Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 169: Arc 4, Act I, - 14: Things That Go Bump
The elf held the blanket with both hands over her neck as she closed her eyes. Tired from prancing around her new bedroom, she let out a soft sigh to signal her night to a close.
"Cre...ak..."
Asobi’s eyes bubbled open immediately as she peeked up at the canopy of the bed, "Hello? Are there fairies in the walls?"
Nothing responded as Asobi’s lips wriggled, "Okay... Nighty-night spooky sounds," she shut her eyes with a gulp.
The balcony door was shut and the curtains were drawn—her belongings of four magician’s attire, and the silk blouse and long skirt she bought in Hartamat were neatly kept in the wardrobe.
Her flat shoes were to the side of the bed, her hat on the nightstand and wand tucked under the legion of pillows. "Creak..."
"Who’s there!" Asobi jolted up from her bed and swivelled her head in a frenzy; the fifth set of her magician’s attire was on her still. Sat up in her bed, she held the blanket to her nose and shivered.
"Creak..."
"EEEP!!!" Asobi lunged under the covers and scuffled around for her wand under the mountain of pillows. She popped back up holding her wand in both hands and waved it around like a sword.
"Come out and face me demons!"
"Creak..."
"GAHH!!!!" she let out her war cry as she leapt out of bed and aimed her wand around the room like a gun.
"Creak..." Through her scream she faced the left of the room, towards the ceiling above the bathroom door.
"Aha! There you are!"
"Creak..."
"Don’t let me unleash my ultra-powerful, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious spells upon your undead soul!" illusions of rainbow lights lit up the tip of her wand.
"Creak..."
"Fine! You asked for it!!!" she yelled as she ran towards the bathroom and aimed up to the doorframe. "PEW, peW, PeW!" Her light spells fired and phased through the ceiling. "Had enough!?"
"Creak..."
Asobi’s cheeks puffed up, "Jotou! Hotaru! Meko!" she squealed as she ran back to her bed and put on her hat. "Oh no! You’re not close to me anymore! THE DEMONS WILL GET ME!!!"
She rushed out the door at the dead of night, shutting it behind her with a- "SLAM!" She panted as she kept her back to the door... She illusioned her makeup on and made her hair look not dishevelled.
The lights of the hallways were lit all-night as Asobi calmed down in the presence of it. "Phew..." she walked a bit to see a table propped up with two Royal Guards.
"You got any eights?"
"Nope," the woman replied.
The man gave a sigh as he took another card from the deck. "Excuse me?" Asobi approached.
Both their eyes widened as they shuffled the cards off the table in a flurry, "Yes!?"
"We weren’t doing anything!"
"Other than patrolling of course!"
"Yeah, yeah!"
"Oh, great! There’re demons in my bathroom ceiling, can you help?"
"What?" both the Royal Guards squinted.
_
The woman poked the ceiling with a halberd. "Creak..."
"GAH!" Asobi hid behind her bed.
"Ms Asobi, it’s just the pipes settling..." the man turned, relieved.
"The pipes are going to sleep?"
The woman turned, "I suppose you could say that... Apologies for the disturbance it causes. We’ll let Lord Artevik know."
"These rooms’ve not been used in a long time, it’s natural for these sounds," the man turned to Asobi who stood back up.
"Oh," she dusted off her attire, "Silly me... Sorry," she tilted her head.
"No worries Ms Asobi, this is what we’re here for... However, if you could, uhm, forget what you saw outside, that would be appreciated..."
"Hm? You two were patrolling, right?"
"Exactly; thank you miss," the Royal Guards left the room with sighs.
"You’re welcome," Asobi waved. She then peered around the room again, gripping her wand in both hands. She gulped...
_
"Knock, knock-knock-knock-knock, knock, knock."
The brunette snored awake, hair sticking to her mouth as her eyes squinted to the knock of the door. She groaned heavily, "WHAT!?"
"Meko? It’s Asobi! Can I come in?"
"What do you want!?" Fumeko yelled, having sunken into the pool of blankets and pillows.
"Uh, people? I don’t know where Jotou and Hotaru live now."
"Ugh..." shadows engulfed her form and she blinked to the door. She opened it—slouched over and hair in a complete mess, "Now, what do you want?" she looked to the magician’s feet to see no shoes.
Asobi stepped in as Fumeko shut the door. "I-I’ve never slept on my own before..."
"You had an entire room in Kria," Fumeko grumbled back to her bed.
"Yeah, but we were all next to each other..." Asobi twiddled her wand in between her fingers, glancing around Fumeko’s room.
"Don’t tell me you slept in the same room as that ringmaster in the circus; as if my thoughts of him weren’t already low," Fumeko yawned as she got into her sheets.
"No, I had my own sleeping bag and he wasn’t there. But he was still near enough that I could hear him snoring..."
"Uh huh, great, thanks for telling me. Close the door on your way out," Fumeko closed her eyes and planted her face into the pillows.
"Meko... can I sleep in your room? It’s scary to sleep so far away from everyone."
"No, piss off."
Asobi faced the resting brunette with her eyes widened, "But-but what if ghosts show up? Or assassins? Meko, you can protect me, please!"
Fumeko groaned louder, "Fine!" She threw a pillow onto the floor, "There, now stop whining. There’re guards all over in case some assassin comes and I’m sure there aren’t any ghosts unless a spirit-mage is around."
"Yay!" Asobi hopped over and fell onto the floor, placing her head onto the pillow. She lied down onto the golden rug that circled the bed.
Fumeko snuggled back into the covers. She pouted slightly... She couldn’t just... she wouldn’t just... Fumeko opened her eyes a tad, an unease within herself.
"Night-night Meko," Asobi placed the hat on the floor and the wand under her pillow. She wrapped her hands around the one pillow and closed her eyes.
Fumeko sighed. She propped herself up on the bed with her arms, looking at the more than enough space on it. She held the bridge of her nose and then glanced to the magician on the floor, "There’s... a lot of space up here if you wanna climb in," she muttered.
"Really?" Asobi faced up, opening her eyes.
"Will you just get in here before I change my mind?"
"Yay! My back is saved!" Asobi grabbed the pillow and hopped onto the bed.
Fumeko moved till the right edge of the bed whilst Asobi settled into the left side—at least a couple of metres of free space in between the two.
Asobi hummed as the feather-stuffed pillows engulfed her head, "Goodnight Fumeko... Thanks for letting me in," she spoke before closing her eyes.
The brunette faced away from her, unable to close her eyes. ’"I’ll tell them at some point..."’ Those words circled her memory from five nights ago... Or rather, more than two weeks ago...
Fumeko shrivelled up in the bed. She got up in a gulp, "I always had my own room. So, I never had a roommate or anything like that until Jotou and I shared a room in the guild..."
Asobi heard her voice and fluttered her eyelashes awake, "Really!? Your very own room? When you were in Burnetrout?"
"Yeah... I had a room on the third floor and a bed in the corner... The floors were a dark wood and uh, there were drawings... on the walls."
"Well, can I be your roommate? Hotaru and Jotou are now roommates, so we can be too right?" Asobi sat up cheerily.
"Don’t get ahead of yourself," she glared, "And don’t remind me," she glanced to the curtains.
"Oh, sorry, I won’t... I should be brave to sleep in my own room, I know," Asobi nodded.
"Never mind the fact that you’re twenty," Fumeko mumbled, rolling her eyes. "Asobi, I uh, I’m sorry for making you cry by faking my death..." she pouted.
"Oh that? It was just a funny prank, right? No apologies necessary!" she shook her head.
"Yeah, I don’t need to apologize. Stupid Jotou; I should make you cry more often as a prank," Fumeko grinned.
"Uh... if it’s fun... sure!"
Fumeko snickered with her lips closed, "It’ll definitely be fun. Now," she took a deep breath and exhaled, "Have you heard of the, Great Fire of Burnetrout?" she winced an eye.
Asobi pouted in pondering... "Nope!"
Fumeko pursed her lips, "The Black-Sand River, have you heard of that?"
"Hm, no."
"Of course you haven’t..." Fumeko’s eyes glazed over. "Well, the fire started in Burnetrout and burned for days to weeks. After it was over, a bunch of smoke and ash hazed the skies.
Then a bunch of mages brought down all the ash and dust and made it flow into a river. So, now it keeps flowing around in a loop forever so it doesn’t pollute the sky."
"Ooo, so like a river!?"
"...Exactly..." Fumeko inhaled, "When I was, a baby, I was caught in that fire."
Asobi gasped, "So you escaped!?"
"Not exactly... I can’t remember any of it. All I know is that my, father... saved me from there."
"Kazuo Namora? The greatest detective in Burnetrout?"
"Yes you twit, you don’t need to read his whole title."
"Sorry..."
"Anyway, he saved me from that fire and adopted me. I never, met my actual parents..." Fumeko frowned.
"So, you don’t know who they are?"
"I, remember reading their names, but I don’t remember their names anymore..." Fumeko hid her face, "I know, I should remember something like that, but I guess it just slipped my mind...
All I know is that they’re both dead; they died in that fire. This," Fumeko traced a hand across the top of her head till it hit the purple headband, "is all I have left of my mother.
Which is why I didn’t want you taking it off back in Kria. And after I found out I was not my father’s actual daughter, we, had an argument about that and that’s when I left for Kria.
And, there’s also this," Fumeko huffed, grabbing the hem of her purple nightgown.
Asobi tilted her head, watching Fumeko control her breathing over and over before she finally lifted the cloth. Going down past her black undershirt, across her back were her scars.
They started from her waist and patched up towards her abdomen, red against her otherwise pale skin. The aged burns stretched with rivers of her normal skin passing through, "-permanent reminder of it."
Asobi leaned in closer, shifting across the pillows to get a better look, "Meko..." her voice alone was consoling, "Does it, hurt?"
"No, not really," she answered still displaying them, "It feels a tiny bit more sensitive, but nothing off-putting."
"Does it get uncomfortable then? Or, does it bother you a lot?"
"No. And, I can barely see it. I didn’t get out of the house much so I didn’t really care about it too much; my clothes cover them."
"Oh," Asobi then leaned to the right to get a glimpse of Fumeko’s face, "Then... why are you showing this to me?"
Her brows furrowed as she let go off her nightgown. She spun around on the mattress, "Because I’m letting you in you twit!"
Asobi recoiled back, "In-in on what?" she squeaked.
"I- I! I don’t know? My life? An ugly mark of that fire? That I don’t have my parents anymore? It’s important that I’m showing this to you!" Fumeko’s face faltered and tears began running down her face.
"No, no, no! Don’t cry!" Asobi grabbed the brunette into a hug, "I’m sorry! I didn’t know, I thought you were used to it by what you said!"
Fumeko flailed her arms, but instead just fell into her embrace, beginning to sob, "I, I just wanted to show you... that I trust you."
Her breath heaved, "It never bothered me until that argument. Until I knew the truth. I was living half a lie and I just want to show you, I don’t know why! I just want to!"
"It’s okay, Meko, it’s okay," Asobi petted the back of her head as she cried on her chest. "I trust you too. And, it doesn’t make you ugly... I think, it makes you, you...
I didn’t know that part of you... but now I know and I’ll remember. I promise to remember what those scars mean to you, okay? No need to cry please, I’ll be here. You can tell me anything, I’ll keep it secret," she whispered the last sentence.
The brunette sobbed, pressing her head into her more before her cries slowly died down and what was left was silence...
Fumeko sniffled, leaning back from Asobi, "Thanks... and, you did nothing wrong, don’t worry." Fumeko felt a little lighter... perhaps from letting herself be vulnerable.
"I guess, you wouldn’t know anything about your parents either, would you?" Fumeko glanced at her jade-green eyes.
"My parents?" Asobi raised her brows, "They probably run around the forests going on huge adventures! Or," her smile faded... "Or, Or... Or... they might be... be; might be..."
"Sobi? Asobi?" Fumeko’s eyes widened as she held Asobi by the shoulders, "Hey, hey, hey! You can be my roommate for a couple of days, okay?"
One or two rainbow tears stopped from her eyes, "Really? That sounds spectacularistic!" Fumeko sighed, letting go of her. "Oh, sorry, did I," Asobi checked her eyes for tears, "Did I, freeze again?"
"Kind of..."
"It’s because of... the circus," Asobi’s lips turned down and Fumeko’s eyes widened.
That look upon the elf’s face... Fumeko shook her head, "Uuh, can I ask you something? You have to keep this secret from everyone, alright?"
Asobi nodded, "Shh... I will."
What topic to change too? "Is it, obvious, that I like Jotou...?" Fumeko winced her eyes, trying to spit it out.
The ceiling fan whooshed softly above... "Of course it is," Asobi smiled.
"What..." Fumeko’s eyes widened.
"Yeah, you always act mean to everyone, but I know you actually like all of us."
"WHAT!? W-wait, what do you think I mean by ’like’?" Fumeko squinted.
"That you, like someone...? Does this have another meaning too?" Asobi tilted her head.
Fumeko groaned into her palms, "I mean romantically you dumbass."
"What do you mean ’like romantically’?"
"I can’t really explain it; it’s more of a feeling. It’s when you, feel warm all over and butterflies in your stomach and your heart beats a little faster," Fumeko blushed looking away.
"So that feeling gives you a disease?" Asobi stared in horror, "What’s the cure?"
"Not like that you idiot!" she sighed, "It’s like, a happy feeling you have about someone. That you want to be with them; like marriage, dates, that kind of like."
"Ohhh, then I’ve definitely had those feelings before," Asobi pondered to the ceiling.
"Huh? Who do you like? Tell me. I told you mine!"
"Shh... It’s a secret!" she winked with a finger to her lips.
Fumeko stared... ... She yanked Asobi by the collar and started shaking her, "Tell me now!"
Asobi giggled like a gremlin, "Never!" she played along.
Fumeko’s eyes widened, and she shook Asobi more, "You- This always worked! Why aren’t you scared and squeaking!? Tell me everything now!"
"Silly Meko!" Asobi steadied her head, "I know you wouldn’t actually hurt me!"
Fumeko groaned and shoved Asobi onto the bed, "Woah!" Asobi fell like a starfish before she giggled.
"I’m too tired for this," Fumeko rolled Asobi to the other side of the bed. She crawled back to her side and planted her face into the pillows with a groan.
Asobi shook her legs and covered herself with the sheets before lying her head on the pillows, "Goodnight Meko!"
Fumeko sighed, unable to interrogate Asobi. Though, a soft smile grew on her face... "...Night."
