A Narrow Bed And You, So Cute (5)

The bed that had always felt so cramped was, to her surprise, astonishingly wide.

Waking before dawn, Noi found herself sprawled starfish-like across it. No matter how far she stretched her arms, she bumped into no one. Far from making her happy, it made her achingly lonely.

(Was it that selfishness… no, the other selfishness… or was it that… or maybe…)

In the sleepless space of the night, Noi kept circling around what she might have done wrong.

For Noi—who was basically high in self-esteem—to dwell this much on her own faults was truly rare.

In the end, Noi pushed herself upright and stepped toward the window. The curtains Kardia always opened—today, she supposed she would be the one to draw them.

Sighing, she slipped quietly between the curtains.

Noi bumped her forehead—thunk—against the cold glass… and her eyes flew wide.

On the other side, Kardia was there too, eyes equally wide.

Noi looked behind her. Then she looked forward again and, acting on pure impulse, unlatched the window.

Hearing the clatter-clack as she worked it open, Kardia, realizing what she was doing, hastily stepped forward.

Noi flung the window open.

And then she jumped straight down from the second floor.

Kardia’s eyes bulged.

He kicked hard off the ground and slid into place to catch her.

“—That was dangerous! You, honestly?!”

“Kardia! Welcome back!”

Throwing her arms around his neck, Noi greeted him with gusto, so happy he had returned that she beamed like a dandelion in full bloom.

Perhaps the sheer cheer took the wind out of him—Kardia let out a long, weary sigh and planted both hands behind him as he leaned back.

“…I’m home.”

That sigh made Noi flinch. She had missed him so badly that she had rushed to meet him the shortest way possible—but right now, he was very out of sorts with Noi, and with Noi alone.

Sliding off of him in a slow shuffle, Noi bowed her head.

“Welcome home… Um, Kardia. You’re back early. You didn’t push yourself on the road, did you?”

“Huh?”

Kardia parsed her words again and then repeated the exact same

“Huh?”

“What is that supposed to mean? Why… —I told you before I hate that, didn’t I?”

Pinned by the sharp light in his eyes, Noi wilted and looked down again. Watching her shrivel like a salted slug, Kardia covered his face with one hand and murmured, “No, that’s not it.”

“Sorry—that was on me… Yeah, I’m the one at fault.”

He set his hands on her small shoulders, bent his waist, and tried desperately to bring his eyes below hers.

“I was wrong. I’m sorry. Please, I’m begging you—don’t talk to me like that.”

The line sounded like his usual breezy patter, but his face was earnest. Faced with that cornered expression, Noi found herself giving a little nod before she knew it.

“Good. I panicked thinking you might hate me.”

Kardia hugged Noi tight. His heart was thundering. Whether from her jump or from this conversation, neither of them could say.

“I was sure it was me you hated.”

“Hating you? Not even if the sun fell from the sky.”

He said it with a sigh—and seemed startled by his own words. But folded into Kardia’s arms and sunk in serious thought, Noi didn’t notice.

“…But you were angry at me, weren’t you?”

Kardia drew a sharp breath. Perhaps he had noticed the tears in her voice. Noi clung to his clothes, not wanting him to see her cry.

“I—I thought you hated me…”

“…There’s no way.”

“I thought you’d had it with all my selfishness—so… so you went off to the enclave…”

“That’s not it at all. I’m sorry—I’m the one who made you think that. I’m truly sorry.”

Kardia hugged little Noi to him and whispered another I’m sorry.

It sounded nothing like the lightweight voice from another time that had thought an apology fixed any hurt.

It reached her as Kardia’s apology from the heart.

With Kardia’s “sorry” soaking into her like balm, and the warmth of his hand stroking her back, Noi’s sadness began to melt.

“I’m really, really glad this kind of crossed wire didn’t make you hate me.”

Hearing him speak with such relief made Noi bristle in turn.

“…Even if I hated you, it wouldn’t be a problem for you, would it?”

“What was that?”

“You can sleep just fine without me next to you. You even went to Kukuvaya’s today.”

It stung that she alone had been left out and made to feel excluded.

Or so she’d thought—yet the first thing out of her mouth in front of Kardia was about Kukuvaya.

Mortified that she could only manage such sulky, childish lines, Noi ducked her head hard.

“I didn’t sleep.”

“Huh?”

“I went and turned right around.”

“Whaaat?!”

The last time they had gone, the journey had taken ten hours one way. Maybe they had gone slow for little Noi’s sake back then, but even alone it wasn’t a simple trip.

(And you’re calling that just “there and back”?!)

When she lifted her face in astonishment, Kardia—somehow—was grinning.

His earlier solemn expression was nowhere to be seen; he wore the look of a man having the time of his life.

That face, for no good reason, made her furious.

“You hated that I went to Kuku’s that much, huh?”

Not wanting to nod honestly to that teasing grin, Noi turned her face away and tipped her chin up.

“Not particularly.”

“Liar. You were wearing an ‘I hate it’ face.”

“Because—!”

Noi whipped back toward him, eyebrows shooting up.

“Because—! Because you only ever look at her with that especially gentle gaze!”

Saying it aloud was the same as admitting it. Stung by the admission, Noi clamped her mouth shut and looked off to the side, not wanting to say anything else she’d regret.

For some reason tears pricked her eyes; she bit her lip in frustration. Still turned away and silent, she felt Kardia tap that bitten lip lightly with his thumb.

His calm set her off again; she averted her face once more, and then his big hands cupped her cheeks gently.

Perched between Kardia’s knees as he sat, Noi couldn’t run. She glared at his face as it came closer.

Kardia peered into her tear-bright eyes. A slow warmth radiated from his gaze. The corners of his eyes were tinged red; his pupils glittered with moisture. As Noi gasped a tiny “ah,” Kardia smiled softly and pressed his forehead to hers.

“Don’t say so many unbearably cute things.”

—You’ll dull my resolve.

His lips formed words Noi couldn’t catch. Before she could even wonder what he meant, Kardia kissed the corner of her eye. With a faint little sound, he drank in her tears.

Noi stared, dumbfounded. Kardia beamed and drew back.

Then he rested both arms on her shoulders and laced his fingers together behind her head.

“Next time, do you want to come along too? She said she wants to talk with you at leisure.”

“Eh?! No! No, I’m not going!”

Like a real child, Noi threw a tantrum. With Kardia bracketing her in, all she could do was flail in place.

“Amazing! I’ve never seen you thrash around like a kid!”

“I’m so… so mad!”

Laughing as he soothed her, Kardia scooped Noi up. In one smooth motion he shifted her posture and settled her on his lap. Leaning over her from behind, he wrapped her in a hug.

“Forgive me, bride. She’s a little special. My first disciple, and the old geezer… my benefactor’s daughter. If I had a little sister, I always thought she’d probably feel like that.”

“The old geezer—Fengalow’s daughter.”

Hearing that made Noi feel as if the girl were family to her, too.

His gentle voice tickling her ear, and his warmth pressed against her back, calmed Noi down.

Still pouting, she searched for words to make up.

“Then you haven’t, like, been confessed to or anything, right?”

She sniffled, and Kardia fell silent.

“Kardia!?”

“Now, now.”

“‘Now, now’!?”

“It was half a century ago.”

“Being half a century ago doesn’t make it not count, Kardia!! You got confessed to by your ‘sister’ and you’re just going to ‘now, now’ it away!?”

“Now, now, now.”

“Adding one more ‘now’ doesn’t change a single thing, you know!?”

Noi stood up to lodge her protest, and Kardia, still seated, smiled and tried to placate her. She was about to press on with even more complaints when a loud voice rang out from behind them.

“—Honestly, the two of you! Do you have any idea what time it is!?”

The front door flew open; Ornis, in nightclothes and a nightcap, fixed them with a hard stare.

“It’s still before sunrise! Get inside already! And sleep! Understood!? I, for one, am sleeping until morning!”

Arms folded, Ornis shouted his piece and then retreated to his attic room.

Scolded, Noi and Kardia looked at each other—and beneath a sky not yet touched by the sun, they both broke into matching, beaming grins.