Sibeon's Donkey (5)
They unloaded the luggage from the car and stepped into the building. Ninomae followed at the rear of the party.
"…Miss Tsunashi?"
In that same instant Tsunashi Tenka came up from behind and lifted her bag, the motion as natural as water flowing downhill. It was consideration offered without the least display of it, as though the thing were simply obvious. Watch her like this, and it grew difficult to believe the nickname of prince she had carried all through the girls' academy had been a matter of her face alone. Then their eyes met, and Tenka smiled, bright and unstudied, and there was something in that smile that set the heart oddly racing.
"You don't have to carry it for me."
"You're the most delicate one here, aren't you, Ninomae-chan?"
"Delicate…?"
It had been a very long time since anyone had said such a thing of her. Her arms were on the slender side, yes, but Ninomae knew perfectly well that delicate was not the impression she usually left.
…Mostly on account of a certain area.
"If we're splitting hairs, the most delicate one isn't Hitomi-chan. It's Tama-senpai."
Someone, it seemed, had been thinking along the same lines. Senjoji Chiyo said it with a grin, then flinched under the glare Tama—Akane—turned on her, and ducked smartly behind Tenka.
Quite against her will, Hitomi's gaze drifted toward one conspicuously flat region of Akane. It was force majeure in the plainest sense, and she hoped to be forgiven for it. Ninomae managed a strained smile.
"Akane-chan? Well, Akane-chan's sturdy, so."
She'll manage just fine on her own; no need to worry. Tenka shrugged as if to say as much. And indeed, even while the luggage was being shifted, Akane never once looked as though the weight were getting the better of her. Akaba Akane had always given the impression of someone who would be good at that sort of physical thing.
"Ehehe."
"Chisa, the entrance is the other way."
As for Yuri, a maid was already at her side, carrying her bags. Which meant the one left over was Ninomae. That, presumably, was the point.
"Aaaah—but I'm weak toooo."
Having watched the whole scene, Chiyo complained, all play. Strip away the signature seductive air and the frivolous manner, and she had the look of a girl who might well have sat on the library committee in her school days. She was lazy besides, so it stood to reason she had built a wall between herself and anything resembling exercise. Both of Tenka's hands, though, were already full—her own things, and Ninomae's on top of them. Deciding, perhaps, that asking her to take yet another load would be pushing it too far, Chiyo went swiftly hunting for other prey.
"Shion-chaaaan—."
She latched onto Han Seoyeon, folding one arm around hers as if in a gentle embrace, and made the request in a voice like melted sugar. Whether it was the bewitching, clinging sweetness of that voice that threw her, Seoyeon looked away, and then let out a sigh. Even so, the hand she extended made it plain she meant to take the bag regardless.
"If you would hand over the ba—"
"I-I'll carry it. That would be all right, wouldn't it?"
The one who cut in was Ninomae. She stepped right up beside Chiyo and caught hold of the bag in her hand. Snatching it outright would have been rude, and she was afraid Chiyo might startle and hurt a finger, so she only clung tight to the handle.
"Ah… am I not allowed?"
At this wholly unforeseen move, every one of them stared at her, struck dumb. Which was only natural. Even Ninomae herself had very little idea why she was doing it.
"Sulky Hitomi-chan is cute too! Date me for real, with marriage on the table, yeah?"
"Mmph?! Mmf!"
The one to break that silence, and the first to move, was Senjoji Chiyo. Without so much as letting go of the bag she and Ninomae were both holding, she hauled Ninomae in and crushed her into a hug. Ninomae startled and thrashed, but by then she was already in Chiyo's arms. A little more speed would not have helped her answer it properly in any case. She was, after all, the weakest member of a party that counted a certified werewolf among its number.
"Miss Chiyo. Unless you mean to suffocate Miss Ninomae, I would ask that you release her now."
"Ah, sorry. I got a little too excited."
"And the luggage…"
"I'll just carry it myself. Even I don't have a hobby of stealing a knight this pure."
Only then did Chiyo let her go, laughing quietly under her breath, the bag Ninomae had lost her grip on when her strength gave out now held in Chiyo's own hand.
…Not that any of it mattered in the end. The moment they stepped into the inn, the staff carried every bag off for them, and the entire exchange was rendered meaningless.
"These will be your rooms." Following the proprietress's guidance, they let their eyes travel down the line. Four paper sliding doors stood side by side along the corridor. Judging by the space between them, each room would be generously sized.
"So how are we assigning the rooms?"
They were still admiring the place, not even inside yet, when Ninomae asked. Eight people, and four rooms. Had there been a room apiece, they might simply have taken whichever came to hand—but there was not, and so it was a problem.
"Isn't it enough to pair off the way we usually stick together?"
Akane tossed it out as if it hardly mattered. Arms folded, staring straight at the doors, she looked, at a glance, thoroughly annoyed. Split along the lines they usually kept, it did come out to exactly three pairs, with two people left over after that, so dividing the rooms this way would pose no trouble at all.
"I'll room with Manager-saaaan. Heheh, while the young lady isn't around, we're drinking allll night—."
…If only the maid had not said as much, and hauled Manager Hatsuna straight into a room.
"…That's supposed to be a bodyguard? How the hell hasn't she been fired?"
Staring after the pair who had gone, Akane muttered as if genuinely appalled.
"No… I imagine the part about wanting to throw a drinking party all night is entirely sincere, but…"
And yet Yuri, who was her mistress, wore a wry smile even as she held up her phone, as if in the maid's defense. What the screen displayed was a message from Chisa—the name of the maid who had just made her escape.
"When on earth did she find the time to send this?" Yuri murmured.
"If that is the case, then there is nothing for it but for me to take the guard post."
Han Seoyeon said it with a sigh. She had volunteered to help with this matter; filling the gap that had opened because of it was only proper, was it not?
"Oh, then the spot next to Hitomi-chan is open? In that case, I'll—"
"You're rooming with me, you lecherous little junior."
Senjoji Chiyo, who had seized the opening to try to pull Ninomae into her arms once more, was caught at once by the scruff of the neck and stopped cold.
"There's one exactly like you even in the first generation. I know precisely how to handle your type."
"W-Would it be all right if I asked what that method is, Senpai?"
"Blood and pain are the right answer, most of the time."
The color drained from Chiyo's face.
"Then what's left is the two of us?"
"So it seems…?"
"I'm counting on you, Ninomae-chan."
"Yes. Me too."
The remaining two—Ninomae Hitomi and Tsunashi Tenka—looked at one another, and Ninomae smiled, soft and a little shy, as if to say she was in her care. Somehow they had ended up scattered into combinations quite different from Akane's original proposal.
"Hey, Senpai. Before you drag me off, can I say just one thing!"
"I can't begin to imagine what, and that makes me nervous, so shut up."
"This is a total swa—"
"I told you to keep it shut, didn't I?! You crazy bastard…!"
Horrified, Akane hurled Chiyo into the room. A clean fastball. In the space she left behind, an awkward stillness settled. Hitomi in particular watched Han Seoyeon's reaction with care, though even she could not have said why.
Did she want her not to imagine something strange—or did she, rather, want a little jealousy?
No. Neither, surely. It wasn't as if she harbored any special feeling toward Shion…
And yet the reaction nagged at her all the same, and she stole a glance.
Han Seoyeon wore a faintly vacant look. It was not so different from her usual face, but Ninomae, at least, could read the fluster in those eyes.
Jealousy—was that it? The moment she thought so, a ticklish thrill stirred somewhere deep in her chest, and at the same time, afraid Seoyeon might be even slightly hurt, she hurried to make an excuse. What, exactly, she meant to excuse, she herself was not sure.
"A Charmea bed-sharing event, teehee…"
"…This person truly never changes at times like this!"
But Seoyeon's remark came first. The fluster of a moment ago, it seemed, had been the surprise of delight. For the first time in quite a while, Han Seoyeon was granted Ninomae Hitomi's contemptuous gaze.
It was a reward.
"You brought quite a lot of luggage."
"One of the trunks is equipment, in case things take a turn."
Hyakurenno Yuri asked as they entered the inn room, on account of the two sizable trunks Han Seoyeon was carrying.
"By equipment, what sort of thing do you mean?"
"Well… a bit of everything, quite literally. The shroud of Saint Bartholomew, a fundo sword, holy water and holy oil. Firearms and silver bullets… all manner of weapons and holy relics, and so on."
Preparation against the worst possibility—a site survey deteriorating into armed conflict. Thinking as much, Han Seoyeon slipped off her shoes. The floor was tatami, raised a step above the entrance, and a shoe cabinet set just beside it formed a kind of entryway.
"…You are not coming in?"
Having set not only her own things but Yuri's bag in a corner of the room, Han Seoyeon realized Yuri was still hovering in the entryway. For some reason, she seemed to be hesitating to step up onto the tatami.
"No. It's just… how should I put this…"
A story offered in fits and starts. Curiosity stirred. What on earth was she trying to say?
"Um, do my feet really smell that bad?"
"…Pardon?"
And the remark that emerged departed considerably from anything she had imagined.
"It's just—ordinarily the only people around me are employees, or those beneath me, so they simply couldn't say anything. But in truth, perhaps I do smell, or…"
"Why on earth would you think such a thing?"
"A-A little while ago, in the car, you kept quietly turning your head away!"
An absurd thing to say, and yet she must have summoned some courage to ask it; Yuri's cheeks were flushed, if only very faintly.
"Ah, well… Strictly speaking, it was at a level a human sense of smell could not detect even from directly beside you. It is merely that my nose surpasses a human one…"
"That means you, Shion—the one actually sharing this room—can smell it, doesn't it? And that there is a smell is also a fact…?!"
Was that how it followed? Han Seoyeon carefully averted her eyes.
"And even I filter out a scent that faint without conscious thought. Otherwise, daily life would be utterly impossible."
"Is… that so."
"Yes. That is so. In the car, the others happened to mention the subject, and so it merely crossed over into the realm of awareness."
She nodded as she added the rest.
"It is rather like this. As when one has gone and read the line, 'From this moment on, you will become aware that you are breathing.'"
"…Then because of what I just said, you've started noticing it all over again, haven't you?"
"……Well. So it would seem."
Silence, once more. Han Seoyeon turned her head still further aside.
"Ugh… I had my boots on the whole time in the car, so my feet must have sweated quite a bit…"
"If you… speak of it so, I grow still more aware of it… Setting that aside, I believe Miss Tsunashi once said something of the sort, but whether it is that you care for them well, it was less a stench than a feminine scent, so there is no cause for concern."
"…Shion, do you perhaps have a foot fetish, or something of the kind?"
"And why would it follow that I do?"
All at once the conversation had leapt off in a strange direction. Yuri, too, seemed flustered enough now to be blurting whatever came to mind.
"You said you like the smell of feet…!"
"I did not phrase it so strongly. No—please come inside first, and then we may speak."
"Nnnnngh…!"
It was, in truth, the grim resolve of a cat set before a bath.
In the end, Hyakurenno Yuri removed her boots and stepped up onto the tatami only after the contest of wills had run its course—and only once Han Seoyeon had held a purification prayer over her for a full five minutes.
If one insisted on adding a remark that was entirely unnecessary: as a general rule, sacred power has no effect whatsoever upon anything the practitioner does not recognize as filth, or as impurity.