Joshua was a bit nervous.
He hadn’t been alone with Margarita for a long time, not since that night patrol.
“Oh, it’s a rare free day, and the weather is great. I just finished giving you the grand tour of Arlan City yesterday, so today it’s your turn to take Little Mari. Joshua, make sure you’re a good Guide!”
After saying that, Lovell shoved Margarita out the door to stand eye-to-eye with him.
Margarita looked like she had just woken up and was still a bit dazed. Her eyes, which were usually full of calculations, were rare and blank, reflecting the morning light from the hallway window with no room for dodging or pretenses. Her long white hair was a tangled mess over her shoulders, with a few strands sticking up by her ears and others draping down her front. She was still wearing her light blue nightgown; the cotton fabric was soft and slumped, the collar tilted slightly to one side to reveal a small section of her fair shoulder. The wrinkled hem fell to her knees, and she hadn’t even had time to put on slippers, her toes instinctively curling against the wooden floor of the inn.
“Hm?”
Margarita took a moment to react. She first blinked, as if confirming who was standing in front of her, then looked down at her nightgown before raising a hand to touch her messy hair. Finally, she looked up and met Joshua’s blue eyes—which he didn’t know where to look—and her small face suddenly turned bright red.
Lovell winked at Joshua, flashing her canine tooth, and slammed the door shut with a loud bang.
Margarita whirled around and slammed her fist against the closed door.
“Lovell! At least let me change my clothes first!”
Lovell’s muffled laughter came from inside the room; even through the door, her schadenfreude was palpable.
“Little Mari, you look quite pretty in your pajamas anyway!”
Joshua’s face was also completely flushed. He opened his mouth, but not a single word could escape his throat, so he had to fix his gaze on the window at the end of the hallway.
The weather really is nice today...
Margarita hammered on the door once more. Realizing the person inside wouldn’t open it, she slowly turned around. She raised a hand to tuck her loose white hair behind her ear, the blush on her face not yet fully faded, but a smile was already appearing.
“Wait for me for a bit,” she said, her voice still possessing that soft sweetness from having just woken up. “I’ll go get ready.”
“Um,” Joshua nodded, still not daring to look directly at Margarita. “No... no rush.”
Then Margarita reached into her nightgown pocket, fumbled around, and pulled out a small blue hairpin. With a click, she picked the lock and forced the door open.
“Wait, wait, wait! Little Mari! I was wrong! I was wrong!”
“You can sleep on this bristle pillow tonight!”
Joshua leaned against the wall, listening to Lovell’s muffled pleas for mercy and Margarita’s relentless pursuit, interspersed with the thumping sounds of a pillow fight. He let out a long breath, his hand instinctively rubbing the pendant. His mind was still replaying the image of Margarita just now.
How cute.
He startled himself when that thought popped up and quickly tried to arrange a route in his mind to distract himself. A seagull flew over from the harbor and landed on the windowsill, tilting its head to look at him. Joshua felt like its gaze was somewhat mocking.
...
When Margarita finally emerged after changing her clothes, Joshua was at the window feeding the seagull with a piece of hard bread.
Maybe I should try feeding them some fries? Do they have those here?
Since her dress had been sent out for cleaning, she was wearing a simple white short-sleeved shirt and black trousers. The side braid had come undone during her struggle with Lovell, and she was too lazy to re-braid it, so it was currently draped over her shoulders.
She had washed up briefly and was now completely devoid of her previous dazed state. She had even applied a thin layer of beauty cream to her face, though truth be told, she didn’t quite know why she had put it on.
“Shall we go, Mr. Guide?” she said, passing Joshua with her wide-brimmed hat in hand.
Joshua followed her, and the two of them headed downstairs one after the other. In the inn lobby, only the old man at the counter was dozing off. The morning light slanted in from the doorway, making the floorboards glow.
“Where to?” Joshua asked.
“Just a walk.” Margarita put on her hat and tilted her head to look at him. “Aren’t you the Guide?”
Joshua fell silent. Even though he had planned out various routes in his head while feeding the seagull, the moment he realized he was actually alone with Margarita, that mental map suddenly became a blur.
“...There’s a coastal road over by the harbor,” he began. “Following it will take us to the lighthouse.”
“Then to the lighthouse we go.”
The two of them walked south along the streets of the Harbor District. The morning market hadn't finished yet, and the stalls along the street were filled with fresh seafood, the smell of brine mixing with the aroma of toasted bread. Margarita didn’t walk fast, her gaze occasionally lingering on a stall or glancing toward the sea. Joshua remained on the outside, his pace matching hers.
“Did you walk this slowly with Lovell yesterday too?”
“No, she has long legs.”
Wait, what’s that supposed to mean? My legs are short?
Joshua clearly realized he had misspoken. “I mean... she walks fast.”
“Uh-huh. Then how did you keep up?”
“By running.”
Margarita let out a laugh and didn’t say anything more. She walked a few steps ahead of Joshua with her hands behind her back. The sea breeze blew from the front, tossing her white hair back. The wide-brimmed hat kept most of it in place, leaving only a few strands fluttering by her shoulders.
After working hard for so long, it's okay to be forgiven for taking a day off, right?
The coastal road changed from flagstone to gravel, and further ahead was a section of wooden boardwalk built on a low cliff overlooking the sea. Waves crashed against the rocks below, shattering into white foam before receding. The sky here was a bit overcast, with a thin layer of clouds obscuring the sun.
“Joshua.”
“Yeah.”
“What did you and Lovell do all day yesterday?”
Joshua was silent for a moment before recounting his yesterday’s itinerary to Margarita like an itemized bill. The jewelry stall, the cloth alley, the roasted fish shop, and that shipyard.
Margarita paused when she heard him mention they had read books at the second-hand book stall.
“She can actually read?”
“She can’t, but she said you taught her,” Joshua laughed too. “She said squatting down to read makes her look more cultured.”
The laughter of the boy and girl blended into the sea breeze, faint and unclear.
“Joshua,” Margarita said, still walking ahead with her hands behind her back. “What do you think of Lovell?”
“What do you mean?”
“Just... as a person, what do you think of her?”
She didn’t know why she had suddenly asked this question. She only felt that her mood was completely different from when she had asked Lovell this same question back in Bilk Town.
“...” Joshua walked in silence for a few steps. “She’s much simpler than you. She wears her heart on her sleeve.”
Margarita pursed her lips, her heart feeling a bit heavy.
“I see.”
“But you’re more special,” Joshua added. “There's no need to compare yourself to her.”
The wind blew the clouds apart, and sunlight cascaded over the two of them.
Huh? Why...
Margarita glanced back, only to find the black-haired boy looking so radiant that it was almost blinding. She hurriedly looked away, feeling her ears grow hot.
“Ahem,” Margarita took off her wide-brimmed hat and clutched it to her chest. “Today... the weather really is nice... isn’t it?”
...
Rate on N.U.
