The Weiss Household

The home of the Weiss family was fairly large in size. It wasn’t comparable to the estate Yoruhi lived in, but the tree it was built upon was definitely better off. Like many of the upper class in Hanamichi, they owned their own tree and didn’t need to share it with other residents. It was about three stories tall, not counting the branches, and the interior was filled with bookshelves and cabinets full of medicine that made the place look like an apothecary.

“Sorry for the mess,” Altair’s father said, stepping around the pieces of paper that littered the ground, “we’re not at home often so it’s hard to keep things clean.”

Yoruhi waddled his way to the kitchen where he sat down at the table. It was stuffy inside and the heating didn’t make it any better, but at the very least it warmed his cold hands.

“You two wait here while I go grab the books,” he said, scurrying his way out of the kitchen.

Altair set the books that she borrowed from the library on the table, and awkwardly sat down on the other side.

“Sorry about making fun of your name earlier,” he apologized again, “I mean it.”

She didn’t respond and just silently nodded her head, but after a few moments of uncomfortable silence she said, “it’s fine… I did call your name weird first.”

Another awkward moment passed before she continued.

“It’s just… that my name means a lot to me,” she quietly said, “my mom gave it to me before she died, so… even though it is a boy’s name, I don’t hate it.”

Unlike Yoruhi, Altair appreciated her name despite it being weird: a trait that the young boy didn’t have.

“Oh…” Yoruhi awkwardly said, recalling what little Mizuki had told him about the Weiss family, “I’m sorry about… your mom.”

Altair solemnly nodded her head.

Yoruhi looked around the room for something to shift away from the uncomfortable topic, and he caught a glimpse of the book Altair had on the table.

Fitoria the Rose Knight, he tried his best to read the title.

“...Do you like stories like that?” he asked her.

Noticing Yoruhi staring at her book, she quickly rushed to block the cover shyly.

“Y-yeah…” she said.

“What is it about?” he asked, genuinely expressing interest.

For a moment, a sparkle of light appeared in Altair’s eyes, and slowly, she moved her hands away from the cover.

“It’s about a knight…” she said, “she comes from a kingdom that was losing a war… so she took up arms and joined the army in place of her father who was paralyzed. She wears a black suit of armor with a blood red rose on her chest, and she courageously leads her army to victory despite everything…”

That sounds familiar, he thought, wasn’t there a story about a female soldier from China who did something similar?

“Do… Do you like reading stories like this… too…Yoruhi?” she quietly asked.

Yoruhi nodded his head.

“Adventure and fantasy are my favorite genres,” he said.

“Th-they’re my favorite genres too!” she suddenly shouted awkwardly before her expression slowly crumbled, “they make me feel a lot better about myself…”

“...Me too,” he solemnly admitted.

Seeing that the boy in front of her could relate to her struggles, she felt more comfortable talking about herself.

“These stories… they give me hope.” she continued, “Because I’m sick all the time, I don’t get to do many things. I usually only stay at home or go to the library with my dad, but… reading these stories…”

She trailed off for a moment, biting her lip nervously, before admitting, “They tell me that one day, I can explore the world too…! Just like my mom…”

Her expression fell at the mention of her mother, but she continued talking.

“My dad says that she was an adventurer, and that she loved exploring the world… He said that when I was born with this disease, she got tired of waiting for him to find a cure, and went out to look for it herself, but… she…”

This time, Altair couldn’t finish it, and instead started to cry.

Not expecting this, Yoruhi looked at her with a dumbfounded expression for a moment, but eventually made the decision to hug her, stumbling out of his chair as he did so. He wasn’t used to dealing with children, especially not crying ones, and he didn’t know if this was the right response or not. All he knew was that during the times he cried, he would’ve wanted someone to hug him like this too.

Suddenly, her father rushed back into the room with two books in his hands upon hearing his daughter’s cries. It was like he had a radar for these things.

“What did you—” he asked but froze upon seeing Yoruhi hugging her.

The gears began to turn in his head as he silently assessed the situation.

“...Is it about your mom Altair?” he asked and she quietly nodded her head. “...Why don’t you go to your room for now, dear?”

She nodded once more before scurrying off to her room on the other side of the house.

“Sorry about her,” he said, “she's a bit sensitive because of everything that’s happening.”

He placed the two books that Yoruhi was looking for on the table.

“Well, here are the books as promised,” he said with a sigh.

Yoruhi silently took the books and was prepared to leave. The atmosphere in the house had gotten stale.

Just as he was about to head out however, Altair’s father stopped him.

“Wait,” he said. “Can you… make me a promise, Yoruhi?”

“...What is it?” Yoruhi asked, not wanting to stay here any longer.

“It’s just… Altair has a hard time making friends and… you’re really the only one she has. She eventually has to go to school during the Blossom Moon, and I don’t want her to start without having anyone… Do you think you can be her friend for me? It’s hard for her to talk to any other kid your age because no one else speaks like the two of you. You don’t have to come over here every day to play. We’re often at the library anyway, so just stopping by once in a while would be enough.”

Hearing her father speak, Yoruhi felt like he could relate to Altair. In a way, he sort of saw himself in her. He knew how it felt being treated like an anomaly, and how isolating it was being smarter than the people around you. Even now, he struggled with talking to Ryuji and Tatsuko properly.

But he couldn’t help but wonder why she wasn’t angry at the world. She seemed more sad than bitter, and almost kind of hopeful in a way, despite being barred from everything.

It’s because her family is rich, he wanted to think, but even that kind of reasoning was beginning to crumble in his small little mind. Instead, he wanted to ask her personally.

“Okay,” he finally said, “I’ll be her friend.”

And it wasn’t just because he wanted to ask her his question, or because he felt bad for her. The two of them shared the same interests in a way that neither Tatsuko or Ryuji did, and he truly believed that they could become friends over their love of literature.

“Thank you, Yoruhi,” her father said, “but if you don’t mind, can I also ask you something else?”

Yoruhi was getting pretty annoyed with this man. He just wanted to leave and get to studying the things he cared about.

“What is it?” he asked, more bluntly this time.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Yoruhi froze for a second.

Why did this man want to know anyway? He thought.

Had this question been asked when he was in his past life, he would’ve said, ‘I don’t know.’ But in this world he had hope. He had magic with him, and his barred-off future was opened up.

He thought for a moment, remembering the discussion about Vivian and how adventuring was an actual job field in this world now.

“I want to be an adventurer,” he declared.

“I see…” Altair’s father said, “I suppose that’s not too surprising. Most kids want to be adventurers these days, which is why I wanted to talk about it. You see, being an adventurer is a very dangerous and physically demanding job.”

“So what? Are you asking me to not be an adventurer?” Yoruhi questioned.

“No, I’m asking you to not convince Altair to be one.”

Yoruhi stood there in silence.

But she wants to be one anyway. He thought.

“As her first friend you’re going to mean a lot to her. You’ll grow up together and get to do many fun things. But by the time you graduate, I want you guys to part ways. I can’t have her becoming an adventurer like her mother… I do not want her to die like she did. Can you at least promise me this?”

Yoruhi clenched his fists.

He was confused why adults always acted like this. They always did what they wanted to, claiming it’s all for the sake of their child without knowing how much they were hurting them. Yoruhi hated adults like that. They were what made him bitter. It reminded him of his parents, and how they would move cities without knowing how much it hurt him.

He thought back to Altair, and how trapped she must feel because of her disease. The one wish she had was to explore the world, and now that option was getting barred off; and Yoruhi understood that miserable feeling all too well.

She’s already struggling with the concept of a future for herself, he thought. There shouldn’t be any reason for us to close off more paths for her.

This simple interaction had caused an inexplicable resentment against Altair’s father to rise in him. Just yesterday he had seen him as a good man, but today that changed.

He made a silent promise to himself.

If Altair wanted to become an adventurer, he wouldn’t stop her, and if her father tried to, he would help her escape him. But in order to do that he had to play along with him for now.

“Okay, I won’t” he lied, and before another condition could be imposed on him, he took the two books and quickly scurried out of the house.