WTBFCY Chapter 20

Just as they'd taken a carriage to Kapsen Street, they caught another one for the return trip to the train station. This time it was an ordinary carriage—not powered by black star fragments—so Regina leaned comfortably against the carriage wall. Much better, she thought to herself, preferring the familiar. Then her gaze caught on Noah pulling out his pocket watch.

"Does that watch tell you where the black fairies are?"

She leaned forward slightly, curiosity plain on her face as she peered at the watch in his hand. Noah looked down at her with an expression that said I see what you're doing.

She thinks if she figures out how I track black fairies, she can run from me. Easy to read, that little head of hers. Noah let out a dry laugh.

"Yeah."

No reason not to tell her. He held the pocket watch out toward her so she could examine it closely.

"Look carefully. The gears inside move, but the hour and minute hands stay still. When a black faerie is far away, the minute hand points in the general direction. When one enters a certain range, the hour hand moves once. If they move away or disappear, the hands return to their original position."

Regina took the watch, caught off guard, and was examining the hands as he'd explained when her right fingertip suddenly stung.

"Ow!"

She flinched and looked down to see a small bead of blood on her fingertip. But when she turned the watch over, there were no sharp parts. She was puzzling over this when Noah's hand suddenly reached out and grabbed the watch's chain, lifting it up. Regina watched the watch rise with his hand, her face confused.

"I think something pricked me?"

"Yeah, the watch fed on your blood. Now it'll tell me wherever you go."

"...!"

Regina's mouth fell slightly open as she realized, too late, that he'd tricked her. The dumbfounded look on her face was amusing enough that Noah smiled faintly—a rare expression—and continued.

"Now even if you run, I'll catch you right away."

He snapped the reclaimed watch shut and hummed quietly. Regina bit her lip hard in frustration, but there was nothing she could actually do about it.

"How can you act like that? Deceiving a lady—that's truly despicable!"

"No need to be so upset. Even without the watch, as long as I don't die, there's no way you could escape anyway. Pretty ambitious for someone who hasn't even molted yet."

His mocking tone made her want to throw the bags she was holding at him. Fortunately, the carriage arrived at their destination before she could act on that impulse. The door barely opened before a boy who worked as an errand runner for buying train tickets rushed up to the carriage. Noah told him their destination and handed over some coins. The boy nodded and immediately ran off.

"Ah, I'll go mail some letters real quick."

"Letters?"

"Yes, letters. Since you can just use that watch to find me even if I run away, you can let me go without worry."

The pointed barbs in her tone made Noah shrug and wave his hand in a go ahead gesture. Still not over her irritation, Regina huffed and headed into the train station. She found the counter for mailing letters and paid the money she had on hand. The clerk accepted Regina's letters and handed her a receipt.

"All three letters are being sent to Evelyn Barony, correct? Please confirm the delivery address one more time."

"Yes, that's right. How long will it take?"

"Shipments from the capital are three times faster. They'll be delivered in at least two days. If a reply comes, would you like to receive it? We can hold received replies for one month, and the cost is double the sending fee."

"Uh..."

Regina, who had only been thinking about sending the letters, hesitated at the mention of replies. Would there even be replies? These were farewell letters sent under the name "Regina's friend," but they were essentially her last will and testament.

...I just wanted to tell them not to be too sad.

Replies.

"Will you be receiving replies?"

When Regina's answer was slow in coming, the clerk prompted her with the question again.

"Ah, yes! Please hold them for me!"

The urgency made Regina speak hastily, then immediately regret it. Applying to receive replies that would never come—if this wasn't a waste of money, what was?

"That will be two silver coins."

"Y-yes!"

But before she could cancel, she'd already paid. Regina turned away with reddened eyes.

If a reply does come, what am I supposed to say back? And if no reply comes...

She might cry all night again. But there was nothing else she could do. Regina walked—almost ran—back to where Noah was waiting for her in the distance. Noah, who had been standing there reading a newspaper, looked at Regina's face with a questioning expression as she hurried over, but soon turned away and handed the train tickets to the station attendant.

Regina felt relieved by his indifference as she boarded the train.

The train was still fascinating, but it became boring once evening came and couldn't illuminate the view outside. When she pressed her forehead against the finely trembling glass window, the cold rising from it made her realize autumn was already nearing its end.

"How long until we reach Epola Barony?"

"We'll arrive in two days."

"Do you always travel by train like this?"

The window had turned pitch black with evening, reflecting only Regina's face. She propped her chin on one hand and stared absently at her reflection as she asked the question. Noah, who had been flipping through his newspaper without looking at Regina, answered with disinterest. The newspaper he'd bought at the station didn't seem to appeal to him.

"Well, generally."

"But what exactly are black fairies? The opposite of light fairies, something like that?"

"Probably."

"But the opposite of light is darkness. Why black fairies instead of dark fairies?"

Rustle. At the continuing questions, he finally folded the newspaper and let out a light sigh.

"I don't know either. Look, if you're bored, why don't you just sleep?"

"I'm not particularly sleepy. Ah, if you're done with that newspaper, can I look at it?"

"Go ahead."

Regina had been watching Noah's reflection in the window. She turned around and held out her hand. He placed the folded newspaper on her palm, then crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

"Thank you."

Regina, who normally avoided reading, skimmed through the newspaper focusing on the pictures rather than the tiny text, then stopped at one spot. It was a photo of an oval sphere floating in the air, looking several dozen times larger than a person. Her eyes widened as she hurriedly read the text below the picture. It was about successfully floating something called an airship using black star fragments.

"An airship—so people can ride this and fly through the sky? Like birds? Wow, that's impossible! Noah, did you see this article?"

When Regina pointed at the newspaper photo with her index finger and showed it to him, Noah answered while lying down at an angle with his eyes still closed.

"Yeah."

"It says the Royal Research Institute 'Arme' developed this technology! How did they develop technology for people to fly? I can't believe it. It says there's a test ride ceremony next month? The general public can attend too!"

"You don't need to read everything out loud. I already know all that. And I'd recommend you not go anywhere near the Royal Research Institute."

Noah spoke while recalling the black fairies trapped alive in glass tubes. If Ezra caught her, the treatment she'd receive wouldn't be much different from those black fairies. But Regina, who couldn't know that, stuck out her lips in a pout while holding the newspaper up to cover her face.

A man with absolutely no romance. She grumbled internally and flipped roughly through the newspaper, but the other photos weren't particularly interesting, so she gave up reading other pages. As expected, things with lots of text weren't her preference.

"...?"

Regina was lowering the newspaper from her face when something outside the black window caught in her vision and made her pause. The sense of wrongness made her glance to the side reflexively, and her eyes met with a face outside the window. Something with a pale white face and jet-black eyes was clinging to the outside of the window, staring inside, and when it saw Regina, its eyes rolled.

"Uh, KYAAAAH!"

—CRASH!

The moment Regina screamed, the window shattered into pieces. The unidentifiable thing had thrown itself from outside to inside, striking downward. Glass scattered everywhere with a crash. Seeing those sharp fragments about to pour down on Regina's head, Noah quickly wrapped the window curtain around Regina's head and pulled her toward him.

"Mmph! Uwaah!"

"Stay still!"

—Bang, bang!

Startled by her vision suddenly being covered by the curtain, Regina struggled. Noah tore the curtain, rolled Regina up in it completely, and threw her onto the seat where he'd been sitting. Then he aimed his gun at the opposite side and pulled the trigger.