Glenn and Akihito had breakfast alone.
"I see," said Akihito, barely able to contain his surprise, "Mari agreed, so. Great."
"You don't seem to be happy."
"Still, despite what I consider my act to be human, I will miss her. It's like seeing someone every day for ten years and they suddenly disappear from your life. It's a rotten feeling."
The man's comparison reminded Glenn of his father. His amulet with the cross was lying in his bed this morning.
"However," Akihito added, "Mari isn't going anywhere — she can come visit whenever she wants, just like you, Glenn-kun. I only wonder, if she sees the Hirota clan court again in the future, will she want to go back?"
"I am sure she will let go of this noble estate, and in your footsteps will strive for the future. She will make up for all she has lost — in this I will help Mari-chan, for it is my personal duty."
"You are right. That's right — I've completely stopped thinking straight. This distrust of people is killing me."
Lowering his gaze to his food, Akihito thought of the little maid with whom he had been going through all the hardships of life for eleven years now. In an event two years ago, when he was doomed to apathy and nervousness, Mari was the only one who was close. She would not want to let Akihito go, even if he might hurt her physically, for that was what her heart said, not any oath.
"If she needs my support, Glenn-kun, tell me, and I will come to her aid immediately. I will not cross the line of madness again."
"I look forward to your support."
"Thank you. So now that my wish is granted… as I promised, you can ask me for anything. What do you wish for yourself, Glenn-kun?"
Akihito's question made the teenager uncomfortable. Glenn was literally devastated inwardly, realizing that by giving an answer he could save himself from death itself and finally throw off the weight that had held all his thoughts for two long years. Although his health was at an end, Glenn didn't know if he should have asked for such a brazen favor and fabulous numbers.
"I'll think about it."
"I see. Answering such things isn't easy at times, that's normal. But rest assured: you've done me an unsurpassed favor, for the second time."
Evening came. As Akiko was eating dinner in the kitchen after taking a shower, she received a message from Glenn. As she read the message, she inadvertently choked on the meat soup, thus disturbing the young parents sitting at the same table with her. The girl said she just choked, and, glancing back at her phone, read another new message.
[Guren: "Hi, free tomorrow?"]
[Guren: "Do you want to go to the amusement park together?"]
Akiko wondered if she had been asked out, and, taking her time to refuse, reasoned that Glenn simply couldn't go for that because there was no active interest between them. Maybe he just wanted to meet for work, or maybe something was up.
[Attyan: "Hi! Okay."]
The weather has gotten noticeably colder since that day, so people started dressing warmer. Akiko, the next chilly morning, walked up to the front entrance of the amusement park and met Glenn. She responded to the short girl standing next to the young man, on whose head Glenn was wearing a pompom cap, and marveled at her cute appearance.
"Akiko-chan," Glenn waved, delighted by her arrival.
"Oh," Mari replied. "Is this the friend you were talking about yesterday who's coming to the park with us?"
Glenn nodded quietly under his scarf and added: "She's also exactly the one whose looks I was comparing to yours."
Delighted doubly, Mari looked carefully at the pink-haired girl.
Akiko greeted them by waving her hand. Next, she stepped closer to Mari.
"I am Akiko Akiyama, and what is yours name?"
Aching from Akiko's gentle voice, the girl was at a loss as to what to do. In return, she respectfully bowed her head to Akiko, apologizing for not saying her name earlier. Even when Mari left the manor, her maid habits hadn't gone anywhere, and she struggled to act like an ordinary girl from the city, which made Glenn amused.
"Mari Asahina!"
Soon Yumiko joined their company, tidy in her delicate caramel-colored outerwear. Surprised by her appearance, Akiko asked the young man if he had made a date for them. Noticing some change in Glenn's appearance, the girls saw that he had cut his hair and shaved his sides. His newly groomed hair seemed unusual to the eyes of the unaccustomed girls, though it suited the boy.
Upon entering the amusement park, Mari's eyes widened at the sight of the rides: she felt their grandiose vistas come alive. The mere anticipation of finding herself in one of them gave the girl a thrill, and when she learned that Glenn would pay for all the rides for the girls, she admired the teenager even more.
She turned to Glenn with a weeping, bloated face, waiting for him to choose where they should go first, to which the young man advised her to go wherever she saw fit.
"This day is all yours, Mari-chan, and you can choose whatever you want."
Rejoicing, Mari began to choose between all the rides, and Yumiko ducked down to her, looked her in the eye and said affectionately: "If you're having trouble choosing, I'll help you."
"Angel…" Mari muttered softly, causing Yumiko's face to turn red.
"That's right!" Akiko responded.
Yumiko surprisingly quickly found common ground with the girl, and they chatted about the amusement park itself, spreading a beautiful, affectionate atmosphere of joy around them.
"Yumiko-chan seems to be great with children," said Akiko, looking back at the delighted little girl. "I didn't know that before. There's so much I don't know about you."
Glancing over at the young man, she softly admitted that she liked his new hairstyle, which made Glenn's shoulders flicker. Mari shook her hands in their direction, thereby calling the couple to her, and Akiko laughed embarrassedly.
"I think we're being called," she said, softly.
"Uh-huh."
In the hour that followed, Mari managed to go on several entertaining rides and constantly took the others with her. Since Glenn wasn't particularly fond of rides, after two times he declined. There was no shortage of happiness on Mari's face, and Glenn, who was looking out for her, was genuinely heartbroken. After she and Akiko left the carousel, the pink-haired girl asked with a sickly look for a short rest, barely restraining herself from dizziness.
"We can go to some restaurant!" Mari lifted her chin and opened her arms wide.
"I don't mind! On the contrary, it's a good idea."
Along with Yumiko, Akiko spoke to the girl in an affectionate tone, and in response, given their age difference, Mari began to call Akiko "sis," as if purposely lengthening the last vowel to admire her confused face. No one had ever called Akiko that before.
As Akiko adjusted the girl's clothes, Mari thoughtfully added:
"Do you happen to be dating a Glenn-sama?"
A-a-a-a-ah?! What makes you think that? Who the hell is Glenn-sama?! Is he some kind of master to you?"
"No, it's just my way of showing all my respect for your friend!" her bright eyes shone. Akiko could do nothing to counter her graciousness, but just smiled back. "Of all the friends Glenn-sama called only you two — a bro must have many acquaintances, but for some unknown reason he did not call the others."
Glenn and Yumiko were standing at the solitary ice cream stand buying four caramel ones.
"Of all the friends," Akiko muttered, thoughtfully, "he only called us…"
After a while, sparkling beams of light encircled the city with the sun rising into the bluish sky, but the chill didn't bother to go away. It spoke of a worsening climate and approaching winter, the arrival of which people could love and hate. Some liked the cold and snow, and some only felt comfortable in warm weather. For Mari, the onset of cold weather had a tangible effect, because this way she could know that the arrival of snow was getting closer every day.
Akiko and Glenn watched as Mari dragged Yumiko everywhere: they even went on a roller coaster ride, and at the sight of the brown-eyed Akiko could only guess how much longer she would last without rest.
"Yumiko-chan doesn't seem to be having much fun anymore," Glenn chuckled, and the girl agreed.
"Did you really decide to devote this whole day to Mari-chan? She's close to you, I take it, even very close, since Mari-chan treats you with the greatest condescension."
"This girl has been estranged from the wider society since she was born and hardly ever leaves the gates, living all the time in her master's manor."
"Master? So Mari-chan is the court maid of a certain luxurious family?"
"Not a mere servant, however, she 'was'. Her clan had long ago taken an oath with her former lord's clan, and their traditions had lasted into modern times. As a result, I received a work order that obliged me to free Mari-chan."
"You're always saving people," she rolled her eyes frowningly, causing Glenn to squeeze out a slight smile.
"How else could it be? Nothing else obliged me to do that."
"You lie and don't blush! You can see in your eyes that this girl is someone important to you."
Surprised by her openness, Glenn slowly shifted his gaze back to the slides Mari and Yumiko were riding. On reflection, he couldn't deny his sympathy for Mari.
"You might be right."
After the amusement park, they went to a restaurant where they chatted about mundane things. Conversation with Mari seemed pleasant for both girls, which made them look happy to be around her pleasant incense. Yumiko learned from Mari about her early life when talking, but she wasn't too surprised, because she noticed from the girl's interactions that she wasn't what normal kids her age are like. Yumiko also noticed her politeness.
And now the predawn weather was upon the neighborhood, lightly covering the streets of the city in twilight, and the bright moon was rising on the other side of the horizon, its rays graceful enough to scorch the windows of the houses. Glenn and the girls left the restaurant, and it was time for them to say goodbye. Mari declared that Glenn had beautiful girlfriends, and Akiko added that he should come with her more often.
"Ah, by the way!" a thought occurred to Akiko. "Tomorrow is Sunday, after all. We can go out as a whole club!"
The others agreed to make an appointment for tomorrow afternoon, which pleased Mari, eager to see as many new things as she could during her freedom.
Tomorrow came unimaginably quickly for them, even more so for Mari, who was fast asleep after returning to the manor. They were still living for the reason that Glenn thought it right to leave things temporarily so that he could feel normal. In the morning, after waking up and tidying herself up, Mari habitually put on the old maid's kimono. Forgetting that she was no longer working, Mari felt depressed.
After a while, she walked in on the young man in his new city clothes, which they had bought yesterday morning before meeting Akiko and Yumiko in the park, and woke him up. Glenn struggled to raise his head — he didn't look as awake today as he had before, but he mistook his frown for fatigue from insomnia.
My face behind the glass, Glenn wondered at the reddening of his eyes.
'What on earth…? Did I catch a cold?'
Remembering that Mari wanted to go into town today with his friends from the club, he decided to ignore the imaginary cold and went on with his day.
When the clock struck two in the afternoon, they met up with the club members outside an unsociable park where they often went during the Cultural Festival. This park reminded them of the nostalgia of a past high school fall that they would no longer have. Their final year of high school was beginning to come to a slight end, and they were scheduled to graduate in the spring.
Seeing the girl enveloped in optimism and a bright light in her eyes, Ryou and Tomoyuki were surprised by her earnest persona. Her outgoing personality quickly bonded the two boys to her and they were quickly able to get used to her presence. Mari literally lit up an entire park with just her smile, and passersby who looked at her couldn't keep their eyes off her cuteness.
Walking around, they decided to enter a karaoke club, and having ordered a VIP-room, started singing songs, unknown to Mari's ears, and dancing to them. Trying to get to the beat, she asked Akiko, who had experience with street dancing, for help. Mari's fidgety movements brought the girls to a single gasp, which made the girl appear shy. Soon she tried singing a song for the first time. After singing, Mari was surprised at how sore her throat was and asked the girls if it was good or bad.
Glenn was glad to see her learning something new.
At one point, he became dizzy and decided to go to the bathroom. After washing his face with cold water, he found that his nose was bleeding. However, he soon came out of the restroom and as he approached the hallway, he saw that the members were already paying for their rest at the cash register. Eventually, they walked out of the karaoke club.
Their subsequent walk was less noisy than the previous ones, simply because the karaoke had had time to tire out the teenagers. Akiko and Glenn walked behind the others, moving leisurely.
"There's a lot to teach Mari-chan about modern life, and it will take time for her to get used to the changes."
Glenn only acquiesced.
"She'll also have to get an education…" Akiko added, pondering. "What are you going to do about it, Glenn-kun? Regardless of her age, she will have to learn the school curriculum from beginning to end for any child. How do you thi—"
Suddenly, Akiko heard a great rustling sound behind her, as if something heavy had fallen to the ground. Turning around, her eyes widened in horror.
Glenn collapsed on the ground, breathless, his nose and face bloody.