It had been several days since Jae joined Ratatoskr. He adapted to this world without any trouble.
“Hyun, do you not sleep?”
In the lounge, Kotori asked him as he sat there blankly. Jae shook his head.
“...It’s not that I don’t sleep. I can’t sleep.”
Strictly speaking, it was close to unnecessary. In Jae’s world, sleep was the height of luxury. Everyone wanted his life, and with attacks possibly coming from anywhere, sleeping was no different from handing his life away.
Of course, death itself was fine since he was undead, but he could still clearly feel the pain that came with dying, so he could not sleep.
More than that, even if he did sleep, the memories from before he became Jae no longer appeared in his dreams. The voices gradually warped, the faces grew hazy, and in the end only the despairing reality that he had fallen into another world became sharper and sharper.
So Jae did not sleep. Something like sleep was unnecessary, since looking at a bonfire produced a similar effect.
Trying to escape the harsh reality by sleeping would only bring an even harsher sense of reality.
“...Sleep? Even if I did, it would only bring back unpleasant memories.”
That was why Jae did not think very highly of sleep.
“Uh, um. I see.”
Unintentionally exposing a fragment of negative emotion, Kotori grew flustered.
That had not been what she meant to ask.
She had heard from Reine that Jae understood Japanese, so she had simply planned to make small talk. She had only asked about sleep because she had not seen him sleeping over the past few days. But what came back was the awful reality Jae had endured.
“I really messed that up, didn’t I...?”
She had not expected him to have suffered enough to be unable to sleep.
Sleep was supposed to be indispensable for living beings, and she could not even imagine a reality where that was taken away.
Of course, she did not know in detail what kind of world Jae had been in, or what he had gone through. So Kotori could only guess at his pain from that one line: “I couldn’t sleep.”
In other words, even that guess pointed to pain on a level she could hardly imagine.
“Ah, um. Right! Is there any trouble with your lessons with Reine?”
To shift the slightly heavy atmosphere, Kotori asked another question.
Since Reine was in charge of Jae’s lessons, it was a simple and natural question: was there any inconvenience in those lessons?
“......”
Jae seemed to think for a moment, staring blankly into space again.
“...There is one.”
Then he spoke of what came to mind.
“That woman. Was her name Reine? She seems to get angry too easily.”
“Reine...?”
Kotori could not understand Jae’s words.
Reine, who was famously expressionless and calm, getting angry? Impossible. What on earth happened in class to make him say that Reine got angry?
Kotori’s confusion was resolved by Reine, who had been listening quietly from the side.
“...You’re awfully shameless with me sitting right here, Hyun. I’ve never gotten angry.”
“Is that so. Every time I asked a question, I could have sworn a vein twitched faintly along with a sigh. I must have been mistaken.”
“......That’s because you weren’t paying attention in class. I had to hear the same question a total of 23 times and repeat myself that many times, so of course I sighed.”
Kotori realized for the first time that Reine could speak this much. She could even feel the faint irritation in her voice.
Seeing Jae accomplish a feat no one aboard Fraxinus, and indeed no one in Ratatoskr, had managed, Kotori felt an inexplicable fear.
The same question, 23 times. That was completely hopeless, wasn’t it?
“......Was that wrong? I’m sorry.”
And yet there was a reason Reine could not say much. Jae apologized sincerely every time.
To others, he seemed like someone lacking common sense. A person who suddenly appeared and spoke the language of another world could hardly be expected to know the common sense of this one.
That was why Reine did not scold him for repeating the same question over and over.
There had been no malice in those words either. He simply had not realized it was wrong.
Because of that special circumstance, Kotori, who was listening, seemed to understand somewhat as well.
But what they overlooked was that he omitted part of his own thoughts when he spoke.
Even the words he had just spoken were missing several parts.
The reason he had asked the same question 23 times during Reine’s lessons was the sense of disconnect between the world before he became Jae and the present world, lingering faintly in his unconscious.
Because of the gap created by a language and culture that were similar yet very different, Jae had become absorbed in wondering what that gap was, and as a result he had asked the same question 23 times.
Of course, 23 was an average. Sometimes it ended at 10, and sometimes it reached 30. There were plenty of things Reine could reasonably get irritated about, so Jae apologized.
In truth, he did know that repeating the same question was wrong. What he meant by “wrong,” however, was not asking the same question over and over, but getting lost in thought and failing to listen properly. Jae simply did not recognize that behavior as wrong.
In the end, because Jae omitted so much when he spoke, a misunderstanding arose that “Hyun lacks common sense,” but it was not a major issue.
It just meant Reine’s lessons would be lowered in difficulty a little from now on.
“...By the way, Hyun.”
Having learned of Reine’s trouble, Kotori turned her gaze back to Hyun and said,
“What exactly is that?”
Kotori pointed to a corner of the lounge.
Normally, the lounge would only have simple snacks and drinks in a vending machine for the staff, along with things like trash cans for disposing of garbage.
But now, something unfamiliar yet strangely familiar had appeared there.
“...Ah, you mean the bonfire?”
The bonfire.
One of the resting places in Jae’s world, and one of the means by which he restored his mental strength. It now stood squarely in the corner of Fraxinus’s lounge.
“Why would you install that here?”
So that was why she had heard the sound of burning firewood from somewhere.
Kotori kept her eyes on the bonfire and rebuked Jae.
Jae tilted his head at her criticism and asked,
“The lounge is a place for resting. A bonfire is also for resting. Is there a problem with having a bonfire in the lounge?”
A miraculous syllogism!
It was a statement with far too many problems, but Kotori did not know where to begin pointing them out, so she pressed her temples against the mounting headache.
Seeing Kotori like that, Jae took a Spirit from his chest and shook it.
Jingle
A bright sound rang out, and yellow light wrapped around the area.
Then Kotori’s headache vanished cleanly.
Reine’s and Kotori’s gazes immediately turned to Jae.
“W-what was that just now?”
“You looked like you were in pain, so I used [Spirit wave] recovery. Is there a problem?”
“......Ah.”
Realizing that Jae possessed abilities beyond fire, Kotori felt another headache coming on.
Unaware that he himself was the cause, Jae simply used [Spirit wave] recovery once more.
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