—Just past 11:00 PM, 32nd Day, 12th month, 1,546th year, Continental
Calendar — Souma's Room
The spur-of-the-moment project that was the "First Friedonia Kouhaku
Year-end Song Festival" had, partially due to it being the first time it was
held, had a shortage of singers and ended at 7:00 PM after only three hours.
The cleaning was now done, and the five of us, Liscia, Aisha, Juna,
Roroa, and I, were in my room relaxing at the kotatsu. We had been up
nearly all night the night before working (though we had taken naps
somewhere in the middle), so everyone was as tired as you might expect.
This end of year business shared a lot in common with the New Year's
Eves I had experienced in my old world.
If I'd just had New Year's soba noodles, it would have been perfect...
but we hadn't been able to get soba ready in time, so I was substituting
yakisoba with sauce instead. New Year's yakisoba with sauce... It felt
incredibly off, somehow.
"How ish iht? Mmph, it tastes very good," Aisha said with a blank look
as she slurped down a plate of yakisoba with sauce. She had spent the past
two full days or so doing nothing but grunt work, but for some reason she
was still full of energy.
"Well, you would think that, wouldn't you, Aisha?" I asked.
"Aisha, you have sauce on your face, you know?" Juna commented.
"Mmph. Thank you very much, Madam Juna."
Juna was wiping Aisha's face with a napkin for her. It was nice to see
the fellow queen candidates getting along so well, but somehow, they
totally looked like a caretaker and her charge.
Roroa, who had been watching, opened her mouth and spoke to Liscia.
"Big Sister Cia, do me, too!"
"Why should I?" Liscia asked. "You can wipe yourself, can't you?"
"Aww, where's the harm? Your adorable little sister is asking for it. Ohh,
I've only ever had a big brother, so I've always wanted a big sister. So,
come on, do it for me, do it for me!"
"Geez... I was an only child, too, so I don't know how to treat a little
sister."
Even as she said that, Liscia wiped Roroa's face for her. For all her
complaining, Liscia was good about taking care of others. If anything, she
was more of a mother than a big sister, though.
"Go at it until ya can see your reflection in my face," Roroa said.
"Is your face supposed to be a mirror or something?"
"If it is, Cia, the expression I'm wearin' right now is actually your face!"
"Hey, don't make a weird face when you say that!" Liscia whacked
Roroa upside the head. They had a complete sister manzai comedy routine
going on now.
While enjoying the easygoing atmosphere, I took a sip of tea and let out
a deep breath. "It's been a while since things have felt this laid back..."
"True," Liscia said, responding to the thought I had let slip without
meaning to. "The days and months have gone by so fast ever since you've
arrived. It's been such a frenzy of activity... I feel like we've come so far in
that time. Though it's been a wild ride." Liscia looked off into the distance.
Huh? Was that being made my fault, somehow?
"Y-You think?" I said. "I feel like we've been able to catch our breath
here and there, you know..."
"Look who's talking," she retorted. "Why don't you try asking the
others how they feel?"
I looked to Aisha and Juna, and they both blatantly averted their eyes.
...Okay, apparently she was right.
Roroa was nodding along with a knowing look. "Yep, yep. It sure was a
hassle."
"Why?" Liscia shot back. "You only joined in halfway."
"No, no, Big Sister Cia. These two to three months I've been at Darlin's
side have been more eventful than the over ten years I spent livin' in
Amidonia. It's been hectic, yeah, but also real fulfillin'."
"Oh, I feel that way, too," said Juna. "For me, up until half a year ago, I
was just a lorelei at a cafe, the sort of girl you might find anywhere."
"No, no, Juna," I said. "Don't go naturally inserting lies, please. What
lorelei other than you is the Admiral of the Navy's granddaughter, as well
as a commanding officer in the marines?"
When I pointed that out, Juna stuck her tongue out teasingly. It was very
charming.
Seeing us like that, Liscia let out an exasperated sigh. "All we're talking
about is this year, but the coming year will be just as busy, I'm sure."
"True," Aisha agreed. "We have His Majesty's coronation ceremony to
handle next year, after all."
As Aisha was saying, next fall we would be holding my coronation,
which had kept getting put off. That I had been given a royal title, but
hadn't been crowned yet, was like having the crown but never having put it
on my head. It was something that probably ought to be fixed quickly, but,
well, plans being the way plans were, it was entirely possible it would be
postponed again.
"That's not all," Liscia added, shaking her head. "Have you forgotten?
We have our wedding ceremony, too, don't we? It's at the same time as the
coronation."
I was silent.
...Right. Because doing multiple major ceremonies in a row would put a
burden on our finances, my coronation would be held concurrently with my
wedding to Liscia and the other girls.
What was more, with the two events being merged, the scale had
increased, and with Roroa, who always loved a good event, thrown into the
mix, we were going to be going all out. Everything was still in the planning
stage, though.
Still... Marriage, huh... I thought.
"Somehow... it still doesn't feel real," I murmured.
"What?" Liscia asked. "Last night, you were the one who..."
"Last night? Did somethin' happen?" Roroa perked up.
"...N-Nothing happened, okay?" Liscia was quick to dodge the subject.
She had been trying to bring up my proposal, I was sure, but she was too
embarrassed to talk about it in front of Roroa and the others. It was a little
embarrassing for me, too, so I was happy to keep it our little secret.
"Do you... not want to marry us, Souma?" Liscia looked straight into my
eyes as she asked the question. The way she said it, she didn't sound upset,
but there was an uncertainty in her eyes.
...That look just wasn't playing fair.
"Of course not. You know that," I said. "It's just that in the world I came
from, it was pretty early for a man to be married at twenty. Many of us were
still students in our early twenties there."
"Really?" Liscia said. "In this country, human girls are considered to be
of marriageable age at fifteen, you know? Well, that changes from race to
race. Right, Aisha?"
"It does indeed," said Aisha. "Dark elves are long-lived, so we're
considered to be of marriageable age for a long time. It's just that, because
we're long-lived, we have a hard time producing children."
Oh... Well, if the long-lived races were able to crank out babies one after
another, we'd end up with an overpopulation problem in no time, I
supposed. There was a trend for longer-lived creatures on earth to have
fewer babies, too, so that sort of law of nature might be unchanged here.
"B-But, I think I should be able to have at least one during your life,
sire! I'll work hard at it!" Clenching her two fists hard, Aisha flared her
nostrils.
"No, I'm not sure I need the passionate declaration of that right now..." I
murmured.
"Make sure you do work hard at it," Liscia hinted, with a teasing wink.
"With all of us, okay?"
"Urkh... I-I'll try."
Gong, gong.
Off in the distance, we could hear the sound of a bell. If we were hearing
this, it meant that it was now midnight and the new year had come.
Listening to the New Year's chapel bell, I sat up straight and bowed my
head to the four of them.
"Liscia, Aisha, Juna, Roroa, Happy New Year."
"What's this all about, Souma?" Liscia asked. "Why so formal?"
"It was the custom back in the world I came from. Don't you do it
here?"
"No, we don't," said Juna. "Here, the most we do is have a toast, saying
'To the new year!' I'm sure down in the marketplace, people are gathering
around and having a riot."
According to Juna, at this time, there was a giant bonfire in the plaza.
They would set up stalls around it, and the adults would drink, and sing, and
make merry.
Like a New Year's event, huh? That could be fun in its own way.
"Next year, maybe we can leave the Kouhaku Year-end Song Festival to
someone else and we can all go join in the festivities," I said.
"That sounds swell," Roroa agreed. "If I were to put out a yakisoba stall,
do ya think it'd sell?"
"Geez, Roroa, you're always so quick to think about money," Liscia
said. "But... that could be nice, too."
Everyone else seemed to be enthusiastic about the idea, so maybe I'd
give it serious consideration. It might be hard to arrange security, but
everyone other than me and Roroa could hold their own in a fight, so I felt
like we could work something out.
"The new year, huh..." I murmured to myself, resting my elbows on the
kotatsu and my face in the palms of my hands. "I wonder what kind of year
it will be..."
"A good year. I'm sure of it." When I looked up, Liscia was smiling
softly at me. "No matter what's waiting for us, if everyone here pulls
together, we can overcome it. Just like you once said you would protect
your family, come whatever may, we all want to protect this family, too."
She paused. "When I say 'this family,' it includes you, Souma."
Aisha, Juna, and Roroa all nodded in agreement.
"...I see," I said. "Thanks. I'm confident of it now."
—This year will be a good one.