Chapter Text
Furina was not blind.
She knew that a lot of people found her to be childish, naïve, incapable, especially when standing next to the Iudex, but-
Whether or not she was all those things, she certainly was not blind.
She could tell, sometimes, that when she spoke a little softer, and that when she smiled a little more gently, Neuvillette would get this wistful expression on his face. Like he was looking at Furina and seeing someone else.
It did not take an Akademiya scholar to figure out who Neuvillette was seeing.
“You’re doing it again,” Furina said, barely looking up from the copy of The Steambird she was reading.
Neuvillette paused. “My apologies,” he said stiltedly, lifting his coffee cup to his lips.
Furina sighed. “Reading is not a trait exclusive to Focalors,” she said, unable to hide the mild exasperation in her voice. “If you keep doing that, I’m going to be offended.”
“I will take that under advisement,” Neuvillette answered, lifting up his own copy of The Steambird and disappearing behind it.
To be perfectly frank, Furina had lied. Because she was not ‘going to be offended’, she was ‘already offended’. This was completely irrational, because she knew that Neuvillette could not help but compare them sometimes given that they were practically twins. Nevertheless, she was the one whom Neuvillette had been friends with the past five centuries- he had at most five minutes with the goddess Focalors, and yet she seemed to be the one he saw when he looked at her.
“You are... unhappy with me,” Neuvillette murmured, after a few quiet minutes.
Furina pursed her lips as she folded her newspaper neatly and set it by the side. “I have no logical reason to be unhappy with you.”
“Nonetheless, you are unhappy,” Neuvillette pointed out. He too abandoned any pretence of continued reading and gave her a measured look instead. “And I can’t help but feel it is my fault.”
Furina kept a resigned smile on her face. “I’m afraid, Monsieur Neuvillette, that it is what it is. You are probably thinking to yourself- ‘oh, there she is’ every time I do something that reminds you of her. And you’re not wrong- after all, she is me, just me if I were different. I understand it, that’s why I forgive you.”
Neuvillette said, doubtlessly about to insist that it was his fault again, “Furina-”
“And my forgiveness is something for you to accept, while my feelings on this matter are mine to deal with,” Furina interrupted.
Neuvillette frowned. “However, I do not like this final version of events you have painted for us both. You leave me entirely faultless in this matter and place the burden wholly on yourself.”
“You have done nothing wrong,” Furina explained, “I’m just being... illogical. Irrational.”
“I’m afraid I fail to appreciate how so. I am the one who is making the mistake. And for that I am most sorry.”
“And I’m telling you,” Furina said quietly, frustration starting to leak into her voice, “Your continued apologies would not help, so I forgive you. And I know you are going to do it again.”
And then, of all things to happen, Neuvillette got that look on his face again.
“Seriously?” Furina complained, suppressing the sudden urge to chuck her copy of the Steambird in his vague direction. “What now!”
“You’re both too self-sacrificing to a fault-”
“Neuvillette!”