Apprentice Shrine Maiden Volume 2 (Premium)

by Miya Kazuki

  ...What? Myne’s heartbeat suddenly shot up in speed. A cold sweat ran down her back and the blood was draining from her face. Myne’s heart was enveloped in stress, anxiety, and fear. And yet deep inside there was also happiness and nostalgia swelling together in anticipation. Her storm of emotions hit Ferdinand so hard his head spun.

  “What is wrong, Myne? Did something happen?”

  “This is my home’s living room. It’s so nostalgic it... it just kind of hurts.” Myne spoke in a raspy voice while clutching her chest. Ferdinand could tell she was close to tears.

  He had mostly ignored it the first time she said it, since her attention was so focused on books, but Myne had said that she had become Myne in his world after dying here. In which case, it made sense that returning to her old home would be emotional. However, he couldn’t allow himself to be dragged around forever by Myne’s emotions.

  Ferdinand coughed to focus himself, then spoke to Myne. “That shelf has quite a lot of things on it. What are they?”

  “...That’s my mom’s arts and crafts. She’s curious about everything, but she gives up fast, so she would always make one or two of something then start charging ahead onto her next thing. Even though she’s not good enough to make anything that great without practicing more...”

  So she said, but Myne lovingly reached out to touch them in a way that belied her dismissive words. “This is a (coaster) made from lace and this is a hairpin. The Gilberta Company is actually selling these hairpins as a product now. The fancy hair stick I made was based on this style.”

  Ferdinand remembered the hair stick Myne had worn when assisting the Knight’s Order. Hers was of a higher quality, but it did resemble the hairpin on the shelf.

  “These baskets were woven from (ad pamphlets) that were rolled up into sticks. The experience of making it really came in handy when I made baskets for winter handiwork. I made the bag I always carry around the same way. But Mom got bored halfway through, so I had to finish it.” Myne pointed at the basket with pursed lips.

  “These are doll clothes and stuffed animals, though I know they all look pretty bad. The white and round one was supposed to be a (snowman), but she only ever finished the head. Here’s a piece of (cross-stitch) art she never finished, a (patchwork) tapestry...”

  The unshapely basket seemed to be storage for all sorts of unfinished things, which Myne took out one by one while thinking about the past. Their surroundings changed with each one, taking them through time and place where a black-haired woman was either encouraging Myne to do something or giving up on something. That black-haired woman was likely Myne’s previous mother.

  “This art is the same way,” said Myne as she left the room and entered a narrow hall. She touched some rectangular thing, and suddenly the hall lit up.

  “What in the?!”

  “Oh, that was (electricity). It’s the same thing you saw in the bookstore.” Myne looked up and pointed at a white light much smaller than what he had seen before. Something similar to mana must have been coursing through the rectangle.

  The now-bright hall had many pieces of art hanging from the walls. Each was clumsily made, enough that Ferdinand could agree with Myne calling her mom not very good.

  “They’re all over the place, aren’t they? There’s (watercolor), (oil paintings), and a (nihonga) she made after saying the other paintings weren’t good because of the materials. She ended up trying to simplify with (colored pencils), but ultimately just gave up on art altogether. She went for (calligraphy) next, since she thought just letters would be manageable. She brought me with her to tea ceremonies and flower arranging, saying I would need the experience for when I became a bride. Though she always gave up first and stopped going to classes.”

  Myne laughed and wiped away tears from beneath her eyes. Ferdinand could feel the indescribable nostalgia and love brimming within her chest. They were feelings that he, estranged from his family as he was, did not know for himself.

  “There was a time when we tried making everything ourselves to save money and be more in tune with nature. She got so into it I sometimes wished she would just leave me alone, but... it’s thanks to her dragging me around that I can live as Myne now.”

  According to her, she had first made the rinsham, soap, hide glue, ink, and so on here. Tears welled up in her eyes as she spoke, distorting her vision.

  “I’m sorry, High Priest. It’s just been so long...” Myne put a hand beneath her eyes as she ran into a small room. She picked up a soft, fluffy piece of cloth and stood in front of a porcelain bowl buried in a cabinet with a metal rod sticking out of it. She then grabbed onto a roundish handle stuck on the metal rod and twisted it.

  “What?! Water?!” Water burst out of the metal rod. Myne washed her face and wiped it dry with the soft cloth. It seemed that the soft cloth was used in the same way as towels were.

  ...The cloth certainly is nice to the touch. If only we could bring it back.

  “Myne, what manner of room is this?”

  “It’s a (washroom). The bathtub’s over there. The long snake-like thing is a (shower).” The second Myne said that, they were inside the bathtub, now filled with sweet-smelling water. Flashes of bare skin peeked above the milky white hot water as she happily splashed the water onto herself with no regard to how Ferdinand might feel about that.

  “Wow! A bath! (Bath salts) smell so nice. I used to love this (peach) smell.”

  “Have you no shame, fool?! Where has your chaste heart as a woman, as a proper lady, gone?!” yelled Ferdinand, unable to look away due to their minds being synchronized. But Myne just shrugged while happily washing her face in the hot water.

  “Don’t worry, I don’t mind. I threw away all my shame by day three of living as Myne. You don’t need to worry about it either. I’m a kid, there’s nothing embarrassing about it.”

  During her first three days of living as Myne, she had been forcibly changed by a man who she had not yet accepted as her father. No matter how much she wailed or cried in embarrassment, nothing changed. She had to accept her situation, and that was the day her sense of shame died.

  “I am not your father!”

  “Neither was he back then. Why do you care, High Priest? Surely you don’t think anything of a little girl like me. It’s not a problem.” So she said, but there was a big difference between Ferdinand thinking nothing of her body and her bathing in front of him without a care in the world. He had not expected her to lack shame as much as she lacked caution.

  “I feel more worry for your lack of shame than anything else!”

  “I’m sure I’ll get my sense of shame back when I’m older. Surely.”

  Myne left the bathtub and began washing her hair while humming. She was enveloped in strong-smelling bubbles.

  “Aaah, so many bubbles! I love it! They feel so good!” Myne reached for what she called a shower while trembling with bliss and satisfaction. She pulled it this way and water sprayed out of it like rain.

  “Nghaaah?!”

  “This will wash away the bubbles.” Myne used the shower to wash the bubbles out of her hair. Ferdinand had thought it curious that she would bathe without attendants, but now he knew that one did not need attendants to clean oneself here.

  “No matter how much you wash here, it won’t change anything in reality.”

  “It’ll definitely improve my mood, though. Tralalalaaa.” After finishing her hair, Myne washed her body with soap that smelled of honey. Its texture, smell, and bubble production seemed to surpass even the soap used by royalty.

  Upon finishing cleaning her body and washing everything off with water, Myne’s heart was filled with utter satisfaction.

  “You seem to be quite satisfied, Myne, but I would like to move on from this already.”

  Their surroundings morphed such that they were standing in front of the same white tub as before. Myne took something unusual off a nearby shelf. It was blue and glossy, but Ferdinand could not determine what it was made of. It w
asn’t made of metal, which left nothing he could think of. Myne moved her finger and it suddenly began making a loud, aggravating whirring sound. Air hot enough to scorch the skin blew out of it at the same time.

  “What in the world is that?!”

  “A hair dryer.”

  The washroom even contained an expensive mirror. It seemed that Myne was the daughter of a higher class noble than he had expected.

  “High Priest, this is a (rubber) hair tie, and it bundles up hair like this.” Myne, having at some point put away the noisy dryer thing, began somehow stretching and shrinking a “rubber” hair tie. “Do you know of anything that can stretch and shrink like this?”

  “...Nothing close to Ehrenfest. I seem to recall that gumka bark felt similar to this.”

  “But it does exist?! Where?! How much will it cost to import?” Her train of thought was the very image of a merchant’s.

  Ferdinand, seeing Myne attempting to invent a new product in real time, let out a sigh. She was doubtlessly inventing so many new things while attempting to reproduce what she was familiar with from this world. It was easy to imagine how hard she had to fight just to find the proper materials.

  “Unfortunately, gumka are located far too north, and as they are a feytree they must be defeated in combat to acquire their bark. They contain mana like trombes, although they are fought with different methods.”

  “Trombes, huh...” said Myne sadly as she loosely bundled up her long, night-sky-colored hair. Ferdinand was so used to her bundling her hair with a stick that the hair tie felt wrong to him.

  “You aren’t using a hair stick?”

  “Aaah, I only made a hair stick because I had no other options. I wouldn’t wear a hair stick here unless I was wearing a formal Japanese dress. Mmm, I guess that would be Coming of Age Day here?”

  Myne searched through her memories, and their surroundings changed to the middle of a snowy day with cold wind blowing. There was a large crowd of young people wearing garishly colored outfits Ferdinand had not seen before. Since she called this Coming of Age Day, he could guess that this was something similar to the Royal Academy’s graduation ceremony. Judging by how beautiful the clothing was and how long the sleeves and hems were, this was no doubt a gathering of nobles.

  “The embroidery I used for my ceremonial robes was actually based on a common pattern on clothing here, known as the (ryuusuimon).”

  “Ah, I see. It does look familiar.” A nearby woman wearing a hairpin much more fancy than Myne’s hair stick had on a red dress with wavy water and flowers similar to what were on Myne’s ceremonial robes.

  “Myne, is that embroidery?”

  “Umm, parts of a long-sleeved (kimono) might be embroidery, but it’s not common for all of a design to be embroidered. With (yuuzen) dyeing, we can draw directly on the cloth.”

  “Directly onto the cloth? But how?” Ferdinand could only imagine the pigments seeping into the cloth and spoiling them both.

  “...Does that not exist in the Noble’s Quarter either?”

  “We change the colors of thread when sewing and embroidering, but I do not know of anything drawing directly onto cloth.”

  “Oooh, interesting. Benno should make good money from it, then.” Myne laughed, her mind already filled with profit calculations.

  “I see. You are worth as much as the knowledge you have brought with you from here.”

  “Most of the things I’ve made are stuff my mom taught me, though.” Myne giggled as she returned to the hall and opened a different door. Inside was a strange room filled with things Ferdinand had never seen before.

  “This is our kitchen. We make food and eat it over there. And this is a (gas stove). All you have to do is press this to make fire pop up. Convenient, right?” Myne pressed an oddly designed square and fire appeared with a pop. The blue flame wavered in place. It seemed that the fire in this world was blue. But the strangest thing of all was that the fire didn’t disappear after Myne pulled her hand back. It was easy to start a fire with magic, but to keep it burning you would need wood or a large quantity of mana.

  As Ferdinand metaphorically widened his eyes in surprise at the fire being lit without any firewood or mana, Myne pushed the button again. That made the fire disappear instantaneously, as if it had never existed at all.

  “...Myne, what is that large white box?”

  “That’s a (refrigerator). It keeps food inside of it cold, so it doesn’t go bad as fast.” Myne opened the door and cold air came flowing out. Ferdinand couldn’t recognize any of the colorful things inside, but as he was familiar with the principle of preserving food in the cold, the fridge didn’t surprise him as much as the gas stove did. It was really just the small size of the fridge that impressed him.

  “Aaah, an ice house.”

  “Wait, you have a (refrigerator)?”

  “You did not know? The temple has an ice house larger than this room. Fran should be using it frequently.”

  “I thought it was weird that you always had more kinds of milk whenever visitors came, but I never thought it was coming from a (refrigerator). If only I had known,” said Myne, getting blatantly depressed. “I could have made more kinds of food.”

  Ferdinand had heard about what food Myne ate from Fran, and although he didn’t understand most of it from description alone, he recalled that there was great variety. She intended to introduce even more variety?

  “...I have heard that many different kinds of food are served in your chambers. Is that all food from here as well?”

  “That’s right. I’ve been trying to recreate the western food here as much as possible... Oh, I wonder if the food here will taste as good as I remember?! Should I try it? I feel like I’m kind of hungry.”

  Myne’s excitement soared and she looked around her. Then, she remembered something, and their surroundings changed again. They were in the same room, but they were facing a different direction, and there was clattering behind them.

  “Hurry and eat if you’re hungry. I can’t clean up until you’re finished, remember?” They suddenly heard a woman call out from behind them. Myne’s heart jumped and she froze up, going still like a block of stone. The fact that the woman’s tone felt soft despite her chastising was likely due to Myne’s emotional state.

  Myne turned around, clenching a shaking fist tightly, and they both saw a black-haired woman setting plates on a table—the same black-haired woman that had been appearing in Myne’s memories.

  “...Mom.”

  “I made your favorite tonight. You should eat it before it gets cold.”

  Myne gave a small nod and headed for the table, which was big enough to sit four people. The kitchen had lacked any such table moments ago, but Myne’s memories were reproducing the table and a full meal on top of it. The food was so nostalgic that Myne’s eyes got wet just from looking at it, but Ferdinand couldn’t recognize anything. It was mostly black and brown, nothing that looked tasty to him.

  “Is this truly food, Myne?”

  “Yes. It’s everything I’ve been wanting to eat. There’s fresh white (rice), there’s (miso soup) with (tofu) and (wakame seaweed), garnished with plenty of (scallions). There’s yellow (teriyaki), and my mom’s meat and potato stew with (hijiki). There’s also my mom’s (pickled vegetables).” Myne inhaled deeply to enjoy the full flavor of her home’s food, then quietly clasped her hands with wet eyes. She then lowered her head reverently.

  “I’m home.” That short phrase was all it took for Myne’s heart to be filled with so much warmth and gratitude that it hurt. The moment she dexterously used two red-tipped sticks to bring a bite of food to her mouth, tears escaped her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.

  “Nnn... It really does taste just like Mom’s food...” Myne chewed slowly, savoring the flavor from beginning to end. The gentle flavor filled her mouth from corner to corner. The food was better than anything Ferdinand had ever had, with a storm of feelings hitting him head-on: nostalgia for a mother’s cooking, h
appiness to eat it again, sadness that it was just a dream...

  “It tastes great, Mom.”

  “Oh my, it’s not often you praise my cooking. Is there a book you want or something?” The woman was eating in front of Myne, and after widening her eyes in surprise at her daughter’s praise, she laughed. Her eyes had the same overflowing, protective love that was there when she was dragging Myne along with her to do arts and crafts.

  “There are a lot of books I want, but that’s not it. The food just... really is that good.” Myne cleaned her plate, leaving nothing behind. She then clasped her hands and once again said “Thank you for the food” with a reverently bowed head.

  After finally lifting her head, Myne looked at her mother in the eyes. “I’m sorry, Mom.” Myne’s mother looked up, and with big tears falling out of her eyes, Myne bowed her head again. “I’m sorry for dying before you. I’m sorry for being so dumb I only noticed how much you loved me after I died. You took such good care of me, you always let me do what I wanted to do, but I died before I could pay you back at all. I’m sorry.”

  The regret, shame, and nostalgia in Myne’s heart hit Ferdinand hard, with her love for her family especially overwhelming him. The storm of emotions was too much for him, and, unable to bear the synchronization any longer, he severed their connection.

  Ferdinand, who had been leaning over Myne the entire time, stood up and took a few steps back before collapsing to his knees and shaking his head.

  “...I have never felt worse.” He had synchronized with Myne too much. Even he had begun to weep, although the emotions weren’t his. Myne would be waking up soon now that the synchronization had ended. Ferdinand quickly wiped his eyes with his sleeve. He could see tears dripping out of Myne’s eyes as well, despite the fact they were still closed.

  Myne’s eyelashes fluttered, and slowly she opened her eyes. After blinking several times, she gingerly lifted her head and looked towards Ferdinand.