In a corner of a kingdom where swords and magic blend into everyday life, there is a district lined with charm-craft workshops and herbal apothecaries, a little way from the royal capital. Here, turning eighteen marks the Rite of Adulthood—the moment one is recognized as an adult, leaves the tenement, and lives independently. Leon is an apprentice at a charm workshop. His childhood friend Yui, who lives in the tenement next door, is an apprentice herbalist. They walk home side by side every day,
Distance of a Moonlit Night - Let's stop being friends.
That's wrong, he thought.
He understood it in his head. And yet — why did his chest ache like this?
Lion Trubel was in his room at the tenement, packing the last of his belongings.
He folded his work clothes and placed them in a wooden crate. He wrapped his engraving tool maintenance kit in cloth and set it inside. Tools worn smooth at the corners from years of use. Dark brown leather gloves. One by one, he placed them into the box, as if confirming each item.
Tomorrow was the Rite of Adulthood.
Eighteen years old. The day he would be registered with the kingdom's office as a "full-fledged citizen," leave the tenement, and strike out on his own. By the custom of the Lampring District, the Rite of Adulthood marked the boundary after which young people left their parents' homes or the tenement and took up their own dwelling and livelihood.
Lion had grown up in this tenement, next door to Yui.
For as long as he could remember, Yui had been beside him. In the morning, she'd catch his eye and smile, "Morning." In the evening, they'd walk side by side along the Lyune River on their way home from work. The scent of medicinal herbs on her fingertips. Her long flaxen hair. Her green-tinged eyes.
All of it would no longer be "next door" starting tomorrow.
(I knew this would happen.)
Lion closed the lid of the wooden crate.
He'd known. Once the Rite of Adulthood came, this was inevitable — it had been decided long ago. Leave the tenement. Become independent. That was the way of this town, a path everyone walked.
(But still, this much—)
Lion slipped his hand into the inner pocket of his work clothes.
His fingertips touched a small stone.
—A resonance stone.
A magical tool made by imbuing a stone faintly charged with mana with the maker's feelings. According to an old legend passed down in this town, the stone would generate heat in response to those feelings. Lion had made this one for Yui.
The stone was still faintly warm.
Since the night of the festival. Since the day that stone had first taken on heat in front of Yui.
Lion gripped the stone.
The warmth spread across his palm. Not enough to hurt. But enough that he could tell, with certainty, that "something" was there.
(What did I put into this stone?)
Lion asked himself.
He knew the answer.
Eight years' worth of feelings he'd never been able to voice.
Everything he'd locked inside the shell of "childhood friend" and pretended not to see.
(Tomorrow, it ends.)
Lion tightened his grip on the stone.
(The time I can spend as just a childhood friend — it ends.)
Once he became independent, he couldn't keep living in the same tenement as Yui. No more seeing each other every day as if it were the most natural thing. No more walking home side by side.
Of course, if he wanted to see her, he could. Yui was just across the Lyune River. If he called out, she'd smile for him.
But that would be different from before.
It meant losing the place called "next door" that had been given to him without him doing anything to earn it.
(So it has to be tonight.)
Lion stood, still gripping the resonance stone.
On the back of his left hand was an old burn scar. He'd gotten it at ten, shielding his master when the workshop furnace nearly exploded. Tonight, that scar ached strangely.
A throb.
In time with his heartbeat.
(It's not an excuse.)
(I'm trying to put my true feelings into words.)
Lion gently pressed the scar with his right hand.
There was no pain. But it was hot. As if the furnace fire from that day were still burning, never extinguished.
Lion looked at the old engraving tool leaning against the corner of the room.
The old tool his master Gardo had ordered him to maintain. The blade was worn, the handle cracked. Lion had serviced it yesterday. Sharpened the blade, filled the crack, oiled it.
(When my hands are moving, it gets a little easier.)
That's what he thought.
But tonight wasn't a night for keeping his hands busy.
Lion left the room.
Outside, it had gone completely dark.
An early summer night. The air was lukewarm, mixed with the scent of grass. Somewhere in the distance, insects sang. Only Lion's footsteps echoed through the stone-paved alley.
The mana lamps, having lit automatically at dusk, quietly illuminated the town. These lights were the origin of the Lampring District's name. Their orange glow cast long shadows across the cobblestones.
Lion headed for the Lyune River.
The small river that ran through the center of the district. Four meters wide, thirty centimeters deep. Beloved by the townspeople as an evening walking path.
The place where, on the night of the festival, Lion and Yui had held hands.
The stone steps near the old mine shaft.
Lion stood before those steps.
(I'll call Yui here.)
He took a deep breath.
The night air filled his lungs. The smell of grass. The smell of the river. The quiet after the distant festival.
(Tonight, I end being just a childhood friend.)
Lion gripped the resonance stone once more, hard.
The stone was as warm as ever.
As if Lion's heart had turned into the stone itself.
Thump, thump.
Lion went to call for Yui.
—
The stone steps along the Lyune River.
Moonlight painted the water's surface silver.
The sound of flowing water echoed ceaselessly through the quiet night. The steps still held a trace of the day's warmth, and when he sat, it seeped gently into him.
Lion sat on the steps and waited for Yui.
(Will she come?)
He gazed at the river's surface.
The moon was reflected in the water. Swaying, trembling.
(She'll come.)
Lion took the resonance stone from the inner pocket of his work clothes.
He laid it on his palm.
Bathed in moonlight, the stone glowed white.
—Beneath the moonlight, a magical tool's light shines clearest.
An old saying passed down in this town.
Lion held the stone up to the moonlight.
Inside, a faint light wavered and flickered.
Just like his heart.
"Lion."
A voice.
Lion raised his head.
Her long flaxen hair swaying in the night breeze, Yui Mistral stood there.
Her green-tinged eyes caught the moonlight and glittered. Around her neck hung the vial ornament he'd made. From her fingertips, it seemed, the scent of medicinal herbs drifted faintly on the wind — a scent that shouldn't have been able to reach him from here.
"You called for me? What's up?"
Yui tilted her head.
Her usual bright voice. But somewhere in it, she seemed nervous.
"...Sit down."
Lion lightly tapped the step beside him with his palm.
Yui hesitated for just a moment, then sat down next to him.
There was a gap between them.
About the width of a fist.
A distance that seemed about to close, but never did.
(This distance was us.)
Lion thought so.
Childhood friends. Friends. Beside each other, natural, and yet a distance they never crossed.
"...The moon's beautiful, isn't it."
Yui said quietly, gazing at the river.
"...Yeah."
Lion nodded.
Silence.
Only the sound of the river flowed between them.
Lion looked at Yui's profile.
Her white cheek lit by moonlight. Long lashes. A small nose.
(Eight years, I've been looking at this profile.)
Lion squeezed the resonance stone.
(I have to say it.)
(Tonight, I have to say it.)
(Starting tomorrow, we won't be childhood friends anymore.)
(So at the very least, at the end, in my own voice—)
Lion opened his mouth.
"...Yui."
His voice came out hoarse.
"What?"
Yui looked at him.
Her green-tinged eyes caught him straight on.
Lion stared back into them.
(Ah, these eyes—I—)
He searched deep in his throat for the words.
Eight years of feelings. Words he couldn't say. He wanted to tell her everything. But how?
Lion gently placed the resonance stone on Yui's palm.
"...This."
Yui looked at the stone in her hand.
"A resonance stone... the one you made, Lion."
"Yeah."
Lion nodded.
"I made it for you."
He sensed Yui catch her breath.
Beneath the moonlight, the stone began to glow strongly.
A faint warmth passed into Yui's palm.
"...It's warm."
Yui murmured.
"Yeah."
Lion gazed at the stone in Yui's palm.
Responding to Lion's feelings, it shone brighter and clearer than ever before.
Moonlight and the stone's glow mingled together.
"I—"
Lion said.
"I, about you—"
The words caught.
"I love you."
Lion finally forced the words out.
"I've loved you for a long time."
Yui said nothing.
She just stared at the stone in her palm.
A long silence.
The sound of the river. The insects. The faint flickering of distant mana lamps.
Lion felt his heart pounding hard enough to hurt.
(I'm scared.)
He thought.
(Scared to hear Yui's answer.)
(Everything about these eight years might end.)
(We might not even be able to stay friends.)
(But I had to say it.)
(Not saying it and facing tomorrow would be even scarier.)
Lion gazed at Yui's profile.
She was still looking at the stone.
Then, Yui cupped the stone in both hands.
"...You know, I—"
Yui spoke.
Her voice was trembling.
"I've also, for a long time, about you, Lion—"
Lion's heart leaped.
"I loved you."
Yui raised her face.
Her green-tinged eyes were wet with tears.
"But I couldn't say it. Because I didn't know how you felt about me."
Yui smiled.
Crying, she smiled.
"I thought if I could just stay your friend, that would be enough."
Lion couldn't say anything.
Yui held the resonance stone to her chest.
"Has this stone been warm all this time?"
"...Yeah."
Lion nodded.
"Since the night of the festival. The whole time."
Yui lowered her eyes.
"...Did I say something that night?"
She asked quietly.
Lion hesitated for a moment.
(Should I tell her?)
(Would it be better not to?)
He looked at the stone in Yui's palm.
It was still warm.
"...You—"
Lion said.
"You said 'I love you.'"
Yui raised her face.
"...I knew it."
She smiled wryly.
"I was pretending not to remember."
"...I knew."
Lion said.
"I noticed you remembered."
"I see."
Yui laughed.
"So you saw through me."
The two looked at each other and laughed.
They laughed away a silence that had gone on far too long.
"Hey, Lion."
Yui said.
"There's something I've always wanted to tell you."
"What is it?"
Yui gently took the vial ornament hanging at her neck.
"Do you remember this?"
Lion looked at the vial in Yui's hand.
A small glass bottle. Empty inside.
"...Yeah."
Lion nodded.
"The one I called a failure and threw away."
"Right."
Yui clutched the vial as if it were precious.
"Back then, I secretly picked it up after you threw it away."
Lion's eyes widened.
"...You picked it up?"
"Yeah. When I was twelve."
Yui smiled, embarrassed.
"Because... I just couldn't stand the thought of something you made being thrown away."
Deep in Lion's chest, something grew warm.
(Twelve years.)
(Yui kept my failure for twelve years.)
"You made a resonance stone for me. And I kept your failure for twelve years."
Yui said.
"...We're two of a kind, aren't we."
Lion tried to say something, but no words came.
Instead, he reached out.
He laid his hand over Yui's.
Yui's hand was warm.
The hand clutching the vial.
Lion's hand and Yui's hand.
Between them, the resonance stone quietly gave off heat.
"...Lion."
Yui laughed softly.
"So, shall we stop being friends?"
Lion looked at Yui's face.
She gazed at him with a face that was half-crying, half-smiling — and yet, somewhere, serene.
"...Yeah."
Lion nodded.
"Yeah. Let's."
The two sat beneath the moonlight, hands overlapping.
Still unable to decide on a name for this new relationship that was no longer childhood friends.
But that was fine.
It didn't need a name.
What was certain right now was the warmth of this hand, the heat of the stone, and—
(I love Yui.)
(Yui said she loves me too.)
(For now, that's enough.)
Lion looked up at the sky.
The moon shone white.
—Beneath the moonlight, a magical tool's light shines clearest.
The resonance stone's glow melted into the moonlight, clearer than it had ever been.
—
Th
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