83 - A Detour That Should Have Been Fun
The Menhishumi Church, which I had visited again after a while at Mirshe's invitation, was a truly comfortable place. With Teo truly gone, classes were never interrupted or halted. Since everyone was there to seriously learn reading and writing, you could hear whispered voices teaching each other, but there was no chatting or laughter at all. With no shouts interrupting the teacher's lectures, the lessons progressed smoothly.
...If Teo was not here, maybe Lusio's guard duty was not needed anymore.
Lusio had been assigned to restrain Teo's outrageous behavior toward me. There might be no need to have Lusio, who did not need to attend lessons, keep accompanying me. For study assistance alone, Nils was enough by himself. While confirming how far the lessons had progressed during the time the teacher could not come to the classroom, I consulted about Lusio. It seemed Nils's lessons had advanced a bit, so it looked like there was no worry about falling behind at Menhishumi Church even if I joined from now.
Once I started attending Menhishumi Church with peace of mind, I made girl friends besides Mirshe. They were closer to my age than Nils, but still clearly older girls. The other day, they had come with Mirshe all the way to the Fortress Lord's Residence looking for me. The girl with short brown hair and black eyes was Petrona, and the one with brown curly hair down to her shoulders was Elke. Since they had been looking for me together with Mirshe, I thought they were already friends, but it seemed the three of them had met after starting to attend Menhishumi Church. I thought it was a bit odd that Mirshe and those two would be acquaintances given the extent of patching on Mirshe's clothes, but it turned out to be nothing. They were not old friends or anything at all.
...So this was the kind of girl Leonardo-san wanted as my friend, I supposed.
Petrona and Elke were truly girly girls. Petrona seemed to love fashion and showed interest in my clothes. Elke was a bit precocious and seemed more interested in my older brother Leonardo than in me. The fact that neither girl was interested in me personally was exactly what I would call girl friends.
...Well, that was how girls were, right.
The only one who simply grew attached to me was Mirshe. The boys around my age were no different from Teo, and the older boys were kind to me but did not feel like friends.
Once I made friends, I naturally started getting invited to play and take detours. Since I had people accompanying me for pickup and drop-off, I could not take detours on my own will alone. So every time I was invited, I answered, "If the person picking me up says it is okay." Almost every time my wishes were respected and we would take a detour, but I wondered if a detour with a guardian could really count as a detour with friends.
The detours with children of the same age were mostly food stalls, probably because we were growing children. There were stalls selling grilled meat on skewers, or shops where you could buy individual candies.
"Mirshe-chan, let us do half-half."
"But..."
"If I get full on the detour, I will not be able to eat dinner, and the people at home will get mad at me."
Saying such made-up things, I would hand half the grilled skewer to Mirshe. Mirshe, who wore clothes full of patches, was not from a very well-off family. Naturally, she had no allowance, and when the detour involved buying food, she would just end up watching alone.
...Treating her every time would be weird too, and they said not to bring money into friendships, right.
What I came up with after racking my limited brains was this "half-half." Not treating, but half-half. Saying I might not be able to eat dinner if I ate it all, I would take the pretense of wanting help eating half, and split the skewer with Mirshe.
...And Leonardo-san. Even five copper coins was too much for a child's allowance...!
One skewer could be bought for two small coppers. By simple calculation, that meant I could buy twenty-five skewers, and if I bought one per class session, I could take detours twenty-five times total. There were no copper coins in the change from buying Leonardo's wallet, so I decided to take a large copper coin, which was worth ten copper coins. Going to Menhishumi Church once every two days, I would not take fifty detours just during autumn.
"Tina-chan, Mirshe, I found a cute sugar candy shop on the main street..."
After arithmetic class ended, Petrona came to invite me on a detour as usual. Lately I had started to understand, somehow. Inviting me for buying food rather than playing every time was an attempt to separate me from Mirshe. Mirshe, who had no allowance, could not buy food even if she came along. Besides, today's invitation was to a shop on the main street. At a shop on the main street, Mirshe would probably be refused entry just based on her clothes. This "invitation" was not meant for both of us, it was aimed at making Mirshe decline.
...They were real "girls," were they not.
They were the kind of "girls" who existed in my past life too. The type who mistook their parents' or friends' assets and titles for their own fashion, to put it plainly, I was not good with them. Our values were too different, and being with them tired me out.
That said, I would still be seeing them in class for a while, so there was no need to stir up unnecessary trouble. I am a former Japanese person who can read the room. I just had to play dumb, protect Mirshe, and decline invitations I was not keen on.
"If Bart says it is okay."
Honestly, I was getting tired of putting on a fake smile and going along with them, so I wanted to refuse. Without saying it outright, I answered in a way that put the decision in the adults' hands.
Never underestimate an adult's ability to read between the lines. Lately, Bart and Tabitha could tell what I wanted just by looking at my face. If I showed a reluctant face to Bart or Tabitha when they came to pick me up, they would refuse the invitation by saying I had some errand. If it was Bart or Tabitha picking me up, there was no problem at all.
...So why did Leonardo-san have to be the one picking me up today!?
His work must have ended just in time to pick me up. Leonardo, on his way back from work, had his bangs, which should have been slicked back with hair product, falling loose just enough to moderately hide his sharp eyebrows, making him less unapproachable than usual. He was not wearing the cloak that identified him as Commander at a glance, but he still had on his knight corps jacket. Not dressed casually like when he sometimes walked me to Menhishumi Church, but looking exactly like a knight who had come straight from the fortress on his way back to pick me up.
"Tina, I have come to pick you up."
After gently patting the head of Mirshe, who had run up to him, Leonardo smiled and said to me. While I was wondering if I should just forcefully take his hand and drag him out of the Menhishumi Church grounds, Elke and Petrona had already completed their encirclement. Especially Elke, who seemed to admire Leonardo, so there was no way she would miss this rare chance to meet him by chance. Young as they were, they were still "women."
"Hello, Leonardo-sama."
"So today's pickup is Leonardo-sama."
"What happened to the usual person."
"Your attire today is the knight corps uniform. It is lovely."
They chirped one after another, not giving Leonardo a chance to respond. Looking closely, it seemed Mirshe was being shooed away by the two, and Mirshe, who had been peeking at Leonardo from a distance, came running over to me.
"Right. We were just saying we should invite Tina-chan and go to the candy shop on the main street."
"Would Leonardo-sama like to join us?"
...They naturally left out Mirshe-chan's name!
And I had not even answered that I was going yet. Irritated on the inside, I spread both arms and approached Leonardo. The toddler killer move, a hug, or the "pick me up" pose. It was a quick way to redirect Leonardo's attention to me.
"Does Tina want to go to the candy shop with everyone?"
...I do not want to go!
I stared intently into Leonardo's black eyes, pouring my will into them, as he picked me up in a natural motion just as planned.
...Notice it, Leonardo-san! Leonardo-san with half a year of big brother experience! At least notice your little sister's true feelings!! Communicate through our eyes!
Thinking such things, I said something else with my mouth. I am a Japanese person who can read the room. I cannot say something that would ruin the atmosphere. In a sense, the Japanese nature of not being able to give a clear rejection still stubbornly remained in my Japanese soul. Trying to make Leonardo say the rejection I could not say myself... my personality was not exactly praiseworthy. I was aware of that, so I hoped he would let it slide. It was a matter of relying on my older brother (Leonardo) in times of trouble.
"Leonyaldo-san came to pick me up because you had somethin' to do, right? So detours are a no-go, right?"
...Please, just say no.
I was staring at him with eyes full of such intent, but in the end, Leonardo was Leonardo. To Leonardo, who was strangely dense and overly indulgent with me to a fault, my intent-filled gaze saying "I do not want to go on a detour with them, please refuse them" seemed to have been taken as the opposite meaning, "I want to take a detour. It is okay, right? Say yes, please, Big Brother."
"I came to pick you up because the timing worked out. If Tina wants to go, let us go to the candy shop."
...Whaaaaaaat!?
The strategy of making Leonardo say the hard-to-say refusal ended in a clean, simple failure. As I glared at Leonardo, taking my frustration out on him for thinking I should have just made up an excuse and refused from the start, Leonardo took Mirshe's hand with his free one. In Leonardo's mind, Mirshe and I were apparently already a set. Elke and the others had not mentioned her name, but it seemed he naturally assumed she would come with me.
...Plus-minus zero. It was also my fault for not refusing properly myself.
I gave a bright grin to Mirshe, who was looking up at me with a confused face. Then, remembering that Mirshe might not be allowed into the shop, I poked Leonardo's cheek.
"Leonyaldo-san, can you carry both me and Mirshe-chan together?"
"I can. Two kids are nothing, light as can be."
As soon as he said that, Leonardo lifted Mirshe up. Mirshe, now at the same eye level as me, looked back and forth between my face and Leonardo's in surprise. Elke and the others, who looked a bit displeased, were just too bad.
...That is what you get for being mean to Mirshe-chan.
At any rate, there probably was not a shop that would kick out a child being held by Leonardo in his knight corps uniform just because she was poor. With that concern dispelled for now, I decided to enjoy the detour with the girls I was not fond of today.
Leonardo's wallet paid for everyone's sweets, and today I and Mirshe each had one candy, but we ended up doing half-half anyway. If we did half-half with the candy I chose and the candy Mirshe chose, we could eat two kinds, which was a truly splendid strategy.
Today there was a magical wallet called Leonardo, so I did not hold back. Under the pretense of souvenirs for Bart and the others, I had him buy two boxes of cute sugar candies.
"Leonardo-sama, the stall at the end of this alley is also recommended!"
The place Elke pointed to as she stopped was a bit dim. The alley extending from the side of the main street was bright at the entrance, but the back had no sunlight and smelled a bit damp.
"That way is no good, Leonyaldo-san said so." "Am I right?" I confirmed with Leonardo, whose face was right next to mine since I was still being carried. The roads I was allowed to use were the main street, the northern shopping district, and the central avenue.
"I did say it was off-limits, but I am with you today, so it is fine."
Leonardo said it was dangerous to walk alone, but since he, an adult, was with us today, it would be fine. For my part, I wanted to part ways with Elke and the others already, but we ended up taking one more detour.
The stall at the end of the alley Elke led us to was a grilled chicken skewer shop. The spiced grilled chicken skewers gave me a feeling even from the smell that they would not suit me, and as I took a bite, that feeling turned into certainty.
...Ah, this is the kind I do not like.
The dish was probably called herb-grilled, but the herbs used were the type I could not handle. The smell was too strong, and the taste of the meat had been blown away somewhere.
...Aurelia-san's soup tasted like another world, but this tasted like another dimension.
If I had to put it into words, Aurelia's soup was "nothingness." It had no taste at all, but if you added seasoning, you could manage to eat it. But this grilled chicken skewer with its other-dimensional taste was, how should I put it, truly "other-dimensional." The dimension of flavor was so different that before I could even perceive whether it was tasty or not, it felt like the herb smell punched me in the nose, and I could not taste anything at all.
...But it seemed like I was the only one who could not handle this.
Leonardo was eating with a normal face, and of course Elke who had recommended it, but even Petrona who usually worried about getting her clothes dirty was eating without complaint. Mirshe was also eating happily.
"Tina, if you cannot eat it, want me to eat it for you?"
"...Please."
I had always tried to eat things even if I did not like them, but this was impossible. Gratefully accepting Leonardo's offer, I handed the skewer to Leonardo.
"So Tina does not like the smell of coral."
"Coral?"
"This leaf with the slightly serrated edges. I think it is a nice smell that stimulates the appetite..."
Leonardo pointed at the herb stuck to the surface of the meat. When I looked closely, indeed there was a leaf with serrated edges on the chicken's surface.
"I do not think this smell works for me."
"For me, it is the taste I had long ago. It is a bit nostalgic."
Whether he really liked that nostalgic taste or not, Leonardo bought three more skewers.
When we returned from the alley to the main street, the sun was beginning to tilt westward. Saying their homes were close, Petrona and Elke parted ways with us here. Just as I breathed a sigh of relief thinking I could finally relax, I saw a black dog across the street.
...A big dog. Like a police dog.
Or maybe the black, lean dog that guarded rich people's houses that I had seen in anime and manga. That was, I was pretty sure, a breed called Doberman or something.
"...Tina big sister, Leonardo big brother, thank you for the feast today."
To Mirshe, who bowed politely, I handed her a box of sugar candy as a souvenir. It would be best if it became emergency food for Mirshe, but if her family realized that attending Menhishumi Church brought even small happiness home, maybe Mirshe's treatment at home would improve a little. I hoped so.
...Well, if her mother was as Lusio said, it would probably just be taken away and that would be that.
It might go to waste, but still, I hoped it would make Mirshe's home just a little bit more livable.
As I watched Mirshe's back as she crossed the central avenue and headed north toward home, something black crossed the corner of my vision. Wondering what it was, I looked carefully and saw the black dog from earlier running north.
Mr. Leonardo, stared at intensely by his cute little sister, understood it as "Ah, she wants to go on a detour." He is not a bad guy. He is just bad at reading between the lines.
Typos and missing words will be handled another day...
I have fixed the typos and missing words I found.