Chapter 3

It was so nice of Freja to let me share the bed with her, but I guess I was too scared of Dullahan to fully enjoy it. I would have preferred it if she had held me when I was really cold instead, so she could warm me with her body lying close to me. But considering the weather and how bad I was at packing, I still had a fair chance for it to happen.

Anyway, I was sure she secretly liked it, so I was happy I could do something for her, too, and it felt like a win-win situation. She always tried to pretend to be tough, but I knew how soft she really was on the inside. Sometimes, when my phone ran out of battery and I couldn't find my charger, I used her laptop and checked some of the stuff she had read out of boredom. And she called my manga silly…

“Are you still scared?”, she muttered sleepily and patted my arm, making me almost leap into the air.

“It will be okay, it is just a story… Dullahan isn’t real,” she murmured, leaving her hand on my arm. “Get some sleep, remember we will get up before dawn tomorrow.”

Hearing this made me feel utterly disheartened. I hated waking up early. I knew it had been my idea to do it, but when I suggested it, I somehow forgot that Freja would actually drag me out of bed at 5.30 no matter what. She was dead serious about keeping her commitments.

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“Just 10 minutes more”, Vera mumbled, and pulled the duvet over her head.

I frowned.

“You’ve said that for the last half hour”

“P…please…”

I sighed. I really didn’t want to do it, but she gave me no other choice. A commitment was a commitment, and as a fully grown adult, she was fully capable of keeping it, even if it required some help from my side.

She yelped and tried to hold on to her blanket, but spending most of her days on the sofa didn’t really equip her with enough muscles to resist my pull.

“Stop complaining and be quiet. People are trying to sleep in the other rooms.”

She sat up on the bed and hugged herself.

“C…cold…”

I threw some clothes at her, hoping the cold would motivate her enough to dress without a hassle. I was wrong. When I looked at her, she seemed lost in her hoodie.

“H…help”, she yelped with rising panic.

I rolled my eyes and guided her hands through the sleeves, and her head popped up with a bright, childish smile.

“Thank you, Freja”, she said softly.

A long time ago, I had the idea of giving her a job in my company, but I dropped it as soon as it came. For the sake of the world, it was better if she spent most of her waking time on the sofa, even if that sofa belonged to me.

“Are you ready?”, I asked.

Considering the fact that I had put her phone to charge last night and packed her bag, there shouldn’t be any more obstacles left between me and the coffee. She shook her head.

“Socks…”

“Socks…?”

I gave her a look, and she nodded. What was so difficult about it?, I thought. Or was it a case where the line between fiction and reality became more blurry than usual? No, one look at her confirmed that she wasn’t awake enough to consciously try to implement anything from the stories she read. I sighed.

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I woke up to reality sitting at the bar, drinking coffee. For a moment, I wondered how I got here. Had Freja teleported us here from our room, or had I really zoned out during dinner last night, and us sharing a bed was only a potential future that may still happen?

It would be a shame if that were the case. I really wanted to make her happy on this trip. I slowly looked around, trying to investigate the possibilities as to what was happening. It was still dark outside, so I had no means to know if the 6.15 displayed on the clock that hung on the wall referred to morning or evening.

I sighed. In times like these, I wished I were like Freja; she never got confused by this kind of stuff. Another sip of coffee brought me more clarity, though, and I remembered that we were here to investigate the mystery of Dullahan. Freja sat next to me and stared at her empty cup. It gave me another clue because she never drank coffee in the evenings. I reached out and hugged her.

“Hi Freja”, I said softly, burying my face into her shoulder.

She smiled and patted my head.

“Morning, Vera, nice that you are finally awake.”

So I was right, it was morning. I smiled and took her hand.

“Shall we go?”

I had big plans for today. After we were done with our investigation, we could do something fun together. I wanted her to enjoy this trip as much as I did, and the slightly different location than I had planned wouldn’t stop me from taking her to all the places she wanted to see.

I pulled her toward the exit, only to pause mid-step; I had got so excited about our plans that I forgot what we were supposed to do. I pulled up my phone and started to film, hoping that Freja would be happy that I acted as the responsible adult I was supposed to be.