Chapter 20
“You want to see the permafrost? That’s easy,” Qifeng suddenly blurted out.
“Oh?” My surprised gaze shifted to her. Could it be that she had a good suggestion?
“Permafrost… don’t we have some in the kitchen freezer?” she said with a silly grin.
…I was speechless. I grabbed a throw pillow and smacked her in the face with it. I have a feeling that, with her masochistic tendencies, she was deliberately trying to get hit, so I just went ahead and obliged.
“Ahem. That was just a small interruption. I’ll contact Sister Aijieliya right now,” I turned and smiled at Lian Qi.
“…Okay,” Lian Qi said, staring blankly at Qifeng, who had flopped over on the sofa.
Luckily, I have the “Sound-Transmitting Conch” magic tool that Sister gave me, so I don’t have to make a special trip to the Magic Academy.
A few minutes later—
“What? Lian Qi wants to see the permafrost? Of course, that’s fine.”
Sister flew over to my house very quickly using magic, agreeing readily as soon as she arrived.
“But you’ll need to wear more clothes,” she reminded me.
Lian Qi paused, then said, “But… I don’t have any clothes other than my school uniform.”
Lian Qi’s Magic Academy uniform skirt is short and exposes her thighs. If she goes to a cold place like the permafrost, she’ll be… beautifully “frozen.”
“You can wear my clothes,” I said to her.
It’s just… for a boy like me to be lending girls’ clothes to other girls all the time… it just feels weird.
“Fei’er, I’m going home for a bit, okay? I’ll be right back. Don’t you dare leave without me!” Qifeng said, standing in the entryway, one hand on the shoe cabinet and the other holding her shoe.
“Eh? You finally don’t have to borrow clothes from me?”
This is so unusual.
After seeing Qifeng off, I pulled Lian Qi’s hand and went to my bedroom. I opened the wardrobe, and all sorts of girls’ clothes came into view.
Anyway, Lian Qi has seen it all before, so it’s not too embarrassing to show her again…
“Hey, just lend me a coat. Don’t even think about dressing me up like I’m doing cosplay,” Lian Qi said, staring at me.
“Eh? You’re using words I don’t understand again,” I said with a weak laugh, trying to decide what to give Lian Qi to wear.
“The only reason I always wear the Magic Academy uniform is because its style is normal and I can accept it.”
“Then… how about this one?”
I took a beige coat from the wardrobe and held it up in front of her to size it up.
“It’s kind of ‘academy style.’ It should go pretty well over your uniform. Try it on,” I said with a smile.
Seeing her, it looked like her eyes lit up a bit. I knew I’d chosen the right one.
After she put the coat on, I buttoned up the top few buttons for her.
“Do you have to button it? It might look better open…” she stopped, then changed what she was saying: “You’re… still so thoughtful.”
I gave a shy smile. “We have about the same build. My clothes fit you well.”
“…Who has the same build as you?” she glared at me, annoyed. “I’m much better developed than you, okay?”
“…I didn’t mean ‘build’ in that way!”
I didn’t know what expression to make at her other than a weak laugh.
Actually, I really wanted to retort: “In that way,” she’s ‘won’ against me… a boy. There’s really nothing to be proud of…
I looked over Lian Qi’s new image after putting on the coat. The coat was a bit like a trench coat, and its length just covered her skirt. I stared at her bare thighs and asked: “Won’t your legs be cold? Do you need tights or over-the-knee socks? I have them in black and white.”
“…I’m fine just watching you wear them.”
“Eh???”
Lian Qi actually refused?
Just then, I heard the tseng, tseng, tseng sound of footsteps on the stairs. Qifeng burst through the door, holding something fluffy in her hands. Without a word, she wrapped it around my neck as if trying to strangle me. A second later, I realized it was a scarf.
“Ta-da—! For you.”
She provided her own sound effects, smiling foolishly.
Could it be… that she knitted this for me herself?
I touched the scarf wrapped around my neck and instantly felt warmer.
“Is it that warm? Your face is all red,” Lian Qi said, staring at me, looking vaguely anxious.
“It’s not red!”
Geez… at worst, I’ll just knit one for her too!
…Although I’ve never knitted a scarf before. I wonder if it’s too late to learn.
“We should get downstairs. Let’s not keep Sister Aijieliya waiting too long,” I said, pulling a white shawl from the wardrobe that matched the nun’s uniform I was wearing and draping it over my shoulders.
This is what I always wore when the weather turned cold.
Lian Qi stared at me blankly, watching me until I felt a little embarrassed.
“Wh-What’s wrong?”
“In that outfit… you’re basically camouflage in the snow.”
“Eh? Eh? Eh?!”
Come to think of it, my hair color, clothes, stockings, and even my shoes… they’re all white.
When we walked down the stairs, Sister Aijieliya was already waiting for a long time. She frowned at us and said, “Are you three wearing so little on your lower halves?”
…We looked at each other. Actually, the one among us wearing the least was Lian Qi. She wasn’t even wearing stockings.
“I really don’t know what to do with you. Youth is so… willful. But it’s fine. It’s not that cold during the day. We just have to be back before dark.”
“Mm, mm, we know,” I quickly agreed.
It’s common knowledge that the temperature difference between day and night in our world is enormous.
“Then… let’s go.” Sister enveloped us in her starry-sky-curtain-like magic robe, and I felt myself being carried away by a gust of wind.
…
This journey was not very long. Soon, I smelled the ice-cold air and felt my feet land in the snow with a crunch.
I opened my eyes. In the distance were glaciers and a clear blue sky. A cold breeze rustled my hair.
Sister Aijieliya, Lian Qi, and Qifeng were standing with me in the snow. Everything was a vast expanse of white. There was nothing but snow—a world of pure silver.
“Where is this?”
“This is the permafrost south of Falan. It’s probably the closest permafrost to the Royal Capital,” Sister Aijieliya said, gently patting Lian Qi’s shoulder. “How does it feel? Seventy percent of our world’s surface is just like this place.”
“I feel like I’ve arrived at the South Pole,” Lian Qi said softly.
“I’ll take you to see those glaciers. That is ‘permafrost’ in the truest sense. When you get up close, you’ll see just how magical it is,” Sister Aijieliya said.
Actually, I was pretty curious too, since I’d only ever seen the permafrost after it thawed.
When we walked closer to the glaciers, getting right up to the wall of ice that stretched as far as the eye could see, Lian Qi gasped in shock.
“There’s… something inside the ice?”
“There is. Prehistoric creatures from tens of thousands of years ago are all sealed inside the ice,” I replied, standing behind Lian Qi.
“This… this gives me the feeling of… a giant piece of amber.”