Chapter 104: Hero of Justice.

It hadn’t been so long that one could call it “a while.”

Yet it felt as though they had been apart for ages—and she supposed that was only because the time she had spent yearning for him had stretched so endlessly.

In a quiet corner of the corridor where the presence of others had faded away, they could exchange words as naturally as breathing.

Just catching sight of him wasn’t enough.

Hearing his voice alone wasn’t enough.

To reach out and actually touch him, to know that each was firmly within the other’s line of sight—that happiness.

It was as though the entire world had been packed into this single nook.

“You’re still here?”

“Since Violet-chan seemed to be staying late too.”

“Did you need something?”

“Nope. I just wanted to wait.”

The way he smiled—bright, beaming, in an obviously good mood—was exactly the same as always.

Probably had been since long ago.

In fact, the sight of him angry was far rarer.

Things she had once accepted as ordinary now felt almost sacred, simply depending on the feelings of the person receiving them.

Did everyone who fell in love feel this way?

Every single gesture, every single word—each one special, each one weighing heavily around her heart.

And yet that very weight brought joy.

The more it accumulated, the larger it grew.

As though an unrivaled love was being built, piece by piece.

Feelings were supposed to be invisible; there was no point in competing over them.

And yet she found herself thinking: my feelings for him won’t lose to anyone’s.

“But where were you? I looked all over, but you weren’t anywhere.”

“Ah…… I was in the student council room.”

At the words “student council,” Yuran’s expression flickered—just barely.

Only a few seconds, so slight that one might miss it with a single blink.

Yet in that instant, the corners of his mouth had unmistakably twitched.

Maybe she should have dodged the topic.

A faint regret stirred.

To Yuran, the student council—and the people in it—would forever remain special.

They weren’t the kind of people Violet could simply compartmentalize and move past.

What must it have been like for him, watching Violet obsess over and run wild toward someone like that?

He must have worried endlessly.

Perhaps he had even felt unpleasant simply because she was close to Violet.

She had been so blindly arrogant that she hadn’t even considered such possibilities.

“I was helping with work…… and making a proper apology for everything up until now.”

“Eh……?”

“I’d never given a real, proper apology for all my past behavior.”

Violet spoke brightly, but in contrast, Yuran’s eyes swam far more visibly than before.

The golden color trembled in tiny, quivering increments—overlapping with that person’s…… and yet at the same time feeling entirely different.

Because he was so special, even the tiniest fragment drew a reaction from her.

And yet each time she overlaid them, she became aware of feelings that belonged to no one else.

In the end, she simply thought: Ah, I really do love him.

“I’ve been thinking about a lot of things. About myself. About the things I did. About other people’s feelings. I finally looked at the things I’d been avoiding, and I learned. Thinking is…… really hard, isn’t it. I didn’t even know that much.”

Lately, Violet’s mind had felt constantly churned and stirred.

Facing the things she had turned away from was far simpler than she had imagined—and far, far more exhausting.

Even so, simply having a direction she wanted to go in was enough to keep her feet moving.

She didn’t have anything so grand as “the person I want to become.”

She just wanted even the smallest reason to be allowed to stay close.

She wanted to shave away every reason that might keep her at a distance.

Wanting him to see only her beautiful side—surely that was just the habit of a girl in love.

“Um…… and to you too, Yuran. I’m sorry for the other day. For taking such an awful attitude.”

“There’s nothing you could do to me that would make me dislike you, Violet-chan. I was worried, though.”

Yuran was always gentle, always beautiful, always simply there.

To stand beside him—to want that so badly that she examined herself for it—perhaps that wasn’t true reflection or reform in the proper sense.

But at this point, Violet no longer had it in her to believe in justice.

There was no hero who would appear gallantly to save everything.

For everyone, always, there were priorities, luck, choices to discard one thing for another.

To someone crying in a place no hand could reach, “righteousness” meant nothing.

If change could happen now—if there could be a result—then any reason, any logic, would do.

“I did so many awful things…… far worse than what you know. I crossed lines that a person should absolutely never cross. I’m the kind of person who couldn’t even deny it if someone called me a villain.”

A past no one knew anymore—a past that no longer existed.

She could never speak of it in detail.

If she did, she might be suspected of intending to repeat such actions in the future.

Did she still harbor ill will toward Mary June? It would be a lie to say no.

But did she hate her enough to want her dead? No—she could say that with certainty.

She simply didn’t want to approach her, didn’t want to be involved—that was all.

She had chosen such roundabout, unclear words precisely because she wanted him to know.

To lay it all bare, to throw it at him selfishly, so he wouldn’t be disappointed later.

She knew it was like setting up a warning line while really just trying to fence him in.

Even so—couldn’t she say the rest?

That she wanted to stay together with him—

“……Violet-chan, you’re a little mistaken.”

Her lowered gaze caught the movement of Yuran’s feet as he rose from the windowsill.

She braced herself, shoulders stiffening in anticipation of what he might say.

Then, above her shoulders, large hands gently enveloped both her ears—hidden beneath her hair.

Startled, she looked up through her lashes.

His melting smile was so close their foreheads might touch.

In the soft, secret-sharing whisper meant only for her, his gentle voice soaked from her ears straight into her heart.

“It doesn’t matter what it is. Evil, good, something else entirely—it’s all fine. Whatever you’ve done, whatever happens, it doesn’t matter.”

He had never been interested in becoming the hero everyone admired.

He had never wanted to be the hero who saved the weak.

As a child, the only life he wanted to protect was his own.

Other people didn’t matter to him—and that feeling hadn’t changed.

But there was one thing that had.

The one thing Yuran had ever wanted to become—after gaining Violet.

“I’m not on the side of justice. I’m on Violet-chan’s side.”

He had thought—for the first time—that he wanted to be no one else’s ally.

Only this person’s.