The first impression Rhiannon left on Neris, who had trouble remembering her classmates’ names at the time, began with a letter.

[I want to be your friend. Nona]

Even young Neris knew that her friends didn’t like her, and that fact bothered her.

During free time, she was busy reading books, so she didn’t need someone to play with. But being hated was sad for anyone.

And it was quite awkward when no one wanted to be Neris’s partner when pairing up in the classroom.

Her world, which had been perfect before entering school, collapsed rapidly.

The letter arrived about three seasons after she entered school. Irritated by the whispers around her, something flying into her hair, and people suddenly bumping her shoulder as they passed by, Neris spent her time reading books in her secret place.

It was just then that she was reading a book. An envelope someone had inserted in the middle of the book fell out.

Neris was quite excited to see the contents of the envelope. Who could the sender be?

It wouldn’t be a classmate. All the freshmen who entered the same year disliked her and avoided her, saying she smelled or had bad manners.

Then could it be one of the upperclassmen who hadn’t yet heard the bad rumors?

Delighted, Neris immediately accepted the pen pal request.

[I want to be your friend too. Neris.]

Since the book had to be returned to the school library, the letter went into Neris’s locker drawer. The book where the first letter had been inserted was also kept in the locker drawer. The sender would probably come to her locker drawer again.

Had Nona seen the reply? Neris, who could hardly sleep that night due to anxiety, expectation, and joy, was overjoyed to find Nona’s letter in her drawer the next day.

[I’m glad. What does Neris like? Nona.]

Letters went back and forth almost every day. Neris shared with Nona all the romantic phrases she had seen in books, her favorite scenes, and her childhood fantasies.

Fundamentally, Neris liked to talk and was full of imagination. Nona listened well and responded kindly to clumsy, dreamlike stories such as fairies actually living in the lake or the huge painting hanging in the main building of Ayne Won having a sad story behind it.

[Neris’s stories are always interesting. Did you read about the fairy you saw in the lake from a book? You spoke as if you had witnessed it yourself, so I was momentarily fooled into thinking it was real. I want to get closer to you. Nona.]

It was the first time someone had said they wanted to get closer. Neris began to rely more and more on Nona. No matter how much the children ignored Neris during class, she could forget her suffering by thinking about writing a letter to Nona.

[Thank you. I want to keep being close friends with you too. I really like you. Let’s be friends for life. I have a secret place I go to sometimes, let’s make a friendship vow there. Neris.] [I really like you too. By secret place, do you mean where you said you sometimes go to read? Where is your secret place? I want to go there too. Nona.]

Neris’s range of movement was different from other freshmen. Buildings frequently visited by freshmen soon became Neris’s places to avoid. There was nothing good about encountering others.

In the end, she often visited the abandoned backyard of an old building where upperclassmen occasionally had classes. It was a place she had discovered while doing volunteer work on campus to earn pocket money.

It happened to be spring. In the season when the whole world was awakening in brilliant colors, that yard looked quiet and lonely.

Neris used the pocket money she earned from volunteer work to buy flower seeds. And she planted the flower seeds in a small patch of land in the backyard where sunlight could reach.

The sprouts that emerged from the seeds grew leggy due to lack of sunlight, but that made Neris care for them even more.

She wanted to shout, look, I’m not someone who can only memorize things, here is a life that needs me. She wanted to proudly show and boast to someone.

Neris unhesitatingly told Nona about that place. As she always did when writing letters to Nona, she included detailed descriptions and explanations.

The next day, Neris was dismayed to find her secret place completely dug up.

It clearly wasn’t the work of adults tidying up the overgrown weeds in the yard. Because only that small sunny spot where she had separately arranged and grown flowers was in disarray.

[Did you perhaps come to the secret place? Neris.]

It wasn’t even suspicion. How could she suspect her first friend made at this school?

There was no reply to the letter sent simply to ask what had happened. Neris felt dejected and sad.

The children’s bullying grew worse day by day. The next secret places she made were also discovered one by one. She was always confused. Why are they tormenting me like this?

It was a little while later that Neris was able to safely retreat to her secret place in the library, so at this time she wandered about feeling lonely. Neris became an increasingly quiet child.

How many weeks had passed since then? Neris was paired with Rhiannon in the common Lundian class.

Rhiannon was extremely displeased with that fact and showed it throughout the class. However, even Rhiannon had to participate when it came to the conversation practice that would be reflected in their grades.

Originally, Rhiannon wasn’t very bright. Although she eventually chose the same language major as Neris, it wasn’t because she had a talent for languages but because she was worse at literature and music.

Young Neris couldn’t understand people who couldn’t understand what was taught in class. Neris innocently corrected the sentences Rhiannon had messed up, and that action hurt Rhiannon’s pride.

“You’re really funny. Are you that great? If you’re so great, why don’t you skip a grade! Do you think anyone wants to be in the same class as you? That’s why no one likes you.”

Rhiannon’s words were bold, and Neris felt each one of them painfully piercing her.

It was true. No one liked Neris. If anyone had liked her, the situation would have been different.

Neris really didn’t know what she had done wrong and just blamed everything about herself.

It was near the end of that class. Rhiannon passed notes with a few people including Megara and Alecto. Neris shrank back at the vague thought that everyone seemed to be mocking her and thought of Nona.

I have a friend I exchange letters with too. Why isn’t Nona replying? Is she sick? Has she grown to dislike Neris more and more, like the classmates, to the point of not wanting to associate with her?

While alone and lost in questions, Neris happened to see a note Rhiannon had carelessly spread out on her desk. It was a note that had served its purpose, with the exchanged writing filling the entire paper.

There was a familiar signature in a familiar handwriting.

[Nona.]

Only then did Neris realize. Nona was Rhiannon’s nickname.

Rhiannon got annoyed at Neris who was staring intently at that signature in disbelief. Rhiannon casually folded the note and put it in her bag while asking why she was looking at someone else’s things, and Neris couldn’t believe it.

“It was… you? You’re Nona? You’re the one who ruined my secret place?”

What flashed across Rhiannon’s face at Neris’s question was clearly dismay. But that expression soon disappeared, and Rhiannon rolled her eyes as if in disbelief.

“What are you talking about? What’s your secret place?”

“You sent me letters. Saying let’s be close friends. There was a signature saying Nona there too.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Do you have proof?”

Of course there was proof. All the letters exchanged with Nona so far were evidence. But Neris knew that no one would believe her. Just like in the theft incident.

And what difference would it make if someone believed? The important thing was that from the beginning, there was no friend named Nona who liked Neris.

After that day, Rhiannon acted sensitively around Neris, like a cat that growls just at the sight of her face. Perhaps the cause of such behavior initially stemmed from a sense of guilt that even she didn’t want to admit.

However, that attitude soon turned into criticism of Neris.

“She suddenly came up to me and called me a liar, can you believe it? She must have lost her mind. She said she’d complain to Trude on my behalf? Thanks, I have no one but you.”

At a time when peer approval was more important than anything else in the world, friendship was sometimes—or often—exercised in the direction of unconditionally believing in a friend’s perfect morality.

The children were excited by the news that Neris Trude had ‘dared’ to groundlessly slander Rhiannon. Several times a day, children came to Neris to tell her not to lie, asking why Rhiannon would lie to her.

At the end of the heated public opinion, one day, Neris was beaten by several classmates in the school backyard.

No matter how much Neris said it wasn’t like that, it was useless. Well, it was understandable. What was important to the children was taking Rhiannon’s side, not establishing the substantive truth.

How could a ‘friend’ lie to them and incite them? So Rhiannon’s words were the truth.

It was something done by children of an age where it’s difficult to realize the weight of responsibility, of a status where they didn’t need to take responsibility. The assault that started like a prank gradually became more severe, and Neris was frightened and in pain.

Fortunately, before an uncontrollable situation occurred, a passing unfamiliar teacher saw her.

Although no permanent injury remained, Neris had to be hospitalized in the school infirmary for several days. It took courage to return to the classroom after the hospitalization was over.

The children who inflicted pain cruelly and persistently, as if dealing with a wooden block incapable of feeling pain, didn’t seem like people like herself.

Wouldn’t the same thing happen again if she returned to the classroom? Maybe not in front of the teachers. But during the move from one classroom to another? On the way back to the dormitory?

The secret place was no longer safe, and Neris really had nowhere to go. She entered the classroom trembling and felt a rather chilling sense of relief at the fact that all the children were ignoring her.

As she walked to her usual seat, Neris unknowingly stole a glance at Rhiannon. Rhiannon must have been looking at Neris too. When their eyes met, she snorted coldly.

“Are you going to tell the teacher about that too? Can’t you do anything on your own?”

“Rini.”

Megara lightly called Rhiannon’s nickname. Seeing Rhiannon immediately quieting down, Neris could realize that Megara had settled the situation.

And soon after, she also learned why Megara, who usually turned a blind eye to the bullying Neris suffered, had stepped in for this incident.

When Neris’s complaint about the assault was dismissed due to lack of evidence.

Evidence? The bruises left on Neris’s body were the evidence. Witness? Of course, the teacher who witnessed the students committing violence was the witness! However, no matter how much they searched, that teacher couldn’t be found, and Neris’s injuries were surprisingly evaluated by the school as ‘difficult to consider as having been beaten’.

After that, Neris at least didn’t suffer the same form of assault. However, it wasn’t because the children realized that Neris was human too.

That strange, momentary peace was the price for protecting the children who directly committed the assault.

According to what Megara and the school had arbitrarily agreed upon, without even asking the victim’s opinion.

Why was Rhiannon protected? Why were those children protected?

Although she couldn’t remember exactly who had directly committed the assault, Neris thought those children must have been somewhat useful pawns to Megara.

Rhiannon was probably more useful than most other children. Because she was the beloved daughter of the Berta family and was quite popular in her own way.

So this time, those pawns should be made immovable.