He remembered a bed-wetting incident many years in the past and shivered again.
The reason he went a fair distance away from his blanket was both because he simply didn’t like the idea of going near where he slept and because the idea of being seen by Aryes was flatly humiliating.
Once he got far enough away, he was finally able to relieve himself.
“Whew…” The moment of bliss over, Klass sighed, satisfied, and turned around.
But between the darkness and his sleepiness, he had difficulty retying his trousers’ drawstring. He looked down at his fumbling hands as he walked lazily back.
As he was tottering back to where he’d slept, Klass murmured his thanks at having just finished his business.
“What, so you never noticed me?” There in the gloom that left only the barest outlines of the world visible, Holo’s amusement-narrowed eyes were still strangely bright.
“Th-thought you were an owl spirit!”
“Hmph, and yet I am a wolf.”
When he could not laugh, she stepped on his foot.
Klass hesitated to protest, whereupon Holo walked away, so he gave up entirely.
Once she was a short distance away, she looked over her shoulder at him and beckoned him near.
“Wh-what?”
Holo stopped and sat, motioning for Klass to sit beside her, which he did. Once they were sitting, they were roughly the same height, with Klass shorter than Holo only by the length of her ears.
“I’ve something I wish to ask you,” she said.
“Something to ask me…?”
Klass wondered what it could possibly be that she would make a point of asking at this dark hour, when Holo slowly spoke.
“’Tis about Antheo, under whom you worked for a time.”
“The lord?”
“Aye. Are you quite certain that he died?”
Klass remembered that when he was relating the events leading to his journey, Holo had seemed to take notice of the lord.
Perhaps they had been friends.
“‘Quite certain,’ you say…I just…I don’t know.”
The lord’s younger brother had simply arrived with his retainers and declared it to be so, after all.
“Hmph…but from what I heard, he had a habit of going on long journeys.”
“Ah, well, that is—after a while, he would come back with strange objects or people.”
It was the collective opinion of the servants that his strangest habit of all was the stone building with Aryes in it.
“So what you’re saying is that even at best you don’t know where he traveled. Dim hope, indeed,” said Holo with a sigh, lying down on the spot.
Not so much as a bug made a sound, and the only thing breaking the silence was the swishing of Holo’s tail.
“Did you know him?” asked Klass.
“Me? No, nothing of the sort.”
Holo lay sideways, propping her head up with an elbow on the ground.
From what he could tell of her form lit by the hazy moon-light, she was used to sleeping outside. Holo stayed like that for a while, looking at nothing in particular, and was silent, and Klass did not ask any further questions.
It was Holo who finally broke the silence.
“From what I heard, Antheo was seeking an immortality elixir.”
“Im…mort…?”
“Immortality. It means living forever without getting old.”
Klass could only mouth a befuddled, “Wha—?”—what would be the point of such a thing?
“Heh. You’ve only just been born, so of course you can’t imagine it.” Klass pulled his chin in, offended, and Holo regarded him. “Compared to many other creatures, humans live quite a bit longer, but they still grow old and decrepit in a twinkling. Even I cannot claim not to understand why one would want to avoid such a fate.”
While Klass still couldn’t really wrap his head around this, something suddenly occurred to him. “Oh—but I’m sure you’ll always stay young and pretty the way you are now, Miss Holo!” he said hastily.
Holo was briefly taken aback, then smiled, showing her fangs. “Something about being reassured by a child so young rubs me the wrong way. But of course, my beauty is eternal.”
She sniffed and flicked her tail and seemed genuinely proud of this.
In any case, she wasn’t angry, which was a relief.
“But your words are half right,” said Holo.
“Huh?”
“’Twas not I that would use the immortality elixir,” said Holo with a self-deprecating smile, sounding somehow embarrassed.
Klass barely managed to ask, “Then who?” when—
“One more thing,” said Holo, glancing behind her. “So I hear Aryes lived in the same building since birth? Is that true?”
He hadn’t told Holo anything about that, so she must have heard it from Aryes last night when they slept side by side, but Klass had no idea why Holo would look to him to confirm the story.
But setting inquiry aside, Klass told her what he knew.
“I-I think so. At least, the adult servants all said so.”
“Hmmm.” Though it was not clear whether she was actually interested or not, Holo nodded and gazed off into the distance.
“What’s the matter?” Klass finally asked, unable to resist, which Holo shook her head at.
“Ah, ’tis well. But if Antheo is truly dead, that means I’ve no longer a destination. I meant it as a bit of a joke, but I may be traveling with you for quite some time.”
“…”
Klass fortunately managed not to say anything, but his preference for traveling alone with Aryes must’ve shown on his face.
Holo raised an eyebrow bitterly. “I may well be a nuisance, but to have it show so plainly on your face hurts a bit.”
“N-no, I didn’t mean—”
“Ah, so I can stay with you forever?” asked Holo with a grin, which Klass could now hardly shake his head at.
And it was true that Aryes’s charm was enough to balance out Holo’s malicious smile.
So Klass nodded slowly, eliciting a chuckle from Holo. “At that rate, you’ll have no cause to complain if your dear Aryes slaps you clean across your face.”
Her brilliant smile turned into a mean-spirited grin.
Evidently spirits could read minds.
“Heh-heh. Ah, well, ’tis the right of all children to be honest. Should you be fool enough to bring her flowers, I’ll be kind enough to let you.”
Finding a retort was more trouble than it would be worth, so Klass simply cast his gaze up to the moon.
“Still, I envy you.”
“…?”
Holo spoke as though muttering to herself, then sat up and crossed her legs.
He could see only a bit of her profile, so it was hard to be sure, but she seemed to be looking far off into the distance.
Holo was silent for a while, then looked back at Klass and spoke.
“What would you do if wolves were to appear right now and attack?”
It was an unexpected question and it took him off balance, but Holo the spirit was here, so surely there was nothing to fear.
“Er, I’d try not to get in your way…,” Klass immediately answered, and Holo smiled a bit ruefully, then flopped down on her side.
Klass flinched away because not only did she lay on her side, she also rested her head right in his lap.
“’Tis a logical answer indeed, but there’s nothing so hated as a selfish male.”
“I-I see…”
“You do not see. You should’ve said something more like ‘I would sacrifice myself to protect you.’ Come now,” she said, slapping his leg, which could only mean that she wanted him to actually say it.
Even if he was alone, saying something like that was embarrassing enough, but Holo was right there, her gaze upon him.
But he got the feeling that if he didn’t say it, she’d be angry, and she wasn’t going to release him until he did.
And yet he hesitated for a while, but at Holo’s deliberate throat clearing, he composed himself. He took a deep breath as though he were about to jump into cold water, stuck his chin out, closed his eyes, and opened his mouth.
“I…I would sacrifice…”
“Hmph.”
“…S-sacrifice…”
“Mm?”
“…Myself…”
Having gotten this far, his mind went blank.
When he stopped without continuing the sentence, Holo rolled her eyes and muttered, sitting up, “Sacrifice myself to protect,” she prompted.
“Oh, right, ‘Sacrifice myself to protect you.’”
Having finished this, he realized that it was a short thing to say, but it had felt like reciting a lengthy poem.
Even after he finished repeating the line, he left his chin up, and his eyes remained closed.
He knew all too well that Holo was looking at him, as her gaze was so keen it felt as though something were poking his cheeks.
“Heh. Aye, I suppose that’ll do,” said Holo, finally turning her gaze away.
Klass let his chin drop and took a deep breath as though having just emerged from underwater.
“Still, if that’s so difficult you’ll have a hard time climbing that next step.”
“Er, next step?”
“Aye.” Holo’s reply and her action were simultaneous.
Immediately thereafter, Klass was quite sure he had died.
Not only could he not move, but he couldn’t even breathe or blink.
“Heh.”
Klass could not tell whether Holo had actually let slip a chuckle or if the sensation of her finger softly tracing his ear had made him imagine one.
What he could tell was that Holo had wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.
The silence continued for a while.
His left ear began to tingle, which he realized later was because of the sensation of Holo’s breath upon it.
He had no idea why she was doing this.
It was dreamlike and stifling all at once.
“Goodness, if I were to bite you like this, it’s as though you would just die on the spot.”
Holo’s words were like a hand thrust into the mud of his mind.
Though she was obviously making a joke, nothing about this seemed funny to Klass, and he was finally able to turn his head.
What met his gaze when he did so was the moonlit glow of her beautiful amber eyes and her preternaturally white fangs.
That and her dizzyingly sweet scent.
Even in this state, with his field of vision tilting wildly, the one thing he could see strangely clearly were those white fangs, her lips curled up to reveal them.
At that moment, he truly believed she was about to devour him.
As Holo’s mouth with its fangs approached him, some part of his numbed mind murmured that he wouldn’t even mind it if she did.
A sensation akin to sleepiness made him close his eyes.
All that remained was her scent.
Yet—
“…”
Holo did not eat Klass.
“Ho, I can’t very well devour you thus,” she said lightly, suddenly releasing him from her embrace.
In that instant it felt to Klass like the dreamlike layers that had enfolded him all popped like so many bubbles.
No—they had popped.
He was stunned for a moment, then looked at Holo as though he’d dropped his favorite sweet on the ground.
What happened next made his heart break at her distant face.
Holo giggled. “When you look at me like that, it makes me want to continue, it does.”
She tapped him on the nose with her index finger, and he knew she was joking.
Klass finally realized it.
He’d been toyed with.
“Don’t be angry. It’s not as though I’m offering not to do it only if you’ll protect me from that.”
“Huh?” Like a well-trained dog, Klass looked in the direction Holo nodded. “Oh—” His mouth froze in the shape of a cry. “A-Arye—!”
He couldn’t finish the word.
There at the end of his gaze was Aryes, who was supposed to be sleeping a short distance away.
She was propped up slightly, her face somewhat hidden—Purposefully? Klass wondered—beneath the robe she was using as a blanket. Out from under that robe came her unreadable, colorless gaze, to which Klass had no reply.
Just after he realized his back had broken out in a cold sweat, Aryes averted her eyes, just like she had when they’d watched the rabbit in the field.
Klass felt like he’d been caught doing something very bad. No—this was very bad.
Although he didn’t know exactly what was so bad, his brain ran in circles trying to come up with some kind of excuse.
Next to him, Holo chuckled in a lowered voice.
She still hadn’t entirely released him from her arms, so he could feel her chortling; it was just like the sound of a rabbit thumping to warn of approaching danger.
“I have heard that love burns brighter when its road has many obstacles,” Holo said.
“N-no, that’s not—!”
“Well, then there’s no need for concern, is there?” she shot back.
He glared resentfully at her, but she seemed to regard his harsh gaze as a gentle ray of spring sunlight. “This won’t do. When I see such a lovely cub, I can’t help but tease it,” she said, lightly releasing him from her arms. She stretched with a groan, then waved her tail grandly.
He felt just like a dog that had been soundly beaten in a play fight, and the comparison was not just hypothetical.
Because, after all, he’d been toyed with again.
“You cannot simply gaze greedily at a thing forever,” whispered Holo low enough that Aryes, who was undoubtedly listening in, would not be able to hear. Cocking her head, she continued. “But you’ve learned something now, yes?”
“Huh?” he replied, not understanding.
Holo’s face looked irritated. “Ah, ’tis well,” she said, shaking her head. “But know this: It’s not only wolves that will bare their fangs at you and her. Far from it, as she is a young maiden.”
“Wha—?”
“You’ve about as much charm as you have lesser traits. Now all you need is courage.” These last words were delivered as Holo stood and ruffled Klass’s hair.
He angrily pushed her hand away, but Holo only laughed and walked unconcernedly back to where she had slept.
Her movements were so light it was easy to think that the exchange that had just happened was nothing more than a brief dream during his night’s sleep.
In any case, he watched Holo recede; she did not clarify her last words to him.
He slumped and let slip a sigh less from dejection than from relief at having been released by Holo the wolf.
Then he reached up to fix his mussed hair but suddenly stopped short.
It would be a shame to straighten it, he realized, since it acted as a landmark by which he could continue the dream.
As soon as Holo reached her destination, she seemed to have a hushed conversation there, immediately after which Aryes met Klass’s eyes for a brief instant.
He suddenly felt like it would be a very bad idea to leave his hair mussed.
Klass fixed his hair and sighed again.
Holo and Aryes talked quietly for a while but eventually were silent.
Klass took the opportunity to return to where he’d been sleeping.
He was very tired, and suddenly felt he understood less than ever before.
“Still,” he murmured into his blanket.
There was one thing he did understand.
While they both might smell nice, Holo and Aryes were nothing alike.
And if he had to choose which one he liked better…
Klass put the question to himself but smacked his own head before answering.
The night was weari
ng on.
He sighed so heavily it seemed like his blanket would be blown off.
A strange feeling of guilt made him unable to look at Aryes the next morning.
But Holo seemed to have patched things up nicely, since after Aryes finished her morning prayers, she greeted him as happily as she always did without hesitation or awkwardness.
He was honestly relieved at this, but a feeling of loneliness lingered in his chest.
Klass was surprised to realize that he’d been expecting Aryes to have misunderstood and therefore be in a foul temper.
As he hastily told himself that he most certainly did not want to attract Aryes’s affection, he started to think of himself as more and more foolish.
And yet—, he thought.
He tried mentally switching Holo’s and Aryes’s positions and imagining the situation that followed.
In his mind, Holo was mysteriously charming.
“…Oh.”
Feeling as though he’d become just a bit cleverer, he nodded to himself, but then his head was suddenly smacked, and he snapped out of his reverie.
He looked up to see Holo’s displeased face.
“Hurry. Will you not eat? You’re last to finish again.”
Klass was startled by the sudden strike, but at the same time, he was suddenly worried that the contents of his imaginings had somehow been seen.
He jammed the wheat bread that Holo had again provided into his mouth, swallowing it along with his secret thoughts.
“Eating with haste is an art unto itself,” muttered Holo, sounding so bored that the events of the previous night might never have happened.
Klass couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed, but evidently she wasn’t reading his mind. He sighed in relief.
He once again wound up carrying everyone’s luggage, and they set off walking.
Today Holo and Aryes walked side by side with the burdened Klass walking ahead.
He tilted his ear to try and hear their happy conversation; it seemed they were still discussing liquor. While a moment ago grape wine had been the topic, they were now discussing some kind of brown wine made with bread.
In any case, having suffered defeat at the hands of the wine earlier, it was not a topic that deeply interested Klass.
Raspberry juice mixed with water and honey was a far tastier treat, in his opinion.
However, Klass did not have the gumption to turn around and tell that to the musical chirps of laughter behind him.
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