Joey carried a long used tray with a plain dinner on top of it while sighing. Returning to his own room on the 2nd floor, he climbed up the stairs.
He remembered the events that happened this evening at the guild.
Thinking his lack of knowledge about the world was giving the girl trouble, he gave a sigh again.
“Aah, she probably despises me…”
The matter was supposed to already be over, but recalling that event made him beat himself up with all his strength.
While sighing for an unknown number of times, he used his foot to open the wooden door of his room since the key was not enough to unlock it, then proceeded inside the room.
“Yo, welcome back Joey.”
Hiyuki is sitting on the bed instead of the chair, and even though she greeted him, Joey was still unable to comprehend reality.
It was something like an illusion from the moonlight, a fairy prank, or he had gone crazy.
“It’s still early in the morning for the promise, but I feel worried about you, so please excuse me for barging in.”
Hearing Hiyuki’s voice, Joey finally understood the reality. He put the tray with his meal on it on top of the bed beside Hiyuki (since there was no desk) with great haste, then he locked the door with his shoddy key.
“Y-you, how did you come here?!”
Although she heard his high pitched voice, the person in question, Hiyuki, was absorbed with curiosity about Joey’s dinner.
“Oh, the window was open so I just came in.”
She absent-mindedly replied to him while looking at the content of his tableware.
“The window? Isn’t this on the 2nd floor? In the first place, your appearance is…”
Hiyuki was wearing something like a sleeping dress, an off black dress that extended to her ankle with an ivory night gown on the top of it. Joey couldn’t hide his embarrassment seeing her with that appearance but Hiyuki herself didn’t care about it and only pointed to his dinner.
“Hey hey, what is this?”
“Asking ‘what is this’, this is oat meal right…you don’t know of it?”
Realizing asking more than this is useless, Joey answered her question together with his sighing.”
“Hee, so this is oat meal. This is the first time I heard the name. Can I try it?”
“Well that’s not a problem but, don’t you have a hotel booked by the guild? You didn’t have your dinner there?”
“Hmm? Aah, pretty much.. I’m staying in a noble’s room at the so called Aliana Palace Hotel, but you see, the food isn’t tasty, I almost couldn’t eat it.”
While saying so, without delay Hiyuki takes a mouthful of oatmeal with her spoon.
“―Wa-wait a minute. If you’re talking about THE ‘Aliana Palace Hotel’, I heard staying there just one night will cost a normal citizen his full month’s salary, you know!? To say something like a noble’s room meal in that hotel is bad…”
Whether Hiyuki heard him or not, her delicate face stiffened, the spoon remaining in her mouth. She chewed the oatmeal inside her mouth and then preparing herself, she gulps down the food.
“…No, it’s not tasty if I compare it with the food from the castle, but it’s not that bad. Besides, if I compare it to how was the meal was here, its soo terrible.”
“―Well, the people like of us don’t have money, but we have to feed our body so we need eat that kind of food to the fullest.”
While giving the explanation, Joey slurps the oatmeal that Hiyuki handed back over. He spread the butter over the bread, and ate it together with his potatoes and a minuscule amount of bacon.
“I see, nothing but splendid carbohydrates heh. It’ll be bad for your body if you don’t eat vegetables once a while.”
“Its fine, I am satisfied with this meal!”
For some reason Joey got irritated. Hearing his words that seemed striking to her, Hiyuki opened her eyes wide for a moment and subsequently hung her head down apologetically.
“…That’s right, it was just my selfishness.”
“Ah, no, it’s not that you’re at fault or anything…”
Looking at Hiyuki’s small figure that just shrank even more, Joey interrupted his meal and quickly searched for words to comfort her.
“―Sorry. I was venting my anger earlier, it’s just that I feel there’s a very very large wall between us which made me frustrated.”
His words made Hiyuki tilt her head in puzzlement.
“There is no real barrier between us. I think you would feel it if I touched you like this.”
Saying so, she put her chilly palm onto Joey’s cheek, instantly she separated it.
Because of such an unexpected girl-like action, Joey’s heart throbbed fast. Reflexively he asked her in return,
“…Then, can I touch you?”
“―Y-yeah”
Hiyuki is embarrassed but still she gave him a nod. Joey then extended his arm toward her. He hesitated, feeling that anywhere he touched would break her, but he resolved his mind somehow and tried, finally grabbing the both sides of her arm.
“You… even though you are so slender, why are you so soft?! What is your secret?”
“―You really can’t read the atmosphere eh.”
Joey was being told with an amazed tone and expression,
“Err, it’s because with the adventurer women or village women, everyone is very stiff even though they’re women.”
Even though he desperately explained himself, her face just become more and more amazed. Feeling ashamed, Joey releases his hand.
“That sort of thing is the arm of a female that works in the field or does manual labor you know? That might be a rare thing to you, but generally normal females have arms like mine. If you like, next time you could touch Mia-san by asking her, I am sure she will understand.”
“…Mia-san huh. I think she’ll just make fun of me.”
“You have the wrong idea, there’s no way a woman would go that far. Perhaps you feel like she keeps saying harsh things and nagging at you, but even so I think everything that she has done is to make you her partner. If you want to have a lover or wife, you should choose that sort of woman. Especially you, she is perfectly suited with you because of your lacking in several aspects.”
“It’s none of your business! In the first place there should be no reason for a senior of mine to take notice of someone like me.”
“I don’t think so, isn’t that just your own stubbornness? This is my intuition, but she probably parted with her lover many years ago and might be suffering from the bereavement. I feel that she find the power to heal her emotional scars inside of you.”
“What was that, a girl’s intuition?”
“Hmmmmm, maybe. You can put it like that. Oh my, your meal has gone completely cold. Well, it’s time for me to leave.”
Hiyuki said so while looking towards the window.
“Leave? Don’t tell me, from the window…”
That moment, Hiyuki’s eyes seemed to shine brightly and Joey’s consciousness rapidly faded―
“Goodnight Joey, see you tomorrow.”
