Volume 4 Chapter 9 Part 1 (2/2)

He smiled brightly and raised one hand in greeting. It was unmistakably the boy Juri with whom I’d parted ways the other day and whom I hadn’t seen since then. Maybe me opening my mouth wide in surprise was funny because he laughed. Then he approached us without hesitation. I knew that the boy next to me was clearly on his guard.

「The lady asked me to come and check up on you. Have you been well?」

「Y-yes.」

I see, so he was the lady’s messenger. Now I understood why he’d shown up here again. The only ones who knew that the boy had black hair, or even worse – pure black hair, which was a big taboo on the Nibbiellata Island, were the lady and Juri. It was obvious why the lady would choose Juri to act as her messenger.

I analysed the things after calming down. Meanwhile Juri sat down and was staring at the lunchbox. I saw clearly that the boy by my side was openly looking at Juri with distrust. However the person concerned – Juri – seemingly hadn’t noticed his gaze and looked towards me with sparkling eyes.

「Um, big sister, is that your lunch? Could I maybe get a bite?」

「Of course. Don’t mention a bite, why don’t you take a whole piece? Although I don’t know whether you’ll like it…」

「Awsome! Thanks big sister.」

He quickly stretched out his hand, brought a piece of the cake salé to his mouth and his blue eyes widened. He quickly munched on the cake and swallowed. Then he looked towards me with his blue eyes.

「Did you make this, big sister? It isn’t sweet but it’s amazingly good!」

「I’m glad you like it. Would you like some tea?」

「Yeah!」

I poured some tea into my cup and passed it to him. He drank it in one gulp and let out a big sigh of contentment.

「Delicious! Good for you, you can eat such things anytime you want.」

Juri said and looked towards the boy who had been stiff since before. Juri continued right away, as if he hadn’t noticed the boy getting startled and flinching.

「Honestly, what’s with this get up in such a hot and humid place?」

「!」

「Ah!」

I didn’t have time to stop him. Juri suddenly stretched his hands, tanned by the sun, towards the boy and pulled the hood off the boy’s head. His pitch black hair came into view. The boy tried to pull his hood back on straight away. Juri looked at him with surprise and continued.

「I’m telling you not to hide it. Your face is beautiful so it’s a waste.」

The boy’s hands froze in place. The hood gently fell out of those hands. The sunrise coloured eyes stared at Juri in a daze. I too, once again at a loss for words, looked at Juri. With both of our gazes on him, Juri tilted his head in bewilderment. The three braids dangling on his temple swayed.

「W-what?」

「…Nothing. Please eat as much as you want. I’ve already eaten enough. Edi, you too. It isn’t good to not eat properly.」

「Really?! Thanks!」

Juri’s eyes were sparkling as he stretched out his hand and took another piece of cake salé. I wanted to say that I was the one who owed him thanks.

I looked down at the boy next to me who was still frozen. As I put a piece of cake in front of his eyes, he came back to his senses with a start and took a breath. He then took the cake from my hand and proceeded to eat in silence. His hands were trembling slightly and he was looking down as if he was intentionally avoiding looking at Juri. One wouldn’t be able to tell at a glance, but I guessed that on the inside the boy must have been very confused. It was an obvious reaction. Up till now the only person in his life and of similar age, who hadn’t been afraid of him was me. There was no way he could’ve kept his cool.

Speaking of, Juri since the beginning towards the boy… To be exact, even at the time he met that man, he hadn’t been afraid. His reaction had been unique among all the reactions of Nibbiellata people that I’d seen up to this day. It was a reaction that made me both grateful and happy, however, why?

In the meantime, the cake disappeared in the stomachs of Juri and the boy and both of them let out a sigh of contentment. I poured the herbal tea into the boy’s cup and as I was passing it to him Juri got up energetically.