63 - Leo and Teo and Jinbei
Using the giant bear plush toy as a backrest, I doze off, rocking like a boat.
It's been my daily routine lately, waiting for my stomach to settle after a full breakfast. The bear plush was absurdly huge, but when I use its belly as a backrest like this, it's surprisingly comfortable for sleeping. When I think calmly, this thing is enormous. The thought of how much it must have cost makes me dizzy, so I've decided not to think about the price. Prices are different from Japan, and moreover, the way things are priced is somehow different. In Japan, imported food was cheap, but here it's expensive. Seasonal vegetables are reasonably priced, but books and clothes aren't at a price a child could save up allowance to buy like in Japan. Even sweets... Leonardo and the Black Knights keep giving them to me so easily that I almost forget how precious they are, but in Meyu Village, there wasn't even a candy shop to begin with. My sense of value, which can't help but see things through my past life's common sense, doesn't work here.
...Nice-feeling fabric, cotton that seems to have a core but is stuffed into every detail, and the sheer size to begin with... It's probably expensive. Definitely expensive.
It's such an absurdly unreasonable size that if someone told me they'd forcibly bought a display mannequin from a shop window, I'd believe them. It definitely exceeds any price I could imagine.
...Maybe I should put clothes on it to serve as sheets.
Since it's not fur, it might be possible to wash the whole thing, but if I did that, it's so huge I'd never know when the cotton inside would dry. In that case, it'd be better to put clothes on the parts I touch to serve as sheets, and just change the clothes for washing.
...Well, when I say "clothes" for this size, the fabric cost alone would be astronomical, but.
Half-asleep, I think about such things. The size that envelops and supports my entire body is the reason I like it.
...Maybe I'm a little lonely.
Before I know it, I find myself coming near this plush toy and clinging to it tightly. It's only been a few months since the life where my parents and the Daltowas would hug me and pat my head at every opportunity was lost. Leonardo, who should be the person (guardian) giving me that warmth now, is almost never at the mansion due to work, and Tabitha and the others who are stationed at the mansion know their place as servants. Even if I, their master, asked for a hug or a head pat, they'd probably refuse, saying that's not a servant's job. In that respect, this plush toy is great. As long as I come to my room, it's always sitting here. No matter how lonely I get and how much I hug it, I don't need to think about work hours or differences in position.
...Maybe I should give it a name. Calling it "bear" forever feels kind of sad.
In my past life too, I used to name my stuffed toys when I was a child. Though my naming sense was disappointing, with names of my favorite anime characters or favorite foods.
...Food names don't seem right, and I'm not at an age to name things after manga or anime characters either, am I...?
Maybe I could just call it "Leo." After all, Leonardo gave it to me.
...No no, a bear named Leo (lion) doesn't make any sense.
Besides, even I still have "-san" attached to my name for Leonardo, so if I called a plush toy "Leo," even Leonardo probably wouldn't feel too good about it. As I was thinking about whether there was a good name, I heard a voice calling me from downstairs.
"What do you need, deshu?"
I went down to the second floor where the voice came from and opened the door to Leonardo's private room. Since Leonardo had called me, I knew he was inside, but I couldn't help widening my eyes at his appearance.
...Why is Leonardo-san wearing a jinbei!?
The clothes Leonardo was wearing resembled a type of kimono I'd seen in summers in my past life. Rather than resembling, as far as I could remember, they were almost the same. As I wondered why something like that existed here, I quickly realized several possibilities.
...Hiraga Youta-san, or another reincarnator, or the mysterious country of Napaji that somehow has soy sauce and miso.
I feel like I'm getting used to unexpected encounters with things from my past life by now. That just leaves calmly extracting information about whether that thing is normal in this world and what it's called.
"...It looks cool, deshu ne."
He didn't have a belt around his waist, he was wearing shorts, and the sleeves were wide open and fastened with cords, so there was no doubt it looked cool. When I carefully searched for words to avoid a slip-up, what came out was just my honest impression.
"It's cool and recommended for summer. It's called a jinbei, a summer outfit from Napaji that Tina likes."
"Napaji... that's the country that makes oshimi (miso), right?"
The country of Napaji, which exports miso and soy sauce, seems to be safe to think of as having a Japanese-style character. I don't have any grand ideas like wanting to travel abroad, but I should probably look into what other ingredients they have in detail sometime. And it seems "jinbei" is the correct pronunciation. Whether it's straight-up Japanese or original words, they're really mixed together and it's dangerous.
"...So, Bart-san and Tabitha-san, what are they fighting about, deshu ka?"
"It's not really a fight..."
When Leonardo took out his jinbei as his summer clothes, he apparently noticed there wasn't a jinbei for me. So they decided to have one made from scratch, but Tabitha and Bart's opinions were divided on whether to make a yukata or a jinbei.
...So Napaji has yukata too, huh.
Depending on the circumstances, maybe I could move there after becoming an adult and gaining independence.
...No, if it's an Edo-period style culture, I probably couldn't live there. Let's just stick to importing seasonings.
In front of my eyes, as I thought such things, a quiet battle between Tabitha and Bart continued. Though I say battle or fight, it was a sales competition about the recommended points of yukata and jinbei that each of them was pushing. Truly peaceful.
...Eventually, Leonardo-san will get annoyed and solve it by saying "both" or something.
I was half-listening as if it wasn't my concern, but suddenly the decision-making authority was dumped on me.
"Tina, which do you prefer, yukata or jinbei?"
"Huh? I get to decide, deshu ka?"
Since I thought Leonardo would decide as usual, I was a little surprised. I've been putting up a token resistance about preferring simple clothes and not liking too much frilly fabric, but everything has been demonically modded by Leonardo under the name of "options."
...No, I'm sure no matter which I choose, it'll get demon-modded with lace all along the hem or something. I feel it.
I won't be deceived. I've learned my lesson properly.
"Tina-sama, let's go with jinbei. It's quite charming."
"For a girl, yukata is the way to go, young lady. The sash goes like this... fluttering, and it's lovely."
Bart moved his hands flutteringly and pushed for yukata with a somewhat frustrated air. He was probably racking his brains to find words to appeal to me, who shouldn't know anything about yukata. Unlike the jinbei Leonardo was actually wearing, Bart from the yukata camp was at a slight disadvantage.
...A fluttering cute sash, could that be a heko obi?
The movement of his hands somehow seemed to be expressing a heko obi, but I wondered if there was even such a thing as a heko obi in this country.
...They say it's Napaji clothing, so maybe Napaji has heko obi.
They have soy sauce and miso, and even jinbei. They might have heko obi too.
"...Is there a rule that girls wear yukata, deshu ka?"
Since I didn't know the norms, I asked Leonardo, who had dumped the choice on me. In Japan, there was somehow a sense that jinbei was something men wore.
"I don't know about Napaji, but around here, everyone wears what they want."
...I see, there are mini-skirt maids around here, after all.
It really seems there are no rules about clothing. If there are no rules about clothing and I truly have the right to choose, then my choice is obvious.
"I want matching ones with Leonyaldo-san, deshu!"
If I can wear either, I'll freely choose the one I want to wear. In my past life, jinbei somehow had an atmosphere of being something boys wore, so even though I wanted to wear it, I couldn't.
...I was a little bit longing for it, you know. Jinbei is cute.
I chose my words carefully so that they wouldn't later say "after all, you're a girl" and switch me to a yukata. If I said I wanted the same as my guardian (Leonardo), it would be harder for them to reject the wishes of their ward (me). If I put up a preemptive defense with "matching" with Leonardo, I might also avoid demon-modding like lace peeking out densely from the hem.
"Then we'll make a jinbei for you, Tina-sama."
"Pleash do, mashu."
I thought it would become a conversation about what fabric to use, but since I'd already said I wanted it matching with Leonardo, they decided to make something similar to Leonardo's jinbei. Leonardo's jinbei has crimson accents woven into the black fabric here and there. The same color scheme as the Grenore Fortress knights.
...Whether it's his favorite colors or an occupational hazard, one of the two.
Either way, it suits him so there's no problem.
"...Oh, right. Leonyaldo-san, can I ask for a favor, deshu ka?"
As the yukata-or-jinbei matter was settled and the atmosphere was breaking up, I grabbed Leonardo's arm. Since I'm going to ask for a favor, I might as well butter him up a bit.
"What is it? If you're saying you want a yukata too, we could have two made..."
"Not for my clothes, please make Jinbei's clothes, kudashai."
"...Jinbei? Who's that?"
Leonardo tilted his head, wondering if I'd made a friend with that name, but I denied it, saying I still hadn't made any friends.
"Jinbei is the bear plushie that Leonyaldo-san gave me, deshu yo. I just decided hish name."
"Ah, that bear's... Why Jinbei? There must be better names."
"Leo is fine too, deshu yo."
Since Leonardo gave it to me, Leo would be fine too. When I explained the reasoning, Leonardo furrowed his brow as expected.
"Even I'm still 'Leonyaldo-san,' so a bear plush gets to be 'Leo'? In that case, how about 'Teo'? What do you think of 'Teo'?"
Since Leo and Teo sound similar, it would be easier to feel attached, Leonardo amended his naming suggestion. I hadn't intended to name it that seriously, but in my mind, the name "Teo" didn't match the image of that bear plush. It somehow didn't feel right.
"...Teo sounds weak, so I don't like it, deshu. If Leo is no good, then Jinbei is better, deshu."
For some reason, the sound "bei" felt strong to me. It was a reason based on nothing but vague feeling, but when I argued forcefully, Leonardo reluctantly agreed that "Jinbei" was fine. He probably thought it was better than having the plushie called "Leo" first. My criticism that Teo sounded weak also seemed to have had an effect. With a somewhat sulky expression, Leonardo shooed me out of the room, telling me to discuss what kind of clothes to make with Tabitha freely.
...Did he really want to name it Teo that badly?
Teo was Leonardo's first name suggestion. He likes the sound, but for some reason it felt weak, so it became the similarly-sounding Leo, and since Leo was too short, Leo became a nickname and it became Leonardo. Duke and Durand were also candidates. Probably, I feel strength in voiced consonant sounds (just my imagination).
I'll fix typos and errors another day...
Typos and errors, I've fixed the ones I found.