Chapter 20. Mutual Contract (3)
"Stop running around and come eat!"
"Mmmh!"
Thump thump thump thump.
From early in the morning, Lyuba Tavern rang with the racket of small feet scurrying about with tireless energy.
At Yulia's shout, Tia gave a token reply and then, just for the sake of it, circled around every single table in the tavern before heading toward the kitchen.
There, Yulia stood with her dark circles stretched down to her jaw, staring hard at the stove flame.
She'd barely managed three hours of sleep before being forced awake, and she had to fight just to keep her hazy eyes from losing focus entirely.
The plan was simple: fill the belly of the little tyrant whining for food, then crawl back into bed for another round of sleep.
"Ah. It's burning······."
The moment grains of rice began to stick and scorch against the bottom of the pan, Yulia hastily killed the heat and heaved the pan up with both trembling hands.
It was fried rice with meat, a kitchen-sink dish made by throwing in every leftover ingredient from yesterday's service.
The gamey smell of the meat had been tamed with cooking liquor, and the overpowering seasoning balanced out by the rice — a dish Yulia had perfected through her own hard-won trial and error.
"Wha's that? Whaaat is it?"
"Go sit at your seat. It's hot."
"Mmmh!"
One low word of warning, and the little nuisance who'd been pestering her at her feet scurried off to the table and clambered up onto a chair.
Plopping herself down, Tia fixed a look brimming with anticipation on Yulia, who walked over carefully with the pan held steady.
"Trivet!"
"Mmmh?"
"There! That thing! Yes, that. Put it in the middle!"
"Like this?"
"That's it! Ugh! My arms hurt!"
Yulia thumped the pan down, shook out her tingling arms, and let out a long, relieved sigh.
It was the sigh of someone thinking, back when I was a man, I could've lifted this one-handed, easy.
Tia peered into the pan as steam curled up from inside it and let out a cry of awe. Then she gave it a sniff — sniff sniff — and produced a second, even higher-pitched one.
"Smells sho good!"
"Wait. It's hot."
"Ith fine though?"
"······."
Watching Tia try to grab the rice with her bare fingers, Yulia drifted into thought.
Come to think of it, the kid's father breathed fire from his mouth. Would a little heat like this really hurt her?
"No, it's not fine. Scoop it a little at a time and eat with your spoon."
"Hiiing······."
Still, no meant no.
There were basic manners between people, and she couldn't just let the girl follow her dragon instincts.
Yulia hurriedly fished a small spoon out of the tub labeled 'TIA'S' and handed it over, afraid Tia would lose patience and start scooping with her hands at any moment.
While she scraped the fried rice from the pan into a bowl with the spatula, Tia clutched her spoon tight and wiggled her whole body with barely contained impatience.
And the moment the bowl was finally set down in front of her, Tia nearly planted her face straight into it—
"Ahem."
—and froze solid at the sound of Yulia's low voice.
"And what do we say first?"
"Th-ank you for the food!"
"Good girl."
Only then did Tia bring her mouth to the bowl and start shoveling fried rice down in a frantic rush.
Shoveling was perhaps too generous a word — it was closer to sweeping the rice clean off the table of existence.
"Tasty?"
"Mmmph-mmmh······!"
With no time to actually answer, Tia just nodded furiously, her cheeks ballooning out in complete disarray — and Yulia burst out laughing.
She rested her chin on her hand and gazed at Tia in a daze for a while, then snapped back to her senses, stretching as she rose to her feet.
Time to go back to bed, she figured.
"Don't go!"
"So? What do you want me to do about it."
"Eat with me, Mamaaa."
"I'm not hungry."
"······."
But just then, Tia's lips began to jut out into a full pout, accompanied by little whimpering noises.
Yulia let out a deep sigh, gave up, fetched herself a spoon, and sat down beside Tia.
Her stomach wasn't the least bit hungry, but she decided to at least nibble something.
Oh. This is actually good······.
Yulia's eyes went wide after she took a small spoonful.
She'd made it herself, yet it tasted better than she'd expected.
She'd had nothing to do with cooking in her past life — and only after becoming a woman did she turn out to be good at it.
It was a strange feeling.
One spoonful, two spoonfuls, nibbling away absently — and before she knew it, the enormous pan was scraped completely empty.
"Buuurp."
Glancing over, she found Tia sprawled on her back, drumming her stuffed belly and letting out a resounding belch.
She had single-handedly polished off a portion that would've defeated most grown men.
For a fleeting moment Yulia wondered if it was even physically possible for all that volume to fit inside that tiny belly, then promptly gave up on thinking about it and wiped Tia's mouth clean with a napkin.
Then she picked up the pan and headed for the kitchen.
Finish the dishes, and she could finally sleep. Yulia's head was full of nothing but that thought.
"Mamaaa! Whatcha doing?"
"Cleaning up after you."
But even mid-dishwashing, Tia clung to Yulia's leg, utterly incapable of leaving her alone······
"You're full now, aren't you? So let's go to bed together."
"Mmm-mmm! No! Play!"
"Mama's sleepy······."
"Tia's not shleeepy!"
"······."
And it was no different once the dishes were done either.
On the very verge of collapsing, Yulia heaved a sigh and looked down at Tia, who was gazing up at her with big, pleading, sparkling eyes.
Yulia squeezed her eyes shut and answered.
"We play for a little while, then sleep······."
"Mhehehe!"
Her belly was full anyway — roll her around a bit, and she'd conk out on her own. That was the calculation.
With that math done, Yulia committed to playing with Tia.
Just for a moment, really. She'd be back in bed in no time — of that, Yulia had not a shred of doubt.
"Okay. Fetch, shall we? When Mama throws the ball, Tia catches it and brings it back."
"Why bring it back? Just catch it, no?"
"······Fair point. Just catch it."
And so Yulia, armed with that breezy mindset—
"Caught it!"
"Yeah. Catch again."
"Caught it! More!"
"Yeah. Okay."
"Caught it! More! Moreee!"
"C-can we stop now······."
—regretted her life choices somewhere past throw number one hundred.
Every time she threw the ball, Tia shot off like a flash, came bounding back panting, and demanded another round.
There was no winning against a monster that never got tired. At this rate, her arms would give out before opening hours.
Then, inspiration struck.
"Want to play hide-and-seek?"
"Hide-n'-sheek?"
"Yeah. Mama will hide, and Tia comes to find her. But you absolutely, absolutely cannot come up to the second floor, okay? Mama won't be hiding up there either."
"Mm! Yeah! Got it! Let's! Let's!"
Yulia ruffled the hair of the enthusiastically agreeing child.
Looking at that face — not a speck of guile anywhere on it — a contented smile crept onto her lips.
"Oneee! Twooo! Threeee!"
"······."
While Tia squeezed her eyes shut and counted at full volume, Yulia began creeping up the stairs to the second floor.
The plan: nap comfortably up there, then saunter back down. Her conscience was perfectly clear.
If anyone was at fault, it was that stamina monster who never got tired.
Yulia was picking her way up the stairs with exaggerated care, determined not to let a single board creak, when the sound of the front door slamming open froze her in place.
"Well hello there! Tia! What are you doing?"
"Hide-n'-sheek with Mamaaa!"
"Oh? Yulia! Come on out! Time to get ready for opening!"
"Ah······."
At the sound of the Tavern Boss's voice, Yulia smacked her palm against her forehead.
All she'd meant to do was feed Tia and put her down for a nap — and somehow she'd managed to burn the entire morning.
Sleep was officially out of the question now.
Resigned, Yulia scratched her head as she trudged back down the stairs.
Tia's eyes went wide at the sight. The big round orbs began to well up with tears.
"Mama's a liar!"
"Boss. I'm dead tired, so I'm just going to wipe down the tables and head up for a nap."
"Mama's a liiiiar!!!"
"Yeah, yeah, there there. So what were you two up to that—"
"Nothing happened."
"Mama's making stuff up!"
Yulia scooped up the tearful, sulking Tia and patted her back soothingly.
This usually resolved most pouting fits in an instant, but Tia only sniffled with red-rimmed eyes, turning her head away and refusing to meet Yulia's gaze at all.
It looked like this sulk was going to last a while.
With the staff due to arrive for their shifts soon, Yulia smoothed down the hair of the puffed-cheek girl and plopped a cap on her head.
"Mama, that was sho mean······."
"What's mean is your butt. Oof. Why are you so heavy? You feel heavier than yesterday, even."
By tomorrow morning she'd forget everything anyway and come whining for breakfast again — Yulia didn't take it seriously.
Hoisting Tia with one arm, she started wiping down the tables with the other, rag in hand.
And though Tia did her level best not to meet Yulia's eyes, she squeezed Yulia's neck tight in her chubby little arms, refusing to be put down.
"Yulia. Anything happen last night?"
"Hey, Irina······."
Soon after Irina came Sasha, and then the rest of the staff trickled in one after another.
Every one of them, walking in and receiving Yulia's soulless greeting, arrived at the exact same thought.
'She's going to collapse at this rate, isn't she?'
Nearly every single day, Tia kept Yulia from getting a decent night's sleep. Already running on fumes, she'd now somehow lost practically an entire night — so in a way, this was the natural outcome.
It was around the time Tia finally slumped against Yulia's shoulder and drifted off that it happened.
A small hand landed on her dish rag with a tap.
"I'll finish up. Go put Tia down — and while you're at it, get some shut-eye yourself."
It was Sasha.
Yulia managed to focus her glazed eyes on Sasha just long enough to tug at the rag, but it was hopeless.
"We're about to open. When exactly would I sleep?"
"I'll just pull you off the reservation chart for a bit— heeek?!"
"I said let go."
As Yulia pinched the back of her hand, a strange cry escaped Sasha's lips.
To be precise, it had less to do with the pinch itself and far more to do with the simple fact of her skin touching Yulia's.
Yulia's hand was cold — far colder than anyone could have imagined.
And on top of that, the realization that her own hand was resting against Yulia's slender, pretty fingers flooded Sasha's head with sinful thoughts until there was no room left for anything else.
Sasha had to fight desperately to banish the fantasies that had sprung up out of nowhere.
"Y-you just have to take me off the chart for a little while, right? Go nap, quick. If you greet customers looking like that, you'll scare them all."
"I guess······. I'll leave it to you."
Without the energy to argue any further, Yulia surrendered the dish rag and turned away.
As Yulia gathered Tia up in both arms and wandered off with a yawn, Sasha stood there for a long moment, staring blankly at the rag in her hand.
The rag Yulia had been using just moments ago.
The rag Yulia's hand had touched.
The sinful thoughts she'd fought so hard to bury came flooding right back into Sasha's head.
"Hk?!"
As if possessed, Sasha picked the rag up and began raising it toward her nose — then snapped out of it and hastily set it back down.
Why on earth had she just done that?
She'd frightened herself half to death.
Sasha stole a quick glance around, cleared her throat, and started wiping the tables as if nothing had happened — comforting herself with the assurance that surely nobody had seen.
'What on earth was that just now······?'
Irina, who had witnessed the entire spectacle with her chin propped on her hand, frowned.
All these weird episodes lately — she was starting to wonder if something was wrong with Sasha.
She was half-tempted to force the girl to take a vacation, sooner rather than later.
"Haaahm······."
Yulia carried the soundly sleeping Tia gently in her arms and started toward the stairs to the second floor.
Sounded like they'd just opened — the door swung wide and a flood of customers poured in.
Naturally, none of it had anything to do with Yulia, who was about to sleep.
No. It should have had nothing to do with her.
"Is there a woman here called Yulia!"
"Oh, for fuck's sake. Now what."
With the door banging open and a booming voice filling the room, Yulia — already twice rudely interrupted in her quest for sleep and thoroughly irritated — turned around, assuming it must be some troublemaking customer.
There stood a man and a woman in flamboyant leather outfits.
Inquisitors, no less — though Yulia had no way of knowing that, and she simply eyed them with the same unfocused, dismissive glance she'd give any neighborhood small-time crook.
By then, the atmosphere of the tavern had frozen over into a frigid, tension-soaked silence.
"Wh-what the—?"
"Inquisitors, here of all places······."
"They here to bust the place for vice?"
"No way — the clergy drinks here all the time."
"Hey! Shh! Quiet!"
The tavern began to buzz with murmurs.
As the chatter started to overheat, the Inquisitors announced their business at the top of their lungs.
"We have received word that the woman called Yulia is harboring a demonkin! Surrender the demonkin at once!"
The Inquisitors had come hunting a demonkin.
As Yulia laboriously churned her sleep-fogged brain trying to parse the meaning of those words, a slow gradient of fury began to rise within her.
It finally dawned on her, belatedly, exactly what was going on.
"THAT NINJA NUN!!!"
"Muh-ah?"
The fact that she was thoroughly screwed could wait.
The chain of cause and effect — the nun she'd run into last night had ratted out everything that happened — hit her first, and before she knew it, Yulia was letting out a roar of pure rage.
The mutual contract had just been shattered into pieces.