“Speaking of which.”
Alice seemed to have noticed as well that the sky was gradually darkening.
She simply closed the distance between us again and, in passing, undid the golden clasp at the collar of her robe.
“Nights in the desert get pretty cold. If you don’t mind, please use this…”
As she spoke, she gave the white robe a shake with both hands, spread it out, knocked off the sand clinging to it, and gently draped it over my shoulders.
Her hands were larger than mine, and a little thicker.
Even through the clothes I could imagine from those hands that she must often do heavy work in daily life.
But the warmth of the robe, the warmth coming from her palms, wrapped around me softly the moment she fastened the collar clasp for me.
“Then what about you?”
With the robe off, all Alice was wearing was a thin white dress.
The weather was still warm for now, but just as she had said, nights in the desert would grow very cold.
“I’m used to it already~ Don’t look at me like I’m just a nun. My body’s still pretty sturdy~”
Alice said this and stood properly beside me.
…
For a moment, there was silence.
Although the garment was coarse, that warm feeling made me a little unwilling to take it off.
I couldn’t help standing there in a daze.
A long while later, a cool wind made Alice shiver despite herself.
Holding her arms, she looked up at me a little embarrassed.
“Ehehe…”
No matter how you looked at it, she was still just an ordinary girl.
Even living in a different world, even living in a different environment, she was still just an ordinary girl.
I undid the clasp at my chest and draped the white robe back over her shoulders.
Unnoticed, the faint night had turned the yellow sand gray-white and the sky a deep blue.
I shook my head.
“Angels aren’t afraid of the cold.”
“Oh my, is that so?…”
Alice said this, unconsciously wrapping the robe tighter around herself.
Actually, it was still a little cold.
But I was wearing long sleeves, which was at least better than that paper-thin inner lining of hers.
The night here was strange.
Not long ago the sun had still been hanging high in the exact center of the sky, yet as the light faded bit by bit, when I looked up again it was the moon hanging there.
A golden band of light appeared in the night sky as evening fell, very bright, stretching from one corner of the heavens down toward the earth before gradually dimming at the edge of the land.
The other end grew thinner and thinner as the gaze moved toward the crown of the sky, growing darker as well, fading into a field of stars.
On both sides of the band of light, stars glittered.
Born in a small city, I had never seen so many stars even at the city’s darkest hour.
Beside the band of light there was also a cluster of stars gathered together, as if they were holding a cheerful gathering.
The earth was distant, seemingly without end.
The horizon was extremely vague, like a wall that was there and not there.
In the daytime it had only been a blurry expanse that made the land feel as if it stretched on forever.
At night, it was so distant and deep that you could not see the edge.
“What a beautiful starry sky. I’ve never seen one like it,” I murmured, talking to myself without meaning to.
“Is this Lord Angel’s first time coming down to the surface? In that case, if you don’t mind, would you allow me to accompany you?”
The same brilliant starry sky was reflected in Alice’s eyes.
Looking up at the stars, her shoulder unconsciously pressed against mine as she said softly,
“I’m only an ordinary person living on a small sandbar, and I don’t know all that much about this world either, but… I can still help out a little.”
“I-is that so?…”
It was the first time we had met, and she was already this familiar.
Perhaps it was because of the relationship between an angel and a nun.
Yet Alice had hardly asked anything about me.
Thinking about it, having a “local” along might not be so bad.
“I-it’s fine.”
To be honest, although that was how I answered, I had to admit that after meeting Alice the unease in my heart had settled a great deal.
“That’s wonderful~ Being able to travel with Lord Angel is just like a story from a fairy-tale book~”
As she spoke, Alice smiled happily.
Yes.
It really was.
Just like a fairy tale…
I had felt this way before, in those days I spent with Lingyin.
Every day, every meeting, I had felt as if I were inside a fairy-tale world.
Once again I took a step.
Without noticing, Alice and I had already been standing on this damp dune for so long.
I had no goal, and I had not found a goal of my own either.
Perhaps it was still better than staying in one place and never moving.
I lifted my eyes and glanced at the Halo above my head.
In the night, at some point, it had once again begun to give off that gentle, familiar faint red glow.
I could only see one edge of it, but that familiar feeling, that intimate feeling, made me think of the me who had sat at a desk at night and silently watched it.
Better than having nothing at all, I suppose.
I glanced at Alice beside me and couldn’t help moving a little closer to her.
“By the way, don’t call me ‘Lord Angel’ anymore. My name is Lin Yulin. Just call me Yulin.”
“Eh? Absolutely not, absolutely not. How could I call Lord Angel by name?”
Hearing me say that, Alice hurriedly waved her hands again and again as she spoke.
“But look, if we run into someone and Alice keeps calling me ‘Lord Angel,’ ‘Lord Angel,’ won’t that be really conspicuous?”
“Eh? That’s true…”
Alice thought it over, then slapped her palm.
“Something like an angel descending really ought to be kept secret, so we’ll have to think of a way to hide Lord Angel’s Halo and wings.”
“I already said you can just use my name…”
…
Eh? Wait?
I immediately turned to look at Alice.
“They can be hidden?”
“That sort of thing shouldn’t be hard for an an—ah, no, for Yulin-chan. Just use a bit of invisibility magic or something.”
-chan…
Isn’t your jump in closeness a little too big?
I was the one who suggested using my name, but going straight to “-chan” is a bit…
Don’t go by how I look. My actual age might be older than yours, you know.
“Invisibility magic, huh… Can Alice do it?”
The instant the words left my mouth I felt a little regret.
An angel who couldn’t use magic was a bit strange after all…
But Alice didn’t seem to take it to heart.
She only held up one finger, tilted her head slightly, and said,
“I can, I can… but Yulin-chan knows this too. I never took professional incantation classes, so I need a little material to offer the spirits in order to do it.”
“But this is a ruin.”
“Unexpectedly, the materials might not be that hard to find.”
— Blue Realm —
— Chapter Three · Ending World —