Sharti looked curiously at the rock Ren was pointing to.
After confirming there was no one around, she carefully opened her mouth.
“Where are you planning to go? Surely you’re not thinking of going to the log cabin alone?”
“That’s exactly what I’m planning.”
Ren looked at Sharti with eyes that seemed to say it was no big deal to go back and forth dozens of times.
“We only have this one water container, and it’s more efficient for me to go alone than for both of us to go.”
Ren spoke casually and shifted his feet as if he was about to leave right away.
Sharti grabbed his arm in panic.
“Then let’s take turns going. When Ren returns, I’ll go.”
“……”
“As long as we follow the path we came on, we won’t be noticed by others, so be careful not to get lost.”
Ren, who had been looking down at his arm that Sharti had grabbed with surprised eyes, cleared his throat and nodded.
“I’ll go first then.”
Ren rubbed the back of his neck and disappeared between the trees.
Sharti watched his retreating figure with an uneasy feeling.
She was more worried now than when she had sent Tein down from the mountain alone.
‘It makes me anxious to send him alone.’
Then suddenly she remembered how Ren had chased after Dodindt who had escaped from the log cabin and caught him.
‘…Maybe I’m being too overprotective.’
She felt like an overly protective guardian.
Sharti sighed as she relaxed her body.
‘I should walk around a bit.’
There was nothing better than gathering herbs to refresh her mood.
Sharti turned to head toward the bushes, away from the stream.
Just then, the sparkling light of the stream reflecting the sunlight caught her attention.
Squinting, Sharti stopped and stared at the stream.
“……”
The clear stream’s surface was filled with stars.
Sharti stood there entranced, mindlessly taking in the scenery.
‘…Ren told me to wait here anyway.’
And the weather was too nice.
Crouching down and soiling the hem of her robe with dirt to gather herbs seemed a bit wasteful given the beautiful scenery before her.
Sharti quietly sat down on the rock facing the stream.
‘This is nice too.’
It felt strange to just sit and appreciate nature without doing anything, but it wasn’t bad.
The sound of the stream flowing at a moderate pace was refreshing, and the cool wind carrying moisture felt invigorating enough to make her hood and robe feel stuffy.
‘I’ve been through a lot lately.’
Sharti smiled faintly while rubbing her cold cheeks.
A series of crises encountered in overwhelming situations, and unexpected relationships and changes.
It felt like trials given to her at twenty, but she also thought they were just growing pains that would eventually pass.
‘None of this would have happened if I hadn’t met Ren.’
If Ren hadn’t lost his memory, they wouldn’t have become entangled, and Sharti would have spent the last season of the year peacefully, welcoming spring.
Sharti hugged one knee and rested her chin on it.
‘How can I help Ren find his memories?’
How could she relieve his anxiety, even just a little?
As Sharti was lost in thought—
“…!”
She was startled and turned her head when a thick blanket was draped over her shoulders.
Ren, who had returned without her noticing, was calmly wrapping the blanket around her.
“When—no, are you back already?”
Sharti was flustered as she tried to gauge the time.
The time she felt had passed since Ren left and she sat on the rock didn’t seem that long.
How lost in thought had she been not to notice his return?
“Ren, sit here too. I’ll go next.”
As Sharti stood up and tried to take the wooden water container from him, he suddenly moved backward.
Sharti, who had awkwardly risen, blinked her eyes.
Ren pointed to himself and her with a calm face.
“I think it’s been proven that I’m faster and stronger than you, Sha. If you can go there faster than me and carry the water container with one hand like I do, I’ll yield to you.”
“……”
“I’ll be going then.”
Ren chuckled and headed back to the old log cabin alone.
Having been quickly and logically persuaded, Sharti belatedly let out a short sigh.
The satisfaction that had briefly crossed Ren’s calm expression somehow seemed cunningly calculated.
‘He even brought a blanket.’
Thinking how calculating he was, Sharti shook her head and sat back down on the rock.
With the blanket shielding her from the cold wind, warmth returned to her body.
Perhaps because of this, there was a tingling sensation near her chest.
‘Is this kind of thoughtful consideration embedded in his body’s memory?’
As Sharti fidgeted with the edge of the blanket, she buried her face between the blanket folds when a strong wind blew.
It was warm.
****
Only after diligently filling the water storage container in the old log cabin with stream water did Ren put down the wooden water container and return to Sharti.
“…Wait.”
His excited steps, anticipating Sharti’s praise, gradually slowed.
Ren stopped abruptly, clicked his tongue, and rubbed his forehead.
“Maybe I should have only filled it partially.”
If he had only filled it with enough for a few days, they could have gone out together again like today before long.
Ren sighed deeply at this belated realization.
He felt pathetic for becoming so careless and naive whenever Sharti was involved.
[Ren needs to try much harder.]
He didn’t know why the kid’s advice kept coming to mind.
Ren suppressed his childish irritation and walked on.
‘…But it’s not wrong.’
He wanted Sharti to rely on him and feel his necessity, not out of sympathy or pity.
If so, he needed to act proactively like this time.
“Pretending to be sick or pitiful won’t work anymore.”
Now he had gained some composure.
As Vireta had said, once he realized what and why he wanted to stay by her side, he could be clear about his attitude.
‘I want to face Sha… if not as equals, at least directly.’
He wanted to be someone who didn’t feel indebted to Sharti, who didn’t feel powerless around her.
A relationship of shared secrets, of hiding things for each other.
That was all he wanted.
“And later, with Sha…”
Ren closed his mouth as the sudden thought came to him.
He shook his head lightly and quickened his pace.
Despite his stiff lips, his earlobes had turned red.
“Hmm?”
Just then, Ren immediately changed direction at the glimpse of a bluish-purple color.
He saw small bluish-purple flowers blooming among the bushes.
Ren quickly crouched down and picked the flowers.
When the rough handling caused the petals to bruise, Ren carefully picked more flowers.
“I wonder if she’ll like it more if I give her many.”
With that simple thought, Ren stood up.
As soon as he arrived in front of Sharti, Ren held out the clumsily made bouquet.
“Ah…”
Thanks to the wind that blew just then, her hood shifted, revealing the soft curve her lips formed.
A bouquet of just five flowers made Sharti smile.
Staring at her blankly, Ren unconsciously rubbed his solar plexus.
This time it stung a little.
“Thank you.”
“It’s nothing.”
Strangely, the shyness was Ren’s to bear.
Ren fidgeted and averted his gaze.
After looking at the bluish-purple flowers for a while, Sharti raised her head.
“I have something I want to give to Ren too.”
“What are you trying to give me now?”
Ren reflexively frowned.
Every time he managed to repay one thing, Sharti would try to give him something else in return.
“I have a sense of decency too.”
When Ren took a firm stance, Sharti also closed her mouth.
After choosing her words for a moment, Sharti pointed up the mountain.
“Not something material, but something I want to show you.”
She added that if he didn’t want to, they wouldn’t go.
Ren quickly calculated.
‘If I refuse, we might return to the cabin.’
If they returned to the log cabin, there was nothing he could do.
Ren promptly nodded.
And so the two climbed the mountain again. As they approached the area Sharti had pointed to, the terrain became steeper and rougher as they neared the summit.
Ren looked at Sharti’s back as she walked ahead and swallowed a sigh.
‘I think it would be better if I carried her.’
But there was no way Sharti would allow it when she wasn’t injured and showed no signs of fatigue.
Ren racked his brain.
“Sha, stop for a moment.”
“…?”
“Avoiding branches and mud makes it risky—you could slip and roll down if you step wrong.”
Ren extended his hand to Sharti.
“I think it would be better if we held hands for safety.”
It wasn’t a lie. It wasn’t obvious acting either.
Throughout the climb, Ren had been on edge, worried that Sharti might fall with each step she took.
‘I’d rather get hurt myself.’
Ren was determined.
Sharti also seemed to be considering it.
She too was worried about Ren’s legs after he had gone back and forth dozens of times carrying the heavy water container.
“We’re almost there, so hang in there a little longer.”
“Alright.”
When Sha held out her right hand, Ren’s facial muscles unconsciously relaxed.
Seeing his relieved expression, Sharti squeezed his hand a little tighter.
The two, concerned for each other’s safety, soon reached their destination.
“Here it is, Ren.”
Following Sharti’s lead, Ren experienced a moment where his mind went blank.
“……”
“This is the scenery I wanted to show you.”
True to her words, a wide-open mountain vista came into view.
The fading autumn colors and the bare trees already prepared for early winter.
And an endless expanse of mountain forest stretched out before them.
Faced with the vast scene that felt like it could clear his chest, Ren muttered the sentiment that rose from within.
“…It’s vast.”
Ren suddenly recalled the dark, narrow cave. And then Sharti’s log cabin.
The outside, the world, was wide and vast.
Why this was shocking, he didn’t know.
“It’s vast.”
As if choked, Ren murmured quietly.
Ren lowered his gaze.
“……”
There was a crushing feeling from the fact that he was looking down at the world from a high place.
More precisely, it felt as if devastating loneliness and heavy solitude were swallowing him.
“…Ren?”
Ren slowly turned his head.
Sharti, sensing something was wrong, was worried about him.
“…Sha, I think I—high places—”
Though he tried to maintain a calm face, he couldn’t hide his pallid gaze.
Sharti immediately pulled his arm.
Then she covered his eyes with her right hand and placed her left hand on his forehead.
“Don’t push yourself, try to breathe evenly.”
“……”
Strangely, the eerie sense of déjà vu that had been enveloping his body disappeared as he heard Sharti’s voice.
With his eyes covered, he could focus solely on her voice.
‘Is falling from a height among the causes of my injuries?’
It was possible.
Like Sharti who had seizures when seeing fire, the discomfort and pressure he just felt could be trauma.
‘Though it might be just conjecture.’
Or maybe he was shocked by suddenly seeing the vast world.
Of course, Ren wanted to believe that he wasn’t that weak-minded.
Using Sharti’s flower-scented hand as a shield, Ren closed his eyes.
“……”
Ren, now much calmer, took her left hand and held it tightly.
Though it looked as if he was clinging to her, Sharti didn’t mind.
“I’m sorry. I was too careless.”
Self-blame seeped through Sharti’s apology.
“It’s alright.”
When Ren shook his head, Sharti spoke in a gloomy voice.
“You’ve been staying in confined spaces all this time. I should have considered the possibility of your heart being startled. I’m sorry.”
“……”
Ren, who had just escaped being treated as a patient, closed his eyes tightly and swallowed.
He sensed it.
That to Sharti, his impression would be fixed as a patient who was weak inside despite his appearance.
And as expected, Sharti was excessively concerned about Ren as they descended the mountain together.
Ren’s only comfort was Sharti’s hand holding his tightly—that was it.
‘It’s warm.’
The momentary sense of déjà vu he had felt had completely disappeared with the warmth transmitted by her small hand.
The fragment of memory that Ren had unconsciously rejected once again vanished without a trace.
