My Bride (6)

Where?

Where are you?

Where are you?

—If you’re lost, I’ll call you back.

“Noi, No—i, Noiiiii-chan!”

Ever since he started calling her by name, Kardia had gotten annoyingly clingy.

“…What is it?”

Noi, who had been reading on the sofa, gave a helpless little smile and welcomed Kardia. Kardia, grinning, deepened his smile and tried to lift Noi up.

But Noi smoothly blocked him with her small hand.

“Kardia. I’m already an adult woman.”

Ornis, who had been about to flee the noisy living room for the quiet of his own room, stumbled. Kardia also blinked in confusion for a moment, then seemed to recall Noi’s first menstruation the other day and gave a small nod.

“That’s right. You’re a fine lady anyone would stare at in admiration.”

“So I’d prefer it if you didn’t pick me up like a child anymore.”

Noi said it with a composed face.

This was the excuse Noi had stayed up all night to devise so she wouldn’t be carried by Kardia.

—Noi liked Kardia.

Because of that, if he lifted her or talked to her at their usual too-close distance, she would inevitably panic.

So Noi racked her brains for a way to avoid arousing his suspicion while still getting her wish.

She even named it the “Because I’m an adult now” plan.

(Kardia is reasonable, so this should be fine—)

“Eh. No.”

However, Kardia—who was supposed to be reasonable—promptly hoisted Noi up. Noi stared down at him in astonishment.

“Noi. You might not know this, but it’s actually adult brides who are always carried like this.”

“Eh!? Is that true!?”

Behind wide-eyed Noi, Ornis muttered, “That’s a lie,” and withdrew to his room.

Left in the living room were Kardia, still beaming, and Noi, silently staring with widened eyes.

“Kardia!!”

As Noi fumed—so you tricked me again?—Kardia hastily arranged a serious expression.

“It’s not a lie. In fact there’s even a kind of carry literally called the ‘bride carry’.”

“You’re saying something that only sounds plausible…!”

“It’s true. And as for the rules between a husband and a wife, some book somewhere said the couple just make them up together. Between me and you, Noi, we can make a rule that the bride gets carried.”

“You—you say it again, so brazenly!”

Watching angry Noi, Kardia whispered, “This is bad,” yet smiled blissfully.

“Noi is angry…”

“Y—you wanted to make me angry!?”

“Noi is yelling…”

“What are you even saying, you! Hey!”

“Noi is cute…”

Even though she was shouting, Kardia pulled Noi closer with the same sunny smile. He nuzzled his face right about where Noi’s heart was.

“Kardia!”

When she called his name extra loudly, Kardia reluctantly pulled his face back from Noi. Then, seeing Noi trembling all over, he froze.

“Y-you—where were you just putting your face—!”

As Noi trembled, face blazing red, Kardia blinked.

“Where—uh? Your stomach?”

At his earnest reply, Noi glared sharply.

“That’s my chest—idiot!”

“Noi, No—i, Noiiiii-chan!”

In exactly the same tone as before, Kardia called Noi’s name and went knock, knock, knock on his own door.

“Come on out, hey. There’s tasty dinner. And there are books Ornis fetched.”

Sitting in seiza in front of the door, Kardia desperately tried to soothe Noi, who had locked herself in his room.

He had flattered her pride by spouting nonsense like “It’s adult brides who—,” but since it had come out that he wasn’t treating her like an adult at all, Kardia admitted his guilt and meekly chose to sit in seiza.

Earlier, Ornis had caught sight of Kardia from downstairs and looked aghast, but Kardia pretended not to notice.

“Noi. Noii~”

Kardia said Noi’s name over and over.

Ever since they met, he hadn’t known what to call her.

The girl named Noi who had appeared bearing the image and name from his thoughts really did resemble his master. If he had called her “Noi” back then as well, Kardia wouldn’t have known whether he was calling the girl—or calling his master.

He hadn’t grasped it so precisely at the time, but somehow the name had been hard to say, so he had kept fudging it. And with their parting so close, he hadn’t really felt he needed to change how he addressed her, nor had he thought he should be calling her by name.

“If you want to get on my good side, try calling me by my name.”

But when she had spat that out in a sulky tone back then—

In the corner of a mind that had nearly fainted from how cute she was, he regretted never calling her by name. He truly thought he should have whispered her name in her ear so many times she got sick of it and told him to stop.

Already, Noi wore a wry smile that suggested she might be regretting asking Kardia to call her by name. Even so, Kardia felt happy at that expression too—compared to the blank look from a few days ago that seemed to show she had no interest in him at all.

—click

There was the sound of a doorknob turning, and Noi came out. Kardia, smiling as if the dinner talk had worked after all, looked up; Noi looked down at him.

“…Right, we make husband-and-wife rules ourselves?”

Arms folded, Noi—who was usually so quick to shout “We’re not married yet!”—now exuded a sly flexibility fitting the moment.

“Um, yeah. That’s right…?”

Even with a bad feeling, Kardia kept smiling. But Noi mercilessly announced to him:

“I’m not a demon. If you accept this proposal, I suppose I can forgive you for failing to notice my, shall we say, modest chest.”

What will you do?—Noi asked, and in theory he could have answered “no.”

But of course Kardia had only one choice, and in a small voice he murmured, “Yes.”