7
“Oh, did you stop crying, Garf? Is that enough? Hah, you’re a crybaby, aren’t you?!”
Garfiel looked embarrassed when Mimi opened the door and came back, pointing at him and grinning.
She was always so blunt and straightforward like that, but she had seemingly taken the two kids outside to leave Garfiel alone with Liara for a while. He couldn’t snipe at her after she showed that much consideration for him.
“Are you okay, Gorgeous Tiger?”
“For a boy, you sure were sobbing a lot. I can’t believe it. You’re as bad as Fred.”
The brother and sister who came back with Mimi both had their own ways of showing their concern for Garfiel.
He had been crying loud enough for it to resound around the house. His younger brother was worried about him, and his younger sister was feigning normality for his sake; they were both siblings who were wasted on him.
“…Sorry for makin’ you worry.”
“Hmm? What for? More importantly, Mimi is curious whether you were really satisfied. Also, a bit curious whether there would be something sweet for a snack!”
“Ah, so that’s all. Sheesh.”
When she said it like that, looking like she had not been thinking about anything, it made the strength leave Garfiel’s shoulders. But he was grateful for her, and he patted her head gently.
“So how was Garf?”
“You should ask him, I think, Ms. Gorgeous Mimi. But he’s probably fine now…back to the same Mr. Gorgeous Tiger who you love.”
“Well, maybe? Garf gets things done when he needs to, after all.”
Garfiel couldn’t bear to listen to their sympathetic conversation, so he didn’t join in. Instead, he rested his hands on his siblings’ heads and put all his spirit into clearing his mind of all distractions.
In doing that, he felt an even deeper love for the two of them, who were so comfortably interacting with him.
Because the part of him that had not come to terms with it, had not felt a real connection, was now subsumed by the reality of it all.
“ ”
When he realized it, a new worry started to grow.
“Why did you freeze up? I-it’s not because of some strange disease or something, is it?”
His siblings looked worried when Garfiel froze as that newfound unease grew explosively into its full form. Even as he heard his sister’s question, he was desperately racking his brain.
The cause of it was simple: He didn’t know whether the two of them would acknowledge him as an older brother.
He could tell them at any point now. But the possibility of doing that and the actual act of doing it were two entirely different things.
“Are you okay, Garf? Did something happen?”
“I—I’m fine, obviously. Borf.”
“That’s the first time Mimi’s ever heard you bark!”
He couldn’t regain the composure to snap back at Mimi when she pointed out his unending worries.
Garfiel’s concerns swirled in his head as the people around him worried about him—
“Again? Weren’t you going to stop worrying about stuff all by yourself like that, Garfiel?”
“Ah, Mom…”
Looking disapprovingly at Garfiel as his eyes spun, Liara gently chided him. Seeing that, he reflexively called her Mom, and hearing that, his younger siblings looked shocked.
“Eh, why did you call her Mom, Gorgeous Tiger?”
“N-no! She’s not your mom, she’s our mom…”
“It’s okay, you two.”
Liara gently hugged both the stunned brother and the sister who snapped at Garfiel.
The two reluctantly fell silent at her soft restraint, and explaining things to them, she looked softly at Garfiel.
“Garfiel has apparently been separated from his mother. And it seems like I look similar to his mother. He was lonely, and that must be why he was crying.”
“—Huh?”
“You look like his mom?”
“Wh-what’s with that…? How embarrassing.”
Liara’s three children all had different reactions to her explanation.
Garfiel was dumbfounded as Liara confidently stated a completely wrong explanation.
In other words—
“It sounds like you didn’t say nearly enough, Garf.”
Bluntly, Mimi was right.
Even though he had been crying that pathetically and that shamefully, Liara had not realized the crux of the situation.
“I guess…that’s kind of expected, isn’t it…? Gah-ha, what is that?”
Suddenly, the strength drained from his fangs and from his body.
Was that feeling relief or disappointment?
—Garfiel realized himself that it was probably about half and half.
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