My consciousness slowly comes back as I wake up from my sleep. With my eyes still shut, the first thing I notice is the sensation of having my face buried in a very comforting surface combined something wrapped around my body, impeding me from moving about. As I try to comprehend what the heck's happening, a nearby sound interrupts my thoughts.
"Hmmmm..."
What was that sound? Wait...
Recalling what happened last night, my body tenses up and I realize that my face is not buried in a pillow, but Rin's chest. She was still soundly sleeping while cuddling me and, from the looks of it, we stayed like this all night.
Wow, that really happened, didn't it?
Being in her arms brought a comfortable, warm and safe feeling to me, but also the need to badly move my limbs, which were tingling from the lack of movement. Even as she slept, Rin was still tightly holding me close to make sure I didn't escape; I couldn't even move my arms and nudge her awake like I had done yesterday.
As I laid there, thinking what to do, an idea came into my mind: I couldn't nudge her awake with my arms, but I could use my entire body! Or I could simply stay still and wait for her to wake up, but that wasn't really an option.
Gathering my inner strength, I start fidgeting my body with the energy of a moth caught in a bug zapper. It felt pretty weird vigorously rubbing my face against her chest, but such was the price of my freedom. After all, YOU CAN'T MAKE AN OMELETTE WITHOUT BREAKING A FEW EGGS!
... God, that phrase is so cheesy.
Rin's restraints on me becomes gradually looser as I move and I look up as soon as I'm able to, staring at her now half-open eyes. We exchange looks while I patiently let her take everything in completely.
"Mmmmhhhh... N-Naka... mura?" She asks, a bit less dazed.
"Hey there." Get ready, man. Here it comes. "Look, I know this is very weird, but I assure you I can- aaackmmmppphh!" Before I can finish my sentence, she embraces me again, burying my head in her chest.
"Nakamura, thank goodness I found you! Where have you been all this time?!" She says, completely relieved.
About... one-third of it by your side. "Well, it's kind of a long story." Is what I wanted to say, but it came all muffled instead.
"Oh, sorry about that." She lets go of me and backs away a bit, leaving me some much needed space to breathe.
"Alright." I breathe deeply. "This is going to take a while to explain, but can we get out of here first? This place's too stuffy."
"Uhh..." She looks at me, but is unable to give me an answer.
"Rin?"
"Hmmmm..." I hear that same sound from before.
Initially, I thought it was coming from Rin when she was asleep. Problem is, it wasn't. It was coming from behind me, which means she was staring in my direction, but not me specifically.
I blink a few times. OH SHIT.
Turning around in a flash, my heart beating like crazy, I come face to face with a little girl whose features make it really easy to identify her as a youkai; namely, a pair of horns on her head, a blue ribbon tied to the end of one of them. She was wearing a sleeveless pale pink blouse along with a purple and pink skirt that went down to her shins. Clutched in her hands was a weird looking container that I remembered seeing before. If I'm not mistaken, it was when I watched Naruto as a kid; There was that some creepy-looking guy that also used something similar to what she was holding. Thankfully, I wasn't about to find out if she could crush me with sand because she was sleeping like a log, a smile plastered on her face.
Still, it was pretty weird having her together with us. I mean, did she come here while I was sleeping? Because I don't remember seein- oh, wait. It was totally dark here at night. Um...
I would have heard her if she was around when we crawled down here, and Rin also wanted to be somewhere where there were only the two of us. By the way, she said that the others would try to take me away in my sleep. Was this girl one of them? She was really close to me and I hadn't moved too much up until now, which meant that I was probably sandwiched while sleeping; it would have felt way better if it wasn't for the fact that this girl was a complete stranger to me and that she was smelling of alcohol, too.
I turn to Rin and point a finger at the girl. "You know her?"
"No, I don't. Come on, let's get out of here." She says hastily while gently pulling me by the wrist.
"Hold on." I say as I grab my bag and put on my glasses. " 'kay, let's go."
We crawl our way out from under the shrine, leaving the girl sleeping alone. Our faces are bathed by the sunlight as we make it outside, making me shield my eyes with my hands.
"Where the heck are we?" Rin complains to herself while rubbing her forehead.
"The Hackery Shrine." I look at her, surprised. "Have you never been to this place?"
She lightly shakes her head. "No. How did we even get here?"
"I will fill you in on the way back... er, where are we going now?"
"Home. We really need to clean ourselves up and I'm starving here."
"Alright then, follow me. I know where the exit is." We make our way to the stairs. "So, what is the last thing you remember from yesterday?"
She thinks for a moment before answering. "Searching for you together with Keine; everything after that is a blur."
"There was a party here at the shrine and she told me she brought you here to chill out after the failed search because you were too distressed."
"Yeah, I remember that part, but why can't I remember what happened at the party?"
Okay, just put it as mildly as you can. "Well... you got pretty wasted." THAT'S NOT MILD AT ALL!
"Oh." She pulls the top part of her wrinkled dress and smells it. "That explains the stench... and the headache."
Makes me wish I had an ice-cold can of Coke with me so I could give it to her.
We reach the stairs and, after grabbing me by my sides, Rin takes flight, sparing me from having to go down them.
Man, do I missed this view.
Rin speaks up, catching my attention. "What happened during the party? Did I cause too much trouble there?"
I think as everything she did the night before comes to my mind. "Eh, not really."
"Are you sure about it?"
"Totally." Not after I joined you, that is. "You were just a bit loud and very clingy."
"W-what do you mean by 'clingy'?" She asks, the curiosity in her voice apparent.
"The usual stuff, you know..."
"No, I don't. Tell me." She flatly says.
"It is nothing you need to concern yourself with, ok? Let's just leave it at that."
Our movement comes to a halt as Rin abruptly stops going forward.
"Tell me." She says again an a more demanding but not menacing way.
"Okay, okay!" I concede to her. "Once you found me, you never left my side for a single moment; you just sat there, hugging my arm and drinking sake. When I stopped you from drinking, you made me feed you while you rested your head in my lap."
"Oh, uhhh, I... see. Is that... all that h-happened?" Rin nervously asks.
"Nope, when it was time to leave, I decided that having you fly me back home in the dark was too dangerous, so we found a place to sleep the night. Before going to sleep, you insisted that we cuddle for my safety, so we cuddled until a few moments ago."
"..."
For a moment, I hear no response from her and we just stand there, awkwardly hovering in the air. Had something happened to her? Did I do something that I shouldn't, or perhaps say something offensive to her? She's going to get angry at me, isn't she? Oh crap, now I've got it coming!
I slowly look up. "...Rin?"
"..." No response is given from her.
Great, now she's going to give me the cold shoul-
"Wha... What I... You- I- aahh!" She speaks up, but her words come out one on top of each other like an american football dog pile.
The kirin then looks down at me, our gazes meeting; her face was as red as the filling of a delicious cherry pie.
"Did we really do that?!" She frantically asks.
"Uh, yes, we did. You kept me close to you like a body pillow. Didn't you notice when you woke up?"
She thinks a bit before putting all the pieces together. "Ack, so that's why we were like that!" She breathes out heavily as she stares forward. "Oh, man..."
Uh-oh, she looks kinda down now. Maybe I should say something to cheer her up, but what? Hm... Got it!
"Hey, relax, okay? If it makes you feel better, cuddling you felt kinda nice."
My statement grabs her attention, making her stare at me in shock. "Huh?!"
"I mean, yeah, you forced me to do it, but it was really warm and comfortable; I even managed to sleep quite easily, too."
"D-don't just say it like that!"
Crap, did I read the situation wrong? "Uh, was I supposed to hate it or something?"
"No, you were... Jus-just change the subject already!"
"Look, I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomf-"
"Change it!" She cuts me off and goes back to flying forward, albeit quite faster than before.
"Okay, fine!" Come on, think about something else, quick!
I look down ahead of us and notice the Human Village coming closer.
Hey, that's right! "Do you mind if we stop by the village for a moment?"
"What for?"
"I will tell you later. Just take me there, please."
She ponders before giving me her answer. "Alright, but don't take too long."
I nod at her. "Thanks! It'll be quick, I promise."
She starts to lower our altitude until we land on a dirt path not too far from one of the gates and advance towards it. As we pass by the entrance, I give a lighthearted greeting to a pair of guards keeping watch, who opted to just stare at us instead of responding. After entering the village, we walk for a couple meters until we reach the post office and stop in front of it.
"Stay here for a moment. I'll be right back." I say to Rin and walk to the front door.
I grab the doorknob and open the door, just in time to face my boss as he's about to leave the building.
"Oh, good morning, boss!"
"Good morning, kid. Already here to report the delivery?"
I nod. "Yes, this one was way quicker than the last one. May I enter?"
He shrugs, turns around and walks inside. "Come in."
Reaching the front counter, I open my bag and hand him the clipboard. "There you go."
"So, how were things there? Did you manage to leave in one piece?" He asks as he checks it.
"There was a party there yesterday evening with lots of youkai, but everything went smoothly." Mostly.
"Good to know." He then shows the clipboard to me. "What is this random signature here?"
"The client's."
He then points at the one in the empty space. "And what about this one?"
"The person who I thought was the client."
"Oh, okay." He answers, then stops to think for a bit. "...wait, what do you mean?"
"I wasn't sure if I needed to deliver the package to the specific client or someone else staying with them, so I ended up asking for two signatures in the end." I look to my right and chuckle, embarassed. "What was I supposed to have done in that case?"
"Just getting one signature from one of the residents would have been more than enough; it's already dangerous enough walking to such a place." The elderly man shakes his head, disgruntled. "Imagine if the recipient wasn't there. What would you have done? Come back another day? We have better things to do with our time, you know!" He lectures me, the last part being said quite angrily.
"Oh, hm..." Taken aback by his tone, I find it hard to say something back. "Sounds like this has already caused trouble for you before."
"You don't know the half of it!" He shoots back, even more aggravated than before. "The rules say we have to deliver to the client and nobody else, but I've lost count of how many times I've had to redo my deliveries just because they weren't home! It was annoying, but I could manage it back when I was young." He slams the his open hands against his chest. "But do I look like I'm still in condition of doing that nowadays?!"
"Er..." I try to think of a way to answer without being rude.
"DO I?" He loudly presses me for an answer.
"N-no, sir!"
"Exactly! I'm too old to care about this shit and I've stopped caring a long time ago! Most of the damn rules we're expected to follow don't actually help anyone; they're only good at making our job even harder and slower! You should be grateful that I'm not making you follow them like my boss did to me when I was a trainee like you!"
Wow, he may be demanding but he's really reasonable and down-to-earth too.
"Is that why my job interview was fast and I was hired on the spot?"
He points at me with a serious look on his face. "Yes, and you better not tell anyone about this."
I raise my hands. "My lips are sealed."
"Good." He opens a drawer, pulls out an envelope, places a few bills inside it and gives it to me. "Now, here's your pay and let's get out of here before I end up having a heart attack."
"Hold on, aren't there any deliveries for me to do today?"
"No, we're closing early today and won't be opening tomorrow, so you have some much deserved time to rest. If you haven't noticed, I was about to leave when you showed up, now let's get out of here already."
"Wait, I still have to get my backpack!"
He facepalms, "Oh, for the love of- wait here." and then enters the back room, only to return with my backpack on his hands.
"There." He quickly gives it to me and starts to push me towards the front door. "Now let's go, comeoncomeoncomeon."
Once we get out, he locks the front door. "See you in a few days, kid. Rest well and have a nice day."
"You too, boss!" I say as he's already walking away.
Jesus, that guy needs to take some relaxation therapy classes, or get some scented candles, or take a nice herbal bath... or smoke some weed, I don't know. I hope this job doesn't leave me stressed like him...
I look around and notice that Rin was still standing there, waiting for me.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." I walk up to her.
"Did something serious happen to you?"
"Nothing major, why?"
"I don't know, that man seemed so... confrontational." She worriedly looks at my boss as he walks off.
"Oh, that. Relax, he's a nice person." I extend the envelope to her with both my hands. "Anyway, look at what I got!"
"Hm? What's that?" She takes and unfolds it, revealing the contents inside. "Where'd you get this money?"
"Remember when, at some point, you came back here to pick me up, but couldn't find me anywhere?"
"What about it?"
I point to the post office behind me with my thumb. "Well... I managed to get a job here! That, and I got some money for us."
She nervously looks to my side, unable to make eye contact with me. "Uh... I DID tell you that I hardly ever use money, right?"
"I know, but I..." I stop for a moment to think of a good way to phrase it. "I wanted to show you how grateful I am for all you've done for me so far, and that was the only thing that came to my mind."
"Hmm, I see." She stares at the opened envelope.
Hearing her less-than-enthusiastic response, my mood deflates rather quickly as my expectations are crushed. I had gone through so much for that money and was hoping it would all pay off, yet Rin was not happy with that in the least. Granted, she didn't have the obligation of having her mind blown or anything, but taking into consideration the fact that I didn't have much else going on for me and all the effort I put into it, I was expecting a little more out of her. Was it selfish of me for feeling like that? I didn't know for sure, but that was how I felt in the end.
Geez, don't be so surprised...
"...I guess you can't have too much money. Thanks for that." She folds it, puts it inside one of her pockets and gives me a smile.
"You're welcome." I try my best to answer her in a normal way, but deep down, the damage was already done.
"Is there anything else you want to do here?"
"No, let's just go home."
We exit the village and take off to the sky, Rin's home being our destination. To make sure my backpack doesn't accidentally slip from my hands, I wear it in my front. After a while flying, she lowers me down as we near her house until we land in front of her doorstep. Once she unlocks the door, we step inside.
Phew, it's been a while.
Rin turns to me in the middle of the room. "Is it okay for me to shower or do you want to go first?"
I shake my head. "Go ahead. I'll organize my stuff in the meantime."
"Right." She walks into my, or rather, her bedroom and comes out with a change of clothes and a towel, then wastes no time in walking to the bathroom.
I go to the bedroom and, since I would be taking a bath soon, sit on the ground with both bags and start sorting out my belongings.
Okay, the new clothes and underwear comes first.
I take the jinbei and fundoshi I bought at the village and put them all on top of the bed.
Hey, there's my toothbrush too.
I open my messenger bag and grab it and my T-shirt; the former joins the others and the latter, being all sweaty, stays on the ground by my side.
Now, onto my electronics.
There actually wasn't much to do about them; they all were where I wanted them to be, except my cellphone, which I connected to my solar charger and put under the light coming out of the bedroom window.
As for my documents and pocket knife, do I even need them?
I grab my wallet, put the remaining money inside it and put it back in the backpack along with the pocket knife.
There, all done.
All I had to do now was to wait for Rin to finish using the bathroom. As I'm sitting on the ground waiting for my turn, a random thought comes into my mind: I had forgotten to talk to Keine. Again. Mentally kicking myself, I rip a blank page out of my notebook and grab a pen and start writing on it; about how I'd gone to the Forest of Magic, found the house and its owner, who didn't seem to be alive anymore but was still moving by the time I'd found him and about the close encounter with the strange figure wandering the woods.
After I'm done writing it, I fold it a few times and place it in my pocket just in time to see Rin appear in the doorway.
"There, you can go now. Just leave your dirty clothes on a corner after you're done; I'll deal with them later." She points to the now vacant bathroom.
" 'Kay." I grab my change of clothes along with my toothbrush and go take a much needed bath.
I walk into the kitchen, feeling completely refreshed and clean. Rin was standing at the sink, watching water coming from the faucet slowly fill a metal pot.
"Hm?" She turns to look at me. "Yes, please. There are a few peeled vegetables on the table; you can slice them while I heat the water."
I walk to the table and get to work. Given that the pot was kinda big in size, it would take a while for the water to start boiling; that allowed me to take my time cutting them.
"What are you going to make this time?" I stop cutting to briefly look at her.
"Just a vegetable soup, nothing special." She closes the faucet just as the pot is half full, or half empty, or anything that indicates that one half of it is filled by water and the other by air, lifts it, and places it on top of the unlit wood-burning stove.
I quickly turn back and resume my task.
"By the way, what was that bag you were carrying with you earlier?" She asks me as I have my eyes fixed on the cutting board.
"I got it when I was hired. I use it to do my deliveries."
"I know that. I'm talking about the other one; the black one with two straps."
"That's the bag I had with me before coming here; I used to use it to carry my books around."
"Where did you manage to get it? Was it far from here?"
"Yes, it was. I got it in the Forest of Magic."
"Y-you... what?!" My response makes her stutter in disbelief. "You went there?! Why would you do that?! That place is dangerous!"
Crud, shouldn't have said that. Here it comes...
"I had to deliver something to a person living there; it was only this one time, relax." I brush off her remark and to reassure her.
"What if something happened to you there?"
"Don't worry, everything turned out fine in the end." I answer her, starting to get annoyed at her overreacting.
"But what if it didn't?! You could end up injured or worse!"
"I KNOW that, Rin; I was there." I mentally sigh as I cut the vegetables, noticing myself gradually applying more force when pushing the knife down.
I hear the sound of footsteps and, from my peripheral vision, I see her walk to my side, standing within arm's reach of me. "Don't do that ever again without telling me, understood?"
"Yeah, yeah, I GET IT." By this point, I'm just staring at the cutting board, waiting for her to change the subject and leave me alone already. After what happened at the village, my mood wasn't at its brightest and I just wanted her to forget it and move on so I could do my damn work.
"Please, look me in the eyes when you say that, Nakamura."
Oh, you've got to be fucking...!
Sighing audibly, my temper really close to blowing up like an unsafe pressure cooker, I put the knife aside, almost slamming it on the table, and then turn to her, a scowling expression on my face.
Goddammit, Rin, can't you just CAN IT ALrea... dy...
...
...
When I turned to her to repeat myself, really close to verbally lashing out at her, our gazes met, and what I saw was not something I expected to see at all.
Rin...
She was standing there staring at me, not with anger, not with disbelief, not with seriousness, but with... sadness. Just sadness. Her body expression wasn't showing any fear and, considering how strong she was, being a youkai, she could beaten me up pretty bad for giving her attitude. She had all the liberty to do it. She didn't have the obligation to provide for me and she owed nothing to me. Really, she could have done whatever she wanted to me and I wouldn't be able to stop her! Nevertheless, all she was doing was to stare silently at me, visibly worried and hurt at my actions; she wasn't even close to crying, but her tears weren't needed for me to realize what I was doing.
...Why? Why was she just standing there, not doing anything?
She didn't deserve any of this.
But I was still doing it.
I was being harsh and rude to her.
... and because of what?
Because I couldn't help... enough...?
...
What am I doing? Just what the hell am I doing?
"... e-excuse me..." I say as I avert my gaze from her, the feeling of shame having extinguished any semblance of anger I had before. Not a single trace of it remained inside me; shame and guilt was all that I had.
After entering her bedroom and closing the door without making noise, I sit on the bed to take a breather and mentally bash myself while I'm at it.
Losing your temper with her when she was just worrying about you... Yeah, fat lot of good you did there, shithead.
I deeply inhale through my nose and then exhale through my mouth, trying to clear my mind. It didn't seem to work at the beginning, but as I kept doing it over and over, I could feel myself calming down.
Okay, okay, relax. When you see her again, just sincerely ask for forgiveness. She'll forgive you... probably.
I sat there emptying my thoughts until I was ready. With my mind cleared, but still bad, I stand up and go open the door when a few knocks make me stop in my tracks.
"Naka? Are you there?" It was Rin on the other side.
"Yeah, I am. Can you come inside for a moment? I gotta talk to you." I answer her, ignoring a bitter feeling in my chest.
The door slowly opens and she peeks inside, seeing me awkwardly standing beside the bed.
I motion for her to come over. "O-over here..."
She slowly opens the door and approaches me. Now close to her, I swallow a knot stuck in my throat and speak up, "Look, it was really wrong of me to talk to you like I did before and I'm really sorry for it." then bow apologetically. "Please, forgive me!"
She stays silent for a while before speaking up. "Are you really sorry?"
"Yes, totally!"
"Hmm, I don't knooow..." She ponders. Meanwhile, I'm nervously waiting for her answer with my eyes closed.
"Okay, fine. I'll forgive you." She casually gives her answer.
I raise my head and look up at her, surprised. "R-really?!"
"Only if you never do this again, though."
"Won't happen again, promise!"
"Good. Now, come here." She then gently makes me sit on the bed by her side. "What you did earlier... Was it because of what happened back at the village?"
I nod, surprised at how easily she guessed it. "Yes, actually. How did you know?"
"Didn't you notice? It was written all over your face."
"It was, huh?" I stare at the ground. She wasn't the only one to notice that. I already knew from past situations that hiding my emotions and feelings from others was never my forte.
As I'm lost in my thoughts, she tenderly embraces me, taking me by surprise. "Look, it's really sweet of you to try and help me as much as you can, but you don't need to try so hard."
I look to my side, my hands grasping one of her arms. "Is that so?How can I help you then?"
"Just staying at my side keeping me company goes a long way." She says while resting her head on my shoulder.
"Really? Is that all?" She just wants someone to talk to her? C'mon, there must be SOMETHING else she wants...
"Let's see..." She turns her head to look at me, her eyes meeting mine. "You could also help me with the household chores, too. I'd really appreciate that."
Eh, it's not like I wasn't doing that to begin with. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind."
"Good, good..." She narrows her eyes at me while smiling.
Knowing that everything between us was all nice and peachy again took a huge weight off my chest; I was really blessed to have her by my side in a time like this and lucky for being forgiven so easily, and staying close to her like that... Not something I'm used to, but it felt nice nonetheless. It was kinda awkward for me to turn my upper body and return the hug, so I settled with lightly resting my head on top of hers.
I wouldn't mind staying like that for a while, but... isn't there something we're forgetting?
...
Oh, that's right. "Hey, Rin."
"Hm?"
"Isn't the water already boiling?"
...
"Ah!" She swiftly breaks the hug and jumps off the bed, almost tripping while frantically pacing through the door, "I totally forgot about that!" and then calls out to me from the kitchen once she gets there. "Come here too! You haven't finished cutting the vegetables!"
"Sure, sure." I chuckle as I get up and go join her.
After having a meal consisting only of a warm and simple, but delicious vegetable soup, I proceed to wash the kitchen utensils in the sink while Rin sits at the table.
"Hey, thanks for the food; it tasted really good." I put a clean bow away to dry.
"I'm glad you like it." She says, leaning on her elbow while holding her forehead. "Sorry for not preparing anything more elaborate this time; it would have been annoying with this headache I'm having right now."
That's right, she's got a hangover, yet she still made lunch for us. And I still was giving her- no, I gotta stop with those thoughts. She forgave me and it's all cool between us now; there's no reason to feel bad about it anymore.
I turn around and lean back on the sink, placing my hands on top of it. "Er, does it hurt too much?"
She shakes her head, still looking at the tabletop. "Don't worry, I can handle it."
"Hmm, alright. Just don't push yourself too hard." It's kinda obvious that she can handle it, but isn't there anything I can do to help? Oh, I got it! "Hey, how about I make some tea for you? That would make you feel better, wouldn't it?"
"That... would be very good, I think. Would you do that for me?"
"Sure, just hang in there!" I reply enthusiastically. "It'll be done in no time! Where's the kettle?"
"Inside the lower part of the cabinet beside the sink."
After getting an iron kettle from it, I fill it with water from the faucet and put it on top of the stove.
Good, now I just gotta- oh crap, this stove uses wood as fuel, not gas. I can't just light it like I did back at home. Uh, let's see...
I open the faucet at the sink, wet my hand and bring it to the top of the metal plates on the stove, letting a few droplets of water drip on them. They sizzle and evaporate as soon as they come into contact, meaning the remaining firewood inside the stove hadn't gone cold yet; it would have taken way longer to heat the water if it was. To make sure the fire is strong enough, I grab a bunch of thin pieces of firewood from a box near a corner and put them inside the stove to amp up the heat.
Okay, the water's set for now.
"Where are the tea leaves?"
"Inside a box in the cupboard above the stove."
After grabbing it, I put it on the table and remove the lid, revealing a small assortment of leaves. I push it closer to her. "Here, pick the one you want." She'll be the one drinking it, after all.
"Thanks." She grabs it and searches for a bit before pulling out a small paper bag containing small pieces of green leaves.
"All that's left to do is to wait for the water to heat up." I pull one of the chairs and sit across from Rin.
"Good, let's talk while we wait then." She closes the box and pushes it towards the center.
I think of a topic to discuss with her, 'tea' being the first thing coming to mind. "So, uh, what kind of leaves are those?"
"Green tea leaves. Have you tasted it before?"
"Yes. Only a bit, though."
"Would you like to have some later, too? I've got more leaves here with me." She reaches out to grab the box again.
"No, thanks. I'm good." Chuckling a bit, I wave both my hands while politely declining her offer.
Hearing my answer, she pulls her hand back. "Oh, okay then. Do you not like drinking tea?"
"It's not that I don't like it, I just don't make a habit out of it, not anymore."
That last statement of mine seems to pique her interest "Hm? Did you use to drink tea?"
I nod once. "Back when I was a kid, yes. My mother used to give me black tea to drink for breakfast before school. Have you ever drank black tea before?"
She shakes her head. "Never. What taste does it have?"
"It's been years since I last drank it, but if I remember correctly..." I focus and try to reminisce about its taste, which is a bit hard to do, not because I can't remember it, but because it's easier to use something else to compare it to. Only problem is, nothing comes to my mind; that is, until I remember that we've both drank green tea before.
"The flavor is stronger when compared to green tea. The ones my mother used to buy also had a fruity scent and tasted a bit sweeter."
"A fruity scent? I bet it tasted really good."
"I liked it, and I'm pretty sure you would too. We should go to the village; maybe they sell it there."
"Yes, sounds like a good plan." She then turns her head to the stove. "Can you check the water, please?"
I get up from the table and go check it. A small cloud of steam rises as I quickly remove the kettle's lid as to not burn my hand. At the bottom of it, small bubbles had already started to form.
"It looks really hot, but it's not boiling yet." I say as I stare at it, the rising vapor slightly fogging my glasses.
"Perfect. Bring it here, then."
I grab it by the handle and, after lifting it, bring it to her, also supporting it from below with a cloth for good measure.
"Here." I slowly set it on the table, making sure to put the cloth in between the to as to not damage the wood. "Doesn't the water need to be boiling?"
"Not really. The water has to be hot, but not THAT hot." She says while carefully pouring some in her cup. "In fact, it will lose a lot of its flavor if you use boiling water."
"Huh. Didn't know about that one." I say as I watch the water level slowly approach the rim of the cup, stopping just short of it.
She sets the kettle down on the cloth. "Do you need to use boiling water to brew black tea, by any chance?"
"Yeah. That's how I think my mother used to do it, at least." Now that I think about it, did I ever brew tea before?. "How long until the tea's ready to drink?"
"Just a few minutes; it won't take too long." She fiddles a bit with the empty paper bag.
"Alright, let me check something then. I'll be right back." I start to get up from the table.
"Is it something important?"
"No, it's just my phone. I left it charging before taking a bath and I'm going to see how much power it has now."
"Your... foene?" She looks at me in confusion. "What is that?"
Wait, she doesn't know what it is? "It's a device I've got. I'll show it to you, just wait here." I hurriedly hurriedly walk away.
Inside the bedroom, I walk up to where I last left my phone to charge. The trail of light had moved to the right, but not enough to be out of the solar charger's way. I disconnect my phone from it and go back to the kitchen, turning on my phone as I walk.
"I'm back, sorry to keep you waiting." I sit back down on the chair and put it on top of the table.
"Is that the foene you were talking about?" She reaches out and grabs it, carefully studying every single detail. As she's doing so, the screen suddenly lights up, making her flinch. "Ahh! D-did I do something?!"
I shake my head, a bit amused at her reaction. "Nah, it just started up. Can I borrow it for a moment?"
She hands it to me and I enter the password, unlocking it. With a quick glance at the battery meter, I notice that, unfortunately, it's not even close to ten percent, which is to be expected; it was left to charge for a brief time, and with a solar charger at that.
As I'm staring at the screen, I hear Rin's voice. "So, what does it do?"
"Uh, its original purpose is to communicate with other people; I could talk to someone at the village if I wanted to. Granted, they would need to have a phone too."
"Wait, you mean, like, having a normal conversation with someone there as if they were here in this very room?"
I only give her a nod. "Spot on."
Her eyes widen a bit as she stares at the device in my hands. "Oh, that's... wow. Can it... do anything else?"
"Actually, yes! The first phones created could only make calls, but that was a long time ago and we've improved a lot ever since." It would be hard to explain the concept of internet and GPS to her, so I should use easier examples. "This model's not the most recent, but it can still do a lot of things, like take pictures, record sounds, write and send letters, be used as a flashlight, or even tell the time!"
"A-all inside this little thing?!" She comically blurts out while pointing at it.
I flash her a grin. "You bet, and trust me when I say that I could do so much more if I was at home. It's out of this world, really." And maybe literally.
She can only stare at me in shock before slowly brings her hand to her forehead and staring out the window, a shocked expression etched on her face. "... happen... outside..." is all I'm able to hear from her muttering.
"Er, sorry, what was that?" I ask her, thinking she was talking to me.
My voice pulls her out of her stupor as she looks back at me again. "Ah, uh, nothing important." She takes a quick look at her cup of tea, "Oh, look, the tea's ready." takes a sip from it, and then holds it out to me. "Would you like to try it?"
"I'm good, thanks."
She then kept slowly drinking her tea while I leaned back on my chair and relaxed, and, after finishing it, asked what was I going to do; I replied that I would stay in the kitchen chilling out a bit longer, so she excused herself to go take a nap in her bedroom, leaving me alone.
...
Alone, huh?
...
Perfect.
I wait a few minutes at the table before silently getting up and making my way to the bathroom. Inside it, I get on my knees, close my eyes, and, with a deep breath, try to clear my mind.
...Here am I, my Lord.
Thank your for this blessed day, for all the blessing and hardships given unto me, for providing me with strength to carry on despite having my life flipped turned upside down, and for... everything, I guess?
Please, have mercy and forgive me for sinning against You; take my sins and purge them from me, make me righteous in your eyes once again.
Bless the life of my friends and family back home, those who don't have You in their hearts; of my friend Rin, who has given me shelter and worked so hard to make ends meet, of everyone I've met so far and am still going to meet, of everyone at the village... Extend your grace and mercy to us all.
Renew my strength, take away my worries and bring me true peace of mind. Help me better myself each day so I can live a life in accordance to Jesus' teachings. Thank you, Lord, for everything you've done up until now; Praised be your name for eternity, in the name of Jesus. Amem.
As I stood kneeled there, a warm and pleasant sensation could be felt entering my body, much like a cup of hot cocoa in a freezing night; even after I was done, I stayed there a while longer, basking in His presence.
I slowly and awkwardly get up, my ankles and knees creaking from kneeling for too long and go back to the kitchen; there, everything is totally quiet. Taking a quick look around, I notice the cup Rin had used to drink her tea was still on the table, unwashed. I take it to the sink and thoroughly wash it. That being done I go back to the bedroom, where Rin was sleeping peacefully, and plug my cellphone to the solar charger and leave the latter under the tunnel of light.
With that out of the way, there was... nothing else for me to do at the moment. Like, everything was done, and I didn't feel like I had forgotten something. What could I do now? Surely there was a way to pass the time, right?
...
I'll just play some Azure Striker Gunvolt on my 2DS.
Defective Author's note: Alright, another chapter done, and it took less than three months this time! Good, now all I have to do is keep up the pace. This chapter is kinda uneventful, but I feel things should be a bit calmer after the last one; originally, I was close to finishing and releasing it on the 17th, but there was an unexpected problem with my laptop a few days before. My screen went crazy: it starts jittering for 3 seconds, then goes back to normal for 2 seconds, and then repeats the cycle). Anyway, that sucked really hard, so I took it to be repaired.
Good news: it's just the... "flat", I think it's called (a wire connecting the screen to the motherboard or something), that's almost snapping and causing all this literal headache as I type this. Ugh, make it stop. Oh, I can also afford replacing it, no problem, which is nice.
Bad news: They didn't have a replacement and will have to order a new one, which will arrive on the 25th, and I don't think I can start writing on it until then. Because of that, I have only proofread the chapter a bit and will post it as-is, only making necessary adjustments once all this is solved. Really sorry about that.
But seriously. This is the first time I've had to take this laptop of mine to be repaired and I've had it since early 2015! That, and it only went BSOD once, and it was because I tried running Hearthstone while playing a Youtube video on full screen, of all things! It's kind of slow and my friends poke fun at me sometimes for not buying a new one, but what can I say? I really like this one and I only plan on switching to a new one once Windows 8.1's extended support expires (early 2023). It works for me, so there's no reason to retire it for now.
Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. Thank you, especially if you've read everything up until now, and have a nice day!
Repaired update: Got my laptop back yesterday (the 5th of July), and it turns out the problem was the screen. In the end, they got it replaced and I didn't have to pay for the flat that got ordered. Now, with that out of the way, let's start the engines and get this story back on track! ...Although my finals are one week from now, so I'll take it easy on the next chapter until then. Yeah.
Writing start date: 19/04/19
Writing finish date: 20/06/19
Post date: 22/06/19
Total number of words in this chapter: 7825
