This was why Cordelia would pester me for sweets every time the merchants rolled into town. She adored honey-sugar candies—though, to my dismay, they were absurdly pricey. In fact, just one candy could easily eat up more than half my entire allowance.
From an outsider’s perspective, I likely appeared to be some poor kid getting ripped off by his demanding childhood friend. The old traveling merchant certainly seemed to share that opinion; he’d always give me the same knowing half-smirk when he saw me.
“Hey, hey, Ryuto? Isn’t your family coming today?” Cordelia asked, tilting her head curiously.
“They’re still dealing with the fallout from last year’s bad harvest. We’re living frugally now,” I explained.
“Fru… Frugally?”
“It means living cheaply, without any luxuries. Carefully watching our money.”
“Ohh, I see!”
Our family primarily cultivated beans, but the previous year’s weather had been truly awful. Other bean farmers, in their desperation, had resorted to selling their children into slavery just to endure. Luckily for us, we had a sort of secret advantage—or rather, a certain genius at finding herbs.
Okay, calling myself that feels a bit much, but it gets the point across. Because of me, we were just able to get by. Even my parents were growing suspicious about how unbelievable my knack for medicinal herbs was.
Just then, Cordelia turned to me with another one of her schemes.
“Hey, hey, Ryuto? Say ‘tricks’ ten times fast!”
“Tricks, tricks, tricks, tricks, tricks, tricks, tricks, tricks, tricks, tricks.”
“Okay, now… What do chickens lay?”
Cordelia gave a triumphant, sly little grin. She was convinced her prank would succeed. However…
“Eggs.”
I crushed her little mischief on the spot.
The whole point of that dumb trick was to get me to reflexively say “chicks,” so she could pounce in with a smug “Wrong! It’s eggs!” A childish little trap.
After surviving Japanese elementary school, those kinds of games were nothing new to me. Better luck next time, future Hero. You’ll need to step up your game.
“Grrrgh…”
“You’re ten years too early to be pulling tricks on me,” I said, a small, victorious shrug accompanying my smirk.
Cordelia looked like she might burst into tears. “But, but! I bet you won’t be able to answer the next quiz!”
“Oh? All right then, let’s hear it. What kind of impossible riddle do you have this time?”
“Okay… Try saying ‘love you’ ten times.”
Trying to trip me up again? I thought, suspecting another wordplay trap. Still, I humored her and repeated it as instructed.
“Love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you.”
With each repetition, Cordelia’s cheeks steadily grew redder. By the time I finished, she had lowered her long lashes and was blushing as deeply as a ripened apple. She stared down at the ground, shifting her knees bashfully as she came to a stop beside me.
“So?” I asked.
Cordelia fell into silence for a long moment. Then, looking completely flustered, she mumbled, almost inaudibly, “You kept saying ‘love you,’ and… it made me happy, so I forgot what quiz I was gonna do.”
Goddamn, this girl is cute.
Even I had to admit defeat in the face of that one.
As I gently patted Cordelia’s head, I took a moment to process my feelings for her. She was my childhood friend, sure, but also like a little sister—maybe even a daughter or niece. I’d known her all the way up until she turned fifteen, though that wasn’t exactly the point.
If someone asked me whether I saw her as a romantic interest, I was pretty sure the answer was no. And yet, there was no doubt that I cared about her deeply.
I’d replayed this dilemma in my head countless times, but the truth was, I still didn’t have a clear answer.
Just then, Cordelia and I reached our destination: the village square. At the same moment, a radiant smile bloomed on her face, bright and open like a sunflower turning to the sun.
“The usual? Honey sugar candy?” I asked.
“Ryuto, wait here for just a bit, okay?”
Without waiting for my reply, she took off running toward the row of merchant stalls.
“Hey, Cordelia?” I called after her.
It was still early, and the square felt mostly empty. Cordelia approached one of the merchants and began speaking to him. After a brief exchange, she handed something over and received a small pouch in return. Then, with hurried steps, she returned to me.
“Huh?” I muttered.
Without uttering a sound, Cordelia extended the small pouch toward me.
“Today, I’m buying you a treat!” she announced proudly.
“What?”
“Um, well… I’ve been saving up my allowance for a long time.”
That candy wasn’t cheap. I didn’t know exactly how much she got in allowance each month, but for her, this undoubtedly represented a significant purchase.
“Why?” I inquired, genuinely puzzled.
“Because… Um… Today’s your birthday, right?”
“Oh…”
A realization dawned on me. I had completely overlooked it.
Normally, my mother’s unusual enthusiasm around this time served as my annual reminder. But this year, that familiar seasonal tradition hadn’t materialized at all.
Now that I thought about it… Why hadn’t she thrown me her usual modest birthday celebration? Why hadn’t she even mentioned it?
Then it struck me: the meager harvest from the previous year had impacted our household finances far more severely than I’d initially grasped.
I would need to devise a method to subtly inject funds into our family’s reserves without drawing attention to myself. A new burden settled on my shoulders, and I almost let out a sigh, but managed to suppress it.
After all, making a sullen expression immediately after receiving a gift would have been incredibly ill-mannered.
“Are you happy, Ryuto? Did you like it?” Cordelia asked, her eyes shimmering.
“I did. Thanks, Cordelia,” I replied, offering a gentle smile as I softly patted her head.
“Hee hee.”
She flashed a brilliant, radiant smile so brimming with innocent joy, it quite nearly took my breath away.
Cordelia’s smile possessed a unique quality that made it simply impossible not to relax in its presence. No matter what, the moment she beamed at me like that, I couldn’t help but smile back. It was a troublesome effect, really.
“Now, shall we head home?” I suggested.
Cordelia paused, taken aback. Then, her head tilted in genuine confusion. Finally, she puffed out her cheeks, a clear display of displeasure.
“Huh? Why are we going home already?” she asked.
“What do you mean? We bought what we came for, didn’t we? Isn’t that everything?”
“My treat…”
“What?”
On the verge of tears, Cordelia muttered, “I didn’t get my honey candy…”
Ah. So, the first one was for me, and this one is for her.
She’s definitely going to grow up to be the type who says “dessert goes to a completely separate stomach,” no doubt about it.
I let out a long, weary sigh and offered a helpless shrug before turning back toward the merchant, wallet in hand.
For the record, I ended up buying her way more than usual… But really, how could I not?