【Sakura】The Tale of Their Meeting

Pachi pachi, pachi pachi......

The dragonling woke up to a sound like something popping.

(......? Um, this is......?)

Then she noticed that her small body was wrapped tightly in a warm blanket.

Moving her long neck to look around, she saw that she was on some riverbank.

Round stones were scattered about, and while she couldn't see through the cold, terrifying darkness of the night, she could hear the sound of flowing water nearby.

The pachi pachi was the sound of branches popping in a campfire.

(I...... I couldn't die......)

The dragonling vaguely thought so, lit by the warm orange glow of the campfire.

A failure, a washout, they called her.

Scorned day after day by the other dragons of the pack.

Her heart had already reached its limit.

When she was shoved into the ravine, truth be told, she had even felt a little relief.

That now, she wouldn't have to suffer anymore.

“Achoo!”

“!?”

Just then, the sound of a sneeze came from behind the dragonling.

Startled, she turned around to find a creature wrapped in cloth, sitting with its knees hugged to its chest, asleep.

This creature, was a human.

It was the first one she had ever seen, but checking its features against what she had heard about them, the dragonling judged so.

And...... and neither fleeing nor biting, she simply stared intently at the human.

It was true that the dragonling had already given up on everything.

But more than that, at first sight of the human, she was drawn to her for some reason.

She wanted to get closer.

She wanted to be with her forever.

She felt a mysterious charm that made her think such things without any reason.

“Uu...... sniff......”

The human rubbed her eyes and sniffed, then spread her arms and gave a big stretch.

Then, she looked toward the dragonling.

Their eyes met.

<<<Ah! You're awake!?>>>

And the human spoke right into the dragonling's heart, in such a bright tone!

“!?”

<<<Ah, sorry, did I surprise you? You see, I can talk, heart to heart! Ehehe, calm down, okay? Sorry for startling you, okay?>>>

The human “said” these things while gazing at the dragonling with a smile.

There had been an elder in the pack who could use 【Telepathy】, so though the dragonling was a little surprised, she was able to accept the human's words of the heart without much bewilderment.

The dragonling looked closely at the human's appearance once more.

Her body wasn't very large.

Slender, thin limbs.

She was likely a young female.

The dragonling didn't quite understand human beauty or ugliness, but she thought the girl had a charming face.

And, that hair color......

(She's the same, as me......)

Yes, that hair color was, like the dragonling's, pale pink.

In the pack, there were no dragons with scales the same color as the dragonling.

The dragonling felt as if she had met one of her own kind for the first time.

<<<Ehehe! That's right, we're the same color, aren't we!>>>

“!?”

<<<Ah, I did it again. Sorry for startling you so many times. I can talk with my heart, and I can also hear the other person's heart. Sorry...... is it creepy, I wonder?>>>

The smiling expression on the human's face clouded over.

(Not, creepy. Totally fine.)

The dragonling answered immediately.

Because she hadn't felt the slightest bit of discomfort, and she didn't want to see that human's sad face.

<<<Really!? Ehehe, I'm so happy!>>>

(Happy?)

<<<You see...... in the village where I was born, eeveryone hated me. Said reading hearts was creepy, said stay away>>>

(............)

<<<In the end, they drove me out of the village...... so, I'm happy. That you, accept me>>>

(Hey, what about me!?)

<<<Eh?>>>

At the sudden question from the dragonling, the girl tilted her head in confusion.

(Am I not creepy!? With these half-and-half scales!)

The dragonling cried out.

Cried out, in her heart.

Drip, drip, on the stones at her feet, a few spots formed.

Without realizing it, she was crying, tears spilling.

The girl hugged the dragonling's small body with a gentle smile.

As if to wrap up a young heart that seemed ready to burst apart and die at any moment.

<<<It's okay, it's a lovely color. Our color, it's just like cherry blossom petals>>>

“Fuchu...... Fuchuu......!”

Held in the girl's arms, the dragonling could no longer stop her tears at all.

It was the first time she had ever cried out loud without being struck with wings.

It was the first time she had ever cried with such a warm feeling.

The two of them stayed in each other's arms for a while, perfectly still under the starry sky.

◇ ◇ ◇

<<<Come to think of it, we haven't introduced ourselves yet>>>

The girl, who had kept hugging her and gazing at the campfire for a while even after the dragonling stopped crying, suddenly said that.

(Intro-duce?)

<<<That's right! We tell each other our names. It's a ritual for becoming friends>>>

(Friends! I, want to be friends with you! I'll intro-duce!)

<<<Ehehe, thank you! Then, I'll go first!>>>

With that, the girl plopped the small body of the dragonling she had been hugging down in front of her, and hunched over to meet her eyes.

<<<My name is, Sakura>>>

(Sakura...... you're, Sakura!)

<<<Ehehe...... Truth be told, I should have another name given to me by my parents in this world...... but in the village, I was only ever called ‘Hey’ or ‘You’, and things like that...... so I forgot it. My name in this life. So I'm Sakura. I go by the name from my previous life, just as it is>>>

(This-life? Pre-vious-life?)

<<<Ah, sorry sorry, did I say something a bit difficult? Anyway, I'm Sakura. Sakura is the name of a flower. The cherry blossom. Like I said a bit ago, it's a flower the same color as us, and it's very lovely. Have you ever seen cherry blossoms?>>>

(Cherry blossoms...... don't know)

The dragonling tried her best to remember, but she couldn't think of any flower the color of her own scales.

She became a little crestfallen.

Sakura gently stroked her.

<<<Ehehe, you don't need to feel down. Maybe there aren't any cherry blossoms in this world. Should we go on a journey, and look for them?>>>

(Journey...... can I come too?)

<<<Of course! Ah, come on, names, names! Now I want you to tell me your name!>>>

(Name...... my, name......)

At that, the dragonling found herself at a loss.

She had been the one to say she'd do introductions, but she had never given any thought to such a thing as her own name.

Dragons are intelligent creatures.

When a child is born, it is given a name.

That was why every dragonling but her was called by name by the pack's adults.

But for her, the washout, it wasn't so.

Just like Sakura, in fact.

‘Hey’, ‘You’, ‘That’, ‘It’...... she had only ever been called things like that.

So she didn't know her own name.

The dragonling became sad.

Unlike Sakura, the dragonling had no such thing as a pre-vious-life.

Her name was nowhere to be found.

She couldn't introduce herself.

She couldn't be, friends with Sakura.

She was so sad, so very sad, that tears began spilling from her eyes.

Sakura hurriedly hugged the dragonling again.

<<<Sorry, sorry. I see, you didn't have a name, did you? Sorry I made you feel bad, okay?>>>

(I, have no name. Can't be, friends with Sakura?)

The dragonling cried fuchuu weakly.

<<<That's not true. We can be friends...... I know!>>>

Sakura lifted the dragonling up so they were face to face.

Then, with a beaming smile, she said.

<<<If you don't have a name, I'll give you one! Then we're friends!>>>

(Give a name? Names, can be given?)

<<<That's right! Names can be given! ......Do you hate the idea of me giving you a name?>>>

(I don't mind! I, want Sakura, to give me a name!!)

The dragonling grew excited, flapping her small wings over and over.

Smiling at this, Sakura gazed at the dragonling and thought for a moment.

<<<Umm, just checking first, you're a girl, right?>>>

(Mm. I'm a girl)

<<<Hmm hmm hmm...... okay, got it! I've decided your name!>>>

(Tell me! Tell me!)

Placing the pestering dragonling on the ground, Sakura cleared her throat, kohon.

Then, making a little show of it, she put on a solemn air.

The dragonling waited with a pounding heart to be told her name.

<<<Your scales are cherry pink. Same as me! And they're so pretty, so, blossom>>>

Seeing how nervous the dragonling was, Sakura giggled softly as she announced the name.

<<<......Your name is, Oka. It means, cherry blossom!>>>

(I'm Oka! Oka, the cherry blossom dragon!! Oka, Sakura's friend!!!)

Oka was so happy, so happy to have received a name from Sakura!

Fuchuuuuuuuu!, she cried out with joy!

After that, the girl and the dragon danced, circling around the campfire.

They made meaningless, strange movements to each other and laughed and laughed.

On this day, at this moment, Oka's new life began.

The dragonling who had fallen out of the dragon pack as a washout, wishing only for her own death, found a new place to belong beside a human friend.

Though its shape grew warped over a long, long time, Oka became a dragon who lived out her whole life always as a neighbor to humans.

On the other hand, this meeting was also something special for Sakura.

The girl, driven out of her village with nothing left but to wait for death, regained the memories of her previous life, and gained a lifelong friend.

They would travel from here on.

And on their journey, they would make more friends, go on adventures, and live happily.

And Sakura would one day grow into a great adventurer called “the Progenitor of All Familiar Tamers.”

......Though she herself, it seems, wasn't too fond of being called a “familiar tamer.”

That is a story of the future from this point, and from Emi's point of view, a story of the far, far past.

It isn't something to tell any further here, either.

It'd get, long, after all.

It's supposed to be a story from long ago, so doesn't Sakura-san feel kind of modern?

If she's a reincarnator from long ago, shouldn't she have lived in the Heian period or the Kamakura period or some era like that before reincarnating?

......Some of you may wonder that, but it doesn't work that way.

Of course, there may well be reincarnators from the Heian period, but there's nothing strange about a modern person reincarnating into the distant past of Ardyst.

Since it has nothing to do with the main plot, I could write the setting here, but I think Omake-sama will probably explain those circumstances someday, so I'll wait for that.

No, really, it's just how the story's background is set up, so please don't worry about it at all.

Please forget it.

Next is the final episode of Arc 11.