***
“I don’t mind if I don’t have that…”
Nainiae, who replied that it was okay not to give her the gift, seemed to change her words as she saw her hand being pulled by Riley and asked carefully.
“Excuse me, young master, but suddenly where?”
A question mark floated on Nainiae’s face as Riley suddenly grabbed her hand and tried to move out of reach of other people’s eyes.
You can just give it to me, why do we have to…
Ansirium, which was ruined by Epidemic, had quite a lot of remnants of the building where the two could hide themselves from other people’s eyes.
“Is here all right?”
Riley, who decided to deliver the gifts as soon as possible, hurriedly lifted the bag, recalling the voices of his group whispering behind their backs as they moved.
“Here.”
Nainiae, who was staring blankly at the bag that Riley had lifted, raised her gaze and looked at Riley’s face. “Do I take it out?”
“Oh my…” Riley, who frowned at Nainiae’s question, tucked his hand into the bag, and pulled out a red coat. “Here, take it.”
“…this?” A red coat popped out from the bag, and Nainiae’s eyes were wide open.
“In teacher’s cave… It was in the teacher’s treasure trove, right? How did young master get this…”
When she saw the red coat that Riley gave her, which she used to wear in the past, Nainiae asked how he got this, but stopped talking.
“So, it turns out that everything young master gave us… They seemed like the items I had seen in the teacher’s treasure trove, but then…” Nainiae stared at Riley, realizing that all the items Riley had given to the group were items she had seen in Andal’s cave.
“Young master, couldn’t it be that you stopped by the teacher’s cave?”
“…that’s right.” Riley nodded reluctantly and explained why he stopped by Andal’s cave. “Before we go there, I thought it would be better to have insurance, so I stopped by to give them a life jacket. Apparently… I heard you had a warm-up with Abyss while I was away?”
Nainiae, who had a faceless look at Riley’s question again, nodded with a gloomy look. “…yes.”
“I heard that you were brutally crushed?”
“Yes…”
When Nainiae, who was grabbing the shoulder of the coat with both hands, replied with her head down, Riley grinned and tucked his hand into the bag. “Well, you could lose.”
Riley, who took out the second gift for Nainiae, a ‘white scarf,’ wrapped it around her neck and spoke. “If you won, I would have thought it was rather suspicious.”
To the soft texture that wrapped around her neck, Nainiae, who was looking down with a gloomy expression, suddenly opened her eyes and looked at Riley, who was standing opposite her. “…young master?”
Nainiae’s fingers, which were holding the coat, trembled lightly.
“This is, what…” It wasn’t as good as the coat she had in her hand, but Nainiae, whose face was blushing enough to be spotted, stopped talking as if embarrassed.
“There was a reason why I asked to talk to you separately.”
It was because Riley’s face was close to her nose, perhaps to tie a knot on the scarf.
“Done. Well, it’s good.” Riley, who took a step back and looked at Nainiae’s scarf, nodded and praised her as he thought the scarf looked good on her.
“I gave everyone one, but if they saw me giving you three, I thought they’d be grumpy about it because of their personalities… I don’t want to be bothered, so I am giving it to you secretly.”
When Riley asked her not to tell the number of gifts to the group, Nainiae replied briefly. “Yes…”
After replying, Nainiae, who was blankly fiddling with her scarf, realized something strange about what Riley had just said and tilted her head with a question mark. “…wait, three?”
“Yes. three.”
With the two gifts that she had received, Nainiae’s face blushed even more when Riley said he would give her one more gift.
“Well… I am satisfied enough just with the coat and scarf. There is one left, but it’s up to you to decide to use it or not…”
Then Riley, who put the empty bag down on the ground, put his right hand in the pocket of his jacket.
“Don’t say useless things.” When Riley’s bag lightly fell to the ground, whether it was empty or not, Nainiae, who belatedly realized that the last gift was not in the bag, looked at Riley. “…the last thing I’ll give you is this.”
Riley’s fist, which hadn’t been clenched before it entered his pocket, was somehow clenched when it came out of the pocket.
“Hand.”
“Ah yes.” Nainiae, who nodded at Riley, put the red coat she had in her hands behind her shoulders, and carefully stretched out her hands.
“There’s no particular reason. It’s just…” Riley, who couldn’t see Nainiae’s eyes, looked aside and blurred the end of his words, slightly opened his right fist, and dropped what he was holding in his hand. “It bothers me that you aren’t wearing the ring I gave you before but just hanging it on your neck… That’s why I’m giving it.”
Seeing the two rings that fell on her hands, Nainiae’s eyes began to tremble. “Ring…”
“Yes, it’s a ring.”
Maybe she was embarrassed, Nainiae, who covered her lips with her chin buried in the scarf she just received, only blushed and couldn’t speak… Riley glanced down and looked at the ring she had.
“That… it’s still hanging on your neck.”
The Astroa ring that Riley gave her around last spring, she made it into a necklace and kept it.
“Why don’t you wear it on your finger?”
Even though it was an efficient ring that helped the person wearing it to accumulate mana by themself, she was using it as a necklace without wearing it on her finger.
“That’s…” Nainiae mumbled, burying her chin in her scarf and shrugged her shoulders as if she were Riley.
“Wear it. Don’t hang it on your neck.” Riley gave her a new ring, wondering if she didn’t like the design, because it bothered him if she wore it on her neck and not on her finger.