A Firefly's Glow

Chapter Eighteen: Part Eight

I could still hear the rain pattering against the roof of the house, and against the windows scattered across the rooms.

The rain didn’t seem like it was going to stop any time soon.

I was lingering on my bed, flopping over several of times. The bed was so extremely wide and soft that it felt like I would be sucked into the covers.

It was easier to get off the bed if I rolled, but when I attempted to roll, I ended up flopping around.

This would have been the perfect bed to jump on, but I didn’t want to take the risk of the ceiling falling, or any old ladies downstairs poking the ceiling with a broom and yelling with the scariest, most frightening old lady voices.

I closed my eyes. This bed was really nothing like the thin, stiff mattress that was probably still sitting at the same spot in the same apartment I had lived in before. But for some reason, I was happy I still got to lie on a bed like this.

I opened my eyes once I heard the sound of knocking on my door.

“Megane?” I questioned, expecting Megane’s voice to say something similar to “Hotaru-sama, please let me escort you downstairs for a very important meeting with Hanabusa-sama. He requests to see you.”

But instead, a familiar monotone answered, “Open the door.”

I rushed towards the door and I opened it just a few inches.

Keita stood before me in a wrinkly button-up collared shirt and dress pants.

“Don’t you have pajamas?” I asked. He looked as if he had only removed the blazer from his uniform.

Keita ignored my question. “You’re not going to see if you open the door that narrowly.”

“See what?” I creaked open the door wider only by a few more inches. “Your massive army of maids?”

“I believe that a member of my massive army of maids did this. You’ll only see it if you’re willing to step out of that sanctuary of yours.”

I stepped out of the room, ruffling my hair with my hands. Once I saw what was in the hallway, my eyes widened.

“Who did this?”

Tied onto each lamp post on the path as far as I could see were small, red handkerchiefs. They were all tied identically, just as it was a few days ago.

“Keita, did you do this?”

“Honestly, I couldn’t do all of this by myself. The last time I did something like this, I had you bumbling along next to me.” He stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Kasumi did this. Thank her in the morning.”

“Kasumi?” I hadn’t heard a single noise outside my doors all night, and I doubted that it was because my doors were so extremely thick. “But why didn’t she tell me?”

“Why don’t you ask her?”

“Why didn’t you ask her?”

His lips curled, as if he had expected my answer and had been correct on his guess. “It’s none of my business.”

He stepped past me into my room. I would have commented on this, telling him that entering a girl’s room without any explanation was awkward and rude, but I kept silent.

“I thought I told you to clean your room.”

I wrinkled my eyebrows at his comment. “I did!”

“It just looks like you picked something up from the floor and moved it to another spot on the same floor. It’s like one of those cartoons where the person sweeps the broom back and forth. They don’t really scoop up any dirt—they just move everything around.”