Ch. 34 An Unfamiliar Ceiling
by AfuhfuihgsChapter 34 – An Unfamiliar Ceiling
“An unfamiliar ceiling…”
I muttered unconsciously as I opened my eyes to the sight before me.
It’s practically a national rule to say this line when waking up in an unfamiliar place. Feeling a sense of satisfaction, I stretched my stiff body and sat up.
Though I said it was an unfamiliar place, the scenery wasn’t entirely unknown.
“This must be Sister Andreina’s room… right?”
The owner of the room wasn’t present, but it was clearly Sister Andreina’s room, where I had been once before.
For one, the silk dress I was wearing now was the same one I had borrowed when I accidentally fell asleep here last time. As I enjoyed the smooth texture of the dress, a question suddenly popped into my mind.
“…But why am I in Sister Andreina’s room?”
I remembered heading to the cathedral to escape the ghost, but I couldn’t recall when I had arrived. It felt like my memory had been forcibly cut off.
Could it be that I died and was resurrected again, like last time, causing me to lose my memory?
I crossed my arms and pondered before shaking my head.
“Even if I’m as clueless as a sunfish, I wouldn’t have died just from missing one night of sleep…”
It was only one day, not several. Of course, for someone with a weak constitution, staying up all night could be dangerous, but I wasn’t that fragile.
I’ll leave this part for Sister Andreina to explain later. I exhaled softly and lay back down on the bed.
Perhaps because I had just woken up, a drowsy feeling still lingered throughout my body. If I closed my eyes and counted sheep, I felt like I could fall asleep again in no time. Blinking my heavy eyelids, I glanced out the window and saw the sky painted with the colors of sunset.
Even though I had wasted an entire day, I didn’t feel particularly regretful. Well, it’s only natural. Although I’ve been fairly diligent since arriving on the Floating Island, I’m still fundamentally a lazy person.
Spending a day or two doing nothing, lounging under the covers, or wasting time playing games used to be my daily routine, so I had no reason to feel regret. In fact, the fact that I’ve been moving around so actively lately was rather uncharacteristic of me.
Maybe my childlike body has caused my motivation to revert to that of a child’s. I thought this as I closed my eyes. Since Sister Andreina didn’t seem like she’d be back anytime soon, I decided to get a bit more sleep.
Click—The sound of the door opening drew my attention. It was definitely Sister Andreina returning. But since I was on the verge of falling asleep, it was hard to open my eyes. In the end, instead of opening my eyes to greet her, I continued to pretend to be asleep.
Though I was unintentionally deceiving Sister Andreina, I believed she would understand, so I exhaled slowly.
“Still asleep, huh?”
Sister Andreina, seemingly unaware of my act, muttered this and then moved around. After a few rustling sounds, I heard footsteps approaching the bed.
Feeling a bit tense from the presence, the bed shifted slightly. Sister Andreina must have sat down. I continued to feign sleep, but then her hand rested on my head.
Involuntarily, my body twitched. If Sister Andreina had any sense of awareness, it would have been hard for her not to notice.
Just as I thought I’d been caught, I heard Sister Andreina humming. The low, slow melody was unfamiliar, not matching any music I knew, but somehow I could tell it was a lullaby.
As her hand gently stroked my head and her voice continued, my already sleepy body grew even drowsier.
“Sister… Andreina…”
“It’s okay if you don’t wake up. Sleep a bit more, Mari.”
Responding to my murmur, Sister Andreina continued humming.
The melody pulled my consciousness downward, and I couldn’t hold on any longer, completely losing awareness.
–
Am I a child? Waking up later, I covered my face with my hands in self-disgust.
Falling asleep to a lullaby as a grown adult—what kind of disgrace is this?
Fortunately, since my body was that of a child, it didn’t look strange to others, but I was utterly embarrassed…
“Wait… it’s only natural to be overwhelmed by Sister Andreina’s kindness…”
Yes, let’s think of it that way. It’s not that I fell asleep because of the lullaby, but because I was enveloped in Sister Andreina’s kindness…
Having rationalized it, I subtly removed my hands from my face and turned my gaze toward the kitchen.
A delicious aroma had been wafting from there for a while, and Sister Andreina, wearing a silk dress similar to mine, was cooking. Seeing her occasionally tilt her head while holding a ladle, it seemed she was tasting the dish.
Taking advantage of Sister Andreina’s focus on cooking, I quietly got up and tidied my messy hair.
Though she had already seen me asleep and disheveled, I didn’t want to show her a sloppy appearance while awake.
After tidying up, I slipped on my indoor shoes and carefully approached the kitchen.
“Um, Sister Andreina.”
“Ah, Mari. You’re awake. Did you sleep well?”
Sister Andreina, with her shining golden hair tied back and draped forward, looked several times more mature than usual. At the cathedral, she had seemed like a pretty older sister, but now she exuded the maternal warmth of a mother with a child.
If I let my guard down, I might unconsciously act spoiled, so I nodded more stiffly than usual.
“Yes, thanks to you, Sister Andreina.”
“Your tone seems a bit more formal than usual. Was the bed uncomfortable or something…?”
“Ah, no! It’s not that! In fact, it was so nice that I’d like to hear it again if possible… Ah, never mind…!”
Seeing Sister Andreina place her hand on her cheek with a genuinely concerned expression, I panicked and blurted out whatever came to mind. Fortunately, Sister Andreina didn’t question my words and instead smiled.
“Hehe, I was just joking. You seemed a bit too tense, so I thought I’d lighten the mood.”
“It… was a joke?”
“Of course, if Mari wants to hear it again, I wouldn’t mind.”
“Huh, what?”
While I was relieved that it was a joke, Sister Andreina began humming the familiar lullaby again, causing my face to heat up.
Was she not pretending not to know…! As I squirmed in embarrassment, Sister Andreina chuckled and stirred the simmering soup with her ladle.
“By the way, aren’t you hungry? You’ve been asleep all day, so you must be starving.”
“Ah, no. Not really—”
Growl—The loud noise interrupted me, and I hung my head in shame.
Sister Andreina didn’t say anything, but her slightly turned head and trembling shoulders made it clear she was laughing.
At her pitiful effort to hold back, I muttered weakly.
“…It’s okay, Sister Andreina. You can laugh freely…”
“I wasn’t laughing?”
Then why aren’t you looking me in the eye as usual? Swallowing the words that rose to my throat, I cooled my flushed face.
Why does this stupid stomach clock have to announce its presence so loudly and embarrass me every time?
“Sit at the table. I’ll have it ready soon.”
“Thank you…”
I replied in a barely audible voice and shuffled to the table.
“Phew… Huh? What?”
On the table was an unexpected item.
Picking up Doll 505, which was sitting there as if it had been placed, I muttered.
“So this is where you were.”
I had been feeling something was missing. I distinctly remembered holding it tightly until I left the house, but when I woke up, it was gone.
I considered putting it back in my inventory, but since I had to wait for the meal to be ready anyway, I fiddled with it and played around. As I moved its chopstick-like arms without connecting the mana thread, a bowl of soup was placed in front of me.
Looking up, I saw Sister Andreina smiling softly.
“Ah, thank you.”
“Is that doll something you made, Mari?”
“Huh? Ah, yes. I named it Doll 505.”
“That’s an unusual name. Does it mean the 505th doll?”
“Ahaha… not exactly.”
If I had named it that way, it would have been Doll 6, but bigger numbers sound better. Of course, the real meaning is that I just named it after my birthday.
As I awkwardly laughed, Sister Andreina, sitting across from me, spoke.
“You must really cherish that doll. You were holding it tightly even when you came to the cathedral.”
“I… was?”
“I won’t go into detail since it might embarrass you, but let’s just say you weren’t happy when I had to take it away.”
Hehe—Sister Andreina’s words made me uneasy.
She said it would embarrass me if she went into detail. And she had to take the doll away? Why would she need to do that… As I pondered, I unconsciously looked down at the silk dress I was wearing.
The silk dress I’m wearing now isn’t mine—it’s Sister Andreina’s. Before I lost consciousness, I was wearing a plain shirt, shorts, and my dusty robe.
But the fact that I’m wearing this now means Sister Andreina had to undress me and then dress me again.
Just the thought of being changed was enough to make me want to disappear from embarrassment, but the problem didn’t end there.
My body, which I hadn’t been able to wash due to the sudden ghost incident, felt unusually clean.
As if I had taken a bath before falling asleep. With a sinking feeling, I asked Sister Andreina.
“Um, by any chance…?”
Though I didn’t ask directly, Sister Andreina seemed to understand and nodded with a smile.
I see. So, after Yuika, I’ve been washed by someone else again.
I stared blankly at Sister Andreina before bowing my head.
“Thank you for the meal…”
The heat on my face was definitely because the soup was hot.
Translator Note
T/N (Translator’s note):
She got corrected in her sleep, what a girlfailure!Technically we can say that the typical stereotype of a church clergy works here now!!!
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