"Because. I want to be your friend."
"……!!!"
A moment of silence filled the space between us.
Mila's large eyes visibly wavered, unable to hide her flustered state.
Cheeks flushed pink, lips trembling ever so slightly.
Why had I suddenly become so forward, you ask?
I'd had a gut feeling.
That I could get close to her.
***
A quiet, gentle personality and a calm, unassuming air.
Polite speech with no rough edges.
A slightly unusual… appearance? That part didn't really matter.
Anyway, the more I thought it over, the more she was exactly the kind of friend I'd been hoping for.
A parade of faces I'd passed by over the years drifted through my mind.
Not excessively energetic…
But not a bad person, either.
And she sat right next to me.
With conditions like these, I was pretty sure we could become close friends who got along well.
So I decided to take the plunge.
Pitter-patter, pitter-patter…
I followed her at a measured distance.
Every time my footsteps reached her ears, I could see her shoulders flinch.
She stopped and turned around, her eyes darting about with nowhere to land.
"U-um, why do you keep following me……"
She trailed off awkwardly, looking down at me with a troubled expression.
Now.
"Because. I want to be your friend."
"……!!!"
Her eyes went wide and round.
She gasped, startled out of her skin. Flustered confusion, embarrassment, and some unidentifiable emotion all swirled together, flooding her face red in an instant.
And then, in the span of a tenth of a second.
Whoosh—
"……Oh."
Instead of an answer, what came back was her retreating figure, vanishing from my sight in a flash.
Watching her flee at full speed, I could only stand there in a daze, my outstretched hand frozen in midair.
That's… probably not a positive sign… right…?
***
"Hey."
"……!"
Whoosh—
"Hey?"
"……!!!"
Whoosh—
"Um, hey?"
"……!!!!!!"
The moment I opened my mouth, she bolted like her tail was on fire.
After the same chase repeated itself several times over, I rounded a corner in the hallway — and the presence I'd been tracking vanished without a trace.
"Where did she go……"
The hallway was silent.
She'd hidden herself away completely.
I clicked my tongue with a bitter taste in my mouth, trudged back to the classroom, and dropped into my chair.
Arms crossed, I sank into deep thought.
Does she… actually dislike me?
If the panic in her eyes had been a refusal, then pressing further might be rude.
I was just starting to think maybe I should give up — when it happened.
"Hey."
"……?"
A sharp voice that jabbed at my eardrums — pitched high, with an air of authority.
I turned my head to find an unfamiliar boy standing there.
The look he gave me from behind his glasses, perched at the tip of his nose, was vaguely unpleasant.
In a word: a face that just rubbed you the wrong way.
"Transfer student? Kim Shin-a, was it?"
"Yeah. That's right. What…?"
The moment I answered, three or four others materialized behind him, spreading out like a wall.
The boy smirked, his lips curling with contempt.
"Tough luck, huh?"
"……?"
I tilted my head at the cryptic remark, and he spat out his next words as if he'd been waiting for exactly that.
"Because you're sitting next to that freak!"
"That freak…? You mean Mila?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"And… so what?"
"What do you mean, so what? She looks terrifying — that's what! Why do you think that seat's been empty this whole time? Everyone's been avoiding it because they don't want anything to do with her."
The boy's voice was thick with malicious certainty.
The others behind him nodded along in agreement.
"When you sat down earlier, nobody in class could even talk to you. They were all frozen stiff, watching her every move."
"……"
"And that girl has a bad reputation, I'm telling you. Word is, when she transferred last year, she half-killed someone at her old school and got forced out. That story's everywhere."
The boy leaned in, lowering his voice with gleeful relish.
Acting like he was doing me some great favor by sharing a juicy secret.
"……She doesn't seem like that to me."
My flat response made his eyebrow twitch.
"Anyway, I saw you trying to talk to her earlier — my advice? Don't get involved. Not if you want your school life to go smoothly."
I stood up from my chair and looked him straight in the eye.
Then I told him exactly what I thought.
"I… want to be friends with her."
"What……?"
His face went blank with disbelief.
"Mila doesn't seem like that kind of person. And judging someone by their looks isn't a great habit. If there's some scary rumor going around… shouldn't you hear it from her directly before deciding? Rumors are just rumors, after all."
"Ha—! Wow, you're a real piece of work. Don't come crying to me when she eats you alive."
He let out a scoff of disbelief, rounded up his crew, and walked out of the classroom.
I watched them go, then sat back down.
And then… a moment later.
BANG—!
"……!"
The back door flew open with a crash.
I spun around on reflex — and what I saw was a Mila who looked nothing like the girl from before.
Her face was twisted.
Deep furrows creased her brow, and her eyes were sharper, more narrowed than before.
"……"
I stared at her, wide-eyed and dumbfounded, and instead of a word, she strode straight toward me.
With every step closer, a heavy pressure bore down on the air around her.
I was starting to understand, just a little, why the boy with the glasses had described her the way he did. It was an intimidating presence.
She reached my desk, cast her shadow over me, and stopped.
Then she spoke, her voice carrying a strange, coiled tension.
"Follow me."
She left it at that, turned on her heel without a second glance, and walked back toward the rear door with long, unhesitating strides.
I could feel the eyes of the whole classroom on her, but she didn't seem to care.
"……"
I watched her retreating figure, hair whipping behind her, and stayed quiet for a moment.
I should… follow her, right?
I got up and fell into step behind her.
***
"Haah……"
Mila let out a breath and stopped in front of the classroom door.
Once she opened it, that girl would come at her again.
She reached for the handle — and through the gap in the firmly shut door, voices leaked out.
"And that girl has a bad reputation, I'm telling you. Word is, when she transferred last year, she half-killed someone at her old school and got forced out. That story's everywhere."
"……!!!"
Mila's hand froze in midair.
The blunt assessments of herself, drifting through the door.
Scary. Monster. Bad reputation.
The words, branded on her like a mark, dug into her chest — but Mila only smiled, a self-mocking curl of the lips.
'Maybe… this is for the best. She'll keep her distance on her own now.'
But the voice that followed shattered her expectations completely.
"I… want to be friends with her."
"……!!!"
Her heart dropped.
Mila stared at the closed door with blank, unseeing eyes.
'She wants to be friends? Even after hearing all that?'
Her mind went white.
"……"
She was a good person.
And that was precisely why…
BANG—!
"Follow me."
She couldn't get tangled up with her.
***
Where… are we, exactly.
Behind the school, beneath the shade of a secluded tree.
Mila stopped and spoke in a cool, flat voice.
The eyes she turned on me were full of sharp, guarded wariness.
"Don't… try to get close to me."
"……?"
I tilted my head slightly and looked her straight in the eye.
"Why……?"
"Didn't you hear what those kids said? I'm dangerous. There's nothing good about being near me."
"……"
I was quiet for a moment. Then I spoke.
"That rumor… is it true?"
At my question, Mila's eyebrow gave a faint tremor. She turned her head and looked away.
"……Yeah. It's true. So stop talking to me. Just—"
She spat the words out coldly and moved to brush past me.
But—
Thwap—
"……!!!"
I shot my hand out and caught her by the wrist.
She stopped with a startled flinch, her shoulders visibly trembling.
"You're lying."
"What…?"
"Just a feeling."
"What are you even… that makes no sense……!"
Mila stumbled over her words, flustered, her gaze skittering around.
"You're flustered. Same as when you ran away earlier. And right now, your tail can't stay still."
"Th-that's…!"
The tail poking out behind her was swinging wildly from side to side, as if broadcasting exactly what its owner was feeling.
"Why do you keep……"
Without letting go of her hand, I stepped in closer.
"Because. I want to be your friend."
"……!!!"
Her tail whipped more violently than ever.
But instead of answering, Mila dropped her head.
Her shoulders heaved as she struggled to hold something back — and then she exploded into motion.
CRASH—!!!
"……!!!"
Her free fist slammed into the tree right beside us.
With a thunderous crack, the trunk splintered and leaves rained down in a cascade.
Raw strength that no ordinary elementary schooler — no ordinary human — could ever possess.
"If you stay near me, you'll get hurt! I can't control it! So just go, please!"
She screamed at me with a face on the verge of tears.
Any normal person would have been terrified and run.
But—
"That's. All?"
"What?"
I stood in the settling dust, not so much as blinking, and gave her a small smile.
"You said you were dangerous… doesn't seem like much."
To someone who had crossed the brutal battlefields of S-rank gates more times than she could count, this little show of strength was nothing more than a child's game.
I still didn't let go of her hand. I took one step forward and closed the distance between us.
Then I gently wrapped both hands around hers — the one that had gone red from shattering the trunk.
"It doesn't matter what kind of power you have. I can take all of it."
I held her stunned, frozen gaze and whispered.
"So… will you be my friend?"
"……"
She lowered her head and was silent for a moment.
And then, at last—
"……You won't regret it? If you get mixed up with me, the other kids might start looking at you weird too."
Her words of acceptance.
I'd been waiting for this.
I smiled and answered.
"I want to be close to you. So it doesn't matter."
"……!"
I watched the wariness in her eyes slowly melt away.
I gently released her hand.
Mila fidgeted, rubbing the back of her own hand, clearly embarrassed.
The tail that had been thrashing moments ago was now swaying softly.
She took careful, tentative steps and came to stand beside me.
"Nice to… meet you. Shin-a."
"Nice to meet you, Mila."
And just like that… I had a friend.
***
"……"
Mila stood watching Shin-a's back as she walked lightly ahead toward the classroom.
With each step Shin-a took away from her, Mila's heartbeat grew faster and faster.
The words Shin-a had just said echoed clearly in her ears.
'I can take all of it.'
"……"
The moment she turned those words over in her mind, a wave of heat rushed up her cheeks.
She pressed the back of her hand to her face without thinking, but the flush refused to fade.
"……"
There was no longer any reason to push her away. No need to, either.
'Then… I don't have to keep doing this anymore.'
Mila exhaled deeply, as if making up her mind.
In that instant, golden flames flickered to life at her feet, rising up to wrap around her entire body.
Within the fire, her form began to slowly change.
As the flames gradually faded, what they revealed was breathtaking.
The girl who had been reptilian in shape just moments ago now stood in the form of a human girl.
Her hair shimmered dark gray, and gray horns curved from her head.
Wings the same color as her hair spread open behind her back, and a tail covered in hard scales swept the ground once more, making its presence known.
She slowly opened her eyes.
Gleaming, vertically slit scarlet irises turned toward Shin-a's retreating back.
Yes.
The true identity of the girl they had called a monster.
Her kind was…
Dragon.
***
I'd made a friend.
A girl with the raw strength to reduce a tree to splinters in an instant, with a somewhat unusual appearance……
But still, I thought she was a good, decent friend.
I smiled warmly and turned my head back toward her, expecting her to be trailing behind me.
"……?"
But the imposing silhouette that should have been there was nowhere to be found.
In its place stood a girl with a mysterious, otherworldly air.
"……?"
I narrowed my eyes without thinking, sending her a puzzled look.
There was no way a person could vanish and another appear in the span of a few seconds — and yet the figure standing before me was utterly unfamiliar.
"Who are……?"
At my bewildered question, the mysterious girl tilted her head and answered.
Vertically slit scarlet eyes blinked at me.
"Hmm……? It's me. Mila."
A familiar voice. A completely unfamiliar face.
"……"
…Pardon?
