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It’s Spreading… Even Allies…
Rafina got up after she was done washing her body. She walked towards the pool with measured steps and the air of a lion baring its teeth.
Eeeek! She is! She’s definitely angry! Very very angry!
Just thinking about that was enough to wake her brain up. It worked quickly and furiously to try to figure out why Rafina sounded so angry. It soon came up with an answer.
Ye-Yes, that’s right! Party time! Miss Rafina was excited about the stew party we were going to have today.
She thought back to how excited Rafina had been when she talked about the stew party that the student council had planned for tonight. That was obviously no longer happening.
Mia figured that Rafina’s anger must be about the loss of the stew party. Mia wanted to say that it wasn’t her fault that the party was cancelled, but she knew it wouldn’t help to try to reason with someone who was angry.
Granted, I don’t blame her for getting so angry. It’s totally fine to lose your cool because a mushroom stew party didn’t happen. After all, they’re really tasty.
Mia thought.
Hm, this also makes me think that Miss Rafina is a secret foodie like me.
She took a quick look at Rafina’s middle and gasped! Because Rafina’s stomach was flat as a pancake!
It doesn’t make sense… If she likes food as much as I do, she wouldn’t be…
Mia pinched her own sides. She shook her head and let out a sigh that was full of all the wrongs in the world.
But that doesn’t matter.
She brought her thoughts back on track.
I’ve made a terrible mistake. This was not the time to take a long bath. Before doing anything else, I should have gone with everyone to say sorry to Miss Rafina.
But it was too late to make up for that mistake. Even worse, she ran into Rafina in a place where they would be alone. Totally unlucky.
No… Not unlucky.  This was on purpose. She herself said so. She owns the bath salt. So, this was her trap, and I fell right into it—Yep!
She jumped when she heard a small splash. She looked in that direction with worry and saw Rafina getting into the water.
“Phew… You are correct. It has a nice smell. Very…calming. For your head.”
Rafina let out a soft sigh and stretched.
D- Doesn’t that mean she’s so angry she needs aromatherapy to calm down?
Mia also started to make splashing sounds, but hers were caused by her uncontrollable shivers of fear.
“Well, I guess it’s time for me to go then…”
She tried to get away right away. No matter what happens, it can’t be worse than being stuck here with an angry Rafina and no one else.
“Mia? Isn’t it a little early to leave? Will you stay a little longer?”
Mia’s wrist was grabbed by a thin hand that reached up from the water. Then there was a quiet giggle.
“Isn’t it great to take a bath with a friend? What’s the big deal? Or am I…”
Rafina quickly turned around to face Mia.
She looked up at her with wide eyes and asked, “Am I not your friend, Mia?”
Her smile was no longer there. Her eyes were locked on you in what could only be called a fierce glare.
“Of course, Miss Rafina, you are. You’re my dear friend.”
Mia jumped back into the pool quickly. She started to sweat, and it had nothing to do with how hot the room was.
“Am I? I could have been fooled… I was sure you’d stopped being friends with me…”
Rafina said this with a strange head-tilt and a hand on her cheek.
“A-Absolutely not!”
Mia said it very strongly.
“I like you, Miss Rafina! A friend who is very important!”
“Then why? Why did you walk alone into danger without telling me anything?”
Mia then saw that Rafina’s eyes had a clear sign of tears in them.
“Eh? U-Uh… Miss Rafina?”
“You told me that I shouldn’t keep everything. You told me to share my problems with others. But when it’s your turn, you just… How could you… Do you know how scared I was?”
Rafina’s voice trembled with emotion.
Mia’s brain shook because she was so confused. When did she ever tell Rafina to help carry some of her load? If Rafina was taking care of everything and doing a good job, Mia would love for her to keep doing it so she could take it easy.
But she didn’t say this out loud. Now that her danger sensors were working again, she knew that saying it would lead to a situation with “me and my stupid mouth.”
Okay, I don’t know what’s going on, but for now I should just do what she says. That seems safe. After all, it does seem like she really cared about me.
She agreed and said, “I’m very sorry about how things have turned out. Even though I didn’t have much choice, it’s true that I made you worry…”
Silence ensued.
The way Rafina looked at her made her hold her breath.
Rafina finally shook her head.
“I know… Of course I do. You are not to blame. You had to go alone to save Miss Bel, so you had no choice. Even so, I wish you would have said something. Anything. I knew you were in a lot of trouble lately, but I couldn’t do anything to help. I couldn’t do anything. It was awful, and I never want to feel like that again,” she said as she let out what seemed like a lifetime’s worth of anger.
“Miss Rafina…”
Mia couldn’t help but feel moved by this honest display of feelings. She was happy to find out how much Rafina cared about her.
“Bel told me some of the story. I can only guess how you felt when you found out that someone was planning to kill you. You must have been totally stressed out.”
“Oh, yes! It was awful. I’m not sure how I got through it, to be honest…”
At last, someone knew how she’d been feeling the past few days. She was so happy to have found someone who cared that she started to cry.
However…
“You also couldn’t tell anyone about it, right? For the sake of Miss Citrina. For the chance to bring her back from the brink.”
“…Hm?”
The conversation took a strange turn all of a sudden.
Bring her back from the brink? What in the moons does she mean?
Rafina didn’t stop when Mia looked confused, she just kept going.
“By putting those bath salts in this pool that make smoke, you were showing Miss Citrina another way to go. You gave her a chance by leaving the door open. There was no way to know for sure if she could do it, but that wasn’t the point. Your goal was to give her a chance to change her mind. And that’s why you let the assassination plot happen, even though it meant you might die.”
“…Huh?”
Mia became even more confused.
In the meantime, Rafina’s face became sad.
“Mia, you are a good person. How kind you are to other people and how willing you are to risk your life to help them are two of the best things about you. And I’m even happier to be your friend because of it… Still, it hurts. I feel bad that you left without saying goodbye. That I would let you. Even though I probably wouldn’t have been able to help you much if you had come to me, I still wish you had…”
Rafina said, her voice getting softer and softer.
“That’s why you can forget everything I just said. I apologise. It’s just nonsense that a silly girl is mumbling. Mia, I’m glad you got home safely. That’s more than enough for me.”
“Miss Rafina…”
Mia was surprised by how honest her friend was being, and she took a deep breath.
What a relief! Thank the moons! It seems like she’s not mad at all.
“No, Mia, I won’t give up. I’ll keep improving. Until I become someone you’d want to ask for advice. And the type of person who is qualified to give you that advice.”
Rafina smiled.
Even though it was a sweet smile, Mia felt a vague sense of dread when she saw it. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what was wrong, but she had the feeling that a serious misunderstanding had just occurred. The kind of misunderstanding that caused her to have a lot of high hopes.
Rafina gave her a reassuring nod when she gave her a worried look.
“Let us take care of the rest. Today, Mia, all you need to think about is getting a lot of rest. Monica is taking care of things right now, so don’t worry.”
“I-I see. So, I guess I’ll just go do that…”
When Mia had the chance to turn off her brain, she did it right away. No matter what, she had made it through and was now safe and sound.
It’s not like losing sleep over it will change much anyway.
She didn’t lose sleep, either. After getting out of the pool, she went back to her room and crawled into bed. The heat from the bath was still on her body, so she slept like a rock for a whole day.
…Which was way too much sleep, but anyway