My Childhood Friend Is An Archmage Chapter 97
Translated by d6y (ko-fi)
Chapter 97
"Do I look mad to you?"
"Uh, no?"
"Exactly, no! You idiot!"
Lancer seems even more confused. "If you're not angry, why are you swearing at me?"
"Because you keep saying weird things!"
"Weird… weird things?"
"Yes, weird things!" I can't hold it in anymore and blurt out everything I've been bottling up. "Lancer, why the hell are you talking like I'm in love with Ryan? When did I ever tell you that I'm in love with him, huh?"
"Well, that's…."
"See, you can't even answer that! So why are you crying and making sh*t up in your head?! Stop crying, you idiot! You look really ugly when you cry, so stop it!"
At the raising of my voice, Lancer jumps to his feet. "S-Skyla! Calm down! Don't be angry, let's talk this out…."
"You think we can talk it out now?" My vision is getting blurry. The tip of my nose burns. "Do you have any idea how I feel right now? The person I've liked my whole life finally tells me that he really likes me, but then he suddenly tells me that he's happy if I'm with someone else! It's ridiculous! Lancer, you…."
My words trail off. Lancer, trying to calm me down, hugs me.
And for a moment, I forgot how to breathe as he held me close.
His voice rings in my ears. "Don't cry."
"...What? I'm not crying." Even as I say that, I'm sobbing. The tears have begun to fall to the floor and splatter into pieces.
Wiping the tears away with the back of one hand, I try to pull away from Lancer, but he grabs onto me and refuses to let go.
"Skyla, I think I'm a really bad friend."
"Why?"
"Because I keep making you cry like this…."
"I don't know. Maybe you were an onion and I was an onion peeler in our past lives. Makes sense if you think about it."
I close my eyes and wrap Lancer tightly around his shoulders.
Lancer looks startled for a moment, but then he slowly begins to stroke my back in a comforting way.
"I'll try to be a good fried onion from now on, not a raw onion," he says.
"Don't talk nonsense, just stay still."
"Okay."
Lancer shuts his mouth until he starts to chuckle out of nowhere.
"Why are you laughing?" I ask.
"Nothing, I just feel like it."
"You were crying just a minute ago… you're so moody, you know? That's a problem."
"Well, at least I didn't go on a rampage, right?”
"...Ah."
At Lancer's reply, it dawns on me. Even until now, there have been no more rampages occurring from him.
Why? Didn't Lancer just throw a tantrum every time I didn't give him what he wanted? And then his magic power would go wild?
"Uh…. Lancer, please don't take offence to what I'm about to tell you." I pull away from him slightly and stare up at him, speaking carefully. "Didn't you used to get emotional when I pushed you away, and then you would go on a rampage?"
"Yeah, I used to."
"But why are you now…."
"Because it doesn't bother me anymore."
Lancer stares down at me. The corners of his eyes are still red from tears, and a wide grin plays at the corners of his mouth. "I don't know, I guess I'm happy now even when I'm sad."
That's….
"Well, it used to bother me to death, Skyla, when I thought you'd pick someone other than me." Lancer slowly raises one hand. "But once I realised that you could be happy with someone other than me, it wasn't… so painful anymore."
Then a warm hand brushes my cheek.
"I only want you to be happy, Skyla."
The back of Lancer's hand wipes away at the corner of my eyes.
"The best thing for me would be me making you happy, but it's okay if it's not me, too. It's enough to look at you for six minutes more."
"...Are you sure that's going to work?"
After listening to Lancer's words silently, I grab his hand at my face. He stiffens at my unexpected gesture. But I'm undeterred and continue to ask him.
"Lancer, is that really what you want?"
"Skyla, I....” Lancer stares at me blankly for a moment. He seems as confused as a baby duck waddling around, not knowing what to do.
But only for a moment.
Slowly, Lancer tilts his head towards me.
"Besides looking, do you mind if I do something else…?"
"What specifically do you want to do?” I ask in a whisper, expecting a shoulder pat or a hug at most.
But Lancer exceeds my expectations.
"I want to kiss you."
"Argh!"
His reply makes my head spin. Unable to contain my shock, I reflexively shove him away from me.
The unexpected attack sends Lancer crashing to the carpeted floor. I lunge at him, not even bothering to pick him up.
"You— you…! Oh my god, where did you learn to say such things?"
"From me. I know what I know."
"Don't suddenly act mature without telling me! You've never done… that before in your life!"
"But I know how to do it, don't treat me like a child!" Lancer pleads, jumping in frustration.
Standing in front of me again, he casts me a cautious glance.
"Can I…?" The look on his face when he asks me is strangely provocative. I can feel my face heat up. If my face were a tomato, it would be so ripe it would burst.
An angel and a devil pop into my head.
The angel screams, "Teach this man to love!" and the devil screams, "Teach this man with your body!”
No, wait, aren't the angel and the devil in the same team? My brain, overloading with unexpected stimuli, can no longer think straight.
Eventually, I gave up on rational thinking.
"To… or not to…." With that declaration, I close my eyes. "If you're going to do it, do it fast." I urge Lancer.
Although I sound confident, I'm actually quite nervous.
And so is Lancer. He'd asked for a kiss at the very least, and his agitation at being denied was palpable.
Several seconds pass with no progress.
"Well, I…. Skylar…."
"Hurry up, we're going to be late for dinner with Brother Hubert!" I shout for nothing.
After a moment of hesitation, Lancer uses his hand to cover my cheek.
Chu.
A touch as light as a baby bird pecking with its beak.
And then it was gone in a flash.
"...?"
I blink, bewildered by the warmth that vanished at the speed of light.
It was more flimsy and insignificant than I had imagined. It felt like something squishy, like a tomato blanched in hot water, had touched my lips and then disappeared.
"Lancer?"
"Huh?"
"Is that it?"
"Yeah." Lancer scratches the back of his head and averts his eyes.
"...."
A wave of despondency shoots through me.
It's over? That's it? Is this a trial that I have to pay for the full version of?
I feel like crying, having honestly expected more than this.
"That's not it!" I grab Lancer by his collar.
Startled, he stumbles backwards. "What do you mean by that?"
"What you just did was a peck, not a kiss! Do it again and get it right this time!"
Embarrassment floods his face as I snap at him.
"What, they're different?"
"Yeah, they are!"
"Different in what way?"
"Different duration, for starters!"
"Then Skyla, tell me exactly what was different!"
At his words, I freeze like I'm trapped in ice.
How do I explain this? No, where do I even begin? Should I just tell him that he needs to tilt his head at a 45-degree angle?
After a moment's hesitation, I turn to him and stammer. "Uh, well, you have to use your… tongue."
"Tongue?"
"Yeah, the tongue...." I blush as a concrete image of it pops into my head. My brain feels like it's steaming.
"What's wrong, Skyla?" Standing in front of me, Lancer tilts his head as if he knows nothing.
I let go of him and blush further. "I'm rotten."
"Rotten? No! You're fresh!" Lancer grabs both my hands urgently. "Skyla, I'll try harder again. Just give me one more chance."
I'm speechless for a moment because Lancer leans down and kisses me once more.
The sensation of him drifts into my lips. The heat makes it hard to think straight. It feels like a thousand butterflies in my stomach, all flying at once.
But I don't refuse him.
One of Lancer's hands wraps around my waist. He pulls me towards him. There's no room left for us to be any closer.
I can't breathe….
He kisses me for what seems like an eternity, and my head begins to spin like a pinwheel before a gale.
I'm afraid that if I breathe now, the air that will escape my nostrils will spoil the mood. So I hold my breath.
My body is beginning to heat up differently.
"Lancer, that's enough….”
When our lips part, I suck in a breath and try to stop him.
But Lancer wouldn't have any of it.
"It's been less than six minutes."
"What? Do you even know what's going to happen if—"
I open my mouth to protest, but to no avail. Another kiss, then another, then another, back to back, without a break.
I can hear the footsteps of maids cleaning in the corridor. I'm afraid that someone might enter my room at any moment.
But I love the feeling of his lips on mine, so I don't push him away.
