My Lie, Your Ring, This Rose| Kamukoma

🥀 Chapter 69 🥀

Search or find? Search. Whips of cold air prodded the baby penguin's arteries and chewed on its skin. Each bite the frosty breeze took off of its flesh, made the penguin think that it's body was going to shut down completely and become one with the snow. Its feet had succumbed to the white blanket and no heat could tranquillise it. The penguin's eyes were watering from the sheer taste of the gelid winds. Snowflakes spun and whirled in the sky as if they were on invisible carousels, enjoying themselves before they commingled with the snowfield. Playfully, the snowflakes let out an icy laugh at the penguin as it struggled to trudge further into the snow. Once again, the air currents interlaced with the penguin's fur and plucked off its feathers. The baby penguin wondered as to why the weather was being discourteous, causing a blizzard on the one day when it had a journey to fulfil. The journey itself was for a good cause though, the baby penguin was travelling across the snowy abyss looking for its mother. Now inside the penguin's mind, it had no clue as to if the mother had left with the intention of coming back or never returning. All it knew was that despite its vision being blocked by a blizzard and the feeling of trepidation shivering inside, it wanted to see its mother. The only thing accompanying the penguin were the glaciers on the right, ploddingly its way through the white land. The penguin sighed and squinted its eyes at the blurry mess splattering more snow everywhere. It had to search for its mother, it had to keep waddling and progressing further into the frosty coat the weather wore. Find. Each snowflake that flew reminded the penguin that a second of not finding anything had passed. It had been hours of feeling the wind pinch its feathers and yet it hadn't found its mother. However, along the way, it found another penguin that was willing to search with them. This other penguin reminded the baby penguin of its own parent, sharing similar qualities to its birth mother. Except, it was more caring and loving compared to her, whom had left the baby penguin for a day and never returned. Its mother not returning was what started this whole search in the first place. It truly was disturbing, one day its mother was there and the next she wasn't. Despite this, the penguin it had found wanted to accompany the baby on its journey no matter what happened. Instead of finding its mother, it found a tuneful companion that wanted to look after the baby penguin. I hummed. If I can remember the remaining part of the story, that penguin looked after the baby penguin for the rest of time. The baby never found its mother, much to my dismay, but it was cared for equally by the penguin it found. That penguin made sure to treat the baby like its own child and it was an euphonious end. This story was from a picture book that I read with Mahiru when I was a child. The name of the actual book I had forgotten but the moral of the story I had not. The main moral was that your blood relations aren't your family, it's those who care and love you that are your family. Nagisa, whom was sheepishly keeping his head down, reminded me of the baby penguin. I didn't exactly know what had happened to his parents, but he resembled the baby penguin perfectly. There was an essence that made me think that Nagisa was searching for something, perhaps he was searching for someone to care for him or just to be appreciated. However, only Nagisa knew what he was searching for and it would stay that way until he found it.
"Nagisa," Izuru started, while his hand hovered over the railing of the stairs and his feet meandered him down the steps. "What were your intentions for coming to the palace?"
I descended down the stairs behind them, walking at a serene pace so that I did not crash into either Nagisa or Izuru. I glanced at both of them, wondering the exact same question. Izuru and I had found Nagisa ambling along the stairs in a bemused state. Truth be told, I don't think Nagisa even knew where he was going. He seemed ever so lost, which is why I think he is currently miserable.
"Kokichi and Shuichi decided to invite themselves to the palace to congratulate both of you on your marriage. Congratulations on that by the way," Nagisa began as his feet reached the end of the stairs. He turned around and glanced left and right in the hallway, getting familiar to the new surroundings.
"Kokichi then proceeded to attain my attention by mentioning the palace must have a colossal library. That was enough for me to want to accompany them along and so I went to the palace with them," Nagisa mumbled as Izuru and I reached the bottom of the stairs as well. I raised an eyebrow. If he had come along with Kokichi and Shuichi, then how did he even separate away from them? I understand that Kokichi may not have the correct knowledge to look after a child, such as Nagisa, but Shuichi should. Nagisa cleared his throat and diverted his eyes as if even thinking about what happened made him annoyed. The stairs left my feet as I stood in the hallway with Izuru.
"However, after we arrived at the palace, Kokichi and Shuichi practically left me. Kokichi told me that I should go by myself and find the library while he found Izuru and Nagito. Shuichi and I were against the whole idea but Kokichi caused such a fuss that we just went along with it," Nagisa sighed while shaking his head. "I was not in favour of the plan and I ended up walking around in circles for twenty minutes. That was until I found those stairs and found you two before them. Truthfully, this was an imprudent plan."
I frowned as Nagisa expressed what was currently going on. In a newcomer's eyes, the palace shared many similarities to a maze. Especially since Nagisa has never been to the palace before, it must have been bothering and tiring walking around aimlessly. He did, after all, mention that he was walking in circles for twenty minutes. I sighed and scratched the back of my neck. I really expected better from Shuichi. If Kokichi's plans seem rash and rather dense, he shouldn't go along with them. However, judging from Kokichi's personality, sometimes disagreeing with him seems impossible. Izuru folded his arms and conveyed a look of indignation. I ruffled my hair, Nagisa's main reason for coming to the palace was to see the library. It was cute that he wanted to see it, though, it was unnecessary for Shuichi and Kokichi to leave him alone. That was certainly not what you do with kids, despite the fact that Nagisa is quite the independent child.
"They should have not left you at all in the first place. Do you know which way Shuichi or Kokichi exactly went?" I questioned Nagisa. The child's blue hair strands shifted left and right while he shook his head. I hummed. I'm sure that Shuichi and Kokichi aren't very far away. I assume that Shuichi must have used his senses and asked one of the royal guards where we were. Izuru hummed as if he were in deep
thought before opening his mouth to speak.
"Well, if you wish to see the library we can take you there. Shuichi and Kokichi will find us sooner or later," Izuru suggested with a thoughtful tone. I nodded. Kokichi and Shuichi have been fine alone so far and they should be able to find us. If they don't, we can go look for them. Nagisa's eyes widened and had a hue of joy for a second and it was gone when he blinked. He sure did seem quite excited about going to the library. I suppose that the normal libraries in Hell could not compare to a library in a royal palace.
"What do you think Nagisa? I'm sure that if we go there now, you'll have more time to pick out some books to read," I smiled at Nagisa's hopeful face. Nagisa shot his head up to look at us, his face with a miniature smile and bright eyes. He cleared his throat and glanced at Izuru before looking at me.
"May I take some books back to read in the orphanage?" Nagisa asked with concern lacing his voice. I furrowed my eyebrows. I don't exactly know if I have the authority to answer that. It's not exactly my palace, it still belongs to Izuru and I can't just decide who can take what from it. It was becoming my home though with the engagement. I looked up to Izuru, waiting for him to answer. A moment passed and no one spoke about anything. It was only then when Izuru realised that I was waiting for him to answer Nagisa. Izuru glanced at me and then tilted his head towards Nagisa, indicating that I was to answer and not him. I gulped. I didn't think that he wanted me to answer since it was his palace. I shot my head back down to Nagisa, who was staring at me.
"Of course you can take some books to the orphanage," I quickly stated to Nagisa, before the child realised that I was taking too long to respond. Nagisa nodded in content, turned around to face the hallway and then spoke.
"Let us head to the library then."