433 - Leonardo's Perspective: Tina and the Spirits 2
I keep saying panties over and over, but please imagine something like bloomers or pumpkin pants.
When I opened the shower curtain after bathing, Tina was sitting on the toilet lid waiting for me. When she was taken by spirits to the Mandez residence, and after the kidnapping uproar in Lagarette too, Tina would not leave my side. She even stuck close during bath time. It is nothing to be surprised about at this point, but her age is finally at the point where she could marry, so maybe I really should try to correct this habit.
"It fits you perfectly, Leo."
"It is still too big for you, Tina."
Tina, who I had let shower first, was wearing an adult-sized shirt I had set out for her to change into. Since it was a men's adult shirt, it was far too big for a child like Tina to wear. The hem was maybe just the right length if you thought of it as a short dress, but even with all the buttons done up to the top, Tina's thin collarbones were still visible.
...I bet this is an irresistible sight for someone who loves her.
A beautiful girl in just one oversized men's shirt. For someone who loved her, it would be an irresistible, provocative sight.
...Well, there is nothing to be "irresistible" about when it comes to my little sister.
On Tina, who did not look her age of fifteen at all, an oversized men's shirt held zero sex appeal. It was more fitting to think of it as a child playing dress-up in her father's clothes.
"...Guess I will make some."
I did not feel any lust stirred up by my little sister, but still, the bare legs extending from the hem of the shirt and her thin neck bothered me. What bothered me most was that Tina had no undergarments. She could wear an adult shirt, but there was nothing to substitute for children's underwear. For the sake of not letting Tina catch a cold, I should go ahead and make her some clothes. The fabric and treadle sewing machine for that purpose had already been brought into the room last night.
"A sewing machine, huh... Can you really sew clothes with a tool like this?"
Camille had explained the general usage to me orally, but I could not quite accept it. He said that just by threading the needle and stepping on the pedal below, you could sew fabric. But if it were that easy, seamstresses would be out of work.
"Sewing machine, what are you making?"
"For now, probably your clothes, Tina. It is unsettling not having any underwear, right?"
"It is drafty."
"Then let us start with panties first."
I said I would make panties, but I had never made panties before. I had absolutely no idea how to make them, so I decided to just sew the prepared fabric into a tube of appropriate size. Panties are basically the same as pants, after all. As long as there is a hole for the torso and two holes for the legs, you can manage somehow.
"Leo is clumsy."
"I am not clumsy. The sewing machine just will not listen to me."
After cutting the fabric with a satisfying snip-snip sound, I immediately tried using the treadle sewing machine. I managed to understand the mechanism where stepping on the pedal moved the needle, but using it steadily was a bit difficult. I had to guide the fabric with my hands and push it toward the needle, but if I pressed the pedal too hard, the needle moved too fast, and even a slight slip of my hands made the stitches go wild. Tina was watching my failures with amusement, but the spirits were split half and half between those clapping happily and those lamenting how pitiful the fabric was.
"It is done."
"...It is scratchy."
I had sewn the fabric into a large tube, quickly stitching the leg and crotch parts with the sewing machine, then cutting the middle with scissors. If I had turned it inside out at this point, I would have had an undergarment, but Tina, who actually tried wearing it, gave it poor reviews. There were no holes for threading a drawstring either, so Tina was holding the underwear up with her hands as she wore it.
"If you tie it with a string, it will not slip down."
"It is completely different from the ones they make at the store."
Saying she could barely bend her knees either, Tina did squats on the spot. The underwear, which I had just cut to a rough size and sewn together, did not seem so bad when she was standing, but when she bent her knees, the fabric was pulled in various places, looking tight and uncomfortable. I had to admit there was room for improvement.
"...For now, I guess I will try making holes for the drawstring next time."
As I reached out for new fabric, it escaped from my hand. That cannot be, I thought, following the fleeing fabric with my eyes. A spirit I was seeing for the first time, in the shape of a sheep, was clutching the fabric and shaking its head.
—Stop it, the cloth feels sorry for it.
—Being snipped and cut, how pitiful.
—Becoming clothes that will not be worn properly, how pitiful.
"...Is my sewing really that bad?"
Apparently, my sewing was so terrible that the spirits would resort to brute force, grabbing the fabric and running away with it. Tina was still wearing it despite her complaints, but in the spirits' eyes, it was a tragic sight they could not stay silent about. If the spirits kept interfering like this, I would not be able to make a change of panties for Tina.
"Alright. Then you make them, Tina. You have made me a shirt before, so you should be able to make your own underwear, right?"
"Okay."
When I suggested Tina would be better, she nodded obediently. The spirit that had been running away with the fabric also seemed to think a change of person was fine, and hesitantly came back to return the cloth. The spirit managed to watch over Tina with trepidation only until the next moment.
I think the spirit's instincts worked well at the sight of Tina raising the scissors with a snip. Realizing in an instant that this would just repeat the same process as me, the spirit snatched the fabric from Tina and fled. Startled by the cloth suddenly falling from her hands, Tina nearly dropped the scissors, and I supported her hand. I thought I would retrieve the fabric from the sheep spirit and chase it out of the room since it was dangerous to have spirits running wild inside, but this time, from beyond the wall, an old woman spirit with silkworm wings and a female-type spirit with tree-root feet appeared. Both were undoubtedly spirits, but they were clearly different beings from the ones I had seen before. Specifically, the spirits up until now had been the size of toys or dolls, but these two that had just appeared were about a size larger than me.
...Now what?
As I watched the two spirits, wondering what was about to happen, an imp tugged at the panties Tina was wearing, pointed at them with its three fingers, and appealed something to the two spirits. It seemed that there were some spirit languages I could understand and some I could not.
"Oh my! How pitiful for the cloth!"
...Ah, I could hear that.
This time, the spirit's voice was clearer than the other spirits' voices. And it seemed Tina could hear it too. She looked around for the source of the voice, unable to see it, and when she found no one there, she leaped onto my back.
"Leave it to me. I shall make it into clothes that do justice to the cloth's very existence."
"First, let us take measurements. Now, raise both arms for me."
The old woman spirit's tone was gentle, but she was pushy. She urged Tina to raise both arms, but even before she finished speaking, she lifted Tina's arms herself. After that, without giving me a moment to stop her, she measured Tina's height and arm length and conveyed them to the tree-root-footed spirit. The sheep spirit that had fled with the fabric seemed to obey this spirit. Handing the fabric to the tree-root-footed spirit with a reverent gesture, the tree-root-footed spirit spread the received fabric in midair.
"A dress would be nice too, but with her current hairstyle, pants might also suit her."
"Do you not think a nice round skirt would be lovely too?"
"We will need a hair ornament too."
"Shoes are where you absolutely cannot cut corners."
I interjected a caution to the two spirits who were happily sliding their fingers over the fabric. If they were going to make clothes for Tina, that was exactly what I wanted, but what I needed urgently was Tina's underwear. She could wear the clothes she had been wearing until morning for outerwear, so I wanted undergarments so she would not have trouble with just a shirt. At the very least, some underwear.
"Yes, yes, that is right. Fashion requires attention to undergarments as well."
"A human fifteen-year-old is at a delicate age. Perhaps slightly precocious underwear would be nice?"
"Oh, but it is not something to show to a gentleman."
"That is right, it is still too early for that."
"Oh my, I did not mean it that way."
The two spirits happily slid their fingers over the fabric, discussing this and that. When I wondered what they were doing, I saw that the fabric was being cut wherever their fingers stroked, and the cut pieces found their matching partners to be sewn together on their own, attaching to each other. Then the old woman spirit's hand reached out, placing the fabric in front of the treadle sewing machine's needle. At that, the treadle sewing machine seemed to start moving on its own and began sewing the fabric, but on closer inspection, it was different. The treadle sewing machine itself had grown arms and legs, moving itself.
...Does a spirit dwell in the treadle sewing machine too?
I had heard it was a tool Camille had made, but apparently, a spirit had taken up residence in it. Once I noticed that tool spirits seemed to exist too, I realized that the cutting scissors, needles, and thread also seemed to have some kind of spirits dwelling in them, and they had each started working on their own tasks.
...What exactly is going on here?
In my eyes, spirits of all sizes filled the room, making clothes for Tina. But to Tina, who apparently could not see the spirits, it looked as if tools and fabric were floating around on their own, and she grew frightened, refusing to come out from behind my back. As this was happening, the first outfit was completed, and flower spirits increased in number within the room along with a floral scent. The flower spirits consulted with each other in voices I could not make out, then dyed the ecru-colored fabric a bright green. It seemed the spirits could even perform dyeing work.
...Huh?
The sheep spirit skillfully used the scraps to make a flower ornament. It placed it in my palm, so I held it out in front of Tina, who was still pressing her face into my back.
"Look, Tina. The sheep spirit made a flower from the scraps."
"...Flower?"
Tina hesitantly pulled her face away from my back. She seemed scared to look up, but the area around her feet seemed fine. She blinked several times at the flower ornament held out before her, then raised her face.
"Cute! What is this, amazing. Is it cloth? That is amazing, Leo."
Tina's delighted voice echoed throughout the room, and the spirits' movements stopped completely. Unaware of that, Tina held not the flower ornament but my hand, praising the flower ornament profusely. Saying how amazing it was, how pretty.
...I see. So this is what the Divine King meant by how to handle spirits.
The Divine King had said, do not ask the spirits for favors as much as possible, and steer them into moving on their own. That was exactly what Tina had just done. Completely pleased by Tina's straightforward praise, the spirits all began making flower ornaments at once. Making clothes was fun too, but it seemed they also wanted sincere praise for themselves.
...At this rate, will Tina's underwear actually get made?
The two large spirits were absorbed in making Tina's everyday clothes, and the surrounding smaller spirits were making hair ornaments or dyeing what had been made. But no one seemed to be making underwear.
—Someone is coming!
Tina had grown accustomed to the space where spirits seemed to be present even though she could not see them, and the flower spirits were playing by scattering petals above Tina's head when an imp burst in through the door leading to the hallway. At this warning, all the spirits in the room vanished at once. The fabric and tools that had been abruptly abandoned mid-stitch were piled up on top of the treadle sewing machine. Maybe like this, it would look like I had just taken a break in the middle of working.
...No, there is no way that is the case.
Several outfits had been completed in a way that clearly was not a level of work I could have accomplished alone. The spirits, pleased by Tina's cheers, used up all the prepared fabric, and then the old woman spirit even wove new cloth from the sheep spirit's wool to continue making clothes. The amount of fabric brought into the room and the number of completed outfits sadly did not match. This was clearly an abnormal situation.
"Hey there, little sister~"
Just as I heard a knock at the door, a man's ingratiating voice rang out. Wondering if another soldier after Tina had come, I opened the door to find a man standing there holding a large plate piled high with pancakes. The man's reaction upon seeing my face was almost unchanged from this morning. His expression fell in disappointment at my face greeting him, then softened at the sight of Tina hiding behind me.
"I made too many pancakes at the cafeteria for a snack. Wanna..."
"I see. I will gladly take them off your hands."
Without letting him finish, I took just the large plate and closed the door. I had no intention of making Tina a spectacle for idle men. With the clothes she had on until this morning, maybe, but right now she was wearing just a dangerous shirt. Even if it were Alfred, this was not a state I wanted to show my little sister in.
From behind the door, I heard a roar of "You could at least let me talk to her a little bit, dammit!" but I ignored it. Pests that swarm around my little sister are targets for extermination the moment they enter my field of vision.
"Pancakes?"
"For you, Tina. From that old man just now."
The guy looked about the same age as me, but I did not want to refer to him as "that man" or "that big brother," so I planted "old man" in Tina's head. Tina did not seem to have any interest in the man who had brought the pancakes from the start. She took the large plate from me and held it up high.
"...Tina? What is wrong? It is dangerous if you drop the plate."
"Spirit-san, around here?"
Tina held the large plate in various places around the room, occasionally changing her position as if thinking "around here?" She seemed to want to share the pancakes with the spirits.
"...It seems Tina wants to thank the spirits who made the clothes. Would you accept them?"
—Sweet things?
—We like sweets.
When I spoke to the imp that had come to warn us about the man's approach, the other spirits immediately showed themselves as well. Spirits crowded around the large plate Tina was holding, each wanting their share, and Tina looked puzzled as the plate gradually grew lighter. When the last pancake was finally gone, I took the large plate from Tina's hands and let her confirm it was empty. Tina looked surprised but happy that the pancakes had truly vanished without her noticing.
Pleased by Tina's praise and the bribe of pancakes, the spirits seemed to be in good spirits, and by the time we woke up the next morning, several outfits including Tina's underwear had been completed. The hat that could make her short hair less noticeable, and the large, ornate hair ornament were especially welcome. I think I will have her wear that large round hat covering the back of her head until her hair grows out.
Doki Star Cave Life Full of Spirits There are so many spirits, it is a chaotic buzz.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.