Dancing In Moonlight (2)

“So? Why were you flustered?”

Guessing she was cold, Kardia took off his cloak and draped it over Noi. With her height, the hem trailed on the ground, but he didn’t mind in the least.

Noi seemed to mind, lifting the hem. Yet she didn’t take it off—she bunched the fabric up and held it near her face. The tips of her ears were faintly red.

“…I was going to tell you the air smelled like winter.”

“Huh…”

Just that? Kardia gave a flat reply and stopped walking.

(Hm?)

He felt he had heard a similar story somewhere, sometime.

“When you look up at the stars, when you catch the scent of autumn, when you find something delicious, when you stub your little finger—do you think of someone?”

Kardia stood dumbfounded.

Still stunned, he stepped around in front of Noi and peered into her eyes.

“W-wah?!”

Face flushing bright red, Noi let go of Kardia’s cloak.

“That man? Are you planning to report to that man even when you stub your little finger, Noi?”

“T-too close! W-what are you even saying! I—I haven’t stubbed my little finger!”

“That’s not the point…”

Noi thrust both hands out, trying to push Kardia away.

A sharp ache bloomed in his chest. Kardia wrestled with the prickling impatience.

If she looked up at the stars, if she caught the scent of autumn, if she found something delicious, if she stubbed her little finger—he wanted himself to be the one she remembered. He wanted it to be him.

(And if I had someone like that—)

It would only ever be Noi.

(Then and now, there has been no one but Noi.)

“And yet you—Noi—you put stock in some pop-up nobody—!”

“I don’t know what you’re babbling about, but don’t speak ill of that kid!”

“…Defending him again? Don’t tell me you’re making him your next disciple? Am I already unnecessary?”

“What has gotten into you!”

Noi patted Kardia’s back with her small hands—pom, pom.

“…I was looking for you.”

She muttered it as if resigning herself.

“I wanted to tell you—the smell of winter. But… maybe that wasn’t needed.”

At her wry smile, Kardia’s chest brimmed over. So many feelings swirled that only joy rose to the top.

“…It is needed.”

“Is it?”

“From now on, come to me first. Don’t tell anyone but me.”

Even as Kardia spilled his true feelings with all he had, Noi let out a sigh of all things.

“There you go again… haah. All right, all right.”

“…‘All right, all right’?”

“I said I got it.”

“What is that tone? You don’t get it at all, do you?!”

“You’re noisy. Are you Ornis now?”

Noi turned away, refusing to engage properly. Kardia trembled.

(So my heart is this tangled up, and she lumps me in with that nagging housekeeper…?!)

Besides, wasn’t it Noi who said she loved Kardia? Comparing him to Ornis was absurd.

“Letting him grab your hand like that isn’t commendable, either. Filthy.”

Dropping to one knee, Kardia scrubbed Noi’s fingertips with the hem of his own trousers.

He was no longer her fiancé, but he was “the person Noi liked.” Surely that granted him the right to this much closeness.

When Kardia glanced up at her, Noi wore a look of utter exasperation. Not the face of a girl whose hand had been held by the person she liked.

Catching him off guard, Noi nodded, “All right, all right.”

“Understood. Next time someone grabs my hand, I’ll say it properly: stop, because my disciple told me not to.”

“…Your disciple?”

“That’s what you are, isn’t it?”

So it was. Kardia was the disciple who revered Noi. Nothing about that was wrong.

And yet, a cold draft blew through his heart.

A disciple’s words could easily be brushed aside: I don’t have to listen to a disciple. Perhaps that was why, Kardia thought.

If anyone could speak with greater force than a disciple, it would be a partner.

Among mages, the master’s partner was accorded the same respect as the master.

But Kardia could not be Noi’s lover.

The “love” he had said he could so easily offer had proved insufficient for Noi.

Even so, it couldn’t be helped. Kardia’s feelings for Noi were nothing like mere romance. They were more exalted, sacred, uncommon—warm.

Lovers have desires and satisfy them in each other. He had no intention of becoming someone who demanded recompense from her. It was enough for Kardia simply to love Noi with every feeling he possessed.

And yet, something in his chest kept snagging.

(…Why settle for disciple?)

That left only openings for others to exploit.

(If that man became her lover, then a disciple’s wishes—)

Following that line of thought, Kardia gaped.

(…I hadn’t even considered it.)

Even if he did not become her lover, Noi could make someone else her lover.