Chapter 8: Angel’s Wings

In the end, I only got to use the sauna once because Renji-san and my father stopped me. They said it’s not good to overdo it, or something like that. Apparently, three sets are normal for regular sauna-goers. When I become an adult, I’ll try it too, I thought to myself as I drank “Oropo”.

According to Renji-san and my father, after the sauna, you’re supposed to drink this thing called “Oropo” to replenish lost fluids, so I tried mimicking them and drank it too. It was indeed delicious, and I could feel the water flowing through my body. But I wonder if a sports drink would have been better.

While thinking about such things… on the other hand, experiencing something I’ve never done before seemed to open up my vision strangely. It was a good sauna experience after all.

Now, after getting out of the sauna, we changed clothes and waited for the women to return at the hotel reception. We sat on the sofa, and there was green tea steaming on the table in front of us.

Outside the window, which was higher than those of my father and Renji-san, I could see the inn’s courtyard, with vivid autumn leaves visible. Drinking tea while looking at that scene somehow added a touch of elegance.

Why were we waiting for the women at the front desk? Because we were going to meet the swordsmith.

Finally, I could have my own weapon, with a sense of expectation, and conflicting feelings of whether Nina-chan, who went to the hot spring, was okay or not, swirling inside me without words. While holding onto those feelings, I put a piece of tea cake into my mouth, and my father glanced at me and asked.

“How’s it going, Itsuki? Have you decided which one to use?”

“You mean about the relics?”

“Yeah.”

The magic blade is forged using relics.

So I have to decide which of the relics I have to use.

I have three relics in my possession.

“Raikou Douji,” “Harunaga Adashino’s Insect,” and “Puppet Ruppet Marionette,” which killed Nina-chan’s father.

As I looked at the relics in my hand, I nodded.

“Yeah. I’ve already decided.”

“I see.”

In response to my reply, my father murmured briefly and then sipped his green tea, letting out a “hot”. My father has a sensitive mouth.

Since no one asked me which relic I chose, I put them away in my chest, and then I saw Nina-chan and Aya-chan coming from the depths of the corridor.

“Oh, there you are!”

“…”

They noticed us and Aya-chan’s face lit up while Nina-chan remained silent.

She quickly came running to us. Then, Nina-chan, who came quickly next to me, grabbed my hand. After grabbing it, she exhaled deeply.

“How was it, Nina-chan? The hot spring?”

“…Nothing special.”

Although Nina-chan answered briefly like that, there was no sense of her hating it from her tone, so I felt relieved unconsciously.

“You know, I talked a lot with Nina-chan.”

“Talked?”

I turned to Aya-chan and prayed that Nina-chan didn’t cause any trouble at the hot spring, then asked.

“What kind of things did you talk about?”

“Well, about Itsuki-kun.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. Like, how can you use so many spells so easily?”

Saying that, Aya-chan smiled.

Come to think of it, I’ve been helped by her social skills all the time.

While thinking about such things, Nina-chan, who was still holding my hand silently, joined the conversation.

“And, about practicing fairy magic with Itsuki…”

“Oh, yeah! We talked about that too. Like, on Saturdays and Sundays, Itsuki-kun comes to our place to practice magic together, right? But I was surprised to hear that you practice with Nina-chan after school even though you only come once a week!”

Aya-chan added with a smile, probably because she was happy that Nina-chan was participating in the conversation.

“And besides, Itsuki-kun didn’t properly teach me about fairy magic, so I thought I’d ask Nina-chan. Even though Itsuki-kun only comes to our house once a week, he told me he practices with Nina-chan after school, and I was surprised!”

“W-Well, if both Nina-chan and I happen to have free time…”

“Yeah, I know. I heard that from Nina-chan too.”

…Is it just my imagination?

I faintly felt something like pressure from Aya-chan.

Just to make one excuse, I didn’t explain fairy magic to Aya-chan properly because I didn’t want to confuse her about her future. I heard from my father in the past that if you mess around without properly learning magic, you’ll die, so I didn’t want to say anything unnecessary to confuse Aya-chan about her future.

However, even I understand that saying that now would sound like an excuse.

Feeling like I’m being pushed around by Aya-chan’s one-sided favor, Irena-san came to the reception desk late. After seeing that, Renji-san and my father stood up.

“Alright, shall we go?”

“Are we leaving already?”

As I was thinking that Hina and my mom haven’t returned yet, my father continued.

“Ah, the magic blade smith has his workshop set up near a particularly strong earth vein vent. If someone other than an exorcist goes there, there’s a possibility of being affected by the energy. Although Hina is in the middle of practicing magic, it’s better to refrain from taking her until she’s over seven years old.”

“What happens if someone gets affected?”

“Nausea, dizziness, headaches, hallucinations, auditory hallucinations… well, it can cause various types of physical discomfort like that.”

“I-I see…”

As my father spoke casually about it, the content sounded quite serious, so I accepted that my mother and Hina wouldn’t be coming.

When I got up and tried to lead Nina-chan outside, Aya-chan held my free left hand.

I’m used to it with Nina-chan, but it’s been a while since Aya-chan held my hand, so I was surprised and asked her.

“What’s wrong?”

“This way, it’s more balanced, isn’t it?”

“Huh, um, yeah. Yeah? Yeah. Maybe.”

“We’ll be late if we don’t hurry.”

“R-Right…”

While I was trying to digest her response, Aya-chan pushed me forward, so I hurriedly followed my father and the others. The adults chuckled when they saw Aya-chan and Nina-chan following me as I dragged them along. Oh, this is embarrassing…

But I couldn’t just shake off their hands, so I decided to go along with what they were doing.

And once I regained my composure, I turned to my father.

“Hey, Dad. How are we going to get to the blacksmith’s place?”

“We’ll drive most of the way.”

“Most of the way…?”

“Yeah, from there, it’s hiking.”

Hiking…? Hiking?

Wait, didn’t we just go to the hot spring earlier?

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