Recovering

Haruki shuffled down the corridor with a stack of papers in his hand, squinting at the cramped handwriting of some clerk who clearly didn’t care about legibility. He was overall fortunate that he did not sustain too much injury in the battle. His lips moved as he read over one of the questions aloud, scratching the back of his head.

“Alright… name, age, birthplace… I guess I’ll just put down Japan of Earth? Wonder if they’ll take that.”

He turned into one of the infirmary rooms, pushing the door open with his foot.

“Hey,” he called out, holding up the paper, “what am I supposed to write for my current address? I’ve already filled out my place of origin but there’s another line here. I tried asking around, and I still don’t know what this kingdom is actually called.”

Kiera sat cross-legged on the bed nearest the window, sunlight cutting across her messy silver hair. She was wearing some simple linen clothes now, her arms still wrapped in clean bandages. She glanced up with a faint smile.

“It’s Goldspear.”

Haruki turned his head, confused:

“I thought that was the name of the capital city?”

“It is,” she said, amused. “It’s also the name of the entire kingdom. They’re one and the same. Goldspear is huge. Most people still call it a city, but officially… it’s complicated. I have no idea what the bureaucrats do in their offices. But either way, this place is gigantic. There aren’t really… other cities here. Just districts, villages. Walled off, but all part of the same place.”

“Huh.” He frowned down at the paper. “Weird.”

Kiera chuckled, shaking her head. She was already half out of bed, reaching for the table where a few basic cooking supplies had been left. Just a simple pot, a knife, and a stack of mismatched bowls.

She winced as she tried to lift the water jug, her bandaged arms trembling under the weight.

“Careful!” Haruki said, quickly crossing the room as the jug slipped, landing on the ground. Fortunately it was not filled to the brim, so the spillage was minimal. He picked it up off the floor then set it back on the table.

“You’re supposed to be resting, you know,” Haruki continued, “you were the one down on the courtyard fighting that thing, while I was all the way on the top.”

“I’m fine,” Kiera insisted, summoning a trembling fire construct of a water jug, as if proudly insisting that she did not just drop the real jug on the floor. Filling the constructed jug up with water proved to be impossible, however, as the water kept on evaporating.

“Sit. Seriously.” Haruki motioned toward the bed with a laugh, and she reluctantly obeyed, climbing back onto it with a huff.

He rolled up his sleeves, glancing at the spread of ingredients, which mostly consisted of bread, a few herbs, and something that might have been dried meat but could also have been leather.

“Let me cook you something. I am starving as well.”

Kiera raised an eyebrow, skeptical.

“Do you even know how to cook?”

“Kinda,” Haruki said, with a shrug, and he got to work.

A little while later, the smell of something vaguely edible wafted through the room. Haruki leaned over the pot with a frown, poking at a bubbling mixture that had somehow become both watery and burnt at the same time.

It formed into a thick layer of what looked to be some kind of floating blob of fat above the liquid. Although what it truly was, Haruki had no idea. He told himself that this was basically inevitable after years of eating nothing but cup noodles and packaged sausages.

Kiera tried her best to hold in her laugh:

“You know, I’ll give you points for effort. But I am gobsmacked that you don’t even remember what you tossed into this whole pot.”

“What? I totally do,” Haruki said defensively, ladling out what could generously be called soup. He set a steaming bowl in front of her, looking proud of himself. “There. One… uh… stew?”

Kiera stared down at it, cautiously stirring it with a spoon.

“How is it possible that a piece of mushy carrot landed into the liquid? I didn’t even see you chop any vegetables.”

“Haha… well… you know what they say…”

Kiera waited, but the silence took them.

“What?” she asked.

“Alright, you got me. I don’t know where I was going with this. I just needed words to come out of my mouth.”

With that, Kiera burst out into a cheery laughter.

And Haruki couldn’t help but smile – admiring how cute and brilliant her grin was.

He was careful to look away this time, but he still felt pretty gross all things considered. And he had a gut feeling that Kiera noticed all of his tendencies. Though there was no way for him to prove it.

Kiera was still laughing when she finally dared a sip of the concoction. The moment it touched her tongue, she blinked rapidly, forcing herself not to spit it back out. Haruki caught the look and groaned.

“Alright, alright, you don’t have to pretend. It’s bad, I get it.”

“No, no,” she said quickly, covering her mouth with her hand. “It’s… edible. I’ll just… taste it slowly. That’ll probably help.”

“Ha, yeah… maybe. This is what happens when all you ever eat is instant noodles and microwavable junk.”

“Insta… what? And micro… wave? Like some kind of tiny ocean waves or something?”

“Oh, no, no, I guess that means nothing to you. Instant noodles are basically these cheap little cups with dry noodles in them. You just pour boiling water in and – ta-da – you’ve got dinner ready in minutes. They’re not good, well, actually… they’re good in the moment, but not good for you. Still, when you live alone and you’re broke, you don’t complain.”

“You live by yourself back on your planet?” she asked.

“Yeah,” his voice quieter now. “I’ve been on my own for a while. My apartment’s this tiny box, really. Not much in it. Just a bed, a desk, some books, and a lot of empty food containers. I’m usually working, or just killing time with games and shows. I really don’t wanna talk about work. I hate it.”

Kiera tilted her head, studying him with that quiet way she had.

“That sounds… lonely…”

Her words lingered in the room, heavier than the smell of the stew. Haruki shifted in his chair, trying to brush off the sting of the truth in her observation.

“What about you, then? You’re way more capable than me. What’s your life like outside of all… this?”

She hesitated, staring down at her spoon as if considering whether to answer. When she finally spoke, her voice carried a calm steadiness, like this was something she had rehearsed many times.

“I told you before, I’m self-taught,” she said. “I don’t have anyone to train me. I studied from books and practiced until I was good enough to pass the Hunter’s licensing exam. I’m here to… just do these low-level missions. Bodyguard work, courier runs, pest control, whatever I could get. Money is money, you know what they say.”

Thinking back to his job back on Earth, Haruki nodded:

“Yeah, I think I do.”

Kiera continued:

“You know, I’m actually not entirely sure what I’m even doing here with you. I’m missing a lot of missions by just being here.”

Haruki tilted his head, tapped his chin, then slowly he also relaxed himself ever so slightly.

“Why are you here then?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’m just… curious. You’re pretty weird, Sir Haruki of Earth. You’re uncoordinated, you have no experience – in anything.”

“Once again, hurtful.”

“And I’ve been meaning to ask you…” she hesitated as she raised her eyebrow, slightly smirking, which was then mixed with a strangely grossed out expression. “Do you… even shower?”

“WHAT? What are you… where do you even get the idea? I mean… I guess it has been awhile.”

“Ha, relax,” she giggled. “There’ll be plenty of rivers around for us to use. But honestly you were kind of a slob when we first met.”

“Yeah… yeah…”

“Either way, we won’t be using the same rivers anyway. Since I’m assuming you’ll soon be off on your own. So there’s no reason for me to stick around… I guess.”

“I sort of remember you telling me how there was no way you were going to leave me on my own, since, in your words, I was surely going to die.”

“Yeah, but you have the Deacons and an Elder here now. They’ll definitely look after you… I think. I don’t really know. Regardless, money doesn’t grow on trees. So I’ll need to get back to work soon.”

“Why all this money obsession? What are you going to even spend it on?”

Kiera paused, before taking a deep breath and said:

“It’s for my family.”

Her gaze softened at the thought, though there was a weight to her expression that made Haruki’s chest tighten. She continued:

“They live far from here, way out in the borderlands. We never had much. My parents… they fought for every meal we ever ate. So did I, growing up. That’s why I left home. I… I couldn’t really stay there forever. But sometimes, I do feel like I’m spending more than I earn. Do you ever get that feeling?”

To both of their surprise, Haruki replied:

“Yeah, actually. I kind of know exactly what that’s like.”

He felt the words settle between them, heavy and suddenly guilty for trying to compare his consumer habits to her own spending needs. He had thought his life was difficult, but hearing her speak so plainly about a childhood spent in struggle made his own complaints sound shallow.

He glanced down at his hands, thinking about his cluttered apartment back home, about the nights he would stay up late doing nothing, watching nothing, reading nothing. The television was on, and there were manga in his hands, but he felt nothing in those moments. And here, he finally realized that the life he had was luxury compared to the work people had to do here on Sunpeak.

Haruki looked at her then, really looked at her. The sunlight outlined her silver hair like a halo, and for a moment, he truly felt like he was staring at someone from another world. She was here, in front of him, but still so far away.