BMD 146

“Oh, Commander!”

The voice that came from not far away shattered the tension that had been quite good. Thanks to this, the two people, who had escaped as if bouncing out of the strange atmosphere, turned their heads in that direction at the same time.

Over there, beyond the bushes, about twenty members of the 1st Battalion could be seen approaching. One of them, who was at the very front, was waving his hand greatly, saying that they were here, as if trying to let them know their location. They had been waiting for the Legion Commander to return before joining the base camp, and when he didn’t come after a long time, they seemed to be looking for him themselves.

Leonardo thought that they all looked like they had been shipwrecked, with dark circles under their eyes and dirty appearances, as if they had been shipwrecked during the few days he hadn’t seen them. However, he didn’t feel any emotion such as pity, and just looked at them with an unpleasant gaze.

Something felt off when their gazes, which had been directed at his face, shifted slightly downward. He didn’t even need to follow their line of sight to feel the increased pressure on his hand. Leonardo was suddenly reminded of what he was doing with their Legion Commander right now.

Before he could even register the wave of embarrassment washing over him, his body moved on its own. Leonardo hastily pulled his hand away from Hugo’s, awkwardly stepping back to create some distance as if nothing had happened.

Having done that, he felt a pang of guilt for abandoning him so abruptly. He rubbed the back of his hand, where the lingering warmth remained, and glanced up at Hugo.

Hugo, who had also been observing the members, briefly glanced at his own hand, now empty of the warmth that had been there, before raising his head. He had wondered if something serious had happened when Leonardo had flinched and pulled away so quickly, but now it seemed there was another reason.

Hugo’s eyebrow quirked slightly as his gaze shifted from the members back to Leonardo. He silently watched the way Leonardo glanced up at him, seemingly gauging his reaction, and a small smile escaped him. He wondered when Leonardo had become so self-conscious of the members’ eyes after acting so brazenly.

Aside from that small smile, he didn’t show any other reaction, but Leonardo felt a strange sense of awkwardness, as if the smile had been one of disbelief.

He stood there silently with a displeased expression, and Hugo strode over, casually draping his right arm around Leonardo’s shoulders and back. Then, with a faint smile on his face, he said,

“Let’s go together. Those guys have been waiting for you too.”

“…What?”

This time, he almost blurted out, “Don’t lie!”

Leonardo began to move forward, practically pushed along by Hugo, who was now standing close enough that their shoulders and arms were lightly touching. He looked up at him with a scowl, as if to ask what he was doing, but Hugo simply patted his shoulder and gestured for him to come along.

Squad Leader 8, who had been anxiously waiting for the Legion Commander, relaxed his tense expression when he saw the two approaching from afar. He sighed and looked at Leonardo with a slightly displeased expression.

He couldn’t understand why Leonardo had been circling the area earlier, as if he were planning to run away.

Leonardo also approached them with a somewhat reluctant expression, all the while quickly scanning the faces of those waiting and the surrounding area.

The number of people he could see roughly matched the total number of First Battalion members who had entered the peninsula, leading him to believe that they had already achieved their objective and gathered together. He was worried that the two might have been captured.

And as he feared, he spotted a familiar face among the members, awkwardly smiling while holding a bundle. Leonardo flinched and swallowed hard when he saw Kenneth. His eyes darted around even more frantically.

The only saving grace was that Alex Siles was nowhere to be seen.

Noticing Leonardo’s anxious gaze, Kenneth subtly gave him an OK sign by touching the tips of his index finger and thumb beneath the bundle. Leonardo, who had been glancing around, finally relaxed and secretly sighed in relief after confirming the signal. It seemed they had succeeded in sending them without being detected.

“Everyone’s gathered.”

“Legion Commander, we’ve been looking for you.”

The members of the First Battalion crowded around Hugo and Leonardo, who had drawn closer. Amidst the voices of the members welcoming their Legion Commander and the occasional glances that swept over him, Leonardo tried his best to appear confident. He hid his embarrassment and maintained a brazen expression, as if daring them to say something.

Hugo glanced at him, then removed his arm from around his shoulders and slowly scanned the members, asking,

“Where’s Kenneth Weaver?”

Squad Leader 8 grabbed Kenneth’s arm, who had been cleverly hiding among the squad members, and pulled him forward. Kenneth, now standing directly in front of the Legion Commander, looked up at him with a tense expression.

He was cowering, expecting to be scolded, but Hugo simply checked his complexion, which didn’t seem too bad, and lightly patted his shoulder without saying a word. Kenneth, who had been stiff as a board, awkwardly smiled and scratched the back of his head at the gesture, as if telling him to relax.

It was a rather heartwarming scene, but Leonardo, who was watching from the side, couldn’t shake the feeling that he was out of place. He felt like oil in water, floating alone.

As if to prove it, no one was staring at him outright, but he could feel gazes that he couldn’t decipher, and when their eyes were about to meet, they would look away. The strange discomfort caused by these actions made Leonardo scowl and chase away the gazes, as if to say, “What are you looking at?”

Just as he was on edge, he heard a voice calling his name amidst the chaotic conversations.

“Blaine!”

Leonardo turned his head in confusion at the sound of his name, which was particularly clear.

Someone pushed through the members and suddenly appeared. The face that he was now confronted with seemed to have been eagerly anticipating this moment of reunion.

It was Flynn.

His face wasn’t bright; his expression was contorted, and his shoulders were heaving as if he had run here in a hurry. He looked like he had a lot to say, as if he were about to demand an explanation.

Leonardo furrowed his brow slightly and stared at him, wondering what he was going to say that made him rush out like this. The sudden appearance of Flynn had interrupted the conversations of the others, making him feel uncomfortable and embarrassed by the attention that was now openly focused on him.

Flynn, who had been catching his breath while standing face to face with Leonardo, took another step closer and suddenly grabbed both of his hands. Looking at the Gold Eyes, who was clearly taken aback by his actions, he suppressed the various emotions that seemed about to burst forth and said to him,

“Welcome back.”

That one sentence contained quite a lot.

It was an unexpected remark, and the voice, which had been heavily suppressed, was slightly trembling, causing Leonardo to be unable to hide the bewilderment in his eyes. The clear eyes that he stared at, his hands still clasped, contained not anger but concern for him.

It hadn’t been long since he had resolved to maintain a facade of brazenness, but Leonardo was now wearing what he considered to be a rather foolish expression.

When he had made up his mind to sign the contract with Alex Siles instead of returning to the ranks immediately, he had prepared himself for the coldness, restraint, and disregard that would be directed at him upon his return… things that were not at all pleasant. But those thoughts were rendered meaningless, as the emotions he was now experiencing were completely different from what he had expected.

“I’m glad you’re safe.”

Flynn’s brow twitched slightly, as if his nose was stinging after saying that. As such, the grip on his hands tightened, conveying his feelings directly to Leonardo. Thanks to that, he could recognize that the man before him was speaking from the heart, and that this moment, which felt so surreal, was reality.

The wind that blew and shook his hair opened up his narrow field of vision, which had been heavily fortified with defense mechanisms. Thanks to that, he could once again strongly feel the gazes of the many people standing behind Flynn.

This time, everyone was looking at him without avoiding his eyes, and it wasn’t as unpleasant as he had expected. Perhaps something had changed in his mind in that short time, as the looks in their eyes seemed slightly different.

Rather than gazes of wariness and rejection, it seemed as if they also had something they wanted to say.

Leonardo glanced around for a moment before turning his eyes back to Flynn.

…For some reason, he felt strange.

Looking into those clear eyes filled with heavy emotion, he felt utterly ridiculous for feeling like he had ‘returned’.