Chapter 6

It was a dreamless sleep. Short, warm breaths stirred me awake, a stray lock of hair tickling my cheek. I didn’t open my eyes immediately. Still drowsy, I pressed further into the warm, firm object I’d fallen asleep on. My feet shifted, digging into the cozy heat. Something pressed gently on the top of my head, lightly petting my hair. The movement roused my thoughts, and I opened my eyes.

Gale, laying next to me, gently smiled and softly rumbled, “Good morning.” His voice, still scratchy from sleep, tickled my ears.

“G’morning.” I said. I lifted my head, stifling a yawn, and glanced down. My entire body stiffened. The warmth which had left me cozy all night… was Gale’s body was entangled by mine. My legs were wrapped around his, splayed ungracefully across the bed. My hand was still on Gale’s chest. My traitorous clothing had ridden up in my sleep, displaying the delicate curves I’d been ignoring since reincarnating.

My hand raised, shakily yanking my clothing back into place. I sat up unnaturally straight. I looked to the side, blushing, sneakily glancing at Gale’s reaction. He sat there calmly, gently smiling at me. My eyes trailed downwards, noticing a distortion in the pants he’d worn to bed. Damn! Was that the holy sword bestowed by the Goddess?! As expected of the Hero!

My mouth curved into a grin as I looked Gale in the face. Pointing, I asked, “Happy to see me?”

Confused, his eyes followed my finger to his lower body. Immediately, his face burst aflame. He stuttered a few times, covering himself with his hands, and looked at me helplessly.

“What did you expect?!” He finally spit out. My grin grew as I watched him squirm. Teasing this guy was surprisingly fun.

“My best friend of years, this whole time actually…?” I said, exaggeratedly covering my body with my hands.

His face lit in horror, head shaking in denial. He tried to speak a few times but couldn’t get the words out. I laughed and slapped him firmly on the shoulders. “Don’t worry, I get it, I get it. That’s just how it is for men in the morning.”

He fell back into bed, covered his head with a pillow, and whispered, “Kill me…”

I ignored him as I prepared for the day. “Are we staying for the Autumn festival?” I asked over my shoulder.

No response. “Gale?”

Turning around, I walked over to my compatriot. He was hiding under his pillow.

“Gale,” I said, poking his arm. He twitched and scooted away from my touch. What was wrong with this guy?

“You know I don’t care about that stuff right?” I asked, eyebrow raised. “It’s normal for guys.”

He roughly threw the pillow to the side and sat up. His face contorted with a mixture of embarrassment and anger.

His lips flapped, trying to form words, before he finally said, “You’re seriously clueless, you know that?!”

Could it be he was feeling self conscious? We’d joked about things like this in the past, I really didn’t think it was a big deal. Was my body effecting him more than I thought?

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“Ah…sorry,” I said. I scratched my head awkwardly, my eyes avoiding his. We sat in silence before I said, “I’ll go get us some food.” Quickened footsteps followed me out of the room.

Downstairs, a different person was running the counter. It was a younger woman, no more than 16. The old man’s daughter? I walked up to her and politely smiled.

“Do you serve food here?” I asked. The scent of food roasting wafted in from a different room, but I figured I’d ask.

The girl looked up from the paperwork she was staring at, and her eyes ballooned with surprise. She put her hands to her mouth and squealed. Taken aback, my lips twisted.

She looked me over. Finally, she stared into my eyes. “How are you so pretty??” She let slip. My face twitched. She immediately recovered and said, “Yes! We serve food, um, is it just you this morning?”

I shook my head. “I have one more.” She beamed, nodding so hard I pictured her head falling off. She walked me over to a table to sit in, yet for some reason, I inexplicably had the impression I was leading a small dog to its bowl. The chair lightly squeaked under my weight as I sat down.

“Are you getting something now?”

I shook my head. “I’ll wait for my friend.”

The sounds of footsteps behind me turned my head. Gale, now recovered from the morning’s antics, strolled into the room, clearly looking for someone.

“Oh, there he is.”

The girl stared at him, mouth agape. Puzzled, I looked between them. Had they met? Her face reddened, and she looked at me in admiration.

“I can’t believe a guy like that is your boyfriend! So nice too!”

I choked on my spit. “You, uh, know him?”

Her head bobbled again. “He helped me yesterday!”

Gale’s eyes flickered towards the noise, spotting us. His long legs carried him over, hands resting in his pockets. Had I not seen him this morning, he’d give the impression of a cool college student. That reddened, panicked expression was solely for me. I smiled.

“Hungry?” I asked sweetly. Gale raised an eyebrow at my tone. His face remained cool, impassive.

“Yeah.” He sat down in the chair tilted, crossing one leg over the other. He looked up at the girl, a gentle smile on his face. “Ciel, right? How’s Mr. Whiskers?”

“He’s great! He keeps getting into the trash though. Dad keeps telling me to get rid of him but..” Ciel, like a fountain, began spewing a font of information. Realizing she’d spoken too much, she regained her professionalism and asked for our orders.

The food was good. Comforting. Perfect for a morning hangover; the savory dish would have saved my life back in college. Gale and I ate quietly. Was it the morning’s weird atmosphere? Hopefully it was just our normal routine. I hadn’t noticed until Gale pointed it out, but my behavior was becoming strange even to myself.

Had I always been this happy? Without the excess baggage, could I have lived an ordinary life? I nibbled on my dish.

Gale finished before me. He watched silently as I gradually bit at my food. He rested his face on his hand, not looking away. My eyes met his. He smiled. I slowly set my food down, not breaking eye contact and asked, “Are you ok?”

He didn’t reply immediately. His fingers tapped an unfamiliar tune on the table, before finally he stopped and took a breath.

“I think I’m adjusting to our new normal.”

What did that mean? How was our normal any different than it was a day ago? I was about to ask when he continued.

“I thought it was because you’d become a girl so suddenly that you started acting different. But now, I think it’s because you’re finally acting like yourself.”

“Like myself?” I questioned.

He nodded. His eyes lowered as if pulling up an old memory. “You were like this when we were kids too. Goofy, naive. I didn’t realize until now.”

“You’re the goofy one,” I retorted. As if I’d let him sit there and insult me.

“And yeah, I think we should stay.” Gale said.

“Stay?”

“For the festival. You asked earlier.”

I finished my meal slowly. A festival, huh? It’d been so long since I’d gone to something like that. I’d need money if I wanted to do anything fun. I looked at Gale, resolute.

“I’m gonna work at Gessa’s again today,” I said. He didn’t argue. We went our separate ways, parting until the evening.

The work was more difficult than it was the day before. Why were there so many more customers? Whatever, as long as I get paid, I’d shovel manure for a living.

I had two hours of work left when I noticed Gale entering the restaurant. I walked up to him with a questioning gaze. He grinned, saying, “Table for one.” My lips twitched. This bastard really came just so he could be served by me? I forced down the inclination to slap him, and seated him at a clean table.

To think I believed him. He hadn’t come for a meal, he came to give me a hard time! He kept calling me back to his table, asking for increasingly ludicrous accommodations.

“You’re going to get me fired!” I hissed, grabbing his collar outside the building. I leaned my face in angrily. I had pulled him outside during a break to chastise him.

His hands raised in surrender, his face settling into an easy smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You will rue this day,” I said. I was about to hit him with the Heroine’s staff when I had a bird-like voice chirp nearby.

“Momma, are those two kissing?” My head swiveled in alarm. A little girl was standing nearby, holding hands with her mother. The woman swiftly covered her eyes, saying, “You shouldn’t worry about these things until you’re older, sweetheart.” She pulled the girl into the restaurant.

My eyes stared blankly into the distance. My hand dropped to my side. The dirt crunched as I shifted my weight away from Gale. Why did everyone keep accusing us of being a couple? I swallowed the numerous grievances in my heart. I could never be that way with another guy! I quickly followed them into the building, escaping from Gale’s presence.

I definitely wasn’t blushing.