Toward Karahan (1)
“As planned, I’ve arrived at the summit of Karahan…”
“Hic…”
“I’m going to be busy from here on—”
“Kh-kuh…”
“…I don’t know when I’ll be able to return.”
“Huu… huuuuuuu…”
“…I’ll come back as soon as—”
“Waaaaaah!”
With every line of the letter she read, Hepais’s tears welled a little more, until at last she completely broke down.
She’s hugging me and crying again…
I just finished drying her snot… ugh!
“I-I’ll come back as soon as I can… so eat well and take care of yourself, Hepais.”
“Waaaaahhh—!”
“U-ugh…!”
“Huuuwaaah…! N-Noah Unni… khuuu… kuh… hwaak… hu… snff—!”
“He-Hepais…! Your snot’s… running everywhere…!”
Clear snot from Hepais’s nose streamed down onto my clothes.
Eww… gross!
But… I can’t exactly shove a crying kid away…
“U-um… Hepais? Which part of this letter… is making you so sad?”
“Kh-uh… Y-Yuria Master… has never… sent a letter… n-not even once…”
“Well… maybe she just felt like writing one that day?”
“N-no… and… and… kuh— she… she called me… by my name… hic— she’s never… not even once… called me by name beforeee—!”
Rubia pressed a hand to her forehead.
“Mm, all right. That can happen. But maybe she was just in a good mood, or she really thought she’d be late—”
“N-no… I… khuuu— I-I know. Huu… kngh—”
She wiped the running snot with her hand… then hugged me again.
Fine… I give up…
I stopped patting her back and turned my face toward the window.
Rubia does it, Hepais does it.
Why do they always smear their snot on me whenever they cry…
“Master… isn’t the type to do that. I’m sure of it…”
“How can you be so certain…?”
“Because I… I love Master… Yuria Master—”
Hepais, who had been sniffling against me for a long while, hid her face against my back… and spoke in a voice that was utterly, completely, thoroughly girlish—soft and dewy.
“…I love her.”
“Ah…”
“Huk…!”
Rubia’s mouth fell open.
Mine did too—
Her name’s Yuria, so I thought she was a woman… but she’s a man…?
“B-because I love her, I can tell… that something’s wrong with Master…”
“U-um… well… that… can happen.”
Rubia’s head nodded slowly.
Hepais squeezed me even tighter.
“He-Hepais… I can’t breathe…”
“S-sorry… Unni.”
“U-ugh…”
Apologizing while hugging even harder—what’s with that…!
“So if you love someone, you can sense things like that…?”
“Yes… Rubia Unni… if you’ve ever been in love… you’d know the feeling…”
Rubia’s face flooded with fluster.
“Uh, ah… uuum… r-right. Ha.ha.ha. Hepais? I understand, so could you tell us about your master’s appearance or any distinctive features? It would make things easier. Of course you already know, but if we know too we can help more, right? So please tell us quickly. And Noah, what’s with that face? It’s not what you’re thinking. Don’t misunderstand. I just want to hear the story faster.”
“F-face…? Uung… okay.”
Rubia’s words had sped up enormously.
And there was no rise or fall in her tone…
Rubia’s broken!
“A-um… yes. First… Master’s hair is light green.”
Light green?
“Like Hepais, your master’s hair is an uncommon color too.”
“That’s right…”
Hm?
What color is Hepais’s, then?
“Umm… sorry to interrupt, but… He-Hepais, what color is yours…?”
“Ah, my hair’s pink.”
Pink…?
“Wooow… pink…?”
“Yeah. But… it stands out too much… so I don’t really like it.”
I’m curious!
Natural pink hair!
“C-can I… touch it once?”
“Sure… the texture isn’t great, but… touch as much as you want.”
I slowly lifted my hand and stroked Hepais’s short hair.
Just as she’d said, it wasn’t particularly soft.
Because she works in front of a forge?
The color…
Light pink? Or deep pink?
If it’s this dry, maybe it doesn’t have much shine.
Then are her eyebrows pink too?
No matter how much I touched, I couldn’t feel the color.
Still, wanting to paint even a little more of it in my mind, I let go of the greatsword and kneaded her hair with both hands.
Mmm…
Still can’t see the color… too bad.
“I wonder what color it is…”
“Noah…”
A voice thick with pity reached me.
“Uuu… Unni…”
This time a voice thoroughly soaked in snot…
“Uung…?”
I took my hands from Hepais’s hair and gripped the hilt again.
Rubia’s form swam into view right in front of me.
“Uwah…?”
Then she pulled me into a tight hug.
“Ru-Rubia…?”
“Unni… hup…”
Hepais, who had been on my right, hugged me too.
What’s with these two?
“U-um… so… why, why are you…?”
“Noah… well, pink is…”
Still holding me, Rubia began to whisper into my ear.
“Pink is… a lovely color.”
“Uh… yes?”
“Whenever you touch something, or hear something, or feel something and it feels lovely… that’s pink.”
Is the earlier glitch still affecting her…?
What is she suddenly talking about…?
“I-I already know that…”
“And… my hair is silver. Silver is… mm… like the cool air of early dawn.”
“I mean… I already kn—”
Rubia cut me off.
She slowly stroked my hair as she continued.
“Noah’s hair is… black. Black is… the feeling you get when you’re scared.”
Then she hugged me tightly again.
“If you’re ever curious, just ask anytime. I’m not great at explaining… but I’ll do my best to help you understand.”
“I-I know colors… uh… pink is… pink…”
Huh…?
How am I supposed to explain this?
Still… Rubia’s explanation is probably the closest…
She’s better at explaining than I thought?
“Th-the feeling you get… when you’re embarrassed…”
Rubia’s tears fell onto the crown of my head.
Hepais’s… snot smeared onto my sleeve.
Stop with the snot…!
“E-everyone calm down and… how about we finish talking about Hepais’s master first…?”
“Huu… yes… all right.”
Rubia pulled away with a look of lingering reluctance.
“Unni…! If anything’s hard, tell me anytime. I’ll help as much as I can.”
Hepais also stepped back, her face full of pity.
You’re the one having a hard time right now—why are you offering to help me…
And since when have you been speaking casually to me?
I’m still… wait?!
Uh… I’m seven years older than you by Earth age!
Even here I’m two years older!
Use honorifics!
“Uung… s-so Hepais… c-casual speech…”
“Unni likes it too, right? Feels like we’ve gotten closer this way.”
Hepais, who had been wailing and carrying on moments ago, beamed.
Closer…? Even more…?
Mm… well, since things have already settled, I’ll just leave it.
If she starts crying again it’ll be a headache.
And more snot.
I’ll be understanding. She’s just a kid.
I’m a generous adult, after all.
“Uung… o-okay.”
“Ahem, we got sidetracked… shall we listen to Hepais again?”
“A-yes… Master’s features… mm, her hair is light green… her eyes are the same light green as her hair. And her eyes look mean.”
Hepais, far calmer than before, continued her description.
This is all thanks to my generous nature.
You’re welcome, Rubia.
“Her personality’s mean too. Her way of talking is rough, and… ah, she has a tear mole under her right eye. She’s tall as well…”
Listening to Hepais’s ongoing description, I slowly painted a picture in my mind.
“The features are clear… so if we see her, we’ll recognize her right away.”
“Yes. Ah, and… she has large scars on her back and lower abdomen.”
Hm…?
Lower abdomen…?
“Yes…? Lower abdomen?”
“Yes. I saw them once when we were bathing together. There was a scar running from her navel… Of course, you wouldn’t see it from the outside, but… j-just in case…”
“You bathed together? With your master?”
“Yes. From ten years ago until now, we’ve bathed together every day.”
Uh…
Uhhh…?
“Why…?”
“When I was little… I didn’t know how to wash myself… so she washed me. After that… even when I was washing alone, Master would just come in. Said it was a waste of water…”
Huk…
“…Hepais, you said you’re eighteen now, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then… your master’s age…”
“Master is probably… almost thirty.”
At Hepais’s words, Rubia’s expression hardened like stone.
“Hey. Hepais. Then how did you meet that master… of yours?”
“Ah… a long time ago… my birth mother sold me as a slave… But… Master bought me… and took me in—”
“Hepais. No.”
“Huk… s-slave…”
Rubia’s urgent voice cut Hepais off.
“Yes?”
“I think it would be better if you cut ties with that master and lived separately. I’ll help as much as I can… so let’s get you independent.”
“Th-that’s right… Hepais… um… why don’t you just live with us?”
That master isn’t right in the head!
He’s a crazy pervert!
“…Why?”
“‘Why’ is… no. I understand… from when you were little… no… th-that’s not okay. You need to get away from that crazy man as soon as possible. I’ll help somehow—”
Hepais tilted her head.
“Man?”
“…Yes.”
“Who?”
Rubia’s head tilted too.
“Hepais’s master…”
“Yes?”
“He-Hepais’s master. That crazy master named Yuria…”
Hepais’s expression turned strange.
“My master… is a woman?”
Rubia’s expression grew even stranger.
“A woman…?”
“Yes. Ah… I didn’t mention it. My master is a woman.”
While Rubia’s mouth just flapped open and shut for a long moment, I spoke up.
“He-Hepais… you clearly said… you l-lo… love your master… right…?”
“Yeah. I love her… a lot.”
Ahh.
“Aha… so Hepais was a guy…”
Could be a feminine guy.
Yeah. There are plenty of characters like that.
Th-that can happen…
“Pffft… no, Unni. I’m a girl… Of course, I know. I’m a little weird.”
“Eh…”
Hepais let out a long sigh and continued.
“But… how should I put this. It might sound like an excuse… but I just love that person as a person.”
The shy voice, the expression on Hepais’s face—
Just as Rubia had described—
was steeped in pink.
“I love everything about her, so much I could go crazy…”
Enough pink to fill the entire carriage.
“I love her…”
That was the kind of face she made.