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“Relax now… There’s no need to cry so much…” I said. “I promised your father that I would find a way to bring your body back. So I cannot really leave your side until then.”
“Y-You promised my father… such a thing?!” She asked while blushing and looking at me filled with embarrassment. “W-Why do you promise such an unrealistic thing?! T-That’s… Not something possible I… My body…”
“I know, as long as there is even a small bone left, it is possible…” I said. “Trust me, Erika, I know a way.”
Erika looked at me as her hair covered her face a bit, she moved her hair away from the front of her face, as she nodded.
“Okay… I… I trust you just because you’re the one saying this…” She said. “But I am just happy… As I am… My greatest fear was losing you because you were to know the truth…”
“Don’t worry, you’ll never lose me.” I said.
“N-Never? Blake…” She cried, as she hugged me again. I could feel her entire body over mine.
“You’re such a crybaby, aren’t you?” I sighed. “Calm down, Erika… Everything is going to be alright as long as we are together in this… As long as you stay at my side, I’ll lead you to a brighter future…”
What I said sounded rather hypocritical, but I just wanted to comfort her with these measly words… Maybe deep down, I thought of them as completely stupid, and even a bit corny, but this was what I wanted her to know, this was what I wanted her to feel… I wanted to see her happy, to see her how she was… as always, as radiant as the sun.
Within the darkness of my past, that constantly haunted my mind and my memories, aside from my family, Erika was always there to give me a hand, to smile back at me, and to offer her companionship and friendship. I suppose that she was one of the people that healed my heart, the least I can do is to do the same for her.
“Y-You say such corny things sometimes…” She said. “B-But I can’t help but feel like… I want to believe them…”
“You’re the corny one hugging me so much…” I sighed.
“A-Ah! S-Sorry…!”
Erika tried to move away from me, realizing she was really violating all my privacy by resting on my body and rubbing herself on me as if I were her new bed… But I stopped her and held her held her hands with my own.
“No, don’t go.” I said. “I like that you’re clingy… I also want you to hug me…”
For some reason, my pale face turned slightly red, and what I said made my chest feel a bit heavier, while the beating of my heart accelerated.
“R-Really?” She asked.
“Yeah…” I said.
“Blake…”
Erika hugged me back, as we rested on the bed like this. For some reason, I didn’t want this to stop. It soothed my mind and my heart, and made me feel like I was happy. I continued hugging her back and caressing her silky pink hair.
“See? Now you’re finally back to how you were…” I said, as I cleansed her tears. “You’re prettier when you’re smiling.”
“Smiling…” She said. “Blake… You… Y-You mean a lot to me…”
“You also mean a lot to me.” I said.
“N-No… I didn’t mean it like that… I…” She muttered. “I… W-Well… I-I want to promise you… W-When we grow up… I… I’ll marry you!”
“Huh?”
Erika grew even redder, resembling a tomato at this point, she averted her gaze from me but was constantly looking back at my surprised eyes.
“P-Papa said that… T-That’s what we should do…”
“Your father said that?!”
“A-And… He said that when we love someone… W-We marry them…”
“…”
“S-So… W-Wait for that moment…”
“Sigh… You’re always talking things that make little sense…”
I thought that she was just joking around, but she furrowed her eyebrows.
“I am serious!”
“Ah…”
“Papa said that when we marry… We can spend the rest of our lives with the one we… we love…” She said. “S-So… I want to spend the rest of my life with you… J-Just like you said you’ll stay at my side…”
“Oh… I did say that…” I said. “This is… I…”
Erika looked back at me, she seemed filled with conviction, but I was an old monster, it was hard for me to deal with something that a little girl was promising to me for the future. What should I tell her? Should I accept? Should I decline? If I decline, her heart would be broken, and that’s not what I want. I suppose I have to go with her plan for now, I am sure that perhaps in the future, she’ll change her mind… After all, she’s just a child talking childish things.
“…Sure,” I sighed. “I’ll wait.”
Erika became happier, as she smiled back at me and moved her face closer to my own, and suddenly kissed my cheek.
“E-Erika, why are you doing this…?” I asked.
“B-Because I… I love you, Blake! T-That’s what people that love do…” She said.
“Sigh…”
I moved to her side and kissed her cheek. Kissing felt… strangely not as I expected, it was nothing special, yet the emotions conveyed in such an action made it somewhat unique.
“B-Blake… You kissed me…” She said.
“I had to give it back or I would feel bad…” I sighed.
I petted her head as she seemed to be filled with happiness now, more than I ever thought she would feel… She was so happy her eyes were sparkling and shining incredibly brightly…
“You’re happy now, aren’t you?” I said.
“You…. You make me happy…” She said. “More than anything…”
“I suppose you also make me happy…” I said.
…
After what had happened there, we quickly moved back to normal, and I went downstairs, where I made the potions at long last, after that, I invited Erika to have dinner at my house, and she ended telling everyone she was going to marry me when she grew up… my family made a fuss and constantly teased me, it was very annoying. I wasn’t going to regret what I did, but it really felt like it was not something I didn’t think over very well… I feel ashamed of myself.
And at night, Eleanora was rather grumpy, furrowing her eyebrows a lot. She ended upcuddling at my side while sleeping, and hugging me tightly, as if trying to convey her thoughts through such actions.
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