–+–
Morning sunlight slipped through the gaps in the second-floor bedroom curtains, casting bright strips across the floor.
Fine dust drifted in the air.
Sandrone woke inside a strange warmth.
Before her mind came fully awake, her body felt the weight first.
Columbina had almost wrapped herself around her whole body.
The girl’s arms circled her waist, her face lay buried in the hollow of Sandrone’s neck, and one leg had crossed over Sandrone’s in a bold, possessive sprawl.
Her long, soft hair, black fading into red, covered half the pillow.
A few strands had even tangled around Sandrone’s fingers.
The pose was so intimate it was hard to breathe.
“…!”
Sandrone’s eyes snapped open.
Her pupils shrank at once, and her body moved faster than her brain.
She lifted a hand, ready to shove this shameless dove away.
But when her palm touched that soft, warm shoulder, she stopped.
Columbina was sleeping deeply.
Her long lashes cast quiet shadows beneath her eyes, and a few faint, pleased murmurs slipped from her lips.
She looked utterly unguarded.
A faint scent, like winter-blooming mint, lingered around Sandrone’s nose.
This distance was far too close, and it stirred a nameless discomfort in her chest.
“…Tch.”
After a few seconds of stiff silence, Sandrone still couldn’t bring herself to disturb that peace.
Her arm fell back onto the sheets without strength.
She stared at the ceiling in despair as her thoughts began to drift.
As the ultimate night owl who often stayed up until dawn, pulling several all-nighters in the lab was nothing new to her.
Since when had she ever had a healthy routine like “early to bed, early to rise”?
Her memories returned in pieces.
Last night… had Columbina half-coaxed, half-dragged her into bed?
Fine, getting dragged into bed was one thing… but she’d actually fallen asleep without noticing?
She hadn’t even dreamed!
Sandrone struggled free from that clingy embrace.
Only when her feet touched the cool wooden floor did she let out a breath.
In her sleep, Columbina curled up without knowing it and hugged the pillow Sandrone had left behind.
Her cheek rubbed against the pillow as she sank back into deep sleep.
Sandrone looked at that unguarded face, then at the corner of the blanket that had slipped a little because of her movement.
She let out a sigh so soft it could barely be heard.
Why did it feel like she was sighing more and more these days?
All at once, a strange sense of despair rose in her heart.
Was every morning from now on… going to be like this?
She covered her face, close to breaking down.
Her neat, orderly life alone was slipping farther and farther away.
But life still had to go on.
After washing up, she picked up her phone, went downstairs in silence, and pushed open the front door.
Sixth Street was already coming to life in the morning.
White steam rose from the breakfast shop at the corner.
Round Bangboo rolled across the pavement on tiny wheels.
A few early students rushed past with bread between their teeth.
There was a hard-to-name ease in the air.
A calm order, relaxed but steady.
Sandrone walked at a slow pace and couldn’t help thinking of last night.
Night had just fallen then, and the streetlamps had just come on.
She and Columbina had walked down this same street side by side and bought some daily goods.
General Chop from the ramen shop had stood at the door, greeting customers who had just gotten off work.
The two of them squeezed into the narrow counter seats and ate two bowls of signature ramen.
The noodles, cooked in that high-pressure broth, had been rich and springy.
They’d carried a warmth she had never tasted before.
Around her were the owner’s loud calls, the loose chatter of diners, and the crisp clink of bowls and chopsticks.
Even then, she’d felt that the people here had a strange kind of “life” in them.
Judging from the information online, this was a world that had lived through Hollow disasters, a world that could almost be called “post-apocalyptic.” Yet the people here had a drive and brightness that felt oddly full.
It didn’t have Snezhnaya’s constant cold tension and pressure.
Instead, it had ease, leisure, and even a noisy, everyday warmth.
Ignoring the Dennies vanishing from her wallet at terrifying speed, this feeling wasn’t bad at all.
Too bad there was no ignoring it.
At that thought, Sandrone sighed yet again.
She stared at the pitiful number in her bank account on her phone.
Never before had she missed that always-smiling colleague of hers, the “Regrator” who held the vaults of the Northland Bank in his hands, so much.
Looked like breakfast would have to be a random sandwich from the convenience store.
After all, she had no source of income for now.
Better save where she could.
With the sandwiches she’d bought from the convenience store in hand, Sandrone turned and went back to the two-story house.
She went upstairs with light steps and pushed open the bedroom door.
The quiet inside and the waking noise of the street beyond the window seemed to be split into two worlds by that door.
Columbina was still deep asleep.
Even her posture hadn’t changed.
Sunlight had already climbed onto the foot of the bed, coating her smooth ankles in pale gold.
Sandrone walked closer and looked at the girl’s unguarded sleeping face.
Her lashes were long and thick, casting small fan-shaped shadows beneath her eyes.
“Wake up!” She reached out and poked Columbina’s soft cheek.
“The sun’s already shining on your butt!”
Clear birdsong came from outside the window.
The morning light was gentle.
Watching Columbina sleep as if thunder couldn’t wake her, Sandrone felt a sudden urge to play a prank.
Her gaze drifted, then settled on the rounded curve outlined beneath the thin blanket.
That’s for torturing me yesterday…
She raised her hand toward the raised curve beneath the blanket.
“Smack!”
A crisp sound rang out.
The feel of it was… better than expected.
Soft, yet springy.
“Mm…”
Columbina’s eyes flew open.
She rubbed them in a daze, then slowly propped herself up.
One strap of her nightdress slid off her shoulder, and she didn’t notice.
She stared blankly for two seconds.
Her pink eyes came into focus, as if she had finally remembered what had just happened, and her gaze fixed on Sandrone.
“Catch!”
Sandrone’s heart jumped.
Quick-eyed and quicker-handed, she threw the sandwich and boxed milk she’d bought over, then turned and ran.
Columbina lifted a hand and caught breakfast with ease.
She set it on the bedside table.
In the next second, her figure shot out like a streak of white lightning.
“Sandrone—”
Columbina’s voice came from behind her, soft and sweet, yet it made Sandrone run even faster.
She rushed down the stairs in a panic.
Just as she stepped into the first-floor living room, a figure flipped down from the outside of the stair railing.
A gauze skirt spread like wings, and Columbina landed right in front of her.
“Mmph—!”
Sandrone couldn’t stop in time.
Columbina caught her head-on in a full embrace, and the two of them fell onto the sofa together.
Columbina rolled over and pinned her firmly beneath her, both hands braced beside Sandrone’s ears.
She lowered her head and looked down at her, long hair falling like a curtain.
“Sandrone,” that airy voice sounded beside her ear, carrying a trace of morning husk and a faint smile, “you’ve been bad.”
“D-don’t talk to me in that tone!”
Sandrone’s face turned red as a ripe apple.
She pressed both hands against Columbina’s shoulders.
“I was just… just waking you up! My brain glitched for a second! I didn’t mean it!”
Her brain had short-circuited just now.
It had to have.
Otherwise, how could she have done something like that?
Sandrone groaned inside.
It had to be this world’s strange social mood rubbing off on her!
“Sandrone needs punishment.”
Columbina lowered her head and gave the pale collarbone a light bite.
The force was slight.
Rather than a bite, it felt more like some kind of mark.
Sandrone went stiff all over.
As an alchemical puppet, this level of “punishment” was nothing to her body.
But the shock to her mind far outweighed any physical feeling.
“…Are you a dog?!”
Sandrone shoved the girl off her in a fluster and shouted, “Fine! Hurry up and eat breakfast! We still have serious business later!”
She tried to use volume to cover her panic.
After a round of messy roughhousing, the two finally called a truce and each fixed their rumpled hair and clothes.
The living room grew quiet again.
Only the faint sounds of the street came in from outside.
They sat back down on the sofa and ate the slightly cold sandwiches in silence.
Only after swallowing the last bite did Sandrone clear her throat and put on a serious face.
“All right, enough messing around. Now let’s discuss today’s plan.”