The Hero’s Brother Is Bound To Be Depressed

38 – Touch

The birthday of the emperor everyone has been waiting for has come. The maids, who had been busy since morning, filled the tables in the banquet hall with food.

A famous chef from outside was invited and a mountain of food that was not normally eaten was brought to the table.

“I wish every day was my birthday.”

Aria said while eating lamb ribs.

“What can I do? So much to eat… !”

Me and Kane laughed out loud at Aria’s happy thought.

“What is the schedule for today?”

“Birthday quiz event in the morning, watching the capital city parade at lunchtime. Balls and fireworks in the evening.”

Lakar kindly answered my question.

“Is anyone participating in the quiz?”

At my question, the Messiah members who have been eating together recently shook their heads.

“Then, shall we swim on the island in the morning?”

Everyone nodded eagerly at my question and enjoyed the banquet.

At Arya’s persistent request, she put dessert, meat, and a glass of drink in the space storage so that she could eat on the island while avoiding the eyes of others.

After finishing the banquet, we returned to the club room and headed to the island beyond the closet.

Thanks to Nelson’s gift, I was able to build good memories by swimming with the members and eating food out of the storage room.

*

After the parade, we lay on the bed in the club room to rest our tired bodies.

All kinds of wizards, palace knights, musicians and poets. The sight of countless servants of the imperial palace conducting a parade had the magical power of not letting the cheers stop.

Especially when Principal Nelson appeared on a cloud. Attention was drawn to the sound of cheers close to screams from Transcendence Academy students.

As if the members were tired from playing, they took a nap while breathing evenly.

I also slept for a while, then returned to the dormitory and changed my clothes before the prom.

As advised by Mrs. Pomrel, pomade was applied and the bangs were pulled back.

I headed to the Ministry of Magic dormitory for the first time to pick up my prom partner, as is tradition. Men’s and women’s dormitories are divided and entrance of the opposite s*x is magically forbidden, but today it was temporarily released.

Let’s knock on the door of the dormitory with the number 1304 written on it that we got from Ellie in advance.

I heard a commotion from inside, and a woman whose name I did not know opened the door slightly and showed her face.

“Who came?”

“Ah, Ellie….”

Before I could finish talking, I heard screams and fussing from inside. The woman who held out her face smiled and disappeared behind her door, followed by Ellie in a pretty pink dress.

Let’s hold our breath for a moment and look at it with a stupid expression. Embarrassed by Ellie, she averted her gaze.

“Not good… ?”

“Oh, no. Pretty.”

Saying that, I held out her hand, and Ellie took mine with a pretty smile.

Let’s get out of the dormitory with the other prom participants and head to the banquet hall. The banquet hall had changed to such an extent that it was impossible to see the previous appearance.

It was several times bigger than usual, probably because of the space expansion magic, and the huge moon on the ceiling was dyed pink. The stars were twinkling and flowing beautifully.

An orchestra was playing music on the podium, and all sorts of food were placed on long tables on either side of the ballroom. There were even honey beers and low-alcohol alcohol that were not available at school.

There were so many people that it was complicated, so Ellie and I headed to the next table for a while and had a drink.

“Did you learn to dance?”

“No, never.”

As I shook her head, as expected, Ellie shrugged her shoulders and drank her honey beer.

As time passed, the number of people participating in the prom increased. As I started dancing all over the place, Ellie forcibly dragged me and started dancing among the people.

As I followed her dance with her sloppy posture, she repeated several times for Ellie to burst into laughter and sweep her face in her embarrassment.

Someone put a hand on my shoulder from behind.

“Ross!”

She must have been drinking, her face turned red a little, and Roel smiled brightly.

“Hello, Ellie. You look very pretty today.”

Ellie approached Roel with her face blushing at Roel’s praise.

“Hi, Ross. It’s been a while~”

Flavia, dressed in a black dress, greeted her in an inappropriately friendly manner.

“Hello. Today… You look pretty.”

Let’s answer like that out of courtesy. Flavia, like me, smiled pretentiously and averted our gaze.

“Ross, let’s dance with you!”

Is it because of the alcohol or because of the prom? Roel, who looks more cheerful than usual, dances around her hips. In an instant, people’s eyes gathered.

To be honest, his dancing skills seemed similar to mine, but it seemed plausible because of his looks. This wasn’t jealousy, it was a really objective evaluation.

She was swept away by the atmosphere and she couldn’t refuse Roel’s repeated demands, and eventually she danced her dance with Roel. When she saw that Kane and Aria were smiling at me, she hurriedly stopped dancing.

“Manager, you dance well!”

Drinking fruit wine, Kane shouted and approached and started dancing.

Arya came over and handed her a glass of something mixed. She drank it and danced with her.

“Did you see him with his fiancé Lacar???”

When I was feeling dizzy from the darkened lights and twinkling lights like a club rather than a ball, Kane shouted.

“Where are you?”

“I was dancing a waltz in front of you!!!”

At Kane’s words, she thought she had to say hello to La Carre and her fiancé, so she tried to ask Ellie for her understanding, but she was already clinging to Roel and seeing her dancing, her hair fell. Scratching her hair, she moved on to find La Carre.

Cutting through countless people, I came into my field of vision of the handsome men and women dancing a waltz in sync with their breath.

When the waltz is over and a short break comes. I approach Lakar, who is talking to a woman who is supposed to be his fiancée.

“Lacar.”

“Ross! Elena, this is Ross, the head of the messiah club I was talking about.”

When La Carre introduced me to her fiancé, Elena, with purple hair, greeted me with a smile.

“Hello. This is Elena from the Faculty of Magic. I heard a lot about Lakar.”

“Hello. It’s Combat Club Ross. She was told that her fiancé was beautiful, but La Carte’s description was much lacking.”

Still, since he was a writer, these words came out skillfully.

In the midst of talking about Lakar with Elena, who looks happy at my words. I thought of Luna, who was the only one among the members who was invisible.

“Lacar, isn’t Luna here?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.”

Laccar answered as he ate the lamb skewers offered by Elena.

I tapped Lakar on the shoulder and looked around her ballroom to find Luna, but Luna was nowhere to be seen.

I found Arya eating alcohol and meat in the corner of the table and approached her.

“Aria! Didn’t Luna come?”

“Eh? Luna? I don’t know! Isn’t she in the dorm? You hate this!”

Sighing at the sight of Aria, who was already drunk, I went back to find Ellie.

As if she didn’t know I wasn’t by her side, Ellie danced and talked with Roel and answered my call casually.

“Ellie, I have someone to look for, so I’ll go out and come back!”

“Uh, uh! Do as you will!”

I left the ballroom, feeling a bit bitter at the sight of Ellie, who was so enamored with Roel, who led the crowd and danced as a group, that she didn’t even look at me.

I left the noisy ballroom and headed for the dormitory of the Faculty of Magic.

It was the complete opposite of the Combat Division dormitory, so it was the first time I even saw the dormitory building.

Perhaps it was because everyone went to the ballroom, the dormitory was locked in darkness and only my footsteps could be heard.

Because she came to the dormitory blindly, she didn’t know where Luna was, so she approached the security guard guarding the dormitory and asked.

“Is there a place where I can see the dormitory assignment table?”

“It will stick to the wall by the stairs.”

I bowed my head in gratitude at the knight’s words, and headed up the stairs to find Luna’s name on the dormitory assignment sheet on the wall.

I knocked on the door of room 1204 where Luna was, but no one came out as if there was no one inside her.

Did he go somewhere other than the dormitory? Concerned, I thought I might have gone to the club room, so I left the dormitory of the Faculty of Magic and headed for the club room.

When I opened the door to the club room and entered, Luna, who was reading a book, looked at me with surprised eyes.

“Ross?”

I don’t know if it’s because of the alcohol that Aria gave me, or because of Luna who is alone here with a depressed face while everyone is enjoying the festival.

I approached Luna and asked in a slightly angry voice.

“What are you doing here alone?”

“Ah…. I’m a little bit of a prom….”

Blowing out a hot breath, I closed the book Luna was reading.

My behavior was different from usual, so Luna looked at me with a puzzled look. I wasn’t drunk, but for some reason I was shaken by a strange feeling seething in my heart.

“Do you trust me?”

Emotions came out as words without going through the brain.

Luna’s blue eyes shook violently at that question, and let’s get her lost. I held out my hand to her and spoke again.

“Trust me.”

I don’t have any plans or ideas, but I said in a confident voice.

Then, Luna held her outstretched hand and gave her a small nod.

I smiled and held Luna’s hand tightly as we headed towards the ballroom.

How heated up the atmosphere. With one gesture from Roel, people could see people surfing.

We intervened in the midst of everyone moving their legs in a hurry to the fast-tempo performance.

I shouted at Luna at the loud music.

“Have you ever danced?”

“Oh no!”

As Luna shook her head at my question, I smiled and whispered close to her face.

“Today is my first time too!”

Saying that, I wrapped Luna’s left hand in her fist.

While Luna flinched in surprise at her sudden action, I carefully released Luna’s fist from her and grabbed her hand.

I smiled at Luna’s left hand, which gripped my hand so tightly that it hurt, and grabbed Luna’s other hand and started dancing like everyone else.

At first, I felt ashamed and embarrassed at Luna’s embarrassed expression and awkward gestures. Soon, Luna also started dancing with a smile.

When the music was over and it was time to take a break, I approached her table and shared her drink without letting go of her left hand.

Maybe because she danced, Luna’s blushing face looked even cuter today.

“Luna, there is something I want to show you.”

When Roel was in her senior year, she had the idea that she wanted to show her Luna the scenery of her academy rooftop, the place where she confessed her true feelings to Flavia.

Finally, it was also time for the magic firecrackers to celebrate the upcoming birthday.

Originally, students were not allowed to enter, but I knew how to get to the rooftop.

Holding Luna’s hand, I left the ballroom and climbed the stairs to the rooftop.

I could have asked where I was going, but Luna followed me silently, as if she trusted me completely.

The road to the rooftop was blocked by magic, but I recognized the spatial coordinates of the place heading to the rooftop through the window.

Roel climbed through the window and stepped onto the roof, but Luna, with her crippled feet, could be dangerous walking on her roof.

But, I had a method called space magic.

“You still remember what we did in practice before? If you do one, two, three, you will jump in place.”

Luna gave a puzzled look at my sudden words, but as soon as she counted, she hurriedly jumped.

We made a dimensional entrance under our feet and came out through the exit we made on the way to the rooftop.

I’m afraid I might get hurt. Holding her Luna in her arms, I took a deep breath as her mana ran out for a moment.

Making an entrance large enough for two people to pass through required more mana than usual.

Fortunately, it wasn’t to the point of exhaustion. When she came to her senses, I realized the existence of her Luna, who was burying her face in my chest, and hurriedly wrapped her around her, releasing her arms inside her.

“Mi-sorry. I’m afraid I’ll get hurt….”

“Oh, no.”

For some reason, I felt strange at Luna’s warm body temperature and sweet scent.

Without letting go of our hands held in silence, we headed for the rooftop.

On the rooftop, where no one was there, I took out the cloak I had purchased earlier from the space storage and spread it on the floor to sit down with Luna.

Should I let go now? I thought about it and tried to pull her hand out, but maybe it was because my hand was uncomfortable. Or is it that you don’t want to let go? Luna’s left hand just squeezed my right hand tightly enough to break it.

With no one around, Luna could only hear her regular breathing.

Looking down at the beautiful capital city, Luna turned her gaze to me with slightly watery eyes.

“I wanted to show you.”

I don’t know the exact reason because it was a sudden thought, but I was sincere in wanting to show it.

To my words, Luna answered with a look that looked like she was going to cry.

“Magic… same.”

Is it because of the alcohol, or is it because of the sensibility that the moonlight gives? Maybe it was because of the warmth I felt from the hands that were still holding each other.

Her feelings for Ellie were different. If you express it as desire, which is a primary emotion, it was because the feelings I felt towards Luna were close to innocence.

Even if you don’t speak, you don’t have to express it with your body. Even though she didn’t make eye contact.

The emotions transmitted from the hands facing each other made each other’s hearts beat.

Pow-!

Is the birthday fireworks show starting? A single magic firecracker lit up the black sky with rainbow-colored lights and exploded with a roar.

The look of Luna looking at it was as innocent as a child.

Is the fireworks show starting in earnest?

Despite the sound of firecrackers that continue to explode noisily, lighting up the night sky.

-Thump, thump, thump.

My ears were filled with only the sound of my beating heart.