"Hey, Arata. I've noticed something lately. Why do you go to the bathroom so often?"
Oh, crap.
I almost choke on my own saliva when I hear that question.
We're sitting under a large tree in the back garden of the Takagi mansion.
The shade spilling beneath its branches is pleasant and the cold December breeze makes the remaining leaves sway or even fall.
It's one o'clock in the afternoon and we just finished lunch a few minutes ago. Afterward I had to run to the bathroom to discreetly vomit it all up.
And apparently I wasn't as discreet as I thought.
Saya's orange eyes fix on me as I see a worried gleam in them. She's sitting next to me on the fresh grass with her pink dress spread around her. That makes her look like a cute blooming flower.
Getting back to the point, I don't know how to answer that question.
Any excuse I make would be extremely embarrassing.
But I can't tell her the truth either.
"Well? Cat got your tongue?"
I open my mouth while thinking about responding that I have diarrhea, when...
"Arata!"
A female voice sounds loudly from somewhere behind me calling my name excitedly.
'Thanks, God or whoever's up there!'
I'm so grateful for that voice that interrupted the awkward conversation with Saya that I almost want to cry with relief.
I turn toward the source of the voice and at that moment I smell a pleasant sweet perfume scent entering my nostrils. I also feel something warm and soft wrapping around my neck from behind, and long hair hitting my face making me ticklish.
Someone is hugging me from behind.
I smile because I recognize that smell and that voice.
"Good morning, Rei."
"Hehe!"
She pulls her face away from my neck and brings it forward to look directly at my face just a few centimeters away. A huge smile blooms on her face and her big red eyes shine with happiness.
Then she stops hugging me and moves to my side before pushing something she has in her hand toward me.
"Merry Christmas, Arata! This is your gift."
She hands me a paper bag decorated with Christmas drawings as it has reindeer and Christmas trees drawn on it.
I grab the bag with surprise.
"Is it for me?"
Rei gives me a strange look before nodding several times.
"Of course it's for you! Who else would it be for?"
Then she seems to realize something. Her eyes move to one side where Saya is sitting looking at her with a cold expression on her face. Rei's eyes open wide.
"Ah, right!"
She sticks out her tongue and brings a finger to her cheek scratching it nervously.
"Teheee~ I completely forgot about the gift for Saya-chan. Well! You'll have to settle for my presence as a gift."
She seems embarrassed but at the same time a little proud of her forgetfulness.
Saya snorts and starts to speak.
"Oh, your presence? How thoughtful of you, Rei. Although I'd prefer you hadn't even given me that."
Rei's cheeks immediately puff up.
'Oh no...'
I can feel the tension in the air rising and I realize they're about to fight again. I can even see sparks jumping between their gazes.
I hang the paper bag on my arm, extend both hands and put one on Rei's head and one on Saya's head.
And I feel their hair between my fingers. Rei's hair is soft and silky. Well, Rei gives me the feeling of being a girl who takes great care of her skin and hair. Saya's hair is also soft but at the same time I realize it's finer.
Inside I sigh with relief as I'm gradually recovering my tactile senses, and now I can enjoy petting their heads and not just pretend.
That gesture of putting my hands on their heads seems to have a calming effect on both girls because they stop looking at each other as if they were going to fight at any moment.
"Come on, come on. It's Christmas. Shouldn't you all be in a good mood on a day like this?"
Rei nods several times upon hearing my words.
"I guess you're right, Arata!"
She shrugs and stops looking at Saya.
Saya removes my hand from her head and then sighs deeply. Is this tsundere pretending to make a great effort to be civilized? I can tell by her frequencies.
"Whatever. Since you interrupted our conversation, why don't you sit with us then, Miyamoto?"
"Ehhh?!"
Rei startles and points her index finger at Saya's face with disbelief.
"Why are you calling me Miyamoto?! Don't you consider me your friend anymore?!"
"Hmph!"
Letting out a cold snort, Saya pays her no more attention and sits elegantly on the wooden bench under the tree. She crosses her legs and looks away, giving the feeling that she doesn't know of Rei's existence.
I sit next to Saya and Rei sits on my other side.
She leans forward.
"Aren't you going to open your gift?"
She's excited as she asks me that.
I nod and slowly untie the bow that keeps the paper bag closed. I put my hand inside and feel something soft and warm between my fingers. Umm... is this wool or cotton?
'Is it clothes?'
Thinking that, I pull it out.
It turns out to be a scarf.
A gray scarf with black details. It looks handmade as I can see some irregular stitches here and there. I'm not criticizing it maliciously, of course. In fact, I feel they give it a personal touch.
Rei for some reason puffs out her chest like a proud bird and lifts her chin toward the sky. She laughs with a strange laugh that sounds "Ohohoh~" with her cheeks flushed with pride.
Hey, I understand Saya laughing like that since she's an ojou-sama, but you, Rei?
"I made it!"
But then she seems to get embarrassed as she continues speaking.
"Well... my mom helped me a little. No, quite a bit actually. Uhhh... Okay, she supervised me the whole time. But the idea was completely mine!"
I laugh seeing her admit all that with an embarrassed face.
"The scarf is beautiful, Rei. Thank you very much. I apologize for not having prepared any gift for you."
Honestly I didn't even think about Christmas gifts. Well, even if I had thought about it, I don't have money, so thinking about something without a solution for now is useless anyway.
She shakes her head making her orange-brown hair move from side to side.
"No gift is necessary! Having you with me and... um... you hugging me from time to time is completely fine."
Her voice becomes low at the end as her cheeks turn red.
"..."
"Ahem!"
Saya interrupts with a very irritated cough.
She leans forward to look at Rei from my other side with narrowed eyes.
"I didn't know you knew how to knit, Miyamoto. That's surprising. I thought you only knew how to wave a stick around wildly. I guess I have to reevaluate you."
Her tone is sweet but Rei knows she's being sarcastic, so she protests.
"It's a spear, not a stick! And I'm very good at it! My mom has taught me a lot!"
Before they can start another fight, I decide to change the subject. That, and because I'm actually curious about something Rei mentioned earlier.
"By the way, Rei. You mentioned your mother earlier, about the scarf. Has she come back?"
I ask remembering that some time ago she told me her mother worked abroad and was rarely home.
A huge smile spreads across Rei's face.
"Yes! My mom came to spend time with our family since the end of the year is approaching. It's been almost four months since I've seen her, so I'm super happy to finally have her home."
"I see. I'm very glad for you."
I know what it's like to be without a family, so I'm glad she can enjoy hers.
She turns toward me.
"Arata, you've never met my mom, right? Would you like to visit us today to meet her? I'm sure she'd like you."
It's true I've never met Rei's mother. Every time I visited her house in the past I only found Mr. Tadashi, her father.
From what Rei told me previously, her mother works in something related to international business and spends most of her time abroad traveling.
"I can't today."
I respond after thinking for a moment.
This afternoon I want to spend time here with Saya and Rei. And in the evening I have plans to go visit Touka.
I suddenly feel Rei transmitting disappointed emotion.
"That's a shame. I think you two would get along very well."
"Why do you think that?"
She tilts her head to one side while bringing a finger to her lips.
"Umm... Because when I hug you, you remind me of my mom. You both have cold skin."
'What?'
I startle internally while maintaining a flat expression.
'Cold skin?'
My mind starts working faster and I come up with some possibilities that I don't like.
'Is it possible her mother is a zombie like me?'
No, that's ridiculous. I've never seen other zombies or smelled them. I'm sure I'd distinguish them from the rest because I'm familiar with myself.
'Then... is it possible she's a ghoul?'
That makes more sense. Ghouls have lower body temperature than normal humans according to what I've observed.
Saya interrupts my thoughts with her voice.
"I remember Rei's mother. She visited okaa-san once."
She says while looking at me.
"And she didn't seem dead like Arata."
"Hey, don't make fun of me."
As I release that protest, I keep talking to myself in my mind.
'Come to think of it, if Rei's mother is a ghoul, then her daughter should have been born a ghoul too, right?'
Considering her father, Mr. Tadashi is human, it's possible Rei was born a half-ghoul if her mother really is a ghoul.
'Anyway, I'm completely sure Rei is one hundred percent human.'
Because I've seen her before with my Ghoul Vision and her silhouette was red like any normal human and she didn't have the special organ on her back like ghouls do.
I relax thinking that way and sigh internally with relief.
'Surely Rei's mother is just the type of person who has naturally cold skin.'
It's bad to overthink things as it makes me paranoid like past times.
"Arata? Are you okay?"
I realize I've been quiet for too long lost in my own speculations and Rei had to call me to pull me out of there.
"Ah, yes. I was just thinking. Maybe another day I can meet your mother. Today I want to spend time with you two here."
Rei smiles widely.
"That's fine! Mom will stay until New Year's anyway. You might meet that day. So let's spend the best Christmas day together!"
Saya sighs beside me but I see the corners of her lips lift to form a smile.
×××
20 advanced chapters on Pa-treon.
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