Please Stroke My Hair, Young Master
Blow had been waiting, rather forlornly, outside Hervena's laboratory for ten minutes.
From inside came the bustle of her footsteps and, every so often, a thud, thud, as if she were putting books away.
She really doesn't have to go this far.
The stares gathering on him were growing heavy. Blow cleared his throat and rapped on the laboratory door.
"Hervena, how much longer am I supposed to wait?"
"Almost done!"
Some six minutes after that, Hervena finally opened the door. She nudged a few things under the desk with her foot and lifted the corners of her mouth, plainly embarrassed.
Anything he said was only going to make her more awkward, so Blow simply stepped inside.
The laboratory was cool, the window left open. The countless books she was working through rose in stacks across the floor, nearly to the ceiling, and walking in felt like entering a forest made of books. Experimental tools crowded the room alongside liquids of no identifiable kind, and there was a single bed just wide enough for her to lie down.
Moonlight spilled through the room. Blow took the chair that had been set out, and the first thing his eyes found was the outfit he had bought her before. It hung on the wall opposite the desk, pressed crisp and stiff. Unable to fathom why it was there, he tilted his head.
"Why is that outfit hanging up there?"
"Huh? What? Oh, no reason."
"If I'd known you were going to keep it like that, I should have bought you something finer."
"Next time... buy me another."
Avoiding his eyes, Hervena perched on the spare chair beside him. For some reason she looked wound tight with nerves.
Well, she did say she almost never lets anyone into the lab. Of course it's awkward.
So he decided to loosen her up a little.
"Hervena, this counts as one wish used, right?"
"What?"
"You said you had something to tell me, so I came all the way here. That's one wish spent, isn't it?"
At that, Hervena put on the most wronged face in the world and pouted.
"Last time, when I took first, you only gave me plus three hundred points, and now even the wish gets thrown away like this..."
She still remembers that score.
Caught off guard, Blow cleared his throat.
"Was that really all I gave you?"
"I have an incredible memory, you know? Sometimes I look at you and think you're honestly too much."
"Fine. Win this time and I'll give you plus a million points."
"Please be realistic."
"All right. A thousand, then."
"Deal."
Only then did Hervena smile, satisfied. Blow swept idly at the papers on the desk and asked, as if it hardly mattered,
"So what's the wish?"
"Is it two, or one?"
Her dry lips moved, as though the distinction were desperately important.
Sometimes she really is kind of cute.
A short laugh escaped him, and he answered gently.
"Two, obviously. What am I supposed to do if I give you one and you blow up Hills?"
"I would never. If it's two, then first, one of them... one of them..."
Her face went beet red as she hesitated, and then she whipped something out of her pocket. In her hand was a bracelet of small, pitch-black mana stones strung together. The moment he took it, a faint red light seeped from the stones.
"Please wear this."
"A bracelet?"
"Yes."
"Did you make this?"
"Yes. It's a bracelet that helps with mana. I found the references in the library and made it myself."
She had prepared other explanations in advance and forgotten every one of them, rattling off whatever came to mind. Blow stared at her as if something were off, then stroked his chin.
"Do I even have any reason to need mana?"
"You might return to the academy next year. And there's nothing bad about your mana getting better."
"True enough. You really made this yourself? Impressive. I didn't know you were this good with your hands."
"I just... worked hard."
It was not finely made. The stones were uneven in size, and nothing about it suggested a pretty design. Once it sat in Blow's hand it seemed, somehow, even uglier, and she regretted a hundred times over that she ought to have refined it a little more.
"And me wearing this is the wish?"
"...The wish is that you don't take it off."
Embarrassed by her own words, Hervena twisted where she sat. Watching her, Blow laughed before he could stop himself and fastened it around his right wrist.
"Well, my right wrist has been feeling a bit bare anyway. Might as well wear it here."
The black bracelet stood in sharp contrast against his pale wrist. A bracelet, it turned out, was like clothing: it depended entirely on who wore it. He had thought little of it resting in his palm, but once it was on, the roughness itself became a fresh kind of charm.
Just seeing him wear it left Hervena so happy she felt she might float away. She clutched tight the bracelet hidden inside her own clothes.
"I can take it off to wash, right?"
"Well, that much is fine..."
"Water getting in would be a bit much. Still, receiving a gift doesn't really feel like a wish. Tell me two again."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
A bright smile spread across Hervena's face. She looked so pleased that Blow scratched his head, oddly embarrassed.
Is she really that happy?
He propped his chin on the desk and waited for her answer. Avoiding the gaze turned on her, Hervena murmured, barely loud enough to hear.
"Then this time I'll use only one of the two, and save the other for later."
"All right. What's the one?"
"After the third exam, let's go eat."
"Hm? We eat all the time."
"Just the two of us. Somewhere other than Hills."
"Well, if that's the wish, there's no reason I can't grant it. You've got a good place picked out?"
"Yes. They said it's somewhere I... I can't go into alone."
"You could just go with Skadi."
"Skadi's been busy lately."
Please, just stop asking.
Short-circuited, Hervena answered at random. Blow let the silence sit a moment, then shrugged.
"Got it. We'll set the date after your finals. First bracelet I've ever been given. Feels pretty good."
"Your first. Yes, haha..."
"The more I look at it, the better made it is. I'll wear it properly."
"Thank you."
"I'm the one who should be thanking you."
"Ah, I forgot I meant to offer you tea."
"It's fine. Was there anything else?"
"No, I... I've said everything I meant to."
"Dinner?"
"I ate a little earlier."
Blow considered for a moment, then rose.
"All right. You're busy, so I'll get going."
"Yes...!"
Standing awkwardly with both hands clasped tight, Hervena watched him as if she hated to see him leave. Halfway to the door he stopped, turned back, and smiled at her again.
"You did well today, Hervena."
"Then..."
"Hm?"
"Then... stroke my hair..."
Too shy to finish, she let the words die. Rather than answer, Blow came over and began to stroke her hair, gently, from the crown down toward the side.
"You did well."
"Yes!!"
"I'm counting on you for the finals, too."
"Yes. I'll work really hard."
She wished the moment would last a little longer.
If only that gentle hand would brush my face, too, and pat my shoulder.
But the embarrassment rushing in left her no courage to say so.
"I'm going."
"Yes. Get home safely."
Blow left with a nod of farewell.
Long after he was gone, she kept replaying the scene, pressing wind magic against her burning face. More than all the praise that had fallen on her today, a single you did well from Blow was a hundred times better. A thousand.
I hope Megan comes up soon.
Grinning like a fool, Hervena pounded the cushion beside her for no reason at all, until it thumped.
When Blow arrived, Hills was quiet.
Yulia had gone for feedback on the day's spar and for further training, and the others, Rachel among them, had headed home early. So it was only Skadi and Blow sharing a drink, while Jane settled the day's accounts beside them.
Skadi was unusually silent. Blow, who had felt something off about her for a while, asked as if in passing.
"Skadi, did you fight with Hervena?"
"Huh? No!"
"Then why are the two of you so awkward?"
"It's just because I haven't been drinking lately, that's all."
"Looking at Hervena, the chill practically dripping off her... doesn't seem like she'll be drinking with you."
"She will."
"Weren't you going to be honest and hold your head up?"
Blow leaned toward her and shrugged, as if to say anything was fine. Skadi let out a faint sigh.
"I don't think I could do that with Hervena."
"Hm? Of all people? You couldn't, with Hervena?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, the closer you are, the more that happens. Things you want to hide start showing up..."
At his words Jane shot him a sharp look. Avoiding her gaze, Blow added, barely loud enough to hear,
"Except in cases like mine, haha. Anyway, why not just go and tell her?"
"I'm only worried, that's all. Afraid it'll get worse."
"Skadi, I told you to worry a little less."
Skadi looked at him. His expression was more serious than usual, and somehow that only made her feel sorrier.
If I keep showing him this side of me and making him worry... if I were Blow, I really wouldn't like me.
Be honest. Worry a little less. Those were the things Blow told her every single time. Words uncomfortable to hear, and no more comfortable to say, kept coming back for one reason: when an obstacle stood in front of her, she chose to go around it rather than face it.
Her shoulders hunched with self-reproach, and she twisted her hair round and round. Blow put a piece of roasted potato in his mouth.
"If it's that hard to say, you don't have to. Let's just drink."
Any other day she would have let it pass. Today, for some reason, she felt she mustn't. So she decided to ask him the one thing she had been wanting to know.
"Blow, do you remember what you said in the recovery room last time, when you went berserk?"
"The argument with Danvers?"
"Yeah. Even then you told me not to force it. That it was fine to keep some distance."
"I did."
"I'm sorry, but I told Senior Yulia about it once. That you'd said that."
"When? In Roten?"
"Yeah. When I told her, Senior Yulia said it was unexpected. She said she didn't understand why you'd say it."
"Hmm. She said that."
"She said if it had been the original you, she thought you would have told me not to avoid it."
"Senior said something like that..."
"Hey, Blow. If Senior Yulia had come to you about the exact same thing as me, what would you have told her?"
Skadi's voice was endlessly careful. She had wanted, quietly, to confirm whether he had said it because she was lacking, and for her, this was a considerable show of courage.
Blow chewed over her words, swallowed the potato, and answered.
"Even if it were Senior Yulia, I think I would have said the same thing."
"Huh...? Why?"
"Because if she could have said it, she already would have."
"Then if you were me..."
"I would have said it."
"......"
"But that's my case. I'm not telling you that you have to."
"Yeah."
"I'm a bit shameless, so I just say things like that. If it's something that has to be said anyway, I figure it's better to get it over with."
Silence settled between them. Lost in thought, Skadi forgot even to drink, and fiddled with her hair for no reason.
Around the time Blow emptied his glass, he spoke to her gently.
"If it all falls apart, I'll handle it somehow."
"Huh?"
"That's what you're worried about, isn't it? That things might go wrong between you and Hervena. Isn't that it?"
"Yeah."
"Then I'll handle it somehow... No. I don't even understand why you're the one worrying."
"Why?"
"Because you and Hervena have time you've spent together. And I have time I've spent with you."
"......"
"Why not trust that time, just once? You're a better kid than you think. Have a little confidence."
"That's right, Skadi! It might sort itself out more easily than you think."
Jane, who had been listening the whole time, chimed in from the side and nodded at Skadi again and again. Behind Jane's face was Blow's gaze, the kind that seemed to soothe her all the way down, the kind that would respect whatever she chose.
Skadi swallowed hard and clenched her fist.
Because I decided to be honest, and to hold my head up.
She shot to her feet and snatched up her coat.
"I'm going to see Hervena."
"Going to see her?"
"Yeah! If it gets too late, I'll just go to the mansion!"
"No, I mean, tomorrow—"
"No, I want to do it now! As fast as I can!!"
And Skadi was gone.
The bell on the door rang through Hills. Jane watched her back, let out a deep sigh, and looked at her young master.
"Young Master."
"Yeah."
"That's rather firm, coming from you. I thought you were just going to comfort Skadi."
"Today it felt like she wanted someone to give her a push."
"Did it?"
"That's how it looked. If it doesn't work out, well, like I said, I'll have no choice but to step in a little."
"Right. Skadi was a little different from usual, too."
At the end of Jane's gaze sat the beer glass Skadi had left more than half full. Seeing it, Blow answered with a long sigh.
"Yeah."
In front of Hervena's laboratory.
Hervena had come out and was looking at Skadi — standing there at a complete loss — through narrowed eyes.
"...What's going on?"
"He-Hervena."
She had come full of resolve, and lost every bit of it the moment she arrived. When Skadi hesitated, Hervena spoke first.
"If you've got nothing to say, I'm going back in."
Startled, Skadi grabbed the door before it could shut, swallowed dryly, and barely managed to open her mouth.
"I'm sorry, Hervena. For lying."
"......"