I subtly curled my lips into a smile, and a sense of relief, as if the whole situation had finally come to an end, finally surfaced in my tense heart.
"Oh dear, Mr. Yumi is finally smiling."
Turning my head, Hikari, with her legs bent and her outstretched arms crossed on her knees, lowered her head and looked at me slightly. Her eyes, which had regained their clarity, curved gently, revealing a clean and gentle smile.
A vibrant orange hue pierced through her loose, light golden hair, casting a warm shadow on her face and subtly outlining her figure. Against the backdrop of dim, bluish tree shadows in the distance, she seemed to shine even in the fading night, instantly leaping out of the frame.
Even though she was still covered in a thin layer of dust, it did little to conceal her beauty.
I stared at the girl in amazement for a few seconds before finally realizing what was happening. I hurriedly tried to pull out the water bag I had prepared from my pocket, but then paused and tried to draw out a wisp of magic to condense it into a small water ball.
"Let me just wash my face quickly for now," I said. "I'll go to the stream later and wash it properly."
"Phew, Hikari's alright? Or rather, I guess I'm already used to it." Hikari chuckled smugly, then interlaced her fingers and stretched her arms out to the side, giving a big yawn. "Even if we don't count the time I used to help my family pick vegetables in the fields when I was little, I've always been on adventures with everyone from Dawnlight."
"It's just a little bit of dust, it won't bother you much."
I hesitated for a moment, then could only awkwardly say, "But...it would be more comfortable to be cleaner, wouldn't it?"
Hikari thought for a moment and nodded, "Hmm~ that's true. Yao-jie said the same thing to me. Okay, then thank you, Mr. Yumi." She paused, then looked at me seriously, "But Mr. Yumi, didn't you clean yourself too? You're just as dusty."
Only after she pointed it out did I realize that I was also covered in dust and scorch marks, which I hadn't really noticed before.
“But I am a man after all,” I said nonchalantly.
"Okay, let's wash together."
The little idiot stuck his hand into the water balloon and rubbed it all over my face. After pulling it away and holding it in for a few seconds, he couldn't help but laugh: "Haha, no, you have to do it yourself. If I do it, I'll end up with a face full of blobs."
The painted-face cat is alright... Thinking this, I summoned another ball of water, rolled it into a flat water mirror and tried to look at myself in it. My face immediately turned black.
What on earth are those dark spots on both sides of my cheeks?!
Thanks to him, I ended up having to rub my face more than ten times and wipe the little idiot several times, using up three towels, before I could barely be considered to have cleaned each other.
"It's so dirty, I didn't even notice it just now."
I lit the ash-covered towel and burned it, adhering to the principle of "out of sight, out of mind," and complained in a low voice.
“But it’s so good to be back to normal now.” Hikari smiled and rested her chin on her hand. “Mr. Yumi was such a huge source of low pressure just now! If Anne had been there too, it might have rained right where Miyuki and I were!”
"Is it that scary?"
Although she didn't understand what Hikari was saying, she still agreed with her.
“Yes, but it’s much better now.” Hikari nodded, then suddenly said, “However, I roughly know what Mr. Yumi is worried about. Hmm… let me think, Yao-jie seems to have told me what to say in situations like this…”
"Oh, right! Sister Yao specifically told me that if I encounter this situation, I must choose an appropriate time to tell you, just say:"
She paused, then suddenly straightened her posture, coughed lightly a few times, and lowered her voice, saying, "'Master of the Box Garden, there's no need to feel sorry about this. This is the destiny of creation. It's just a false shell that houses memories, and it will eventually have to be destroyed. There's no need to be sentimental about it; it will only make you weak.'"
“That doesn’t sound like comforting at all,” I said.
“Oh dear, I haven’t finished yet!” Hikari quickly changed her tone again. “‘But if you feel it’s not worth it, then I have something else to tell you: for those creations, the demise of the body is not the same as true death. The being you expect will reappear in its past form and firmly uphold the covenant that has been established.’”
I blinked, unable to react for a moment.
After finishing relaying the message, Hikari looked up and thought carefully for a moment, then waved excitedly to show that she had indeed conveyed the message word for word. She then looked at me with a happy smile: "Well, although I also feel very sad, as long as I return to the Little Garden, I will be able to see Alice again, right?"
"I'll definitely have a good talk with her about how amazing what she did was! And also..."
"...You don't look sad at all."
Hikari, who had been rambling on and on about what she wanted to say to Alice, suddenly fell silent and gently shook her head: "No, actually, I've always been afraid."
Bringing her knees together and crossing her arms, the little fool buried her head in her arms and whispered:
"Indeed, we successfully resolved the crisis, but it was a narrow escape from death. When that big guy was about to launch a final counterattack, Alice clearly took the bullet for us, which prevented us from being hit too badly. Even so, everyone was already covered in wounds."
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