Day 1, Morning: The Start of a Slow Life

There was a voice. Still dreaming and in a light slumber, Fuuka listened to that voice. It was telling her to wake up... extremely loudly.

“Fuuka-chan, gooood morning!!!”

“Hmm?”

“Whoa, cute as ever today! I can’t believe I get to wake up with you. I’m so happy!”

That ridiculously loud voice proclaimed something that would give anybody listening the wrong impression.

Oh, that’s right. This stiff bed. This isn’t my home.

“...Miyako?”

Fuuka called out that name, the name of the woman with auburn hair beaming in front of her. Fuuka rubbed her sleepy eyes and inspected her surroundings.

Ah, that’s right, she remembered.

“I really did run away from the mansion, didn’t I?”

“You sure did. Well done on the long journey, Fuuka-chan.”

“And I’ve come to the Atika region, of all places...”

Fuuka let out a large sigh from inside the warm bed.

***

After a full day of traveling in the carriage, the place they finally reached late the night before was a rustic, isolated house in the Atika region, far to the north of the capital Ode. Apparently the cottage belonged to Miyako’s family. It had a dining room with a fireplace, a modest kitchen, a pantry, and only one bedroom.

Accustomed to living in a mansion all her life, Fuuka almost fainted.

If there’s only one bedroom, how are Miyako and I both supposed to sleep? Sleeping with others is something only lowly commoners do.

“I suppose the nights are too cold to make her sleep outside.”

“Huh? Fuuka-chan, it feels like you’re trying to force me out like that’s normal?! I’m shocked!”

That was the only conversation they had before going to sleep.

Although there was only one bedroom, inside were two beds arranged adjacent to the left and right walls. Fuuka pulled the dress from her exhausted body and collapsed into bed. The immaculately prepared bed was much firmer than the feather bed in her mansion, but it didn’t smell musty.

Fuuka didn’t remember exactly when she’d fallen asleep. Her body was tired and her heart strained, so she drifted into a pleasant slumber the moment the tension eased.

***

“I really have come all the way to the Atika region, haven’t I?”

“Yeah. It’s a great place!”

“Just what are you expecting us to do here?”

“Huh?”

The scenery they had seen through the carriage’s window in the darkness had been rice fields, mountains, forests, and rivers everywhere they’d looked.

What’s Miyako planning, bringing me all the way out here? I can’t imagine there’s anything of value we can do here.

“Nothing.”

“...What?”

“Like I said. I’ve come here to ‘do nothing’ with you, Fuuka-chan.”

To do... nothing?

“What do you mean?”

Now it was Fuuka’s turn to look puzzled. For as long as she could remember, she had always been on the go. Whether it was the ways of courtesy, academics, or white magic, she had continuously studied. She needed knowledge to someday emerge victorious from the bridal wars, the battle to forge marital ties with the highest nobles, for the sake of the Hamilton family. Fuuka was not permitted to stop moving forward.

“Again, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Although I borrowed the idea from a honey-loving yellow bear.”

“A yellow bear...?”

“Sorry, I was talking to myself there. More importantly, Fuuka-chan, let’s get some lunch.”

At the word “lunch,” Fuuka remembered how hungry she was. She noticed a warm scent drifting in. When she sniffed, her stomach let out a rumble, and she blushed.

“Wait, lunch? Don’t you mean breakfast?”

“No? It’s already midday.”

“...What did you just say?!”

Fuuka leapt up in a hurry and looked out the window. Rice fields stretched out beyond the garden, and the sun was in the middle of the sky. It was the very picture of a pleasant, warm afternoon.

“No, no, no, no, no!”

Fuuka lost her composure.

“I’ve overslept! Me?! What do I do? What about my morning reading? What about my seven-o’clock calisthenics?! I was supposed to greet Father at eight, and work on my commercial sciences and language studies starting at nine!!”

“Hahaha.”

“This isn’t funny!”

Fuuka cradled her head in her hands, worried about what to do.

I have a tight schedule set from when I wake up at five to when I go to bed late at night. It’s supposed to be my routine. If I don’t have my daily hard work, what do I have left...?

“Fuuka-chan, your complexion looks a lot better.”

“What?”

“Here, have a look in the mirror.”

Fuuka peered into the mirror Miyako handed her and let out a gasp. The black bags under her eyes she always had to hide with makeup were nowhere to be found.

My face looks smooth, my cheeks look rosy, and even the tension in my shoulders I’ve been worrying about seems to have eased. Could it be now that I’ve had a little relief from my chronic lack of sleep, my health has gotten better?

“See? It’s wonderful how hard you work, but I like seeing you the way you are this morning too.”

“I take it you mean that resting well is a part of working hard?”

“Exactly!” Miyako nodded, satisfied, in response to what Fuuka had said.

Now that I think about it, I wonder when the last time I got this much sleep was. It feels like it was so long ago I can’t even remember.

“While we’re here, we’ll wake up in the morning and make food and go on walks. We’ll do all sorts of things and take it easy. Every now and then we can sit and just watch the sky, and it might be nice to go play by the river too. And have picnics!”

“Picnics...”

I expect the picnics Miyako’s talking about aren’t the same as the ones overrun with intrigue where nobles try to out-snob each other, just the outdoor version of high society. I would always get stomachaches from the pressure the night before one of the picnics hosted by some powerful noble. A picnic unfettered by any of that might actually be... fun.

“That’s what ‘doing nothing’ is!” said Miyako with a full-faced smile that thoroughly disarmed Fuuka.

“Let’s eat breakfast! I’ve done a good job of this one.”

“What, you made it yourself? Not a servant?!”

“Yep. Um, there aren’t any servants here! I had the driver go back to the capital too, so the two of us will be doing a lot while we’re living here.”

“...”

“Oh, could it be that you can’t do housework, Fuuka-chan?”

“I-I can do anything you can!”

Fuuka got worked up and shouted, at which Miyako let out a pleasant laugh.

“...Fuuka-chan, I hope we can be happy together.”

“I don’t see how this slothful and low-class lifestyle is supposed to make me feel happy.”

“Heh heh. I’ve got two weeks... A full fourteen days. I’ll try my best.”

“Hmph, well I did promise. By the honor of the venerable Hamilton family, I’ll keep my promise.”

If Fuuka said “I’m happy” in fourteen days, Miyako would win. Otherwise, Fuuka would win.

This was the first morning of that odd slow life.