I decided to stay at Alice's general store for a while to get to know her.
　After forcing the bewildered Alice to agree to stay the night, I put my bags in the room Alice had prepared for me, and then returned to the living room.

''........By the way, Kite. How long do you plan to stay?
Hmm. I wish I could get to know Alice better, you know?
It's a s*xual--what the hell?
What did you say?
"Nandemonides.

　Then I ate the food I had bought for dinner with Alice, and since there was a lot going on, I had to go to bed soon.
　After all, Alice looked the same as usual, but she still seemed somewhat uncomfortable... or maybe she was trying to deliberately act cheerful and distract me from the subject.

　No, maybe it's just that I hadn't noticed it until now, and it's always been that way....







　The ninth day of the month of dawn light. Today, I decided to visit Alice's workshop in the morning to see how she makes things.
　Well, actually, Alice is usually on my guard, so it's the altered body that makes the goods for the grocery store... but this time I asked the main body to build it for me, and Alice agreed.

''........Um, Kite?''
Yeah?
Well, if you stare at me that hard, it's not gonna be easy...

　Alice glances at me while holding the forging hammer in her hand, as if she's uncomfortable with being gawked at.
　Is that a sword you're making now?　I've never seen blacksmithing work before, but it's kind of cool. Thanks to White's blessing, I don't feel the heat, and I can purely enjoy observing the work.

I've never seen Alice making things so seriously before, but it's kind of cool.
'What?　Ah........
Oh....

　As I smiled and uttered a compliment, the sword Alice was making snapped off with a bokin' sound immediately afterwards.

"Ka, Kite, what are you saying all of a sudden!　Alice, of course you're always cool and pretty!
Well, I'm sure you're right.
'Ugh ... no ... no, no, no, Kite?　That was just on Tsuccombe!　I don't know what you're talking about, but you're about to drop one of your gunk!　What are you normally complimenting me on!

　I'm not sure why he's complaining about this situation, even though I've praised him.
　Well, aside from that, there are many things wrong with Alice... and there's a lot of them, and she's a troublemaker who is quick to joke around, but she's strong, knowledgeable, and dependable.
　And although the impact of the mask tends to fade, Alice in her true face is cute like a doll, and I don't think it's wrong to say that she's cool and cute in a way.

Hmmm.... Well, it's a thing to joke around a lot, but I think Alice is reliable and cute.
What?　What?　

　Hearing my words, Alice blushed so red that I could tell even with her mask on, and began to forge on to regain her composure.
　Seeing her reaction, which hadn't been very common before, I felt like I got to know a new Alice, even if it was only a little, and a smile naturally appeared on my mouth.
　And I continued to watch her work for a while.






　I spend the day relaxing, chatting and watching Alice until it gets dark, and after dinner I take a bath.
　It's been a day since I barged in on Alice, and while I haven't gotten any big takeaways, I have had some small ones. It was refreshing and somewhat gratifying to see such a girlish Alice, who would get embarrassed when praised, or try to go off on a tangent in a hurry....

　But unfortunately, I still haven't got a clue as to what my original purpose was. Alice doesn't seem to want to talk about it either... no, she sometimes looks at me for no reason, so maybe she's not sure if she wants to talk about it or not.
　Either way, I'm not in a position to step into Alice's life any more than I am now, and right now I should wait.

　Thinking about this, I get out of the bath and move to the living room, where Alice will be.

"Alice, I'm up........?
....
Are you asleep?

　When I returned to the living room, I saw this for the first time again... Alice had placed her hands on the desk, unmasked, and was asleep.
　Hmmm. After the incident with Eden-san, and no matter how great Alice is.......maybe she was tired after all.
　

　It's probably not a good idea to wake him up, so let's just let him sleep for a bit........I believe I washed the blanket we used at the Treasure Festival and put it in the magic box.......

　Smiling at the lovely Alice's sleeping face, I took a blanket from the magic box and was about to drape it over Alice's shoulders when I realized..........................
　The glow from the sleeping Alice's eyes..........Yes, Alice was crying in her sleep.

''.........''

　........What kind of weight does Alice carry in this little body?　It was inexplicably frustrating not to know that.

　Gently reaching out to Alice's face and trying to wipe away the tears with my fingers, Alice's blue eyes opened.

''........Eh?　Huh--?
....

　Opening her eyes to see me, Alice's expression changed to a huff, and in a great hurry, she rubbed her hands over her eyes and put on her mask.

''You've come out of the bath~ No~ quintessential Kite. You're like a good man who's dripping with water!　Haha......
Alice.
Kite...........I mean, do you really want to know?
....

　Alice tries to change the subject while immediately deceiving me, but when she notices me staring at her with serious eyes, she gets her face down and mutters in a small voice.

....happy, happy... and that's okay, isn't it?
....
I'm afraid that Mr. Kite is going to find out about the person I used to be.

　It was the first time she showed a clear weakness.
　
　I'm sure Alice thinks that me finding out about Alice's past will ruin our current relationship.
　That feeling is there for me too........as Klonoa-san pointed out, the reason I was trying to get around is because I felt the same way as Alice does now.

　That's why I wanted to affirm that lament here.......but I've already put my hand on that door, unfortunately. I've made up my mind to step into the depths of Alice's life.
　And most of all........I wished.......for more than the relationship we had now....

Alice. I want to be able to ... protect Alice.
"...protect?　Mr. Kite, you mean me?
Oh. Of course, my power is not even close to Alice's. I know that and I know that Alice is much stronger than me, she's been through a lot and she's better than me at everything.
....
But I can't forgive myself for not being able to reach out to the suffering Alice. I don't want to be the one who's just being protected... I want to protect Alice... 'I want to protect Alice's heart'.
"...why do you think...

　Hearing me tell her quietly, Alice asks me back with a voice that sounds like she's about to cry.
　She didn't say the details, but I can understand what she wants to hear. So, I decided to speak my thoughts honestly.

"Alice is now an irreplaceable part of my life. Alice said that it's fine to be in this situation, but I want to have a relationship with her that goes beyond that. Not only do I want to be protected by Alice, I want to be able to protect her, but I want us to be able to support each other.
....
So Alice I want to know who you are.
....

　I said what I needed to say. If Alice refuses to do this, it will only make her suffer any further.
　........So I won't say anything more. I wait quietly for Alice's response.
　Alice keeps her face down in silence, and a silent silence falls between us.

　How much time has passed?　One minute?　Enough?　More than that?　After a long silence as if time had stopped, Alice slowly opened her mouth.

''It's not.......interesting.......?''
Yes.
'Regret... but you might?　He said he shouldn't have asked...
I would never do that.
Okay.

　After confirming that my resolve was firm, Alice let out a sigh... and then... shook her head.

　Dear Mother, Father - Alice's past, it was an image that was like a heavy, hard door to me. The one she continued to carry in her small body, the past she continued to hide. This is finally the starting point, those words came into my head, and the door to Alice's - the door to her heart was quietly opened.