I was about to follow the boy inside, but then I thought it over—technically, I’m a woman. Would it really be okay for a man and a woman to be under the same roof?
After all, there’s that whole “men and women shouldn’t be too close” thing… Ugh! This is so annoying! Whatever, I don’t care anymore!
Walking under the rain awning by the door, I swallowed nervously, poked my head in first to scope things out, and once I confirmed nothing weird was going on, I stepped in with my front foot. “Sorry for intruding,” I said, then brought my back foot in after.
The smell… it really was natural. Way better than the scent of stone… I thought, and then the first thing that came into view was a room about the size of a living room.
The door on the left was open, revealing bookshelves inside—probably a study. The space ahead was much bigger. On the right were ordinary wooden chairs and a tea table, while on the left was a spiral staircase leading to the second floor. Looking further ahead, there was a large wooden table set before a bunch of cabinets… I guess that was the kitchen?
The boy excitedly gave me a tour of his home. After we’d gone through the entire first floor, he brought me back to the living room. I noticed there weren’t any stools around, so I sat down on a wooden chair, and the boy sat down across from me.
This house was really nice—way better than those stone houses in town. It was cozy and cool.
I looked around and didn’t see anyone else in the house, and the boy seemed like he was waiting for someone.
“What’s up? Your family hasn’t come back yet?” If they hadn’t, would it really be okay for a stranger like me to be alone with a kid?
Oh wait, at my current age, I’m probably about the same as him. “Yeah, Sister Iris and Sister Aria haven’t come back yet.” The boy nodded and said that… Hold on, you can actually talk?
“That’s not… ahem, I thought you couldn’t speak. Is it because you can’t open up with just one person around outside?” I’ve been through that before—too scared to talk in front of strangers or even on the street, but at home I’m a total chatterbox. Though honestly, it was just me laughing at a screen.
The boy shook his head, which surprised me. I wondered if that was weird, then realized I was the weird one…
If some stranger suddenly fell from the sky and I saw him and he wanted to chat with me, I’d definitely freeze up for a bit and then run off without thinking twice.
I sat quietly for a while. The boy handed me a cup of tea to pass the time, but his sister still hadn’t come back. He himself had said his sister should be back by now, so I guess “still hadn’t” was the right way to put it.
…
I spread my diary out on the tea table and just started writing. This was how I killed most of my free time. Because of that whole “direction” thing earlier, I never had a chance to properly write in it, so this diary was still at a beginner’s level.
The boy had just gone out, saying he was going to find his sister and asking me to watch the house. I agreed, silently marveling at how naive this kid was.
—10:07
Writing in my diary got boring, so I leaned back in the chair and just waited quietly.
This wasn’t my home, nor was it Mrs. Krillol’s house. I didn’t dare—or rather, didn’t want to—wander around an unfamiliar place, especially when someone already lived here.
“The tea tastes… really clean… Tsk, after drinking something I want some water.” I muttered to myself unconsciously, got up, and went to the kitchen to look. Other than miscellaneous vegetables and a furnace, there was no container I could see with my naked eye…
So how did the boy pour water earlier? There had to be something going on—
Well, that’s not really my business.
I went back to my seat and sat down, leaned back in the chair again, and closed my eyes…
Hah~ I’m so stupid. I gave my whole heart and risked my life for a happiness that doesn’t even exist for me. In the end, not only did “they” disappear, but I ended up like this. I hate it—I hate that I’m still too naive, still too innocent. Compared to those scheming, calculating people, I’m just a fool who doesn’t understand anything and only makes reckless guesses.
Ah, ahhh, what happened?
Ahhh, ah, where am I?
I asked myself, but never answered, because I understood that the root of all this was nothing more than my own selfish desires. So why bother convincing myself it wasn’t my fault? The truth is, the one I should blame is myself—
A lowlife who’d grab a moment of pleasure without caring about the future consequences.
“…So sleepy… So sleepy…?” I blanked out for a moment, thinking carefully. I wanted to open my eyes but found that even lifting my eyelids was incredibly hard. “Sleep… sleep? I can finally feel it again?”
But what if I collapsed and never got up again?
I quickly shook my dizzy head and jumped up from the chair. The tiredness from just now faded away, and I breathed heavily, realizing that what happened just now wasn’t a dream.
Was this a sign that I could sleep? Was I no longer affected by [Mental Vigor]? But before, it had always been like that—never letting me pass out, never letting me sleep.
“Could it be like this—as long as I’m in a relatively peaceful environment and hold the same mindset of ‘wanting to sleep,’ I can sleep?” I sat back down on the wooden chair, closed my eyes, and started thinking. “…I’m so sleepy, I’m so sleepy… It’s not working.”
I grabbed my hair and tugged at it, then got up and paced around the living room.
Think—how did I used to fall asleep? Lying in bed, eyes closed, quietly waiting for drowsiness to come. Sounds simple enough, but now that last condition was completely taken away from me. If I had mental vigor, how could I possibly feel sleepy?
I really was overthinking it.
I went back to the wooden chair and looked at the soft cushion, longing for the sweetness of sleep from before.
“Just a short rest should let my body relax, right?”
With that, I sat down again, and again, and closed my eyes…
…
Maybe only a minute had passed, but I was already bored out of my mind. Just like back in the alchemy house, staying from evening until dawn the next day—Alek… Alek… What happened to Alek? He was so badly hurt and then taken away. They probably wouldn’t kill him, judging from all the details at the time.
Heh… Anyway, there’s no way we’ll meet again. Elves, beastfolk, all of it—I’m sick of it.
Haa~ mm… pat, pat… If only I could’ve been a little faster back then… Haa~ mm mm… If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have left Cliff… If I’d known there’d be so much trouble… I wouldn’t have left…
“Haa~ hoo… haa~ hoo…”
And just like that, I fell asleep. I don’t know what happened, but I just fell asleep like that.
“Haa~ hoo… mm mm… pat pat…”
From the looks of it, I seemed to be sleeping soundly. I must not have felt rest in a long time.
“Mm mm… haa~… mm mm…”
A pen clattered onto the table. A girl was asleep in the chair, and another girl—almost entirely pink—stood before her, took her book, and placed it back into her hands.
The pink-purple girl looked left and right, saw no one, put her hands on her hips with a “hmph,” flicked the sleeping girl’s forehead, chuckled softly, and vanished.
[Still the same as always. Is the struggle against that one still going on? I’m looking forward to how it ends. Just kidding—if you want to come back, I suggest you stop struggling. Though you’re different from “her.”]
…
…..
“Kalimel, we’re back!”
“We bought so many ingredients we’ve never seen before, meow! Tonight everyone’s going to have a big feast, meow!”
“Aria, slow down. I know this trip took too long and you missed Kalimel, but let’s finish what we’re doing first.”
“Yes, meow, I really missed Kalimel, meow. Iris, you missed him too, right, meow?”
“…O-Of course! As his big sister, how could I not miss him?”
“Yes yes yes, meow. Then I’ll put the ingredients in the kitchen first, meow.”
“Yeah, please do. Alright, where’s Kalimel? If he didn’t come out to see us… did he go out? Or is he in the backyard?”
“Meow!! Meow!!! Iris, Iris!! I found something strange, meow!”
“Huh? What happened? Do we have a guest?… Who is this?”
“I’ve been watching for a while, meow! No special features at all, meow!”
“What are you talking about? Everyone in the village can tell at a glance that—…? …!”
“Iris, is this one of those, meow? Same as Kalimel, meow?!”
“Huh… probably. No special features on her either… I think, maybe, perhaps, yes—a human or something.”
“Haa~ hoo… haa~ hoo… mm mm…”
“She’s sleeping.”
“Yes, meow. Blue hair, just like Shuiye, meow.”
“…Since the guest is here, where did Kalimel go?”
“Hey hey, Iris. That thing—Kalimel is a boy, right?”
“Mm… yes, that’s right. After all, we do call him ‘kun’…”
“Iris, do you know what I’m thinking, meow?”
“No. Absolutely not. If we did that, it wouldn’t be fair to her. Besides…”
“Huh? Besides what, meow?”
“Mm mm… Nothing!! Anyway, I’ll go find Kalimel first. Aria, please stay here and look after things.”
“How can you do that, meow! I want to see Kalimel too, meow!”
