Chapter 49
Yuichiro cocked his head lazily and asked, “”What did he bring you?”
Goat opened the white package with a sly grin. Inside, there was a pitch-black cloth. Yuichiro’s eyes widened at the sight of that color.
“Isn’t black a very valuable color?”
[I thought this guy said the black color couldn’t be made without grinding a rare gemstone called Obelisk.]
When Yuichiro questioned about it, Noah replied, “I used it because I have a lot of them in my treasure chest.”
“No, but they’re priceless, aren’t they?”
“It’s valuable, but we’re not going to export it to another country, and we might as well use it rather than wasting it.”
[What a bold thing to say.]
While Yuichiro was still stunned by Noah’s statement, Goat immediately unfolded the black cloth. The cloth then fluttered, against the wind. When light fell on the cloth’s pitch-black surface, a beautiful pattern and watermarks appeared. Then, like a shadow play[1], a transparent pattern was projected onto the ground. What appeared on the ground was either like a flower or a roaring beast.
“It’s an ensign [2]for Goddess troop,” Goat chimed in proudly.
At the man’s words, Yuichiro sensed a faint warmth within his heart. He took a deep breath to suppress his elation.
Beside him, Temeraire opened his mouth, “The Goddess’s troop will be made up of a portion of Goat’s border unit, the surrendered rebels as well as the Yellow tribe’s forces.”
“A hodpodge crew, huh?” Yuichiro muttered.
Temeraire then replied in a plaintive voice, “You would prefer that kind of unit over the regular army, right?”
Instead of affirming to the statement, Yuichiro just smiled.
[Rather than a rigid unit, a mixed, chaotic unit is much better suited for me.]
Looking at the fluttering banner, Noah muttered, “It’s Yuichiro’s, the goddess’s flag.”
“Let’s make the enemy piss themselves and shudder when they see this flag,” Goat’s face loosened up as he couldn’t wait to see them, which was followed by Yuichiro’s congenial smile.
“Now then, I’ll make sure to perfectly organize our troops before the next battle,” Goat said as he rose from his chair, still holding the ensign.
“Aaa~~ Don’t bully those Yellow tribe people.”
Goat shrugged his shoulders as if dismayed.
“That’s what Noah-sama told me too. How often have you doubted me?”
“I’ve never doubted you.”
When Yuichiro said this naturally, Goat’s eyes widened. He then gave a troubled, cryptic smile. “You… have my thanks,” he said, his voice sad for some reason. After saying, “Well then,” he turned away from Yuichiro, who was frowning curiously, and walked out.
In an exasperated mutter, Temeraire said, “You should take your war addiction in moderation, too,” after the door had closed.
“You don’t like war?”
“War causes chaos.”
In the end, Temeraire did not answer whether he liked it or otherwise.
Yuichiro narrowed his eyes and smiled at Temeraire. “That describes me too.”
Temeraire gave a faint smile at his words. The man’s expression was that of a small child. Temeraire’s hair blew in the breeze. As if silver silken threads were flitting through the sky. Yuichiro was irritated by Temeraire’s face being obscured by his own hair for some reason.
“Your hair, doesn’t it get in the way?”
When he asked him this, Temeraire resentfully replied, “I’d like to tie them, but my shoulders are bothering me and I can’t raise my arm.”
Temeraire’s words jogged his memory of something. Yuichiro recalled how, a week prior, he had bitten the man’s shoulder and drank his blood. He had gnawed on Temeraire’s shoulders so much to the point it was torn apart. As a result, he wondered if the wound had not yet healed completely.
“You, come over here,” he called out, tapping the side of the couch.
Temeraire was perplexed for a moment before gently looking at Noah, who was sitting next to Yuichiro. However, Noah averted his gaze, perhaps on purpose, towards the direction of castle town, appearing unconcerned. Temeraire took a seat next to Yuichiro with a hesitant movement.
“Do you have a string or something?”
When he asked Temeraire, the man pulled out a white ribbon from his pocket. After receiving it, he grabbed Temeraire’s arms and made the men back turned facing himself. Just like that, he ran his fingertips through his hair. Afterward, He glided his hand, combing over the silky hair several times. When there were no more tangles, he parted the hair into three sections. Slowly, with a careful maneuver, he braided the hair into braids.
“What are you doing?” Noah, who had been looking away, peeked out from behind Yuichiro’s back.
In response, Yuichiro answered in a quiet voice without looking back at him, “I’m braiding.”
“Braids?”
“That’s right.”
“Hmm~~ can you braid mine later?”
“You have short hair, so it’s impossible,” when Yuichiro replied this casually, Noah in return exclaimed, “Eh~~,” in discontent like a high school girl.
Amused by the sound of Noah’s voice, Yuichiro chuckled a little against the back of his throat. Temeraire seemed amused as well, with his shoulders bouncing around in glee.
Afterward, Yuichiro braided Temeraire’s natural hair into a loose braid to avoid pulling on it. It reminded him of the time when his daughter scolded him for yanking her hair out of her head because he was too nervous to braid it neatly.
“Hurts~~! Dad, you suck!”
Whenever he was scolded like that, he would apologize saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Looking back, Yuichiro had always been apologizing to Mana.
[I’m sorry I didn’t play with you enough.]
[I’m sorry I couldn’t go home.]
[I’m sorry I let things end so badly…]
Among the many memories however, only regrets remained. Even though he was immersing himself of his past, he continued to braid Temeraire’s hairs neatly. After braiding to the very bottom, he attempted to tie the ribbon. But before he could do so, Noah touched the back of Yuichiro’s hand to stop him.
“I’ll tie it.”
Surprised by Noah’s sudden words, Yuichiro gave him the ribbon. Surprised by Noah’s sudden words, Yuichiro gave him the ribbon. However, perhaps he had never tied a ribbon before, the finished result was a terribly misshapen butterfly knot. The size of the ribbon was completely different on each side.
“Hideous.”
Noah’s lips twitched in disapproval as Yuichiro chided him.
“Let’s do it again.” Noah untied the ribbon and tried it again. However this time, he ended up tying it vertically.
“Ah, no, not like that,” Yuichiro grumbled as he untied the ribbon. “Here, we’ll do it together, so tie it carefully,” he said as he laid his palm on the back of Noah’s hand and slowly tied a bow for him.
Noah worked carefully and seriously, moving his fingertips with precision.
“Yes, now make a loop with the right side.”
“This one?”
“Yes, that’s it.”
Yuichiro answered as he was asked.
It felt like a moment shared between a parent and child, which strangely tickled him. It was as if the three of them were pretending to be a family. But he didn’t dislike the peaceful moment they spent together. The butterfly knot they made next finally formed a beautiful shape. Noah grinned happily as he looked at the butterfly knot, which drew a symmetrical oval shape on both sides.
“I got it right.”
“That’s because I taught you how to do it,” he replied arrogantly, and Noah pouted again as if sulking.
Seeing his childish expression, Yuichiro couldn’t help but laugh. When he laughed out loud, Noah blinked. The wind blew through and lightly swayed Temeraire’s braids. At that moment, he suddenly noticed something. Temeraire’s shoulders were trembling slightly.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
The moment he leaned over and looked at him from behind, Yuichiro’s eyes widened in shock. Tears dripped from Temeraire’s tightly closed eyes.
“Why are you crying?” Yuichiro asked, his voice filled with surprise.
Without looking up, Temeraire shook his head from side to side in response to Yuichiro’s confusion. “It’s not sadness,” she said, but his tears continued to flow.
Noah, whose expression had not changed, stared intently at Temeraire’s trembling shoulders and reached out his hand. He gently pressed his small palm against his back and moved it up and down as if to comfort him. Temeraire opened his eyes slightly and his face crumpled with a sob. Big tears fell down his face, blown by the cool breeze and accompanied by small cries.
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Footnotes
[1] A type of play using puppets behind a white screen.
[2] A battle flag.