"I have news for you."

The teacher’s announcement that day changed everything.

"It happened rather suddenly, Lia is transferring schools again today."

He said it plainly as if it’s a trivial matter.

My eyes jumped to my right, toward an empty seat; Lia’s seat.

She was already gone, drifted away from my kingdom.

She disappeared as suddenly as she appeared, yet again turning my reality upside down.

"Is she still around!?"

I stood up and shouted across the classroom.

I couldn’t allow things end that way.

Who gave her the right to disappear without asking for my permission? What does she take my kingdom for!?

After forcing answers out of the teacher, I ran out of school.

I ran across the streets, toward the location of which I just learned: Lia’s house.

She was going to move away, leaving the city altogether.

I had to stop her. It couldn’t end like this!

"Lia!"

She was there, right in front of her house.

She was about to enter a black car, about to be taken away from me.

"Lia, wait!"

No matter how strongly I shouted, that girl couldn’t possibly hear me.

Even so, I just ran up the small hill and continued to cry out her name.

As I was struggling to climb up, out of breath, one of her relatives noticed me. The woman beside Lia pointed in my direction, making Lia turn to face me.

"Lia, don’t g-"

My lips froze.

Lia did look at me.

She looked at me, with eyes I’ll never forget.

Her eyes weren’t filled with any emotion. Not anger, nor hatred... nothing.

After throwing a quick glance in my direction, she entered the car and disappeared from my sight.

For the rest of my life, I wouldn’t be able to forget that moment.

That moment when she looked down on me from the top of that small hill.

The me that was reflected in her eyes... was like empty air.

She didn’t care about me, not in the slightest.

For me, that average girl was a special existence unlike any other.

Yet for her, a king such as myself... was nothing but air to be ignored.

I cried.

I fell on my knees and cried.

I have never felt so helpless before.

She reduced an almighty king to a powerless commoner.

Was that bitter feeling a part of what it means to be "human"?

It must have been a familiar feeling to anybody else. To anybody other than me.

For the first time, I could understand what it means to be in pain out of helplessness.

Did Lia also feel this way when she was bullied? Did I cause such grief to so many others I manipulated?

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The accumulated ugliness of my actions has struck me all at once.

I never paid any heed to the feelings of others. They were toys, nothing more.

But Lia... made me feel like a human, like one of these "toys" I looked down upon.

If I were a king, she must have been an angel sent to guide me.

The following days were spent on searching for her traces.

The teacher didn't know anything of value, which is why I tried to ask her friends.

But... she didn't have friends in class anymore.

Even the kind girls who welcomed Lia upon arrival - distanced themselves from her.

She was an isolated being in this class. It was hard to confirm for sure, but I had that stinging thought over and over:

"What if she left because of the bullying?"

She didn't have friends. She was bullied daily.

It was only reasonable to suspect that these facts drove her away.

I drove her away.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"You seem down all the time."

Classmates approached me on occasions, asking about my well-being.

I just ignored them. I ignored everybody.

None of them was interesting to me.

I wanted Lia to come back. I wanted to start it all over again.

Just one more chance, I was asking for nothing more than that.

Next time I would have treated her differently. Next time I would have properly talked to her.

I kept repeating such thoughts in my head, hoping that a miracle would grant my wish.

But it didn't happen. She didn't come back.

I waited and waited and waited.

But she didn't come back.

I was a powerless, helpless king who was eaten away by melancholy.

"What did you say!?"

"You want a piece of me, huh!?"

On one of such tasteless days, I happened to hear familiar words.

They reminded me of that first fight Lia tried to stop. It was then that I learned how special she was.

Back then, it was me who set up the fight. I wanted to see some action, so I thoughtlessly turned two boys against each other.

"I'll mop the floor with ya!"

"You are a goner!"

But this time was different. They were fighting out of their own accord.

With Lia's disappearance, setting up petty quarrels has grown tasteless. I stopped doing it.

The two started pushing each other, it was a question of time before fists start flying around.

Even without me doing anything, these kids sought conflict.

"Will someone stop them?"

I wondered that as I looked at them.

I didn't start that fight and I didn't intend to stop whoever wanted to interfere.

If it can start on its own, then it can also end on its own. That's what I believed.

"You bitch!"

"I'll bury you!"

Their fight grew fiercer and fiercer.

Just like me, everybody did no more than look at the unfolding events without budging.

Some were cheering, others were uncomfortable with it.

Yet, nobody moved.

A conflict not sparked by me, a conflict which I didn't support... why was it allowed to persist?

"Ughhh!"

One of the kids tripped and hit his head against a table's tip. There were signs of blood on the back of his head.

Why nobody stopped them? Why each and every one of these spectators just stood there, doing nothing?

If it were Lia, she would have stopped them right away...

"You fucker!"

The injured boy didn't forfeit.

Learning of the blood on the back of his head, his retaliation grew only fiercer.

The two intended to tear each other to pieces. It was a very heated conflict, especially for one not initiated by me.

The scene disgusted me.

"Give it a rest already."

I spoke to them with irritation.

"That fucker made me bleed!"

"Your own damn fault!"

But it didn't end there.

Did they... oppose me?

Setting people up to hate and fight each other was easy.

But stopping fights... have I ever done that before?

Defending myself has never been required, for everybody liked me. Neither have I ever had anybody important to me to protect.

Truly, I have never tried to stop a quarrel. Normally, I was like one of these kids who cheer upon the unfolding chaos.

"Stop it, before you get injured."

After my second line, the two froze for a moment and looked at me. They were planning to continue, I could tell.

My words didn't reach them, even after speaking twice.

It wasn't unheard of some cases demanding more effort than others.

But it still surprised me. Why stopping a fight was so hard...?

"You should just work things out, I'm sure you can."

I continued, to make them give up. It took a few more words to properly extinguish the flames of war.

I went an extra mile to make them make up, just in case. By the end of it all, they were on friendly terms.

It was hard.

Normally, if something required that much talking to resolve, I'd have treated it as "beyond my limit".

But this time was different.

Lia could stop these fights, even without being able to influence people the way I do.

It was unthinkable that I wouldn't be able to do the same.