When I woke up, it's still early in the morning, and Mina is asleep. I don't know if it's normal to wake up before the sun rises, but this is what I'm used to doing.
Getting out of bed, facing the windows, I stand up and start to stretch, like I usually do. I notice that the table, which had our plates from last night's dinner, is already clean, and the plates are taken away too. Did someone come into the room and clean it up while we were asleep?
Now that I'm done stretching, I should prepare to... Ah, I can't see the sunrise from inside Lindis. The walls surrounding the city is just barely tall enough to block my view from this room's windows. If only I'm a little taller...
I didn't expect it to turn out like this. This is annoying! I don't want to miss even a bit of the beautiful sunrise! Well, that's already not a great start to my day.
"Mmph!"
Ah, wait, my tail! I didn't notice that it's swinging around so violently, that I somehow managed to hit Mina's face.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't control it!"
"Ugh... Good morning... Mimin."
To think that, after so long, I still can't maintain full control over my tail. Is this normal for all beastkin? I need to learn to control my tail...
"You're awake... this early, in the morning?"
"Yeah, I'm used to waking up before sunrise."
Mina rubs her eyes, still not fully awake since I accidentally woke her up. Her cat ears and tail move around slowly, showing tiredness from having sleep interrupted. It's clear that she's not used to waking up at this time, and... I forget that Mina can be this cute. I'm starting to feel bad for waking her up.
"I see... By the way, how are you feeling now, Mimin?"
"Eh? What do you mean by that?"
That's a random question to ask, isn't it? Asking me that when you just woke up... I'm not really sure how to respond to that.
"...No, it's nothing."
*tap tap tap*
Someone is knocking on the door now. Isn't it still early in the morning though? Do sleep times vary for different people here?
I'm just about to open the door, to let the person come in, but Mina pulls on my hand and stops me from doing so. After a few seconds in silence, she answers.
"Selena, is it? We're awake, so please, come in."
Oh, not like this. Why is she here now, when we just... Well, I'm not too surprised anymore, since it's Selena and she somehow knows everything.
"Oh~. Nice. You're getting better at this, Mina."
Selena opens the door and walks in, talking to Mina and completely ignoring my presence in the room. At least, that's what it seems like to me.
"I'm just... lucky."
"Hm? Not really, you're getting more accurate with your guesses recently. You're not getting luckier; You're getting smarter. Though, you're already quite intelligent for an eight year old."
"..."
That last part there, it sounds like she's saying it to the both of us. I can't tell, but even if it's also meant to flatter me, it's not going to work, since I still hate her.
"How are you feeling, Mimin? Any better compared to yesterday?"
"Yes. Not thanks to you, though. Why are you asking me this? What do you want from me?"
(Please... Calm down.)
"..."
Come on, just say what you want and get out of the room already! What do you want from me? Why are you here? Why do I have to deal with you when I just woke up?
"About yesterday... I shouldn't have said what I said to you. I'm sorry."
"...Eh? Eh!?"
Wait wait wait, what is she doing? Suddenly, she starts apologizing and bow down, such that her body is parallel to the ground. Where did this behaviour come from? Why is she doing this now?
"What I did was inexcusable. It may be the truth, but what I said ended up hurting you more. It is unacceptable for me to behave like that, especially because of my job as your caretaker. That's why, I'm truly sorry."
I don't understand. What is she planning now? Her attitude towards me turned around completely, from yesterday. It's like she's a different person entirely. Somehow, it's even more difficult for me to trust her now.
"Please raise your head. You don't have to do anything like this."
It's starting to make me feel uncomfortable with her like this. Why does she seem so worried for me now? She's the one who made things end up like this anyway.
Selena stands upright, and starts to stare at my face for a few seconds. What is this about? She's not doing anything, other than staring at me.
"Haah..."
Closing her eyes gently, she starts to sigh, as if she realized that she's made a mess, bigger than what she can clean up. She's probably already realized that I've not forgiven her.
I'm guessing that, when she stares at my face, she knows what I'm thinking. If that's the case, I need to be careful around her.