School, Day 2
I don’t remember anything after dinner yesterday. Apparently, I fell asleep without realizing it and woke up to find it was already morning.
According to Dad, I started nodding off halfway through dinner and nearly dunked my face into the soup, so he moved me to my bed. He said bathing would have been dangerous, so he gave me a clean-body wipe-down instead. I was so embarrassed I wanted to dig a hole and crawl in.
But Dad’s belief is that “kids only grow if they sleep,” so he just laughed it off with a hearty “gahaha”.
Anyway, this morning I walked halfway to school again. I managed to go a little farther than yesterday—far enough to see the top of the big tree.
While exchanging morning greetings with Mrs. Elsa from the greengrocer and the Yachiro couple, a familiar lively voice rang out again today.
“Nooo~~~ I wanna go with big brooooooo~~~”
“I told you, Lon, you can’t yet. You’ll turn into a cat again, remember?”
“Nooomeooow~~~”
“Let~ Me~ Go~~~”
It didn’t seem like the same kind of dash-and-flee situation as yesterday, so I peeked into the alley and saw a black cat clinging desperately to Lun’s clothes with its claws, while Len was frantically trying to pry it off. Scattered around them were bits of jinbei clothing.
“Oh, seriously. Every single morning with this kid!”
Wearing her apron, Mrs. Lilium held something in front of the mewling kitten’s nose, and it instantly started going limp, sleepy. Taking advantage of that moment, Len carefully removed the kitten’s claws from Lun’s clothes and handed him over to Mrs. Lilium. That must’ve been something like catnip or a similar herb.
“All good now? Let’s go.”
Just as I was watching with intense curiosity, Dad called out to me with a wry smile. Right, I’m on my way to school.
“Ah—Vio!!”
“Hm? Oh, you’re right. Good morning, Vio. Good morning, Mr. Alke.”
“Oh my, good morning Vio. Looks like my son was in your care yesterday. Thank you. He surprised me—he said he wanted to help with the dishes for the first time ever.”
Lun and Len greeted me, and Mrs. Lilium, still holding the kitten in one hand, thanked me too. Um, that dangling way you’re holding it by the scruff—is that really okay?
“Good morning, Len, Lun, Mrs. Lilium. Mrs. Lilium, I didn’t do anything. Len just said it’d be good practice for magic and worked really hard.”
All I did was encourage him a little by saying it’d be good practice. It was Len who actually stepped up to help. Being praised by Mrs. Lilium, he seemed both happy and embarrassed, and quickly ran off saying, “I’m heading off first!”
“Oh dear, is he blushing like a grown-up? He’s a bit wild, but I think he really looks up to you, Vio. I’d be happy if you stayed friends with him.”
“Alright, Mom, I’m heading out too. Vio, Mr. Alke, can I go with you?”
“Of course.”
“Yeah, let’s go together.”
“Have fun.”
Len had already disappeared from sight, but since we’re headed to the same place, I ended up going to the guild with Lun while still in Dad’s arms.
“Lun, do you know what we’re studying today?”
“Yup! Today is arithmetic and combat class.”
Ohhh, the tiger teacher who helped me yesterday mentioned teaching martial arts—maybe it’s that class. Apparently, they alternate between “Language and Writing Theory & Practical Magic” days and “Arithmetic Theory & Martial Arts, Combat Practice” days. They say it’s mostly to avoid getting bored with the same thing every day.
“Oh my, you came together today?”
“My, But isn’t someone missing?”
“My, oh my, you’re right. What happened, I wonder?”
Once we stepped through the guild’s doors, we met the sheep triplets again. Today they wore dresses with colored ribbons—red, green, and yellow—just like yesterday, though this time the ribbons were at the collars instead of in their hair.
“Oh, Len’s probably already in the classroom. Vio, I’ll go check.”
Since Len wasn’t at the first-floor tables where I thought he’d be, Lun probably went to check in the classroom. He’s such a caring big brother.
“Huh? Dad, you’re coming all the way down today?”
"Yeah, I clean forgot yesterday, but these here stairs are still too tall for you, ain't they? I'll mosey on to the classroom with ya."
Yesterday, he saw me off at the top of the stairs, but today he started walking down while chatting with the triplets, so I asked, surprised, and that’s the answer I got. True, yesterday Teacher Edel helped me down halfway. I’ll be counting on Dad a little longer until I grow more.
Once we entered the classroom, Len was already there, sitting at the center table for some reason.
"I'll be back to fetch you when class is done. You have yourself a good time today too, ya hear?"
Dad gave me a pat on the head, waved his hand, and went back up the stairs. Since he’ll be back when the combat class ends, I don’t have to worry about going back up the stairs later.
“Len, are you okay sitting there? You’re the first one here, so you could’ve picked a seat on the edge.”
“It’s easier for you to teach me from here, right?”
That’s the seat someone said “Hey, that’s mine!” about yesterday. I double-checked just in case, but what’s with that answer? It’s stupidly cute!
Maybe that means he wants to sit with all three of us like yesterday? In that case, wouldn’t it be better if I sat in the middle and the boys sat on either side? But it seemed like Len had already decided for himself, so… oh well.
What do you think about this chapter?
