𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟓: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞
“Hey, please let me know when you get back. Welcome home.”
“. . . . . . You invited a man into the house when I wasn’t here.”
“It’s not a home, it’s a shop, right? And he’s the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, so we have to take care of him. Plus, Kami-sama, you were watching over us like a hawk, weren’t you? I found 34 of your snakes.”
“There were 41.”
“That’s just horrific.”
ㅤ
Kami-sama gathers up the snakes scattered around the room and looks at me with intense eyes. (This sight would be truly terrifying if you weren’t used to it.)
ㅤ
“If Charlene wanted to open a shop, you didn’t need to rely on that man.”
“That’s out of the blue.”
“I could have built you a shop in the busiest downtown area.”
“Well, I don’t need that. I’m not struggling for a living.”
“Then why work?”
“Well . . . . . . I just . . . . . . I just want to mimic what my Dad used to do.”
ㅤ
That’s something I wanted to do once I was free.
Like a kite whose string has been cut, my landing spot in life, after being given freedom, was to restart life from when I was 8 years old.
ㅤ
First, I want to mimic my father and have my own shop.
Herbal tea can be sold without a pharmacist’s license, and it can be sold more freely than official medicine. If I sell it with a little bit of my saintly abilities, I can make a business that helps people to a degree that doesn’t attract too much attention. I have knowledge and experience in herbal teas, not only from my father but also from the accumulated times when I worked as a saint.
ㅤ
I look around the shop.
The herbs hanging from the ceiling, the atmosphere of the shelves, everything ― I wanted to recreate, in my own way, the nostalgic place I had lost. The shop’s name is Hiraes, my father’s name.
ㅤ
When I became a saint, it was decided that it would be better if I had a surname. When I was about to be given a random house name, I reflexively said I liked Hiraes. Hiraes has no meaning in the language of this country. It’s my father’s name, who came from a foreign land, so no one opposed it.
ㅤ
By the way ―― after [the Second Coming], I was able to change my physical age as I liked.
Since the sacred relics were gone, Kami-sama became a land god unbound to the country.
At the same time, it seems the power of my soul has also increased. We’re like two halves of one Kami-sama, it seems.
ㅤ
I may be more than half not-human anymore.
I should be 20 years old, but sometimes I don’t even know what my real age should look like. Instead of finding it scary, I optimistically accept it as, “Well, that’s just how it is being Kami-sama’s wife.”
Well, that’s alright. There’s no use thinking too deeply about it.
ㅤ
So, normally I’m 10 years old. I’ve been aging as Charte-chan, regaining the time that was stolen from me in my own way. When I turn 18 as Charte―at that time, I plan to take a hard look at my life once again.
ㅤ
“Hey, Kami-sama.”
“Mm.”
“. . . . . . Never mind.”
“Is that so?”
“Hehe.”
“What’s so funny?”
“Well. . . . . . It’s just, having someone there when you call, it’s a kind of happiness.”
ㅤ
The happiness of having someone respond when you call out. The ticklish feeling of being able to say “never mind,” it’s delightful.
ㅤ
“Well then, it’s about time to get back to the afternoon work.”
ㅤ
As I stretch my arms wide, I notice I’ve grown taller.
ㅤ
“Oh.”
ㅤ
I’m 18. I turn around and complain to Kami-sama standing behind me. It’s Kami-sama’s doing.
ㅤ
“. . . . . . Kami-sama, don’t mess with my body all of a sudden, it’s shocking.”
“I just wanted to show my affection. You don’t like being touched when you’re 10, do you?”
“But don’t make me big all of a sudden, like, . . .”
“If Charlene dislikes it, I’ll stop.”
“. . . . . . That’s not fair, the way you put it.”
“Do you dislike expressions of human affection?”
“I don’t dislike them, that’s why I say it’s not fair.”
“I know. Charlene doesn’t let it happen when she truly dislikes it.”
“. . . . . . I would appreciate it if you could also remember the term ‘tact’, Kami-sama.”
ㅤ
――Kami-sama isn’t human, so He doesn’t do things that I dislike.
He doesn’t have any interest in me as a human male would.
Meaning, He understands what makes me happy, what I consider to be expressions of love, and does not encroach upon it, so. . .
ㅤ
“I love you, Charlene.”
“. . . .I get it, alright, I lose. . . .Just a little bit. . . .”
“Mm.”
ㅤ
I’m weak for the dreamy eyes that smile. When He wraps around me like a snake and buries His face in my neck in an affectionate manner, I yearn for more of His body heat. Even if it’s a simulated warmth, pretending to be human-like. I surrender myself and close my eyes.
It’s strange and odd to think that the beautiful God who covers the sky would do such an ordinary man-like thing.
ㅤ
I wish I could escape from situations like this by claiming that I’m just a child and don’t understand.
ㅤ
“Charlene.”
“Mm. . . . .?”
“Don’t ever leave me again.”
“I know. . . .”
“I love you.”
“Me too.”
“I want you to call me by my name.”
“. . . .It makes me feel shy, somehow.”
“It’s fine if you don’t let anyone else hear it.”
ㅤ
Kami-sama’s pitch-black eyes narrow to thin slits at close range, where His face is reflected. Along with the hair that’s like a curtain of night, even with my eyes open, it felt like my eyes were closed. Being swallowed by the blackness.
I was a superficial saint. Not a saint who came from another world. Even the appearance of Charte-chan was a lie.
But Kami-sama definitely loves the bare Charlene, stripped of everything.
ㅤ
I wrap my arms around His surprisingly broad back.
And in my heart, I whispered my love by calling the real name of my Kami-sama, who belongs only to me.”
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