Chapter 9: Sweet Sweet Baby

Dragon Era 908
「Look! Hey, look! Chryse just crawled!」

Nina, all worked up, yanked on my arm.

「She did! Amazing, amazing!」
「Aa, uu!」

When I clapped my hands, Chryse flashed a big grin.
Then she pat‑pat crawled across the floor and dove into my arms.

「Hey, that’s cheating! Come to me, Chryse.」

Nina, imitating me, clapped her hands.

「Uu!」

Chryse spun halfway around and, with all her might, crawled over to Nina and clung tight.

「Mmm, good girl.」

Nina, wearing an unusually softened expression, stroked the baby.
She looked just like a real mother.

I named the baby girl we’d found in the woods that day Chryse.
Chryse is the name of a goddess from Greek myth and means “gold.”
I chose it for her beautiful golden hair.

「Chryse really is friendly—full of charm.」

There’s an orphanage in Hiiro, too. But curiously, neither Nina nor I ever suggested leaving Chryse there.

「She must take after me.」

What is this girl even talking about.
I couldn’t help mentally heckling her, so smug as she said it.
There’s no blood relation, so she can’t resemble you, and even if she did, whose friendliness would that be, exactly?

Before, she’d have sensed a thought like that right away, but now Nina just kept happily cooing at Chryse with a big smile.

Just then, the bell for the fourth Dragon Hour pealed out.
Eight a.m.—about when everyone starts work.

「Come on, we should start getting the clinic ready.」
「…I’m taking today off…」

I held out my hands to her; hugging Chryse tight, she blurted that out.

「You know you can’t. Everyone in Hiiro is counting on you today, too. Come on, you’ve got this.」

She hadn’t meant it seriously; with a sigh, Nina reluctantly entrusted Chryse to me.
This exchange has been becoming our daily routine lately.

Unlike Nina, who’s busy seeing patients, I haven’t held lectures for quite some time.
I’m a freewheeling researcher these days.
So I’m the one who mostly looks after Chryse during the day.

「Good morning, Sensei!」
「Sensei, goood morning!」
「…Mornin’…」

When I stuck my head into the lab, three very different greetings came back at me.
Inis used to never show up before noon, but something must have changed her mind.
Since that incident that led to us raising Chryse, she hasn’t skipped out. Well, she still looks listless and unmotivated.

Ara’s more fired up than ever, researching ways to fight spirits. Lately he’s been diligently studying swordsmanship with Yuuka as well… though according to Yuuka he has “no talent at all.”

「Chryse‑chan, you’re as adora‑ble as ever—」

Among them, the only one who seems unchanged is Mel. She plodded over to me and hugged Chryse tight. She is working hard too; it just looks that way because she moves at her own pace.

「Kyaa‑u!」

In Mel’s arms, Chryse let out a delighted giggle.
Her being pretty much always in a good mood is one of our little one’s virtues.

「Daa, uu—」

She swung her short little arms and patted Mel’s chest.
For the record, she has never once done this gesture to Nina.

「Sorry—Mel doesn’t make milk yet, you know—」

Stroking Chryse’s head, Mel apologized. For a while Chryse contentedly patted Mel’s chest, but when she realized what she wanted wasn’t coming, storm clouds started to gather on her face.

「Sorry, Mel—can you keep her entertained a bit longer?」

I hurried to get things ready, but I didn’t make it in time.

「Euuuuuuuuuuuu!」

A tremendous wail rang out—loud enough to rival a dragon’s roar.

「Ah—wait, please, just give me a moment.」

Talking myself hoarse as Chryse eu‑eu‑ed, I quickly set up the milk: I took a glass bottle out of the fridge, poured six‑legged goat’s milk into a ceramic cup—

「Awake.」

—and with the command, the cold milk warmed and began to bubble. I blew on it to cool it, then scooped some with a wooden spoon and brought it to Chryse’s lips.

Which, of course, was its own ordeal. A baby can’t drink neatly from a wooden spoon yet. She doesn’t even understand that what’s coming is food, so she flails, and won’t open her mouth properly.

If only we had something like a baby bottle, but sadly we haven’t made one yet. The bottle itself isn’t the issue; it’s hard to produce a good material for the nipple.

「Euuuuuu! Euuuu… euuuuuuuuuu! Euuuuuuuuuu!」
「Here, Chryse, milk—open up, Chryse…」

I brought the spoon to her lips, but—maybe because it scared her—she clamped her mouth shut whenever it got close. Pull it away and she’d open up to cry, then close again when I approached—on and on. If I could just slip in a little once, she’d recognize it as milk…

「May I?」

While I was getting nowhere, Ara held out his hand. He let a few drops of milk fall on his fingertip, then tapped at Chryse’s lips where Mel held her. Chryse popped Ara’s fingertip into her mouth and suckled.

She stopped crying for a moment, but soon realized nothing more was coming out no matter how she sucked and opened her mouth to protest. Ara promptly slipped the spoon in. Once she knew there was milk there, Chryse was obedient—she’d drink as much as you could carry with the spoon.

「Ara‑kun, amaaazing—」

Still cradling Chryse, Mel clacked a hind hoof in place of applause.

「You’re awfully practiced. Don’t tell me you’ve got a secret kid somewhere?」

Inis, teasing.

「Don’t be absurd. I’m just used to looking after my younger siblings.」

Come to think of it, Luka was good with kids, too, I recalled—Ara’s aunt.

「…Y’know—」

She drifted her sofa closer and whispered to me.

「They suit each other… those two.」
「Yeah. I think so too.」

I nodded back, keeping my voice down as well.

Mel stands about as tall as I am at the head; for a woman she’s tall even among the Provato Centaurs. But Ara is taller still, so they match well.

A lean, exacting Lycos Centaur youth—strict with himself and others—and a soft, fluffy‑mooded, gentle Provato Centaur girl. With Ara dutifully ferrying spoonfuls of milk to the Chryse held in Mel’s arms, the three looked like a young couple and their child despite being three different races.

Wolves and sheep can’t have children together, of course, but the four-legs can have children across their kinds. I’ve never heard of a half-wolf and half-sheep pair, but I once met a half-tiger married to a half-ox. They’ll be fine too, I’m sure.

「Welp, time for me to buckle down on research, I suppose.」
「Wha…! Inis… motivated?!」

As Inis stretched and resettled herself on the sofa, Ara, startled, spilled some milk. At once, Chryse burst into loud tears.

「Ah! My bad!」
「Wah, wah—please stop crying—」

The three of us frantically tried to soothe Chryse. When I glanced back, Inis had, of course, already vanished.


* * *


「I’m back.」
「We’re home!」
「I’m hoooome—」

The colorful chorus came with the sound of the door opening—just as I finished prepping dinner.

「Welcome back. Long time no see, Rin.」

Back with Nina were Yuuka and Rin. Yuuka drops by all the time, but for Rin it had been two years. Her regular checkups have been excellent, so Nina changed the annual schedule to once every two years.

Which meant she only came every two years, so I’d just asked them not to stretch it any further.

「No snark about us waltzing in with an ‘I’m home’ like it’s the most natural thing in the world?」
「Yeah. If anything, that makes me happy.」

I answered Yuuka with a laugh. The fact that Rin still thinks of this as home filled me with a nameless relief and happiness.

「Only, if you’re coming it’d be nice to get a heads‑up. I need to scale up dinner prep…」
「Mm. Sorry—I’ll be careful next time.」

Nina answered shortly.
Her face didn’t change, but the straightforward apology meant she felt it in her way.
She was probably tired from work. As she sank onto the sofa, I handed her a glass of chilled fruit water.

「…Hey, Onii‑chan.」

I poured glasses for Yuuka and Rin too; both looked like they had something to ask.

「Sensei and Nina‑sensei really aren’t married, right?」
「We’re not.」

They’ve known that for centuries—so why bring it up now?
…Ah, right. It hasn’t even been a hundred years yet for Rin.

「Daa—!」

Right then, maybe roused by our voices, Chryse—who should have been napping in the back—crawled in pat‑pat.

「Wait, you even have a kid?!」
「What are you even talking about?」

Pointing at Chryse, Rin yelled.

「You’ve met her too. This is Chryse.」

Nina picked Chryse up as she said it.

「…Huh? No—what are you saying, Nina‑sensei…?」

Rin knit her brows in puzzlement. Nina and I couldn’t help exchanging a look.
No way—Rin… has her memory slipped again—?

「I met Chryse two years ago. Why is she still a baby?」

As it turned out, the ones being odd here were apparently us.