Mage Manual

Chapter 1698: Chapter 1255: Childish Meiwa

"Xiao-String!—"

Ash buried his face in the cat and took a crazed sniff, kneading its two little paw-pads like mad. Xiao-String wore the expression of a cat that had lost all hope in life and pitifully looked toward Freyja, only to receive nothing but a Meiwa’s jealous gaze as she bit her fingertip.

"How’s its soft-bone syndrome?"

Ash still wasn’t done after sniffing his fill; he hugged Xiao-String in his arms and rubbed its head.

"Sif helped cure it, it won’t relapse ever again." Freyja took two teacups from under the table and started brewing tea. "And Xiao-String’s gotten way more delicate. Every time it bumps into something and hurts itself, it just cries nonstop and insists I treat it and numb the pain."

"All animals are tender and afraid of pain, they just have no choice but to learn endurance." Ash put his finger to Xiao-String’s mouth, and Xiao-String instantly bit down. "Only those who are loved have the right to be spoiled, because they know you’ll respond to their vulnerability."

"Mm." Freyja pressed her lips together and nodded, her finger sliding along the rim of the teacup. "You don’t really seem to have changed..."

Ash blinked. "Didn’t we just see each other not long ago?"

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t that recent—counting the days, it had already been a few months. Back then, Ash had only just advanced to Demigod a few days prior, when Freyja’s four-girl squad accidentally entered the newly formed Path of Origin "Reverse Color Stairs" at Ruby Mountain through the Dream Stairs. If the Firefly Splendor Maiden hadn’t linked Ash to them, they might have vanished without a sound on the Path of Origin.

The Meiwa’s body trembled; her face, already red, now looked so flushed it seemed you could squeeze blood out of it with a pinch. Ash could practically see steam billowing over her head. She lowered her head and hummed softly, "I still haven’t thanked you... If it weren’t for your help, we probably would’ve gotten lost in the Reverse Color Stairs and never even had the chance to step into Ruby Mountain."

Ash said awkwardly, "Even though it turned out fine, I did act without asking for your consent beforehand, so I feel pretty bad about it. I wasn’t sure if you’d hold it against me..."

"No!" Freyja blurted out anxiously, "No one blames you. We all felt really good, and we’ve been looking forward to when there’ll be a second time—"

Meeting Ash’s stunned gaze, she instantly panicked and rushed to deny it, "No no no, I misspoke, that’s not what I meant—"

"It wasn’t good?" Ash’s body stiffened; the blow hit him hard.

Freyja froze, at a total loss, her eyes flitting about as if she didn’t know how to answer. In the end she lowered her head to look at the teacup, covered her face with both hands, and replied in an extremely soft, tiny voice, "...It was very good."

"Then you’re... not looking forward to it...?"

"...I am also really looking forward to whether there’ll be a next time."

"So which is it supposed to mean?"

Freyja was silent for a moment before putting her hands down and looking at Ash. She lightly bit her lower lip with her pearly teeth, trying hard to sound casual, but the shy charm in her brows and eyes made the whole private room thump with Heartbeat. "It means exactly what you think it means."

This time it was Ash’s turn to feel a little at a loss. Xiao-String took the chance to escape from the Cult Leader’s arms, hopped onto the table, stretched lazily, then curled up into a big drumstick to bask in the sun.

"...Those broadcasts just now were looking for me?"

"Mm." Freyja nodded. "Last night Hanna told us you guys were coming to the Blood Moon, and that you even bought your tickets already, so Sif and I knew you’d be on this train."

"Hanna said the Sword Maiden and the others are really mean and won’t let us get close to you. If we wanted a proper reunion, we had to fish you out alone... Oh right, one of the broadcasts was written by me—do you know which one!?"

Ash thought for a bit. "Could it be... the one that said they needed a handsome young man?"

"Shouldn’t the important part be ’gentle, kind, faithful, and loves eating la-la-fat’!?" Freyja swayed back and forth, laughing lightly. "I was actually scared I’d written it too obviously, like anyone who heard it would know it was looking for you, but they told me I didn’t need to worry..."

Seeing Freyja looking at him with eyes full of Starlight, Ash really did feel a little embarrassed this time; he could feel his face heating up. "I’m actually not that great..."

"That’s what they said too." Freyja said, "I was actually a little worried. Times are different now—you’re a super powerful Mage. Back when I was still an ordinary person, at least I could still see your back from afar. Now I can’t even see your shadow. Maybe you’d already become someone I don’t recognize anymore..."

"But Xiao-String told me you’re the same as before, that you haven’t changed." She blinked and said softly, "Still just as gentle, kind, and faithful, still so... Anyway, didn’t you go to Car 10? Do you not like eating la-la-fat anymore?"

"I figure la-la-fat served on a train probably isn’t going to taste that good." Ash paused, then felt something off. "Wait, no. Since you all thought I’d show up in Car 10, then why are you here? Isn’t this supposed to be the car behind our private room?"

At Ash’s question, Freyja’s expression suddenly turned strange. She lowered her head without saying anything, but she didn’t look so much shy as... awkward.

"Is it something you can’t talk about?" ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

"No, just..." Freyja hesitated for quite a while before finally speaking, cheeks flushed red. "We spent the whole night discussing how to ’run into’ you, but after I woke up back in reality, I regretted it."

"Regretted it?"

"Yeah. I don’t want to scheme so hard just to meet you." Freyja pressed her ten fingers together and said softly, "They even suggested I hide in the bathroom and, when you passed by, drag you in and do whatever I wanted with you... That was their idea, okay? I never agreed!"

"We’d actually settled all the details, but once I got back to reality and thought about it for a long time, I realized that our plan to fish you out and ambush you in the bathroom were essentially the same thing—they’re both just ways of deliberately manufacturing an encounter. I don’t like that. There are two kinds of encounters I yearn for. One is where two hearts that chase after each other overcome every obstacle and finally get to hold each other, even forcing Fate itself to make way—like you and the Sword Maiden."

"If we can’t have that kind of fate-defying encounter, then at the very least it should be an encounter blessed by Fate. Like the very first time you and I met: I went home and found a Cult Leader eating my food, using my Light Screen, petting my cat, and then..." Freyja said gently, "our story began."

"Maybe you think it’s childish, but I’ve always felt our meeting was basically like it was destined. I’ve also been looking forward to our reunion, so I didn’t want to use these carefully arranged tricks to create a chance. It feels like it would taint our connection."

"I’d already made up my mind that if you didn’t come looking for me, then I wouldn’t go looking for you either. I’m not throwing a tantrum—it’s just that if you don’t come, you must have your reasons. If I suddenly showed up, I might mess up your plans. After all, you’re a super powerful Mage now, you’ve got tons of things to do, and maybe you really don’t have time to bother with a tiny little Meiwa..." fгeewebnovёl.com

"But maybe I was throwing a bit of a tantrum, too. After all, you came to the Blood Moon and still wouldn’t come see me..."

Ash: "I—"

"Let me finish first." Freyja reached out and tapped her fingertip on his lips. "Even though I sounded all strong in my head last night, when Sif came to get me this morning, I still came with her... But I think this isn’t my personal problem; it’s just that Meiwa are especially easy to sway!"

"Still, I didn’t want to deliberately stage a meet-cute with you, so I didn’t go to Car 10. I asked Siflin not to tell you I was on this train, because if you knew, you’d definitely come see me, and that’d make it feel like I was forcing you... That’s not the kind of encounter I want."

"I never expected our encounter to be as dreamlike as yours and the Sword Maiden’s." Freyja gazed into Ash’s eyes. "But I hoped at least it would be... two hearts chasing after each other."

"It sounds childish, right? That’s what they all say, even Tamasi thinks I should be going after what I want." She lowered her head. "But it turns out I couldn’t even manage that one tiny wish. You still ended up discovering that I was here."

"Um..."

Ash couldn’t hold back and said, "I actually didn’t know you were here—so why are you in this private room, anyway?"