The Kids Can Hear
The kids can hear you.
I carefully closed the front door and headed for the Houndry hideout.
It was not simply because Houndry was closer than this ultra-luxurious lodging. For some reason I wanted my nerves drawn even sharper. I did not want the rage that had boiled up to cool so quickly.
On the way I slipped on the Ring of Disguise and entered the hideout.
First floor of the hideout.
“Waaaaah!”
Lucia’s little sisters were racing around every which way. I reflexively checked my watch at the sight.
“What time is it that those kids are still…”
“Ah, no! Don’t run!”
Another silhouette was chasing after one of Lucia’s sisters. Ashen hair, eyes mixed of purple and green that called lavender to mind, and—decisively—a mended maid uniform.
“Gotcha!”
Veronica barely managed to scoop one of the girls into her arms. Wiping cold sweat, she hunted for the other. Our eyes met in the middle of it.
“You… what are you doing here?”
“Hwaaat!”
She was so startled she dropped the child she was holding. I caught her and set her neatly back on the floor.
Picking up a lot of falling things today, for some reason.
“S-Sorry! I’ll clean up right away!”
She behaved as though she were meeting me for the first time. Ah. Right. Because of the ring she could not recognize me. Veronica was mistaking my transformed face for the original Karma.
I left the first floor, deactivated the ring’s effect, and returned. This time she had both of Lucia’s little sisters gathered in her arms.
“Hyaak! W-Why are you here…!”
Instead of answering I pointed back and forth between Houndry’s dog emblem and my own face, as if asking what could possibly be strange about my presence.
“Ah, r-right.”
“So what are you doing here?”
“Ah! No wonder Lucia kept calling me like she already knew everything!”
“Can’t you hear me?”
“What do you think I’m doing? Working—can’t you see?”
She held out the little sisters she had stuffed into her arms with some difficulty, showing them off. The children inside thought they were being hugged and looked delighted.
So the recently hired maid had been Veronica… I should have realized the moment they mentioned a maid who was immune to the red-light district.
“It’s noisy. Go play outside or something.”
“How am I supposed to send these kids outside? It’s dangerous.”
Here or outside—both seemed equally bad for them, honestly.
“By the way, you must have been surprised to find Lucia here.”
“Not really. Being employed by my junior is more surprising. Money’s the real enemy…”
She swayed, somehow bouncing both children with her hands as she spoke.
“Strictly speaking we’re classmates.”
“S-Shut up.”
“Where’s Lucia?”
“Sleeping.”
I had hired her for exactly that, yet she was truly leaving the children with Veronica and sleeping soundly. Senior-junior relations might be fuzzy, but the employer-employee hierarchy was crystal clear.
“Is that so. Finish up and put them to bed. It’s late. They need to grow up big and strong.”
“Even if they grow big and strong, if they share Lucia’s genes there’s a limit to their height…”
“That’s a cruel thing to say. The kids can hear you.”
“Ah—right. Kids, don’t listen.”
She flinched and ducked her head.
“Kids, it’s okay. Lucia unnie may be short, but other things… Ah. They’re asleep.”
Veronica stared blankly down at the children who had miraculously dropped off. She simply kept looking for a long while. A faint flush had risen in her cheeks; she did not seem to notice it herself.
“You seem to like kids.”
“W-What are you talking about. They’re just the employer’s property.”
“If you like them, just say so. What’s with that?”
“None of your business. I’m tired, so stop picking fights. You’ll end up unpopular like that.”
“Unpopular? Want me to tell you what an incredible thing I went through today?”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
Too bad. I had been ready to vent, but on second thought it was not the sort of story one told a student. Still, thanks to Veronica my mood had lightened a little. That much was true.
“Finally I can breathe.”
She carefully laid the children on the first-floor sofa and stretched her back with a long, luxurious pull. The skirt that the deranged magic-tool shop owner had arbitrarily shortened rode up her thighs.
“Magic-tool shop and now babysitter. Why are you piling on so much work when you’ve still got school? If you need money that badly, why not just tell your sponsor?”
“I don’t want to be any more in debt. And what does it matter?”
“If you can live by giving up sleep the way Lucia does, then I suppose it doesn’t.”
“Tomorrow’s the closing ceremony.”
Ah.
Right.
Akikira must have been run ragged looking after Rebecca; the reason she had set the appointment for the very next day was that. Once vacation began there would be no point of contact left. Originally an autumn festival event came before vacation, but Amelia—the heroine of that event—had already left the academy, so I had not paid it any mind. That was why time had slipped past so quickly.
The closing ceremony began, and just as I had during summer vacation I stood before the students and offered a short word of encouragement. The price of playing the sponsor, I supposed. This time, thanks to the Dowon Festival, I had grown more famous; I could feel the way the students looked at me had changed.
Afterward, when the principal took the stage to lecture about winter safety accidents and launched into a tedious sermon, I headed for the nurse’s office.
“Oh, hello. Here to see Rebecca?”
The moment I opened the door Akikira greeted me with nothing more than a nod of her head from behind the desk.
“Yes. How is she?”
“Still sleeping.”
“Still?”
“Don’t worry. She woke once in the middle and went right back under. Looks like… she just needs a little more time.”
So it would not change with a single spark. Come to think of it, even formatting a disk took a surprisingly long time… people and computer parts were different, of course.
“I just wanted to take her home. It’s vacation; we can’t keep her here forever.”
Home.
Akikira’s home.
Last night’s memories left me briefly disordered. Was Akikira completely unbothered? Ah. Maybe she had been drunk and simply did not remember.
“What’s wrong?”
Definitely that pattern. She got drunk alone, forgot alone. Living so comfortably.
“It’s nothing. May I take a look?”
I pointed toward the curtain around the bed where Rebecca lay.
“Yes. As punishment for sleeping so shamelessly, I’ll grant permission in her place.”
Shwaak—
The instant I drew the curtain I froze.
Rebecca’s appearance. Her face.
“There’s no way she still had makeup on. I wiped it off carefully. You’re so shocked, though…. Rebecca will be hurt.”
“……”
Honestly I barely heard a word she said; I could only stare at that face, lost.
“Even so, it’s not as if her pretty face goes anywhere, right? There’s a pure, elegant charm to it, isn’t there? I think the clean skin stands out and she looks even prettier.”
“…You’re right.”
I gazed a long while at Rebecca, who lay curled around the sword wrapped thickly in bandages as though embracing it, then finally closed the curtain again.
My hands were trembling.
“Ah, and the side table by the bed. See the paper there?”
“Yes. This?”
“I happened to notice it. Rebecca wrote it. She said she had something to tell you in a month, didn’t she? Looks like she wrote it out in advance so she wouldn’t forget. Take it.”
I folded the several notebook pages on which Rebecca had written a long message and slipped them into my inner pocket.
“You knew I’d come today, it seems.”
“You care about the kids, after all.”
Well… it must look that way, I suppose…
“Anyway. Starting today I’m checking her out of the dormitory and nursing her at our house.”
“Is moving her all right by yourself?”
“Are you offering to help?”
“If you’d like.”
“No. Come back when Rebecca is fully recovered and returns to our house.”
Akikira spoke as if it were nothing while she scribbled something in the notebook on her desk.
“Come again then.”
That night.
Houndry.
“Gross. What’s with your face today? You look happy and it’s pissing me off.”
Veronica spoke while neatly folding the children’s clothes.
“I was fine until a moment ago. Getting berated by a younger woman ruins the mood right away.”
“So what. Better to take the scolding first, right?”
“……”
“So what is it? I’m busy. Once I finish folding the laundry I have to prep tomorrow’s breakfast.”
“Lucia must be living large.”
Working her all day long—planning to burn through the entire scholarship? I might see the forty-eight-hour Lucia before long. That would be harder to handle than the kids. I should slip away carefully.
“I’m pissed, so don’t talk about it.”
“About that delivery man I mentioned last time. Know anyone?”
“Why? Something to send?”
“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t.”
“Yeah. Delivery guys come to the shop.”
“If it’s that, I should’ve gone to the shop first.”
“You confident you can talk normally with the boss?”
…Not really.
“I’ll introduce you. Just give a little commission.”
“How much do you need?”
“Just… dinner money. I didn’t get to eat today.”
She talked as if she would suck the marrow from my bones, yet she was a frugal woman.
“If you need a tip I’ll cover it. Before you leave, grab a bottle of wine from the basement. Mention Lucia’s name and they’ll open the door.”
“Eek, no. The people here are scary. But was Lucia that high up around here…?”
“That high, yes.”
“Haa… What the hell happened… No—wait. You know I’m a student and you’re telling me to take alcohol?”
“Not for you to drink. For you to sell.”
“Forget it. How much is one bottle of booze even worth. I don’t get why people drink that bitter stuff. I’ll introduce you for free.”
And so Veronica let the chance to earn her weekly pay slip away.
“…Suit yourself.”
“Give. The thing to send and the money for the delivery guy. I’ll stop by the shop first thing tomorrow and send it.”
Veronica held out her pure-white palm. I dropped the prepared letter and a few coins onto it.
“Wait. This isn’t the Royal Capital?”
She started at the address written on the letter paper.
“The very center of the Royal Capital.”
“The royal palace…? You—what the hell did you…”
“Don’t ask. Just hand it to the delivery man. I’ll pretend not to notice if you skim the change, so you also pretend not to know who wrote it when you give it over.”
“One letter is too heavy…”
She carefully tucked the sheet she held with both hands into her pocket. She never said she would not take the money, though.
“I’m not skimming! Who do you take me for, a beggar?”
Hm.
Somehow, hearing Veronica screech satisfied something inside me. That was probably why I kept deliberately poking her.
I would have to reveal my identity someday. Constantly putting the ring on and off at the hideout was starting to get annoying.
Anyway.
I sent the letter by special delivery to the royal palace—to Amelia.
I could have gone in an instant with the bond skill, but that skill had a fatal flaw. I could appear at her side no matter where Amelia was, yet I had to return on my own. With vacation beginning I planned to head home first; my body was not free yet. Once the work at home was finished I intended to join her as well.
That night I had been drunk.
The resolve I had formed in Akikira’s mention was not so light that it could vanish like smoke in a single moment.
This vacation.
I would stake everything against the Death God Cult.
Yes. It was vacation.
Just like the Subjugation Festival during summer break.
Time to step away from Laward and the heroines and tell a story that was a little more personal—and a little different.
My time.
Time to do what I must.