The Mister Is Sensitive (3)
It was a morning like any other. Preparing meals for the children and carrying out my planned routine was just another ordinary day. Yet within that ordinary daily life, dark clouds hung over my emotions.
“...A whole week in this state. It won’t be easy.”
Lightning could strike at any unexpected moment, and with emotions this raw I had no idea when the rain might fall. I had hurt Hare with them. She seemed to have pulled herself together and retreated to her room, but the firmly shut door suggested she still needed more time.
“...She has to eat on schedule if she wants to grow.”
The dinner I’d laid out yesterday remained untouched. Not a single bite. Either she had no appetite, or the food refused to go down. Regular meals were essential for the children’s growth, but I wouldn’t force Hare. She was struggling enough already, and the harsh words had been my mistake. I decided to respect her wishes.
“...Eat whenever you’re hungry, Hare. If it gets cold and you don’t like it, I’ll cook a fresh batch.”
I spoke with guilt thick in my voice, cleared away the plate of last night’s meal, and set a newly prepared breakfast in front of her door. But time passed, and by lunch, on my way to the training yard with Luna, the food was still there.
She still hasn’t touched it.
The plate in front of her door remained completely ignored. I could sense movement inside, so she was awake. No matter how difficult things were, she still needed to eat… A quiet worry began to creep in.
Meanwhile, Luna, utterly oblivious to my mood, drooled openly.
“Mister! It looks like Hare left her food! C-can I eat it…? Training burns a lot of energy, right!”
“…”
You just finished your own meal. And now you want Hare’s leftovers too? Come to think of it, she had put on a little weight along with the muscle. Maybe I needed to adjust her diet. At this rate Luna might end up as the Pig Hero.
I left Luna staring longingly at the plate and headed for the yard.
“Hehe, hehehe… This morning’s food looked so good… Right, Mi—huh?”
“…”
“M-Mister! Where are you going? At least answer me! W-wait for me!”
The new yard was twice as large as the previous one. I had cleared all the weeds, leaving neat grass that made for a proper training ground. A high wall prevented secret escapes. In terms of security, this house was clearly superior.
I spoke to Luna, who stood at attention watching me.
“Luna.”
“Yes!”
Maybe it was because we hadn’t done sword training in a while. Her blue eyes sparkled as she listened intently. She usually pretended not to hear my lectures, but she focused when it came to swordplay. A rare sight.
“Luna, I told you your sword style is one of protection. You remember, right?”
“Yes! I remember perfectly!”
“Then, when you watched your family die… how did it feel?”
“Huh?! T-that’s—!”
Luna frowned, clearly reluctant to recall it. But for her to grow, she had to remember. To ensure she would never experience that pain again. The agony of survival is what forges people stronger.
In a grief-stricken voice, Luna answered.
“I wished it wasn’t real… I felt so sad and frustrated that I couldn’t protect them…”
“If that moment came again, would you protect your family?”
“Yes! Absolutely! I will protect them no matter what!”
“Then imagine I am that red-haired man. And picture your family standing behind you.”
“Mister with red hair… my family behind me…”
Recalling those emotions, Luna gripped her wooden sword in a proper stance, eyes sharp as blades. Her will alone seemed determined to keep me from advancing even one step.
I took up my own wooden sword and slowly approached her.
“Think of me as the red-haired man who killed your family. I’m going to kill the people behind you.”
“Th-that can’t happen! I-I’ll stop you!”
“Good. Try.”
Those were good eyes. Luna swung at me as I closed in.
Whoosh—
Sharper than before. And there’s real killing intent behind it.
She must have been furious that she could only stand still last time. Her movements showed she had trained whenever I wasn’t watching. There was still no proper form, but I understood her intent clearly.
“Looks like you trained hard on your own.”
“Of course! I was so frustrated! I don’t want to just stand there helplessly again…!!”
Whenever I advanced she pushed me back. She refused to initiate, focusing entirely on defending the family behind her. Luna was instinctively practicing a “protective sword style” in her own way. Of course there were gaps since she had never learned it systematically, but I could see exactly what kind of swordsmanship she wanted and what needed fixing.
“Forcing the opponent back while watching for openings is an excellent defensive approach. But you didn’t consider the terrain.”
“Huh?”
“If you have someone to protect, back toward a wall. That way you only need to worry about attacks from one direction, making it much easier to guard them.”
The current Luna had far too many blind spots. I began circling her like we were playing a children’s game. Luna turned with me, keeping her imaginary family at her back.
“Huff… M-Mister…! How long are we going to keep circling…!”
“The defender has more things to worry about than the attacker, Luna. The one attacking always chooses the timing. They’ll simply wait for you to exhaust yourself.”
So next time, make sure to use the terrain properly.
Thud.
Luna, following my movements, finally collapsed to the ground. She was drenched in sweat, breathing hard.
“Haa… M-Mister… you’re so mean…! Haa… making me run until I collapse…! You could have just told me…!”
“Experiencing it once is better than any explanation.”
“You never give an inch…!”
“If your skills are lacking, you can’t win an argument either. Keep working hard, Luna.”
“Aaaagh—!! So annoying—!!”
Luna rolled around on the grass like a child throwing a tantrum over a toy. My own mood, already heavy with dark clouds, was nearing its limit. It was time for a break.
I sat on the yard bench and said, “Figure out on your own how you could have beaten me just now. I’ll watch from here and rest.”
“Huh? You’re resting? That’s not like you at all, Mister! Are you getting old already?!”
“…For starters, your stamina seems lacking. Three laps around the yard.”
“Ah! It was a joke! You can’t seriously—!”
“Begin!”
The yard here was twice the size of the previous one. Luna ran hard, sweat flying. Just watching her pace, I could feel how much she had grown. Her sword strikes had grown sharper too. The hero party member responsible for offense was finally ready for proper training.
More importantly…
Why is Saten staring at me like that?
I had felt her gaze for a while now, but today her black eyes were especially blatant. It felt like she was dissecting me piece by piece, the way one might analyze a magic formula.
It can’t be my imagination… she’s staring way too openly.
What was it? Had something changed? Saten’s behavior was often understandable yet occasionally incomprehensible, so I couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, but…
The way she’s looking at me is slightly different.
I could tell a change had begun inside Saten.
Late at night, after the mister had fallen asleep. A girl walked softly down the dark hallway. The girl who had refused all food and drink, shut away in her room trying to remake herself. Hare. She knocked on Saten’s door to study the mister.
Knock, knock.
—Come in.
Hare entered with a gaunt, exhausted face. Saten observed her and smiled.
“Hmm. Did you gain any insight?”
“…Y-yes. After I closed the door… and thought about it in my room… I finally understood exactly what my problem was, like you said…”
“So you finally get it. You really are slow, aren’t you?”
“…”
It was an arrogant look. Yet Hare couldn’t say anything. It was the truth, and she was the one clinging desperately. She had staked everything on fixing herself for the mister’s sake.
I-I absolutely… can’t be abandoned by him… If I’m abandoned…
I’ll die. I’ll die. I can’t imagine a future without the mister.
To Hare, who stood at the edge of that cliff, Saten asked casually.
“So what exactly was the problem?”
“…I-I’m selfish. If I truly cared about the mister… I shouldn’t have done things he hates… behind his back…”
“And?”
“I shouldn’t have shown emotions the mister dislikes…”
“Hmm. That part is wrong. It’s fine to show emotion.”
“Huh…?”
Was showing emotion wrong? Saten had once thought so. In her family, servants who displayed emotion were punished. But after hearing about the mister, her thinking had changed.
Children grow by making mistakes. He never abandons them.
Even if they messed up, he wouldn’t throw them away. The mister could be ruthlessly cold, but he also had a generous side. Even today he had worked Luna like a dog yet still praised her. Through observation, Saten had realized.
“The mister won’t abandon you even if you reveal the emotion called ‘love.’”
“R-really…? The mister won’t abandon me…?”
“Yes, almost certainly. However, if that emotion bothers him, he might crush those feelings underfoot.”
“Th-then… what should I do…? To stay by the mister’s side…?”
“It’s simple.”
Don’t do anything the mister would dislike. Only do the things he likes. Obey his words better than anyone else. And…
“You must walk the line carefully so you aren’t cut by the mister’s blade-like personality.”
Saten drew a knife across her wrist as she spoke.
Drip, drip.
The blood that fell to the floor formed the shape of a red apple. She showed it to Hare and explained.
“Th-this is…?”
“A model. If we say this is your love, the mister would slice it the moment he received it.”
Snip.
The red apple in Saten’s hand split cleanly in two.
“If you give him an apple like this, it breaks.”
“If I give the mister an apple… I’m not supposed to…?”
“If you care about him, you must not give it. The mister does not eat apples on his own.”
Forcing an apple into his mouth would be a selfish act. He would definitely hate it. Therefore…
Saten cut her wrist once more, creating another apple. This time she handed it to Hare.
“You don’t give the apple to the mister. You receive it.”
“H-how…?”
“That part I don’t know. But if you stop doing things he dislikes, you’ll obtain it naturally. Though if you refuse to give him the apple until the end, you may have to take it by force.”
Like I did.
Everything she had just said were things Saten had done to survive in her family. She was simply sharing her own experience. After listening, Hare muttered.
“Don’t do anything the mister dislikes… act only in ways that let me receive the apple… What if the mister gives an apple to someone else…? What do I do then…? I-I hate that…”
“Why do you assume there’s only one apple?”
“Huh…?”
“There could be three. There could be four. And for that—”
You simply need to obtain more apples than anyone else. More. Even more.
“M-more… I get the most… I won’t do anything the mister dislikes… I’ll act the same no matter where I am… Instead… I should only choose actions that deserve praise…? Is that what you mean…?”
“You finally understand, commoner. The frustrating feeling has finally lifted. Now that I’ve given you the solution, it’s my turn to receive, yes?”
“Since you’ve received, now tell me. What exactly is this emotion called love?”
The genius mage Saten was curious about the emotion called love.
What kind of feeling is it that Father, who loved Mother, still abandoned me?
Her life had been twisted from the moment she was born. The starting point she could never solve no matter how hard she tried—she wanted to unravel it somehow.
However, there was one thing Saten had overlooked…
“When I see the mister my heart pounds, if the mister isn’t there I want to die, if he’s with another woman I feel incredibly anxious, and I always want him to pat my head—that’s love…”
“Hmm. I see.”
She had not realized that love carried weight. Hare’s love was heavy enough to crush a person to death.
So that’s what loving looks like…
The brilliant Saten began absorbing Hare’s knowledge of love like a sponge.