Knocking came from the door of a room. Proxer, who was in the room and sitting behind a desk, curiously raised his head and looked at the source of the sound. He stood up, walked toward the door, and opened it. On the other side of the door, he found a scrawny boy with a spine-like tail who was almost as tall as him. Proxer tilted his head at the boy, wondering why he was here. In the next moment, he remembered that the boy didn't need any sleep.
"Is there anything you want?"
Proxer wondered why the boy would find him at such a late hour.
"I perceived that you're still awake, so I came to check what you're doing."
Frankly, other than Suzannia, everyone else living in the Maladin household weren't able to sleep since a new member had joined them, but Proxer seemed rather frantic about something, so Jogrin decided to go check it out.
"Why the sudden interest, Jogrin?... Well, to tell you the truth..." Proxer leaned in close to Jogrin and whispered. "Naytia and I are having our 25th anniversary in 12 days. I haven't celebrated it with her for 2 years in a row because of work... Now that I'm here at the right time, I need to buy a gift for her, so I've been searching on the Internet to see what may suit her tastes..."
"Found nothing?"
"Yes... Jogrin, can you help me out? Please!"
"Desperate as you are, you're asking the wrong person. I have no experience with something like this."
"It appears that you are struggling."
"W-WAAAAAAAAHHH!!! W-why are you here?!"
"Why? Kapel is on watch duty, that's why."
"Indeed. Jogrin had requested the permission to come upstairs to check on you, to which I agreed."
"Ahem... Right, I was too engrossed in finding a gift that I forgot for a second..."
As for Tyron, the Knight assigned to supervise Jogrin along with Kapel, he was standing some distance away, next to the flight of stairs. He was currently looking away since he felt that he shouldn't be joining this conversation.
"A gift for Naytia... To be frank, I cannot be of much help in this regard. She has had no materialistic desire since she was small. When I asked what she wanted for her birthday, she always replied with 'anything is fine.'" Kapel was reminiscing the old times he spent with Naytia.
"This is bad, though, isn't it? I mean, that's one of her virtues, but this is now quite a mire because of that very same virtue of hers..."
Somehow, the thought of being unable to find an appropriate gift for his wife was a nauseating prospect, as demonstrated on Proxer's expression. Upon seeing that, Jogrin shut his eyes for a moment, and reopened them.
"Did you think of something? Please enlighten little old me!" Proxer was desperate to even clasp his hands and beg in a weird tone.
"No, you misunderstand. I was checking if I had accidentally activated my powers to make you feel nauseous. And like I said, I don't have that kind of experience." Jogrin cringed slightly at Proxer behavior.
"..."
"No, it's not activated."
Noticing Kapel's stare, Jogrin guessed what he was thinking about and denied.
"I see. That is good then."
"Urgh!! I'm such a failure of husband... I've been angering her for the past few days and now I can't even think of what to give her!" Proxer's body drooped.
"I think you might be worrying too much, Proxer."
Jogrin wouldn't know whether Naytia was actually mad for the past few days, since she was out of the range of "emotional perception," so he couldn't really give Proxer the assurance that he needed now. Besides, was this really a matter worth languishing over that much? Jogrin didn't know, because he never had that kind of experience. He glanced at Kapel and waited for him to speak up.
Kapel, filled with resignation, let out a sigh. He returned his gaze back to Jogrin, implying that he should be the one to give him a hand since he was the one who suggested to check on Proxer. To Jogrin, that was nothing short of being irresponsible, which gave him a bit of a startle since he never expected Kapel to act like that.
He then laid his eyes on Tyron, who turned his back to Jogrin completely. Jogrin could do nothing but look at both Kapel and Tyron with half-lidded eyes. He let out a sigh of resignation and turned back to Proxer.
"Well, if she has no materialistic desire, why not give her a gift that isn't an object?"
Proxer looked up at Jogrin, his body slowly straightening. His pair of eyes that were sunk into hopelessness, suddenly regained some glint. This expression of his currently now looked like one that would always be worn on Suzannia's face.
"You're a genius, Jogrin!"
"Keep your voice down..."
"I'll make sure to surprise her so much that she'll be absolutely over the moon! You're the best Jogrin!" With that, Proxer rushed back behind the desk and excitedly stare at the computer screen.
Jogrin was't sure whether the lights in his eyes were from the reflection of the screen or that it actually was glowing. Either way, as long as it could help Proxer, it was fine. As for the part about surprise, that was already a failure, since Jogrin sensed that Naytia reacted when Proxer said that. So much for keeping his voice down.
Kapel closed the door so that they wouldn't interrupt Proxer in his search.
"I suppose that offered the solution he needed."
"Was he really that panicked to the point that he couldn't think of something so simple?"
"While the way you phrased it was offensive to Proxer, I do wish to let you know that, when one is rife with negative emotions, they are less likely to be able to think properly. It is just how the brain works. Do you want to go deeper and tell you about the physiology behind this phenomenon?"
"That's unnecessary."
Yearning to avoid Kapel's lecturing at all costs, Jogrin declined his offer. He'd rather learn about some new knowledge from a book instead.
...
Jogrin, Kapel, and Tyron went downstairs. They sat down on separately seats that were apart from each other, and didn't mutter another word. While Kapel and Tyron constantly had their eyes on Jogrin, the latter simply stared outside the window, into the night sky.
"Can I go to the yard?"
Jogri stood up and asked.
"That will be fine, but why?"
"Just feeling like watching the sky..."
"... I see."
He onto the grass that belonged in the front yard after Kapel opened the door for him and cast his gaze upwards. He didn't comment on whether the night sky was beautiful or not, he simply just looked.
'One of these stars could be my planet's sun.'
Even with such a thought, it wasn't like Jogrin knew which star was the one he was looking for. He didn't even know if it was even visible. Even if he knew, it'd be more painful for him, since no matter how much he looked, he would never be able to reach it.
'... I guess being appreciated isn't such a bad thing.'
Recalling Proxer and Kapel thanking him a moment ago and during sunset respectively, this thought emerged within Jogrin's mind as he absentmindedly stared at the seemingly endless space beyond the sky.