Return (3)
"Mmm... hmm...?"
The moon that had lighted the jet-black night sank away, and the sun rose once more — it was morning.
"When did I even fall asleep... Ah!"
Zhuge Liang slid upright from her bedding, glanced around with a face still fogged with sleep — and then, all at once, came wide awake.
C-come to think of it, yesterday he certainly...
Pressing a hand to her cheek, Zhuge Liang let the memory surface.
"I did tell you to rest, didn't I?"
"No — this won't do at all. You're on forced leave as of today, and for the foreseeable future."
His expression had been playful, but the voice that left his lips was utterly earnest.
Watching him, Zhuge Liang had understood that her lord meant every word.
And so she had been scooped up despite herself, laid gently down atop her blanket, and for a brief moment she had worn a troubled look...
...and there, her memory cut off.
"U-uaaah..."
With yesterday's events now fully restored, Zhuge Liang was thrown into utter disarray — nothing like her usual composed self.
Muttering fragments to herself — How could I have let myself be seen like that... or I behaved no better than a child... — she belatedly jerked her head up.
F-first, I must begin today's duties.
The sun was climbing slowly now, spilling its warmth across the waking earth.
Realizing that a new day had begun, Zhuge Liang rose and tidied her bedding with care.
Her lord, who last night had settled himself nearby and watched over her in silence, was nowhere to be seen.
No doubt he had quietly withdrawn once he was certain she had truly fallen asleep.
......
The gesture had been abrupt, but the warmth folded inside it drew a faint, unguarded smile from Zhuge Liang.
Yet when she finished making herself presentable and stepped out of her room, she was met with a rather bewildering sight.
"Strategist. Were you coughing just now?"
"...?"
A general in silver armor, her hair the blue of a clear sky.
The beautiful warrior who served among the General-in-Chief's Bugok, entrusted with her personal protection, stood before Zhuge Liang's door.
"...Lord Zhao? What brings you here...?"
"It is my lord's order."
Zhao Yun, whose calm, keen gaze was her most striking feature, explained with perfect equanimity.
"I am to guard you for the time being, he said."
"......"
With that, Zhuge Liang grasped precisely what her situation now was.
You're on forced leave for the time being.
...So when her lord decided on a thing, he decided thoroughly.
The General-in-Chief was not a man to let his own words fall by the wayside, so there was nothing strange about it in the least.
"I will be following you, Strategist. Please go about your day as you please."
"...Very well."
This was the officer who, in Bing Province, had single-handedly cut through the dozens of tribesmen escorting the Xiongnu Chanyu and carried the day to victory.
Set against the violet-haired strategist who gnashed her teeth at her from morning to night, Zhuge Liang's body was nothing remarkable — she had no talent for slipping away unseen from a warrior of that caliber.
"......"
One look into those discerning eyes told her that lies would avail her nothing either.
And yet Zhuge Liang thought:
...Still, perhaps I ought to try.
Outrunning her was impossible, and deceiving her was impossible — but one never knew.
It was possible the General-in-Chief had simply posted a guard out of genuine concern for her person, and nothing more.
Her assessment complete, Zhuge Liang set off at an unhurried pace toward her destination.
At the end of her walk, Zhuge Liang arrived at the government office.
It was where she handled her daily work — and, in a sense, a building more familiar to her than her own home.
...Did she truly attach herself just to guard me?
At the sight of Zhao Yun making no move to bar her way even now that she had set foot in her workplace, Zhuge Liang stole a sidelong glance at her.
If so, that would be a mercy.
The moment Zhuge Liang appeared wearing her usual expression, someone already at work in the office looked up.
"Huh? What are you doing here?"
To the question from the strategist with whom she had never been on good terms, Zhuge Liang replied:
"...What is that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, come now. A certain tiresome someone came by in person and told us you'd be off for the next few days, so..."
Sima Yi, carrying on in a voice that made it sound like nothing at all, glanced at Zhao Yun stationed at Zhuge Liang's side — and smirked.
"Aha. Now I get it."
"...?"
"Which is exactly why I told you to pace yourself with work, didn't I?"
At an attitude that could only be called mockery, the corner of Zhuge Liang's eye twitched.
One glance was enough to see that the infuriating woman had no intention whatsoever of answering her question, so Zhuge Liang turned her head away.
"Pang Tong."
"Eep?!"
The petite strategist, who as always had been keeping a wary eye on her surroundings, flinched and answered.
"...What is it?"
"Is what a certain someone nearby just said true?"
"Y-yes!"
Wedged between Sima Yi, who was taunting Zhuge Liang outright, and Zhuge Liang, who was ignoring her with perfect serenity, Pang Tong nodded quickly.
"Our lord said you'd be resting for a while, and told us not to think anything strange of it..."
"I see."
Having heard that much, Zhuge Liang stood in place for a moment, thinking — then started toward the bamboo slips stacked on her desk.
"......"
And no sooner had she shown that intention than Zhao Yun, her sworn guardian for the day, planted herself squarely in Zhuge Liang's path.
To the left. Then to the right.
Zhuge Liang shifted this way and that, trying to reach her own seat, but Zhao Yun blocked her each time with movements as smooth and yielding as flowing water.
She had half expected it, but for a woman with no particular gift for feats of the body, slipping past Zhao Yun was never going to happen.
"......"
"......"
Zhuge Liang tilted her head back and looked up at Zhao Yun, who stood taller than she did.
Eyes of blue, like sky and sea together.
When those unreadable eyes settled on her, Zhuge Liang spoke.
"...Is this my lord's order?"
"Yes."
Zhao Yun answered in the very image of a soldier.
"I am to let you act as you please — but should you attempt anything that would interfere with your rest, I am to stop you."
"...Haah."
So he truly has made up his mind.
Sima Yi, who had watched the whole spectacle, waved a hand lazily and said:
"If it's sunk in, then get going already? You're in the way of our work."
"Th-that's right. Take this chance and get some proper rest."
Pang Tong chimed in, her voice wavering.
"Honestly... I was worried about you."
The girl who was ordinarily too shy to face people, yet remarkably forthright when it came to speaking her mind, looked Zhuge Liang full in the face.
"......"
"...You're not upset that I said that, are you?"
...And the moment Zhuge Liang held her silence, she was already fidgeting and stealing anxious glances — exactly as always.
At the sight of her, Zhuge Liang allowed herself a small smile.
"Of course not. Thank you for your concern."
Seen off by her dear friend, Zhuge Liang left the office — and sank into thought.
The reason was simple.
My lord did order me to rest...
...but how, exactly, was one supposed to rest?
It was a predicament too absurd to laugh at — fitting, perhaps, for a girl who had always neglected her own care and buried herself in work.
The white-haired strategist turned her head toward Zhao Yun, who had been trailing her every step since they left.
"......"
Judging by that blunt, unreadable expression, she would get no answer to her present dilemma from her.
Warriors who favored exertion of the body, even in their leisure, liked to spar with fellow officers on the training grounds or seclude themselves in some empty stretch to hone their strength — the odds that she would be any help here were slim indeed.
If she tried to keep pace with beings who had transcended the limits of humanity, she would doubtless end up as something faintly resembling a corpse.
That would not be rest. That would be training.
"Hmm..."
Even so, it took the girl — whose intellect was brilliant enough to earn her the epithet of a divinely cunning strategist — only a short while of turning the problem over before a whole host of answers presented themselves.
Perhaps I shall begin with some reading.
The image of her dear friend Shiyuan — Pang Tong's courtesy name — wandering about with an armful of books and a grin from ear to ear on every rest day was one Zhuge Liang remembered well.
After that, a game of Go, in the manner of that graceless woman who still showed their lord no courtesy — and once her body began to tire...
"What brings you here?"
"...I merely dropped by because a thought occurred to me. Think nothing of it, I beg you."
"Very well. Since you're here, at least have something good to eat before you go."
Lying idle at home in a daze, just as that man she revered and loved without end did — that wouldn't be so bad either.
Time flowed on, the hour arrived when all had finished their day's labor, and Zhuge Liang, returned to her home, closed her eyes and thought:
...I can't say I rested properly.
It went without saying: for a woman who had never once set down her bamboo slips since the day she could first move on her own, breaking the habit in a single day was no easy thing.
She would be strolling the streets with her mind a blank when some problem would catch her eye — and unless she drew up a countermeasure, it would gnaw at her without end.
This was, unmistakably, a state that deserved the name of compulsion.
That's right. Just a little... just a little note-taking should be perfectly acceptable.
Her lord had already come by the previous night and confiscated every bamboo slip in plain sight — but a few had slipped past his notice and survived.
"Have a peaceful night."
"...Yes."
Zhuge Liang passed Zhao Yun, who stood her post before the door with the same quiet diligence as ever, closed the door behind her, and spread out her bedding.
"So then... it should be right around here... Ah — found it."
Having rummaged through her room and unearthed a bamboo slip, Zhuge Liang burrowed snugly beneath her covers and thought:
This way she won't notice, will she?
From even a slight distance, it would look like nothing more than a woman squirming under her blanket.
And so she went on secretly recording her notes onto the slip — for a little while.
"...Eek?!"
Zhuge Liang, who had poked just her head out from under the covers to check on the door, nearly leapt out of her skin.
"......"
Because her lord and Zhao Yun were both leaning in through the narrow gap of the slightly opened door, peering down at her.
...Had anyone of fainter heart been in her place, fainting outright would have been entirely understandable.