By Zephyria 
Aska, who was thinking as carefully as a cat contemplating whether to eat meat or fish, opened his mouth.
“So, you’re worried about losing your mind?”
I used my thumb to rub Aska’s eyes. I nodded, watching his skin stretch, his eyes widen and close.
It didn’t seem to be just that one problem, but broadly speaking, it was. At that moment, Aska’s expression subtly changed. I thought I had rubbed his face too much and was about to take my hand away when Aska grabbed my wrist tightly.
He looked like he was holding back a laugh. I had spoken casually, but it wasn’t a funny story, so I couldn’t understand why he was making such an expression.
Aska opened his mouth with a somewhat triumphant look.
“I guess my feelings for you are greater than your feelings for me.”
“What?”
Why was he suddenly saying such a thing? It was ridiculous to judge the superiority of feelings that couldn’t be seen or heard, but I felt wronged when he said I had lost.
“What are you talking about?”
As I frowned, Aska raised his chin.
“I’ve had those thoughts every time I wanted to drink your blood too.”
“And?”
“I’ve never once wanted to run away from you, so in the end, I must like you more. I thought that one day I might lose my mind and eat too much, and you might wither away. Even then, I didn’t have the slightest desire to be apart from you, even for a moment.”
“……”
I didn’t know how to react to his proud words. Anyway, it was a very commendable thought, so I patted Aska’s head and praised him.
“Good job. When you were young, you were already jumping around like a monkey and didn’t listen, so if you had tried to run away, I would have died of old age.”
“Anyway, I won.”
“Yeah, congratulations.”
That’s what I said, but this was a different matter. And it was childish to win or lose with something like this, but when I thought about it, it was true that my feelings were naturally greater.
But it seemed better for Aska to take this issue lightly than for me to think about it seriously, so I just laughed.
Aska, who had been watching me for a while, moved his lips and said.
“I made mistakes every day. Every time I made a mistake, you always got hurt, bled, and had a hard time.”
He had been so happy just a moment ago, but now he seemed to be getting depressed, so I quickly comforted Aska.
“Kids grow up making mistakes.”
“Age doesn’t matter. Anyway, it’s true that you got hurt a lot because of me.”
I closed my mouth at his stern words. He was so serious that he was starting to look cute again. I was afraid that a smile would appear all over my face if I lost my mind even a little, so I nodded with a serious expression as well.
Aska said to me with eyes that had mastered all the affairs of the world.
“From what I’ve seen, when things hit the fan, things work out somehow.”
“Ah… From what you’ve seen?”
How much could he have lived? I frowned to keep from laughing, but Aska sighed.
“Don’t laugh.”
“I didn’t laugh.”
“Anyway, whenever you have those worries, just think about one thing. I did too. Then you’ll come to a conclusion.”
“You have such a useful method? What is it?”
Since I had already been caught, I decided to laugh openly. Aska, who was staring at me as I shrugged my shoulders and laughed, asked.
“Can you live without me?”
“I don’t think so?”
“So, whether it’s hard or painful, just find a way to be together. Don’t be a dumbass and sulk alone, and don’t try to run away. Got it?”
A dumbass. It was a more violent word than I expected, but Aska’s words made sense. Honestly, I wasn’t completely convinced, but I nodded because I was impressed by his desperate attempt to comfort me.
“Okay.”
“Tell me whenever you’re not feeling well from now on.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Promise.”
Aska’s expression improved when we made a pinky promise. His lips were slowly turning up, and he was so cute that I couldn’t help but pounce on him. Aska, who had fallen on the snowfield, struggled to get me off, and we rolled around like snowmen several times. Then I met Abyss coming out of the tent.
“……”
“……”
For a moment, we were both embarrassed and stiff, but I turned my head first. Aska had already gotten up by himself and stood a few steps away like a stranger, even wearing his hood. I, who was buried in the snow and lying face down, got up and said.
“I’ll head to the village first, so come when you’re ready.”
“Yes… I’m sorry.”
Abyss apologized for some reason, but I didn’t want to talk back anymore, so I just closed my mouth.
¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸
Fortunately, there was nothing special on the way back. I stopped at a port along the way to rest for a while, but I was so sleepy that I just slept. Aska seemed to have disembarked for a while, but he didn’t stay long.
It wasn’t a long distance in the first place, so I arrived at my destination soon. As soon as I got off the ship, Sakira, who had come to meet me, ran to us in a hurry. She must have received a letter from Abyss that my memories had returned, and her expression was a mixture of emotions.
“Welcome.”
“……”
Sakira, who had left when she was young, was now completely grown up. She no longer looked young. I had never seen her since Abyss and I left, so today was essentially our first reunion.
Looking at the grown-up Sakira, my heart ached and my annoyance with Abyss surged again. Still, it was admirable to see her living well with such an old and immature man.
I wondered what to say, but I didn’t have much to say, so I just nodded and moved on.
“Aren’t you going to talk more?”
Then Aska, who was next to me, lowered his head and whispered in my ear.
“About what?”
“It’s the first time you’ve seen her since you parted when you were young. You haven’t met since then, have you?”
At his question, I looked at Aska with a puzzled expression. How did he know? Ah, now that I think about it, Aska used Popo’s ability to see some of my memories…
“Ah.”
When I stopped walking, everyone looked at me. I quickly moved my legs again and said to Aska.
“I had a strange dream the other day. The feeling was similar to when I entered your dream. Isn’t that something I can’t do alone without Popo?”
I had been meaning to ask, but I forgot because of the sudden attack. At my question, Aska asked in a surprised voice.
“The feeling was similar to that time? Not just a normal dream?”
“There were scenes similar to what I saw when I went to the Ruins… I also saw you fighting with your grandmother when you were young.”
“……”
Aska didn’t say anything after that, as if he was lost in thought. I couldn’t see his expression because it was hidden by his hood, so I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
“Theodore.”
It was the mansion I had come to when I first arrived in this village, not the inn I had stayed at before I left. I remembered Aska had almost destroyed it, but it seemed to have been repaired in the meantime.
Standing in front of the mansion gate, I scanned the front. There were quite a few people lined up, some with unfamiliar faces and some with familiar faces.
Probably almost all of them were from the Harem. They all had overwhelmed faces as if they had seen something great. Seeing that, I suddenly felt stuffy.
Khalifa is dead, so it shouldn’t matter, but I definitely told them not to gather like this.
I was about to say something because I thought something similar would happen again if I let it go, but suddenly Aska, who was next to me, turned around. I reflexively moved my head and stared in the direction Aska was walking.
Abyss whispered to him, and the porters who were following behind began to unpack something.
“What is it?”
I could vaguely see a flat, rectangular box. I didn’t know what it was, but it was packaged. As I frowned and muttered to myself, Sakira said.
“I heard from Abyss that it’s a specialty of Ruman.”
“What?”
“It’s a thin baked flour with nuts like peanuts or walnuts and honey inside. I’ve had it before. This time, they’re adding jam full of fruit as a new product…”
“……?”
Sakira explained it enthusiastically, but I couldn’t understand a word of it. Aska was handing out boxes of Ruman specialties to everyone who came to meet him.
“Me too? Can I have one too?”
A boy who looked like a stableman asked Aska with a surprised expression. Aska, who had covered himself from head to toe, stared at the boy and handed him two boxes.
“You’re short, so eat two.”
“Th-Thank you. And I’m not that short…”
Everyone who was holding one or two boxes looked at Aska with sparkling eyes.
“……”
It was an absurd sight, but the stuffiness in my chest had disappeared.