Astra….?
For the first time, he spoke his voice calm, low. He stood still for a second, then slowly began to turn toward her, his eyes finally starting to open.
"Yes, you heard me right, I'm Astra—AHHH!"
Before she could finish, pain shot through her neck. She hissed, clutching the stung spot, her eyes shutting tight. He immediately shut his eyes again, almost on instinct. "I'm sorry," he said quickly.
"Sorry? For what?" Astra winced through the sting, confused. "Ugh… it hurts. I couldn't dodge the bees. Got stung right here." She pointed at the purplish mark on her neck. "Look at this! It really does hurt, I'm telling you. I wonder how Arisu's doing…"
The man's brows knit together. "I-It hurts because… because you were stung?"
"Yeah," Astra replied, trying to gently cover the mark again. "A big bee came out of nowhere and got me at the last second."
The man stood still for a moment, then slowly opened his eyes. His vision blurred briefly, needing time to adjust to the dark. As the darkness lifted from his gaze, he saw her. The girl before him stood soaked, the water trailing down her figure. The soft, flickering orange glow of the fire nearby cast warm highlights over her features. Her black hair clung to her face and shoulders, strands falling across one eye, the rest swept aside as she tilted her neck to the right, her hand gently covering the sting.
He stared in silence, eyes tracing her, until he finally met her honey brown eyes reflecting the firelight, wide with surprise. Astra gasped softly.
"…Your eyes…"
The man said nothing he just stood there, watching her in silence, as though waiting for something to happen. His fingers twitched slightly, quiet restlessness. Astra, slowly leaned in, eyes narrowing to take a better look.
"Your eyes…" she murmured, almost in awe. "They're beautiful—like storm clouds just before lightning strikes. That kind of grey… glowing and alive."
She found herself unable to look away, drawn in by the quiet intensity in his gaze, lost in the way his eyes seemed to reflect more than just firelight and water. Then, he spoke.
"You're not… feeling anything else?"
Astra blinked, her brows pulling together. "What?"
"Other than… the bee sting. You're not feeling… anything strange?" His voice was hesitant, as if the words tasted uncertain even to him.
"Hot… I'm feeling a bit hot," Astra muttered, "You… y-you're f-feeling what?" he asked feeling a bit confused.
"Yes! We're still in the hot spring, remember?" she sighed, glancing at the rising steam. "This warm water, all this mist—ugh, I'm starting to sweat! If we stay any longer, I might turn into a steamed dumpling."
Without waiting for a reply, she began trudging toward the edge. "Come on, let's get out before I'm fully cooked." just as she reached the edge and he moved to follow, her steps slowed, her eyes blinked rapidly then everything around her dimmed. Her vision turned hazy. Then black.
SPLASH!
Without warning, her knees gave way, and with a loud splash, she collapsed backward into the water. And just before she lost consciousness, the last thing she thought was.
So this is how dumplings feel…..
____________________
The long night finally surrendered to the morning sun as golden light spilled into the town. Birds chirped. People yawned. And Shion marched down the hallway of the inn, humming tune and holding a pot of something… suspicious.
"Why… why did that innkeeper's daughter give me this purple thing?! What is this? Soup? Juice? Magical potion to summon stomach demons?" He held it at arm's length. "Looks cursed. Smells cursed. Well, whatever. Can't throw it away… that'd be rude for that pretty girl. I'll just feed it to someone. She'll survive. Probably."
He finally stopped outside Astra's room, raised a hand, knocked lazily on the door.
Tok tok tok.
"Astraaa? You alive in there? The sun's already up!"
No answer.
He knocked again, louder this time. TOK TOK TOK.
"don't tell me you're still asleep."
Silence.
He knocked again, Shion sighed zero patience left, "Ugh, this girl…"
He slowly slid the door open and peeked Inside, spotted a figure sleeping, wrapped head-to-toe in a blanket burrito on the bed. Shion let out a sigh of relief. "Phew. There she is, still sleeping."
Then walked inside and placed the bowl on the side table and stood by the bed with hands on his hips."Kaen said to rest, but this is just overkill. Even an earthquake wouldn't wake you up, huh?"
Still no movement. With a sigh, Shion leaned forward. "Hey! Wake up. I brought you… something… delicious." He glanced at the bowl,"…Okay, maybe not delicious. But it's definitely something purple. If you don't wake up right now, I'm gonna pull off the blanket now."
No reaction.
He narrowed his eyes. "Fine. You asked for it." And with one swift motion, he yanked off the blanket.
"TA-DAA—AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!"
He jumped so far back, nearly tripped over his own feet.
"WHO TURNED ASTRA INTO A PILLOW?!"
There, under the blanket, was not Astra. Just three stacked pillows, a bundle of cloth vaguely shaped like legs, and a broomstick tied with ribbons pretending to be hair.
While His scream was so loud that birds flew from the trees and a few guests at the inn jolted awake in panic. Hearing it Kaen rushed in, breathless. "Uta! What happened?! Why did you—"
He froze mid-sentence seeing Shion sitting on the bed, pale as a ghost, clutching a broom tightly His soul practically floating above him as he whispered,
"I brought soup. She became a pillow."
Kaen's eyes widened as he stared at the carefully arranged pillow setup. "What nonsense are you talking?! Where is she?!"
"She… she turned into a pillow Ahem! I mean She's gone…"