What Does Aile Really Think About Me?

I rigidly marched out of the surprisingly brief meeting, having learned almost nothing.

“I’m sure I aroused some suspicion about myself,” I whispered to myself, as the sound of the footsteps of the battalion faded.

“I suppose I should see if Aile is willing to teach me anything about magic before I set off on my journey to the equivalence.”

Suddenly, the metronomic rhythm of my footsteps fell to mere background noise, as a much louder, more erratic rhythm of footsteps approached.

“Wait a second, Benjiro!”

I had only known her for a few minutes, but Pika’s screeching voice had already seared its way into my memory. I turned to greet her, but where I expected the footsteps to cease, they continued. My mind had barely registered what had happened before we collided and I was thrown onto my back.

“What’re you doing? You’re surprisingly heavy, you know,” I grunted, attempting to push Pika off me.

“I just thought some pain would help you remember what I’m about to say. Akui and I are having a meeting soon, by the wooden house on the eastern side of town. There are some rebellious civilians who he’s keen to take care of. Unfortunately, he has some work in the meantime so we have to wait for a couple of weeks. He wants you to join us.”

She crawled off of me and found her way back to her feet, then stared at me intently until I replied.

“Fine, I’ll try to remember.”

She continued to stare at me sceptically, before muttering with an uncertain tone.

“Akui told me he had to remind you about the meeting today and you were still almost late. It’s quite unlike you.”

“Huh? Sorry, I had some other matters to attend to, that’s why I was late. Actually, I have to deal with similar matters now, good day.”

I turned and hurried back towards Aile’s house, before Pika could say anything more to me. I would surely blow my cover if that conversation continued.

“I’m assuming that this man ‘Akui’ is the man who spoke to me yesterday on the street, reminding me about the mission.”

I followed a stream that carried through a large portion of town, using it as a landmark to determine my whereabouts in this still unfamiliar land. My thoughts completely engrossed my mind, I no longer acknowledged anything from the physical world, until something caught my eye.

In the forest, just by the border of town, a tree seemed to slide by a few centimetres, before it dropped to the ground. It was as if it had been deliberately cut. I stared for a few seconds, then out of nothing more than curiosity, I deviated from my original destination and continued towards the forest.

As I got closer, the picture became clearer to me. Somebody was deliberately cutting down trees in the forest, but the person who I found at the base of the trees was Aile.

I slowly continued stepping forwards, almost transfixed by the skills she wielded, using a sword to cut down trees.

“Hey Aile. What are you doing? Do you just hate trees or something?”

As soon as I opened my mouth, Aile aggressively turned towards me, firing a menacing glare towards me. Following her eyes, her sword was directed towards my neck as well and her arms didn’t waver.

“You taught me this training method and then you say that?”

“I didn’t teach you anything!”

Aile’s eyes widened, clearly not expecting my confrontational response. She loosened the grip on her sword and turned her back towards me, taking a strangely docile tone.

“Oh right. I’m sorry…”

She glanced at the forest silently, before biting her lip and continuing.

“The truth is I love nature, trees, flowers or anything like that. But, Benjiro told me to abandon this unwillingness to harm nature, this weakness. He designed this training regime to ensure that I would be forced to become numb to destroying things I find beautiful.”

The wind seemed to pick up slightly, the whistling piercing its way into my ears. Aile’s beautiful black hair flowed with the wind and I couldn’t help but paint this serene image into my head.

I took a deep breath, then stepped forward as I asked a question of which I was sure of the answer.

“Tell me, Aile. Do you still feel resentment towards me for the things I’ve done? Do you think I’m putting on some sort of act? That someone couldn’t possibly do such horrible things and have no memory of it.”

She took a long time to respond, holding her hand to her hair to prevent it from blocking her vision. When she finally spoke, her voice was much softer and more mellow than I expected.

“I think, at first I thought it was an act. But, your portrayal is far too realistic. To be honest, I’ve set up multiple little ‘tests’ to see if you were lying. I have been trying to set you up to make a mistake which would give you away, but you never have… I’m sorry. It must be frustrating to be put in such a difficult position with no memories, completely innocent.”

“So, you do still hate me then?”

“No, I don’t. I hate the old Benjiro, but I consider you a different person.”

I knew immediately that this was likely a lie. She probably wanted to feel this way, to reserve her hatred for the one who was truly deserving. But, the truth is she couldn’t control it, her hostile behaviour was more than enough information for this.

Then I began thinking to myself: “Is it wrong for her to feel this way? From my perspective, I’m getting blamed for something I didn’t do, so I view it as wrong. But, from her perspective, this person has done terrible things and simply lost his memories. She still thinks it’s the same person, so maybe she should keep her hatred. If she maintained her hatred, then once I’ve gone to the equivalence and left my body, everything could return to normal for her. It’s better than having her forgive Benjiro, only for him to return and blindsight her. If he returns, that is…”

“Hey guys, do you mind if I watch your training?” Hideo smiled with a hand waving towards us.

“Hideo!” Aile exclaimed excitedly.

“Please, pretend I’m not even here, just continue with your training.”

Aile lowered her gaze and faced towards me once more.

“He’s right, it’s time for us to get to training.”