66 - Remembrance Festival 1
After talking it all out with Alf, I felt much lighter. I had been reporting several suspicious points about Kaya to Leonardo, but I felt like he had been vaguely brushing them off, so this was a real relief. Though I was relieved, I was also a little mad at Leonardo. Even though I was seriously reporting things, he wouldn't properly engage with me.
...Heh heh heh, that Leonardo-san. A new morning. A morning of despair.
I hopped energetically out of bed and threw open the curtains. The attic room's window was a small bay window, and the curtain was narrow too. So even a child like me could open it easily.
When I opened the window and stuck my head out, I could tell it was a little past dawn. I had been planning to wake up earlier than usual today, so it was just as intended.
...First, let me go ask if Leonardo-san came home last night.
If Leonardo hadn't come home, then my precious early rising would have been for nothing. I had to confirm quickly, and depending on the situation, I might have to go back to sleep.
I tossed my nightclothes onto the bed and changed into secondhand summer clothes. Since I was planning to cause a bit of a ruckus today, I didn't want to wear the pretty, expensive clothes Leonardo had bought me. After roughly combing my hair with my fingers, I dashed out of the room and ran down the stairs all the way to the first floor. I deliberately made my footsteps loud today.
"Good mor-ning!"
When I burst into the kitchen, Tabitha was preparing breakfast. She was still at the stage of cutting vegetables, so I really had woken up early today. I looked around the room, but I didn't see Bart anywhere. Maybe he had gone out to get the bread that the baker was supposedly delivering. Since I had gone to the trouble of waking up early, it might have been fun to see the face of the baker I'd only heard rumors about, but first I had to take care of the business that had brought me to the kitchen.
"Good morning, Tina-sama. You're quite early today... what happened to your hair? Please wait a moment. I'll fix your hair right away..."
"It's okay late-err. More 'portant, did Leonyaldo-san come home yester-day?"
"Leonardo-sama did return, in the early morning..."
"Early mor-ning, yes? Then I'll go wake him!"
I spun around and tried to go back the way I came. When I did, Tabitha hurried after me, slipped her hands under my arms, and lifted me up. My feet, which had been stepping forward so energetically, kicked at empty air in vain.
"He only returned in the early morning, so please let him sleep."
"Then it's all the more rea-son, there's satis-faction in waking him."
If he had gone to bed in the early morning, then at this time just past dawn, he might have gotten a little sleep or just barely fallen asleep. For all I knew, the sound of my footsteps running down the stairs might have already disturbed his light sleep.
"Leonardo-sama was working until late, so let's let him rest peacefully."
"Muuu..."
No matter how much I pretended to be an adorable little girl, Tabitha's master was Leonardo. When it came to protecting Leonardo's peaceful sleep, my wishes came second. It was only natural, but it stung a little.
"...Fine. Until break-fast time, I'll go sleep with Leonyaldo-san."
Instead of going to wake Leonardo, I'd go to sleep with him. Just by changing the words, the fact that I was barging into Leonardo's room didn't change at all. When I looked up at Tabitha as if to say "how about that," I couldn't tell what thoughts were going through her head, but she set me down on the floor with a wry smile.
"You'll go into the room quietly and just sleep together, okay? Can you promise me that?"
Tabitha pressed me, and instead of answering, I covered my mouth with both hands. It was a childlike gesture expressing "I won't talk" and "I'll be quiet," but on the inside, I felt reluctant to lie, so it was more like "I'm deliberately not answering." But I knew that if I said my true feelings, she'd stop me, so I whispered "I'm going" in a small voice.
...Yeah, I'm being coy!
Even I thought it was a bit much, this little-girl act, but Tabitha seemed satisfied, so I decided not to worry about it. I was about to play a prank on Leonardo, after all. A little acting was all part of the prank.
To avoid being stopped by Tabitha, I moved quietly to the second floor. As I headed toward Leonardo's bedroom, my heart fluttered with excitement about the prank I was about to pull. Even I could tell I was unusually giddy.
"Leonyaldo-san, are you awake?"
Just to be safe, I gave a small knock and called out. I'd have been in trouble if he answered, but there was no reply from inside.
"Are you asleep?"
I opened the door just a crack and peeked inside. The bedroom, with its thick curtains drawn, was dim.
"Leo-san, Leo-san. You're asleep, right?"
Was I that excited? A form of address I would never normally use slipped out naturally. I could sense Leonardo stirring in bed, but I couldn't tell if he was awake or being forcibly dragged toward consciousness. When I closed the door and approached the bed, I heard a faint reply.
"...I'm, awake..."
"Just so you know, if you weren't asleep, I'll cry."
"...I'm asleep. I'm still asleep, you know."
Leonardo, who should have just woken up, seemed surprisingly clear-headed. On top of his proper reply, he even had the leeway to mimic my lisping speech and fire back. There was no doubt he was completely awake. He even started snoring, a deliberate "z z z."
"Good mor-NING!!"
"Whoa!?"
I leaped energetically onto the big bed. Of course, since it would be dangerous to land on his body, I aimed for the spot next to Leonardo. Even with a toddler's weight, when you jump onto a bed with that much force, the bed shakes violently. As I waited for the bed to stop wobbling, Leonardo's two arms reached out from under the covers and caught me.
"Wahh!?"
"Hey there! You little prankster!"
He pulled me close and we lay down together on the bed. The firm grip on my shoulders and waist was probably to keep me from jumping around again.
"Beds aren't for jumping and bouncing on."
"Yeees. I'm sor-ry."
The content was technically a scolding, but it wasn't scary at all. Leonardo probably had thoughts about me suddenly pulling such a bold stunt too. Since I had done the prank knowing I'd get scolded, rather than feeling remorseful, I was having too much fun.
"...You're in an awfully good mood today? Jumping on me first thing in the morning."
"Huh? 'Cause today's the day to play pranks and say sorry, right? The twenty-eighth day of mid-summer month."
The calendar in this world had spring, summer, autumn, and winter each being three months, totaling twelve months, just like Earth. The length of a month was twenty-eight to thirty-one days, and there were three hundred and sixty-five days in a year, also like Earth. In other words, mid-summer month would be July in Japan. My birthday was in early summer, so in Japanese terms, I was born in June, or in this world's terms, the month before summer. By the way, Leonardo's birthday was apparently in the month after spring, when the quarantine zone was busiest, and he had turned twenty-two without me even knowing.
"...It's certainly the twenty-eighth of mid-summer month today... but it's not exactly a day for pranks, you know?"
"Huh?"
...What the--!?
With me still on his stomach, Leonardo stifled a yawn. I had attacked him while he was sleeping because I thought it was a day for pranks, but if it wasn't, then attacking him after a night shift was way too sorry-inducing. I should withdraw quickly and let him go back to sleep.
"...In Meiyu Village, was it a day for pranks?"
"Yesh. It was a day for little pranks and saying shorry."
When I tilted my head, wondering if it was different in the city, he patted my head as if trying to lull me to sleep. He had handled being attacked right after waking up pretty quickly, but I supposed he was still sleepy.
"I think the whole concept of deliberately creating a situation where you apologize through pranks is strange in the first place..."
"So it wasn't a prank day. I'm disap-pointed."
"Disappointed?"
In Meiyu Village, it was a day when children played small pranks and then apologized for them. But in Meiyu Village, my family had been treated as outcasts, so I'd hardly ever had anyone to prank. It was also hard to pull pranks on my parents or the Daltowas who took care of me. This year, since I had a young, healthy guardian (Leonardo) as my target, I'd been looking forward to playing pranks, but apparently in the city, it wasn't a prank day. Understanding that the customs were different, I apologized from on top of Leonardo's stomach. If there was no custom of pranking, then what I'd done was really just disturbing his sleep.
"...You'll learn this when you go to the Menneschmi Church from autumn, but it's not a day for playing pranks and apologizing. The twenty-eighth of mid-summer month is the Remembrance Festival. The name has changed now, but in the old days, it was also called the Repentance Festival or the Reform Festival."
The oldest name was apparently the Shame Festival. Just from the sound of it, it couldn't have been a pleasant origin. According to Leonardo's brief explanation, long ago, a certain human angered a god, and many lives were lost. The people reflected on this, swore to the god not to repeat the same mistake, and left the event as a festival so they wouldn't forget their own sins.
"How terrible, Leonyaldo-san. It's been completely forgotten in Meiyu Village."
At the very least, until Leonardo corrected me today, I had thought it was a day for pranks and apologies.
"Even if it's terrible, that Meiyu Village is already..."
His voice, mixed with a yawn, trailed off. He seemed to have belatedly realized what his inadvertently spoken words meant. His eyes had looked like they were about to fall asleep at any moment, but now they began to shift uncomfortably.
"...Maybe the part about pranks angering the god was the tradition, and the apologizing was the part about repentance. Or perhaps it was the result of the legend being broken down for children."
Now then, Tina, he said, pausing his words, and finally loosened his grip. The hand that had been stroking my hair slipped under my arms and sat me up on the bed. Leonardo also sat up, and the blanket slid from his shoulders.
"If I take a nap, I'll take you to the city festival, so let me sleep a little more."
"I under-shstand. I'm shorry for confusing it with prank day and barging in on you."
"...It's fine, as long as you've learned your lesson."
By the way, Leonardo-san, I said to Leonardo, who was trying to lower me from the bed now that I'd apologized. There was one thing I absolutely had to ask.
"Why are you naked?"
"Because it's hot, what about it?"
He replied with a completely straight face, as if to say, "Is there something confusing about that?" I hadn't noticed until he sat up, but under the blanket, Leonardo was naked. And, frankly, I could see quite a lot.
...Come to think of it, I feel like I saw on some TV show that Japanese hotels copied foreign hotels, and the reason the sheets are big is because they assume you sleep naked?
I felt like there were other trivia facts about hotel beds too, but that didn't matter right now. This wasn't the time to be recalling TV trivia from who knows when.
"...And what about, uh, the bottom?"
"Want to check?"
Leonardo flashed a suggestive smile at the little girl. I figured that Kaya probably wanted to see this kind of face from Leonardo, but honestly, showing that kind of sex appeal to me, a little girl, was just troublesome.
"...I could check, but if you're not wearing anything, you'll be receiv-ing a new shoe ble-ssing."
When I asked cutely if he was okay with that, he silently lowered me from the bed. It seemed he really wasn't wearing anything below either.
I went back to the kitchen, helped Tabitha, ate breakfast, and then had free time. I had planned to spend the whole day playing small pranks, but it seemed the city and village had different customs, so it was all up in the air.
...I was thinking about spicy pancakes, or a repeat of the nightmare miso stew...
I had various ideas, but since I couldn't play pranks anymore, I was bored. Leonardo said he'd take me to the city after he took a nap, so I should probably hold off on running around the mansion in the name of building stamina and tiring myself out. That meant there was really nothing I could do. I decided to go up to my room and hole up until my full stomach settled, but then I had a thought and stopped on the second floor. Leonardo said he'd take me to the city. If I slept with him, I'd know right away when he woke up.
...A rational decision that doesn't waste time, that's what this is.
I gave a second small knock and opened the door to Leonardo's bedroom. The room, with its thick curtains still drawn, was dim. The nightclothes that had been neatly folded in the corner of the bed earlier were now partially crumpled. It seemed he had put something on below at least.
"Leo-san, Leo-san, can I shleep with you too?"
I called out, but didn't wait for an answer. With a "heave-ho," I lifted one leg onto the bed. There was no reply, but Leonardo's arm lifted up. It was in just the right position for a pillow. I let out a big yawn and lay down beside him, using his arm as a pillow. Between the early rising and the full stomach, drowsiness was already creeping in.
...This eat-and-sleep lifestyle has its limits...
I thought so, but I told myself it was just for today, and decided to surrender to the drowsiness.
New shoe blessing = meaning I'll kick your crotch with shoes reinforced at the toes. Depending on the stance, maybe "I'll stomp you flat" instead.
I'll fix typos and missing characters later.
Typos and missing characters I found have been corrected. I'll be taking the 27th update off.