By the way, would Ray accept this? Naro kept glancing at him, worried Ray might say something strange again.
“Naro decide first.”
“Huh?”
But contrary to his expectations, Ray seemed completely unfazed. He’d expected Ray to say things like they only need one room, or that he’d stay with Naro, but he accepted it so calmly that it was almost bewildering.
“I-I’ll use room 302.”
“Then Ray-ssi can use room 303.”
Jerian distributed the keys appropriately to the two.
“Let’s meet around 11 AM tomorrow. My house is also close to this inn. I’ll wait in front of the inn tomorrow.”
“Yes, understood.”
Tomorrow was the day to go meet the Duke that Jerian had mentioned. Jerian then disappeared after telling them both to rest well.
“Good night, Naro.”
“W-wait, Ray.”
Naro grabbed Ray, who had been about to go to his room.
“Um, you know…”
Ray held Naro’s hand that was timidly gripping his sleeve and habitually kneaded and played with it.
“Will you be okay using a room alone?”
“Hm? Yeah.”
“Ah… I see. Okay, got it. If anything happens, call me.”
After hearing Ray’s answer, Naro went straight into his room. The room was wider than expected, confirming it was indeed a high-class inn, and all the furniture inside looked good quality. But such things didn’t enter Naro’s eyes right now.
Naro headed straight for the bed and collapsed onto it. The blanket’s texture was incredibly soft, but that wasn’t particularly important to Naro right now.
“Haah…”
A heavy sigh flowed out of his mouth. Part of it was fatigue from the long journey here, but the main cause was still Ray.
Naro lay down and blankly looked up at the room’s ceiling. To think Ray had no qualms about using a room alone. But how could a kid who always stuck to him from behind at home, wanted to go everywhere together, and liked sleeping together be like this?
But as he thought about it, something felt strange. He and Ray, who weren’t even cousins, might be more suited to using separate rooms. But what had he just been thinking?
“R-right. This is just parental feelings. The kind of feelings you get when you feel a bit sad watching a child gradually grow up.”
With no one listening and no one saying anything, Naro felt guilty for no reason and rationalized the emptiness he felt.
“I need to snap out of it and get ready for bed if I want to wake up early tomorrow.”
But even as he said that, Naro couldn’t easily leave the bed and stared blankly at the wall adjoining the next room where Ray would be.
Then he snapped to attention with a start and hurriedly entered the bathroom to wash.
After washing, he roughly organized his luggage and lay down on the bed. Now that he thought about it, how long had it been since a night when he hadn’t slept with Ray? Actually, there were more nights without Ray than with him, but strangely that empty space felt vacant.
Thoughts flooded in again, but recalling tomorrow’s schedule, he reached out to turn off the light to sleep.
Knock knock—
But just before turning off the light, he heard a knocking sound on the door.
Who could it be? At this hour? Thinking it might be an inn employee, Naro carefully opened the door. But as soon as he recognized the familiar figure, he flung the door wide open.
“Ray.”
The one who knocked on the door was none other than Ray. But somehow Ray’s appearance was unusual. His hair was soaking wet, and his upper garment was completely soaked from the water dripping from it.
“What happened? Why are you so wet?”
“Naro, I can’t find a towel.”
“Huh?”
“The structure is different from home. I don’t know what’s where.”
Only then could he understand why Ray was in this state. This was an inn after all, and naturally the structure as well as where items were placed had to be different from Naro’s house. An ordinary person would roughly know what was where, but it seemed quite difficult for Ray.
“Come in for now. You’ll catch a cold like that.”
“Okay.”
Naro let Ray inside and hurriedly went to the bathroom to take out a spare towel from the cabinet. Seeing Ray standing woodenly by the wall, he looked like a water ghost, making him laugh involuntarily.
“Ray, sit here. I’ll dry your hair.”
Ray nodded. But before he sat on the bed, he seemed to check something, then suddenly took off his wet upper garment and threw it aside.
“Why… why are you taking off your clothes?”
“My clothes are very wet. I was worried Naro’s blanket would get wet too.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Ray had just been considerate, but Naro had reacted sensitively. Naro positioned himself across from Ray, who was sitting obediently. And carefully dried his wet hair with the towel he’d brought.
“There was a wooden box attached to the right wall of the bathroom, right?”
“Yeah, there was.”
“The towels are in there.”
Naro regretted not telling him in advance where everything was, but he wasn’t entirely unhappy that Ray had come to his room like this. The inexplicable sadness he’d felt earlier seemed to ease a little.
Under Naro’s meticulous touch, moisture gradually began to disappear from the black hair that contrasted with the pure white towel. Ray had hunched his large body and bowed his head low so Naro could move comfortably.
“Done.”
Naro lowered the towel with satisfaction. He was feeling proud looking at the now somewhat fluffy hair when Ray suddenly raised his head.
“…”
Because he’d been close to dry Ray’s hair, now that Ray raised his head, the distance between them was only about a handspan. Naro swallowed his saliva without realizing it.
The eyebrows visible below the slightly damp hair were thick and the eyes endlessly sharp. The deep green eyes were always truly beautiful. An intense and cool impression. He couldn’t take his eyes off Ray’s face, which struck him anew.
This wasn’t the first time seeing Ray’s face up close. They slept together at home, and Ray often clung to him while hugging his waist. Then why was he feeling such a strange sensation right now? Because this was an unfamiliar inn? Because it was the unfamiliar capital?
Naro’s eyes slowly moved downward. Below the face that was hard to look away from, the broad shoulders and solid muscles visible were still angry.
“Naro?”
“D-done!”
Naro tightly gripped the wet towel and jumped up from the bed.
“You can go back to your room now.”
“Okay, got it.”
Uncharacteristically flustered, Naro told Ray where basic items were located. At the words to come to his room anytime if there was something else he didn’t know, Ray answered that he understood and left the room.
After Ray left, he was standing still in that spot in a daze when suddenly the door burst open again. Startled, Naro’s shoulders flinched.
“Naro.”
Ray, whom he thought had left, peeked just his face through the open door.
“Sleep well. Sweet dreams.”
“Y-yeah, you too Ray.”
Naro waved his hand in the air left and right. It was somehow a very awkward action. After saying good night and Ray really returned to his room, Naro let out the breath he’d been holding. Sitting down heavily on the bed in a daze, the images of Ray he’d just seen rippled like afterimages.
He felt a faint sense of self-loathing for scrutinizing not just Ray’s face but his body in such detail. What kind of parent would look at their child with such eyes? Naro let out an endless sigh and flopped face-down on the bed.
Earlier he’d felt an inexplicable sadness when Ray said they’d use separate rooms, but now strangely he felt relieved to be apart from Ray.
Naro closed his eyes, newly realizing that people are truly contradictory creatures.
But as expected, once his mind became unsettled, sleep didn’t come easily.
* * *
“Oh, Naro-ssi. Did you not sleep well?”
At Jerian’s words as soon as they met, Naro smiled awkwardly. It seemed to show on his face enough to recognize at a glance. This morning when he woke up and had breakfast with Ray, Ray had worried that his complexion didn’t look good.
“I guess it’s because the bed changed.”
“I see. I hope you adjust quickly.”
“Naro, just go up and sleep today. You have dark circles under your eyes.”
Meeting Jerian in front of the inn, he didn’t even pay attention, but Ray examined Naro’s face from side to side. Naro awkwardly avoided that persistent gaze. Of course, how could he react calmly when the main culprit who made him unable to sleep was sticking his face in like that?
“I’m fine. And I can’t just cancel today’s scheduled appointment as I please.”
Today, Naro and Ray were scheduled to meet the Duke who was the client, following Jerian’s guidance. Ray only backed off after Naro said he was fine about five times.
“Then shall we go? There’s a carriage sent directly by the Duke’s estate waiting over there.”
The three people left the front of the inn and started walking. Just as he said, not far away was a carriage with a distinctive appearance that stood out at a glance. The coachman standing in front of the carriage seemed to recognize Jerian and bowed in greeting. And personally opened the carriage door for Naro’s group.
As Naro was about to climb in, his vision suddenly caught the emblem carved on the carriage’s exterior. The image visible inside a round circle looked like a leaf shape. He thought it was probably the emblem of the family they were going to visit.
