Part 32: Chapter 31: Relationship

Chapter 31: Relationship

Loading Excerpt- The Melody of Metafalica, C. Pastalia, L. Trulyworth
We headed back to my place for a while.

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Welcome home. You must be tired... I'll make you all dinner.
Okay... Oh, um, Croix!
Hm?
Let's go talk in my room!
Hey, Luca?
......
Um...
Oh, yes?
Should I help you prepare dinner?

This conversation was even more astute than I thought at the time, considering how everything turned out.



Of course I do... I'm still embarrassed...
...I see.
Come to think of it... I don't think I've been in your room this much before.
Yeah, probably not. I don't remember letting you in here often, either.
You don't even know about Goro, right?
Goro!?
Yup, Goro.
...Sounds like a penguin's name.
Hmm... You may have seen her in my Cosmosphere.
According to my customers, Goro's my mind guardian.
......
If she really is, I'll be happy. Because...
Goro helped me feel secure when I was little. I always hugged her in bed.
......
Hehehe, I bet you didn't know that.
You're right...
...It's like.
Hm?



...Yeah.
In the end, we broke up, but I think that was a good thing.
There were a lot of things I realized because we were apart... and...
I feel like I've gotten closer to you after we split anyway.
...Yeah, that might be true.
Yup!
I've traveled with you, and you've saved me so many times...
You were always by my side when I was in trouble... You're my best support.
And just between you and me...
You're the reason why I seriously began wanting to build a good friendship with Lady Cloche.
I am?
Hehehe. Well only at the beginning. Now, I purely just want to be with her.
But at first, it was different...
It was because I found out the Croix I liked was in love with Lady Cloche...
So I wanted to be closer to her for your sake.

I don't know if I didn't see what was going to happen out of all of this coming because I'm shamefully bad at personal relationships or because it was just so improbable that I'd discounted it as a possibility. Anyway awkward silence, my least favorite kind.



Do you get it...?
Because I didn't want to see you stress over us because we didn't get along.
I see.
Yup!
...Hehe.
What now?
Oh, just thinking how unbelievable it was...
When Lord Targana was about to kill us, I protected Lady Cloche.
I knew I couldn't win for sure. But I wanted to protect her until the very end.
Before that, I would have run away without a second thought, for sure.
I see...
It's so mysterious... People's minds.
I could hate her one day and risk my life to save her the next.
I hope you stay good friends with me from now on too, Croix...
Ahhh! Wait, that's not the right one!
Huh? It's not?
......
......
Are they okay?
I kind of don't want to eat tonight's dinner...

It's such a shame Cloche doesn't have my knack for cooking.
Loading Comments...
Am I going to have to bring up the Chalons de Trois incident?-Leyka
Even seeing that name in text makes me a bit queasy, just as an fyi.-Croix
You guys just can't appreciate genius when you taste it.-Luca



Sorry, I think I went a little too far with my adventure here...
It's alright. You can start learning now.
Oh... right.
So... what about our dinner?

We were fortunately able to scrape something up. As we left the next day, I remembered something annoying I had to deal with.



What's wrong?
I forgot I had to do something for Mrs. Lahr!
...Dive Therapy?
Yeah. I said I couldn't, but she begged me just this once... so.
Sorry! Let me go to Rakshek real fast. I'll finish it up quick!
Yeah, sure. We'll be hanging around in Rakshek for a while.
I'm so sorry.

I heard what happened after I left later.

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Yeah, go ahead.
Okay! I'm off now!
Hey Croix. I want to do a little shopping if that's okay.
Yeah, sure. Where should we go?
The general store.



It can't be helped. Pastalia is more wealthy in general than here.
I don't care much about the products themselves! Just one thing bothers me!
...What?
Why isn't Gergo popular here!? That's the one thing that I don't get!
Oh, I see...
Uncle: Hey, isn't that... The Holy Maiden?
Big Bro: You're right... Why is she here?
Oh well, we'll go look somewhere else.
Uncle: Hey, excuse me, you there.
You're the Holy Maiden, aren't you?
Lady Cloche, let's just get through this.
Uncle: What are you doing here?
Big Bro: You seem quite bored, while we're here worrying about food for tomorrow.
...!
Young Man: Lady Cloche, you say? Oh, you're right!
Big Sis: Why are you here?
......
Back away! We have somewhere to be.
Uncle: You're running away!?



Big Bro: We've got tons of stuff to say!
Uncle: Because of you, this world is a mess!
Big Bro: Seriously, I'm surprised you're walking around like nothing happened...
Mrs. Lahr: Look at that nice body of yours. Feeding off money that killed people!
Enough already! We're not in this situation because we want to be!
Uncle: You mess up this badly, and you're still making excuses!? You dog of the Grand Bell!
What did you say!?
Croix...
......
Everyone...



I humbly apologize for all I've done. I am very sorry for everything.
Uncle: ......
Big Bro: ......
Mrs. Lahr: It's not like apologizing solves the problem!
I don't plan to solve the problem with an apology. I haven't lost hope in this world yet.
I promise to create Metafalica...
Uncle: Stop lying! I'm tired of hearing it! Metafalica, Metafalica!
Nana: !!
Uncle: Every time Metafalica's mentioned, we've tried to tolerate things!
We live sparingly for Metafalica, our sons became knights for Metafalica.
We lost land for Metafalica and we were attacked for Metafalica!
In the end, we were almost killed by Metafalica!
We're tired of it!
Nana: ......

This was about when I walked in.



Mrs. Lahr: And you still want us to believe you!?
Nana: Uh, wai-
Stop it! Just stop it!
...Luca!?
Nana: Luca...!?
Mrs. Lahr: Luca dear...!
What are you all doing!? Gen, Mr. Hash, Boss, and even Mrs. Lahr...
You weren't the kind of people who would say such terrible things before!
You're horrible... Don't blame Lady Cloche!
You don't even know how hard she's worked for everyone!
Remember what you told me when I was depressed? When I found out I was a maiden?
That you would do your best for me. That we would all make Metafalica together!
You were the ones who said you would contribute knights!
You said you would economize, you offered to fight...
And now that things have worsened, you blame it all on Lady Cloche?
You're all so horrible...
Please, don't bully her anymore...

That seemed to work.



Uncle: I didn't mean it like that... I'm sorry.
......
Mrs. Lahr: But you see, Luca, we've all reached our limits here. I can't do this anymore.
We've all done our best, without knowing who to blame our misery on.
I hope you understand that, too.
......
Mrs. Lahr: But, you're right. We shouldn't have done this.
It was wrong of us this time. I'm sorry.
...Okay.
Mrs. Lahr: Now, party's over. Everyone go back to work!
Big Bro: Luca, do your best! I'm cheering for you!
Uncle: I'm always gonna be on your side.
Nana: Luca... It's okay.
I'm sorry about earlier... I wanted to say the same thing... but I couldn't.
You've gotten so strong... I can't even imagine you doing this not so long ago.
...Thanks.
Nana: Luca, you were awesome.
When it's peaceful again, come back and be my Therapy friend. ...Kay?
Nana...



Those were all really good people. They're cheerful, too...
No, it's alright. But more importantly, thank you Luca.
Huh...?
You made me happy.
...Heh, hehehe.
We need to do our best to create Metafalica for your friends, too...
...Yup!
Soope!
Wow! An Infelsphere Key!
Wait, isn't this...
This might be our very last Sphere Key!
Which means, when this is done... Metafalica can finally be...
Hurry, lets go to the Infelsphere.
Okay!

Before we started, Croix wanted to tell me something.



Anyway, you were so cool, Luca.
What? Don't talk about that any more!
But, it is a fact.
I know how much effort Lady Cloche's been making.
I can't just stand and watch people calling her names.
......
The other day, you said you wanted to be a help to Lady Cloche, right?
Yeah.
Then, I think you gave her a great help today.
Do you think so?
Yeah, Lady Cloche's happy face proves it.
...If that's the case, I'm glad.

If we'd known what was in store, we'd not have rushed to return to the Infelsphere. Nothing in this world comes for free, and it was about to teach us that lesson once again...

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Load Error- File Tags Not Found. Data May Be Corrupt. Load Anyway?
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Loading File- S*l M&(ta Cen$^! L&g
Any idiot can see that Metafalica is impossible on this world. There is only one logical path to this world's salvation. Su......FILE ENDS

Next Time on Ar Tonelico 2: The Fuero Key