It’d been two weeks since I had that picnic with Kano.
“Perfect,” I packed the jar of jam carefully in my bag.
As I snuck out carefully, I made it out to the stables as usual.
“Come on, girl,” I coaxed out my maraga.
“What a sweet animal! What’s her name?”
I gave a start and turned around to find an unfamiliar woman with bright red hair casually standing with her arms folded. “U-um…thanks? Her name is Kifa… I named her myself, only recently. She’s still getting used to it.”
“Oh, Kifa, huh?” she smirked. “Naming her after a goddess… isn’t that a little too fanciful?”
I shrugged. “Not really…it’s the goddess of family and protection… she’s protected me and now she’s like family to me. Plus, Kifa is represented as a part-maraga woman, isn’t she?”
She smiled at me. “…I like the way you think.”
“Anyway…who are you?” I was getting antsy having a conversation with a total stranger, while I was out here in disguise. Not to mention, I was running late to meet Kano.
“Oh? Why, I’m a new hire!” she presented her outfit to me. “Look! I’m a stable worker, just like you! Call me Ari.”
“O-oh…hello, Ari,” I was still suspicious, but I didn’t want to risk giving myself away by questioning her too much. Would a fellow stable worker bother questioning it? He wouldn’t care, would he? “Then… have you spoken to the stable manager? He’ll assign your daily tasks to you.”
“Sure, sure,” she grinned.
The way she was watching me felt a little too familiar. It was as if she was seeing right through me. But she didn’t call me out, instead just walking away. Even her walk seemed to mock me – she was far too confident and comfortable to be a regular worker. She was strutting.
Shaking my head, I got on Kifa and rode off.
As I got to that familiar clearing, I could see Kano sitting near his hut.
“Sorry I’m late!” I climbed down and tied Kifa to a stone. “I brought – huh?”
Kano glanced at me from where he’d set up the blanket and the food. There was a pot and a handmade basket. His clothes were the ones he had worn at the gifting ceremony. But most surprisingly –
“Why’s there a bird on your head? And what’s that in your lap…” I stepped closer, and some of the small creatures began scurrying away.
“Hmm?” Kano shrugged, his eyes on my bag already. “…I don’t know. They seem to like me more after I started keeping myself clean and wearing better clothes.”
I raised my eyebrows, swinging my bag and stifling a chuckle as his eyes remained locked on the jar-shaped object jutting out of the side. “Keeping yourself clean, huh? What prompted that change?”
“…Because it’s easier to stay clean than clean yourself after years of ignoring it,” he began fidgeting, getting antsy as I refused to set my bag down.
“And why’re you wearing those clothes again?” I finally sat down and took my mask off, setting my bag down as well and taking out the jar of jam and basket of buns.
“Well…they were the best I had,” Kano finally looked up from the jam, as though I was just an afterthought. “Are you hungry? I made something…but I can’t say if it’s good or not.”
“I’m looking forward to trying it anyway!” I quickly looked over at the pot and opened it. “This is… a…soup?”
“…It’s supposed to be a stew but everything is so mashed up…I guess it looks…more like a soup…”
Stew for breakfast…? Stew was a common food among the townspeople, but even they didn’t quite eat it for breakfast – or at least that was what I understood from talking to the castle staff. Regardless, I beamed and took a taste. “This is…” I froze.
“How is it?” Kano didn’t sound like he cared, but he was fidgeting.
I…I can’t tell him… I forced a smile and swallowed the bite. That has got to be the most horrifying thing I’ve ever tried to eat…
“…It’s not good, is it?” he slumped over a little.
“No, no!” I shook my head frantically. “It is! Believe me! It’s just…I’m not used to having stew for breakfast, that’s all.” I took a larger bite and forced it down. “Really! It’s good!”
“…Okay,” he straightened up and reached for the falaho jam and buns.
I realized at that moment that he wasn’t going to eat his own stew.
He’s just going to eat the jam and buns like last time, isn’t he…
“Why don’t you try the other thing I made too?” Kano indicated the basket.
I wondered what further terrible fate awaited my tongue as I opened the basket. “What are these…?”
“Howa custard pies,” Kano replied carelessly, fully devoted to eating the jam and buns.
Indeed, the basket was full of pies no bigger than the palm of my hand. Visually, the little pies looked messy. They were uneven and the amount of howa jam to custard was inconsistent everywhere. But I decided they couldn’t possibly taste worse than his stew and popped one in my mouth.
“Hmm? Hmm!” shocked, I chewed it carefully. “This…this is actually delicious!”
Kano paused and looked up. “…So you were lying about the stew.”
“Uh…” I gave him a sheepish smile. “Ah, it’s fine, you’ll get better! But really… I’ve never had anything like this before!” I ate another pie. “Yum.”
Kano turned back to his true love. The basket of buns was already half empty. “Glad you liked those at least.”
“Ah, did you finish the jar of jam I gave you before?” I asked teasingly. Heh, he’s probably going to be annoyed I asked him that. After all, a jar so big-
“…I did.”
“What?!” I blinked at him. “…You must really, really like that jam.”
“It’s…not just that,” Kano turned away. “Don’t make me out to be crazy. ...there’s just not much variety of food out here. It’s mostly wild mushrooms and howa berries.”
“Huh…” I tilted my head. “Then how did you make this stew and these pies? Even if the pies have howa jam in it…there’s a lot more, isn’t there?”
I had to take a special trip to the nearby town and make this stuff. But it’s not really that close to here, you know.”
“Wow…” I looked at the little pies with awe. “On foot, that must have taken hours just to get there.” I felt a little ashamed at not realizing this and so readily taking up his offer to make something. “Man, you didn’t have to take that much effort just on my account.”
Kano glanced at me. “It’s not quite just for you. Something like… this was an excuse to do something unusual, visit the town, and talk to people.”
I paused mid-bite and blinked at Kano. Perhaps my realization was delayed, and I did know he was generally alone, but at this moment, I could properly understand how truly isolated he really was.
In a way…perhaps we’re not so different after all? Before now, he always seemed content in his seclusion, which set him apart from me in my mind, because I wanted to meet more people so badly. But maybe that wasn’t it – what if, simply, after so long, it was difficult for him to break out of it?
In which case, even if our difficulties were so different, in spirit, we were the same – two lonely spirits wishing to find company.
“Next time, do you want to do something else?” I mused out loud.
“Like what?” Kano didn’t even bother looking up from his jam. “It’s a big risk for you to even come out here like this. I’m not trying to get myself beheaded for kidnapping the prince.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I huffed. “I’m not irresponsible.”
Although I said that, it was true I had no idea how we could do anything.
Plus even today I nearly got caught by that weird woman named Ari…
“…You say that, but do you even know what you could do out there?”
“What I could do?”
“Imagine…that you’re not the prince,” Kano pushed away the now empty basket of buns and leaned back on his hands, looking up into the sky. “Imagine that you’re just some average kid from an average town. What would you do?”
“What…would I do…?” I stared at him, wide-eyed and dumbfounded.
“…You really have no idea?”
“I…I don’t…know…” I suddenly felt embarrassed and buried my face in my knees. “…Ah, I really am…so clueless.”
“…There’s nothing wrong with that,” Kano tilted his head and bent over to try to look at my face. “That also means that everything is new for you. So you’re less likely to be disappointed by the things you see and learn.”
“You mean my expectations are super low…”
“I mean you’re more likely to enjoy yourself. Even the first day we met, you enjoyed simple stories of ordinary events.”
After a pause, I peeked up at him. “…Eek!”
I jumped up, startled, and Kano jumped as well, straightening up from where he was bent over.
“What were you doing?”
“Trying to see if you were crying or upset…?”
“…Oh,” I failed to stifle a giggle.
“What are you laughing about?!”
“Nothing! Nothing!” I stopped trying to stifle it, giggling out loud. “It’s just…very nice of you, yeah.”
“…If you say so,” he looked very confused, but didn’t question it.
I grinned. It was hard not to think at this moment that even if I hadn’t seen any new places or done anything new, that this was enjoyable too. “Hey Kano…do you ever swim in that lake of yours?”
“Lake of mine? I bathe in it.”
“Can we go swimming?”
“Can you swim?” his disbelief was too obvious on his face.
“Believe it or not, yes I can!” I got up. True, I hadn’t swum in years, but I really had properly learned in the royal pool.
“Fine,” Kano got up without much argument. “Let’s go then.”
Startled by his complete lack of objection, I followed him quietly. I was so used to having to fight Nyera or Father for anything I wanted to do that I was completely unprepared for this.
Once we were at the lake, Kano gestured toward the water. “It’s pretty shallow, so I don’t know how satisfying it’ll be to swim in. Don’t go too far out. Why don’t you show me how good you can swim first?”
Feeling somewhat self-conscious, I undressed and stepped into the water. “C-cold!” Forcing myself to take a plunge, I somehow found the coldness to be pleasant. “Huh…I…like this a lot. It’s like…I didn’t realize how hot I was feeling until I got in.”
“Mmm…it is quite hot out here,” Kano was still standing at the side, fully dressed.
“Aren’t you getting in?”
“I will.”
I began swimming awkwardly, attempting to recall what the proper movements were. As I concentrated hard, I heard a splash nearby. Then, snapping me out of my concentration, a pair of hands grabbed my arms.
“Eek!” I straightened up. “Kano?”
“Here, I’ll help you remember how to swim,” Kano positioned me. “Though…the way I learned might not resemble what you learned.”
After positioning me in a few different ways, he sighed. “…Actually it’s been too long. Here, just copy me.”
Feeling extremely shy at being moved around so freely, I casually ducked into the water and watched as his slender, graceful figure took off to swim. And when he finally began –
“Wow…” I stared, stunned. “You…swim so… clumsily.”
“Huh?!” Kano straightened up. “Clumsily?”
“Yeah, how do I put it…” I scratched my head, no longer feeling shy. “It’s like watching a kid try to swim after you dropped him in the water. At first, he struggles. Then he sort of learns his own haphazard way of swimming. That’s what you look like.”
Kano was staring at me by now. His face looked annoyed and grumpy. “Whatever. So what if no one taught me… I bet I could survive a lot better than you out at sea.”
I beamed at him. “I don’t doubt it.”
He looked even more infuriated. But instead of looking frightening, somehow his expression was more like a large, sulky child.
“Aw, really,” I waved a hand at him. “I’m in no position to make fun of you anyway. You can still swim.”
“Whatever, I’m done,” Kano got out of the water and dried himself off with the picnic blanket, which he seemed to have dragged out here with him.
“Aw, okay,” I got out as well. Even if it had ended early though, I didn’t regret what I said. It was rather cute seeing him that way. Somehow, being around him makes me want to provoke him into making new expressions every time.
By the time I had gotten out, dried off, and dressed, Kano had already left to go back to the hut.
“I should…probably leave now,” I walked over to Kano, who was cleaning up our picnic.
“Okay,” Kano answered simply.
I wondered if he liked spending time with me. He never reacted when I was leaving or showed much enthusiasm to meet again.
Even now, he simply organized everything neatly without even bothering to look me in the eyes when he responded.
Maybe…this enthusiasm…this desire to spend time with him…isn’t mutual.
“Do you want to take the rest of these pies with you?” Kano held up the basket. “There aren’t many left, so I can put them in the bun basket you brought and you can finish them later. Then again…it probably still would not compare to anything you get over there, so you don’t have to take it either-”
“I’ll take them,” I beamed. “Thank you.”
He put them in the empty basket and gave them to me. “Then… until next time, if you decide to come again.”
If I decide to…so vague. Feeling a little dejected at his responses, I simply waved goodbye and untied Kifa.
As I slowly trotted away on her back, I turned around to see Kano had already entered his hut.
Ugh. I hate this. I encouraged Kifa to speed up, and put on my riding mask.