43-Crunchy bones

I woke up when I heard the bed creak and felt the mattress slant to the right. Krish-san had entered his spot in the bed. I could smell Krish's familiar soft scent, and I leaned closer in that direction.

"I'm sorry I woke you," Krish-san said.

"Hmm..."

I was sleepy, really sleepy, but even though I was carefully put to bed by Krish-san and should be sound asleep, I felt strange. I should be fine because I didn't have to take medicine anymore and my body was healed, but I still felt uncomfortable. I was curled up tight in a ball. Now that Krish-san was here, I finally understood the reason why. Because Krish-san wasn't next to me, I couldn't sleep. I guess I was so used to sleeping with Krish-san that my big bed felt cold. Because, you see, it's so warm when Krish-san was by my side.

"What? Are you still sleeping?" Krish-san asked me.

My forehead was resting on Krish-san's shoulder and I heard his voice from above my head. I wondered what he meant by "still sleeping?" Had I fallen asleep before?

"I thought it would have died down, but I guess it's too soon to have you sleep alone." Krish-san's thick arm went under my neck, grabbed my shoulders, and pulled me close. I wondered why, but I felt so relieved.

My legs, which had been curled up against my body tightly, slowly relaxed and straightened out. My stomach now lay bare and quickly became cold. I squirmed again and attached myself to Krish-san's warm body.

"It's okay. You're not scared, are you?"

One of Krish-san's arm's was pillowing my head, while the other arm wrapped around my back and tapped my back in a steady rhythm.

I slowly sank further into Krish-san's arm as I relaxed.

"There is no one outside, and nothing scary will happen again, so don't worry," said Krish-san. "Sleep well."

"...Hmm..."

I didn't really know what he's talking about, but if Krish-san said it, it must be okay.

"Oya..."

"Oya?"

I thought I said, "Good night," but could you hear me, Krish-san?

I felt a soft laugh ruffle my hair and the thumping on my back resumed as I finally sank down into sleep.

Cheep cheep cheep.

I was a baby chick, and I was practicing flying by moving my slightly enlarged wings. Today, I set a goal to fly to the next branch. In preparation, I put my foot on the edge of the nest.

My parent bird nipped me by the neck and pulled me back into the nest. I pitter-pattered in relief as I was tucked back into the warmth of their feathers.

I wished I could stay here forever, but I was sure my parents would fly away and never come back soon. I'd have to learn to fly by myself by then, but I'd be good, right? I indulged myself in their warmth and closed my eyes, burying myself in their feathers.

"Weird dream..." I had overslept and was scratching my head. Krish-san was already awake, and I could hear noises outside. "Ugh, Krish-san, you should have woken me up."

Flustered, I got out of bed, changed my clothes in a flash, and ran down the stairs. When I made it outside, Krish-san had given Pochi and the others water.

"Krish-san, I'm so sorry; I overslept."

"It would have been fine if you slept in more," he replied.

Even though it was morning, Krish-san was looking energetic. I'd never seen Krish-san looking sleepy before.

Krish-san helped me milk Hanako and Hanayo, then we ate breakfast together, and after that he galloped off to work on Blanche.

Continuing from yesterday, Pochi helped me plow the field and I followed behind him watering the field. As I walked back to the pond to refill my empty bucket, I was thinking about last night.

I wondered what was going on yesterday? Could it be that I'd been like that every night since we started sleeping together? Did I say I was afraid of the dark when I was half asleep? At that rate every night, Krish-san probably couldn't get a good night's rest. We didn't have any other bedding, so he had to sleep with me, but I thought it would be better if we slept separately.

"It's better that way. Krish-san has work to do. I think I'll sleep on the couch Krish-san brought me."

That's good. I'd suggest it to Krish-san when he came home today.

"Mmm, smells good," I said.

I made chicken wings today. I could smell the savory chicken wings sizzling in the oil, and Pochi had been sniffing for scraps since a while ago.

It couldn't be helped, so I pulled out the bones of the chicken wings before giving Pochi some chicken to eat.

To tell you the truth, I'd been reluctant to eat chicken since I came to this world. After all, we had chickens in our house, and I felt guilty about eating the animals I was raising. But after I heard that there were different kinds of birds for meat and eggs, I was able to eat it now.

I heard that Koko-san's meat was hard and tasteless.

The rice I cooked in the pot was coming along nicely and I was all set for when Krish-san came home. I wondered when he would get home?

I thought that Norn and Couge ate a lot of food, but Krish-san ate even more. The way his jawbone moved every time he opened his mouth wide was very manly and cool. I took a bite of the chicken wings as I watched Krish-san's stomach fill up with a huge pile of chicken wings, one after another.

It's delicious, but the bones were a hassle. When I put the bones I was sucking on on a small plate, I noticed something. I wondered where the bones from the chicken wings that Krish ate went? Did they fall on the floor? I looked down to see if they were there, but they were not.

"Krish-san, where did the chicken bones go?"

"Huh?" I heard a popping noise from Krish-san's mouth as he replied, "The chicken bones are thin and soft, so I eat them whole, but Shinobu doesn't eat the bones?"

"Yeah, the bones are a little too hard for me."

I was surprised. I wondered if this was another difference in food culture.

I'd eaten chicken cartilage at yakitori restaurants, but I'd never eaten the bones themselves. Krish-san made loud crunching noises as he ate the bones. I tried to bite into the chicken bones, but I couldn't get my teeth into them at all.

I was going to talk to Krish-san about sleeping in different beds at dinner, but I missed the timing because I was surprised Krish-san was eating the chicken bones.

As I wiped the dishes beside Krish-san, I glanced sideways at him and tried to figure out how to start the conversation.

"Do you want to talk about something?" Krish-san asked me.

"What?" I replied, flustered that he had found me out before I had gathered the courage to talk to him.

"It looks like you have been trying to tell me something for a while now."

I was caught glancing at Krish-san, but the punishment was light so I decided that now was a good time to talk to him about what was on my mind. "You know, about last night... Did I act like a spoiled child like that every night?"

"Do you remember?" Krish-san, who had stopped washing dishes, looked straight at me.

"Yeah, a little bit. Did I say I was afraid of the dark in my sleep? I don't want you to lose sleep over it, so let's sleep separately from now on. I'll sleep on the couch downstairs, and you can use the bed in the bedroom."

"Oh, that thing... so you didn't remember everything after all." The last part had been said in a low voice, and I couldn't hear it well over the sound of the water.

"Hmm? What did you say?"

"No, it's nothing. You can't sleep with me, Shinobu? Then I'll sleep on the couch. This is Shinobu's house. There's no need to restrain yourself."

The sofa that Krish-san brought was big enough for me to sleep on, but if he slept on it, his legs would stick out. I couldn't let him do that when he had to go to work tomorrow.

"No, I'm fine. I say it's fine, but I mean, I sleep better when I'm with you, but you don't, do you, Krish-san? I'm not a good sleeper. If I roll over, you'll wake up, won't you?"

"That's not a problem. I'm not a good sleeper because of my job. I wake up when I hear a noise no matter where I'm sleeping, and I'm trained to get enough sleep even if it's interrupted. If we're going to live together forever, we'll need to get another bed, but we're only living together for a limited time until Shinobu's life becomes stable. It'll be fine as it is."

"Really? If Krish-san says that it's okay then I guess that's good."

Was it really okay, I wondered? But I didn't want to continue the conversation and have it be misunderstood that I didn't want to sleep with him.

"By the way, how are things going in the field? Are you taking it easy?"

Ahh, Krish-san was changing the subject, so I guess I wouldn't continue our previous conversation after all.

"I'm doing it while resting. In the mornings I do chores around the house, and in the afternoons I take a nap with Pochi, and then I plow the field. Now that the weeds are dead and we have more space than before, I'm thinking of planting some fruit trees. Do you like fruit, Krish-san?"

"Oh, that's great. I like to eat a lot of fruit, but I used to not eat sweets that much."

"Really, what made you start liking sweets?"

Krish-san, you liked sweets, didn't you? Come to think of it, when Norn and the others came to visit me, you also said that the baked sweets were delicious. It's surprising that a good-looking guy like you liked sweets, but it's kind of cute.

"As I've told you before, when you travel, food can be scarce. One time, we hadn't eaten a proper meal for days, but one of our comrades found a beehive and picked it up while getting stung. There were so many of us that we only were able to have a small spoonful, but the honey we shared was exceptionally delicious. To this day, I still remember the taste of the honey. Ever since then, I've been a fan of sweet things."

So, the reason why you prepared honey for me when I took the bitter medicine was because you liked it, Krish-san. I wondered if Krish-san also ate honey when he took that medicine?

I had a good idea. I'd add lemons to the fruits I was planning to plant. I remembered that my friend who was in a sports club said that eating the honey lemon made by his manager would help him get rid of fatigue. He said that the sugar in honey and some kind of acid in lemon increased the effect of recovery when eaten together. After eating the honey lemon, Krish-san would be able to work hard and get rid of his fatigue.

When I imagined Krish-san eating the honey lemon, my face naturally broke into a smile, and I kept smiling to myself as I wiped the plate.

Krish-san saw my face and said, "What's up? You look like you are having fun."

"Yeah, but it's a secret, so look forward to it later okay?"

"Hmm? Ahh."

I gave a thumbs up to the confused Krish-san. Three years for peaches and chestnuts, eight years for persimmons, right? But I didn't think I could wait that long. How long would it take for lemons to bear fruit with my cheat ability?

Tomorrow, when I saw Genett-san, I'd ask him if I could get some fruit saplings along with the alcohol I forgot to ask for today.

If not, it would be nice to go into town for the first time in a while and walk around the market.

I was really looking forward to it.

Translator: FrankenWife