448 - A Convalescent Life Full of Incongruities
When I came to, I was in darkness. Also, in a very cramped space. I could not stand up, nor could I stretch my legs. But perhaps because it was cramped, it was strangely warm. The heat sources were my body heat and the large thing in front of my body.
...The warmth is Leonardo-san's back.
I cannot remember why I was crammed into such a narrow space, but I understood that what was in front of me was Leonardo's back. It was not sweaty, but I could faintly smell Leonardo. It is a scent that puts me at ease.
...Huh?
The warmth of Leonardo coming through my fingertips made my eyes hot. I could not tell what was around me because I was trapped in darkness, but if it were bright, the world would probably be distorted. I could feel the strength draining from my entire body at Leonardo's scent and warmth. The reason my eyes were hot was because I was crying.
Where was there any need to cry?
I thought that, but I could not stop the overflowing tears. I did not even know the reason for my tears. But when I started sobbing loudly, light streamed into the darkness. I could not see his face well against the light, but I knew the arm reaching out was Leonardo's, so I surrendered myself to him. He hugged me and said "welcome back," so I must have gone somewhere.
Because I "came back," it was "welcome back."
Understanding that by intuition alone, my strength completely gave out. I abandoned both thinking and asking Leonardo the reason, crying out with emotion, and let go of consciousness. I was not aware of it, but I must have been on edge all this time. Once my tension eased, I predictably, or rather as usual, developed a fever.
...Why was I bedridden again?
It was about a week after the Divine King Festival that the fever, apparently from exhaustion, went down and I had a little leeway to think. Each time I woke up, I looked for Leonardo, and felt relieved when I found him reading documents by my pillow or on the lounge chair outside the canopy. At night, we slept together with a huge bear plush toy as a pillow. If Hermine found out, she would definitely be angry, but Hermine should be in the capital tutoring Dietfried. Even if my brother complex worsened, no one would offer criticism.
...I, I know, okay? That brother complex is a disease I have to cure.
I knew, but I did not want to know right then. I became anxious even if I did not see him for just a little while. At least until my fever went down and I got permission to leave bed, I blocked out the voice of Hermine in my head lecturing about being a lady.
...Come to think of it? Why was Mirshe-chan so big? Even considering her growth spurt, was she not growing too much...?
I was surprised by Mirshe's grown figure right after returning from the capital, but now she was even bigger. Before, I was barely shorter than her, but now there was no comparison, Mirshe was taller. Also, her chest had started to develop to an extent that could not be explained away as my imagination.
...But I am still flat as a board!
Something seemed off about my surroundings. I could tell that much.
Leonardo's hair was long, and Rannvald was staying at the residence as if it were the most natural thing. I thought it was Kalisa who brought me back from the capital, but the one taking care of me as a maid at the residence was Salisa. I did not think they would borrow two maids from the Mandez residence at once, so maybe Kalisa went back to Mandez.
...Something was strange, was it not?
Something was fatally off. I could tell, but I felt like I was missing a crucial piece of information.
"First of all, why am I bedridden?"
"Tina-sama always gets a fever and collapses after a long journey."
Though I still had a slight fever, I had recovered enough to sit up a little, so I changed from my nightwear into comfortable loungewear and moved to my usual spot on the lounge chair. Sleeping in bed too much made me restless.
"I do not remember taking a long journey. Even when I came back from the capital, it was just a little fever, I think. ...Huh?"
I answered that I did not remember taking a long journey, but immediately felt that was wrong. I was not certain, but I felt like I had been traveling until very recently.
"...That is strange? I feel like I did just come back from a trip."
I thought I did not remember, but I had that feeling. This is seriously weird, I was tilting my head when Salisa put away the screen, indicating my changing was done. In any case, having developed a pathological brother complex, I apparently did not want to be away from Leonardo even a little. Even I thought this attachment was abnormal, but my guardians thought it was normal. They did not take it too seriously, saying something similar had happened before.
"Once Tina-sama's condition improves a little more, Leonardo-sama should explain things to you."
"That is true. I do realize something is off with me, so I will be good for a little longer."
I thanked Salisa for arranging my hair and moved to the lounge chair where Leonardo was reading work documents. I could not peek at his work documents, nor could I help, so I just sat next to him.
I held my breath so as not to disturb Leonardo, and when my snack time came, Leonardo looked up from his documents. Apparently my appetite had decreased without me noticing, so the strategy seemed to be having me eat frequent snacks to get enough nutrition since I could not increase meal portions. When I panicked about Mirshe growing bigger without me noticing and forcibly increased my meal portions, I promptly vomited in bed. Since then, my meal portions had been strictly managed by Salisa.
"...Huh?"
I felt something was off about the cocoa I drank and tilted my head. Leonardo was drinking the same thing, but he did not react particularly. So probably this cocoa was normal as is.
"What is wrong, Tina?"
"How should I put this... it does not taste like Salisa's cocoa...?"
How should I put it? I hesitated to say what I really thought, at a loss for words. If I were to put it mildly, "it does not taste like Salisa's." If I were to say what I really thought, "it tastes cheap." It had a somewhat odd taste, lacking richness or having a thin flavor.
"Today I tried brewing the 'instant cocoa' that Tina-sama brought back. Leonardo-sama mentioned that Tina-sama seemed to like it, so..."
"Instant, you say?"
I was surprised by the word "instant" coming from Salisa's mouth. It was a word I heard normally in my previous life, but hearing it from Salisa felt incongruous. And apparently Leonardo told her it was my favorite. Which meant Leonardo also knew the word "instant" normally.
"For now, I do not remember bringing it back, though...?"
Huh? I hit another incongruity, the umpteenth one in recent days. In any case, there were too many things I did not remember.
"Tina-sama packed it in this bag and brought it back, but..."
"That is a bag I do not recognize."
What Salisa brought to show me was a bag I did not recognize. It was a bag without much ornamentation, to my taste, and the color was subdued. Since I did not remember it, Leonardo must have prepared this bag. I thought it was an unusual preference for Leonardo, but the fabric quality and craftsmanship were solid. The only difference from usual was the subdued design.
"...It really is instant, is it not?"
Even though it was a bag I did not remember, since it was supposedly my bag, I looked inside without hesitation. Inside the bag were two jars of instant cocoa and one jar of instant coffee.
"Cocoa is not the only thing, there is coffee too...?"
I wondered when I got these, but pulled out the cocoa and coffee jars from the bag. After confirming the bag's interior was empty, I checked the pocket on the side.
"...A lid?"
In the not-very-thick pocket on the side of the bag, there was a lid identical to the instant cocoa jar's. Wondering why I would put a lid in the pocket, I pulled it out, and a strange sound escaped my lips.
"Fwuh!?"
What slipped out of the thin pocket without any resistance was a jar identical to the instant cocoa jar I had taken out earlier. A cylindrical jar filled to the brim with dark brown powder.
"Why? That is impossible, what is this bag? What is this? Putting a jar in this pocket is absolutely impossible!"
The shock was so great that I forgot my ladylike education and raised my voice. Unable to believe what had just happened before my eyes, I placed the jar I had taken from the pocket into Leonardo's hand.
"...Ah, so it comes out when Tina does it."
"Huh!? You mean, Leonardo Big Brother, you knew this bag was strange?"
"I would not say I knew, but I saw a spirit busily stuffing jars into that pocket."
"When I tried to take them out, there was nothing inside, though?" Leonardo said it, and I realized the bag was what he wanted, so I placed the bag back in Leonardo's hand. In a fluid motion, Leonardo looked into the pocket that had just demonstrated its abnormal storage capacity, and I found myself looking too.
"...Huh? There is a lid again."
"Yeah. The spirits were not stuffing just one jar, after all."
Leonardo said there were probably still more inside, so I tried taking out the lid again. As far as I was concerned, I was just taking out a lid, but what came out of the pocket was a jar filled to the brim.
Wondering just how many jars were inside in total, I kept taking them out until lids no longer appeared in the pocket. The final count was seven jars of cocoa and three jars of coffee. No matter how I thought about it, that amount could not fit in the bag by volume, and the weight was also strange. The empty bag only weighed as much as fabric, but where had the weight of all ten jars that should have been inside gone?
...Huh? Leonardo-san, did you just say "the spirits were stuffing them"?
If spirits, those mysterious beings, packed them, then maybe something like this could happen. I could almost think that, but if it was the spirits' doing, then a different question arose.
"Leonardo Big Brother, did you meet a spirit?"
"It is not that I met a spirit... more like, the one who made that bag was a spirit."
He seemed to intend to tell me the details once I was a bit more energetic. By then, Prince Alfred should also be back from Mail Fortress, he added, and I tilted my head for what might have been the umpteenth time.
...Why would Alfred-sama, who should be in the capital, "come back" to the city of Grenore?
I was curious, but Leonardo said he would tell me eventually. For now, I should not try to pry it out of him, and getting my health in order should come first.
...But still, I wondered where Leonardo got a spirit bag like that.
It feels a bit short, but it was a good stopping point. Tina has returned to normal operations enough to wonder about various things.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.