Chapter 19: Time Left

「Oh, come on—making a special visit just to see me is way too much. It's only a cold.」

Even lying in bed, Light Blue told Rin and me—who had come to visit bringing fruit—in a voice several times more lively than I’d imagined.

「Nina‑sensei and Yuu‑chan are just too overprotective. I don’t even have that much of a fever, right?」

“See, see,” she said, taking Rin’s hand and pressing it to her forehead.

「You’re right. You don’t feel that hot.」

Rin looked back at me and reported that with an indescribable expression.

「Sensei, wanna feel too?」
「…No, I’ll pass.」

I shook my head at Light Blue’s mischievous grin.
I didn’t need to go that far; as a fire dragon I could gauge her body temperature precisely.

Thermometers haven’t been invented yet, so the number would mean nothing to anyone else, but by my previous life’s standard… about 37.2°C, I’d say.

That’s clearly only a slight fever.

Nina also said it was just a cold, and that assessment is probably correct.
She was so energetic it made me want to believe Nina must have been mistaken about something.

But I had noticed.
The difference between Light Blue as she was when we first met and how she is now.
The freshness and prettiness of the girl she had been had not dimmed.
But the beauty before me had grown into a woman it felt improper to call a “girl” anymore.

I had thought it was simply that bearing a child had made her sturdier.
That it was the result of maturing mentally—or the hardships of child‑rearing.

But I was wrong.

She is—aging. Like a human.
Surely, she is no longer immortal. I understood that instinctively.

「You really don’t need to worry that much.」

Light Blue said it in an unhurried tone to me, stunned as I was.

「I’m not going to die that soon.」

So—she’d noticed.

「Sensei, you’re not very good at lying, are you?」

Unable to answer, I just stared at her face; Light Blue chuckled.

「I sort of had a feeling. When I had Yuuka, it was like… something inside me went click. I didn’t know what it was—and I still don’t, really.」

Her words brought a piece of knowledge from my previous life to mind.
The story of the water spirit, Undine.

Said to most often take the form of beautiful women, they appear in many tragic romances with humans. Undines, spirits without souls, are said to gain a soul by joining with a human.

Something similar might occur with elves. I had long suspected that the immortal elves were closer to spirits than to living creatures.

「But you know, I don’t regret it. I’m sure I would have had Yuuka even if I’d known beforehand it would turn out like this.」

With a gentle hand pressed to her belly, Light Blue said so.

「Because I’m incredibly happy.」

The softness of her smile looked more beautiful than ever before.
—So she could smile like this.

「Also… it might be presumptuous for a barely hundred‑something youngster to say this to a great senior, but living long isn’t necessarily a good thing, you know.」

As I sank into my feelings, Light Blue gave me a sly grin.

「These ten years in this village were far, far denser—and more fulfilling—than the hundred before them.」

I could easily believe that.
Elven life is more unhurried than the trees themselves.
There’s no need to till fields or chase prey every day; they simply live within the forest.
It may be a kind of utopia, but it’s far too dull, no matter how you look at it.

Elves who came to Hiiro, not just Light Blue, all say human life is stimulating and dizzyingly fast. Most can’t keep up with that pace and return to the forest within a few years, like Violet‑san.

「And these last five years have been even… denser.」

She wore a wry yet defiant smile.
I found myself thinking she might have become tougher than anyone else in the village.


* * *


「…Hey, Sensei.」

We cut the visit short and headed home.
Floating beside me as if swaying, Rin asked in a murmur.

「What do you… think?」
「About Light Blue?」

Rin nodded, a small bob of her head.

「Let’s see…」

I let out a long breath, thought for a bit… and answered.

「Maybe… a little envious.」
「Envious?」

It must have been the last thing she expected; Rin blinked rapidly.

「To spend the same time with the one you love, to live the same way—and to leave something behind to carry on. That may be the happiest thing in this world.」

Both are things I couldn’t do.

「The same time…」

Rin murmured it under her breath, falling into thought.

「…Ah!」

An instant later she cried out as if something had occurred to her.

「What is it?」
「N‑nothing… it’s nothing!」

Rin shook her head hard, but her body temperature suddenly started to rise. Mermaids run a bit cooler than humans, which makes the rise easy to notice.

Your temperature’s going up. Did you catch Light Blue’s cold?

When I put a hand to Rin’s forehead, it was indeed hot. She wasn’t sick yet, but it would be best to be careful.

「I’m totally fine… it’s just…」

She fixed her eyes on my face as if she had something to say—a rarity for her, since she usually blurts out whatever comes to mind.

「It’s just… I was thinking this might be what Utai meant.」
「Utai?」

At the nostalgic name from Rin’s lips, a dull ache spread in my chest.
Utai—Rin’s great‑grandmother, and the mermaid I’d spent the most time with.

「That two things come together: something wonderful, and something very painful.」

Come to think of it, she did say that—right before she passed away, if I recall.
What had Rin answered her then?

「Hey, Sensei. Once I can walk on human legs, I think I’ll go traveling again.」
「Travel?」

Before I could dredge up the memory, Rin suddenly said that.

「I found something I want to do.」
「More than researching dragon transformation magic?」

I couldn’t help asking. Rin hesitated only a moment, then nodded.

Ah. That’s right.

Back then Utai told Rin to act as she liked,
and Rin answered that she already was.

If so, it would be lonely, but I should let her do as she wishes.

「…All right. But you’ll come back, won’t you?」
「Yeah, of course.」

I stroked my chest in relief at Rin’s brisk nod.
I’d known Utai nearly five hundred years, but we hadn’t lived together.
In terms of time spent side by side, Rin had long since surpassed her.

In fact… it’s been over one hundred and forty years since we met.
Even accounting for the thirty years she was away traveling, that’s still a hundred and ten years together.
Aside from Nina, she’s the one I’ve spent the longest with.

Not hearing her bright, guileless voice might prove lonelier than I expect.

「I’ll make sure to check in regularly this time.」

Perhaps reading my expression, Rin hurried to add that.

「We’ll see. You’re pretty forgetful, Rin.」
「Ugh… I‑I’ll be fine!」

She must know it herself; groaning a little, she pulled a book from the bag at her waist.

「I’ll write it down in the book Sensei gave me so I don’t forget.」

That was, what, fifteen years ago now—the first book I bound from the paper I made, with a red leather cover.
I’d thought it perfect when I made it, but looking now the workmanship is rather crude and the sheets are thick.

「You still have that?」

Come to think of it, I think I glimpsed it once five or six years ago too.

「Mm‑hmm. I’ll write it down properly. ‘Contact… Sensei…’ there. Done!」

She scribbled a quick memo on one of the first pages, closed the book with a satisfied nod, and tucked it back into her bag. It wasn’t so much that she takes good care of things as that she hardly uses it; if she wrote in it daily it would fill up in no time.

「Don’t forget that you wrote it.」
「U… yeah. I’ll be fine… probably.」

I laughed at Rin’s answer, so lacking in confidence.