CH 28.2

“He’s the kind of guy who spends his entire day idly gazing at those little dirty shoes while thinking about Nina.”

“You’ve been staring at my shoes….?”

“I’m begging you, please stop.”

I was relieved that both of them seemed to accept my explanation, but in the end, everyone found out about my existence. As I wondered what to do next, Lara arched her bright red lips.

“I don’t care about Alvin, I’ll keep coming back to see Nina. Nina is my only friend.”

“Lara, Erica is a very nice girl.”

“Hmph, I’ll think about it when she gets better at magic.”

I also remembered a time when I couldn’t handle holy magic well, and Lara ignored me. In the area where she grew up, the supremacy of magic was deeply rooted, and there was a strong belief that people who couldn’t use magic had no value.

As I was remembering this, I noticed that Dirk was staring at me intensely.

“What’s wrong?”

“Have you been spending all your time alone with Alvin?”

“No. He seems to be busy with work, so we just have dinner together and talk for a few hours.”

“That… How is your relationship with him?”

“Our relationship? It’s normal. He treats me well.”

When I responded, Lara, who seemed to be listening to our conversation, let out a loud sigh.

“Same as always, huh? He’s asking if you’re in a relationship with Alvin.”

“W-We don’t have that kind of relationship! We really just, you know, talk and stuff.”

“Oh? By the looks of it, he confessed.”

“…. Did you know about that?”

“The only person who didn’t notice is Nina, who’s too thickheaded.”

According to Lara, everyone knew that Alvin-sama liked me. It was kind of embarrassing that I was the only one who had no idea.

Lara chuckled, got up from the sofa, and patted Dirk on the shoulder.

“Well, Dirk, make sure you don’t have any regrets.”

“…. I know.”

“I’m going to continue looking for my familiar, so you two go ahead and have a friendly chat.”

According to Lala’s divination ability, her familiar was still in the forest. It seemed that he was a familiar that took several years to create, so she couldn’t just let it go.

She left just like that, leaving the two of us alone. There was an indescribable silence, and I didn’t know what to say.

Two years ago, we were such easygoing friends, but now I felt uncomfortable. I felt that Dirk’s attitude was a little different from before.

“I-It’s been so long since I’ve seen you, I’m a little embarrassed.”

“….”

“Ah, I’ll go make some tea─Waaa!”

When I stood up to serve some tea, he pulled my arm and hugged me from behind.

Wrapped in Dirk’s firm body, the same gentle and refreshing scent as in the past tickled my nose.

“Dirk?”

“…. I really, really missed you. Nina.”

The arm was put around me tightly, and my chest tightened at the earnest sound of his voice.

His arms were tightly wrapped around me, and my chest tightened at his earnest voice.

I also heard that Dirk had talked about me so much that he got into a fight with Alvin-sama.

“Thank you…. Eh, o-ouch, my hair…”

“S-Sorry.”

It seemed that my hair got tangled in the buttons of Dirk’s clothes, pulling it tight and causing pain. Then Dirk, apparently in a panic, stepped on my foot, causing me to lose my balance due to further pain.

“Kyaaa…!?”

And just like that, we both fell to the floor. Thanks to the soft carpet on the floor, there wasn’t much pain, but I was in a position where Dirk pushed me down.

“Keugh…”

We were face-to-face, too close to each other. And for some reason, Dirk didn’t get up easily.

It was a moment when I thought I had to say something, bewildered by the atmosphere I had never felt before. Suddenly, I heard the sound of the front door opening strongly as if it had been kicked in.

As we were unable to move, footsteps approached us and eventually stopped right next to us. This was definitely not a good situation.

“─What are you doing?”

Fearfully, I looked in the direction of the voice, and there, as I had expected, was Alvin-sama.