A vision that was blurred and hazy because of the tears.
　I raised my body from the position where I had fallen on my back and turned such a vision to see a beautiful eye.
　Eyes that shone as if they were filled with the night sky. The source of that light was an imprint that seemed to be shaped like a star.

''.........Beautiful........''
　Aisha couldn't help but say so.
　But those eyes were only visible for the briefest of moments when the wind ran through them and her hair flew in the air.
　They were quickly obscured, as if the stars disappeared between the clouds that were shifted by the wind.

　It seemed a little disappointing.
　Not only was her hair long, but the girl had deliberately hidden her eyes by lowering her gaze.
　The gaze did not rise slowly downward, as if embarrassed by Aisha's muttering.
　As it was, the girl turned to the side as if to half-draw her body and grabbed the sleeve of Aisha's clothes as she sat down with one hand.



　A weak force is applied.
　The strength to wake Aisha up as she sat down was not there.
　But he had no intention of refusing the girl's actions, which were probably a favor. So, Aisha forced her weak body to stand up a little bit more.

''.........''
　The girl silently withdrew her hand, and Aisha did as she was told, and stepped away.
　It was only a few steps away.
　The single tree she reached had an ugly piece of playground equipment hanging from it.
　It was strung up, and underneath it hung a wooden plank of wood that wasn't clean, but still had polished marks on it.

''Sit .......................''
　Aisha sat down on the wooden swing, which she feared would break if an adult sat on it.
　Aisha felt a strange, soft warmth, even in the small hall in the back alley where the sun would be hard to shine. Perhaps it was because of the change from one to two that the whirlwind of emotions that had been tightening in her chest became a little less intense.

　The girl didn't speak a word while Aisha tried her best to calm herself down.
　In the silence, as she wondered if she should say something, the girl opened her mouth again in a small way.

''This is my first time.........''
　It was a somewhat masterful way of saying things.
　That's why it sounded so lonely for some reason.

'What is, sir?'
　Aisha asks, timidly.

'Well the reason I'm sitting here other than me is because I've been alone the whole time. .....
　The girl sat Aisha down and stood on her back, not showing her face.
　The tone was that of a child, yet strangely, her language seemed to be mature.


　Only a voice with a lack of emotion echoed from behind me, and I couldn't understand what kind of feeling the girl had in saying such a thing.
　But I can somehow understand that the fact that she gave this place, which she said was special, to Aisha, who she had never met before, must have been her own way of doing a favor to the best of her ability.
　Even if it was a physical pity, it was still a favor.

　Looking back and looking at the girl, the girl almost turns away as if to escape her gaze.
　Intrigued by the girl, Aisha opened her mouth.

It's a very good idea to have a good idea of what to do. I'm a half-eared chief race (half-elf), and I'm 20 years old, or maybe about 9 years old if I were human. Oh, may I ask your name?
　Aisha asked with an awful ostentation, as if she was introducing herself for the first time.

''.........Isna.......''
　Izuna, on the other hand, only says so briefly.

''.........Aisha isn't from this country.......''

Yeah, how did you know?
　Aisha listens back to Izuna's confident manner, surprised by Izuna's statement.

''........because you say these eyes are beautiful.......''

'What!　But it's beautiful, right?　They're as beautiful as Nacht-sama's eyes. Why do you hide them?　It's too good to be true!
　It was from the heart.　
　From the moment he saw her at first glance, he had thought that Izuna's eyes, like a shooting star making a wish, were beautiful.
　Hearing Aisha's words, Izuna's body trembled a little bit, and she shook her head slightly.

I've never heard anyone say 'beautiful' or anything like that...
　Izuna slowly explained to Aisha, who tilted her head slightly and wanted to say that she sincerely didn't understand the meaning.

''.........These eyes are the demon eyes - instead of great power, they make everyone unhappy......''
　It was terribly vague and abstract.

No one in this country can call those eyes beautiful, can they?
　It sounded lonely, everywhere, everywhere.
　Under the ice and snow, at the bottom of the ocean. It was a small sympathy, deeper-rooted than pity, that Aisha remembered from the manner in which she held her knees and spoke in such a place.
　Alone in the world.
　That was how Aisha had felt before she had lost her father and met Nacht. That's why I felt like I had said such a lonely thing at some point in time, and my mouth was open.

''Oh, um, but that's a shame.''

What?

''Because it's a shame that you have to hide such beautiful eyes, isn't it? Aisha doesn't care about magical eyes or misfortune or anything like that. Izuna-san's eyes are beautiful, I think you should be more proud of them!

"--!
　Aisha knows.
　She knows that it's wrong to be alone, to be the only one in the world, or to be so smug.
　People cannot be alone as long as they are alive. People who think they are alone have only a narrow view of the world.
　I have experienced with my own eyes and ears that if you take the slightest chance, there is a person who reaches out to you, and if you are brave enough, you can grab his hand.
　When I thought about it, I wondered why I had been crying, and I felt ridiculous about myself until just now.
　After all, I had just thought I was alone on my own, hadn't I?

　I gathered my awareness to the deep, dark, yet warm magic that lodged deep in my chest.
　There was a definite connection to Nacht, and I felt the realization that he was probably still watching over Aisha as she grew up.

'Aisha is alone now... but I don't intend to be alone forever. So--
　As if to borrow a little courage, Aisha opened her mouth to Izuna with her hand on her chest.

''--Aisha and........well, oh, will you be my friend!

'　Why...!　I'm a machanavellian and I'm a machanavellian and you guys are not like me and Aisha is not like me and I'm not like you. He's cute and he's not like me... and Aisha, you're trying to trick me!
　What came back was the strongest hostility I've ever seen.
　Aisha shook her head in a hurry.

''No, no!　I just wanted to be friends with Izuna, who was so nice to me!　And if you say that Izuna has a magic eye, then I'm a half-eared chieftain (half-elf) too,

What?
　Looking at Izuna, who tilted her head slightly, Aisha realized that she was just like Aisha.

''You don't know either, Izuna-san - the only half-eared chief race (half-elf) in the villages of the kingdom is Aisha, and Aisha is the only one who is a screw-up, poorly remembered, forever a child, likes and dislikes, wasteful food-eaters and haters?　
　Aisha chuckled.
　It was all so hard, but now she could smile naturally.

'I don't know, it depends on the time and place, but it's nice to know. It's nice to be able to look at someone without any unnecessary preconceptions. Izuna in front of me is a sweet girl with beautiful eyes. That's why I wanted to be your friend. I don't have any friends, so I thought I might be the first one to make a friend. I thought that since it's Izuna, we could be friends. Don't want to, right?

... no, not...
　Aisha held out her hand.
　Then a hand, smaller than Aisha's, was busily moving in and out and retracting.
　Soon, their hands were close together, fingers almost touching each other.
　Then, the last step was taken, and Aisha moved closer and pinched.

'Nice to meet you, Izuna.'

''Well ... yes ...''
　A pair of crinkled eyes peeked out slightly from between her hair.
　That moment, when our palms met, was the moment when a place where we were alone turned into a place where we were alone.