Comet Dragon, breaking into the gravity field

"The last and most important point cannot be ignored: Chihaya-san is undoubtedly a super cute girl. She has the long pink hair that a royal heroine should have, and her style combines maturity with youthfulness. The occasional canine fangs she reveals also give people a playful and cute feeling..."

"Wait, wait a minute! Stop talking—"

【Chihaya Aine·Imbalance Value 99%】

"The only drawback is that my figure is a bit disappointing."

"Are you guilty, sanVI?"

【Chihaya Aine·Imbalance Value 0%】

14. A sudden separation

"are you angry?"

"No."

Ritsu Narose didn't say anything, but just stood next to Chihaya Aine and looked at her silently.

one second...

five seconds...

This staring game hadn't lasted ten seconds when Chihaya Aine looked away in disappointment and turned her head towards Naruse Ritsu.

"That kind of talk is very disrespectful to a girl!"

"Just telling the truth."

It’s hard, the fist is hard!

To be honest, Chihaya Aine didn't care about this at first.

She was already quite popular in school, and didn't need that kind of attention. She'd often heard people complain about how big it was, affecting their movements and causing shoulder pain.

She has to pay attention to the size of her clothes every day, and pay attention to the range of her movements when running in physical education class... It brings so much trouble. If you think about it, you will know that her slender and perfect figure must be the template that best conforms to the public's aesthetic taste.

So Chihaya Aine doesn't care about this at all.

But the look in Ritsu Narose's eyes is so infuriating!

The truth is a sharp sword, and Ritsu Naruse's sincerity without any pretense is a technologically advanced magnetic scabbard.

The two powerful forces join forces, the electromagnetic sword is drawn, and everyone in Dou Jingming says it’s great!

"Would it make you feel better if I apologized?"

"……never mind."

Hearing Naruse Ritsu's sincere words, Chihaya Aine's shoulders drooped again.

He was so sincere that she couldn't get angry at all - otherwise it would seem like she was being petty.

"Does Naruse-kun have any other novels?"

"ANO's Bizarre Adventure: Castle of Seven Hills", this manuscript with a temporary name change has been placed by Ritsu Naruse on the bookshelf marked [To be modified].

Chihaya Aine picked up the other manuscript papers on the table and planned to find some other serious novels to read.

— “Those are just drafts.”

Hearing these words, she silently withdrew the hand that she had originally extended.

That kind of art was too early for her.

I dare not look. I dare not look.

"Is there no novel more suitable for me to read?"

Leaving her chair, Chihaya Aine walked to the bookshelf and observed the bound texts.

However, only a few books had titles printed on their spines, and even those that did have titles like "The Ancient Dragon and the Blue Star Girl," "Something's Wrong with This Land of Dragon Crystals," and "Would You Like Some Life-Eating Worms Today?" were meaningless.

Especially the last one.

"Suitable for women..."

After contacting Takamatsu Deng yesterday, Ritsu Narose thought about this issue and sorted it out after returning home.

Apart from the records of battles between ancient dragons and the research notes from the time when he sneaked into the Dragon Calendar Academy, it seems that only the observations he wrote down during his previous travels are left.

Walking to another bookshelf, Ritsu Narose randomly picked up a book and handed it to Chihaya Aine.

The book was very thin, and its rather dull cover didn't even have a title, only a person's name written on it.

Reiko?

Seeing this female-sounding name, Chihaya Aine's curiosity was like a fish seeing bait, circling around it.

Glancing at Naruse Ritsu quietly, she could faintly smell the scent of melon. Her intuition told her that this person had a complicated relationship with Naruse Ritsu.

Let her, Aine-chan, find out!

……

"A pretty girl with a delicate appearance and cheerful personality"?

As soon as she saw the description of her meeting Reiko at the beginning, Chihaya Aine's expression began to brighten.

It looks like a popular and trendy development!

But as she continued to look down, the smugness on her lips gradually faded, leaving only an unspeakable uneasiness.

Although Reiko possesses powerful demonic powers and can see demons that others cannot see—this is a natural advantage, but she has always been rejected by humans because of this.

Being excluded?

Could it be something like "school bullying"?

Feeling that this time's story wasn't as light-hearted as her own, Chihaya Aine gradually put away her frivolous attitude and read the rest of the story silently.

The main perspective of the novel is a young dragon that was practicing flying, but ended up losing control and crashing while trying to avoid a bird...

Wait! Why is there a dragon again? It's so strange that a dragon would suddenly appear in a place full of monsters. Is Naruse-kun some kind of dragon enthusiast?

While reciting the setting of Yiqi Siwujiu Jiucao Naruse Ritsu in her mind, Chihaya Aine turned to the next page.

Compared to "ANO's Bizarre Adventure", this unnamed story seems much gentler.

Although Reiko doesn't have many friends around her, she can get along well with monsters of all shapes and sizes.

Although Reiko seems carefree and always fights with the monsters she encounters, she is kind-hearted and only does so to the extent of "teasing" them.

Even if I win, I will just write down their names like a primary school student making a list of friends, and then keep them solemnly.

Monsters, born with a gap between them and humans, are gradually infected by Reiko's gentleness and kindness. Even dragons, who have never interacted with humans, begin to learn to restrain their wildness after experiencing her unexpected encounter.

Until one day, Long's injuries recovered. In order to repay Lingzi for picking him up and helping him treat his wounds, he decided to go home and prepare a thank you gift.

However, when Long landed on that land again and went to visit Lingzi, he could not find any trace of her.

It was not until he heard something in people's gossip that he learned that Reiko had passed away long ago.

The story ends here.

"……what?"

Chihaya Aine couldn't help but lean forward, her eyes widened, staring at the last paragraph of text in disbelief.

No, why?

"Why did Reiko suddenly..."

"Because she is indeed dead."

Just as she saw the scene where Edmond Dantès escaped from the Chateau d'If by hiding the truth, Naruse Ritsu heard Chihaya Aine suddenly get excited.

After taking a sip of oolong tea, Naruse Ritsu looked at the Secret History of the Cave King in his hand and explained, "Ancient dragons' perception of time is different from humans, so this kind of thing is to be expected."

"But isn't Reiko very strong? She can easily defeat so many monsters. How could she..."

"Reiko's not Superman, Chihaya-san."

With a sigh, Naruse Ritsu finally put down the book in his hand and focused his eyes on Chihaya Aine - or rather the novel in her hand.

"If she gets hit by a rock, it hurts. If she gets cold, she gets a fever. If she gets hungry, she loses her strength... Apart from her demonic powers, she's no different from an ordinary person."

Many years later, when Ritsu Naruse looked back on his past experiences with Reiko Natsume, it was like wiping off dust from an old photo, with only a hint of melancholy in his heart.

"That's it..."

Hearing Ritsu Naruse's final words, Chihaya Aine shook her head in frustration.

Turning around and leaning on the back of the chair, she looked at the young man in front of her who blended into the environment like a painting. She couldn't understand why someone like Ritsu Naruse would write such a depressing ending.

Walking in front of the bookshelf, Chihaya Aine decided to discover novels on her own.

She no longer believed in Ritsu Narose's judgment!

——Except for the fact that she is the heroine.

Soon, Chihaya Aine found another novel that looked pretty good.

Not only is there more time, but there are also more places.

If she guessed correctly, the time represented by the numbers on the cover should be the winter six years ago - around the winter break of her fourth grade in elementary school, and the location was Tokyo where she was.

The destructive power generated by the combination of the leisurely rural life and the cruel ending is far beyond Chihaya Aine's endurance, so let's take a look at the cold modern metropolis, my family.

As long as you make your heart as hard as diamond in modern society, you will never be hurt again!

Showing the same "planner" expression as Kami, Chihaya Aine slowly opened the novel marked "Ichinose".

15. Snow magic

The first time I met Ichinose was on a winter afternoon.

The heavy snow that had been falling for several days finally stopped, and the primary school students who were forced to stay indoors all rushed out of their homes and played freely in the snow.

The heavy snow that lasted for several days also forced Ritsu Narose to stay in Tokyo for a while.

Following the advice of an old friend, he decided to go to a relatively remote park and write his travel diary there as a souvenir.

With her head tucked into her scarf, Ritsu Narose's outfit was no different from those other children.

Although he didn't feel the cold, he had to disguise himself in order not to stand out in the snow and ice.

"Pada——Lingba V" Lin (nine) 彡六镹"

The slender branches could not bear so much snow, and the excess snowflakes fell all over Naruse Riku's silver-gray hair, almost blending into it.

Not paying attention to the snow, Ritsu Narose focused on the pen in his hand.

As he wrote the fragmented words like squeezing toothpaste, the branches above his head seemed to be taking advantage of the situation and kept shaking the snow off his head.

Soon, the area above Ritsu Narushe's shoulders was covered with snow.

In the direction he ignored, a girl who was similar in age and appearance to him appeared at the park entrance.

Her mother, who had been planning to go out with her to build a snowman, suddenly had to go out for something, so before leaving, she had to let her go out and play nearby by herself in the good weather after the snow stopped.

In accordance with her mother's wishes, she changed into warm clothes and left the lonely little home.

However, when she went outside and faced the world covered in snow, she felt lost.

Where are you going?

The nearby park was probably already occupied by other children, and she didn't want to wander around the park alone like an outlier. But she didn't want to go back to her empty home, so she had to change direction and go to a slightly farther, more secluded place.

So, when she saw the seemingly deserted park in front of her, her uneasy mood finally eased.

Exhaling lightly, the girl stepped onto the soft snow and walked into the park step by step.

Since the person under the tree was motionless except for the occasional shaking of his right hand, the girl behind him just thought it was a snowman piled on the bench.

Grabbing a handful of snow from the ground and rolling it into a snowball, the girl imitated what she had seen on TV, placing the snowball on the snow and rolling it slowly.

"what are you doing?"

"Whoa!"

Sitting down on the ground, the girl looked at the snowman on the bench tremblingly, turning his head and staring at her.

"The snowman is alive!?"