Oblivion (A Black Clover Story)

Twenty-Six

-Iris-

The conversation I had with Nozel was unsettling to say the least. Knowing him, it would be just the thing he would do to get me to second-guess my relationship with William. But this felt... Different. It felt genuine. From what I understood, he did originally intend to find some slip-up and be a tattletale to me. But because he found something so disturbing to him, he dropped all of that and told me the truth. And because I knew what he was like when he lied, I knew he was being as truthful and honest as he could.

I sighed as I put the key into the lock of William's- our?- door, unlocking it slowly and stepping inside. The lingering mana of my partner was stale- meaning that he hadn't been here in quite a while. But even so, it was comforting in a way. As I ventured deeper into the room that I knew like the back of my hand by now, running my fingers across familiar surfaces, I sensed something else. It was faint, but there was definitely the mana of someone else here too.

I'm definitely... Overthinking it. The room is absolutely spotless. There have obviously been cleaners here every so often to check on the state of the room when there were no inhabitants.

But I still couldn't get the words of both Mereoleona and Nozel out of my head. Was there really something up with William?

I sighed, stripping myself of my clothes in the bedroom. There was no use dwelling on it now. It was late, and I thought it would be best to get some rest. As I nestled into bed, reminded of how comfortable I always was when sleeping next to him, I drifted off to sleep.

-

"Hey," whispered a soft, melodic voice. I felt a small bit of pressure on my shoulder. "Iris," the voice called, running a cool hand down my exposed arm to hold my hand gently. The sensation gave me goosebumps, and I groaned a little. It was much too early to be woken up. But the feeling of a pair of lips on my cheek awoke me with a start. I sat up, taking deep breaths from being so surprised. "H-hey! I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!" exclaimed the voice.

I looked over to see the unmasked face of William. His eyes were worried, and he held a recoiled hand out in front of him. "Ah... It's alright," I said, finally realizing that it was only him. "I just... Didn't expect you to be here so early."

"I could say the same for you. You came a day early?" he asked, eyes gentle but curious.

"Change of plans. We had to take a deeper look at the border patrols for later this week and once the Royal Knights are put together. A lot of skilled Knights will be participating in the Selection Exam, so that means we'll be pretty impaired if there's an attack. The Eye of the Midnight Sun has been getting aggressive lately, so we have to be as amply prepared as possible," I explained. "The meeting time was changed last minute."

He simply smiled. "I see. Well, we're together now. That's all that matters," William said softly, pulling me into a hug. He buried his face into the crook of my neck, holding me tightly. I guess he really did miss me. But... That was no excuse.

"Tch. I'm mad at you," I said firmly.

He flinched, quickly pulling away to look at me with wide, violet eyes. "What? Why? W-what did I do?"

I turned my head away. "The question should be what didn't you do! You never come see me anymore!" I exclaimed, "I... I missed you..."

"I-Iris, please believe me when I say that it's not because I don't want to see you! I do, really! I-I've just been really busy lately. Like you just were with the meeting?" he told frantically, trying to make me understand him even just a little bit.

I looked at him with suspicious eyes, but the reality was that I was mostly just messing with him. Of course I missed him and was sad that I hadn't gotten to see him much recently, but I did understand. We'd had a similar discussion before. I was a low-ranking Knight and he was a Captain. I felt that asking him about what Nozel and I talked about wouldn't be the best thing right now. "Fine, I forgive you."