And as they move in tandem, their movements mirror each other as they turn this way…
Nozomi & Mikage: —Best regards to the Master.
As if melting into the darkness, they suddenly erase themselves from the room.
Kei: Phew……
After having a bad dream, this aftermath makes it all the worse.
Although I imagine it hasn’t been that long in actuality, I finally feel able to quiet my beating heart.
Kei: They finally went away……
Yumei: …………
Kei: Yumei-san?
Yumei: ……Yes, it looks like we made it, somehow.
And yet, her expression looks hardly relieved.
Although I think it could be a reflection of the swarming pale blue butterflies around her, you can’t call that facial coloring healthy in the least.
Kei: Yumei-san…… are you okay?
Yumei: Yes, I’m all right.
Saying thus, she gives her arm a wave, diffusing the light, as the room regains its natural darkness.
Her complexion looks normal after all…… I guess?
Yumei: As for you, Kei-chan, your eyes are bloodshot, you know…
Kei: Eh……?
Yumei: I’m sorry. If only I had taken form a little earlier…
Combing her fingers through the thoroughly frayed strands, she arranges my hair as she speaks.
Kei: Ah……
Come to think of it, mom often combed it like this, too, didn’t she…
As my anxiety relaxes and melts into the sensation of those relaxing fingers, the tears I held back begin to pour out.
Kei: Hic……
Ever since that happened with mom, it’s been difficult to keep my tear ducts under control.
Kei: Uuu… where’s my handkerchief…?
I always have it with me, normally, but unfortunately, at the moment, I’m wrapped up in the sleeping yukata.
Before I find it in my luggage, Yumei-san is quicker to find the room-equipped tissue box.
Yumei: Here, Kei-chan.
Kei: T-thank you very muff—
After the tears are thoroughly seeped into the tissue given me, I take one more.
Kei: *pupi~~~*!
After blowing my nose, I feel refreshed! …Ah.
Yumei: …………
Those quiet eyes are gazing at me.
Kei: Umm……
Yumei: What is it?
Kei: Umm, well… being watched while I blow my nose is kind of… really embarrassing……
I can feel the heat of my red face up to my eyes as I appeal to her.
Yumei: Fufu—
And then, for the first time since I saw her yesterday, she shows a fully natural, normal smile on her face.
Ah—
Yumei: I’m sorry. I suppose you aren’t a child anymore, Kei-chan.
Kei: ———-
Yumei: ……Kei-chan, what’s the matter?
She asks my dazed face, as it blanks out after nearly remembering… something… for only a moment.
Kei: No, it’s nothing.
Kei: Before that, Yumei-san, are you really all right?
Yumei: Thank you for worrying. I’m fine.
The moment she says that, her smile goes transparent…
—wait, what!?
Kei: Just now, you flickered like you were about to disappear, you know!? You don’t look “fine” at all!
Yumei: I’m perfectly fine, Kei-chan.
Yumei: The power I need to maintain my material form like this is simply depleting. That’s all…
Kei: But that isn’t “all right” at—
So even if she doesn’t use any special power, she’ll exhaust her energy just by maintaining this shape, and in the end, she’ll just disappear… is that what she’s saying?
……But, that’s just…
Yumei: Kei-chan, please, don’t make that face.
Kei: But!
Yumei: This form is only temporary. Even if I become unable to maintain it, that doesn’t mean that I’ve died.
Yumei: When a wind-up clock exhausts its energy, it doesn’t keep time until you wind it again, right?
Yumei: But, that doesn’t mean that it’s broken. This is the same thing.
Her gentle face tells me that she’s speaking the truth. But still…
Kei: But! In that case, Yumei-san, don’t just sit there! Hurry up and go back to the shape that’s easiest for you!
I fret, and I fret.
Kei: Just standing there and smiling like that is really hard for you, right!? It’s a waste of your power, right!? You’re using it for something trivial, right!?
In my flurry of questions, I lapse into tongue-twisters.
And in the direct antithesis of my fretfulness…
Yumei: That’s where you’re wrong, Kei-chan.
Yumei: It isn’t trivial, and it isn’t a waste, either. It’s true that it’s a little hard for me, but I’m doing this because I want to.
…she shakes her head liberally from side to side.
Yumei: It’s because I have shape…
Yumei: …that I can touch you like this.
Yumei-san’s outstretched hand brushes past my cheek… and combs into my hair.
Kei: Ah……
Yumei: Right?
Kei: Yeah……
Yumei: It must have been hard to grow it this long.
Kei: Mom always said, “grow it, grow it”…
Yumei: I see. It really looks good on you.
Kei: Ahaha… I wish it did…
Yumei: Though, when it’s this long, I suppose this comb isn’t quite enough, is it?
Taking that comb that she had somehow produced from nowhere in her hands, she stares at it in disappointment and blows at it softly.
From the edges where her breath touches, the comb changes to grains of light, and *sara sara* (the sound of sand grains pouring) collapses its shape.
Yumei: Kei-chan, would you lend me yours?
Kei: Ah, yeah, just wait a bit.
I use my brush frequently, so I have it stowed in an easily accessible part of my luggage.
But, regardless…
If Yumei-san can materialize a comb, but can’t a brush, could that mean…? Since she wears Japanese-style clothing, does that mean she can only materialize Japanese-style things?
Yumei: It’s hard to do it while you stand, so once you find it, have a seat over here, okay?
Kei: Oka~y.
Ahh, I’m such an idiot. I shouldn’t even need to think to realize this…
If she can create a temporary human form, a single comb would be a piece of cake. And a brush couldn’t be much different.
But power is needed to maintain that shape, and even if only for a moment, Yumei-san’s remaining power is growing short enough to make her existence lose definition.
And there’s no reason she’d want to waste that on a little brush.
Although I don’t know why she’d go that far to stay with me…
…and I don’t know why she’d go that far to save me…
…what could I possibly do to repay this girl?
Being nothing more than a mere human, what can I do for this non-human Yumei-san?
Not human… ahh, that’s right!
She doesn’t scare me, so I forgot all about it, but Yumei-san is the same type of existence as Nozomi-chan and Mikage-chan, right?
…………
……In that case…
| 血を飲んでもらう | 。。。。 |
| I’ll have her drink my blood. | ………… |