“And let me tell you one thing.”
Reim set his goblet on the table as he spoke.
“The author who left those words was a contrary person, and I hear he died without ever managing to make a friend.”
“‘Asking the impossible,’ was he?”
“I heard that bit from you, too, Break. ‘What a pitiful soul…’ you said, laughing.”
“—My, my.” Break’s eyes widened slightly in pretended astonishment.
He hadn’t been able to remember that lyric earlier, either. He said, self-deprecatingly, that his head seemed to be on its last legs.
“By the way,” Reim added, in response.
“His cause of death was a whiskey milk punch.”
“Drank too much, did he? Was that mine, too?” Break asked, cocking his head to one side.
“I looked that up myself,” Reim answered.
Then Reim rattled off the author’s best-known works and similar things, one after another.
Apparently he’d gotten a bit curious and researched the author during breaks in his work. Break was quite impressed by his friend’s excessive diligence. That said, he didn’t plan to imitate him, and even if he had planned to, he never would have been able to actually do it.
As if taking a breather, Reim picked up a dessert fork and carried a slice of the apricot pie to his mouth. As he chewed, his cheeks softened into a smile.
Now there’s a contented-looking face.
Chuckling at Reim’s expression, Break walked over to the table. He dropped into a chair, picked up a slice of pie with his bare hand, and stuffed it into his mouth. The piecrust shell was crisp, and the moist apricot filling had an elegant sweet-and-sour taste. It certainly was a masterpiece that would soften any expression.
Break gave a sigh. It felt as if the day’s fatigue were melting away into that sweetness.
The room was filled with a sweet scent and the aura of bliss the two of them radiated. For a short while, they enjoyed the harmony spun by the brandy and pastries in near-silence.
It was Break who started the conversation up again.
“And? How has work been lately?”
At this question, delivered in a light tone, Reim gave a small “Hmm…,” hesitating with the goblet at his lips.
“Well,” he murmured, then answered coldly:
“No hitches.”
He tipped the brandy into his mouth and swallowed.
Then he continued:
“Only it feels as if the employees are becoming less accurate in their individual duties. Particularly the younger employees. Of course, I caution and instruct them every time, but unless each employee stays constantly vigilant, there can be no improvement. Today, too, I encountered the same mistake three times in a document, so I ended up doing it for him…even though I knew that wouldn’t do the man any good. And then, recently, supplies tend to stay unreplenished a bit too long. It would have been unthinkable for us to run out of cords for binding documents when I was in charge of supplies. There was an issue with the higher-ups’ schedule coordination, and the start time for one meeting was delayed as a result. Contact is slipshod; there was an employee who had a business memo for me but forgot to give it to me. When I cautioned him about it, he said it was because he was ‘still in his first year at Pandora.’ They don’t know how to listen properly. There was dust on the office windowsills… Well, that’s about the size of it. No problems.”
“I see,” Break responded. In what sounded like an intentionally bantering tone, he said:
“That last bit sounded like a mother-in-law who’s hard on her son’s wife, Reim-san.”
That earned him a “Don’t tease me” and a mild glare from behind Reim’s glasses. Calmly, Break said, “Go on, here,” and poured brandy into his friend’s goblet.
Reim raised his goblet to chest height, glancing at the amber liquid.
“Most of the employees are doing their jobs properly. If they weren’t, a special organization like Pandora wouldn’t function.”
“Yes, if we’re able to work smoothly, it’s all thanks to your support.”
Break’s genuine expression of gratitude was met with a reliable, “We’re simply doing our duty.”
This response was very like his friend, and Break gave an honest smile. Reim glanced back at Break.
“Xerx. What about you?”
“What do you mean, ‘what’?”
“All sorts of things. We don’t get many opportunities to talk one-on-one like this.”
Reim was often at Pandora Headquarters, while Break moved around freely on everything from public maneuvers to clandestine ones, and they had very few regular points of contact.
I’m probably making him worry about me, he thought.
Break turned his gaze very slightly to empty space. For a little while, he hunted for words.
“Well…I’m getting by somehow.”
It was a vague answer for a vague question. Reim furrowed his brow slightly.
“Somehow, hmm?”
“Some things go well, and others don’t… But, yes, somehow.”
“I see. That’s true. You’re able to ask me to come drink with you, after all.”
The more troublesome the problem Break had, the less he discussed it with others. Reim knew this side of Break well, and he spoke as if from experience.
Those words also showed that, although Break issued most of the invitations to drink, it wasn’t because Reim wasn’t concerned about his friend most of the time. He was always concerned, and his concern took the form of “waiting to be invited.”
Break gave a wry smile; his friend was clever at his job, but quite clumsy when showing consideration.
When he moved to top up Reim’s goblet with brandy, Break noticed how light the bottle felt.
He shook it. There was only a little left. Even though they’d managed to drain a bottle of brandy in less than an hour, both Break and Reim were sober. Neither of them would get drunk on something like that. In fact, Break had never seen Reim get properly drunk, no matter how much he drank.
The heaviest drinker in Pandora, known only to a select few: That was Reim Lunettes.
“Now then, what should we have next?” Break peeked under the table. Several bottles he’d taken from the wardrobe were lined up there.
Considering who they’d been presents from, he knew anything he picked would be a good bet. Break stretched a hand out at random and took the first bottle his fingers touched. Break caused his friend worry on a daily basis, but it wasn’t as if he wasn’t grateful to him.
And so:
Tonight, he thought, I’ll reward Reim-san for all his hard work.
Thirty minutes later.
“…Xerx, the room is sort of rocking… What is…”
As he spoke, Reim’s face was slightly flushed.
Break laughed: “Huh-huh-huh.” His face was clearly redder than Reim’s. On his left shoulder, Emily cackled cheerfully, too.
“Well, well! What an odd situation this is. Reim-san, that’s known as ‘being drunk.’ Even unlikely things happen on occasion, it seems! You know, I feel sort of light and floaty myself~. Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
“You’re the one whosh… Nn, it’s you who’s drunk!”
Reim seemed to be having trouble enunciating; he tripped over his tongue in the middle of his comeback, which made Break laugh harder. At the same time, in a corner of his inebriated mind, he was astonished.
They’d only emptied about half of their second bottle. Ordinarily, even Break wouldn’t get seriously drunk on just a bottle and a half, and for Reim, it was absolutely unheard of. Break wondered if it was because he’d chosen the bottle at random. He’d selected it without much thought, and at first, Reim had said, “It tastes different, doesn’t it.” Still, they’d immediately declared, “…But not bad,” and gone right on drinking.
By now, Reim must also have felt that something was off. He stretched out a hand to Break, who was holding the bottle.
Since Break had been pouring the whole time, Reim hadn’t gotten a good look at the bottle.
“Go ahead.” Break held it out, but his hand slipped and he dropped it on the floor. Fortunately, the lid had been closed, so the contents didn’t spill. Reim looked disgusted. “It’s fine, I’ll get it.” He stood up. But…
“Oops—”
His feet were very slightly unsteady, and he staggered. From Break’s left shoulder, Emily promptly said, “Whoo, ‘weaving Reim’! I got me a super-rare one!”
“Don’t say ‘rare’! Honestly, you’re a bit too drunk, Xerx. You might pay for it tomorrow—”
Picking up the bottle as he spoke, Reim sat back down in his chair.
Then he looked at the label and fell silent. Break’s head flopped to one side in an exaggerated manner as he silently wondered what had happened. In a low voice, Reim murmured:
“Can’t read it.”
“My. If you’ve lost the ability to read, you’re too drunk.”
“No! I mean it’s written in letters I’ve never seen before.”
Break had no idea what he was talking about. Lowering his voice even further, Reim continued:
“…………Never mind that. Hey, Xerx.” His voice was shaking.
“Yes?” Break blinked.
Although it might have been his imagination, from Reim’s expression, he seemed to have sobered up all at once. His flushed face now looked pale. Reim wasn’t looking at the bottle’s label. He was holding the bottle up to the candles, letting the light shine through its contents.
“This liquor…has a pickled ‘lizard-like thing’ inside.”
“…Huh,” Break said in a parched voice.
“I’ve heard of that. Apparently lots of medicinal alcohol is like that. They’ll preserve snakes or lizards in it—”
“Listen to what I’m actually saying. I said ‘lizard-like thing.’ …It has horns.”
“A horned lizard…perhaps?”
“It has wings on its back. Bat wings.”
“…………………………”
“And two tails.”
“…………………………” Break felt himself sober up dramatically.
“And I can’t see that clearly through the glass, but…it’s got three eyes.”
In other words, it was…
“Mystery alcohol” with a mysterious lizard-like creature preserved in it!
It was if a cold wind had whistled through the room.
The window was shut properly, of course.
Reim’s entire body trembled, and he suddenly yelled, “Xerx, you—!” He closed in on Break.
“What have you been giving me to drink, you idiotic Xerx?! At least check to see what it is before you drink it! Don’t pour me dodgy liquids! What if that was poisonous?! I haven’t been moving very well for a while now; is that actually because I’m drunk?! What if I’m paralyzed, not drunk?! You drank it, too! What are we going to do if we both collapse—?!”
“Now, now, Reim-san. Calm down, please,” Break attempted to soothe Reim.
Break was also unsettled, but—maybe because his friend had overreacted before he could—he managed to remain calm. Considering that this had been a present given to the House of Rainsworth, he was sure it couldn’t be anything as dangerous as poison. However, possibly because his thoughts hadn’t taken him that far, Reim’s panic continued unabated:
“A-as if I could calm dow—”
“No, I mean, if you kick up a row like that…”
“Urp…” Reim was white as a sheet.
“…You’ll get queasy and throw up!”
The friendly warning came too late. Reim clapped a hand to his mouth and ran from Break’s room.
Is he going to be all right? Cocking his head, Break picked up the mystery alcohol Reim had flung away.
He thought it was probably some sort of medicinal liquor that had been given to Sheryl.
The alcohol hadn’t seemed that strong, so what had intoxicated—or paralyzed—even Reim had probably been some sort of essence extracted from the mysterious lizard-like creature that had been preserved in it, rather than the alcohol itself. He had heard that medicinal alcohol agreed with some and disagreed quite remarkably with others…
“I thought I was going to die…”
Reim, who’d returned, white-faced, shot a dirty look at Break. Reim had never gotten sick from drinking, and it seemed to have been a pretty harsh experience.
“My head is pounding. …You’re all right, Xerx?”
“Nn—.” At the question, Break looked up at the ceiling.
“I’m still drunk, but it’s calmed down quite a bit. This mystery liquor might not have suited you, Reim-san. It’s probably wholesome as a general rule, but I wouldn’t drink any more of it if I were you.”
“…Not for love or money,” Reim responded. He sounded disgusted.
When Break suggested that he lie down on the bed for a while, Reim hesitated for a bit, then said that he would. He crossed to Break’s bed and fell down onto it, back first. Already beginning to drift off, he spoke very quietly:
“—right, Xerx?”
“?? Come again, Reim-san?”
“Listen… If anything’s…wrong, talk to me.”
Break’s eyes widened, very slightly.
“I’ll help…for sure—”
Having said that much, Reim’s breathing went soft and light. He was asleep.
Break almost never saw his friend sleep, and for a little while, he gazed at his face. Finally, he murmured something in a voice so small no one could have heard it. Then he took a new bottle of red wine from under the table and picked up the corkscrew.
“All right, I think I’ll drink a bit more, with the moon and my friend’s sleeping face as complements.”
Break’s voice was cheerful.
…How long had he slept?
Suddenly finding it hard to breathe, Reim opened his eyes. What is it? he thought. Something was covering his face. It wasn’t that heavy. It was warm, as if it was alive. It had short, smooth hair, and the thing that was covering Reim’s face said:
“Mew.”
“—?!” Reim sat up sharply.
The sudden movement sent a dull pain through his head, but the full-body drunkenness…or rather, his paralysis, had cleared up. The thing that had been on his face, a cat with white fur, hopped down to the floor, looked up at Reim, and mewed again. Break called to him carelessly, a wine glass in one hand.
“Sorry! I did tell him ‘no,’ but…”
“Wh-why is there a cat in this room?”
“He’s been here the whole time, since before you got here. Under the bed,” Break said, nonchalantly.
“Huh?” Reim was startled. Break continued:
“The door isn’t hung very well; sometimes it comes open a little on its own. …He slipped in through the crack in the door at some point while I was getting ready for you. He got under the bed and wouldn’t come out, and he was behaving himself, so I left him alone, but—”
As he listened to Break’s explanation, Reim looked at the white cat. Then he realized that the ribbon tied around its neck was familiar.
“But that’s Ada-sama’s Snowdrop! What is he doing here…?”
“…Ada-sama’s…cat?”
In response to Break’s mystified question, Reim nodded. This time it was his turn to explain.
“I saw him once when I paid a visit to the Vessalius mansion. Ada-sama has two cats, Snowdrop and Kitty, and she seemed extremely fond of them. The cats were also quite attached to Ada-sama…”
“Hmm. In that case, she may be worried by now—”
Agreeing with Break, Reim turned his gaze back to the white cat.
The cat was just slipping through the slightly open door, disappearing into the corridor.
Uh-oh! Reim thought.
If he obediently returned to its mistress, fine, but if he didn’t— R
eim hastily got up from the bed, glancing at Break.
“Xerx, I’m off. I have to catch that cat and return it to Ada-sama.”
“At this hour?”
“She may be too worried to sleep, you know.”
Reim crossed briskly to the door, not even taking the time to straighten his rumpled uniform.
When he opened the door and looked out, the white cat was sauntering down the edge of the hall, as if it were out for a stroll. Reim was relieved; it looked as if he’d be able to catch it quickly. He ducked back into the room once, excused himself to Break—“I’m sorry for all the commotion,”—then started to go out into the corridor.
At that point, as if in farewell, Break spoke.
“Ahh, then, Reim-san. One last thing.”
“What, Xerx?” Reim stopped, thinking he must have something he wanted to say.
“—Do you know this song?”
Song? Reim looked puzzled.
Reim left. Break was alone in the room.
“I see. No wonder I couldn’t remember it. My head’s really no good…”
He gave a wry, self-deprecating smile.
3
“…Well. Reim-san’s forgotten his notebook.”
As he was tidying up the room, Break noticed Reim’s well-used notebook, left behind on the bed. No doubt it had slipped out of his breast pocket while he was lying down.
Reim’s notebook was practically a part of Reim’s body, and the employees of Pandora considered it a symbol of his competence at work. Apparently some of the staff even believed that the hidden mysteries of clerical work were recorded in Reim’s notebook.
Although it was silly to deify it, Break thought Reim would probably be in a fix if he didn’t have his notebook.
Just as he was thinking he’d return it to him the next day, there was a knock at the door.
For a moment, he thought Reim had returned, but the knock didn’t have his conscientious regularity about it. It was a rough, loud knock. After the knock, he heard a rather deep voice through the door: “Heeeey, Xerxes.”
PandoraHearts ~Caucus Race~, Vol. 2 Page 16