Spring had passed, and the season was entering the transitional period at the threshold of summer.
It was the season when forests drank deeply of verdant color and painted vivid landscapes.
It had not even been many days since my last visit, yet nature surviving amid gray civilization always offered a different sort of charm.
Perhaps it was because this was the height of the growing season.
Or perhaps it was because the person accompanying me today was special.
After all, the girl walking beside me was a face I had not seen in a very long time.
My fiancée, whom I had not seen for several months.
Naturally, I could only be delighted.
No matter how busy we had both been, there was nothing either of us could do about missing the other.
Without saying a word, I matched my pace to hers and looked down at my lover.
Yes.
Looked down.
That was the difference in our heights.
The first thing to enter my vision was her pointed hat.
It was an item commonly worn by mages, and when combined with the girl’s petite stature, it created a peculiar impression.
After all, clothing large relative to one’s body tended to dominate the first impression.
Then there were her finely arranged features and soft skin.
Her sapphire-like blue…