"Niya....? What did you just say?"
I hadn't heard wrong; earlier, she had pointed to the TV and said, "Look, Cherry."
When I went to school this morning, the only words she could speak were her name "Niya," "I," "Cherry," and "Lina," but she had also learned a new word: "look."
--Did you learn it on your own? No, but how? Or did your grandpa teach you?
"How is it? Are you surprised?"
Grandpa said this as he looked at my surprised reaction with amusement. I guess he knew that Niya had learned a new word.
"Grandpa did teach her?"
"No, I didn't do anything. Before I knew it, she has learned some new words on her own."
At this point, an unexpected response comes. I had thought for sure that Grandpa had taught Niya.
"So then... how did you remember?"
As I said that, I looked over at Niya, who was staring at the exchange between me and my grandfather in shock, but when her eyes met mine, she pointed at the TV again.
"Look! Cherry!"
--Maybe there's a clue on TV?
Watching the TV again, this time more carefully, I saw a convincing reason why she was able to learn new words on her own.
"Maybe... this is it?"
As I said that, my grandpa also looked at the TV in front of me.
"A TV? Something like this... Ah! That's what it is!"
It seemed that Grandpa now understood why Niya was able to learn new words on her own.
"Yeah, that's this show."
Niya pointed to a TV that was broadcasting a program. The name of the program was a very unique title: " Language Lessons That Even Aliens Can Speak in Three Days."
Niya is highly intelligent and learns things faster than the average person, so it's no wonder she picks up new words while watching the show.
"I've said it many times before... She is really clever..."
"By the time she leaves the house, she might be fluent in English."
Just as I was once again marveling at her intelligence, the doorbell rang.
"Oh, maybe Lina?"
She must have come to take care of Niya.
When I looked into the intercom camera, I saw Lina, just as I had imagined.
"Okay, I'll open it now."
"Yes!"
After a short conversation over the microphone,I headed to the entrance to welcome Lina...
" No ! Cherry!"
Suddenly, Niya, who had been watching me, suddenly let out a loud cry and rushed over to me, hugging me as if to say that she wouldn't let me go any further, restricting my movements.
"Guwah!"
"No!"
--In addition to the "look" that she said earlier, she also remembered the "no"!
I was surprised that she had learned new words other than "look," but right now I was thinking more about the meaning of her actions. However, I soon realized why she was trying to stop me by restraining me while saying "no."
She must have misunderstood that I was going to run off somewhere again as I headed for the front door, and was holding me back as a sign that I shouldn't go.
"I'm just going to pick up Lina! I'm not going anywhere!"
"No!"
I could somehow predict what she was thinking, but my intentions, which were the crucial part, were not getting through to her. No matter how hard I tried to push forward, Niya's weight was strong, putting her weight in the opposite direction to my direction of movement, and I couldn't move forward as I wanted.
"Well, I'll go and pick up Lina, so Cherry wait there."
Unable to bear watching this any longer, my grandpa went to the front door to pick up Lina in my place.
After waiting a little while still held by Niya, I heard Lina's voice from the entrance saying, "Excuse me for interrupting," and as soon as I did, Niya, who was clinging to me, seemed to have reacted to the familiar voice, as she let go of me, who she had been holding onto with considerable force, and headed to the entrance by herself.
I followed Niya to the entrance and found Lina there, dressed in her own clothes.
"Lina!"
"Hello, Niya!"
Although she had a sulky look on her face when she was trying to hold me back, Niya seemed happy to see Lina, as she pointed at her with a smile.
"Cherry, sorry to keep you waiting."
"Hey, thanks for the umbrella."
"Well, thanks for drying it out."
I went to the living room with Lina and explained that Niya had learned to speak a new word after watching a TV program.
"That's amazing, Niya..."
Lina can't help but be amazed at Niya's intelligence, and that's understandable. If I went to a country I didn't know, I don't have the confidence to pick up the local language just by listening to and seeing the locals speak for a short period of time like Niya.
"Oh, that reminds me! I brought this today!"
Cutting off the flow of the conversation, Lina tries to take something out of the bag she brought with her.
"Ta-dah!"
"Is this... shampoo?"
Lina took out shampoo and other bathing items from her bag.
"That's right! Because..."
--Are you going to take a bath at my house? But why at my house?
That was the thought in my head before Lina finished speaking.
"Niya, you haven't taken a bath yet, have you?"
"Ah."
I had completely forgotten, but Niya is also a human being. If we were to take care of her in our home, we would have to take care of not only her food but also her hygiene. This would include not only Niya's clothes, but also bathing her.
"You mean... you forgot?"
"...Sorry. I hadn't thought that far."
Lina looked at me with a fixed gaze and sighed, "Hah."
"Oh, I thought about it properly!"
As if to say that he is not guilty, the grandfather speaks words to preserve himself.
"Well, then you've already cleaned the bathroom, right?"
"I'm off now."
Although Lina was smiling on the surface, her words were not a smile, so the frightened grandfather hurried off to clean the bath.
As you can see, my grandpa and I couldn't help but look down on Lina. We owe a lot to her and her family for supporting us when we were unstable and living alone as just the two of us.
There are various other reasons, but anyway, the most powerful person in this house is her, who lives next door.
While waiting for the bath to be ready, I head to the kitchen to make some candy, which Niya had eaten last night and we had run out of stock of. While I'm making the candy, Niya and Lina are watching TV. The show is, of course, " Language Lessons That Even Aliens Can Speak in 3 Days," and while Niya is watching with interest, Lina had a wry smile on her face for some reason.
--What kind of show is this?
It's somewhat intriguing, but if I take my eyes off it even for a second the candy will burn.
While I was thinking about this, the tortoiseshell candy I was heating reached its perfect color, so all that was left to do was pour it into a mold and chill it in the refrigerator and it would be complete.
The bath was ready at the same time that I finished making the tortoiseshell candy, so Lina took Niya and headed to the bath.
Now that everyone has left, it's quiet in the living room, so I sit on the sofa and take a deep breath to circulate the oxygen in my body.
I was just sitting there, not really thinking about anything in particular, when my grandfather came in from the other room and brought me a flower that had been planted in a pot.
"Okay, it's sunny around here."
I recognize the flowers that my grandpa put on the windowsill in the living room.
"Grandpa...that flower..."
"Ah, these are the flowers Niya had. She seemed to treasure them, but they would wilt if she left them like that, right? So I thought I'd plant them in a pot and put them in a sunny spot."
With that, Grandpa placed the flowers that Niya was holding on a sunny windowsill in the living room, then left the living room and went to another room.
Once again alone in the living room, I gazed at the white flowers.
--But what is the name of this flower anyway? It's not emitting any light like it did last night...
As I look at the flowers, sleepiness overcomes me.
The weight on my eyelids gradually increases, and my vision becomes darker as I can no longer bear it.
My consciousness leaves my body and I dream behind my eyelids.
A world of grey earth with no vegetation as far as the eye can see.
However, I found one spot in the middle where the ground was red.
It's as if the color exists only there.
I try to get closer, but my feet won't move.
Then suddenly, even though I wasn't moving, the red spot came closer and closer, as if zooming through binoculars.
The sight before me, which was about one meter in distance, shocked me.
The red on the grey ground that I was seeing was human blood. There was a huge amount of blood from just one person lying on the ground that was clearly a lethal amount.
I tried to scream, but no sound came out. Or to be more precise, my mouth wouldn't move. I just stared in silence at the scene before my eyes.
Is the person lying on the ground physically male?
I want to get a little closer, but my feet still won't move.
As the man could only stare, a person ran up to him.
Was this person an acquaintance of the fallen man? He hugged the man without caring about the large amount of blood spilling out, and although no sound was heard, it was clear that he was crying from the large tears and crumpled face.
This alone was a pretty shocking sight, but there was something else that surprised me.
The person holding the man and crying looks familiar.
Once you see it, you'll never forget it: moonlight-white hair that reaches down to her waist...
Yes, it was a white flower.