—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.