At first, when Charlotte started talking, I thought I could just chat a bit and rewind time.
Then, the times I went out alone would seem as if nothing happened, and Alice and Charlotte who had been searching for me would merely have been hanging out in the hotel.
I wouldn’t achieve my original plan of secretly entering the cathedral to look around, but at least I could gauge how the Kingdom of Velbur thought of me and how wary they were of me.
I believed it would be fine to rewind time and exit in a way that Charlotte wouldn’t come back.
But…….
The footsteps returning to the hotel weren’t just mine.
Charlotte was walking beside me, and there were troops trailing behind us as guards.
There wasn’t much conversation between us.
But at least Charlotte looked much more comfortable than when she encountered me in the alley.
My head, on the other hand, was much more complicated.
As Charlotte said, maybe I should have practiced my poker face. After all, even a criminal can get focused on one thing for a long time and start to manage something.
It took quite a while to reach the hotel. I had walked so much while Alice was washing up that we had covered quite a distance.
Still, I got caught before reaching the cathedral.
“Sylvia.”
Alice was in the hotel lobby.
True to Charlotte’s words, Alice’s hair was wet.
When she saw me entering the lobby with Charlotte, she looked shocked for a moment, then her expression became a bit complex.
That makes sense.
“You must be tired from wandering around outside, so how about resting soon? We need to check out the Lutetia Culture Festival after doing some practice tomorrow.”
With Charlotte’s comment, I could only nod in agreement.
*
After returning to the room, Alice didn’t sit down immediately. Instead, she kept pacing around the room before turning sharply toward me.
“What’s the reason you didn’t use your powers?”
“If you thought I would use my abilities, why were you looking for me?”
“…So you weren’t planning to use it?”
“I was thinking about it.”
“…….”
Alice walked over with a somewhat complicated expression and plopped down in front of me.
“I… Well, no matter how much you can make everything seem like it never happened, the fact that you vanished without a word can’t just be ignored. I can’t just leave everything to you and do nothing.”
I had no words in response to Alice’s statement.
After all, it’s understandable for her to worry. It’s not just a matter of whether I can rewind time or not. Alice had seen me trying to rewind time and failing, and even seen me fall into a coma while trying to overcome that failure.
It was only natural for her to feel anxious not being able to directly witness it beside me.
“So what’s the reason for coming back on foot without using your powers?”
Alice asked.
Hmm.
To be honest, there wouldn’t be any problem telling Alice. Alice thought of Charlotte as a close friend, and I didn’t think she would give any negative reactions just because I had gotten close to Charlotte.
But thinking that I didn’t want to rewind time because of today’s conversation with Charlotte… That was a bit awkward.
It felt itchy and embarrassing.
“……”
As I exercised my right to silence, Alice squinted at me. Then she said, “Well, I’ll just ask Charlotte tomorrow.”
I wouldn’t bother mentioning the ability to rewind time, but at least she would probably hear what we talked about yesterday.
I thought that was within the acceptable range, so I decided not to object.
If Charlotte didn’t think it was embarrassing, she’d tell her, right?
But, considering we had that conversation after keeping the guards around us silent, I wasn’t sure if she would or not.
*
The next day.
For some reason, people gathered around me.
Thinking about it, I actually had quite a few friends in this world. I wasn’t sure if I should call Claire a friend or a real little sister, but considering her as a little sister-like friend… I might actually have more people to contact and spend time with than in my original world.
The problem was that all those friends were right in my vicinity.
Recently, friends who would usually leave me alone, whether it was just Alice and me or I was alone, were all gathering around me, subtly observing me, so I couldn’t help but feel that something was off.
When I stared silently at Alice, she quickly averted her gaze.
That’s right.
Yesterday, Alice was wandering the hotel, asking where I was without even drying her hair.
…Then it was obvious she didn’t just ask that of Charlotte. It was highly unlikely that I was someone who would be alone with Charlotte.
Claire probably went looking for me too, as well as Leo, Mia, Rena, Jake, Roti, and even Sophia.
And all those friends knew very well that I wasn’t exactly the same as an ordinary person.
Naturally, they would think that my disappearance was something that might lead to trouble.
And thanks to that, I found myself surrounded by friends, being monitored.
Or rather, from their perspective, it might not be monitoring but rather concern.
“…….”
I stealthily moved near Alice and poked her side with my finger. Since I checked my surroundings carefully, it shouldn’t have attracted much attention.
At least this was something I could rewind time for again.
“Ugh!”
At that sound, Alice quickly glanced around and thankfully confirmed that no one was looking our way before scowling at me.
“What?”
To Alice, whose voice was low, I replied as quietly as possible.
“Just how far did you go with those conversations yesterday?”
“No, I thought you… well, I thought you would.”
Seeing Alice hurriedly change her tune while looking around made me almost facepalm.
So that’s it.
Alice thought I would rewind time.
Of course, she thought it wouldn’t be a big deal for her to ask about me. Even though she saw that I couldn’t rewind time because of the Masked Girl, I hadn’t leaped away from here yet… so it must have mixed feelings of anxiety and trust that led to illogical behavior.
“…….”
When I continued to quietly stare at Alice, she averted her gaze.
Then she said, “You also push this and that onto Father when it’s necessary.”
She tried to deflect the blame.
Hmm.
I couldn’t refute that.
I had no choice but to shoulder everything concerning the cathedral because it was directly linked to the Emperor, but for all sorts of small issues, I had been shoving them over to the Emperor without any guilt.
I contemplated poking Alice’s side once more but decided to keep walking silently.
Because a few people were looking this way due to Alice’s remark.
Charlotte was walking in front so she wouldn’t turn around, but Claire, who was walking a little away, and Leo and Sophia, with their senses as inspectors.
Mia had been glancing our way for a while now, and while Jake and Roti were walking close together, they were still checking our direction occasionally.
For a moment, I seriously considered rewinding time back to yesterday.
But.
To be honest, I didn’t feel entirely unpleasant about it.
If the beings watching me were merely concerned because of their mission, I would have done anything to escape that surveillance.
But the eyes of the people here were worried.
Receiving those gazes felt a bit tinglish, strangely embarrassing, and an altogether odd sensation.
It was a strange feeling, but somehow.
Because of those gazes, I felt that I had managed to get along just fine since coming to this world.
Someone might ask me how I could say such a thing after causing trouble and getting worried, but well, what can I say? My personality is like that.
*
That said, I couldn’t just wander around like a tourist.
No matter how much Charlotte broke the rules, I needed to find a way for myself.
“Are you going to be okay?”
Uhm… no, I didn’t think it would be just me.
“I don’t mean that I’m going to tell everything.”
I answered Alice who followed me. Alice thought for a moment and then nodded seriously.
I nodded back at her and knocked on the door in front of us.
[Yes, please come in.]
Charlotte’s voice came from beyond the thick door.
I turned to Alice once more.
The two of us nodded and opened Charlotte’s door to enter.
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