BONUS: LAIKA CAUGHT A COLD
When I woke up in the morning, breakfast wasn’t ready yet.
I checked to see if it was my turn that day and I forgot, but it wasn’t. I thought that maybe Halkara had a drink before bed and ended up sleeping in (which had happened in the past), but it wasn’t her day, either.
Right. It was definitely Laika’s day.
I repeatedly knocked on the door to Laika’s room.
After a little while, Laika flew out of the room in her fancy pajamas.
“My apologies, Lady Azusa! I will start breakfast at once!”
From the looks of it, she overslept.
That was unusual for her, but people did oversleep at least once or twice in their lives. It wasn’t like she was late for work or anything, so it wasn’t a big deal.
“Oh, no rush. No one else is up yet but me, so take your time getting ready.”
“No! One’s routine will fall apart if one makes too many allowances! I will begin my preparations right away!”
Still in her pajamas, Laika stood in the kitchen cutting the ham, whisking the eggs, and starting her breakfast.
She would insist on doing things her way when she got like this, so I read a grimoire as I waited.
“All right! This is ham and eggs with a drizzle of ketchup on top!”
“Oh, it’s a simple meal, but Falfa and Shalsha will be delighted to eat it.” My daughters were children, so they liked things sweetened with ketchup. “All right, I’m going to dig in, then.”
“I am so very sorry for making you wait!”
Hmm, it sort of felt like she was prioritizing diligence a little too much again.
It probably wasn’t actually that big of a change, since it depended on the personality, but I just decided to mention it.
“Hey, I’m not a guest, so you don’t have to be all fired up about this. Why not take it easier? It’s harder to break something flexible.”
“B-but there’s a difference between that and skipping my— Ha, ah, ah, ah…”
Then, Laika’s mouth opened in an odd way. And just as it occurred to me, Hey, her expression is really strange—
“Chooooooooooooo!!!!!”
An explosive tempest of a sneeze came from her mouth.
The plate that I was about to eat from almost flew away, so I managed to just catch the plate itself. The food scattered all over the table, so I put everything back on the plates as fast as I could for the three-second rule.
That aside.
“Uh, Laika? You weren’t sleeping in because you had a cold, were you?”
Anyone would think so if they saw that sneeze.
I guess I could also be thankful that flames hadn’t come out of her mouth.
“Oh, no, I’m just a little under the weather… Ah, ah, ah…”
Since I’d borne the brunt of it just now, I used my experience to get right up close to Laika and cover her mouth with my hand. I somehow made it in time.
“Mumble, mumble…”
Oh, it’d be hard for her to breathe if I kept it closed all the time. I drew my hand away.
“I—I’m sorry, Lady Azusa…”
“Stay put. I’ll take your temperature.”
I put my hand right onto Laika’s forehead.
“Ack! That’s a real fever right there! It’s way too hot, actually! I’m surprised you’re still alive…”
The sensation was like holding a cup filled with hot tea.
“I think that’s because I’m a red dragon… My body temperature is high to begin with…”
Okay. I guess we go with the dragon rules instead of the human rules here.
Even so, it was a sure thing that she had a cold.
“Laika, go back to your room and sleep. I’ll take care of everyone’s breakfast.”
“B-but…”
I scooped Laika up to carry her in my arms.
“I really hate it when people who aren’t healthy force themselves to work. It’s dangerous if it gets any worse, it’s inefficient, and if someone unwell can’t afford to take a shift off, then the guy who put the shifts together is incompetent! Now sleep!”
I carried Laika and forced her into her bed.
Then I put ice and water and cold towels and stuff on her, but they all dried up very quickly. Her temperature was really high…
“Let me ask just in case, but are there any life-threatening illnesses that only dragons can catch?”
“Dragons are hardy, so no… Hachoo, I think I got too cold while I was sleeping… The highlands are cooler than the volcano, after all…”
For me, the highland air was refreshing and felt great, but it sounded like Laika’s thoughts on the matter were different.
“Then rest a lot today. You can help out as much as you want once you’ve recovered. I will really be upset if you force yourself up or if you pass your cold on to any other family members. Right now, your duty is to recover from your cold, okay? That’s all!”
If I didn’t decisively tell her to rest, then she would leave her room again.
I could dote on her after she’d slept for a while. I had to be Laika’s substitute for the day.
I asked Shalsha about Laika’s symptoms when she woke up, and she told me it was an illness with the very straightforward name of “dragon cold.”
“It’s not serious, but the greatest symptom displayed is a sneeze strong enough to blow things away.”
“Yep, I’ve experienced that. I guess it’s pretty typical.”
Then all we had to do was make sure she got better.
“Madam Teacher, times like these call for Nutri-Spirits, don’t they?”
“No! We can’t have her feeling like she wants to work anymore!”
I shot down Halkara’s idea.
That being said, she did have a brain for medicine, so I guess I could ask her to help.
“Halkara, can you take today off from the factory?”
“Yes. I’m the president, so I may do what I like.”
“Go out and pick several kinds of herbs. In the meantime, I’ll watch over her.”
It was times like these that the whole family working together could make a difference.
“Flatorte, make some ice. Rosalie, Falfa, Shalsha, do the cleaning in Laika’s place today.”
Now that I was done assigning jobs, I put my heart and soul into nursing Laika back to health.
Laika’s forehead was still burning up, so it felt like she was gravely ill, but it was just a cold. The room was stuffy from the heat, but sweating was good for you when you were sick. That was probably no big deal.
What I needed to be careful of was that her sweat didn’t cool her down too much when she slept.
“Okay, we’re changing clothes, Laika.”
“I—I’m sorry, Lady Azusa…”
Every two hours or so, I would have Laika remove her clothes and put on new ones.
She was sweating way more than a human, so I had to take thorough care of her.
“These sorts of colds typically go away within the day, so you don’t have to worry so much…”
“Huh. Perfect, then.” I looked at her with confidence. “You ask for whatever you want today. Laika, you’re always trying to do things on your own, you know.”
Laika’s face was already red from her fever, but it looked like it got even redder.
“Understood…”
I knew that Laika was really a spoiled girl. But her education hid that by cultivating the parts of her that made her a stable individual. Think of a businessman whining, “Mommy, it’s too stifling…,” and not getting on the train to work in the morning. Everyone ends up molded into proper people.
But being proper all the time was definitely too stifling.
A balloon continually filled with air would burst. The act of depleting some of that air was necessary.
Before long, Laika was sleeping soundly. It didn’t seem like she was having a nightmare, so maybe she was getting better.
But then, she murmured something in her sleep.
“Elder Sister…”
Her big sister had gotten married. I know I said it before, but I had to be her pseudo–big sister.
Working so expeditiously for my younger sister…made me sleepy, too.
I sat on the bed and figured a five-minute snooze should be okay. Yeah, five minutes will be fine…
I woke up when I realized someone was petting my head.
It was Laika, sitting up in bed.
“Oh! Lady Azusa… You’re awake?”
She was surprised when I opened my eyes. I sat up.
“Sorry, I guess I fell asleep while I was watching over you. I hope I didn’t get in your way, though.”
“It was not a problem at all. Thank you for looking after me. It seems like my fever has gone down as well.”
“I see. This is all because of your big sister’s care.”
I deliberately emphasized big sister.
Laika’s right hand gently covered her mouth. Her ears were red, so that probably meant she was embarrassed.
“Ever since your big sister, Leila, got married, you’ve had less people you can lean on, right? I decided on the day of her wedding that I would take her place. You laid your head on my lap that day, didn’t you?”
“Y-yes… I remember it well…”
It sounded like Laika still remembered that. She quickly nodded.
“From now on, you can be the little sister you want to be, as much as you want to be. Growing up doesn’t mean you have to stop depending on others. If you need to lean on me, then do it. If you don’t, then I’ll indulge you myself.”
“Growing up does not mean discarding all dependencies… There is weight to those words. I will make a note of this later.”
She was probably planning on avoiding the whole thing by saying something so stiff.
But I guess that was fine. My feelings got through to her anyway. She was my little sister, after all.
“But why were you petting me?”
My memory was hazy, but it felt like she had run her hand over my hair a number of times.
Laika’s expression grew hesitant, and she looked away.
Wait, is there really a problem here?
“Well… Lady Azusa, you looked very cute when you were sleeping… Like a little sister…,” she said, still averting her eyes.
“I wanted to be the older sister, but now I’m the younger one?!”
What was up with that? My scheme had lost the plot!
“Certainly, you’re normally like my…a big sister, Lady Azusa. But your sleeping face looked much younger than I thought… And if you look younger than me when you are sleeping…it’s very much like a little sister tired out from caring for the sick then falling asleep…”
She’s not following along at all!
Could it be that I was the only one who was planning on being the older sister? Am I getting complacent…?
“I’m sorry! You are very much like an older sister to me, Lady Azusa! I don’t often think of you as a younger sister!”
But you do sometimes.
“Then the next time I catch a cold, you’ll take care of me, right, Big Sis Laika?”
“Please do not tease me like that, Lady Azusa!”
“Big Sis Laika, you don’t have to speak so formally to your little sister.”
“Please, stop with this!”
Afterward, I created a bitter medicine from the herbs Halkara picked. When I made Laika drink it, her cold got all better.
The End
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