Bonus Short Story
The Bedtime Signal
The days within the weather-adjusted human domain were relatively warm. Alus was sitting at a large desk in his laboratory, doing battle against his heavy eyelids. The desk was so crammed with papers and documents that you couldn’t see the surface. Although Loki managed to free up just enough space to put down some newly-made tea.
It’s morning already? Alus couldn’t tell when the sun had risen. Without his realizing it, it would be nighttime; and then it would be morning again. He’d been spending the last week like that.
He’d only just now come out victorious against his fifth battle with sleep today. It wasn’t until he felt he was at his limit that the true battle really began.
At first he’d been getting coffee from Loki, but by his fifth day she was serving black tea, heavy on the milk. The tea she served tasted like medicine. “How is it? I thought you would be tired, so I tried a blend.”
“A tea blend, huh.” That was all he said to Loki at first. In reality he was having a hard time figuring out what to make of the change in taste. He wasn’t exactly a connoisseur, so he couldn’t explain what was good or bad. He didn’t know anything about tea leaves or where they came from, and he really only had a smattering of knowledge of their beneficial effects.
I was sure she’d tell me to go to bed... Alus was grateful to the girl who always supported him. He tended to neglect his health due to his focus being elsewhere, so he tried to listen to Loki’s advice at every opportunity. However, to her it felt like he’d only listen after she nagged him for a long time.
Looking at his clock for the first time in a while, Alus realized it had been three days since he last slept. To Loki, who watched over his health, three days would put her at her limit. It was strange, though, that she wasn’t saying anything yet.
With a puzzled look, Alus picked up his cup. Hm? When the smell reached his nose, he turned to Loki. “Th-This smells good.”
“Thank you,” Loki immediately replied with a big smile.
So that’s how it is. Instead of nagging at Alus to stop, Loki had brought tea his way. She would tolerate him staying up overnight, but if it went past one or two days, she would forcibly keep him in check. That said, not stopping him directly was very much like her.
With her tray in hand, Loki stared at his cup. Alus quickly picked up on this. It’s not much, but this has some sleep-inducing drugs in it, doesn’t it? So far, Loki had been making the tea extra sweet, or less hot, and the like. Seeing how Alus wouldn’t fall asleep even with that, she had decided to be more direct in her approach.
He felt bad about putting the cup down without drinking it. Besides, he was the one who’d ignored her warnings. G-Guess I’ll drink it... Due to his line of work, Alus was sensitive to traces of drugs. He also had a degree of resistance to them, but being so exhausted, even a small amount would affect him and bring about sleepiness.
But in the end, he chose to return the cup. “Hm, guess it’s about time to go to sleep. I’m about at my limit... Sorry about this, Loki.”
“Please don’t worry about it. I think going to bed is a good idea.”
Seemingly overpowered by Loki’s pressure, Alus could only weakly nod. Since she’d gone this far, he worried over what would happen if he ignored her warnings any further. He shuddered at the thought of her using tasteless and odorless drugs in her next blend.
However, it seemed that was a needless worry. On the way to his bed he realized how clueless he had been. “!!!”
Loki was now drinking the tea she’d made herself. “I’ll make more next time.”
“Y-Yeah, thanks.”
It only took him a moment to realize the truth. The tea had never been drugged in the first place. But she’d added the scent to it and pretended it was real to show Alus how serious she was... A high level battle of wits, if you would.
“Jeez, I’ll be more careful next time,” he said, and headed off to bed.
“Please.”
The satisfied smile on Loki’s face as she saw him off seemed out of place so early in the morning.
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