Longing for the Stars - Chapter 11

Yard, who for some reason looked more confused than anyone else in the room, glanced back and forth between me and Heilden. However, when Heilden called his name in a low voice, Yard focused his attention back on him.

Their voices filled the quiet room, soon joined by the sound of approaching footsteps.

As the steps drew closer, I held back a sigh and turned my head. Just as I expected, there stood a dejected-looking Sirius.

“…These are from the seniors.”

He held out two documents. Looking at the name column, I saw they belonged to two people in our squad, but the handwriting made me raise an eyebrow.

“Did you write these?”

“!”

Sirius’s eyes snapped open with such intensity that if he were a dog, you would have seen his ears prick up.

“Answer the question.”

“Yeah! I wrote them! The seniors said their handwriting was trash, so they asked me to do it!”

“…Those guys…”

Technically, everyone is supposed to write their own reports. However, this place is a zoo; it’s a known fact that some people have such terrible handwriting that they have to ask for help. Heilden allows it as long as it makes the work more efficient.

The two documents were written in a slightly energetic hand that slanted upward to the right.

You could tell at a glance a man had written it, but it was well-balanced and easy to read.

Perhaps because everything I had been forced to decode lately looked like ancient hieroglyphics, these documents looked more impressive to me right now than any high-class literature.

“…For an idiot, you have surprisingly nice handwriting.”

“!!”

His gloomy, clouded eyes suddenly sparkled.

I winced at the blinding brightness of his expression, but Sirius didn’t let my reaction get him down this time.

“You didn’t have to add the ‘idiot’ part, but you’re right, my writing is great! My mom told me since I was a kid that I should at least be able to write beautifully.”

“I know. I’ve heard that story a dozen times.”

“Really?! Well, how about this one? The time I accidentally burned my old man’s favorite quill when I was a kid! That quill was apparently made from some super rare bird feather—”

“Hey, idiot.”

“My name isn’t idiot!”

“Louvre.”

“No!”

“Hey, Yard, do something about him.”

Sirius started talking without any sign of stopping, and I put my head in my hands. I felt half-annoyed at him for being such a fool, and half-angry at myself for accidentally giving him an opening. I knew that once Sirius got like this, it was hard to shut him down.

I looked to Yard for help, but he just looked back at me with eyes that silently screamed, “Do you really think there’s anything I can do…?”

I looked to Heilden next, but he was either intentionally ignoring me or simply didn’t care. He made no move to stop Sirius, who was chirping away like a little bird despite my protests. A vein popped in my forehead at the man’s uselessness, but I took a long, slow breath to try and calm down.

“—Sirius.”

“!! Yes! That’s me, Sirius!”

“Shut up.”

“Yes, sir!”

Good grief, I could practically see his tail wagging so hard it might fall off.

Being bathed in the light of those eyes which always shone like a star felt like it might turn me into ash.

“Louvre, make sure you bring me some good liquor next time.”

At Heilden’s voice, who until now had been stubbornly ignoring my existence, I turned my head sharply. He had a smug look on his face, and this time, a loud click of my tongue echoed through the room.

He burst out laughing, clutching his stomach and pointing at me with a mocking grin. I hated to remind myself that this man was older than me and, worse, my superior. But sadly, he was a senior officer. I couldn’t just throw insults at him like I would a friend, so I just glared. Yard gave me a thumbs-up as if to say, “Hang in there.”

“? Oh, sure! Hey, I’ll help with something too! I don’t want to do paperwork, but I’m great at carrying stuff!”

“Oh? Then take the things I’ve sorted to the different departments. You’ll need to explain the errors, so Yard, you go with him.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Me?!”

“Yeah, you. Now get going.”

Heilden shooed them out of the room with a dismissive wave, like he was chasing away stray animals. Then his gaze turned toward me. With a mischievous glint in his eyes and a wide smirk, he looked like a total villain.

“What is it?”

“You should be thanking me.”

“What?”

I frowned as deeply as possible, not understanding his point, but he just laughed.

“I’m telling you to be grateful that I gave you a chance to make up with him.”

That comment sent my mood straight into the dirt.

“…I don’t remember asking for your help.”

“Oh, is that so? Then let me put it a different way.”

Heilden crossed his legs casually, leaned his elbows on the desk, and rested his chin on his folded fingers. His eyes remained sharp.

“Stop dragging adults into your childhood playground fights. This isn’t the academy.”

His words stung, like a shallow cut from a knife.

“The two of you stand out. You’re both talented. Plus, Louvre is the son of the Knight Commander. No matter how much he wants to be treated like everyone else, organizations don’t work that way. When you add the fact that he’s a gifted genius, he becomes even harder to handle. And the even more annoying part is that the big dog only listens to you. You knew that, and yet you just left things as they were, didn’t you?”

“…I am not his babysitter.”

“I’m sure you aren’t. I’m not telling you to be his owner. I’m saying if you’re going to let him off his leash, train him properly first.”

“……?”

“Teach him how to work with others. Unfortunately, you’re the only one he actually listens to. Maybe his father or his family could do it, but here, you’re the only one who can fill that role.”

My expression remained stubborn and dissatisfied. Seeing my face, Heilden blinked. His thick eyelashes, the same color as his hair, cast a slight shadow on his cheeks.

“You two being treated as a set is only going to last for now.”

“…Eh?”

“I don’t know where you’ll end up, but Louvre is almost certainly going back to the Royal Capital. He lacks social skills, but he has plenty of talent, and more importantly, his father is who he is. Teach him what he needs to know so he doesn’t embarrass himself later.”

Heilden seemed to have said his piece. He looked away from me and reached for a mountain of documents to begin reviewing them. Seeing that, I looked down at my own paperwork. As I sorted the documents into categories so I could ask questions later, I thought idly about what he had just said.

At first, I had basically been forced by everyone around me to take care of Sirius. I had accepted it as something that couldn’t be helped. But I knew that since the “accident,” our relationship had become strained. I also saw the negative effect it was having on the people around us.

Because of that, the stares I received and Heilden’s words earlier were things I found unpleasant. I felt frustrated that the “babysitting” I had taken on out of necessity was seen by everyone else as “only natural.”

So, while Heilden’s words were irritating, they also hit me with the force of a physical blow.

Sirius would eventually leave my side.

It should have been an obvious future, yet I hadn’t truly considered that possibility until this moment. Somewhere deep down, I thought I would go on being Sirius’s caretaker forever. I thought this recent trouble would eventually die down, things would return to normal, and our daily life would just continue as it always had.

But that isn’t how it works. Time moves forward, people age, and things change. Sometimes people change whether they want to or not, or the world around them forces that change. Nothing stays the same forever.

So, eventually, we would walk separate paths.

Just as I reached that conclusion, someone called my name. My thoughts weren’t fully organized yet, but I had the sorted documents ready in my hands.

As if my head and body were moving separately, I wondered vaguely if people’s lives eventually drift apart in the same way.