Chapter 1202 - A Chick's Day Off - Part.-n
—The artist couple, friends of my parents, whom I met for the first time.
A gentle husband with a gentle face and a gentle voice, who did not make me feel the pressure unique to adult men at all. The art director active widely across the world, Nanasaki Arikazu-san.
And his wife. Slender and tall, with a translucent beauty unique to northern countries. The painter Elena Vrubel-san, who was already making a name for herself as a modern master artist back then, leaving a strong impression with the lively sparkle of her eyes that rivaled her gold-crafted blonde hair.
The 'future dream (person)' I had yearned for since a year ago, and her spouse.
Being able to actually meet such people... even a cheeky child who had grown conceited was, as expected of their age, innocently high-spirited, as I recall.
Yes, after meeting face-to-face, for only a few seconds. I have a memory of innocently being high-spirited.
Until I noticed the small fairy hiding behind the two of them.
First, my young head froze. Not because I was struck by the cold air of the northern country, but because I had encountered an incomprehensible unknown. That it was not a fairy but a human...
In short, the time it took to understand that she was an existence (child) just like me was over ten seconds.
And yet, once I reached that understanding—as an outlier ten-year-old who was already mingling in the circle of adults back then, the rotation speed of my thoughts was not that of an average peer.
However, I was only ten years old.
Just as a person who simply grows older does not automatically become an adult, but rather becomes a wise person (adult) by successfully continuing to grasp the opportunities for growth obtained by growing older.
No matter how much wiser I might have been than others, the number of times I had experienced such opportunities could be counted on one hand. In other words, the Hiyori of the past was nothing more than a 'child' who was only slightly clever, and when it came to reason, she was average.
—What is that girl (thing)?
So, yes.
—She is cuter (more amazing) than me.
It took less than a second for the wonder of an unknown encounter to transform into a tremendous antipathy.
I had never met one. I had never experienced it. —The ten-year-old Hiyori did not yet know. That there was a child in the world more special than herself.
Perhaps, that was a defense mechanism against the 'fear of the unknown'. In order to protect her body, in order to protect her heart, Hiyori, who instantly judged the fairy before her eyes as an 'enemy'...
—Здравствуйте (Nice to meet you).
With a perfect smile that had captivated countless people, both adults and children alike, without distinction over the span of ten years.
With a complete performance, one that she could self-deprecatingly call clearly unchildlike, as if she were convinced that no one would ever notice her hostility or antipathy... and that even in the future, it had not been noticed.
She threw the foreign words she had practiced as a greeting at the fairy (thing).
One week since then. To put it mildly, days like a nightmare.
The human girl who was not a fairy, one year younger... Liliania Vrubel, exactly as Hiyori intended, became annoyingly attached to the 'friend' of her own age who had approached her with a gentle face.
Pure and innocent. Guileless and spotless. Knowing no defilement was exactly this. A girl with an endlessly translucent presence, for whom even exhausting so many flowery words would still not be enough.
With such an 'enemy' as her opponent, Hiyori continued to play the role of the good older sister.
For what purpose—something like that was to be liked by the person she admired (Elena-san). It was merely that she harbored a selfish desire, hoping to be favored and perhaps even receive drawing lessons.
Therefore, she got along with her.
The more they got along, the more her antipathy turned into clear disgust.
If it were only her appearance, I do not think she would have let it get so twisted. However, for the mental state of the young Hiyori at the time, it was fatal—even her 'future dream (what she wanted to be)',
being completely and utterly surpassed. There was nothing she could do.
It was Hiyori who invited her to draw pictures.
...If I were to defend my past self to a minimum, the invitation itself did not contain any intention like showing her up. It was simply interest and a wish.
No matter how much cuter of a face she had than me, surely.
Heaven does not bestow two gifts—a phrase Hiyori, who was praised in every field, had heard and known as a rhetorical question. If that were to apply correctly... yes.
No matter how much she was a painter's daughter, wouldn't she herself be superior when it came to drawing?
If that were the case, how thrilling. Not to hurt her, but simply to comfort her own heart—in short, ultimately using an ugly emotion as her reason.
She challenged her, and was shown up even more than in appearance.
The 'scribble' that Liliania drew with a reluctant face was not a picture drawn by a child. It was not even something an adult could draw.
A sensation where the brain refused to recognize it as a mere picture, something that was not permitted to be drawn unless one possessed natural talent... Hiyori, there, finally became conscious of it in words.
—Ah, I hate you so much.
And then, the follow-up blow. Liliania muttered softly in a lovely voice.
—I don't really like drawing.
Hiyori's pride (everything up to now), which was young, brilliant... but actually terribly fragile.
The nonsense that shattered it into pieces and ground it to dust.
The sorrow of a genius.