“You’re a strange one. You really are.”
“Well, I’m an otherworlder, after all.”
“Are all otherworlders like you, then?”
“Maybe. I think there are some weirder than me, at least.”
Silence hung between us for a while.
“I’m glad it was you that I met. You’re a little wonderful.”
“Just a little?”
“Just a little.”
Judging by the smile on her face, Charolles looked like she was having fun, and so I smiled back. Just a little, huh? I’m not going to complain about that, as long as it gets a smile.
We stopped to let Monty know we were heading back, before remounting her trike. The two of them needed to have a talk, but now wasn’t the time for it. For now, we needed to head to bed. Our wonderful little night continued for just a bit longer as I decided to entrust our hope to tomorrow.
✦ ✦ ✦
Nito, of course, woke up first. She was the only one of us that’d had a proper night’s sleep, after all. Her bright voice woke me, and I turned over and buried my head back into the pillow, trying to ignore it.
“Keisuke, wake up! We’ve got a busy day today!”
“We should just do the festival tomorrow,” I mumbled through the pillow. “Then we can spend today excited as well.”
“You just want to go back to sleep. If you can make excuses, you can get up. Come on!”
She pulled the pillow out from under me and, in that moment, I discovered what a clam felt when you yanked it from its shell. Her determination and bubbling energy were irrepressible; I was getting no more sleep today, it seemed. I pulled myself up with a grunt and then climbed out of bed, yawning.
Once I was on my feet, I rubbed my eyes to clear away the tears my yawn had produced. Nito impatiently nudged me into motion. She pushed me forward the whole way as I walked along to the main hall, where I found Charolles already up and dressed, sitting on one of the pews.
The fresh morning air made the memories from the night before feel a little extra embarrassing. I didn’t quite know whether to carry on with how things had been going yesterday or to start fresh. Charolles, on the other hand, was apparently unbothered; her expression was the same as ever as she looked up at my arrival.
“That’s some impressive bedhead,” she said nonchalantly.
“I’ve always had pretty frizzy hair,” I explained as I ran my fingers through it to try and get it back into some semblance of order. “That get it?”
“It’s wonderful. You look like a man of the wilds. It might be best not to let people see you like that, though.”
“Well, thanks. That’s the first time I’ve gotten such high praise for it,” I joked back. “I’ll just go have a wash.”
I could feel a deadly sharp gaze on me. Turning, I saw Nito staring fixedly at me, a slight frown on her face.
“What’s up?” I asked her.
“You two seem closer than yesterday.”
Whew, that’s some intuition she has. It sent shivers down my spine, in fact.
I went to say that it was nothing, but that didn’t really feel right. It wasn’t like we’d done anything wrong, so there was no need to lie. All the same, I didn’t really want to explain everything either. Just as I’d decided that I didn’t want to hide it and would tell her, the door opened and Fago entered. Immediately, Nito gasped and ran for our room.
“What’s with her?” Fago asked.
From an outside perspective, it seemed almost like Nito had fled at the sight of her, so even Fago was somewhat bewildered.
“I think you’ll understand soon. Don’t worry about it,” I told her with a rueful smile.
Before I’d even finished speaking, though, Nito came running back—clutching the invitation, of course. She stopped in front of the old woman and held it out to her.
“Fago, take this, please.”
“What’s with all this fuss so early in the morning?” Fago asked, peering at the invitation and reading it over.
After a moment, she smiled. It was the kindest expression I’d seen on her face in the whole time I’d known her.
“Well, isn’t this a pretty picture? Did you paint it?”
Nito nodded several times. The invitation we’d chosen for Fago was the picture of the temple. After all, it was perfect for her, considering she came here every morning.
“I’ve never been given something so fancy before. Thank you,” Fago said softly, taking it.
“Um, will you...join in?” Nito asked.
“Of course I will. There’s nothing big that I can do, but I’ll bring some food.”
Nito nodded, giving a bright smile. I hadn’t thought Fago would refuse, but I’d still been a little nervous. Nito had put everything into making those invitations, and my heart ached imagining what it would do to her if they were refused. I knew that Charolles felt the same way, and we exchanged glances and slight smiles of relief.
This success had gotten me in the mood for delivering the next one right away, but we had our routine of cleaning the temple with Fago to keep. We’d make the place shine, both as thanks for letting us stay and in hopes that today would go well, I decided.