It was about a week after I bought Ririi.
I woke up before her, as always, and went to the kitchen to make breakfast for us. I say breakfast, but I was just frying some eggs.
By adjusting my fire magic just right, I was able to fry some perfect sunny side up eggs. I put them on plates, turned around to place them on the table in the living room, and that’s when it happened.
“Owah!?”
I let out a hysteric sound that was very unfitting of me and jumped up, but who could blame me?
I mean, Ririi was standing right behind me.
The same Ririi that never once tried to walk on her own.
“Y-you scared me… W-what’s wrong? Are you in pain or something…?”
I tried to hold back my surprise, and crouched to Ririi’s eye level while patting her head. I was sure she wouldn’t react, as always… But she actually squinted like she was enjoying it.
“O-oh…? What? What’s happening…?”
I didn’t understand what it meant, but what I understood even less was the feeling of happiness welling up inside me.
Why was I so happy?
Why did Ririi responding to something I did make me that happy?
Did I care that much about her?
I was completely unaware.
“W-well, fine… Let’s just eat.”
I had Ririi sit on the chair (up until that point, I always put her on the chair, but this time she sat on her own), and ate breakfast while many thoughts raced through my mind. I couldn’t even tell you what it tasted like, because I was too busy watching Ririi trying to eat on her own, despite clearly having trouble with it.
◆
I went to see Horo right away.
“Hey Horo, listen to this! She…!”
“What’s all this noise… Oh, Weiss. What happened today?”
Horo was probably putting her cabinets in order, because she peeked from under the counter.
“Listen to this! She actually ate on her own!”
“Ah…”
Horo’s response was pretty insipid. Like she didn’t understand how amazing that was.
“What kind of response is that!? She ate without my help! She even sat on her own too! Can’t you see how great that is!?”
“Not really. I’m more surprised by your reaction.”
“What?”
I thought for sure Horo would be just as thrilled as I was, and her lack of excitement didn’t sit well with me.
“No, it’s just… You really are a parent now, aren’t you?”
“What kind of question is that? Of course I am. I told you I decided to make her my daughter.”
“No no, I’m not talking about it literally like that. Oh forget it, this is fine. It’s funny.”
Horo mumbled and just kind of accepted it by herself. I didn’t get it.
“Now hurry back to your daughter, mister parent. You’re disrupting my business.”
Said Horo while gesturing for me to go away.
“Wet blanket.”
I didn’t really get her reaction, but headed to Loretto’s bar.
◆
“I see. That’s good.”
“You think so too? Yes, it’s nice.”
Loretto’s bar was open during the day too, and was usually frequented by bums getting drunk since noon, but it was empty that day.
I walked to the counter, said hello, and ordered the most expensive drink he had. It cost about ten times more than the rum I ordered before, but I wasn’t thinking about money at the time. The moment he put the drink in front of me, I drank it in one gulp, and told him about Riri’s great efforts.
“I really didn’t expect her to start eating by herself like that.”
“I’m sure your love is driving her to do it.”
“Love? I don’t remember doing anything that special.”
“No no… It’s clear as day.”
Loretto wouldn’t back down, and I figured it was because he gave me that off base advice before. He kept saying Ririi started taking steps towards me all of a sudden because of love.
I thought he was just naive. That girl was a slave who survived in that harsh world, so I thought she probably just figured obeying me was the smart choice.
“Well, whatever. At least it looks like I’ll be able to teach her words. It was completely hopeless until now.”
“That’s nice, Weiss.”
I was a bit curious about that persistent grin on Loretto’s face, but I was starting to get nice and drunk, and ended up going on about Ririi for almost an hour.
How her hair turned into a beautiful pale blue color after a few baths, how she started grabbing my clothes while sleeping a few days before, and stuff like that.
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