episode_0009

Gah. You startled me.

Hey! With your hair all disheveled like that, I thought you were a ghost.

“You… weren’t sleeping?”

“I was sleeping. I woke up when I heard Ritsu coming.”

Ah. Right.

One of Tia’s many peculiar abilities was her incredibly light sleep.

She herself said she’d wake up at the sound of a rabbit passing by.

One might wonder how she manages to sleep being so sensitive, but she says she’s not usually like that; she only wakes to unusual sounds.

For example, my footsteps approaching.

That’s why she always greeted me while awake.

Tia asked in a tired voice.

“…What’s wrong?”

“Ah, well, it’s about what happened this morning.”

“Mm.”

“First, this.”

I handed her the ginger biscuit I’d hidden behind my back.

“Oh.”

Her dull eyes quickly brightened. Tia immediately took a bite of the biscuit.

The snack crumbled crisply. As she chewed it carefully, her face gradually became happy, confirming that buying the ginger biscuit was an excellent choice after all.

And then… it was time to offer the apology I’d been thinking about the entire way here.

“Tia. I’m sorry. I think I must have lost my mind then. I shouldn’t have said such things.”

“…No. I definitely had my own fault in it too—”

“Once again, I’m truly sorry.”

“Me too. I’m sorry.”

Tia readily accepted my apology. If she were still angry in the first place, she wouldn’t have met me in the middle of the night.

The girl, who had been quietly eating her biscuit, suddenly broke off half and gave it to me.

“Here, Ritsu, you eat some too.”

“Thank you.”

I took a bite. As expected, it was bitter and spicy, but for some reason, it tasted sweet today.

I sighed and decided to confide my true feelings.

“I felt like I was constantly being chased by something. I thought everything you said was a lie, and I didn’t want to listen to anything at all.”

“Did something tiring happen?”

“Well, I don’t know. It’s strange, but constantly running into Ruyef seems to have made me a bit sensitive. You know, we’ve never gotten along well.”

Tia looked up at the night sky. Stars twinkled in her reddish-brown eyes.

“Mm… that’s partly my fault too. I could have made Ritsu and Ruyef friendly with each other. Because of me, even more misunderstandings arose.”

“Oh, come on. How is that your fault? Ruyef and I just don’t get along.”

“…Ritsu, have you ever had a serious talk with Ruyef?”

“Serious?”

I hadn’t, but…

I felt I never would.

Ruyef and I weren’t the type to resolve things through conversation. People whose natures don’t match can exist anywhere in this world.

And this type has the cleanest relationships.

Because they have no intention of meeting each other.

Even if they do meet, they can just part ways immediately and forget about it.

But if they’re forced to be friends in the same village…

There’s no worse relationship than that.

Tia, standing between us, must have been quite troubled. To this girl, who has a peculiar personality that allows her to befriend anyone, both Ruyef and I are equally precious ‘friends’.

“I hope you two can get along. We’re all friends!”

“You’re right. I’ll try.”

“Thank you. I, too, with Mister Fosao—”

Tia trailed off. It was as if she was barely suppressing an instinctive repulsion.

“…I’ll try to get used to it.”

“Tia. I have a question: why do you dislike Mister Fosao? When we were kids, we used to go to his general store often and play with him.”

“…”

Her eyes clouded over.

“I’m sorry, Ritsu… I… don’t want to talk about that right now…”

I didn’t want to continue this conversation either. I certainly had no desire to force Tia to tell me something she didn’t want to talk about.

But since she promised to get better in the future.

Just her saying that for my sake was enough to make me grateful.

“By the way, are your legs hurting? I heard you weren’t feeling well.”

“No. My legs are perfectly fine. It’s just that I’m not feeling well because— Hmm—”

“Sometimes you can look fine on the outside but not feel well inside. You have to tell me the details. Only then can I get you some medicine or something.”

“It’s not that…”

Tia scratched her cheek.

“That day, I guess—”

“That day? What day are you talking about?”

“Ritsu, you’re pretending not to know, aren’t you?”

As I stared blankly, not understanding what she meant, Tia let out a deep sigh.

“…’A girl’s day’, I mean.”

“Ah. *Ahem*.”

An awkward silence hung in the air. I admit that I was clueless about this.

For some time now, there had been days about once a month when Tia’s vitality significantly dropped. In my immaturity, I simply thought it was a week when her energy ran out and she needed a short rest. It was only after hearing detailed explanations from the elders that I learned women have ‘those days’. I was even taught that being found out on ‘that day’ was embarrassing and shameful for a girl, and that if Tia was having a hard time because of it, I should naturally treat her well.

Although I couldn’t treat her ‘naturally’ or ‘well’ today.

I should pay more attention from now on.

“If you need it, I’ll make you herbal tea every day.”

“Mm-mm. No, I’ll be fine in just two days.”

“Oh, and there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Hm?”

“The village chief gave me permission to go beyond the border too. Now I can go to Behemor with you. Let’s go together when you feel better.”

“Really—?!”

She made a delighted expression, but then quickly became gloomy again.

“But, is it okay for me to go back up the mountain?”

“Of course it’s okay. You just got a warning, didn’t you?”

“Because I keep causing problems… I got excited by myself and got hurt. I made Ritsu worry. And I did something regrettable to Ruyef too… Even the village chief trusted me and sent me… I don’t know what to say…”

Looking at her lifeless shoulders, it felt bitter.

That’s not it, Tia.

You should be more confident instead.

Saying you won’t make a mistake this time. Saying you’ll go out to a wider place and have an adventure.

You should show your energetic self, like always.

But if you’re bowing your head like a soaked sparrow…

That’s not like you.

“You can go up the mountain, Tia.”

I gently took Tia’s drooping hand. She flinched as if startled, but she didn’t pull away.

“Everyone believes in you. That’s why they gave you another chance.”

“They believe in me…?”

“Of course. The village chief said he already knew you’d cause trouble. He said, ‘What kind of Tia would she be if she didn’t cause trouble?’”

“What’s that—? Are you insulting me right now?”

A loud laugh escaped me!

Normally, I’d get a smack on the shoulder at times like this. But Tia seemed to burst into laughter too, covering her mouth and chuckling.

Aunt Sherry must have woken up from hearing our laughter. I heard the bed creak from the other side.

“Oops. I should get going now.”

“W-wait a minute, Ritsu!”

Tia grabbed my hand tightly. And then she gave me a beautiful smile, more dazzling than the stars in the sky.

“Th-thank you!”

“Hah. Don’t mention it. See you tomorrow.”

“Okay!”

I could hear Mister Marvin on patrol in the distance. I hid behind a haystack before I could be caught.

Finally, before entering the ditch, I looked back.

Tia was waving her hand towards me.

I waved back lightly and went down into the ditch.

***

A few more days passed.

Whenever I had a spare moment, I visited Tia’s house. Tia seemed to have decided to live alone in that big house. She reportedly convinced Aunt Sherry by saying she wanted to be independent.

Lately, she had taken a short break from sword training and was engrossed in reading. She said that was quite extensive, so it took a long time to read. Thanks to that, I lay on the bed and fully enjoyed the adventure stories Tia told me.

We had Tia’s egg stir-fry for lunch, and for dessert, we picked pomegranates and shared them. If we got bored, we’d go to the stream and catch freshwater fish. When we started to feel tired, we would lie down together in the grass and take a nap.

It was a peaceful week.

“Hello.”

And now.

I stood in front of Ruyef’s house. It was because I happened to pass by his house while bringing medicine to the elders.

Normally, I wouldn’t have even glanced in that direction. Lately, however, we had become able to exchange simple greetings.

Ruyef was sitting in front of his house with a haggard face. Seeing Marie hugging his thigh and sleeping soundly, it looked like he had been completely drained dealing with his younger sister all day today too.

Ruyef’s disciplinary confinement would end tomorrow. That meant he was still under confinement until today. Since he had to refrain from speaking and acting and stay at home, he absolutely shouldn’t respond even if I talked to him like this.

Of course, I found that amusing.

“You look awful, you know? Anyone would think a starving corpse had risen again.”

“…”

“And you know that from now on, I’m the one going into the mountain instead of you, right?”

Ruyef closed his eyes and didn’t respond at all. His face looked like he wanted to quit everything and just go outside, no matter what.

“Are you listening?”

“…”

“Ignoring me, huh.”

“…”

He had already closed his eyes and ears and was enduring the time. I wanted to torment him more, but I didn’t want to wake Marie, so I decided to stop there.

“Alright, I’m leaving. Suffer for another day.”

Ruyef bid farewell with his middle finger. I, too, responded by spitting on the ground.

Just as I was about to turn my steps towards the pharmacy.

“Aaaahk—!!”

A scream?

It was a sharp, agitated woman’s scream.

We turned our eyes in that direction. Marie also woke from her sleep and rubbed her eyes. That was the house where Mister Marvin and Aunt Olivia lived.

Mister Marvin was at the sawmill right now, so only Aunt Olivia should be home.

…No way?

We immediately ran in that direction. As we got closer, Auntie’s terrible screams became even clearer.

Thud!

Ruyef forcefully kicked open the closed door.

Heavily pregnant Aunt Olivia was painfully groaning on the bed. It seemed her labor pains had begun.

Auntie was breathing roughly.

“Aaaahk—! Ugh…!”

“Ruyef, quickly call the elders.”

He immediately ran up the hill.

This was my first time directly witnessing a birth. But I had learned about it from books. I calmly recalled the book’s contents and checked the mother’s condition.

Her face was red. Since the labor had just begun, it was highly likely that actual delivery would take a long time.

“Ugh…”

“I’m here. Just bear with it a little longer.”

As I calmly tried to soothe her and waited, people entered. They were all women. Grandmothers and aunts. And Tia was among them too. She had a tense expression.

“We’ll be watching, Luca, so you wait outside.”

“Yes, Grandmother. Please let me know if anything happens.”

The village became bustling and noisy. Everyone had hurriedly finished their work and gathered in front of Aunt Olivia’s house.

A auspicious day, when a new family member would be born in Breezedon. The men began chatting boisterously and drinking beer.

Mister Marvin had a complex expression and remained silent, but once the alcohol set in, he welled up with tears, saying he was going to be a father now.

“Aaaahk—!!”

The screams continued. The labor pains lasted for a long time. Even after the sun set and night fell, the baby showed no sign of coming out easily.

Aunt Olivia’s voice was completely hoarse, and she could no longer scream properly. She was sweating like a waterfall, her face twisted in terrible pain.

Watching from outside the window, I felt completely drained myself.

“It’s coming!”

Finally, the good news came. Everyone held their breath, waiting for the delivery to be over. After a struggle amidst the flowing tension, the baby’s powerful cry was heard.

Aunt Merid came out.

“Marvin, congratulations. It’s a healthy baby boy.”

“Oh… my. Divine Dragon of Dragonez, thank you.”

Mister Marvin’s words signaled the start of the celebration.

It was truly a wondrous night… as another life was finally born in this village where Tia was the last to be born.