Normally, when rooms are split up, it'd be me and Dotha.
Two guys and one girl — that's the obvious arrangement.
So I figured Shiro's choice was at least semi-serious.
But I couldn't bring myself to firmly object.
Sorry, Dotha, but I didn't want to share a room with him.
Besides, I'd shared a room with Shiro before.
Given that background, I just nodded.
Shiro unlocked the door to the room at the back of the second floor.
One bed. One window. A storage closet. That was it — a sparse little room.
Shiro set down the tea table she'd been carrying on her back.
Then she looked at the bed tucked in the corner of the room.
"The bed isn't great."
"I see."
"It's a hospitality business, so they wash the sheets, but that's about it."
To be fair, even to my eyes, the futon and sheets were pretty faded and worn.
Still, better than sleeping on straw.
"Wof. As a delver, remember this — the quality of the inn determines the quality of the bed."
"Right."
"This inn is average. The bed looks average too."
"It's not the case?"
Shiro picked up the futon.
She stared hard at the sheets.
"...Doesn't look like anything's there."
"What do you— ah."
I got it.
Hotels from my past life. No, flophouses.
The ones so cheap that once you stayed, the cramped room made you feel like you were in solitary confinement.
A solitary confinement bed. The white powder sitting next to it.
"But we can't use this futon or these sheets."
"Y-Yes."
"Help me out a little."
At her words, I peeled the futon and sheets off the bed.
Folded them neatly and set them in the corner.
Then Shiro pulled a set of immaculate white sheets and a futon from her pouch.
She spread them over the bed. The difference in cleanliness was night and day.
"............"
"That should do it."
Shiro sat down on the bed and gave the spot beside her a couple of taps.
I sat there. Shiro lightly ran her fingers through her snow-white hair.
Have you used it several times?
Not enough to be a regular, but maybe two or three times?
Are you still doing idol activities?
Idol?
Oh, um, the Haiyan Trading Company's... dancing and singing and such.
That's more of a when-I-feel-like-it sort of thing.
Um, sorry if this is rude, but you doing something like that... it was surprising.
Yeah. I actually think so too.
Shiro looked down slightly. Her cheeks were faintly red.
— Looking at you like this, you really are a girl.
— Huh?
Oh no, it slipped out. Shiro raised her face.
Snow-white, translucent skin with features as beautifully proportioned as a doll's.
And her silver eyes, trembling with confusion, locked onto me.
— A-Ah, well, um...
I couldn't figure out what to say.
Shiro spoke.
— Wof. That's the first time anyone's ever called me a girl.
— Wait, really?
— I'm lying.
Shiro-san giggled softly.
I gave a faint, wry smile. Yeah, that tracks.
"Y-yeah, right?"
"But hearing it from a boy like you is embarrassing, Wof."
"I-I'm embarrassed about that too."
Shiro-san laughed. Then she stood up.
"There's a public bath nearby."
"Is that so?"
Huh, there's one of those around here.
Shiro-san compacted the tea table and slung it over her back.
"I'm gonna go check it out for a bit. What about you, Wof?"
"Ah, then I'll go deliver the key to Dohha."
"Then let's meet up in front of the inn. I'll contact you with this."
Shiro-san made her ring glow.
After that, I delivered the room key to Dohha and headed to the public bath he'd told me about.
There were just me and a handful of other customers.
Decently spacious—it had been a while since I'd been in a bath like this.
When I'd had my fill and stepped out, Shiro-san was there.
"Wof."
From head to toe, she was still completely white as always, but something felt different.
Ah, fresh out of the bath. A faint wisp of steam rose from Shiro-san.
"......"
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, no, it's just — seeing someone right after a bath feels kind of new."
"I've seen you after plenty of baths."
"That's true, but I've never done this kind of thing before."
Meeting up after a bath — that sort of thing was just lyrics from songs in my past life. Nothing more.
"There's somewhere I'd like to stop by."
"Where?"
"Follow me."
Shiro-san set off walking. I trailed behind her.
She led me to a cliff at the edge of the city.
From here, the whole city spread out below us.
"......This is..."
I'd figured there was no point coming here at night, since this was a dungeon cavern floor.
Even if the ceiling, blanketed in luminous moss, glowed like a night sky, it wasn't the real thing.
But... the glow of the ruined city, seen from above like this, was utterly enchanting.
Red, blue, purple, green, yellow, white — all faintly shimmering.
"It's beautiful."
"It really is... it's amazing."
"It's been so long since I've been here."
Shiro set down the tea table and sat in a chair.
She urged me to, so I sat too. She took out a teapot and made tea.
What she poured into the pure white cup was... a dark liquid.
"Surprised? I'm a coffee person, you know."
"That'll keep you up."
"Just one cup."
With a mischievous look, she dropped in square sugar cubes.
One, two, three.
"You put in quite a lot, don't you?"
"What about you, Wof?"
"I'll have mine like this."
"My, how mature."
"I'm a kid."
She smiled wryly, picked up her cup, and drank her coffee.
Bitter. Exactly the unsweetened bitterness I expected.
"You're making a funny face."
Shiro let out a soft laugh.
I set my cup down.
"Thank you."
"What do you mean?"
"Coming along with me like this for the gathering."
"Nothing was really going on anyway… well, that's not quite right."
"What do you mean?"
"Searching for the Wind King of Death. Forgot?"
"I haven't forgotten."
No way I'd forget. It's just that there are plenty of other things to deal with.
I've been prioritizing those, so it's on hold for now.
Shiro lifted her coffee cup to her lips.
"I'm just here to help, so how you go about the search is up to you, Wof."
"That's the part I'm still figuring out. I haven't really come up with anything yet."
How would you even go about finding the Wind King of Death?
If I just picked something at random, I'd end up just like Hagan.
"If you're stuck, you could always ask Ambrosius for help. And of course, me too."
"Y-yes. I'll take you up on that when the time comes. But I'd rather not end up like Hagan — going about it the way he did."
"Hagan… right. I suppose so."
"How did you get chosen, Shiro?"
"It's not a very interesting story, but is that okay?"
"Y-yes…"
"A midwinter night. I was picked up. When I was still little, everything had been taken from me and I was buried in the snow, on the verge of starving to death, when my predecessor found me… I owed her my life for that, so I inherited her role and became the Light King of Death."
"So… you were picked up to become the King of Death?"
"No. My predecessor ran an orphanage, and she was a Sister there. A Sister of Seihou, no less. But when Shiro learned her secret, she said she wanted to take over, and even though everyone opposed it, she inherited the title of Light King of Death. And ever since, Shiro has been the Light King of Death."
"Why did you inherit it?"
"There was the debt I owed her, of course, but the biggest reason was that I didn't have anything else I wanted to do."
Shiro traced the rim of her coffee cup with a fingertip.
"You didn't have anything you wanted to do?"
"Shiro had no dreams, no hopes, nothing at all. But she did feel like she ought to do *something*. The thing is, Shiro was truly blank and empty. If she just stayed blank forever like that… rather than end up with nothing, having become nothing, completely white — so she inherited it."
Shiro gave a faint, somewhat sorrowful smile.
"Did you want to become something?"
"Yes. That's why I don't want to become something anymore. Because I already did."
"Shiro…"
Was that really enough, though?
"— You see, Shiro likes white."
"That much is obvious just from looking."
"But you probably don't know *why* she likes it."
"N-no…"
"Why does she like it? It's because she's blank and empty, and white."
"…That's…"
Shiro brought the cup to her lips.
She took a sip and set it down gently.
"Yes, that's about it. Even though she became the King of Death of Light, Shiro hasn't changed a bit from the day she was picked up."
"Has it always been that way?"
"Shiro has been white this whole time. Fufu, this is the first time I've ever talked about something like this."
"The first time?"
I was surprised.
Ah — but regardless, Shiro-san was smiling.
"This is the truth. This is the first time I've talked about what's deep in Shiro's heart."
"Are you sure? Telling me something like that."
"I'm in the mood to talk about it, so it's fine. Hey, look."
Shiro-san gazed out.
The fantastical ruined city glowed softly in shades of blue, blue, purple, yellow, and green.
And the countless white stars of the subterranean sky.
"The stars are beautiful, aren't they?"
"They are... beautiful."
I looked at Shiro-san and whispered softly.