Is This Love?
"You living at the shop now, Steric?"
Ed found Steric sprawled across a customer table, dead asleep. He rapped his knuckles against the wood as he spoke.
Steric did not stir. Ed let out a short sigh.
"I feel a little bad waking him…"
"He's going to have to get up soon either way. He said he opens in the afternoon."
With that, Ed took hold of Steric's shoulder and gave him a rather vigorous shake.
Steric jolted awake with a strangled gasp.
"W-Who… oh. It's you two."
He pushed himself upright, recognized them, and stretched his arms as he slid down from the table. Once on his feet he stretched his legs as well, then dropped into a chair when he was finished.
"Haaah… sit down, both of you. I'm curious what brings you by today."
"There's a problem the two of us can't sort out on our own," Charlotte said, taking a seat before Ed could. "We thought we might need your help, Steric."
Ed sat down after her. Steric spoke into the space between them.
"All right. What's the problem?"
"It's about romance. Steric… have you ever been in a relationship?"
"Hmm…"
Steric gazed into the empty air, folding his fingers one by one. He stopped at four and went on.
"About four people. But I want to hear your romance problem first. Start with that."
"Ah—right, I never actually said what it was.
Talking with Ed yesterday, I realized I can't tell whether what I feel for him is romantic love or not. I wanted help figuring it out."
"And as luck would have it, neither of us has any experience with romance," Ed added. "We needed someone who could look at this relationship objectively."
"What, it's only been two days and you're already both like this?
I'll say this first. I've only ever had ordinary relationships, so I might not be much help. Keep that in mind when you hear my advice, all right?"
"Of course."
After Steric finished, Ed and Charlotte looked at each other. A brief whispered exchange passed between them, and then Charlotte spoke.
"I like being with Ed. Even when I'm just sitting quietly beside him—even when we're out buying something together—I feel at ease.
And when he strokes my hair, or steadies me when I walk, I'm so happy my heart races like mad.
Is… is that love?"
"That's love if I've ever seen it. How did you not know?"
Steric laughed as if the whole thing were ridiculous. Charlotte looked flustered and tried again.
"B-But… in the books I've been reading…"
"What were you reading, Charlotte?"
"Charlotte and Carlos…"
"I've read that one. It's fiction—they pile on the over-the-top descriptions.
Love at first sight, offering up your life, that sort of thing—I've never done any of that either.
It's more like: I want to keep being with you. When I'm alone, I want to see you. I want to talk about nothing important. Feelings like that."
At the examples Steric offered, both Ed and Charlotte gave a small, involuntary flinch.
"Hit the mark, did I? So you two like each other, huh?"
"…It would seem so."
The two of them sat in silence for a while. Steric watched them with an openly delighted expression.
He did not look like someone savoring a sweet, tender moment the way Ed might have. It was more the look of a man who had stumbled onto excellent entertainment.
"Doesn't seem like there's anything left for me to help with. Why don't the two of you talk the rest out between yourselves? It's about time I open the shop anyway.
Next time you visit, you'll be a couple, right? I'll be looking forward to it."
Steric's tone was pure teasing. Ed recovered first, rising from his seat and answering him.
"…Well. As you say, this is something the two of us will have to settle. Sorry for the trouble, Steric. We'll be heading back."
Ed gave Charlotte a light tap on the back. She snapped out of her daze, glanced around to get her bearings, and stood as well.
"Ah—excuse us, Steric…"
"Yeah. Get home safe, both of you."
Charlotte took her cane from Ed, dipped her head in a polite bow, and left the shop.
"The first time I felt… happiness, with you, Master, was when I drank cocoa with my prosthetic arm."
"I was a little earlier than that. I wouldn't call it happiness, exactly—but when you thanked me, something about it felt strange."
What the two of them were doing now was tracing back the moment they had fallen in love.
They had known each other for roughly two weeks. That was a short enough span to cover everything before dinner.
"But the feeling I had when I heard your thanks was the urge to protect you. The point when I started liking you must have come later than that."
"Oh—you're right. Then maybe what I felt then wasn't happiness so much as gratitude."
So they were not, at least, in love from the very first meeting. That much was settled.
They seemed determined to keep inching forward like this, checking each moment as they went.
"That was also the day I walked for the first time. I was walking around the room, and you carried me outside."
"As I said then—the floor here is hard. I told you I wanted to protect you. I didn't want you getting hurt."
"R-Right…
Wow. Now that I've actually recognized this feeling as love, it's a little embarrassing. My heart keeps fluttering more and more."
Charlotte covered her flushed cheeks with both hands. Ed spoke as if the words had slipped out before he could stop them.
"That's a cute habit."
"Th-That only makes it worse. Please stop…"
"Seems it got out on its own. Sorry."
Charlotte held her pose for a moment, took a few quiet breaths, then slowly let her hands fall.
"Even so… it isn't a bad kind of embarrassment. Embarrassing, but happy… so this is what butterflies feel like."
"It didn't embarrass you before?"
"It did… but now I'm much happier than I used to be, and much more embarrassed too."
"I see."
Charlotte kept her eyes turned away from him. Ed watched her with a gentle look.
"F-For now! Let's keep going with what we were talking about."
"All right. Let's do that."
She was clearly mortified enough to force the subject back onto safer ground.
"The first time I walked… you supported me on the way home. I did feel something reliable then, but it wasn't the same as butterflies."
"The next day we went to buy clothes. I lent you mine for a while, but you couldn't keep wearing them forever."
"I was a little uneasy without any underthings… but once we were out, it was surprisingly comfortable. Maybe that's why I chose a skirt."
Charlotte gave the skirt she was wearing a light lift, then let it fall again.
Ed watched her raise the hem—and quietly looked away.
Noticing, Charlotte smiled at him.
"Ah—I'm wearing something underneath, so it's fine. Want to see?"
"…I'll pass."
Charlotte found his reaction so funny she let out a bright little laugh.
"Anyway—next we went to buy the pendant I'm wearing now, and the gloves."
"Right. Items to improve your stamina."
"About the clothes I wore that day—the shop girl said they were the kind of outfit you wear on a date. I don't know if they suited me."
"They did. As I said then, it was an outfit a straw hat would have gone well with—and it made you look less like a child and more like a young girl."
"Clothes make the person, I suppose. That makes me happy."
Charlotte smiled, clearly pleased. Watching that smile, Ed answered with a fainter one of his own.
"Your clothes that day really were beautiful. When we first met, I meant it when I said your looks weren't bad.
Thinking about it now… I may have fallen in love around then.
The fact that a cute girl had put on an outfit like that for my sake—I was grateful, and happy."
"I think mine came a little later."
Ed had fully expected her to flush with embarrassment—but she was oddly calm, as if analyzing her own feelings left no room for fluster.
"When we bought the gloves, I was already a little moved.
I'd only meant to get the pendant, but after you listened to my story, you bought me the gloves as well."
"…Hearing that story and still not buying them would have made me a terrible person."
"Well, the effects seem to stack. Thank you again."
Charlotte bowed her head, then continued.
"After that, I asked you to buy me a straw hat. The way you agreed so readily—it was somehow cool.
I remember feeling happy the whole walk to the hat shop. I think that was when it started for me."
"So we both fell in love only a few days after meeting. Is that the story?"
"Ahaha—I guess so."
Ed exhaled a short sigh. Charlotte laughed as if the whole thing had nothing to do with her.
"Anyway. We've figured out when we started liking each other, and that we still do.
What do you want to do now?"
"You're asking if we should move forward as a couple. I don't think poorly of the idea, but…"
Even after speaking, Ed seemed to be turning something over with a thoughtful hmm.
Charlotte wore an expression full of quiet expectation.
A brief silence passed. Then something occurred to Ed, and he offered a suggestion.
"I don't like the idea of just sliding into it halfheartedly. Tomorrow we'll spend the day looking around the village, and I'll confess at the right moment.
That way it'll be something we actually remember."
"That does sound better. I'll be ready."
"I'd prefer if it made your heart race—but it doesn't really matter."
Finished speaking, Ed rose from his seat. Charlotte started to stand as well, only for him to stop her.
"I'll handle the preparations alone today. Wait for me. Read a book, take your time."
"Ah—all right. I'm counting on you."
Ed tramped off toward the kitchen, leaving Charlotte alone in the living room.
He's so blunt, and yet he never fails to show what he feels, she thought to herself.