Chapter 137: You’ve changed a lot since I last saw you, Leon (8)
And so began Rei and Geppeti’s fashion show.
I don’t know if it’s Geppeti’s great eye or her good taste, but most of the clothes look good on them.
Geppeti stands in front of a full-length mirror and inspects her outfit.
She still hadn’t quite figured out what this ‘sisterly’ thing was, but she was looking like a sister.
It was obviously a women’s store, but it was fortunate that it also sold children’s clothing, as there were few children at Innocence Academy and none of the stores specialized in children’s clothing.
It was at this point that Edward picked out an outfit for his wife, Vanessa Klaus, and left.
“Eh…”
Rei had been getting dressed for a while now, half in a daze.
For a man, “shopping” is a long, tedious, and difficult journey but Geppeti couldn’t possibly know that.
After I inform Rei that he has enough money to get by, Geppeti is distractedly scanning the store’s racks, picking out clothes.
Rei argued that two outfits would be more than enough, but her rebuttal was short-lived.
“You look cute, Rei.”
She complimented Rei as she came out of the closet.
“…Hmm.”
Rei just pouted.
Okay, so it was just an offhand remark that would only be misunderstood as a joke by others anyway.
From the other side of the room, Geppeti glanced over at me, watching my eyes, as she was the only one who knew I could see.
She wondered why she wasn’t complimented.
“You look beautiful, Geppeti.”
My ‘little sister’ giggles and smiles at my compliment.
A perfect, angelic smile.
I wonder if she’s really happy or an act.
I’ll have to ask her someday when I get a chance. Right now, I’m too confused.
“…”
I am interrupted by the shopkeeper’s strange glance.
It seems odd that a blind man with a bandage over his eye should be complimenting others on their appearance.
[ … ]
I wonder if it was the same for Sierra.
She glances at me silently, her eyebrows raised.
“Of course, Teacher is the prettiest. Haha.”
I decided to say one more thing to the shopkeeper that made me look weird.
[What a waste of words…! What are you doing in the presence of other people…?]
Sierra’s ears turned red as she threw her arms up in embarrassment.
As I said, my current words would seem like a joke that would make me look like a lunatic to anyone else other than Geppeti and Rei.
“…Your brother is very kind…?”
Anyway, it’s a joke I won’t be able to use often.
Time passed and Geppeti’s shopping continued until the store had to close.
I left the store in the dark with my hands full of my siblings’ clothes.
I could have put them in my subspace pocket, but Geppeti insisted that I play the big brother who helped his sisters shop.
I decided to go along with it, since carrying a few clothes wasn’t too heavy or difficult.
As we walked around the city, I expected to run into someone I knew, but I only saw Edward.
‘I’ll have to introduce him to my ‘friends’ sometime, I wonder how they’ll react.’
I’m not sure yet.
We crossed the deserted streets and headed for the dorms.
The boys’ dorm was a place where women are not allowed and I didn’t have a special permit for tonight, so… I had to climb the fence.
“Not bad.”
Staring at the fence, which was much taller than she was, Rei leaped.
It was a leap that didn’t take into account that she was wearing a skirt.
“I could see your underwear, hero. That was not very sisterly behavior at all.”
Geppeti mocking voice can be heard over the fence.
“There’s no one to see it anyway.”
He’s not far off the mark, as Geppeti makes her next “sisterly” leap.
Standing on top of a tall fence, Geppeti looks down at Rei on the other side of the fence.
“…Like this.”
“No big deal.”
Apparently, the fence doesn’t matter to them.
And so it was that the house got a new ‘resident’.
***
After I brought Geppeti and Rei home, our routine changed dramatically.
First, I no longer had to go out to get food.
Geppeti told me that she could make any food I wanted as long as I bought the ingredients, so I rushed out in the morning.
The menu was simple fried rice and if there was anything I wanted to eat, I could always tell her.
The second thing that happened was that the quiet house became noisy.
“Hero, a one-size-fits-all diet is not good. You are growing and need to consume a variety of nutrients.”
“Ugh… Broccoli is flavorless.”
Rei grumbled as she pushed the chopped broccoli out of the fried rice with her spoon.
Even heroes are picky eaters but in many ways, Rei’s young body seemed unable to resist easily.
She loves candy, and she always has to have something to hold when she sleeps.
For the record, the bed is now mine.
Geppeti protested that this was unacceptable, but she couldn’t overcome my command.
I don’t know why Rei, a former hero who must have had a rough life in the Demon Lands, is such a picky eater, but since Geppeti seems to be in trouble, I’ll help her out.
“If you finish your broccoli, I’ll give you a candy, how about that?”
Rei glances over at me at my offer.
“…How many.”
I hold up two fingers at the sound of her voice.
She shakes her head.
“Not enough.”
“Hero, too much sugar can lead to tooth decay.”
“Ha, tooth decay… What do you think a hero is?”
“Lord Zetto, is a ‘hero’ a creature that doesn’t get cavities?”
“…I don’t know about that.”
Another dizzying conversation ensues. If I left Geppeti and Rei alone, I would continue to feel like this.
“Ha, I’ll settle for two.”
Rei crosses her arms and picks up her spoon again.
Rei scoops up a spoonful of broccoli and pops it into her mouth.
The noisy meal came to a close, and the girls were told what they had to do today.
They had a meeting with the chairman of the board, Hubert Graham, in the morning, so they needed to be on their game.
“So you’re saying he’s the king of this Innocence Academy?” Rei asked.
“For now, yes.”
“Where’s the sage, Hubert?”
“That was hundreds of years ago. The Graham family runs the academy now. I’m guessing they’re the same family that was close to the Sage once upon a time.”
“Heh…Grahams, I’ve never heard of them.”
On the other side of the room, Rei’s voice is heard as she changes clothes.
For a hero, she didn’t know much since the Grahams were a secretive family.
The same could be said for the chairman of the board, Hubert Graham.
Still, he was interested enough in me to arrange a special gift for me, so I’m sure we’ll get along.
I hope all goes well.
***
Zetto’s room was spacious and extremely luxurious.
It was filled with oddly shaped objects, each one angled in a way that made it easier to remember where they were.
After meeting Zetto, I felt like I was indirectly experiencing the life of a blind person.
The house was sparsely furnished because he lived alone, but he told me that money was no problem and that he would make it up as he went along.
The bed was comfortable and cozy, and I finally got a good night’s sleep.
I hadn’t slept well for a few days, and at one point, I almost ended up on Zetto’s back.
As I rubbed my eyes, he asked if I wanted to sleep on his back.
I’m sure he was doing his best “big brother” impression, but my eyes widened and I refused.
A hero sleeping on a man’s back?
There could be no such thing.
The only time I’d be on someone’s back would be if I was gravely injured.
Anyway, according to Zetto’s explanation, the dormitories had different rooms for each class, and it seemed that the cadets were divided into classes based on strict competition, with the better performers receiving better treatment.
The academy doesn’t discriminate based on status. If an imperial prince came to visit, he would stand in the same position as a commoner of equal strength.
It was a frighteningly cold and competitive society but I found it surprisingly Hubert-like.
He lived by the phrase, “The strongest, in the end, is all that matters.”
As I listened to Zetto’s explanation, he claimed that he had taken into account the fact that I, the hero, was a commoner.
Well, if that’s the case.
I scrunched up my nose, feeling a little embarrassed.
Zetto and I left this room early in the morning and arrived at the Academy’s main building.
Is this the legacy of my colleague, Hubert?
He’d always had a knack for building things.
The magnificent size and pure white exterior walls exuded a sense of sublimity.
He did a good job.
I thought to myself as I entered the building.
Even though it was early in the morning and there weren’t that many cadets around, some of the cadets passing by glanced at Zetto and Geppeti and asked.
“What are they doing?”
“They’re with Zetto.”
“They’re cute…”
He seemed to be quite popular.
Perhaps it was no wonder, since his appearance was such that even though he was blindfolded, his looks couldn’t be hidden.
On the other hand, I never thought I would be called cute.
I used to be so popular, too… I had to soothe the bitterness in my mouth with candy.
I walked down the quiet corridor to my destination, the chairman’s office.
A painting hung in the middle of the hallway caught my eye.
“This is…”
There was a painting hanging in the hallway that was all too familiar to me. It was a painting of the former members of the Hero’s Party.
‘This is the one Hubert held.’
In the center of the painting, Leon’s toothy grin stood out.
Memories of the painting flashed through my mind.
It was the kind of painting where only the face of the Dregonot was drawn in a strange way because the Dregonot had left the room, exhausted from standing still in the middle.
It had been painted before the demon slaying, and the awkwardness of the group was evident in everyone’s expressions.
This painting had been preserved for hundreds of years.
Hubert’s care for it was tangible, and I was a little touched.
“Is something wrong?”
Zetto, who had been walking ahead of me, asked, stopped.
Geppeti didn’t say anything as her eyes fixed on the painting. I don’t know about Geppeti, but it would be hard to explain the painting to him.
“No, brother… Let’s go.”
I wiped the tears from my eyes.
I didn’t want to cry, but I couldn’t help it.
It’s all part of being a child.
I don’t have much control over my tears.
That’s why, I’m sure.
Zetto shook his head once and started walking away again.
I followed him across the corridor and came face to face with the Chairman’s office.
I swallowed hard and I was a little nervous.
Would I be able to play the perfect little sister?
Zetto told me to be extra careful because the chairman of the board is an unusual person.
Geppeti had already made a ‘little sister’ face.
I see.
I have to make a little sister face too.
Zetto knocked on the door and a man’s deep voice came from inside the door.
“Come in.”
He nodded, and we followed him into the room.
The chairman’s office was an ordinary office with a few bookcases, a couch for entertaining.
The man behind the desk in the far center stood facing the window.
Next to him, a woman who appeared to be his ‘secretary’ bowed to us.
Her gaze lingers on Geppeti and then stops as Geppeti tilts her head as well, her gaze completely fixed on the secretary.
I’m wondering what the two of them are doing, but then the man who appears to be the chairman of the board speaks up.
“Make yourself at home. I’ve heard some of what Edward had to say last night.”
“Good, that’ll make it easier.”
“You’ve got a good instructor, hehe. Did you mention she’s your sister?”
As he says that and turns away from the window, Zetto asks us to introduce ourselves.
“Uh, yeah. This is…”
“I’m Geppeti.”
Geppeti rhymes first, bowing her head.
“Haha, you must be a cute little sister.”
“…I’m Rei.”
The board chairman’s gaze fell on me after the formal compliment, and I immediately bowed.
I must have been a cute little sister, right?
That’s when I looked up.
“…”
The chairman and I made eye contact.
“Huh…”
The chairman’s mouth opens in a dumbfounded expression and his eyes glaze over.
Did I do something wrong?
The answer was simple.
I didn’t say anything that would be considered un-sisterly.
But then the chairman speaks up.
“Your sister…must be…?”
“Haha, we’re not actually connected by blood.”
“No… Well… yes, I suppose…”
The chairman’s reaction was strange.
Was I not ‘sisterly’ enough or was he too sharp?
I hurriedly hugged Zetto and exclaimed.
“I’m Zetto’s sister…!”