Kotori
Koutarou was like an older brother to Kotori. She’d been following him around ever since she was a child, and even after finding out he was a legendary hero, she continued to treat him the same way she always had. This puzzled Nalfa.
“Say, Kotori, what do you think about Koutarou-sama being a hero?” she decided to ask one day.
“Nothing in particular. Like I said before, he’s still Kou-niisan to me,” Kotori explained between sips of iced coffee through her straw. Nalfa had brought it up casually, so Kotori replied the same way.
“I can’t really imagine how that feels. Can you tell me more?”
“More? Let me think...” Kotori looked upward pensively. After half a minute or so, she smiled and said, “I guess you could say I still see him the same way.”
“That doesn’t tell me anything.”
Indeed, Kotori had only given Nalfa a rehashing of the same answer. Her best friend was still struggling to grasp her meaning. It all made perfect sense to Kotori, however, so she began trying to explain it once again.
“Um, well... Kou-niisan went to Forthorthe and came back a hero, right?” she asked.
“Perfect and invincible,” Nalfa replied. “He saved us during the civil wars both two millennia ago and just last year.”
“But look at him. He’s no different than when he left, so what’s the big deal? Granted, I was a little surprised when I first heard the news.”
Koutarou had become a hero, but deep down, he was still the same boy he’d always been. Nothing about him had changed, so nothing about the way Kotori treated him changed. That was her intuitive rationale.
“I mean, I guess he is a little more mature—and open-minded—than he used to be. But he’s still a normal high school student who works a part-time job, so that’s that,” Kotori continued through another sip of her iced coffee.
Nalfa had barely touched her own drink. She just sat staring wide-eyed at Kotori in silence for some time.
“You’re amazing, Kotori,” she eventually said. “You see Koutarou for who he is, while I only ever think about what he is...”
“That’s not true. You see him for who he is too, Nal-chan.”
“I do?”
“Remember what you said that one time? About how he can never ignore someone in need? He always takes a step forward to reach out his hand, and one step at a time, he’s crossed immeasurable distances.” Kotori smiled with her straw still in her mouth. In part, she’d been able to keep her perspective on Koutarou because of what Nalfa had said back then, so she knew that Nalfa had the right perspective too. “I realized you were right.”
“You really think so?”
“Yeah. Also, I’m not the amazing one.”
“Huh?”
“That honor has to go to Kiriha-san, Sanae-san, and the other girls. They’re the reason he was able to go back to his old self. If not for that, I think he’d be a different man now.”
“You might be right about that...”
“But you can’t afford to let them outshine you, Nal-chan! You gotta squeeze yourself in there!”
“Y-Yes! I’ll do my best!”
“Attagirl!”
With that out of the way, Kotori took a refreshing sip of her drink. She was quite pleased with herself.
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