Because You're Black, You're Blackie
You're black, so you're Blackie.
And so time slipped by.
Breakfast, then a good roll around the room. Lunch, then another roll around the room.
Dinner was finished too, which meant it was time, once again, to roll around the room.
"...I'll head in first."
Mariella dropped her voice and strode back to her room. On the plate she left behind, the bread and soup were nearly gone.
She looked to be in a foul mood. Don't tell me it was that day. We'd be shut in the same carriage all day tomorrow; I really hoped she'd be all right before then. If she decided to take a fit of hysterics out on me, that would be a little much.
"Thanks for the meal."
I cleared the plate and went up to my room. The bed still held the imprint I'd left a few hours ago, and I climbed straight into it and rolled.
Rolled.
Rolled......
Ro......
"Wake up, nyang."
Lick.
"Eek?!"
Wh-what?! Something wet on my cheek...!
"You up now, nyang?"
The nasty feeling on my cheek jolted me upright, and I whipped my head around. Right beside the bed, something black was squirming on the floor.
"...Nero?"
"Mm-hm. That's me, so I'd appreciate it if you put those murderous spells away, nyang."
"Ah. Sorry."
I'd been so startled I'd done it without thinking......
Chantless casting was wonderful, except for this. If a scare made me fling a Meteor, things would get very awkward. It was a mercy I wouldn't be the one cleaning up afterward, but dangerous was still dangerous.
"Caught him, for now, nyang."
Thud.
Something hit the floor. A crow lay directly in front of the pitch-black cat.
"Ghhhh... damned wench..."
A groan leaked out of Kuro.
"And who told you to run off?"
The cage, where had I put the cage? I really ought to tidy up once in a while....
"Right here, nyang."
"Ah, thanks."
I took the cage from Nero's mouth and stuffed Kuro inside.
Nero, wearing the shape of a black cat. Kuro, wearing the shape of a crow.
Neither was an ordinary animal. The fact that both of them spoke was proof enough.
What they actually were: artificial life, made by my magic.
Unlike a homunculus or a golem, they were my masterwork, spun from pure mana. If I had to compare them to something, artificial intelligence came closest. Each possessed a complete self and could run autonomously, and when the need arose they could link with my Circle to support the incantation and the computation of whatever spell I was casting.
I would have loved to write a paper on them. Unfortunately, I'd failed to reproduce the result and never gathered enough data. A thesis piled out of guess upon guess is a castle in the air, nothing more.
Even reconstructing the conditions of the day I first made Nero, I had never once succeeded in making another. And Kuro... call it a minor accident. A cute little mistake......
"Damned woman. And when was it you said I might wander as I pleased..."
"That was not permission to roam all day. I distinctly told you to be home by twelve."
Kuro set up a noisy racket. Black, and a crow, so I'd mixed the Japanese word for black, kuro, with the English word crow, and landed somewhere in the middle: Kuro.
Nero, obviously, because he was a black cat. Nero means black. That was simply his name.
...Do I, perhaps, have a real talent for naming?
"Maybe I should have coined my own alias."
"What drivel are you spouting, girl."
"You. Shut up."
A tiny magic circle traced itself at my fingertip, and a thread of lightning shot through the bars of the cage.
"KWEEEEEK!!!!"
A shriek tore out with the crackle.
I should never have made him a crow. He was disgustingly loud.
"Learned your lesson?"
"Ghhhhh... damned woman."
"Haaah."
I seared him again. Kuro wailed that he was dying and cursed me with everything he had, but I was the one who made him. I knew exactly how much he could endure.
Nero listened, so Nero was fine. Kuro, on the other hand, would run his mouth without a shred of tact in the carriage all the way to the Academy... so until we actually arrived, I needed him incapable of opening his beak.
"Hey, Master? Keep that up and he'll die, nyang."
"It's fine. I'll only sear him right up to the brink."
Steam rose in soft curls. The smell turned a lovely golden brown. Keep at it until the screaming stops, and....
"There."
Roast crow: complete. Judging by the angle of his twitching and the amount of mana I'd spent, a rough calculation said he'd drop into power-saving mode for self-repair and stay there until tomorrow night.
"Sleep, then. Tomorrow's going to be busy..."
"How is riding a carriage all day busy, nyang?"
"Leaving the house is work in itself."
By that measure, tomorrow I would be working all day, which meant I would be busy. Obviously.
"So. Sleep."
I lay down on the bed. Let the strength go out of my body, draw a slow breath, and......
"......I can't sleep."
Maybe because I'd slept earlier, sleep refused to come. It was already midnight. My eyes were wide open. When I turned my head, there was Nero at my pillow, snoring softly.
"...Was there milk in the icebox?"
A glass of warm milk ought to help.
Slowly, carefully, so I wouldn't make a sound, I opened the door, and just as carefully went down the stairs.
I took the milk from the kitchen icebox, poured it into a cup, and used a little magic to raise the temperature. This part mattered. Too hot and it was hard to drink; too cold and there was no point in drinking it at all. What I wanted was just above body temperature. Forty-two degrees...!
"Is it ready?"
I touched my tongue to the cup, and a pleasant warmth met it. I gulped the milk down, then turned to head back to my room—and saw light wavering across the floor.
"...What?"
I looked toward the source. Through a door left slightly ajar, light was leaking out. Lia's room. What was she doing, this late at night?
"......Lia? What are you doing...?"
"Oh my. Emily?"
I stepped inside and found her in a chair, glasses on, reading something.
"Working?"
"Mm."
A sheaf of papers dropped onto the desk. Every time I saw her like this, my gratitude toward her grew. If Lia hadn't hidden what I was, I might have been stuck working until this hour too, with no time left for research......
"...What's wrong? You went pale all of a sudden."
"Ah, it's—it's just, tomorrow, because of work..."
"......Do you hate going to the Academy that much?"
Lia let out a helpless little laugh and opened her arms. The gesture said come here. I just stood there, staring blankly, and she kept looking at me and smiling, arms still spread.
I couldn't very well ignore the kindness, so I slipped into her embrace and tucked myself in. Like the leaves of a flytrap closing, her arms folded around me the moment I was inside.
"It's all right. People live there too. What could possibly happen?"
"...Aren't you sending me as an escort because something might?"
"......I can't say it won't."
The cushion of her was softer than the pillow I slept on. A silly thought drifted through me: if you went around with these attached, wouldn't they be heavy? My mind went blank, and thoughts with no connection to one another strung themselves along.
Like this, I might actually be able to sleep—
"Get along with Mariella."
"...Nyeh?"
A hand stroked my head. My body was warm all the way through.
Lia's temperature must have run higher than mine. A pleasant heat wrapped me from head to toe.
"Mari loves magic. But... there's something wrong with her body."
"Her Circle...?"
"You knew?"
I nodded, and nodded again.
"Something... inside... it's all twisted..."
"You noticed that too? Incredible."
"Hehe."
Praise felt nice.
"...She loves magic, and she can't use it. She cried a great deal over that, and she got angry, too. Well. She's reached a conclusion of her own by now, and things seem to have settled, more or less."
"Is that... so."
"She can't cast, but she can still pursue the theory, so she's quite talented, whatever she looks like. You've probably read one of Mari's papers."
"Really...?"
She'd written a paper? If there was a chance I'd read it, that meant it had been submitted to a journal. Wasn't that impressive?
"I helped a little."
"What... and here I got my hopes up."
I heard her laugh. My head kept sinking, so I couldn't see her face, but she was definitely smiling. What was so funny?
"So she was terribly excited to meet you. Even more so after I told her that you and Milane are the same person. And the person in question finishes her meal, shuts herself in her room, and won't say a single word."
Ah. That did make me feel a little sorry.
"I'm sorry..."
"If you understand, then talk to her a little. I know it's hard for you to talk to someone you don't know... but it's enough if you just say whatever you feel like saying."
"Mmm..."
"Sleepy?"
My head nodded again. No—it was drooping......
"......I'm sorry."
"For... what...?"
My mind was going hazy. My voice was thin.
"I just wanted to say it once."
"What's that supposed to mean."
Through the fading of my awareness, I reached a hand up. Something warm met my fingertips with a soft touch. Lia's cheek, probably.
"You don't have to apologize."
"...Yeah?"
"Yes."
Honestly, what a fool. If it weren't for Lia, there was no way I could be living as happily as I was. She'd made a few mistakes... but how was a person supposed to live without making any?
So there was no need to worry so much...... about it......
Ah. Sleepy.
I'm going to sleep.
"Good nii—"