2
After quickly taking a shine to the children, Garfiel ended up buying them food at a nearby stall. Then he stood tall and triumphant as he strutted around the city.
“And then I said this: ‘I’ve seen through your evil deeds, third-raters. Your wickedness and wicked faces ain’t gettin’ by my general and my bro!’”
“Wow! That’s so cool!” “Whoa! I got goosebumps!”
As the fast-approaching night began to color Pristella’s sky, Mimi and a blond boy cheered Garfiel on as he spun his tale. The latter was only six or seven, and he was one of the children whom Garfiel had saved on the waterway.
The story that Garfiel was telling at the time was the cursed-goddess-statue incident, the one that had left the deepest impression upon him out of everything that had happened in the last year.
At any rate, the trio of Subaru, Otto, and Garfiel had soon gotten deeply involved, and as a matter of course, they encountered the owner of a metia. Needless to say, a great deal of trouble ensued.
Garfiel clacked his fangs cheerfully at having an audience so happy to listen to his stories. All three were currently on the way to the blond boy’s residence; they were escorting him home.
After taking the children to a food stall, Garfiel had a responsibility as the eldest person present to safely return them home. He’d already delivered the other four safe and sound. This child was the last.
“Gotta say, for little runts, you kids sure went a long way from home.”
“Errr… Actually, we went to the park in the First District to hear the Songstress…”
“The Songstress, huh? Accordin’ to the general, she’s got one hell of a singin’ voice…”
Garfiel crinkled his nose at the innocent admiration coming out of the boy’s mouth.
The boy was talking about Liliana, the famous Songstress of Pristella. It had been brief, but Garfiel had met the real deal at the Muse Company. To be blunt, she seemed like an extremely willful person, and he felt like she had fatal flaws irreconcilable with the rumors that she was a songstress of uncommon talent.
“Garf, you haven’t heard the Songstress sing? What a shame! Somehow, she’s reaaally good!”
“What, you actually got a good listen?”
“Yeah! I didn’t fall asleep till the very end! That’s a huuuge achievement! Mimi’s incredible, right? Praise me!”
When Mimi presented her head, Garfiel gave her a perfunctory pat. Mimi went, “Yaaay!” anyway, racing forward with great delight as Garfiel turned toward the boy.
“So did ya get to meet this Songstress you admire?”
“Nah, seems we were a little too late… I wonder if my sister will be upset.”
“Sister? Why would she be upset?”
“…Because I…left without telling anyone.”
“Ahh—”
From the boy’s sullen face, it appeared that the plan was to keep his promise with his friends a secret from his family. But because he would be returning home later than expected, he couldn’t help but be afraid of how his family would react, particularly this older sister of his.
Garfiel understood that feeling painfully well. Older sisters were powerful creatures. He might even go as far as to say they were formidable walls that little brothers could never surpass. That’s how it was for him when he finally reunited with his own sister even after spending ten years honing his body. One look at the young boy they were escorting home, and it was obvious that even contests of strength were hopeless. There was a despairing difference in power between older sisters and their younger brothers.
“Got it. Just leave it to me.”
Though worried, the boy blinked hard when Garfiel reassuringly patted his own chest.
“I know how scary big sisters can be, y’see. Me, I got a big sis, too, and the woman I love has a younger sister too. Kid, if your sister is upset, I’ll listen to her lecture with you.”
“Gorgeous Tiger!”
Deeply moved, the boy hugged Garfiel tightly. Garfiel hugged the boy back, only for Mimi to latch onto him from behind as well.
Thus, with cargo hanging from the front and back, Garfiel pressed on toward the boy’s house with wobbly steps and newfound resolve.
“Gorgeous Tiger, huh?”
The fact that the boy had called him that just then made Garfiel clench his fangs.
The feelings of powerlessness that had driven him from the inn had not completely vanished by any means. He still lacked the confidence that he could bump into Reinhard at the ryokan and maintain his composure.
Even so, the female phantom who was dressed in black and symbolized his sense of weakness was nowhere to be seen.
This was probably thanks to the children who now revered him as Gorgeous Tiger, and the incomprehensible energy Mimi had instilled within him—
“—Fred!”
Right as Garfiel was beginning to dive into sentimentality, his ears shuddered when he heard that sharp, high-pitched voice.
When he lifted his face, he saw a small figure racing toward him. Her long, blond hair flapped about as the stranger closed in on them like a comet.
She came straight in, charging toward the boy, who was hugging onto Garfield.
“Ah, Big Si… Gwah!”
“Just how much were you trying to make me worry about you?!!”
The boy had been clinging to Garfiel—right up until his sister’s kick sent him flying. Garfiel found himself admiring her kicking form and the impressive way she landed.
That instant, the girl swiftly turned about, driving her heel into Garfiel’s foot as she howled:
“You shady goon! What were you doing with my Fred?!”
“That hur… Well, I guess it don’t actually hurt, but could you get off my foot, runt?”
He’d already had his fill of runts, but Garfiel called the girl that nonetheless.
From her silent reaction, the girl was a little taken aback that her preemptive strike had been ineffective. Perhaps looking at Garfiel’s face up close made her suspect that she’d picked a fight with a violent person.
Garfiel was similarly taken by surprise. To think that there existed another older sister besides Frederica who’d attack her younger brother without so much as a warning the moment they were reunited.
Incidentally, Mimi leaped to catch the flying boy with a “Pwah!” and both of them ending up rolling to a stop, unharmed. All the same, Garfiel felt compelled to comment.
“Can’t really compliment a big sis kickin’ her own little bro!”
“Argh… W-well, sorry about that, but what’s your deal anyway?! Just so you know, I won’t let you lay one finger on Fred or me! I’m scary when I get angry!!”
Garfiel’s choice of words made the girl clench her teeth as she acknowledged the error of her own ways.
She may have been the boy’s older sister, but the girl was only about ten years old herself, give or take—right around the age when kids got too big for their britches. Taking Garfiel for a street punk based on appearances alone, she’d challenged him while wringing out all her courage with tears in her eyes. She was probably doing her best to divert attention away from her little brother.
However, things were not going to go according to plan.
“G-Gorgeous Tiger…please don’t eat my sister…”
The younger brother wedged himself between the tiger and his teary-eyed older sister. The pleading boy’s words made the shielding girl open her eyes wide. However, the girl clenched her teeth and stood firm at her younger brother’s side.
Garfiel wasn’t exactly sure what was happening, but this brother and sister had a beautiful, caring relationship.
“Not that I approve of ya treatin’ me like the villain here!”
“Bad, bad! Garf, you can’t be a bad guy! You’re Garf! You’re Gorgeous Tiger!”
Joining back in after a short dash, Mimi bounded up and poked Garfiel in the forehead. It didn’t hurt, but he felt like he shouldn’t just ignore it, either.
As Garfiel mulled over how to clear his name—
“—Dear? Did you find Fred?”
It was the sound of someone entirely unexpected that shattered the stalemate.
It was the soft, gentle voice of a woman. The instant he heard it, he thought the sister and brother before his eyes might glance at each other’s faces, but instead, they broke out running toward it in great haste.
“The hell?”
Right as Garfiel blinked in a daze at their sudden vigor, a new figure appeared from across the way. When the individual rounded a corner and came into sight, the siblings leaped into her arms.
“Mommy!” “Mom, there’s a scary stranger!! That Gorgeous something or other was holding Fred, and I…!”
Catching the two as they tearfully clung to her was a casually dressed woman with long, blond hair. Going by what the siblings said, this was their mother, but Garfiel dearly hoped the mother didn’t go by their words and assume he was someone suspicious. It would probably become incredibly complicated if she took her daughter at her word.
Either way, having an adult capable of rational conversation come out was a huge help. Garfiel stepped forward, wanting to explain the situation before someone called the city guards—
“—Huh?”
With the children still clinging to her, the small smile she turned toward him stopped him dead in his tracks.
“Garf?”
Garfiel’s jerky movement made Mimi look at him with a mystified face.
However, Garfiel could not respond to Mimi’s call. He was too preoccupied. His heart and eyes were filled with bewilderment.
He was a storm of emotions, and his thoughts had fallen into utter chaos. Of course that was what happened. It was only natural.
“Um, it seems that you were looking after my children. If you like, could we speak more at our house? It’s very close by.”
Gently, the woman spoke with a tone that harbored no misgivings whatsoever.
When the unguarded woman closed the distance, Garfiel widened his eyes at the sight of her. His sharp fangs refused to line up. The woman tilted her head curiously at the clattering sound of his teeth.
That expression, that demeanor, that voice—they shook Garfiel to the very core of his being.
After all, standing there was—
“—Mom?”
That raspy voice was all that he managed to spill out from his throat for a reunion that should never have happened.
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