36-Pick me up

Thump

I startled awake and almost jumped out of bed.

Pain ran through me at the sudden motion and I groaned, lying back down. Still, I was somehow able to roll to the edge of the wide bed and put my feet down on the floor.

I shivered, not only at the coldness of the floor but also from my fear of the dark. It reminded me of that stormy night. Just the thought that there was someone there in the dark, lurking, had me trembling.

But now wasn't the time to be scared. Hurry.

"I have to go......"

I heard another thump. Goosebumps broke out on my skin as the image of the barn door being kicked down appeared in my mind.

Hurry, I had to hurry. Or else Pochi will be hurt again. Brian and the others will be taken away.

Hurry, hurry.

"What's wrong, Shinobu?"

Just as I was about to stand, an arm came from behind me and pulled me back. I shook the arm off and blindly headed for the stairs.

I had to hurry. Hurry and save them.

"Shinobu!"

I struggled violently as I was pinioned from behind. My body hurt so I couldn't exert even half of my strength, but the only thing in my mind was, 'hurry, hurry.'

I tried to wave my arms around with all my might, but they were well-restricted, and I was dragged back to the bed.

"Let go of me, don't get in my way," I said.

"Just what is going on?"

I had to go and save them.

"I heard something outside. I have to go and save Pochi. Brian is going to be taken away. Pyonkichi is going to be eaten."

So, let me go.

Even though I had explained properly, I wasn't let go of. Why, why were they getting in my way? I had to go. I had to save everyone this time.

I had to get there before Pochi was cut by a knife, before Brian had a rope tied around his neck, before Pyonkichi was caught and skinned. There was no one else who could save them except for me.

Tears streamed down my face as I struggled. Finally, I was pulled back completely and I fell back onto the bed. Even though I had to go quickly, why was this happening? I bawled loudly, despairing.

"Listen closely, it's just the wind hitting the window. There's no one outside."

I listened closely as I sobbed, and heard the thumping sound coming from the window.

The window frame was shaking, and that was what was making the sound.

"The wind......?"

"That's right. Those men have all been caught. They won't be showing up in front of you ever again."

"Caught......"

"Yes, everything's alright now. Every one of your family is sleeping in the barn. Didn't you check on them yesterday?"

The fight left my body, and I gradually realized that it was Krish-san who was speaking above me.

"Krish-san?"

"That's right. What's wrong, Shinobu, are you still half-asleep?" He brushed the hair on my face back and tucked it behind my ear, stroking my cheek afterwards.

It was Krish-san. If Krish-san was here, then everything was fine.

Relieved, my head fell back to the bed and I fell asleep in an instant.

In my dream, I was a young chick. I was the only one around, but when I started cheeping loudly, a huge bird suddenly appeared.

The huge bird tried to feed me a worm. I turned my head away, indicating that I didn't need it, but the bird kept insisting I eat it.

I curled up to show I would definitely not eat it. With a troubled expression, the bird then simply flung the worm away.

The movements of the bird stirred up wind. Just as I was thinking it was a bit cold, a gentle warm weight settled on top of my body. When I looked up, I saw that I was enveloped in feathers.

Feeling satisfied with that warmth, I stretched my limbs and snuggled up to those feathers.

This was a safe place. Right now, I was a chick that was being protected by my parent bird. I was just wishing I could stay like this forever, when my vision grew steadily brighter until everything turned white.

"Ungh......Too bright......"

I was still sleepy, but the sunlight hitting my face woke me up. Maybe I should buy some curtains... But then I felt like I would oversleep and be late in giving Pochi and the others their water.

"Are you awake?"

I heard a voice speak right beside me. When I blearily tried to open my eyes, I saw Krish-san through the slits of my half-open eyelids. "Mmm, Krish-san?"

For some reason, I was in Krish-san's arms. Normally I would've leapt away in shock, but I was so sleepy that I couldn't even move my head.

How strange. Last night while I was feigning sleep during the ointment being applied on me, I ended up really falling asleep so I should have slept enough. But I still felt really sleepy.

"You still have a slight fever."

Was this drowsiness caused by the fever? Though my temperature should be better than yesterday.

"Do you remember what happened last night?" Krish-san asked.

Last night...... Did something happen last night?

"Oh, I had a dream that I was a chick."

That had been a big bird. Being wrapped in its feathers felt really nice and warm. Had that been because of Krish-san's warmth?

I felt like I had been able to fall deeply asleep because of that feeling of being protected. But I was still so sleepy.

"I see. Anything else?"

"Something else? Hmm......"

I couldn't really think of anything.

I let out a huge yawn, almost showing the back of my throat, and rubbed at my eyes, feeling so, so sleepy, but Krish-san stopped me. "Shinobu, stop rubbing your eyes. If you don't remember, then it's fine. You can go back to sleep."

Somehow, I was able to fall back asleep just like that. When I was later woken up, the ointment had already been applied. Krish-san then handed me something that looked like bread porridge, and of course, that bitter medicine.

The bread porridge tasted faintly sweet and slid smoothly down my throat, making it easy to swallow. The problem was the medicine.

I was held tightly so I couldn't run away, but I couldn't always rely on Krish-san, so today I took the initiative to hold the glass of medicine myself.

Taking a deep breath to strengthen my resolve, I downed the whole glass in one go.

I gagged. "Eugh, so bitter~"

I quickly put the held out spoon in my mouth. My stiff body relaxed as I tasted that thick sweetness, and ended up leaning on Krish-san.

"Good job, you did well."

I was really being spoiled by Krish-san.

It was true that Krish-san was a naturally caring person who didn't mind looking after others, but a huge factor was that I myself really wanted Krish-san's attention.

Krish-san spoke, "Now then, as promised, shall we go outside?"

I held both of my arms out as I said, "Yes! Please!" Then I received a huge shock as I realized what I had done.

What the heck was this pose. Wasn't this the "pick me up" pose that children did all the time!!

My cheeks burned in embarrassment. I flailed, not knowing where to put my hands.

Krish-san let out a huff of laughter and easily picked me up. "It's fine. You're a patient. It's not a bad thing to ask for help."

Really? Was it really alright?

Didn't Krish-san feel disgusted spoiling someone who looked like a ten-year old but was a full-fledged adult man on the inside?

"I'll get better as soon as possible."

"You don't need to rush. Just rest and take care of your body properly."

Krish-san carried me down the stairs. When he opened the front door, my family was gathered there waiting, exactly like yesterday.

I was allowed to brush only one of them, so I was troubled over who to brush, but in the end I went with Pochi. I'd promised him, after all.

Pochi laid down on the ground with an ecstatic expression as I carefully combed loose the thick clumps of fur by his tail.

"Pochiii, Pochi-saaan, how are your injuries~?"

I checked his bald spot. It hadn't even been two days yet, so I guess there was no way they would've grown back by now, huh.

"Oh? I think there's a few scattered hairs growing back?"

I ruffled the short, soft fur. Pochi looked back at me with a proud, 'how's that?' look on his face. I wondered, did he originally have strong healing, or was this the effect of the aloe?

If I had put aloe on myself and healed instantly, I wonder if I would be working on the farm right now. But that would mean that Krish-san would leave, so I didn't think it was such a bad thing to stay as a patient for a while longer.

"Shinobu, we need to get you back to your room soon."

"Eh, already?" I was still enjoying Pochi's fur that had gone all fluffy from the brushing, but Krish-san lifted me up. "Just a bit more, Krish-san."

"If you keep staying exposed to the wind, your fever will go back up."

But I felt so much better today than yesterday, and because I went back to sleep earlier that morning, I didn't feel sleepy at all.

Rather than staring up at the ceiling of my room, I think I would feel a lot better staying outside with everyone.

"Krish-saaan, please take a look at this!"

From the rustling grass appeared a knight wearing a silver armor. Judging from his voice, he was quite young.

He was rolling a giant, dark green something towards us. "This is the first time I've seen one this big. How many servings of pie do you think can be made from this?"

Hmm?! My eyes widened at that familiar-looking shape. I was certain that the large and round, dark green thing that went up to the knight's waist was something that I'd grown on my field.

"Is that a pumpkin?" As expected, even Krish-san sounded surprised.

The knight who'd been rolling the pumpkin like he was participating in sports day patted the dark green fruit heartily. "That's right. Shocking, isn't it? Plus this one's incredibly hard. I wonder if this is even edible?"

If I remembered correctly, grandma once said that hard and heavy pumpkins tended to be soft and fluffy on the inside. If that was true, then this pumpkin definitely fulfilled those conditions.

I loved pumpkins. You could turn them into tempura, croquettes, gratin and stew. But my favorite way of cooking them would be to boil them with salt.

The salt would bring out the sweetness of the pumpkin, making one unable to stop eating. I remembered that in grandma's house, boiled pumpkin had often been set out as a snack, and when I had gone back for seconds, grandma would stop me with a, 'If you keep eating so much, your face will turn yellow.'

"Krish-san, do you think you can cut that pumpkin?" I asked.

It would absolutely be impossible for me. Back in my original world, I would microwave them for a bit to soften them up before cutting, but there were no microwave ovens here.

The pumpkins here were huge, and the skin was so hard I would have to smash them open with an axe every single time, yelping all the while. It turned my hands numb, too.

I looked at Krish-san with eager eyes. Krish-san set me down on the ground and knocked on the pumpkin. It made a dull thunk sound, making me worry that he'd hurt his hand.

He said, "I think I can do it. Step away for a bit."

Krish-san borrowed the other knight's sword, pulled it from its scabbard and slashed in one stroke.

Once wasn't enough to cut the pumpkin in half, so he went to the other side of it and slashed one more time. This time, it sliced wide open.

Momotarou had probably been fortunate that it wasn't an outstanding knight like Krish-san who had opened the peach. If the peach had been cut cleanly just like this, wouldn't he have been cut in half together with it?