519 - IF Toughness ~Tough Me Doesn't Pessimize~ 4
As I grew accustomed to living alone with Jasper, summer approached, and I turned nine. I was asked if I had any desire to attend the Menhishumi Church, which served a role similar to a temple school, so I told them I wanted to be able to read and write. I had been learning Japanese from Jasper at home, but I felt a certain amount of inconvenience because I could not read or write the characters of this world, so it was perfect timing.
As I attended the Menhishumi Church and became slightly able to read characters, I noticed something. The wedding rings of my parents, which I wore hanging from my neck on a string, had names engraved on the inside. Saromon Bertrand Cantal, it said.
...Long names are for nobles, right?
I tilted my head, recalling the content of the lessons I had learned at the Menhishumi Church. The law of naming for nobles consists of the person's name, the head of the family's name, and the family (or territory) name. Unlike Japan in my previous life, based on a myth of a wife who impersonated the God-King, women were considered more desirable as heirs than men. Because of this, the name following the person's own name is often a woman's name.
...Well, it seems the head of my father's house is my grandfather, though.
Hmm? I felt a snag at the name "Bertrand," but I pretended not to notice. Right now, it is about my father's name, rather than the name of a grandfather I feel like I have heard somewhere.
My father, who called himself "Saro," was apparently actually named "Saromon."
And the wooden ring, which I had assumed was my mother's, had the name "Christina" engraved on it. Most likely, this wooden ring was my own ring.
"Tina" is a nickname for "Christina."
...Alright, I'll pretend I didn't notice.
Thinking it would develop into a hassle if someone saw them, I tucked my father's ring inside my clothes. For now, treating them as I had until now should be fine. Even until today, I had kept them hidden inside my clothes, hanging from my neck.
...Or so I thought!
I think it is different from a premonition. It is only after you get curious and check that it happens.
...Theo, you idiot. I'm definitely strangling you next time we meet.
In this case, this Theo is not the Theo who is Roine's son. It is the Theo who reigned as the brat of the Menhishumi Church (past tense).
Since the brat Theo played a prank on me the very day I started attending the Menhishumi Church, I paid him back on the spot. I did it so thoroughly that when I reported it to Jasper after returning home, he went silent.
Since Theo's younger sister, Mirsche, came to apologize while crying, I scolded her as well. Theo is the one at fault, so the younger sister should not be the one apologizing. Rather, I told her that because the younger sister apologizes, the older brother has become a child who does not reflect on his actions.
Since then, for some reason, Mirsche has taken a liking to me, while Theo keeps his distance.
Perhaps realizing he cannot beat me head-on, Theo has recently taken to hitting me with a thud from behind and running away. Of course, I am not one to stay silent after being hit, so I immediately catch him and beat him back until he cries. If he gets too noisy, I will need to seriously devise a countermeasure, but for now, I recognize it as the level of a slightly violent eight-year-old's prank. Since I am returning fists with fists, I don't accumulate that much stress. However, the only thing I found slightly unacceptable was that both I and the guide Anna were being treated as problem children.
And today's attack from Theo consisted of pulling the string the rings were threaded through from behind. Whether he has evolved by not hitting me, or worsened by strangling me, is a difficult judgment to make.
Since being strangled actually posed a danger to my life, I hit him with a "rock" where I usually use "paper." After earnestly (with my fists) admonishing him on the danger of strangling someone, even Theo seemed to reflect. He apologized, looking crestfallen in a way that was different from usual. It was a long yet short battle with Theo that started since the beginning of summer, but it seems we finally understand each other's words.
...But I'll hit him. Next time we meet, I'll definitely hit him.
The string the rings were threaded through must have been damaged when Theo pulled it. It seems the string had snapped without me noticing, and I only realized the rings were gone at the moment I took off my clothes right before bed. I searched the room in a panic, but my father's ring was not found. Then, thinking it might be elsewhere, I searched the apartment hallway and the cooking area, but the ring was still not found. Then—the next morning, I searched the path from my house to the Menhishumi Church as if glaring at it, searched the path to the public bath, and searched the shopping district, but the ring was still not found.
I had heard that the Black Knights are like the police, so I asked if there was any information on lost items, and a few days later, the wooden ring was found. In other words, my father's ring with the gemstone had already been picked up by someone. And the fact that only the wooden ring was delivered to the Black Knights meant that my father's ring was intentionally not delivered.
...I'm sorry, Father.
Losing my father's ring is sad and frustrating. But I shift my feelings, thinking that there is nothing that can be done about things that are lost.
...No, I'm actually quite depressed, though.
I was depressed, but it seemed I was too depressed, and that Jasper finally gave in. He said that once in a while, I could call him my foster father. Since he offered, I repeated it over and over and got scolded. I don't understand.
There are no fireworks festivals like in Japan, but it seems there are festivals in the summer in large cities like Grenore. I had an image of it being a day in Meiyu Village where children play pranks, get scolded, and apologize as a set, but it seems it was a festival with a proper name called the Remembrance Festival. Since I completely thought it was a day for pranks, I played a proper prank on my foster father (Jasper). On Jasper's forehead while he was sleeping in bed, I used colored water made by squeezing flowers to write "papa" in Japanese.
The reason I didn't write "papa" in katakana was based on the setting Jasper gave me. I am flawless when it comes to pranks (in that regard).
At the moment Jasper noticed my all-out cute prank, he let out a scream, but he did not get angry with me. The prank I played on Jasper was an exact imitation of a prank Jasper had played on a childhood friend during his own childhood. I had heard that story before. Since it is something he himself had done, he cannot strongly scold the opponent when he becomes the one being pranked.
...And then, there is me, playing a prank while calculating that far.
The smug face I intended to keep only inside my heart probably leaked out onto my expression. Jasper, making a sour face, pinched my cheek.
Since Jasper has work at the Sedovara Church, I go around the Remembrance Festival with the children living in the same apartment. Being residents of the same apartment, our financial situations are similar. Recently, other children have also been participating in making soup, so our festival allowance comes from the soup money.
I think this is an apartment with enough space for a family to live in, but there is a duo that makes me wonder if they are a family. I occasionally see them leaving for work wearing black uniforms, so their profession is Black Knight. Two Black Knights are renting a room and living together.
I wonder if it's a room share? When I mentioned this to Roine, she said, "Aren't they normally a married couple?" Apparently, same-sex marriage is not uncommon in this country. Rather, she found it strange that I would even wonder. As expected of another world, same-sex marriage is not something specifically distinguished and called "same-sex" marriage. Whether a couple is opposite-sex or same-sex, here it is simply "marriage."
Surprised by the difference in common sense from my previous life, I reported this to Jasper, only to be corrected that those two are neither a married couple nor a duo. He said it was just that I hadn't distinguished their faces, and the Black Knights I thought were a duo are actually a trio, though I should not see the three of them together.
...I wonder why he says I "should not" see them together?
Thinking that is a strange way of putting it, I ruminated on Jasper's words while going around the festival. In the square where the main street and the central street intersect, a play hosted by the Menhishumi Church was being performed. I thought only children would watch a play, but I saw an unexpected number of adult men. What they were after became clear as the play approached its end. The woman playing the role of the Goddess of Justice, Itsurateru, was a beauty with an incredible atmosphere. That would be worth going to see with a front-row seat.
...I found a special seat over there.
I found a tent on the roof of a building located in a straight line in front of the stage. It is probably a seat for wealthy people or influential people of the city. It is the best property, allowing one to see the stage from the front and avoid the crowds.
Since special seats have nothing to do with me, after the play in the square ended, I moved to the Itsurateru Church.
In this world, where facilities named "church" actually serve the role of public facilities as they were in my previous life, the Itsurateru Church is rare in that it is a religious facility.
They believe in the Goddess of Justice, Itsurateru, pray, and offer repentance and reformation, or something like that.
...Sorry. Religion doesn't really click with me.
The reason I, who feels that way, visited the Itsurateru Church after the play was because Theo (the cute younger-brother type) wanted to go. Now, if you ask if Theo has religious faith, that is also not the case. On the day of the festival, the Itsurateru Church distributes candy to children who offer reformation and repentance. Theo's goal is that candy.
I apologized to my father toward the goddess statue for losing the ring, and received candy when leaving the Itsurateru Church. While licking the candy, I walked around peeking at the shopping district and stalls, which were more crowded than usual, and after parting with Theo and the others, I stopped by the Sedovara Church. Jasper's work is until evening, so after this, he plans to buy dinner and go home with me.
"...Since we're here. Shall we go to the square?"
"The play is already over. Is there something they do at night?"
Perhaps because I sealed away my broken speech and talked a lot with Theo and Jasper, I have recently been stumbling over my words less. Or rather, it has almost completely disappeared. I have finally joined the ranks of ordinary nine-year-olds.
...Though my physique is still about the same as Theo's.
The brat Theo is, frustratingly, a little taller than me. The cute younger-brother Theo was slightly shorter than me. Since I should be two years older than Roine's Theo, I think I am truly short.
"At the square at night, the master of the fort performs the closing ritual of the festival. After that, complimentary sake is served in the square—"
"If you want to drink alcohol, you can't take a child along, right, foster father-san?"
I intentionally call him "foster father" to make him aware that he has a child with him. When I do, Jasper makes a slightly displeased face and wrinkles the space between his eyebrows.
"If it's drinking at home, let's buy some snacks. The skewer stall is... over there!"
Drawing a distribution map in my head of the row of stalls I peeked at during the day, I pull Jasper's hand and walk. The moment I took his hand, Jasper's hand stiffened, but it was only for a moment. He did not grip my hand back, but he did not shake it off either, letting me do as I pleased.
...It's not that Jasper hates holding hands... no, that's not it.
He probably has something like a trauma. Jasper occasionally has this reaction.
Another thing I noticed is that when Roine's Theo and I are standing side by side, he often makes a strange expression. However, I can vaguely sense the reason for this. Jasper had a girl childhood friend, so he probably remembers that girl and himself.
Also, even though it was something he suggested, his cheek twitches when he is called "foster father-san." In terms of characters, he distinguishes between "biological father" and "foster father," but as a way of calling, it is the same word as "father." Rather than foster father, he probably has feelings toward fathers in general. The reaction he shows when holding hands is probably also connected to fathers.
Either way, I feel it is not something for me to stick my nose into, so I pretend not to notice. I am just a nine-year-old, so there is no need for me to stick my nose into adult circumstances (traumas).
...Huh?
Speaking of which, I notice while stopping by the stall I had my eye on during the day and buying dinner. Recently, the awareness or pride of being an adult who had reached maturity in my previous life does not show itself even for a glimpse. I have stopped feeling any incongruity even when completely joining the circle of children.
...Before I knew it, I had become "Tina."
Previously, "the me of my previous life" and "the me of this life" coexisted half and half, but now I have a consciousness of being "the me of this life." My previous life has become a feeling of just having memories of a previous life.
This is probably Jasper's influence.
I had hidden the fact that I have memories of a previous life from my parents, but far from hiding it from Jasper, he had seen through the fact that I am a reincarnated person. Having seen through it, both the me of my previous life and the me of this life were accepted as me. Thanks to that, "I" probably stabilized within me. I feel bad for Jasper, but I feel I have gone from a child with the consciousness of an adult who doesn't require much effort, to a child who is as clever as an adult and, in fact, has a worse nature.