Unsurprisingly, Shiro and Shirin passed the exam and officially became new students at the academy. Shiro passed on the first night, and Shirin on the second day.
What surprised Yuto was that Shiro did not come to see him immediately after passing. It had been late on the first night, which would explain his absence then, but he did not come on the second day, or even the third.
“My brother was deeply disappointed in the exam.”
Instead, Yuto heard about Shiro from Shirin. After passing on the second day and leaving the virtual space, she had come to see Yuto to take Elun into her care.
“He said it left him troubled and upset. Even in a virtual space, the pain and death people experienced there were real... He’s speaking with the students who are still in the infirmary, unable to shake off the pain and fear.”
Yuto understood as soon as he heard that.
‘He’s doing this for my benefit.’
If Calipha worked for Shiro, as Yuto suspected, she would have reported everything she had seen and experienced of his character.
Of course, there was a chance she did not work for Shiro. Even so, Shiro had already seen what sort of person Yuto was at the Marigold banquet.
The prince of Ristal was meeting with the students who had failed, suffering in sympathy with their psychological distress. Such a sight would be more than enough to move the heart of the Yuto Shiro believed he understood.
“Wasn’t it the constellations who devised that exam, rather than the academy’s professors?”
“Yes. My brother... Well, I should be careful saying this, but... he is angry with the constellations.”
Shirin gave a rueful smile.
“The exam was far too extreme, wasn’t it? Honestly, I don’t understand why the constellations prepared a test like that, either.”
“It sounds as though you found the exam unpleasant as well, Your Highness.”
“Of course I did. If they wanted to select outstanding students, there were any number of other ways. But making us kill one another in a virtual space...”
Shirin let out a deep sigh and shook her head.
“How could anyone approve of an exam like that? To be honest, I even wanted to quit halfway through. I couldn’t, for the sake of the Ristal royal family’s honor, but...”
“I understand. You are Ristal’s princess, after all.”
“Lord Yuto.”
Shirin narrowed her eyes at him.
“We are both students at the same academy now. So please stop calling me ‘Your Highness.’ This is my brother’s wish as well as mine.”
“That is quite an unreasonable request.”
“Ahaha. Sir Gregory, the dorm supervisor, called me ‘Miss Shirin’ as though it were perfectly natural. Here at Maria Academy, wearing this uniform, I am not the princess of the Kingdom of Ristal. I am Shirin Ristal, a first-year student.”
Shirin gazed at Yuto with a gentle smile.
“So please call me by my name too, Lord Yuto.”
“Very... well, Lady Shirin.”
Merely saying Shirin’s name made his chest churn. He could not help it, however hard he tried not to dwell on it.
The Shirin before him now was different from the Shirin of his previous life. No, she was not different. Shirin was still Shirin, looking exactly like the fifteen-year-old girl Yuto remembered.
Precisely because he felt that sameness so keenly, speaking her name could only bring him pain.
But he could not let those feelings show.
* * *
The entrance exam ended on the morning of the third day. The following day, the hundred selected students gathered in the auditorium once more.
“L-Lord Yutooo!”
Unlike the first day, only the incoming students were gathered in the auditorium. Among the hundred remaining out of the original thousand was Calipha. She had been looking around the hall, fingering the hem of her uniform as though uncomfortable in it, but the moment she spotted Yuto, her face lit up and she hurried over.
“Calipha Rudrock.”
Yuto waved to her, looking pleased to see her as well.
“You passed too.”
“Hehehe... Y-you said we should meet again at the academy, Lord Yuto. I did my best to keep that promise.”
Calipha fidgeted with her fingers, smiling sheepishly.
“I-I couldn’t kill any students, though. I just... just kept hiding so no one would find me.”
That was true. To avoid drawing unnecessary suspicion, Calipha had killed no one, instead erecting a barrier and waiting until the exam ended.
“It was thanks to the food and water you gave me. Th-thank you. I only passed because I was paired with you, Lord Yuto.”
Calipha scratched her head, still maintaining her meek persona.
“Lord Yuto.”
Another voice approached. Yuto composed his expression and turned.
“Lord... Shiro.”
“You’re not calling me ‘Your Highness.’”
Shiro approached with a warm smile. With shadows beneath his eyes, his face looked more haggard than when Yuto had last seen him.
“I heard you wished to be a student of the academy here, rather than a member of Ristal’s royal family.”
“It seems Shirin conveyed my wishes well.”
“You... don’t look well. Are you still suffering?”
“It was the suffering of others that troubled me, rather than my own.”
Shiro shook his head, then glanced at Calipha. She started and bowed her head.
“M-my name is Calipha Rudrock. It is an h-honor to meet you, Prince Shi...ro...”
“There’s no need to call me prince. We are fellow students here. Lady Calipha, would you give us a moment?”
“Yes... Pardon? Y-yes! Of course!”
Calipha hurried away. Only then did Shiro’s expression grow a little more serious as he looked at Yuto.
“I also met and spoke with the students you fought at the end, Lord Yuto.”
“Are they still in the infirmary?”
“They were until this morning. They had all calmed down a little, so they returned to their families.”
Shiro hesitated briefly, then sighed deeply.
“Of course, I am not blaming you. The ones who left those deep wounds on their minds were... the constellations.”
“...”
“I simply cannot understand why the constellations devised this exam, took direct control of the humans they should have been protecting... and fought you.”
“That wasn’t a fight.”
Yuto’s expression hardened in turn as he spat out the words.
“It was a fight for me, but not for the constellations. To them, it was ‘entertainment.’ Goddamn entertainment.”
Yuto spoke forcefully, allowing his anger and contempt to show plainly on his face.
For Shiro’s benefit, he said what Shiro wanted to hear. His words suited the image of ‘Yuto’ that Shiro would have formed.
There was no particular need to act as he said it. The emotions he felt at that moment were genuine.
He simply did not reveal all of them. Yuto kept his hostility toward Shiro, and his desire to kill him, perfectly hidden.
“Entertainment...”
Shiro murmured the word and clenched his fist. A certain ‘hesitation’ showed in his eyes as he looked at Yuto. That emotion could not possibly reflect his true feelings.
‘He’s deliberately letting it show.’
Yuto did not know everything about Shiro as a person, but he knew more than the Shiro of the present would suspect. That allowed him to discern what Shiro was thinking as he displayed those emotions.
“Lord Yuto... do you believe the constellations are right?”
Having deliberately displayed his inner struggle, Shiro slipped in the question. It was an explosive question, one he should never have dared voice. All the more so here at Maria Academy, under the constellations’ close gaze, and as a member of Ristal’s royal family.
“Yes.”
Yuto answered without hesitation.
“At least, the constellations I saw during this exam... were not right.”
Shiro’s eyes trembled slightly at those words. His emotions now were not entirely an act. Just as Yuto had revealed some of his true feelings, so too had Shiro.
At that moment, he genuinely liked Yuto’s answer.
“Lord Yuto.”
Shiro took a step closer. He lowered his voice because of the students around them, but that only lent it greater weight.
“I know it is inappropriate to say such things. A member of royalty must never dare question the constellations.”
Conflict colored Shiro’s voice.
The anguish of a boy torn between his position as royalty and his own conscience.
“Seeing the suffering of the students whose bodies the constellations seized... left me feeling profoundly powerless.”
The corners of Shiro’s mouth rose slightly. His expression could have been interpreted as a forced smile.
“You called what the constellations did ‘entertainment.’ If... if the constellations were indulging in that entertainment in reality too... would you feel the same anger?”
“Would anger alone be enough?”
Yuto also lifted the corners of his mouth. Unlike Shiro’s, his smile did not look forced.
“I would feel disgust and contempt.”
His smile was twisted with anger, disgust, and contempt.
“The constellations may be great beings, but that does not make everything they do right. I decide for myself what is right and wrong, and to my mind, the ‘entertainment’ they enjoy deserves anger, disgust, and contempt.”
“...”
“If, somewhere in this world, the same ‘revolting things’ I witnessed and experienced are happening, I would never want to tolerate them.”
“And if you refuse to tolerate them, what would you do?”
“Stop them.”
Yuto spoke with sincerity.
“Make sure the constellations cannot enjoy their entertainment.”
“Do you believe a human can thwart the will of the constellations?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t tried.”
After answering, Yuto took a moment to steady his breathing.
“But not knowing does not mean I want to turn a blind eye.”
“Even when it is the constellations you would be opposing?”
“That makes it all the more important not to turn a blind eye. They are great beings, rulers of the world who far transcend human reason.”
Yuto stared at Shiro, his eyes wide and fierce.
“If beings like that treat humans—no, the world—as ‘entertainment,’ the world will become a terrible place.”
Those words reached deep into Shiro’s heart. He genuinely liked Yuto’s answer, and Yuto himself.
Shiro Ristal held many secrets.
Calipha, who had just withdrawn, and the members of Eclipse who followed him. His father, the king of Ristal, and his younger sister, Shirin. Of all the people who dealt with ‘Shiro Ristal,’ not one knew his true heart.
He did, however, share a small part of his true intentions with Calipha and Eclipse: his unwavering goal of creating an equal world without gods or kings. A world without hierarchy.
‘But they have no greater cause.’
The members of Eclipse had no greater cause of setting the world right. Each had personal desires. They followed Shiro to gain more power, seeking to fulfill their own ambitions in the course of his transformation of the world.
‘You have a greater cause. One born of conviction.’
He was different from Calipha and Eclipse. Yuto was genuinely angry at the constellations’ conduct, disgusted and contemptuous of their entertainment-seeking nature. That conviction-driven sense of purpose made him the sort of person Shiro did not yet have at his side.
‘Aizen Carte hesitates, but you don’t hesitate at all.’
How fascinating. No, it went beyond mere fascination. Shiro wanted Yuto. He wanted that boy by his side, pursuing their greater cause together.
Yuto possessed the sense of purpose Shiro wanted and needed, enough to make him sincerely entertain such thoughts.
‘It’s remarkable how you stir my emotions. So I won’t rush to claim you. Slowly, slowly... I’ll begin by building a bond.’
His forced smile changed. Shiro smiled warmly and held out a hand to Yuto.
“I think you and I will have much to discuss in the days ahead, Lord Yuto.”
Yuto read several intentions in Shiro’s words. The one on the surface was simple: he wanted them to become friends as classmates.
Beneath that, he likely meant to gradually ascertain what sort of person Yuto was.
‘You approached me first and revealed some of your true feelings.’
In his previous life, Yuto had been the first to voice his antipathy toward the constellations. That was only natural: he had first learned through his royal father’s diary that their rule was wrong.
But now Shiro had approached him first and was revealing his own antipathy toward the constellations. In the end, all of this was going according to Yuto’s plan.
Make Shiro take an interest in him. Make Shiro close the distance first.
For Yuto’s sword to reach Shiro, Shiro had to come closer.
“I feel the same way.”
Yuto returned his smile and shook his hand.
“Here... we are not a prince and a pauper, but fellow students. In that case, we can speak as equals.”
Shiro’s eyes narrowed, and his smile deepened.
“As equals.”
He repeated the words.
“I like the sound of that.”
It was sincere, neither an act nor a lie.
“It looks as though the entrance ceremony will begin soon.”
Shiro released Yuto’s hand and stood beside him.
They stood in the same position, neither a step ahead nor a step behind.
