memory for these strange things."

Yuna remembered too, her face suddenly turning red.

"But... back then, you were the one running in front, pulling me along."

Brin beside her still couldn't stop laughing.

"Oh my... Every time I think about it, I feel that Yuna was so strong back then! I'll probably never forget the sight of those tall, burly guys falling into the freshly fertilized mud... With a height difference of over three times, how on earth did you manage to shake them off?"

Back then, she was timid and ostracized, frightened by this fellow small folk senior's bold actions. She kept running and crying, scurrying away with her head covered. In contrast, Yuna, who was pulling her along, seemed to be playing—fully utilizing her small size and agility. Along the way, she didn't forget to set various traps with her techniques, using excellent remote control and fully utilizing magical elements in different environments to defeat those bullies one by one, blasting them to pieces.

In contrast, Yuna at that time was young and impulsive, acting without considering the consequences, and without a clear escape route... She simply wanted to vent her anger for this constantly crying junior, hoping to make her smile again... Although it seemed to have the opposite effect.

"—That 'senior' back then was really cool, wasn't she, 'Yuna the Flame Dancer'?"

"~~~Don't say that name, waaah!!"

This time it was Yuna's turn to crouch down holding her head, her face red, looking up at the still laughing Brin with a mix of shame and anger.

"It's all your fault!! Making me remember embarrassing memories I didn't want to recall—!!"

"You think it's embarrassing? I don't see it that way."

The time spent with her was the most precious treasure in her life experience.

The grip on her hand tightened even more.

"You saved me before... so this time, it's my turn to help you."

Instinctively wanting to run away, Yuna only now realized that from the start, the hand holding hers had never let go.

Her heartbeat, which had just calmed down, started pounding again.

"...Even though I rejected you before?"

"Since I chose to come after you, I was already prepared to give up everything."

Although saying these words made her so embarrassed her scalp tingled, once the switch was flipped, there was no turning back.

This was a choice made for an important person, she wouldn't regret it.

Yuna let go of the hand that was holding hers, turning her head to avoid direct eye contact.

"Brin... if only you were a boy. ...If that were the case, I would definitely be moved enough to want to marry you."

Thump—!!

These words felt like a sudden blow to the head.

It finally appeared...

Although she had mentally prepared herself, when she actually heard it, she still felt like something had violently beaten her heart.

Elsa's advice echoed in her ears:

'If the other person is someone who can't see women as romantic partners, it's better to give up early.'

Ellie was right, no amount of forcing can change one's feelings.

But... she was determined to force it.

"Does one have to be a man to be married?"

"...Eh??"

Yuna was so shocked she blinked one, two, three, four, five, six, seven times.

"I absolutely won't lose to them! In fact, I can even do better than them—Won't you consider me?"

Although faced with a tower continuously releasing arrows, she resolutely took off her armor and chose to charge the tower directly.

No—

Yuna started to waver.

I can't—

My life is already a mess, although before this I had considered various possibilities to escape reality, but especially now... I absolutely can't become her burden.

She still instinctively wanted to run away.

For every half step forward she took, I wanted to take one step back.

There's no helping it, she's just the kind of person who only knows how to run away, it's been like this from before until now.

"I'm sorry, after all I still—"

"—Waaaaaah!!"

However, just as she steeled herself and was about to muster the courage to speak words of rejection, she was interrupted by Brin's full-force shout.

"...What are you yelling so loudly for all of a sudden?!"

Startled, Yuna covered her ears and protested with a red face. Passersby around them all turned to look.

She had gathered the courage accumulated over half her life to prepare to say it.

"Today is a good day for stargazing."

Brin took out a monocle stargazing instrument from inside her cloak, looking up at the now completely dark night sky.

"Look, the visibility is very clear—With such a good opportunity, could you guide me through a stargazing assignment once again after so long, Teacher Yuna?"

After saying this, she handed the stargazing instrument to her.

"...What exactly are you up to?"

Feeling like she had been tricked, Yuna was a bit angry.

Even if you use such childish methods to delay, it's useless! How to spend the rest of her life... she had already made up her mind!

This kind of thing should be firmly and decisively reject—

......

"—Achoo~!"

After climbing to the top of the clock tower, a cold wind blew, and Yuna wrapped her clothes tighter, unable to hold back a big sneeze.

...Anyone who comes to stargaze in such cold weather must have something wrong with them.

Alright, the person with something wrong is right here.

Although she thought this, she still ended up coming to this perfect stargazing spot with her.

It is said that the magic 'Mana' and the elemental power 'Aether' both come from the distant universe, brought by those mysterious elements when meteorites collided with the earth's surface in ancient times.

So astronomy has long been a required course in classical magic studies.

She had guided many students on related content before at Emerald Star Academy, so she was not unfamiliar with 'stargazing'.

But... doing it together with Brin, it had been a long time indeed.

Her gaze followed the uniform cloak fluttering up and down in front of her. As Yuna climbed, she recalled many past events.

"I remember once you took me to the mountaintop for celestial observations... It seems it was around this season too."

"...So you still remember."

"Of course I remember, I nearly froze to death there."

The astronomy professor responsible for guiding Yuna's class was very strict with grading. To avoid failing, she had done many stargazing reports, and at that time, Brin was always dragged along under the pretext of 'guiding a junior in stargazing assignments' to accompany her.

It was also a winter like this, the two of them shivering with cold on the mountaintop, but they couldn't stop recording during the stargazing. With no choice, too cold to bear it, they could only huddle close together for warmth.

...There was indeed such a time.

However, after graduation, the two had never been so intimate again.

Although the observed constellations may differ slightly depending on the geographical location, when there are no clouds obstructing, at least twelve of the twenty-four new lodges can usually be observed.

"Alright—pay attention! The easiest star to see in this season is of course the fifth star, Epsilon—then slightly north of the zenith. Once you see Lambda, you can determine the approximate position of Omicron, and then record the position of Zeta... Then, if you have a star measurer, aim it at Zeta, connect these four stars with an arc line and extend it downwards, you'll find a very bright star—that is the first one, Alpha."

After entering teaching mode, Yuna began to enthusiastically explain the observation method of astronomy.

"As expected of a current teacher."

Brin felt like applauding her.

"Wait a minute... aren't you a teacher too?"

Seeing Brin, a fellow educator, behave so frivolously, Yuna couldn't help but feel a bit angry.

"Different fields have different specialties... What I teach isn't such abstruse and difficult material."

Brin shrugged.

Her educational specialty's full name is 'Practical Application of Fully Automated Magical Structure Technology', which has absolutely nothing to do with astronomy.

"There probably aren't many children specializing in astronomy now, right? Most probably think astronomy is old-fashioned... Magical science is the popular field in recent years..."

As she spoke, Yuna seemed a bit dejected.

"But... I really love stars."

Looking up at the vast, boundless starry sky through her thin lenses, her tone softened considerably.

"Because it's romantic."

Even if her nose was running from the cold back then, Yuna would always carefully record the changes of each star.

"However, we still can't see Omega in this season..."

"'When Alpha is brightest, Omega cannot be seen.'"

Brin added the most important knowledge point from the side.

"...You actually remembered it well."

Although they revolve in very close orbits, after converging, they will continuously move apart.

Even if they can appear together in the same sky, Alpha's light will always overshadow it.

There's probably nothing crueler than this in the world.

"It's quite similar to us, isn't it?"

Yuna dusted herself off and stood up.

The non-academic observation ended here.

"...I think so too, actually."

Looking at the shining Alpha star, Brin fell into deep thought.

"I used to always think you were Alpha, and I was Omega."

"But now it's the opposite, isn't it?" She laughed self-mockingly.

"Even if they intersect, they'll move apart again... Continuing to revolve like this is meaningless."

"I don't think it's meaningless at all."

The moon finally broke free from the clouds' constraints. Under the white silver light, she took off her cloak and draped it over her.

"Every minute after their encounter is revolving for the sake of meeting again."

So dazzling.

Yuna held her breath.

The emotions presented before her were so precious that even touching them felt painful.

"...Is it okay to keep running away?"

"I think Alpha will keep chasing."

It was as if her heart had been opened up.

Being in darkness, even if one uses all their strength to try to reach the world above, hoping that one day they can stand in the light. However, until the end, one still can't escape the darkness.

So she could only choose to accept it calmly.

But... if it's her, she would definitely be able to break free from these constraints and stand in the light.

So at that time, she left the opportunity to her junior.

And she herself just needed to be the one quietly watching. For her sake, all the foolish decisions she had made would become meaningful.

Now she is the true Alpha.

She is her light.

"I will prove it to you—Even as a woman... even as a weak race, we can stand tall and live proudly."

It's normal to want to run away.

Of course, one can't live well alone.

Not just physically weak, their hearts are also fragile... If they don't rely on someone, don't attach themselves to some race, they can't survive well. This is the fate of being small folk.

This has always been their race's way of survival, and it's an instinct imprinted in their blood.

But, what has been accumulated in their trajectory so far is definitely not meaningless.

"So... can you let me stay by your side?"

There was still so much more she wanted to say.

But at times like this, her brain just wouldn't cooperate, so she could only stuff all the words she couldn't say into this abrupt embrace.

Embracing her with the thought that she might be pushed away, she nervously closed her eyes.

"Is it... really okay?"

She didn't push her away.

"Mm, if Yuna feels pain, I will definitely save you."

After hearing these words, the defenses she had built in her heart finally broke through.

"Brin... help me..."

Like a drowning person grasping a lifeline. She grabbed the clothes on her back, crying non-stop like a real child.

"Save... save my mother!"