Episode 209

“I said I like you!”

“It’s fine that you like me, but why are you saying that while looking elsewhere? Why do you like the clock? Why the clock!”

El was talking while looking at the grandfather clock he had made. Rurin, on the other hand, got upset right there. Her cheeks puffed up, and her brows furrowed, a clear sign that something displeased her.

“Ah, wait? I can’t remember again. Who did you say you were? And who am I?”

“You are El! I am Rurin!”

El tilted his head again.

Rurin was at her wit’s end. This was different from what Elena had described.

He certainly listens well. Yes, he listens well. But that’s all.

He listens, but he doesn’t move in the direction Rurin wants. That’s why her puffed-up cheeks refuse to settle down.

While staring at El with her puffed cheeks, something unexpected happened.

“Rurin.”

El called Rurin’s name and then collapsed helplessly. He fell forward onto the bed, his upper body slumping down.

This wasn’t something El would normally do. Rurin, shocked, deflated her puffed cheeks and placed her hand on El’s face.

“You! Are you hurt?”

But before Rurin’s hand, El’s arm moved first. While seated, El buried his face near Rurin’s belly and wrapped his arms around her waist.

It didn’t end there. Like a purring cat, El started rubbing his face, or rather his cheek, against Rurin’s belly.

As if acting spoiled.

Rurin was so entranced by the sight that she lost her focus.

“H-huh?”

It wasn’t just that she lost focus; she froze in place. The way El acted spoiled was so cute that Rurin was afraid moving might make his stop.

“You’re strange! But…this strange behavior is nice!”

“Am I good?”

“Y-yes…! Y-you’re good!”

When Rurin said he was good, El started rubbing his cheek even more. Rurin, feeling all mushy, slowly moved her hand. It was trembling slightly. That trembling hand stopped on El’s head.

Rurin wanted so badly to pet El. She didn’t know why this feeling had come over her, but she just wanted to pet him over and over. However, the shame of doing something she’d never done before caused her hand to hesitate.

She preferred being petted rather than doing the petting.

But in this situation, she was sure the opposite would feel just as good. So, Rurin gathered her courage and slowly placed her palm on El’s crown.

“It’s warm.”

“Is my hand…warm?”

Nodding.

El nodded his head. The more he did, the more he seemed like a baby.

“Ah, Baby El. Ugh!”

It was a situation that seemed harmful to her heart. Although everything was the opposite of usual, Rurin found this experience quite electrifying.

“Keep doing that. Rub against me! I’m okay. And…!”

Rurin kept moving her hand on top of El’s head. El’s head was gently brushed by her hand.

In that historic moment, the more Rurin petted El’s head, the tighter El hugged Rurin’s waist.

“Ugh, ugh! This…this is…! Ah, no! I shouldn’t, but it feels so good!”

She said that, but in fact, she was feeling really good. Petting his head was like that too. It was her first experience, but she liked it.

Sha-rak, sha-rak.

The sensation of petting, and El hugging tighter each time.

El hugging tighter.

This is the point. Without this, she wouldn’t have petted him.

“You!”

“Huh? Am I your…significant other?”

“I told you! We’re, we’re married, right? Ugh, don’t say it! Just keep rubbing! That’s the best. When you speak, the El who hasn’t lost their memory is cool. But the El who’s lost their memory is frustrating when they talk! The way you act spoiled is cute…just like this! Yeah. That’s it. Kyaa? Kyaaa!”

At that moment, El, who had his head on Rurin’s lap and was hugging her waist, pulled up Rurin’s clothes and licked her belly. It was exactly the action a puppy would do.

Not realizing it was an action mimicking a dog, Rurin was swept up in a strange, ticklish feeling.

Thump thump!

“Ah!”

But right in that heartbeat-inducing moment, El suddenly jumped up.

“Huh?”

Rurin made a confused face, and El thought for a moment before muttering to himself.

“I feel like it was supposed to be work time right now.”

“Eh?”

Rurin looked at the clock. It was 5 PM. It was definitely the time when El would usually be in the kitchen.

“No!”

Of course, Rurin immediately denied it. She said she would listen to everything he said, but that wasn’t true at all. She had been fooled by the rubbing earlier, but reality hit again.

“Why can’t you remember anything else, but you remember that?”

“Huh?”

“What do you mean, ‘huh’ again!”

“According to you, it seems like it’s work time, right? Why do I remember that but forget everything else? Wait, was the kitchen over there earlier?”

El said that, then coldly walked out of the bedroom.

“Ah!”

Rurin, panicking, quickly covered her mouth with both hands.

She realized she had been babbling. Saying unnecessary things!

She stared wide-eyed, blankly for a moment, then quickly realized this wasn’t the time for this.

“Ughhh!”

With a frustrated expression, Rurin jumped up and started chasing after El.

“You! Stop right there!”

When Rurin chased after him, El had already gone up to the kitchen. Rurin huffed and puffed as she found El, who was already holding a kitchen knife and tilting his head.

“Hmm. With this…like this?”

El suddenly took out some vegetables and began stabbing them like a monster would.

Thump, thump, thump, thump!

The vegetables were being stabbed on the cutting board. It wasn’t slicing, it was being thrust down hard.

“What are you doing…! That’s not right!”

Rurin approached and grabbed the knife. Her hand went over El’s as she held it.

“Then?”

“I don’t know! That’s something you…”

“I only remember stabbing. When I hold a knife, I stab! These lines keep buzzing in my head.”

“How would I know that! Ugh! This is it!”

Rurin grabbed the knife El was holding and started chopping the vegetables loudly.

They say even a dog learns poetry after three years.

Rurin, who had seen vegetable preparation countless times, knew this method well.

But she would never do it if asked.

Chop, chop, chop!

Thump, thump, thump!

“How is it? Remember now?”

Rurin, proudly cutting a cabbage-like vegetable, shouted confidently.

“Wow, that’s amazing!”

“Huh? Is that so? I am amazing, but you don’t normally say such things. Hehe, is this the power of memory? Oh, but I usually don’t want to do this. This time is usually for over there!”

Rurin pointed to the table.

El’s eyes followed to the table.

“This is usually the time to laze around over there.”

“Really?”

“Yes!”

“We’re married, right?”

“Huh?”

“Shouldn’t married couples prepare together?”

“What do you mean by that?”

When El said something unfavorable, Rurin began to slowly step back.

“Are we not married? In that case, I don’t need to listen to your words…”

But at the mention of being married, her body was drawn back like a magnet.

“Kyaa! What are you saying! We’re married! We are married!”

“Then you’ll help me, right? I don’t know anything.”

“Then first, kiss here. Since we’re married, kissing before work is a must.”

“Really?”

Rurin pointed to her lips. El quickly leaned in and kissed her. The kiss was so simple that Rurin was startled and opened her mouth wide.

And then Rurin thought to herself.

Is this the power that Elena talked about? The one where you listen to everything because you’ve lost your memory?

But earlier in the bedroom, it felt strange.

Rurin, thinking up to that point, didn’t know what was going on but concluded that she had to stick to the idea of being married.

That way, she could ask for more things later!

Right now, she was pushed into the strange logic of asking for help because they were married, but for later, she couldn’t break that logic.

“I guess I have no choice. I’ll help you, since we’re married!”

“How do I use this?”

While Rurin was thinking, El grabbed a frying pan and lifted it up.

“When did you get over there? You’re like the wind.”

Rurin, standing by the cutting board, quickly ran after El, who had moved to the oven.

“You should use Fireball for that!”

“Fireball?”

“Don’t you remember magic?”

“Hmm. Fireball, huh? I vaguely remember it. Mostly, the memories I don’t recall are like those of past experiences. Maybe memories of other beings. Anyway, let me think.”

“You know magic, but why did you forget me of all things! I really hate it! That memory thing!”

“Let me see, so Fireball is…”

El brought his fingers to his brow and thought for a moment before soon using his mana.

“Ah, this is how you use it?”

Fwoooosh-!

Krrrsh-!

A massive flame soared in the oven. Then, it quickly shot up, tearing through the ceiling and bursting into the sky.

“Ahhh! Idiot, idiot, idiot! That’s not it!”

Rurin, with a face resembling Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”, covered her head with her hands and shook El.

“Why are you using such a powerful Fireball for a frying pan? No, that wasn’t even a Fireball! That was a 6th-circle!”

“Really? No wonder, it felt like the mana wasn’t controlled properly…”

“Then don’t use it! How strong is your magic! No more magic until tomorrow! Ugh, I can’t help it. I’ll fix it. Since everything got blown up, once you get your memory back tomorrow, you’ll scream like I did! You’re fixing it, so I don’t care!”

“I see. I guess I can’t do anything about that. Will I fix it tomorrow?”

“See? This is how you light a weak Fireball!”

Rurin placed the Fireball under the other metal plate and set it on fire.

“Since the other side is all gone, we have no choice but to use this one today.”

“That’s true.”

Ding-dong.

At that moment, the bell hanging on the door rang. The first dinner guest had arrived.

“I came to eat! Hehe.”

Linte, who had stopped by on the way back from finishing ranch work, sat down at the bar table, smiling as usual.

Maté had disappeared for an appointment, so Linte stopped by, not wanting to eat alone at home. The problem was, he didn’t notice any of the minor changes at all.

Linte looked at El, his eyes shining as usual.

“Please bring me today’s meal!”

The meal El proudly prepared for today.

It was a course meal made with the freshest ingredients from the market that day, like a home-cooked meal.

Of course, El tilted his head, as if he didn’t understand what was being said.

“Rurin, what’s today’s meal?”

“I don’t know. You think about it!”