Reconciliation (3)
"Achoo. Mmmuh······."
It was a drowsy wake-up.
The moment she opened her eyes, Tia found it so hard to breathe with her nose all stuffed up that she kept blowing her nose over and over.
Soon giving up, she rose from her bed, sniffling back the snot.
Her eyes stung terribly.
"Mmmuoo······."
Tia looked around her and immediately burst into a tearful face.
Mommy wasn't there.
No matter how hard she looked, she was nowhere to be found.
It was a common occurrence.
Mommy was always busy, after all.
And yet this hollow, empty feeling never seemed to grow familiar.
"Hnngh······."
Sorrow welled up all at once.
She had no idea why.
Whatever it was, she'd long since forgotten it in her sleep.
She was just about to let the tears flow as her heart pleased when—
Creeeak······
"Mmuh?"
The door slowly opened.
A foot from outside began to slip in, then, sensing a presence within, instantly shot back out.
She could tell from the shadow cast into the room alone.
It was Mommy.
Tia shot up to run and throw herself into her arms—then froze on the spot.
What poked its head through the gap in the door was not her mother, but a strangely shaped doll.
It had a bird's beak, but with a body stretched long and thin, it was a rather odd-looking thing.
"T-Tia······."
"Mommy?"
"N-Not Mommy."
"Mmuh?"
Yulia, hiding her face behind the doll, waddled in, mimicking a penguin's gait.
Even through all of it, her face was still flushed bright red with embarrassment.
Right up until she'd bought the doll and arrived home, she had fully intended to toss it at Tia with a gruff here, I found this lying around.
But the moment she got home and heard Tia's sniffling through the door, there was simply no way she could do it.
Tia tilted her head this way and that, utterly baffled as to why her mommy was acting like this.
"H-Hello. I'm a penguin."
"······."
The little wings of the penguin doll flapped.
But when no answer came from Tia even after a long while, Yulia's face peeked out from behind the doll, then quickly ducked back into hiding.
Tia was simply bewildered, unable to make sense of the situation at all.
"Mommy has something to say. Will you listen?"
"Y-Yeah! Yeah! I'll listen!"
Only then did Tia realize that this was supposed to be the penguin speaking.
It felt like if she didn't answer, Mommy would turn right around and leave just like this—so she shouted for all she was worth.
At once, the doll lowered itself smoothly, and Yulia's face appeared.
Her cheeks were red to the very tips of her ears, and she couldn't bring herself to meet Tia's eyes at all.
Her courage still wasn't quite enough.
"S-So, Tia. There's something I need to tell you."
"Hngh······"
"H-Huh? Ahh?"
The moment their eyes met—
Tears suddenly came streaming down Tia's face.
Everything that had happened before she fell asleep came flooding back to her.
Mommy had gotten angry.
It hadn't been play-angry, or exaggerated.
She didn't know what it was about, but it must have been her fault.
That was the only conclusion Tia could come to.
And when she remembered that heart-rending voice, and the rough hands that had seized her by the collar, she simply couldn't hold back her tears.
Yet no matter how much she cried, that suffocating tightness in a corner of her chest refused to loosen.
"Mmmuoooooong!"
"······."
Yulia flung the doll aside and raced over to wrap Tia in her arms.
There was no hesitation this time. No holding back.
Tia buried her nose into that warm embrace and drank in her mother's scent.
Then she smeared tears and snot alike all over Yulia's chest.
Even so, Yulia said nothing—only held her tight and stroked her back.
That look in her eyes wasn't there anymore.
That frightening face was gone.
Mommy was still Mommy.
She didn't hate her after all.
At that relief, the tears flowed without end.
"Mommy, hnngh, you don't hate Tia, right? Right?"
"Of course not. Mommy loves you so, so much. I don't hate you. I could never hate you."
"Mmmoooooong······!"
"Mommy's sorry. I got startled and yelled at you····· and got angry······. Mommy's sorry. I'm so, so sorry."
Yulia, too, felt her chest tightening until she could hardly breathe.
Even now, far from resenting her mother, Tia was terrified of being hated by her.
That was all it was.
For a child whose mother was her entire world, having that mother turn her back was more terrifying than anything else in it.
"Here. Will you take this?"
"Achoo. Whazzat······?"
"Mr. Penguin. What do you think? Soft and squishy, right?"
"Mmuh······. Tia's?"
"Yeah. It's yours."
"······."
Tia took the doll from her mother and hugged it close.
Faintly, it seemed to smell like Mommy.
She loved it.
After squeezing the doll tight for a long while, Tia finally lifted her head again.
Yulia kept glancing at her sidelong, as if she had something more to say.
"Tia. The truth is······"
There were things she had to explain.
If she wanted to make sure Tia never hurt another person again, she had no choice but to say them.
Before she knew it, Tia's tears had stopped, and she was following the movements of Yulia's lips, absorbed in the story.
Only then did Yulia truly realize it.
That this was the first real conversation she'd ever had with Tia.
The first time she had ever truly looked her daughter in the eye.
The moment the thought struck her—she really is a person, her own person—something in her chest came unstuck, and the words she hadn't known how to begin began spilling out, one after another.
Click, click.
The sound of dress shoes echoed down the dark alley.
The footsteps of a figure wearing a porkpie hat at a careless tilt came to a sudden stop.
Something out of place squirmed in the darkness.
"Sir Hero."
"······."
Leopard immediately turned his back and began walking the other way.
The thing that had sprung from the shadows called out Sir Hero and doggedly pursued him.
A silver cross slipped out from his collar, flashing in the light.
"Sir Hero. Where are you going? Your lodgings are this way."
"I know. Just looking at your face makes my stomach churn, so I'm taking a walk before turning in."
"That's too cruel. I came because there's something I need to discuss."
"Then couldn't you have knocked on my door while I was in? Why do you always have to lurk around in the shadows like some creep?"
"I wasn't lurrrking······."
Taking in the priest's wounded expression, Leopard let out a groan of exasperation.
Apparently, after all his years of work done in the dark, the man's habits had adapted to the shadows entirely.
Leopard heaved a deep sigh.
A church-raised dagger like this one was repulsive, enough to turn his stomach—but for now, he was a comrade in arms.
Ignoring him because he was tiresome was one thing, but the man kept coming back, and these days he was pestering Leopard like some stalker.
"Shall we not depart soon, sir?"
"Why would I?"
"Why, because we must find the Saintess."
"I'm not finished with what needs doing here."
"Whatever could you mean? Is it because of that barmaid?"
"Watch your mouth—!"
Leopard's hand shot up before he could stop himself.
The grip that had clamped over the priest's mouth tightened as though it would crush his jaw—then the strength suddenly drained from it.
The corners of the priest's eyes were curved in a smile.
His mood soured instantly, and the Hero wiped his hand on his coat as he walked away.
"Guard that tongue. I'll break it."
"Sir Hero, I say this only in case you've misunderstood. That woman is not the Saintess. I've confirmed it myself."
"Confirmed? What's that supposed to mean?"
"I cut her finger, and the wound did not heal. If it's that woman you suspect, you're barking up the wrong tree."
"······."
The wound did not heal, hm.
He didn't know what kind of trick she'd used, but Yulia had apparently deceived this priest thoroughly.
Leopard gave a scornful snort, as if laughing in the priest's face.
It seemed unlikely that Yulia would ever be suspected of being the Saintess again.
"Hold on."
"Yes?"
"You cut Yulia's finger? Why?"
"T-To verify, that's all······. It was not a serious wound······."
The light draining from his eyes, Leopard's face drew steadily closer.
Cornered against the wall with nowhere to flee, the priest screwed his eyes shut.
If he answered that it had been an honest mistake, he had a feeling he was about to be beaten like a stray dog on slaughter day.
What in the world is it about that woman······
What could some lowborn barmaid possibly have, that the Hero could not let her go?
It was true she possessed a beauty that didn't belong in such a shabby tavern, and a backbone that was firm and unyielding.
But that was all the priest had sensed in her.
It was a mystery what could possibly be so special about her—special enough to capture the Hero's heart.
Perhaps, being a man from fifty years ago, his taste in women had simply drifted far from the norm.
"Prioritize the mission, Sir Hero."
"Hey, you little bastard. Are you talking back to me right now?"
"No, sir."
"I'll handle it in my own time. Understood?"
"······Understood."
The priest answered weakly, head bowed low.
The Hero had not the slightest desire to find the Saintess.
He had merely confirmed that fact yet again.
It was a strange thing.
When the request for help in the search for the Saintess had first been made, he had accepted it without hesitation.
Compared to then, the Hero seemed an entirely different man.
"Ah. Sir Hero."
"Ha······."
Just as he was moving past the priest, that voice seized him once more.
After all the warning looks he'd given, the man was actually going to press him again?
Leopard turned back around, fist clenched tight.
"They've found him, apparently. The Apprentice Priest."
"What is that supposed to mean, you bastard?"
"The apprentice priest who lived in the burned village. He vanished without a trace, and was found a considerable distance away. It is believed he knows the Saintess's face and the name she currently goes by."
"Is that so······?"
The Hero raised a hand as if to scratch his cheek, casually shielding his mouth.
A man who knew the Saintess's face.
Before strange rumors could catch fire, that mouth would have to be shut.
The thought came to him in a flash, and Leopard bit down on his lip.
"Where is that bastard right now?"
The corners of Leopard's eyes twisted for an instant.
And the priest, missing not a breath of that moment, caught it.
"I shall escort you there myself······."