114 - Side Story: Leonardo's Perspective - My Little Sister 6
Even after finishing her bath and getting cleaned up, Tina was still acting strange. She would not listen when I told her her hair was still wet, and demanded to be carried.
...Tina has never been this clingy before. No, I still do not know if this is really Tina.
No matter how I look at her, she looks exactly like Tina. But everything she does is not Tina. Normally Tina is obedient, does not cling to me all that much, and calls me "Leonyaldo-san" in her lispy baby talk. Even when she is excited, it is "Leo-san."
But the current Tina is different.
She does not listen, and she clings to me constantly. She is humming happily while being carried around, but there is none of her usual stumbling uncertainty in her singing voice. She is humming a song I have never heard in a clear voice, and she calls me "Leo" without any shyness at all.
...No, I do not mind her calling me Leo. It shows she trusts me even more than when she calls me Leonyaldo-san.
But she is so different from the Tina I know that it feels off. She looks exactly like Tina, but the contents are like a completely different person.
...Rather than a different person, maybe it is more like she has become a child-like child.
I stared intently at Tina's face, determined not to miss even the smallest inconsistency. When our eyes met, Tina pressed herself against me with a meltingly sweet look.
...She is cute, but something is wrong. She is not Tina.
Is this how a husband feels when his wife finds out about his affair? She looks exactly like Tina, but a little girl I cannot believe is Tina is clinging to me, and every time I think she is cute, I am eaten by guilt.
...I want to see the real Tina.
I thought that sincerely. It has been less than ten days since I left Grenore, and I already miss my little sister too much.
...Well then, what should I do about this?
When I sat down on the sofa in the living room where a fire had been lit in the fireplace, warming the room, Tina immediately climbed onto my lap. She sometimes came to sit on my lap on her own, but normally she sits next to me. I am the only one who knows the normal Tina, so I am the only one confused by this Tina who feels so strange. Kalisa and the others, Salisa quickly brought baked sweets from the kitchen for Tina, and Alisa went to warm up the children's room on the third floor, everyone is in a welcoming mood. I cannot exactly move her somewhere else now and say she cannot be Tina.
"...Contact the fortress. Check if there is a black-haired, blue-eyed little girl lost in the city."
"Already done."
As expected of a capable butler who has served the residence for many years. He was calm, the complete opposite of the other three who were flustered by the sudden visit of a little girl.
"I am not lost, you know?"
"That is what all lost children say."
Tina puffed out her cheeks and glared at me. It was not scary at all, but dealing with a sulking child is troublesome, so I pushed one of the baked sweets Salisa had brought into her mouth. She frowned at first, but her expression immediately changed as she bit into the baked sweet. She must have liked the taste, because she got off my lap and sat down in front of the plate piled with baked sweets.
"Tina, do not sit directly on the floor. That is bad manners."
"It is not the floor. It is a fluffy carpet."
I was just warning her not to sit on the floor, but Tina was not listening to me at all. With no choice, I put my hands under her arms to lift her up, and Kalisa slipped a cushion under Tina's bottom.
...Ah, that was a mistake.
Tina, now sitting on the cushion, brightened up and looked back and forth between me and Kalisa. It seemed she liked this full-service treatment. She took the cushion out from under her bottom, handed it to Kalisa, and started asking her to do it again.
...In the end, I gave in and played along. I am too soft on Tina.
While entertaining Tina by lifting her up and putting her down a few times, I thought about how to handle this little girl who looks exactly like Tina. If she is lost, I need to return her to her parents, and if Tina who should be in Grenore really did come to Mandez, I need to send a messenger to confirm with Grenore while also preparing for her stay at the residence. When I consulted Iridal about how to handle this, he said there was no need to worry about clothes or a room, he had already prepared for Tina to stay, since children can always suddenly change their minds and insist on accompanying you.
...So the clothes Tina is wearing now were prepared for Tina.
Apparently Talmo had told him Tina's height and age when he visited Grenore in the summer. A capable butler to this extent is a little frightening.
While playing with the cushion, Tina had gotten quite comfortable with Kalisa. She was already familiar enough to pick up her favorite baked sweet and bring it to Kalisa's mouth, saying "Here you go."
"Tina, come here."
"Huh?"
Tina seemed calm, so I called to her, but she just tilted her head with a puzzled expression. Normally she would say "Yes, reshu!" and run over without hesitation.
...Something is still wrong.
My reason denies that this is Tina, but everything except my reason feels that this little girl is Tina. I cannot think of her as anyone but Tina.
Since Tina did not move, still tilting her head, I approached and picked her up. When I sat down on the sofa and placed her on my lap, Tina smiled cutely.
...I see. That pause was her way of saying "If you need me, you should come carry me yourself."
It seems I have fallen right into Tina's scheme. If she planned this, she will grow up to be a frighteningly cunning woman.
"By the way, why are you here... in Mandez?"
"Come to think of it? Why are you here, Leo?"
I tried to ask about her situation first, but she threw the question back at me. Tina, sitting properly on my lap, blinked her blue eyes in confusion.
"I am in Mandez because of work. I came from Grenore to hold the rites for the War God Herkeles at Mandez Fortress."
"I know. Nine days ago, Leo went out for work."
"Nine days..."
The math checks out. It has been nine days since I left Grenore.
"Because Leo said a horse is faster than a carriage, he stayed in Grenore city until the last minute. Alf-san was exasperated."
She answered cheerfully, but then Tina suddenly stopped swinging her legs happily.
"Leo, what about work? Are you done already?"
Seeing Tina's genuinely puzzled face, I realized something was off, regardless of whether this little girl was Tina or not. Something was catastrophically misaligned.
"Tina, do you know where this is?"
"Leo's house."
"Well, I mean, it is my house, but..."
Iridal and Kalisa should not be at what Tina calls "my house." Does she have no questions about that?
"This is my residence in the city of Mandez. Kalisa is not at the Grenore residence, is she?"
When I pointed that out, Tina's blue eyes went wide as she looked around. Without even looking closely, the decorations and everything else are different between the Grenore residence and the Mandez residence.
"...So it is not that Leo came home, but that I am in Mandez? Huh? Why?"
That is what I was trying to ask. At any rate, it seemed she finally connected what I was asking about. After tilting her head repeatedly, she pressed herself against me, distancing herself from Kalisa whom she had been getting friendly with.
"I came back to the residence after receiving a report that Tina had suddenly appeared. As for me, I am surprised that Tina is really at the Mandez residence."
"You did not secretly pack me in your luggage, Leo...?"
"I did not do anything that stupid. Even if I had, I would have noticed before we got to Mandez."
"That is true," she said, and started tilting her head again. It seemed she really had not understood her own situation.
"I found this in the fireplace."
Iridal brought over a plate covered in soot, completely blackened, from the side. On the plate was a yellow object also covered in soot.
"Ah, the Three Crows Tavern's candied sweet potatoes!"
"Candied sweet potatoes? What is that?"
"It is a Divine King Festival limited menu item at the Three Crows Tavern. Candied sweet potatoes... wait, no, it was sweet potato in sweet sauce? Something like that?"
Tina took the soot-covered plate and looked inside. Seeing the soot-covered contents, she muttered regretfully that they could not be eaten anymore.
"I bought them at the night festival with Hermine-sensei. With the black cat wallet Leo bought me."
"Huh? Where is the wallet?" Tina started feeling around her neck. If she was wearing it around her neck as usual, Alisa probably already collected it and put it in the laundry basket by now.
...But the Three Crows Tavern and Hermine-sensei. No matter how I think about it, it is Tina.
It seemed I did not need to force myself to think she was a different little girl who just looked like Tina. But that raised a different problem. If it is true that she bought sweet potato in sweet sauce at the Three Crows Tavern with Ms. Hartmann at the night festival, that means she traveled a distance that normally takes six days on horseback through winter snow roads in just one day. And considering she has no companions, that would mean she traveled it on a child's legs.
...Impossible.
I think that, but Tina is right here in front of me. It does not add up logically, but the result is here.
"Tina, can you tell me about going to the night festival with Ms. Hartmann?"
"Sure."
Tina's story was nothing special if you did not think about the distance. She wore a coat with cat ears, went to the night festival with Ms. Hartmann, looked at the square, and went to the Three Crows Tavern. There she bought the Divine King Festival limited menu item called sweet potato in sweet sauce and tried it immediately at the eaves of the shop. But her memory after that seemed hazy.
...She tried to chase after me, mistook someone else for me, and when she tried to go home, she ended up in the fireplace?
Should I be happy that when she tried to go home, she came to me instead of a physical building? It seems Tina recognizes me, her family, as home rather than the residence as a structure.
By the time Tina finished her story, Iridal had prepared black-furred cat ears. I could not really understand any of it, but it seemed Iridal could. He said Tina was probably taken by spirits.
I know the superstition that children get taken by spirits during the Divine King Festival. Still, I never thought something like being actually taken by spirits could really happen. I had always laughed it off as a fairy tale or superstition, made-up stories.
...But if it is the work of spirits, it does explain Tina's unnatural movement, I suppose.
Even with Tina right here as a result, it is hard to believe.
Tina, now wearing the cat ears Iridal had brought, got off my lap. She spun around on the spot, and the hem of her skirt flared out. When did he prepare it? She even had a black tail attached around her waist. A perfect little black cat. Tina mimicked a cat's "meow" and it was so adorable that my cheeks relaxed involuntarily. My heart warmed as Tina started dancing some strange dance with Kalisa, but there was an urgent matter I could not forget.
"Iridal. Borrow someone from the fortress who is good with horses."
Whether she was taken by spirits and came to Mandez, or was kidnapped by someone, there is one thing I can say for certain. By now, Tina's disappearance must be causing a huge commotion in Grenore city.
Tina's strange behavior calmed down after about three days. When she woke up in the morning, her first words were "Where is Kokumaro?" and she jumped out of bed, running downstairs. After looking around for the puppy for a while, Tina seemed to snap back to normal. Embarrassed by her days of being spoiled and willful, she pulled the blanket over her head and did not come out of bed that day.
Her way of calling me "Leo" stayed the same, but she stopped following me everywhere and demanding to be carried or sit on my lap. At night, she still insisted on sleeping together. It was a fairly new experience for me, Tina crying and fussing when I said I had to go to the fortress for work. She was really like a child, and these three days were quite trying, but it also reminded me that Tina is still a child after all. That she had been too well-behaved until now. Maybe it is just that her mature obedience is gone. Or maybe being taken to the spirit world helped her regain her childish heart. I have been thinking about that.
...I did not expect most of Tina's sleep-talk to be food names.
With her lisp gone, I could understand Tina's sleep-talk clearly. But there were many names I did not recognize, so I think they are mainly things her mother made in Mey Village. If so, it would be difficult to let her eat them.
On the evening of the fifth day, a messenger arrived from Grenore. I knew what the message would be before hearing it. That Tina was missing in Grenore. I heard the expected report, but the messenger's face was not frantic. Apparently on the road, he had met the messenger I had sent from Mandez and learned that Tina was safe. That means by now, Alf and the others in Grenore should be relieved as well.
...For now, I can rest easy, I suppose.
Tina, whose clinginess has passed, seems to resist wearing animal costumes all day when it is not a festival. She has stopped adding "nya" to the end of her sentences and pretending to be a cat.
...Well, it is a good punishment for Tina.
Whether it was an accident or not, there is no telling how much worry she caused so many people. Considering that, this costume that feels like a punishment game to her might be for the best.
...Wearing animal costumes until the Spring Blossom Festival is supposed to be a charm to prevent being taken by spirits again.
No matter how much Tina resists, the current Tina has no right to refuse. Until spring comes, Tina will be living in cat ear costumes.
[Author's Note]
This probably concludes Chapter 4. Next is probably Chapter 5... I think.
I will fix typos and errors another day (though I have a few typo checks piling up). I will skip the update on the 3rd.
I have fixed any typos and errors I found.