Chapter 107 - Ponytail
"So, what should we do first?"
I gave a brave shout, but in truth, this was the first time I had ever cleaned such a large house. The rooms were spacious and numerous. I didn't know where to start.
I turned my hesitant gaze toward Flora and Toak, who were reliable at times like this.
"Um, first we should open the windows for ventilation," Flora said.
"If we clean with them closed, the dust will just swirl around," Toak added.
"Then let's open every window in the house."
Thanks to Flora and Toak's words, our first task was decided.
Thinking about it calmly, it was no different from our own home, just on a larger scale. In that case, what we needed to do was the same as always.
As I headed toward the stairs to go to the second floor, Flora followed me.
It was a small thing, but I was happy that Flora naturally came along.
That said, we had to separate to open the windows efficiently.
Reaching the second floor, I immediately found a window and opened it.
Walking down the hallway, there were several rooms; Flora entered the room closest to the stairs, and I entered the one further back.
The partitioned interior was, naturally, wider than the bedrooms in my own house. The furniture had long since been collected and repurposed, so there was nothing left in the room.
"It feels even more spacious because there's no furniture, doesn't it?"
While I was looking around the room, Flora, who must have finished opening the windows in her room, peeked her head through the doorway and spoke.
"True. Even if children start coming here, it would be lonely to live in a place this big alone. We'll have to come visit every now and then."
"With it being this big, we could even have sleepover parties with everyone!"
"That sounds good. We'll have to clean every nook and cranny so we can do that."
"Yes!"
While looking forward to Flora's wonderful idea, I opened the room's window, and a pleasant breeze blew in.
The sensation of it lifting my bangs and stroking my skin felt good.
Being higher than a normal house and on the second floor, I could see quite far into the distance.
I happened to look toward the direction of my own house, but I couldn't see it because of the trees and other houses.
A small stream flowed in front of the house, and if I listened closely, I could hear the sound of running water. There was a large garden out front, too; it was a nice house. Once children gathered here, I might see them playing in the garden.
Looking forward to such a sight, I left the room and went to open the windows in the other rooms.
"Finished opening them over there—?"
Just as I finished opening the last window, Kurune, Aisha, and Toak came up to the second floor carrying cleaning supplies.
"Ah, we're done here too."
"Then let's start cleaning from the second floor. We can't do the first floor until we finish here," Toak said.
I had panicked earlier, but I understood what Toak meant. Dust falls from top to bottom, so cleaning the lower areas first would just mean doing the work twice.
"Since there's no furniture, we don't need to tidy up. Let's get to knocking the dust off the ceiling right away," Kurune suggested.
Speaking of cleaning, usually one has to tidy up and move heavy furniture, but in Kurune's house, there was no furniture to worry about.
We picked up the feather dusters we had brought to clean the hallway and room ceilings.
"Hey, Aldo. Can I borrow a rag?"
"Sure, but isn't it too early for floor-wiping?"
"No. I'm going to dust the ceiling with this."
"Ah, I see."
Understanding what Kurune wanted to do, I nodded in approval.
"What do you mean by 'I see'?" Flora asked.
"You'll understand if you watch."
It was faster to see it than to explain it. Besides, everyone's reaction would be more fresh that way.
While we watched with gazes mixed with curiosity, Kurune took several rags in her hands and chanted.
"Show my will, move by thought, [Skill: 『Psychic』]."
Then, the rags that had been draped over Kurune's arm floated gently into the air.
"The rags are floating!"
"...The sight of several rags floating is a bit surreal," Aisha muttered with a somewhat solemn expression.
Indeed, the sight of rags fluttering like butterflies was something you didn't see every day.
As Kurune moved her right arm as if to sweep it, the rags floating in the air all headed toward the ceiling at once.
Then, moving as if wriggling their bodies, they began to pat-pat-pat against the ceiling.
"I see, so you clean the ceiling all at once like that. Magic is as convenient as ever," Aisha remarked.
"Hehe, I'm not an adventurer anymore, after all. From now on, I have to explore ways to use magic that are convenient for daily life."
True, because she had been active as an adventurer until now, her ideas for using magic tended to lean toward combat. However, since she had retired and was living a leisurely life, it was better to think of and use magic that helped with daily chores.
Kurune was living her life while thinking about various things, too.
"The wriggling rags are a little cute," Flora, who was standing next to me, gave a slightly offbeat reaction while being impressed by Kurune's magic.
"Eh? Are they cute?" Aisha asked.
"I find it a bit strange too," I added.
"They are cute! They somehow feel like inchworms!" Flora insisted, looking up at us as Aisha and I tilted our heads in confusion.
Hmm, looking at them now, they did somehow look like inchworms and might be considered cute. It was a moment where I caught a glimpse of Flora's mysterious sensibilities.
"Wait, if there's such a convenient magic, do we even need to help?" Toak asked.
"It would be great if I could apply it to everything, but it doesn't work that way. Moving multiple objects takes a lot of mental focus, and I can't do fine movements. So, if you want to get every corner properly clean, human hands are better."
"Hoh, I don't know anything about magic, but I guess there are plenty of things magic can't do."
"Even if you can use magic, there are tons of things you can't do."
Manipulating and moving multiple objects simultaneously like this was a high-level technique in itself. As Kurune said, it would probably be impossible to clean the entire house that way. As Kurune said, magic was by no means omnipotent.
"So, I'll do the rooms on the right side roughly, so someone please take care of the details."
"I'll do it," Aisha said, raising her hand quickly as soon as Kurune finished speaking.
That strangely decisive reaction felt suspicious.
"...You just want to take it easy, don't you?" Toak pointed out.
"That's not it. To get every corner properly clean, human hands are necessary," Aisha replied with a cool face, mimicking Kurune's words as Toak saw through her scheme.
Well, even if Aisha was lazy, she would probably do the finishing touches properly.
"Now, let's start cleaning."
"Yeah!"
"Wait a moment, you two. What about aprons and headscarves?" Flora stopped Aisha and Kurune as they were about to head to the rooms high-spiritedly.
"Aprons and headscarves? We don't need those. We're in work clothes today, and even if we get covered in dust, it'll come off if we brush it, and we're taking a bath later anyway," Aisha said.
"That won't do. I've brought extra headscarves, so please at least wear these. You're girls, so you have to take care of your hair."
Flora made a dissatisfied-looking Aisha wear a brown headscarf. In an instant, Aisha's red hair was covered by the scarf.
"There, that's good. Next is Kurune-san."
"M-Me too?"
Regardless of Kurune's confusion, Flora put a red headscarf on her. Meanwhile, I put on my own purple headscarf.
"What, Aldo, you brought one too...?"
"Rather than bringing it, I guess Flora made me take it?"
I was also the type who didn't really care, but Flora had handed it to me with a beaming smile before we left the house.
"I have one for Toak too, so put it on."
"I don't really need one, but I don't want to be like Aisha and throw a tantrum, so fine," Toak said as he accepted the green headscarf I handed him.
His words sounded like an excuse, but Toak's expression didn't look entirely displeased. I thought Toak was cute for the way his feelings showed on his face like that.
"Oh, Toak, that headscarf suits you quite well. You look like you could be a servant here," Aisha teased.
"It looks catastrophically bad on you. You look like an old hag in a summer field."
"...What did you say?"
"What, you wanna go?"
These two were starting to bicker again. Good grief. That said, it was true that the headscarf suited Toak. If he held some cleaning tools, he would look quite the part. Since Toak cared about details, he seemed like he would be compatible with cleaning. Whether he himself liked it was a completely different matter, though.
"Aldo-san, could you tie my headscarf for me?"
While I was thinking about that, Flora asked me while handing over a blue headscarf. As I moved my gaze to accept it, I involuntarily caught my breath.
It was because Flora's hairstyle was different from usual.
Her long golden hair was tied up in the back—a hairstyle called a ponytail.
With her smooth bangs left as they were, her appearance with her hair tied up so her neckline was clearly visible was very cute.
"...Aldo-san?"
I snapped back to reality at the sound of Flora's voice as she looked up at me worriedly.
"A-Ah, sorry. I was just a bit captivated by Flora with her hair changed..."
"A-Auu, captivated..."
Hearing the words that had slipped out of my mouth, Flora's face turned bright red and she looked down. Since I had already said it, I might as well praise her wholeheartedly. I'd heard that it was important to voice these things.
"That hairstyle is cute too."
"Th-Thank you very much."
"Hey—, if it's a ponytail you want, there's one right here too, you know?" Kurune said dissatisfyingly while touching her own hair as I gave Flora my honest impression.
"Ah, yeah. I think it looks good on you too, Kurune."
"There's no heart in that at all!"
I let out a sigh at Kurune, who was for some reason indignant. How many years did she think we had been together? It would be strange to praise Kurune's hairstyle now, and it would be weird to praise another woman in front of my lover, Flora. Besides, it wasn't that I liked a specific hairstyle. It was because the Flora I loved was doing it that a new kind of cuteness was visible. It wasn't that I was a ponytail lover... I think.
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