Rei
“Seriously, that was hysterical!”
“It was not! I really thought that thing was going to eat you!” Balrog cackled for reasons known only to him while Lyra complained indignantly about his behavior. I assumed that she was one of the very few villagers close to his age that he’d told me about before.
The boar, incidentally, was the favor Balrog had asked me for. I took care of it while we were on our way to the village. From what he told me, it had arrived in the area recently and was rampaging through the woods, posing a real threat to the locals. By my standards, it was just a wild animal—not even close to what I’d call a monster. Finishing it off barehanded wasn’t even a challenge.
The mayor’s house was apparently the only one big enough to butcher it in, and it took several of the village men to carry it off. I would’ve done it myself if they’d just asked me.
“Really, though,” Lyra said, “you’re even crazier than I heard!”
“Why, what have you heard about me?”
“That you fell all the way from the top of the valley and survived, for one thing! You can’t even see up there with all the fog. I assumed it was just another of Balrog’s tall tales, but I guess he might not’ve been exaggerating that much after all.”
“You thought I was lying? You’re terrible, Lyra! It’s all true—right, Koh?”
“Yeah.”
“What do you mean, ‘yeah’? Falling off a cliff and killing a boar with your bare hands isn’t something you should be that nonchalant about!” Lyra heaved a deep sigh. Apparently, I’d exasperated her somehow. Given they had the boar to deal with, the village folk ended the day’s farmwork early. Freed from the fields, she was accompanying us to Balrog’s house to meet with his sister.
“I should probably say this in advance,” said Balrog. “Rei—my sister, I mean—is blind. She was born that way.”
“She’s blind...?”
“So try not to freak her out like you did Lyra and the others, okay?”
“Don’t even try to pretend that wasn’t your fault!” Lyra smacked Balrog upside the head. I only had an outsider’s perspective, and a brief one at that, but the two of them struck me as really close to each other. I was just a little jealous of their rapport.
We arrived at our destination—a fairly small, one-story house made of wood. Balrog told us to wait for a moment and went inside on his own.
“So this is Balrog’s home?” I mused.
“That’s right. He and Rei live here together.”
“Do they have any other family?”
“He didn’t tell you? No, it’s just the two of them.”
“Hmm.” It was hardly surprising—losing your parents was far from uncommon in the age we lived in. My own parents were alive, or so I was told, but I’d never so much as seen their faces, so I felt like I was in a somewhat similar boat.
“It kind of feels like everyone in this tiny town is one big family, though,” she continued. “I eat dinner with the two of them most of the time too. Well, more like all the time, really,” she amended with a smile.
“The two of you must get along well.”
“It’s nothing special. My parents are both still around, so I have it easy. Only makes sense for me to use that spare time to help them out, right?”
“Maybe, if you’re a really generous person.”
“Okay, really, why all the praise? Are you trying to woo me?”
“No.”
“I guess that figures. By the way, do you ever make any other expressions? That glower of yours could send wild animals running for the hills.” I prodded my cheek with a finger. She had a point—I didn’t have an expressive face by any stretch of the imagination. It was like my facial muscles were paralyzed. “But I can tell you’re not a bad guy. I sorta get why Balrog’s trying to get you and Rei to meet up.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Oh, nothing much. Just a feeling I get. I’m not doing any deep thinking about it—sometimes it’s important to just follow your gut! Helps keep your mind from getting all bogged down with worries and stuff.” She smiled proudly. I wasn’t sure what it was she thought she understood about me, but if she was happy, I didn’t particularly see a problem with it. It was better than her being on guard around me, at the very least.
“Oh? Have I caught you two opening up to each other?” Balrog emerged from the house with such convenient timing, I wondered if he’d done it on purpose.
“Yup,” replied Lyra. “Turns out he’s a lot dumber than I thought he’d be, so that’s a relief!”
“Wow, talk about rude! At least say he’s purehearted!”
“Maybe I could say he’s an airhead?”
“That, or you could cut to the chase and say he’s dumb... Wait, now we’re back to the start! That was way too quick, Koh!”
“Why’re you snapping at me about it...?” I couldn’t keep up with the pace of the conversation at all, but I was somewhat surprised to find that I didn’t mind the less-than-polite way they were treating me. I felt a lot more comfortable with it than I did with the special treatment people usually gave me, knowing that I was a Hero.
“Well, let’s just say everyone has their own perspective on what sorta guy he is and leave it at that. You ready, Koh? Let’s head inside.”
“Sure.” I followed Balrog into his house. It looked as unremarkable on the inside as it did from the outside, though I did take note of the fact that they had very little in the way of clutter.
“Quiet,” he whispered, pressing a finger to his mouth. I held my breath as he led me to a particular room. He stopped for just a moment, turning around to glance at me, then slowly and carefully pushed the door open.
Peeking past him, I saw a girl seated inside, her back turned to the door. She had the same silvery-white hair as Balrog, which shimmered brilliantly in a beam of light that fell through the nearby window. She looked dainty and slender, so frail that part of me worried she might shatter at the slightest touch.
I spent a moment staring at her before Balrog gave my shoulder a gentle push. I assumed that meant he wanted me to go inside, so I walked past him, approaching her as quietly as I could manage. As I got closer, I finally saw what she was so focused on: a book with pure-white pages. She was tracing her finger across them.
Walking up to her was all well and good, but then I hesitated, not sure what I should do next. After a moment of careful thought, I slowly reached out and took her hand in mine as gently as possible. She twitched ever so slightly with surprise. Her hand felt so delicate, I was afraid that I would crush it if I squeezed it with even the slightest bit of force.
“Huh...? Ah, wh-who are you?” Her lips quivered slightly. I wasn’t so much holding her hand as resting mine on it, so she was easily able to pull away from me.
“Ahh, you figured it out already?”
“Balrog?” The sound of his voice confused her further.
“Koh’s hands are all rough and rugged—of course you’d realize he’s not me. Mine’re silky-smooth, after all.”
“Koh...? Does, umm, does that mean...?” she murmured, almost in a daze, and reached her hand out once more, searching around for mine. When she found it, she gripped it gently. “Are you that Koh...?”
Now it was my turn to be confused. “‘That’?”
“Didn’t I mention that I told my sister about you? Seems she took a liking to you from all those stories. Consider this my birthday present for you, Rei!”
“It’s your birthday?” I asked, turning back to her.
“No, not for quite a while longer...”
“You being born is worth celebrating every day of the year, in my book!” Balrog declared in an over-the-top, pompous tone. Rei smiled at his antics, still holding on to my hand.
Taking a closer look at her, I could clearly tell that she and Balrog were related. It wasn’t just her pure-white hair—her facial features were also striking in a way that resembled his. She timidly turned her face upward and, after a moment of hesitation, began to slowly speak once more.
“I, umm... My name is Rei. I heard about you from my brother, and, umm...”
“I’m Koh. I heard about you from your brother.”
“Koh? You know that’s exactly what she just told you, right?”
“Well, what else am I supposed to say?”
Balrog shrugged with exasperation. Rei, meanwhile, let a chuckle slip out at our exchange.
“Hee hee! You certainly are a funny person, Koh.”
“Right? It’s even better ’cause he doesn’t even know he’s doing it.” I was having a hard time following the conversation again, and I felt a little bit out of place. Balrog continued. “So hey, I was thinking I’d go show Koh around the village.”
“Can... Can I come?”
“Had a feeling you’d say that. ’Course you can!”
“Are you sure?” I asked, a bit apprehensively. My question was loaded with the implicit qualifier: would she be all right, in spite of her blindness? Rei immediately dispelled my worries, though.
“I’ll be okay. I can get around well enough—I even go shopping on my own, sometimes.”
“You do?”
“I’ve lived in this village since I was born, and everyone here treats me very well.” I couldn’t think of any reason to turn her down after that.
She’d almost made it sound like her condition didn’t bother her at all, but of course, there were still some dangers inherent to walking around outside when you can’t see a thing. I quickly learned that, at Balrog’s request, she usually got around in a wooden wheelchair that he’d apparently made himself.
“But we’ve got Koh with us today, so we should be fine without, right?”
“Hmm? Oh, okay, I get it.” Taking a guess at Balrog’s intent, I slipped one arm under Rei’s knees, supported her back with the other, and lifted her into the air.
“Hyaah?!” Rei shouted in surprise. Balrog whistled, clearly amused.
“Is this not what you meant?”
“Nah, I thought you’d lead her around by the hand, but this is just fine in its own way! Heck, this is even better!”
“By the hand...? That does make sense, actually. Sorry, Rei.”
“N-No, it’s all right! I wouldn’t mind staying like this at all...” Her pale skin made her faint blush all the more apparent. I took that to mean she didn’t mind and carried her out of the house. Barely a few steps later, though, she changed her mind, and I ended up setting her down after all.
