Bonus Short Stories
One Particular Morning
Early one morning, at a time when most people would normally be asleep...
“Good morning, Onii-chan.”
Rio woke up to Latifa clinging onto him from above.
“Good morning... Is it already time to get up?” Rio asked sleepily with a slight yawn.
“Nope! It’s still a little early, but...” Latifa shook her head nervously. She looked like she wanted to say something, which Rio found to be a little strange.
“Is something the matter?” he asked.
“Promise you won’t laugh?”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that until I hear what it is...”
Latifa pouted. “Mmrgh... Promise you won’t laugh!” she insisted. It seemed she wasn’t going to answer until he agreed.
Rio folded to her demands and nodded. “All right. I won’t laugh.”
“I had a scary dream, so I didn’t want to be awake by myself...”
Which was why she woke Rio up. Latifa looked a little embarrassed as she explained herself.
“I see...” Rio chuckled.
“Ah, you laughed!” Latifa whined unhappily.
“I’m not laughing,” Rio denied, petting Latifa’s head as it rested on his chest.
“Hmph...” Latifa puffed up her cheeks in objection, but she didn’t resist the head pats from her beloved adopted brother, obediently surrendering herself to him.
“What kind of dream was it?” Rio asked as he continued to pet her head.
“It was a dream about the past. We were traveling together, but you suddenly disappeared.”
“Don’t worry--I’m right here.”
“Yeah...” Latifa’s reply was a little uneasy. She tightened her grip around Rio.
“Would you like to sleep together?” Rio looked up and asked.
“Yeah.” The reply this time was much more assured.
“Then you should get off me first. Sleeping like this will make you catch a cold.”
“Okay!” Latifa obeyed and happily relocated next to him.
“Here, come under the blankets.”
“Okay!” Latifa immediately crawled into the bed and snuggled up to Rio, beaming with happiness. “Ehehe--it’s warm. And it smells like you. So cozy.”
“Let’s go to sleep, then.” Since he’d been roused at such an early hour, his body was still yearning for sleep. Rio yawned once again.
“Yup. Good night, Onii-chan,” Latifa replied obediently, hugging Rio’s side and closing her eyes.
“Good night,” Rio said gently.
It seemed Latifa was still sleepy herself, as she fell asleep in no time at all.
She must’ve forgotten about the dream already.
Relieved by the sight of Latifa’s peaceful sleeping face, Rio also let himself drift off. Less than a minute later, the two of them were both sleeping soundly.
However, when Rio woke up an hour later and tried to get them both up...
“Nooo, I want to sleep with Onii-chan more!”
Latifa’s insistent clinging and refusal to release Rio resulted in the two of them settling down for their third round of sleep.
A New Way of Calling
It happened on the way from Cleia to Rodania, while they were preparing lunch in a clearing off the road.
“Celia.”
Certain circumstances had led to Rio addressing Celia without a title. There had been an awkward bashfulness at first, but he was gradually growing used to it after continuously doing so over the span of a few days.
“Yes, Haruto?” Celia was now completely used to it, as she showed no embarrassment in her reaction.
“Could you produce some water with magic for me?”
“Sure, I can do that.”
Rio summoned Celia over to the food preparation bench and had her prepare some water.
“We’ve been walking for consecutive days now. How are you holding up?” Rio asked while she filled a pot with water.
“I’m fine. It’d be a lie if I said I wasn’t tired, but I’m not in any pain. I’ve never had the chance to travel so much on foot before, so I’m actually finding it pretty fun,” Celia replied with a giggle.
“Is that so?”
“What about you, Haruto? Are you tired? I know it’s not every day, but you’ve been carrying us as you run every three days.”
“It’s not that big of a deal. I’m also finding it fun traveling with you, Celia,” Rio said with a soft smile.
“R-Really, now...?” A faint pink tinted Celia’s cheeks.
“Thankfully, our trip has been going smoothly. Let’s pray that nothing happens before we reach Rodania.”
“It’s a little saddening to have the journey come to and end, but... You’re right.” Celia nodded, a faraway look in her eyes.
“Speaking of which, once we part ways with Her Highness and return to our regular lives, should I go back to calling you what I used to?” Rio asked.
“Well... No, it’s okay. You can keep doing what you’re doing now. It’d get too confusing otherwise.”
She finally got him to call her by her name... was the reason Celia didn’t voice out loud, and her cheeks reddened once more.
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