Chapter 18: 8 Year Olds Go On ‘Picnic’ and Watch ‘Mana’

After drying our hair until it was fluffy, the young lady and I went to bed.

“With Mana~ Kiss~ Let’s sleep~”

“Yes, yes, hurry up and lie down, Young Lady. You have to play hard with me tomorrow too, right?”

“Yes! Okay!”

The young lady jumps onto the bed, saying ‘Whee!’

“You shouldn’t jump~”

“Yes!”

…If I hadn’t just said that, she was going to jump.

“Now I can hug Mana tightly and sleep too!”

She’s shrugging her shoulders. Young Lady.

“Did you want to hug me that much?”

“Yes! Until now, only Mana hugged me!”

I never know what a child’s wish will be.

I lie down on the bed with the young lady and cover us warmly with the blanket.

“Hehe… Mana~”

“Yes, Young Lady.”

“Kiss!”

Ah…

As expected, that again today.

Smooch..!

I gently brush past the young lady’s lips, and the young lady laughs and hugs me tightly.

“I love kisses so much!”

“Do you like them that much?”

“Yes! Mana will live happily and I will live happily too!”

“Yes, let’s live happily together from now on, Young Lady?”

“Yes!!”

…It’s warm.

The young lady in my arms is warm, but the young lady hugging my whole body seems to be a little warmer.

“Good night, Young Lady.”

“Yes! Mana too!”

I close my eyes and fall asleep feeling the young lady’s warm body temperature.

…I think I’ll sleep better tonight.

It’s already been 6 weeks since I came to the young lady’s house.

Everyday life with the young lady has become so natural.

Ah, of course, living as an 8-year-old has become somewhat okay.

Overall, I’m living a happy and enjoyable life.

And today is the day of the full moon.

It’s also the day I go on a picnic with the young lady.

“I’m going to eat sandwiches today!”

“Do you like sandwiches?”

“Yes! It’s the food I ate when I went on a picnic with Mana!”

“Hee~ I’ll pack them diligently today too!”

“Please do!”

There’s nothing special about sandwiches, though.

Just a slice of bread, a slice of ham, a slice of cheese, a thin slice of tomato (Caution! It has to be really thin. Or else it runs away!), a little mustard, a leaf of lettuce, and then ham and cheese again.

Hmm…

“Young Lady, shall we make sandwiches together?”

“Really?! Can I make them with you too?”

“Of course. Someday, I think you’ll be able to make sandwiches, Young Lady. Let’s try it as practice today!”

“Okay!!”

Except for when we make desserts, we don’t cook together, so the young lady hasn’t cooked in a while… I mean, we made toast together yesterday afternoon, Young Lady.

She must just like doing something with me.

“One slice of bread~”

“One slice!”

“Ham on top~

“Ham!”

The young lady makes the sandwich by watching what I do.

“You’re doing well~”

“Yes!”

…I’ve seen such a cute young lady.

“I’ll make it diligently and give it to Mana!”

“The sandwich you make is for me, Young Lady?”

“Yes! And Mana’s is for me!”

“Okay~”

I make sandwiches with the young lady and quickly finish preparing for the outing, a little early.

About 30 minutes before sunset, as the sun sets, I leave the house with the young lady.

“With Mana! With Mana! Picnic~ Going!”

“Oh, my… Do you like it that much, Young Lady?”

“Yes!!”

Seeing the young lady holding my hand tightly and flapping her arms, I can’t help but feel happy too.

“I’m going to go with Mana and see the sparkles!”

“That’s right. Come to think of it, that’s where you awakened your mana, Young Lady.”

“Awakened?”

“Hmm.. it’s like you opened your eyes to mana. Until then, you couldn’t see mana, could you?”

“Yes! That’s right! I saw the sparkles in the flower field that Mana took me to!”

“Then that place is important to you, Young Lady.”

“Important place?”

“Yes, mages usually get stronger or gain some kind of enlightenment in the place where they awakened their mana. Sometimes it’s not a place, but an object.”

“Aha?”

The young lady looks at me with a puzzled face.

“So from now on, every month, when the full moon rises, let’s go on a picnic there with me, Young Lady?”

“Yes! I love it!”

…Haha.

As I walk with the young lady who is jumping, we arrive at the flower field.

“Shall we go to the place where we sat last time?”

“Yes!”

Carefully.. lightly passing through the flowers, I and the young lady climb up to the rock from last time.

First, I spread the blanket thickly…

“You’ll have to sit next to me today. I wish I was 16 years old at times like this.”

“Why??”

“Because then I could hug you, you know?”

“Ugh… That’s right!”

“Instead, let’s sit side by side today, okay?”

“Yes!”

Our cute young lady, who listens well, is kind, cute, and pretty, sits next to me.

“Hehe…”

“The scenery is always nice here. The side is a flower field and you can look down below.”

“And I can see Mana too!”

“Haha… You can see me anytime, you know?”

“Yes!”

The young lady gently places her hand on top of my hand.

“I’m glad I came with Mana!”

“…I’m very glad I came with you too, Young Lady.”

Hehe~

Being in a comfortable environment with a good person, I naturally hum.

I was full of worries when I first came here.

It’s already mid-April.

“Soon, spring will be over.”

“Spring is over?”

“Yes, after April, when May comes, it will gradually get warmer, and when June comes, it will be hot, you know?”

“…I know what that is. It’s summer!”

“Oh~ You know what summer is, Young Lady!”

“Yes! It’s hot! And the sun is very bright!”

“Ahaha… That’s bad news for you, Young Lady.”

“Hmm… No! It’s good news!”

“Oh? Why?”

The longer the sun is out, the worse it is for the young lady.

I look to the side and the young lady smiles brightly.

“Because I have more time to play with Mana!”

Aha?

“Then you’ll be sad when winter comes.”

“Ugh… Then I’ll be happy because I have more time to sleep with Mana!”

“Whether this or that, you’re happy, aren’t you?”

“Yes! Because Mana is here!”

…You bad young lady.

You keep saying things like that and trying to charm me.

The fact that this is an innocent state of mind without any awareness is the most terrifying thing.

“You know, Mana.”

“Yes, Young Lady?”

“Hmm..! I, I want to do something!”

“Yes, please tell me. I’ll do anything I can.”

“I.. with Mana..”

Huh? The sun is setting.

“Young Lady, look over there. The sun is setting.”

“Huh..? U, um..! That’s right..!”

The sunset is always pretty to look at.

…Okay. I got through it well.

Something… I had a feeling that the young lady was going to ask for something strange, so I instinctively changed the subject.

Ha, but in this perfect atmosphere… I felt like the young lady was going to ask me to live as an 8-year-old forever.. or to kiss her..

It was that kind of feeling just now.

“Wow, Young Lady, look over there. It’s the full moon!”

“Wow! Full moon! It’s so pretty!”

Fortunately, when the topic changed, the young lady quickly became interested in something new.

As the moon rises, the flowers begin to bloom one by one.

“Wow! Mana! Look at the sparkles over there!”

“Ahaha…”

“Ah… Mana can’t see them…”

“Unfortunately, yes. But I’m happy enough just to see you enjoying yourself, Young Lady.”

“Ugh… I don’t like it. I want Mana to see this beautiful scenery with me.”

Unfortunately, that won’t happen to me, who can’t feel mana.

“Ah! I’ll make you see it with magic!”

“Huh?”

“Mana! Hurry! Back! Back!”

The young lady pats her back and urges me.

“Quickly! Do it like last time!”

“Um… Are you going to use magic?”

“Yes! I’ll show you this!”

…Maybe it’s possible with magic?

As the young lady wishes, I place my palm on her back and slowly show her the route where the mana moves.

“Now, from here~”

“I found it! Kiss”

“…I’ll go up slowly, okay?”

“Yes!”

Is it because she has a definite talent for magic? Even though this is only her second time casting, the young lady is handling mana much better than before.

“Done!”

“Then now, Mana, draw a circle shape and think of the magic you want.”

“Yes! I want Mana to be able to see the sparkles with me!”

Soon, a white circle appears in front of the young lady’s hand.

The small circle grew bigger and bigger and bigger…

“…Th, this is much bigger than last time.”

“Wow!!!!”

This isn’t the size of a person, it’s the size of our house, Young Lady..?

“Mana!”

“Yes…!”

“Take my magic!!!”

Flash…!!!

In an instant, a large light bursts between the young lady and me!

Argh, it’s so bright, Young Lady..!

White mana… why does it always come with light whenever it’s used…

It’s not ultraviolet rays, so it’s okay for the young lady, but I can’t help but hurt my eyes…

“Mana! Hurry up and open your eyes!”

“Wa, wait a moment…”

I rub my eyes a few times and very slowly… I start to open my eyes.

“Huuuh..?”

“How is it? Can you see the sparkles?!”

“…Wow.”

The stars that embroider the sky.

The flowers that embroider the ground.

And the mana that embroiders the space between the sky and the ground.

What should I call it, blue light?

Bubbles?

Mana with different brightness and sizes are floating around.

The closest thing I know to this is… fireflies?

Instead, fireflies that fly like dandelions in a clean and beautiful blue light.

“…It’s beautiful.”

“Yay! It’s a success!”

“You can see them, right?!”

“…This is mana.”

I’ve never seen such a scene in my life, so I forget my duty as a maid and look around.

“How is it?”

“It’s really beautiful.”

I thought I’ve seen a lot of pretty things in this world.

But this is really beautiful.

“Thank you, Young Lady. For giving me this opportunity.”

“If Mana is happy, I’m happy too!”

…Really, this young lady.

Do you even know what you’ve done?

When I first transmigrated into this world and struggled for a while and found out that I was an ordinary person who couldn’t feel mana, how disappointed I was.

…Is this how a person who couldn’t see sees, and a person who couldn’t see colors sees colors?

Is this how a person who sees fireworks or sky lanterns for the first time in their life feels?

I think for a moment.

“Thank you, Young Lady.”

…Thanks to you, I can enjoy this kind of luxury.

Damn author. It wouldn’t have been bad to give me a perk to see mana when I transmigrated.

I really looked forward to it.

…But this is really.

It’s really pretty.

“Mana.”

“Yes, Young Lady?”

The young lady hugs me without saying anything.

“Let’s see it together from now on?”

“…Yes.”

I can’t say anything and lean on the young lady.

I won’t be able to forget today’s experience, Young Lady.

It feels like I’ve experienced a whole new world.

“…Wow, it’s really pretty, Young Lady. It was pretty when I saw it in the picture.”

“Hehe… I’m glad Mana likes it!”

“I really like it.”

So I stared blankly at the floating mana for a long time.

“…Oops, look at me. Would you like a sandwich, Young Lady?”

“Yes! I’ll eat the one Mana packed!”

“Then I’ll have the one you packed…”