Still caught by the scruff of her neck, Bibi squirmed and thrashed and screamed, but it was beyond Guide to understand a single word.
Hanging from his arms as she twisted and writhed, she looked almost like a fish caught in a net. He clutched her small body tightly and broke into sobs.
“Bibi—why are you here?! I’ve been looking for you all day!”
Hwaaaaaah.
A moment later, a child’s heartbroken wail rang through the ice cavern.
“Oh—child.”
At that sound, the sharp angles of Bibi’s expression softened back into round, dark beans.
“…I did it for you…”
She started to explain herself, but went quiet.
For a long while, Bibi stayed very still, drinking in the sight of the crying boy—
And then she lifted one small pink palm and pressed it gently against his cheek.
As though trying to wipe away his tears.
And at that moment—
“The horrible smell is coming from here… hm? Aisha.”
Someone appeared from behind Guide, a long pair of legs dragging along behind him. It was Kyle, carrying something hoisted over one shoulder and trailing it through the doorway.
He swept the room with a glance, spotted me, and broke into a bright smile.
And I—
“You didn’t go and kill someone again, did you?”
—took one look at the white mass slung over his shoulder, recognized it as a pair of human legs, and went rigid.
Still—Guide was here, and now Kyle too. Both had just walked into my ice cavern.
I was supposed to be training!
The cavern door being opened mid-training was practically unheard of. The outside air that rushed in would diminish the conditioning effect. Which was why, except for someone who could maintain the temperature with their own Affinity, entry was strictly forbidden.
“Kyle! Get inside first and then we’ll talk! You can’t leave the door open during training!”
Flapping my hands, I grabbed Kyle by the wrist and pulled him in. He followed with an easy smile.
Behind him, the owner of the white legs was dragged inside.
The identity of that person was—
“…That’s Lucas, isn’t it?”
Lucas. Unconscious. His clothes disheveled, a large lump rising near the crown of his head.
“Yeah. Lucas-hyung smelled Guide’s sock and collapsed.”
I couldn’t make sense of that statement, but I understood well enough that his condition was not good.
Don’t tell me…
“Kyle. Did you drag our unconscious brother all the way here like this?”
A spark of sharp displeasure flashed in my eyes, and Kyle went abruptly quiet and looked away, scratching the back of his neck.
“Aisha said you’d praise me. If I found the one called Bibi…”
“Even so, you can’t drag a person along the floor!”
No wonder it had been so loud. The booming I had heard must have been Lucas’s head hitting things on the way down the stairs.
If they came all the way down those stairs like this… goodness…
I bent my knees and crouched beside Lucas, softly touching the lump on his head.
“Heroes don’t abandon people! I learned that in class!”
Kyle said this with an air of genuine grievance.
I blinked and turned it over in my head—and then it clicked.
He’s saying he didn’t want to leave the unconscious Lucas behind alone, so he brought him along.
Something else came back to me belatedly.
Kyle learned one thing at a time. If he learned one thing, he only knew that one thing.
He was not the kind of extraordinarily clever child who learned one thing and intuited ten more from it.
“Right… I understand…”
Exhale. Steady the nerves.
An unconscious Lucas and a crying Guide.
There was no end to the bewildering elements of this situation, but if Kyle decided to sulk on top of everything else, things would only get more complicated.
I breathed out slowly and turned to Kyle.
“Well done, Kyle.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. But from now on—when you’re moving someone, always carry them on your back.”
“…That sounds like a lot of work.”
“You still have to do it.”
At my firm tone, Kyle blinked—startled.
Then he crept closer, very slowly, and—
“No. I’ll only carry you.”
He pressed his forehead against my shoulder in a small, petulant act of resistance, his voice coming out small and grumbling.
His hair, soft and fine, brushed against my cheek.
Oh, is that so? You’ve gotten just tall enough to talk back, have you?
He was being adorable—but that didn’t change the fact that I was narrowing my eyes at him.
“Aisha. I came all the way here for you.”
Rub. Rub.
He nuzzled his forehead against my shoulder in a small, coaxing motion. His fine hair tickled my cheek again.
Despite myself, a little heh-heh laugh escaped me—and then I caught it and stopped.
This one. Where did he learn to do that?
Were they actually teaching this kind of artful charm in his lessons?
I was turning this over in genuine confusion when—from nearby, a sharp achoo cut through the air.
Guide, still cradling Bibi, had a thin trail of snot running down his nose.
“Y—Young Lady. It’s r—really cold in here.”
Unlike Kyle, suited to the cold as a Northern Creature by nature, and unlike me, warmly dressed in preparation for the cavern—Guide was wearing nothing more than a simple shirt and trousers.
Having spent the day in the warmth of the main estate, he was now trembling miserably in the middle of an ice cavern.
“Kyuu, kyuu! (My child—you mustn’t get cold!)”
Bibi squeezed her eyes shut and wrapped herself around Guide in a tight hug, but her tiny body could not begin to shield him from the cold.
“Guide. You must be freezing—get out of here right now!”
I moved quickly toward the door to open it.
But Guide scrambled after me, and before I could reach the handle, grabbed my wrist.
He immediately flinched and bowed his head.
“I—I grabbed your wrist, I’m so sorry! But—Young Lady. P—please don’t open the door.”
“Hm? Why?”
“You said earlier that you can’t open the door during training…”
How did he manage to catch that while he was crying?
I shook my head.
“It’s fine. I’ll open it just for a moment—you just have to get out quickly!”
Of course the conditioning effect would be compromised—but getting Guide out of here mattered more. The cold of an ice cavern was on an entirely different level from ordinary cold. Even me, fully dressed for it, was trembling. If Guide stayed any longer, frostbite was a real possibility.
“Out you go. Shoo!”
“B—but…”
Guide’s face clouded.
“I—I’ve already caused enough trouble just with the Bibi situation. I don’t want to cause any more.”
“…Kyuu?! (What?!)”
At that, Bibi looked up at Guide with wide, startled eyes.
The idea that her impulsive action had caused him trouble was clearly something she hadn’t even considered.
The brightness in her bean-like eyes dimmed slowly, filling with quiet sorrow.
Regardless, Guide pressed on with his request.
“I—I heard from Duke Calypse. He said he’d come check on you every hour… c—could I just wait until then?”
“Oh…”
The sincerity in his plea softened my resolve a little.
Sending him out right away was the medically sound choice—but when he asked that earnestly, forcing the issue felt wrong.
Actually, it’s not that long until Father arrives…
I pulled the small clock from inside my jacket. There were about ten minutes left before Calypse was due.
Hmm. What to do… I can’t just leave Guide in here and pretend he isn’t turning into a popsicle…
I was rubbing my chin in thought when—
“Kyuu, kyuu! (Child, I have a good idea!)”
“…Grandmother?”
Bibi, still tucked against Guide’s chest, suddenly brightened—her small hands fluttering with excitement.
“Kyuu kyuu, kyuu! (Remember how we always pressed together when we were cold!)”
“Oh.”
She had a point.
My eyes widened.
She was absolutely right. Earlier, when I had been shivering badly myself, Bibi’s warmth had helped me hold on.
And now there were four of us here—if we all huddled together…
Clap clap—
The calculation complete, I clapped my hands together.
“Attention, everyone! Kyle. Guide.”
Bibi’s weeping boy and my own personal shadow both turned to look at me.
“We have about ten minutes left to get through. To do that, we need each other’s warmth.”
“Warmth?”
“…Y—yes.”
“So everyone—gather around Lucas!”
Off I went—launching myself like a cicada onto the unconscious and very horizontal Lucas, upholding my authority as the Young Lady of House Krost—
“What? What are we doing?”
My shadow Kyle was already gravitating toward me out of pure instinct.
“B—but how could I dare approach the Young Lady and the Young Master—”
“How dare you disobey a direct order from the Young Lady?”
Guide, floundering in indecision, finally scurried over at my challenge and pressed himself firmly against the prone Lucas.
It really was significantly warmer when all their heat overlapped.
I declared it with all the authority of a field commander.
“Good. We’re going to hold out exactly like this until Duke Calypse arrives!”
“Why, though?”
“Y—yes, ma’am!”
All bunched together in one improbable pile, we began squirming and shuffling for the warmest possible position.
The warmth of living people really was something else.
Being pressed together like this…
Hehe.
It felt like having friends my own age.
Which made it… rather nice.
Meanwhile, at that same moment.
“Ten… nine… five… two… one…”
Calypse had been watching the painfully slow clock with unbroken attention—and finally rose from his chair.
“End of first session.”
An hour that had felt like a year had at last come to its end.
