By Zephyria 
Nero’s eyebrows twitched at the abrupt question.
“Huh?”
He tilted his head with a puzzled expression. He blinked, trying to gauge the intention, then suddenly feeling the gazes of the other seniors, he replied while pretending to be nonchalant.
“I mean… why all of a sudden? Is it because of what the old lady said earlier?”
Nero asked back with a hint of a smirk. Since his reaction suggested it was cringeworthy, Leonardo felt quite embarrassed, even though he was the one who had asked. When Leonardo didn’t add anything further, Nero leaned his face in close and grinned mischievously.
“Actually, isn’t it that you love me, Captain? You were crying earlier because we weren’t here.”
“You’re dead, seriously.”
Leonardo immediately shifted his stance, gripping a wooden fork in his hand and cursing with his eyes. Seeing how easily he brought up embarrassing stories just to tease him, it seemed his discipline had slackened considerably. Just as Leonardo, his ears burning red, wrapped his arm around Nero’s neck and tucked him under his arm—
“I love the Captain, though. I probably love him the most out of all of us.”
Taylor spoke, eyes sparkling, as he swept his hair back with the back of his hand. Nero, whose upper body was collapsed in a headlock, let out a groan before jerking his head back.
“Liar. You said that when you die, you want to be buried with your babies.”
“I can’t bury the Captain with them, can I? And who are you to call me a liar? If I say so, then it’s so. Do you know me better than I know myself?”
“The Captain asked me, but you intercepted it— Ah, hyung, let go of me!”
Despite his face turning red from being strangled, Nero struggled to argue back. Taylor, who had tilted his chin up, looked at him and stiffened the corners of his mouth coldly.
“Look at this little thing talking back. Why, are you afraid I’ll steal him? What’s certain is that the Captain loves me more. Where else could you find a colleague as compe-tent as me? Right, Captain?”
“I’m the one who went all the way to the peninsula to save the Captain! Risking my entire life!”
“I get it, so stop it, you idiots.”
As it devolved into a childish spat, Leonardo mediated between the two with a weary face. Even so, he unconsciously forced a smile. It was too much to act completely cool while these guys were buzzing around saying they liked him. Leonardo pushed away Nero’s head, who had somehow ended up lying flat with his head on Leonardo’s thigh. Then, he turned his head toward Finder.
Finder, who had been disassembling a firearm and sliding his middle finger inside, met his gaze and suddenly gave a playful smile.
“Why, do you want to hear my answer too?”
The somewhat sinister tone, combined with a lingering gesture, sent shivers down Leonardo’s spine.
There are many forms of love in the world, and it was true that he and these guys cared for one another. However, they weren’t in a relationship sweet enough to voice it out loud. What kind of brothers would be crazy enough to whisper love to each other’s faces?
Leonardo leaned back on one arm and waved his hand, dismissing it.
“Save that kind of crap for your lover, not—”
“Since you already know the answer, why do you stray from the path?”
Just as he was about to respond in disgust, a child’s voice was heard from one side. The four people sitting around the wide porch turned their eyes simultaneously.
Beyond the doorframe where thin threads hung, the child appeared, lifting the curtain. Having changed into pure white clothes, she held the letter left by Grimbleton, the accompanying ring, and the gold bracelet Leonardo had possessed when entering the Castle of Romance, all wrapped in a shawl.
Leonardo had personally entrusted the appraisal to her to find out the identity of the items.
“Your bond is strong, but the residual thought attached to you is not of that kind. It is, quite literally, love.”
As the child spoke, she walked steadily toward the four of them.
“Are you saying the Captain has a lover?”
Taylor asked bluntly. More than anything, he felt as if his own feelings for the Captain were being denied. The child placed the items in her arms down one by one and finally tapped Taylor on the shoulder. It was a sign to move aside. Taylor looked bewildered but soon crawled over to the side without a word.
Squeezing herself between Nero and Taylor, the child straightened her clothes and answered calmly.
“He does. It has been a very long time, so it is faint, but it certainly existed. A relationship deeper than water and thicker than blood, to the point where they would give their lives for each other.”
“Deeper than water… thicker than blood…?”
The two people on either side repeated the child’s answer, their eyes widening. They immediately looked at Leonardo. Finder, who had been quietly cleaning his firearm with a lubricant-soaked handkerchief, also shifted his gaze. Placed in the center of those stares, Leonardo momentarily became flustered.
“…Wha-what. Why?”
Taylor and Nero asked in a tone of suspicion.
“Captain, who is it? Could it be…”
“Hyung, s-surely. It’s not that guy, right?”
“…Who is ‘that guy’?”
Instinctively, Agrizendro came to mind, but Leonardo pretended not to know for now. There wasn’t a single person around him who would welcome a connection to him. Except, perhaps, for Finder, who had unexpectedly mentioned the Legion Commander favorably in the swamp earlier.
Leonardo’s gaze almost drifted toward Finder before returning to its place. Come to think of it, the only person who fits as the subject of the residual thought at this point is Agrizendro. Yet, when he first heard the word ‘love’ earlier, he hadn’t immediately been certain that the owner was him. He was the only one who remembered the past, and honestly, he had never thought that the emotions Agrizendro harbored for him were a love so poignant it could produce a residual thought.
While Leonardo hesitated, the child looked down at the food she had prepared.
“Have you finished your meal already? I’d rather raise ten cows than feed you lot.”
Though her tone was scolding, a satisfied smile lingered on her lips. She seemed pleased that the trays and baskets were nearly empty.
Regardless of her peaceful demeanor, Nero, clutching the shawl Leonardo was wearing, shook his shoulder and pressed for an answer as if he couldn’t believe it.
“Who on earth is this residual thought that loves the Captain? How long have you even known each other for it to be love? And the age difference is so huge…”
“Hey, what are you talking about? Who do I even know—”
Leonardo clumsily covered Nero’s mouth with his palm to stop the useless chatter. It was to avoid the suspicious gaze of Taylor, but the child poured oil on the fire.
“He has known you far longer than you have known each other. That is why, even though other cluttered residual thoughts have mostly fallen away, that one alone still holds its place. Clinging tightly.”
“No, what on earth does that…”
“How do you think you came to be here? Do you believe it was merely a coincidence?”
The child’s eyes, which held the weight of ages, peered deeply into Leonardo. Meeting that mysterious gaze, Leonardo froze. He felt as if she wasn’t looking at him, but peering into something much deeper inside.
“How… how did I come to be here?”
Leonardo asked, his voice trailing off with confused eyes. The child spoke again.
“When you crossed the swamp, did you see the reflections of your comrades in the water, other than yourself?”
Suddenly recalling that moment, Leonardo’s expression stiffened visibly. He had found it strange all along. It was one of the reasons that had made him momentarily fantasize that these people might be hallucinations.
“No.”
“The reflections there appear only to those who have experienced a state of being neither a student nor an apostle, and who have crossed over the rift of time. The fact that your comrades were not reflected means these fellows were born entirely of this land. However, you are not. Regardless of how your first birth was, the current you is not.”
Leonardo frowned. He felt as if Alex Siles were standing right in front of him. It was a way of speaking that was completely incomprehensible.
“Explain it in a way that’s easy to understand. I don’t get any of this.”
“When I looked into the memories of the residual thought attached to this bracelet and ring, I saw a version of you older than you are now. That is evidence that you lived another life previously. The residual thought attached to you has been with you ever since.”
It was an unbelievable story. That another life existed for him?
But once he heard it, his thoughts were surprisingly organized.
“Is that…”
Leonardo’s lips parted, and he barely managed to let the words out.
“Is it because I’m from Bermuda?”
The three people beside him held their breath and looked back at their Captain. Just as the child was about to speak after observing each of them, a small lizard crawled out from beyond the doorframe where she had appeared. It looked very similar to the white beast that had flown Leonardo’s party to the cabin earlier. However, its size was so small it could fit inside a basket.
“It seems it was late because it was searching for the right color of thread.”
The child glanced back and then reached out toward Leonardo, who was opposite her.
“Return it to its owner.”
A basket was held in the lizard’s mouth. Inside were the clothes Leonardo had been wearing. Following the child’s instruction, the creature slowly lifted its blunt feet.
As if there were some adhesive on its paw pads, a pop, pop sound echoed with every step. On its back were fluffy wings, the size of a palm, resembling corn bread. To think those were called wings.
Leonardo stared at the reptile, which looked cute if described kindly, or vacant if described poorly. Watching the creature approach him, he asked with a wary face.
“…What is that?”
“It is the child that brought you here earlier. It has returned to its form from when it was a hatchling.”
The child added, looking directly at Leonardo.
“Just like someone from ‘Bermuda,’ as your generation calls it.”