83 – shadow(6)

“Come here.”

“… What?”

I also took off my shoes, threw them on the sand, and dipped my feet into the river with Trisha.

As I approached Trisha’s side, she pointed her finger deep into the riverbed.

“Hey, can’t you see that?”

The reflection of the sunset light dazzles the eyes, let alone the riverbed.

“… I can’t see you.”

“Hey, come to work!”

Trisha takes my hand and drags me deeper. He stops at a rippling depth of mid-thigh and points his hand again.

“Keep your back down and look.”

“… What are you talking about?”

Tricia came up behind me at some point and whispered.

“Actually nothing!”

“… ?”

Then he pushed me on the back.

I lost my balance due to the unexpected surprise and fell into the river.

with a plop!

The ice-cold river water wets the whole body and awakens the mind. It’s so cold that my skin hurts.

I slowly got up. My body is heavy because I am wet all the way to the top of my head. When his droopy bangs blocked his view, he pushed back with both hands.

Only then can I see Trisha, who is holding her stomach and laughing excitedly.

“Puhahahaha, ahahahaha. I have the most fun when I make fun of you!”

Laughter comes out because it is absurd.

patience. it’s not the time to laugh

I strode towards Trisha.

Clever, she backed away, leaving a smile on her face.

It’s thigh-deep for me, but Trisha’s was locked up to her waist, so I walked much faster.

“Me, me, wait! Let me leave my coat!”

She shouted with her arms behind her back to keep her arms from being caught.

I quickly attached to her and immediately wrapped my hands around her legs and lifted her up with my shoulders.

“Wow!”

He slung her over his shoulder like a barley sack and carried her back to the depths. He hit my back hard with his fist, but it had no effect.

“Wait, wait! You crazy bastard!”

With a shrill cry, I threw myself into the river at the same time as Trisha.

I came out with a huge spray like a rock thrown, and she crashed to the bottom of the river. In the water, she squealed with me, pushing, pushing, and holding on to prevent me from coming out first.

Due to the buoyancy, the bodies of the two floated slowly, and we held our faces out of the water and breathed.

Trisha’s hair was hanging like weeds and clinging to her face.

“If anyone sees it, they’ll know you’re a water ghost.”

She giggled and tucked her hair to the sides and tucked it behind her ears.

“Hey, how long have you been here? Too deep!”

Tricia put her hands on both of my shoulders as if she couldn’t stand it.

For me, it was deep enough to submerge my collarbone, but Trisha had to stand on her tiptoe to barely stick her head out.

When our eyes meet, she suddenly bursts into laughter.

And when I saw it, I laughed too.

How long have you been playing in the water like this? please

It’s like going back ten years.

The days when the fountain in the center of the temple felt as big and deep as a lake because of my small body. Liza and I were looking at each other in it as we are now.

Even then, Liza smiled like this as she put her hand on my shoulder and looked at me. Wide like Trisha.

But that picture is not pictured in my head. Liza’s happy face no longer existed in my memory, as if the paint had faded and peeled off from too long a time.

I thought I’d never forget it, but now it’s gone. In the slow flow of time, memories and memories that seemed to last forever are washed away.

Tricia put one hand on my cheek lightly.

“I know that? I’ve never seen you smile like this Every time I saw him, he had a blunt and gloomy face.”

“… .”

“Smile often.”

And new memories were being overlaid on top of Lizawa’s memories.

“… yes.”

“Why are you staring at me like that? Am I that pretty?”

“It looks like a wet cat.”

“If you just say, ‘You’re so pretty,’ in a good way, what’s going on?”

I turned my head to the side and looked at Lyria, restless on the sand.

“I think there is still one left. Shall we do more?”

At this, Trisha also looked in Lilia’s direction. Soon after, he realized my plan and said excitedly.

“great! I love it so much.”

We walked slowly out of the water. Lillia had been stomping her feet the whole time, but when she saw that, she quickly approached.

“Gwa, are you okay?”

Trisha and I grabbed Lilia arm by arm and dragged her out as if escorting a prisoner.

“Ah, me, why are you like this… Wow!”

Lyria resisted, but was only dragged along by us.

***

We had to pay the price of not thinking about the afterthought of playing in the water.

The carriage spurred on to save us from hypothermia, and we had to cram ourselves into the carriage shivering in the cold night air.

People would have clicked their tongues saying that a man and a woman who had come of age a few years before coming of age were wet and close to their shoulders, but we had no other choice. It was so cold that I didn’t even feel embarrassed.

Lyria pressed her body against my left side, and Trisha held my right arm tightly like a doll.

The feeling of shaking my body from the cold is conveyed to me, and I feel sorry for it.

I turned my head to Trisha.

Sensing my presence, she also slowly looks up at me.

There is no sign of remorse on her face. What else made Trisha happy? Why do I feel so good? Looking into my eyes, a shy smile forms on her lips.

Facing that face, I also faintly smiled. as if it had moved.

Perhaps because of the cold, Trisha said in a somewhat limp voice.

“Damian.”

“yes.”

“Today, a senior in the theater department asked you to come and see me. It seems like an invitation to join… Do you have any thoughts?”

I am grateful that the theater department is showing interest in me, but I had no intention of going on stage myself.

“… no.”

“Then, do you have a place in mind?”

“yes.”

I didn’t really have any plans until I parked the wagon by the river, but after that, Tricia gave me an opportunity, and I immediately made up my mind.

I’m going to the art department.

“okay. Then I will tell you that.”

Trisha held my arm tighter and continued.

“cold. Damian, why can’t you summon a fire spirit or something?”

“I can only summon it with the help of the spirit stone. I don’t have it now… It won’t work.”

“What is a spirit stone? Can’t we just try it? it’s so cold.”

“… .”

I’ve tried several times before when I was alone, but they all ended in failure. With my current abilities, it is impossible to simply summon them.

The moment I thought how nice it would be if the spirits could respond to my needs.

A red light shimmered in the air, and suddenly something appeared.

A baby bird with red feathers smaller than a fist.

It was definitely a fluid spirit that contracted with me.

The feeling of bewilderment was greater than joy.

“… Why is this?”

The fluid spirit flapped its wings in front of me, and instead of coming to its owner, it flew and landed on Trisha’s lap.

Trisha casually stroked the spirit with her finger.

“what. Why did you leave me when you were doing well? Is he your spirit? cute!”

“… .”

***

After arriving at the mansion, we took turns bathing in the hot water.

I entered the bath in the last turn. And there he called the spirit again. Surprisingly, the spirit responded to my call and appeared.

It didn’t come close to me, perhaps because it didn’t recognize me as its owner, but it was satisfying enough just to be able to summon it when it wanted.

Was Silverin’s training method really effective? I was just playing in the water.

Anyway, since I have confirmed that there are results in my training and that I can develop in the future, I feel a little hopeful.

As I wiped myself off, I felt my stomach once. The distorted scar clumsily clings to your hand. This scar had to be erased before Silverin came.

I must be really busy.

When I returned to my room after a long absence from the bath, I was faced with an embarrassing sight.

An uninvited guest was occupying my room first.

It was Trisha.

She was sitting in front of the fireplace in my white shirt.

Drawers and closets are wide open, as if a thief had arrived. The bathrobe Tricia should have been wearing was strewn about the floor like snake skin.

Her disguise was off, so her pure white hair hung down to the floor.

I asked Trisha.

“You gave me a guest room. Why are you here?”

She warmed up by the fireplace and said without looking back at me.

“You have nothing to wear.”

So I came to my room and searched for something useful, I mean.

“You should have asked the maid.”

“no. Why don’t we give our guests clothes that maids wear?”

“I didn’t say that it was okay to pretend to be the owner. go back. I have important work to do.”

“huh.”

Tricia snorts and doesn’t budge. why is he here again

“… .”

Looking closely, she was in my room doing eccentricities.

I was hanging a piece of white cloth on a poker and waving it over a campfire like I was grilling a skewer, but what was hanging was… It was Trisha’s underwear.

I rubbed my eyelids with one hand as if I had seen something I hadn’t seen.

“And what are you baking?”

“I’m drying my underwear. don’t worry. It’s clean because I washed it myself.”

“I wouldn’t have given you extra underwear. Why are you drying it now?”

“I can’t wear other people’s underwear. I mean, I hate it because it’s embarrassing. It has to be mine.”

“then… not.”

In an instant, all sorts of thoughts flooded my mind.

That means I’m not wearing anything underneath right now, but I’m going to turn around.

“You… … Is there no such thing as shame?”

“We live in the same dormitory anyway. You look at my underwear, and I see your underwear too. what about friends You live together.”

“Someone showed me all of my underwear.”

“I saw it in a book. In [Children of Wolves], Pavilis and Kaltz ran through the jungle in the rain in their underwear.”

It’s a novel I’ve read. It was a story about two ‘boys’ who grew up in a wild environment.

Trisha, you are a woman. we are civilized

I gave up on nagging more. It was because I thought that I might have acquired the knowledge about friendship through books because I had no friends.

I sighed and said.

“You don’t show this to other friends, do you?”

There will be quite a few camping days during the semester, but I am really worried.

“Of course not. I’m not the kind of person who opens up so easily. Kaltz and Pavilis grew up and left for the civilized world, but even after time passed, they only considered each other as true friends and hid their true identities from others.”

“… .”

“Even when Pavilis smuggled in, Caltz gave him his house and bed.”

“I can hear you growling in the guest room after seeing me.”

“Caltz is a civilized person, so he understands the way he speaks.”

“I am not a Caltz. Why do you covet my room and bed?”

“I’ve heated the whole room with a fireplace. When are you sitting like that again?”

“Still no. You go to the guest room.”

“… tooth.”

Trisha removed the steaming underwear from the poker and jumped straight into my bed.

“Then I’ll rest for a bit. does that work?”

“Ehh, yes.”

Trisha lingered for a while under the covers, feeling like she was wearing her underwear under it.

“Damian.”

“Why.”

Then, Trisha suddenly speaks in a calm tone.

“by the way… … What is this hair on the bed?”

“I asked you not to clean my room.”

“Not your hair. I mean red hair. very long It’s a woman’s hair.”

“… … … .”

heart sinks down ah… Didn’t you clean it up when you left for the dorm before?

I lied about it in moderation so as not to cause misunderstanding.

“Professor sometimes rests here. The professor’s room is so well lit by the moonlight that he can’t sleep. On those days, I sleep in the guest room.”

Why? Why does Silverin’s hair keep coming out of the bed… Actually I don’t know either.

When I woke up, sometimes Silverin’s hair was left on my bedside.

I just didn’t raise any questions because I could accept whatever Silverin did.

“yes? I wonder what kind of person your master will be.”

“You are a good person.”

“I want to meet you!”

“… I’ll introduce you when I get a chance.”

To introduce you is not sincere.

To be honest, I wish the two never met. Both of them have unpredictable personalities, so I didn’t think I could handle it.