Chapter 15 (2/2)
Ignore what happened just now. She was so embarra.s.sed that she wanted to dissolve into the water, but when she forced back the embarra.s.sment and wanted to say that, the boy cut off her words.
“You are most certainly flas.h.i.+ng them. So what dissatisfaction could you have when I call you a flasher.”
Izumi was dumbfounded.
Was he just too young to feel embarra.s.sed about a woman’s naked body? Could it be that he always got in the bath with the sister that was hugging him right now, and that’s why he was used to women?
“No, umm…”
Drained, Izumi placed her hand against the windowsill.
Oh, that’s right.
Izumi looked behind her.
She wasn’t sure how it was going to be useful, but it would definitely save them from their predicament.
Let’s just hand it over already, so I can enjoy my bath.
Izumi reached for the garbage bag, and then handed it through the window.
“You can have this.”
She undid the knot, leant through the window, and then placed it onto the floor. From the open mouth of the bag spilt the sleek silver hair.
“This is…”
Roten muttered with sword still brandished.
“…The hair of Kon York the Second’s.”
His sister finished his words.
Izumi tilted her head in wonder. Conyork the Second. She was sure she had heard the name before.
“The fraud who travelled the world, Conyork the Second!”
She immediately remembered, and struck her hand in realisation.
The Old Maestro had told Aqua’s brother about him.
Apparently he really did travel the world.
“Are you really an angel?”
Perhaps because she was holding the silver hair, and seemed to know of Conyork the Second, Roten looked at her questioningly.
“Y-, Yes. That’s right.”
If she told him no, she would end up as “Breast-flas.h.i.+ng Woman” again.
Izumi threw out her chest, and nodded.
“n.o.body in the Heavens possesses a dirty heart. That’s why everybody is naked there.”
Unable to fully swallow it, Roten furrowed his brows, but at least he seemed to have calmed down for now. After lowering his sword, he turned around and said,
“Sister, please let go of me.”
Having made sure that her brother had calmed down, Roten’s sister immediately kneeled and lowered her head.
“O Angel. By bringing the hair of Kon York the Second, does that mean that you acknowledge me as Chief?”
Izumi had absolutely no idea. While Izumi was bewildered, Roten cut in front of his sister.
“Angel. Please give that hair to me! My sister, Yuataree fell ill the other day, and lost the power to hear the voices of the insects. It would be impossible for her to complete the inauguration ceremony. She will simply become food for the insects!”
“No, please make me Chief. Roten is still young, and cannot use the flute well. It is when you cannot convey your heart to the insects that you will truly become their food. Please, make me Chief.”
“Right now she can’t even bring back Kon York the Second’s hair! It’s impossible for her to become Chief!”
“I failed become Kon York the Second’s hair is enshrined deep in a valley with many nests. For the ceremony, I only need one nest to obey. It is more important to convey your voice, than to hear theirs. It is still impossible for Roten.”
Izumi became more and more lost.
The two of them kept taking turns in trying to convince her, so she asked them to wait.
“C-, Calm down, you two. Could you first explain from the beginning why you’re arguing about becoming Chief?”
It didn’t seem that they were trying to steal the position out of greed. Instead, it felt like they were doing it because they cared for the other. That’s why she calmed them down and asked them what was going on.
“Explain…? All you need to do is name me Chief!”
“Roten! This won’t do. In the future, you’re going to be supporting Ottko Yu.”
“Yuataree. Roten. Please stop this. You’re troubling the angel.”
The reclined middle aged woman had noticed that Izumi couldn’t stop them at all, so she spoke up. Izumi turned to look at the woman she had forgotten about.
Her face was completely pale, and it was obvious that she was unwell. She rose with heavy movements.
“Mother! You musn’t! If you don’t lay down-!”
“Exactly, Mother!”
“Quiet.”
The woman who seemed to be their woman held them back firmly, and then lowered her head.
“O Angel. I apologise for the rudeness of my children. But their impoliteness comes from their care for each other. I implore that you show them mercy.”
The woman’s formal att.i.tude caused Izumi to flap her hand in panic.
“No, nono, I never thought of them as rude or impolite at all.”
Except for the Breast-Flas.h.i.+ng Woman comment.
The woman smiled in relief.
“Thank you very much.”
Then, once again, she bowed deeply.
“I understand why you graced us with your presence with that hair in your possession. It was because you sensed that we were in a crisis. Please, grant power to us, the citizens of Ottko Yu.”
“Eh!? Ummm…”
There were tears in the woman’s eyes.
“So what Kon York the Second taught us was true. If you continue to bear a righteous heart, salvation will come for you.”
Izumi could feel a cold sweat on her back.
If after all this time, she said “Actually, you’re wrong…”
“Then, I’ll do whatever I can.”
――What exactly can I even do!?
Screamed Izumi, in her heart.
She had already handed over the hair. What else could she do?
Izumi was regretting her thoughtlessness, but it wasn’t time to be regretting.
“For now, please lay down. And please tell me what’s going on. With as much detail as possible, and from the very beginning.”
But first of all, the sick woman needed to lay down.
“Yes――”
The woman bowed for the third time.
“Chief! A messenger from I’Jibro has come.”
Suddenly, they all heard a voice. And seemingly chasing that clearly anxious voice, were audible footseps.
Tension ran through the expressions of the trio.
Faster than Roten could run off, Yuataree moved into action.
“There’s no time. Angel, please take care of Roten. Please shelter him until the inauguration ceremony is complete.”
No sooner had she said that did Yuataree pick up Roten.
Even if he was a child, it should have been hard for her to hold him up to the high window.
But Yuataree did so easily. Perhaps it was like the strength of a mother, lifting a car from her child.
“S-, Sister!”
Roten struggled violently.
Almost at the very moment that a man opened the door, Yuataree pushed Roten at Izumi, and then shut the window.
Sister, Mother, should be ‘esteemed sister’ and ‘esteemed mother’, but it feels too distant for this particular context.
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