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Chapter 3
I woke up early in the morning. Nocturne was still in a deep sleep.
Since coming to my home, Nocturne still hadn’t been eating properly.
‘Maybe the food here doesn’t taste good… no wonder he isn’t growing.’
I figured he might like freshly baked bread, so I went to the bakery before everything sold out. Rye bread tastes much better when it’s warm.
Carrying the warm bread back, I saw Nocturne pacing anxiously at the door.
When he saw me, relief washed over his face, and he ran toward me. But his voice trembled.
“Re-Red… I woke up in the morning, and you weren’t there… I thought you had disappeared.”
Oh my, he was worried that I’d left him behind?
“Where would I go, leaving you behind?”
I gently stroked Nocturne’s hair.
“I-I was worried because I couldn’t see you…”
Ah, what am I going to do with this adorable kid.
Since I was the only family he had, he became so uneasy whenever I disappeared from his sight. Seeing that, I felt a pang of sympathy.
I held the bread up in front of him.
“I wanted to give you something tasty. I went out to get freshly baked bread. Aren’t you hungry?”
Nocturne silently nodded and smiled broadly.
“Let’s go in quickly and have breakfast.”
While eating bread, Nocturne pointed toward the window.
“By the way, Red, where did that come from? The thing you carry with you and cherish every day.”
He meant the music box shaped like a rabbit, which I brought to listen to whenever I was bored at work and again before going to bed.
“Oh! This? When I first became a cleaner, Mr. Bill gave it to me as a gift.”
“Mr. Bill?”
“Yes, you haven’t met Mr. Bill yet. He and Robin are the only adults I really like. I’ll introduce you to him later.”
I expected Nocturne to be happy hearing that, but he stayed silent, keeping his mouth shut.
Why does he seem so down?
Sunlight poured through the window and onto the table.
“Let’s get to work, Nocturne. We’ll be late.”
We packed up the cleaning tools and headed out into the alley.
“Red!”
I turned around happily at the familiar voice, calling out loudly.
“Mr. Bill!”
Mr. Bill looked at me, then walked briskly over, bending down to meet my eye level.
He was the kind of person who always gave me coins first when passing by, pulled my hands while I was working to buy me something tasty. I hadn’t seen him for a while, but now he appeared as if he had finished his errands.
“Red, it’s been a long time! I heard you got hurt. Are you okay now? All better?”
He held me and checked my face and body carefully.
“I’m already healed. Nocturne helped me a lot while I recovered.”
Mr. Bill’s gaze shifted to Nocturne next to me.
“So this is Nocturne? He’s your brother, right?”
“Yes! Nocturne, this is Mr. Bill. Say hello. He’s the one I like.”
Nocturne flinched and looked away at my words.
Seeing Nocturne’s pout, Mr. Bill reassured him with a smile.
“Looks like something made you upset today. Anyway…”
Mr. Bill trailed off, then pulled a small pouch from his pocket.
“This is for you, to celebrate your recovery. And your birthday is coming soon too.”
At that moment, Nocturne snatched the pouch from Mr. Bill’s hand and peered inside.
“Nocturne!”
My face went red with embarrassment.
“I was worried it might be dangerous for you…”
Nocturne said in a sullen tone.
I apologized to Mr. Bill on Nocturne’s behalf.
“Sir, he doesn’t really understand. Since I got hurt, Nocturne has been acting like this.”
“Haha, Robin told me everything. That kid’s funny. It’s okay, Red.”
Mr. Bill chuckled and nodded.
“Thank you for the gift! Can I open it now?”
“Of course.”
I opened the pouch and found a single, sparkling gold coin.
A gold coin!
“B-Bill!”
I couldn’t close my mouth, staring wide-eyed. Mr. Bill seemed pleased and patted my head.
“It’s my first time seeing a gold coin! How amazing!”
Even after thanking him repeatedly, I was so thrilled that I hugged Mr. Bill around the waist.
I felt Nocturne watching me silently, but the joy of receiving a gold coin for the first time completely distracted me.
Then I noticed his sulky expression.
Ah, right! My mind…
‘I was too excited about the gift and forgot about Nocturne.’
I felt sorry for him.
That evening, while eating dinner together at home, Nocturne hesitantly asked in a low voice.
“Red… is your birthday soon? I-I didn’t even know when it was…”
“Oh! Actually, I don’t really know my birthday either. I just chose a day I liked and called it my birthday.”
“A day you like?”
“Yes, the day I moved into this house with the money I earned.”
I smiled at Nocturne while holding the gold coin. He alternated looking between me and the coin with a complex, unreadable expression.
Maybe he felt conflicted because he lost his memory and didn’t know his own birthday.
Also, even though I got a gift for a fake birthday, Nocturne might never know when his actual birthday is if he can’t regain his memories.
“Nocturne, you can pick a day you like and make it your birthday. Then I’ll give you a gift every year.”
“I… I’ll pick the day.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll make the day I met you my birthday.”
What a bizarre thing to say! I laughed at Nocturne’s unexpected words.
Scratching the back of his neck, Nocturne said to me,
“Red, you are my birthday present. Just stay like this with me forever. ‘Just like now.’”
“Nocturne, you can’t say things like that carelessly. Someone might think it’s a confession.”
His face instantly flushed red. The crumbs on his cheeks made it even funnier.
“Nocturne, a confession should be cool and clean! Right? If you do it with crumbs on your face like this, is it okay? Or not okay?”
I wiped his face with a cloth. He was already red, but turned even redder.
I chuckled as I brushed off the remaining crumbs and cleaned his face, returning him to his usual neat, handsome self.
That was the only flaw of the handsome little guy. He was squeamish and couldn’t touch dirty things, though he was technically dirtier than he realized.
Nocturne always made all sorts of pitiful expressions whenever I teased him like this.
The next morning, I habitually went to take the music box with me, but left it on the windowsill.
“Red, aren’t you taking that today?”
“No. I almost dropped it yesterday. It’s my treasure. I can’t risk it breaking if I carry it every day. From now on, it’ll stay home.”
“Good thinking.”
Nocturne nodded and stared at the music box.
As we left the house, Nocturne said he’d run back quickly.
“Red, I’ll be back soon! You go ahead first!”
He hadn’t brought the cleaning tongs. I noticed his hands were empty.
He had only glanced at the music box with envy, then forgot to bring his essential tongs? He must have been so envious of the music box that he forgot something he never usually forgets.
I remembered his eyes watching me envy the music box every day.
Sorry, sorry. This sister really thinks about you every day. Next time I meet Mr. Bill, I’ll ask where to buy one of these music boxes.
“Alright. Go ahead first, I’ll be back slowly.”
I called to Nocturne’s running back, then headed toward the alley.
Soon, I heard his footsteps hurrying toward me, tongs in hand, with a bright expression.
Nocturne had been gloomy every day recently, so it was a relief to see him cheerful.
“Nocturne, I was worried because you’ve been so gloomy lately. Seeing you happy makes me happy too.”
We looked at each other and smiled brightly.
I had been concerned about him being low-spirited for the past few days, wondering if he was sick. Today, he smiled all day, which lifted my mood as well. I even bought bread and returned home in high spirits.
But the moment I got home, my mood sank to rock bottom.
Because the music box was broken.
