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Louis and Mirai walked side by side through the Dragon Garden Plaza. The air carried the sweet fragrance of blooming spirit trees mingled with the bright laughter of children darting past. Families relaxed in the warm sunlight, couples strolled hand in hand, and merchants offered sweet pastries and glowing trinkets.
Mirai's eyes sparkled as she took it all in. "It's so beautiful here… I've never been to the Dragon Garden before. Thank you for coming with me, Prince Louis. I really appreciate it."
Louis kept his hands in his pockets, his expression calm, though his mind remained far from relaxed. Every breath he took followed Niflheim's Sword Breathing instructions with deliberate precision. His chest burned faintly, his aura flickered, yet he forced himself to maintain composure. He had told himself he wouldn't practice it here, but in the end he continued the method internally anyway.
"You don't need to thank me," he said coolly. "I promised, so I came."
Mirai puffed out her cheeks, clearly annoyed. "You could at least pretend you're enjoying yourself. Look at those kids playing by the fountain, don't you think it's nice?"
Louis glanced over briefly, then exhaled slowly, his breath sharp and controlled. "It's… tolerable."
Mirai giggled and shook her head. "You're impossible. Fine, then let's eat. I heard there's a restaurant here that serves Dragonfire Noodles. They say the broth uses ingredients from Yggdrasil and has a very unique flavor."
Louis raised an eyebrow. "Dragonfire Noodles? Why use such a prestigious name for something like that?"
"Well, maybe they're that good… I want to try them…!" Mirai tugged gently at his sleeve, pulling him toward the restaurant. Louis allowed it, though he sighed under his breath.
Inside, the restaurant buzzed with chatter and the rich aroma of spicy broth. They took a corner table, and Mirai eagerly ordered two bowls once the server arrived. The girl kept looking around excitedly, this was her first real experience exploring the outside world like this.
"T-This is so exciting…" Mirai muttered, stuttering slightly from nerves, her heart racing. "I'm really on a date…"
"Aren't you getting too excited over the simplest things?" Louis sighed, crossing his arms while continuing his internal breathing, though Mirai's presence kept distracting him.
"W-What's wrong? This is the first time I've ever experienced what I've only read about in books, comics, or seen on TV…" Mirai said, looking down and fidgeting with her hair. "Um… Prince Louis, do you dislike me that much?"
"…" Louis met her gaze; for a moment his eyebrows twitched. "It's not like that."
"Then why can't you just relax?" she asked.
"…I don't know," Louis answered with a bitter smile. "It's hard for me to relax. As the prince of a nation, I hardly have any time for myself anymore. Whoever said being a prince is easy was wrong. It's… the weight of an entire country on your shoulders. It's incredibly overwhelming."
"…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spoken without understanding better," Mirai apologized.
"It's fine," Louis dismissed gently. "I understand how you feel. Let's just eat these stupid noodles and be done with it."
"Ah! Look! They're here!"
When the food arrived, steam rose from the bowls, glowing faintly with colorful Mana—a spectacle in itself. Occasionally the Mana coiled into roaring dragon shapes, which made Louis feel as though it mocked his family.
Mirai clasped her hands together. "Itadakimasu!" She dug in immediately, her face lighting up. "Mmm! It's so good! I-It's spicy! But I loooove spicy food!"
Louis took a bite, his expression unchanged. "It's edible."
Mirai pouted. "You're so hard to please… And aren't you too resistant to spicy food? I-I thought you would make a funny face…"
"Funny face?!" Louis looked shocked. "So this was a trap?"
"Oh please, don't be like that…" Mirai muttered. "It's just that it's hard to ever see your face change expressions at all… I just wanted to see more of who you are, even if it's through a little prank."
"…"
Seeing Louis fall silent and continue eating, she leaned forward, lowering her voice. "You know… I didn't ask you out just for food. I wanted to see you outside of battles, outside of the castle. To see the real you."
Louis froze for a moment, chopsticks hovering over the bowl. He looked at her, his sharp eyes piercing, but Mirai didn't flinch.
"The real me?" he asked.
"Yes," she said softly. "Not the prince, not the warrior. Just Louis."
Silence stretched between them. Louis exhaled slowly, his breath aligning once more with Niflheim's rhythm. He felt his aura stabilize, his heart syncing faintly with the blade within his Fantasy Heart. For the first time, the idea of a "true self" felt like something he had never truly considered, until Mirai forced him to question it.
"…You're bold," he finally said. "But maybe that's why you're still here."
Mirai smiled gently. "T-Then I'll keep being bold!"
Louis gazed at his reflection in the broth. "The real me…"
Mirai noticed how deeply her words had affected him and felt a pang of regret. "I'm sorry. Was that too much to ask?"
The prince shook his head. "No. Perhaps that's exactly what I needed to find, myself. At some point I stopped thinking about who I am beyond the title I hold and the responsibilities I carry."
"Oh…" Mirai said, surprised.
Louis thought back to Niflheim's earlier words, how he wasn't yet prepared to learn the Sword Breathing Method, and even further back, how he wasn't worthy of obtaining a Dragon Heart. Perhaps it was all connected to the fact that he still hadn't truly found himself.
"Mirai, do you want to know who I am?" Louis asked.
"I do…" Mirai nodded. "I… I want to know you better…"
Without realizing it, Mirai had slowly moved her hand closer. The moment her finger brushed his, Louis startled.
"What are you doing?" he asked defensively.
"N-Nothing! Nothing…" Mirai felt embarrassed, scratching the back of her head and pretending nothing had happened.
Louis sighed. "I've already told you I dislike being touched."
Mirai nodded. "I'm sorry… I just thought… never mind. I guess I've read too many dumb stories. Life's… not really like fiction after all."
"I would say it's even worse," Louis replied, looking out the window and sighing.
"What… makes you think that?" Mirai asked, tilting her head.
Louis turned back to meet her eyes, staring silently for a moment. "Stories have happy endings. They have beautiful moments. They have… substance. The real world has none of that. There's no ending in sight, just an endless series of misfortunes, one after another. Whenever you think you've finally won, several more terrible things happen. If this world was written by someone, I would say they have no idea what they're doing. It's a complete mess."
"Hahah…" Mirai laughed awkwardly. "You're very negative…"
The prince raised an eyebrow. "And why am I supposed to not be? Do you want me to smile like a clown and pretend everything will always be alright? Because it's never like that. In this world you can never truly be sure of anything… no, maybe there is one thing you can be sure of."
"…Eh?"
"Yeah. The only thing we all know will happen no matter what," Louis nodded.
"Death."
"Ah…"
But even then, Louis knew he couldn't even claim that release.
For most people, death offered an escape from the world's suffering.
For him, it meant letting go of every connection and starting over once more, with no one remembering him.
Or… well, not exactly no one.
He looked back at Mirai, frustrated by the faint possibility that she might remember fragments of the previous timeline.
Mirai fell quiet after that, looking rather exhausted from the conversation. Talking with Louis always felt so difficult.
She wanted to get closer, that much was obvious, but Louis always kept so many walls around himself, as though he caged his own heart and refused to let anyone see or touch it.
Mirai understood exactly why.
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