“It wasn’t anything important enough to remember.”
“Really?”
“Yes!”
“Then why does my cheek hurt this much?! ...Wait... don’t tell me....”
“You can’t possibly mean me?! Absolutely not! I’m a physician, Ren! How could I ever hit a cute boy like you? Never, never in a million years!”
“I was just saying.”
That only made him more suspicious. Cute boy? What a creep.
I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.
Jepeto froze exactly as he was, both hands flung out and waving frantically.
With his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open like that, he really did look unfairly accused. If Jepeto had done it, then with acting that good, I’d have to let myself be fooled!
When I reluctantly nodded, Jepeto looked relieved—but also weirdly uncomfortable, and kept studying my expression. It was like he was worried I might actually believe him.
There was no way Jepeto hit me. He wasn’t that kind of person. Besides.
My brother was here.
My brother was here.
Hm. My brother was here.
I stole a glance at Luman.
Those worried eyes quietly slipped away from mine.
Why was he avoiding my gaze?
Anyway! My brother was here!
And Luman too. Ahem.
Not that Luman cherishes me or anything. I just mean he’s not the type to stand there and watch someone get hit for no reason.
Luman’s a cool Hero too, after all.
“What are you thinking about that has your face turning red, Ren?”
“What would I even be thinking about?”
Now that I was paying attention to it, my cheek hurt like crazy.
It was throbbing and stinging, like even the wind would hurt. At this rate, would I even be able to eat? Then again, I had no appetite, so maybe this was good—maybe I could use it as an excuse not to eat. But I’d still have to chew and swallow herbs. Ugh. Just imagining it made my skin crawl. I shuddered.
“Hey, don’t touch it. It’ll get worse. I’ll put more ointment on.”
“I’ll do it myself.”
“Mm.... All right.”
After hesitating, Jepeto handed over the salve.
Ow!!
Ow, ow, ow!
This hurts like a bitch. Jesus. Fuuuuh. I started taking deep breaths.
Still, with the hard-earned skill I’d built up over the years, I managed to smear the ointment on my face without so much as flinching.
But what was my brother staring at?
Ever since he snapped his head away, he’d been locked in some kind of staring match with the wall.
As I silently glared at the back of his head while dabbing on ointment, Luman lightly smacked Temar on the back.
My brother’s shoulders twitched.
“Brother.”
“......”
“Uh. Did someone write graffiti on the wall or something?”
It’s not like he was seeing a ghost, right?
Even if it was him, that would still be a little scary.
For a second, I thought his eyes wavered.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
“What? My cheek?”
He’s worried about me?!
Aaaaah! I wanted to shout it right then, but I pressed hard on my cheek and held it in!
Ugh. Inside, I twisted up from the pain, but I still acted fine. Then I squared my shoulders proudly, puffing up the chest that had caved in from pain earlier.
“Doesn’t hurt at all. It just itches.”
“......”
“......”
“......”
What the hell. Why does everybody look so weird?
Why are they all acting like that? Don’t believe me? I flashed them a huge smile. Christ, smiling hurts even more!
“Honestly, it even feels kind of refreshing.”
“...Pff—”
Luman had been looking at me with this weirdly pitiful expression, and then he burst out laughing.
Why are you laughing when your face looks that complicated?!
My brother let out a short laugh too, then turned and walked right out.
I glared at Jepeto.
He had the face of someone trying to decide whether he should laugh or not.
Luman kept shaking with laughter, then sighing while staring at me, then snickering to himself all over again. He did that over and over.
My whole body ached so much I didn’t have either the strength or the will to hit him. Honestly, just moving my arms and legs felt exhausting.
I ignored Luman, glanced after my brother as he walked away, and only opened my mouth once he was completely gone.
“Jepeto. Why? Why are you laughing?”
“Umm... I think it might be better if you didn’t know....”
“Why??”
It’s my face, isn’t it!
The second that hit me, I started badgering Jepeto to give me a mirror.
“Do you really have to see it...?”
“Bwahahaha!”
“Sir Luman... please stop laughing....”
Jepeto looked thoroughly miserable.
“Just show me!! I have a mirror in my things anyway, you know?”
That was a lie.
Where the hell would I keep a mirror in my luggage? What would I even use it for?
But life is all about brazen lies told with confidence.
Maybe my shameless bluff worked, because Jepeto let out a sigh and rummaged through his things.
Then he handed me a small mirror.
“Pffh... hahahaha!”
What the hell is wrong with him?
I shot Luman a look that clearly said what a freak, ignored the way Jepeto’s face kept twitching strangely, and looked into the mirror.
It was so small I could only see my nose. Hm. I needed to angle it better.
I tilted it a little farther to the right, and then....
Huh?
What is this...?
“......”
I pulled the mirror farther back.
Luman was still laughing so hard he could barely breathe.
And the face reflected in that tiny mirror....
was an absolute disaster.
One cheek had gone way past blue and straight into multicolored!
There was no way in hell anyone could call that “not that painful,” even as a lie.
And there I was, wearing this proud, self-satisfied expression in the mirror.
The whole thing was so unbalanced and unbelievably bizarre.
“Wh-What is this...!”
I jerked and shuddered like I’d just seen a ghost!
The mirror slipped from my trembling hand and smacked against the floor of the carriage.
“Ah—s-sorry....”
The shock of seeing my face made my hand shake uncontrollably. And all of a sudden, emotion surged up in my throat. Lante told me my face was pretty...!
“It’s okay! It’s okay!”
When I started fumbling and nearly tearing up, Jepeto threw both hands up again and hurried to reassure me.
“Kh-hah....”
Luman was still laughing. He was laughing so hard he couldn’t even breathe, which confirmed it—Luman was absolutely deranged. I take it back. He’s not a cool Hero. He’s a nasty asshole, a total asshole! I glared at him, and the misery in my chest was still there, but the tears dried right up.
But wait.
Was that really my face just now?
No fucking way.
Come on. Heh....
“Um... can I see the mirror one more time...?”
When I still couldn’t let it go, Jepeto twitched his lips and held the mirror out to me again.
Fuuuuh.
Haaaaaah.
I braced myself and looked into the mirror one more time.
I sucked in a breath—
and after steeling myself, the face that met me was—
“Aaagh! What happened to my face?!”
I looked like a monster!
A monster with a blue bruise spreading across its face! The longer I looked, the worse it seemed!
Oh my God, is this really my face?
It was all swollen up and ugly.... The skin across my right cheek was flushed red, mottled all over with blue bruising. It looked like moss growing on a rock. And.... was that a round thumbprint too...?
Just as I was staring at it suspiciously, Luman smoothly snatched the mirror away.
“Haa... haa. Fuuuuh.”
“Done laughing? My face is that funny to you?? Do you enjoy other people’s pain? Are you some kind of fucking psycho??”
“Ren....... honestly, there was no way I wasn’t going to laugh.”
Shaking his head as he said my name, Luman spoke in this absurdly gentle voice, like he wanted me to understand.
After laughing his ass off first!
Still... even I had to admit it was ridiculous.
Me looking like that, while making that expression and smiling....
“Did a rock fall on me while I was sleeping in the carriage or something?”
“Mm.”
Luman blinked and nodded.
“Let’s go with that.”
“What do you mean, let’s go with that?! Luman, don’t tell me you—”
“Hey now! You’re not seriously suspecting a Hero, are you? This Hero?”
Luman raised his wrist.
What. It was pale and pretty and thicker than I’d expected.
But so what?! What the hell am I supposed to do with that??
“So what do you want me to do, bite it??”
I bared my teeth and opened my mouth, and Luman jerked his arm away in shock.
“Can’t let my guard down for a second. Not my arm!”
Then Luman started digging around in his sleeve and pulled something out.
“Woooow.”
It was a gold bracelet!
A bracelet set with amber-colored gems! It was crammed full of gold needle-like things—or maybe pins?—jutting out in every direction like a medal, and the whole thing looked like it was meant to symbolize a star. Three star ornaments of different sizes hung from it.
“Well? Nice, right?”
When Luman shook his arm, the bracelet dangled and swayed. The long bracelet was seriously beautiful. Radiant. Gorgeous! Was this what gold looked like? Gold could shine like that?
“You can’t take your eyes off it. Want it?”
“Really?”
I snapped my head up immediately, and our eyes met dead-on.
He was closer than I’d expected. In Luman’s eyes, I could see my own face lit up with excitement. Without realizing it, I swallowed and stared at him—and Luman’s face turned bright red.
“Whoa. What’s with you? You got super red all of a sudden.”
Even his neck was bright red. Was he hot?
Without thinking, I poked him right in the neck.
“Hey!”
“...Sorry.”
Luman sprang up so suddenly that I smacked the back of my head against the carriage wall.
While I rubbed the sore spot, Luman—looking even more startled than I was—worked his lips soundlessly for a second, apologized, and then bolted out. He didn’t even close the door behind him, so cold wind whipped through the carriage.
What the hell. Way to make things awkward.
As I sat there rubbing the back of my head, Jepeto cleared his throat awkwardly and shut the carriage door.
Maybe he got uncomfortable because I was staring too hard.
Maybe I looked like a beggar.
“Hey. What the hell are you staring at, you ragged little beggar?”
“Heh, look at what he’s wearing. Rags. Total rags!”
“Oh, that’s good! Hey, Rags!”
“Heh heh heh. Hey! Stop! He’s crying! He’s crying! Tsk. Ren. If you cry, we’re really calling you Rags.”
“How about Ren-rags?”
“Pfft, what the hell is that! That sounds like the name of some cheap magic stone! Ren-rags!”
“Hey! Ragged Ren-rags!”
“Heh heh heh.”
No, he asked first if I wanted it!
Why am I the one getting embarrassed?!
God, that pisses me off!
Now I’m /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ thinking about that old shit for no reason.
“...So there’s no need to worry.”
“......”
“Ren? Were you listening to me?”
I hadn’t been.
