“Come to think of it, are you really not going to wear these clothes? They should keep you a little warmer,” Jayard asked me.

“No. I’d rather die than wear them.” I was still freezing, actually, but that wasn’t the point. I just couldn’t bring myself to wear clothes taken from a dead person.

“Then how about piling on some more blankets? That should help keep you warm, too.” Jayard picked up the bedding that had belonged to the cave’s former owner. It was unusual for him to have a mattress, though it was so worn that the stuffing was spilling out.

“No way. That mattress was slept on by a dead person, too.” I couldn’t bring myself to use it either. When we’d first come in, the corpse had been lying on that very mattress. Just thinking that someone had died on it gave me goosebumps.

Honestly, even before using a dead person’s things, there was no way I’d use secondhand bedding or clothes—private items that touched your skin—as a modern high school student. It wasn’t that I needed everything to be brand-new, but those were a different matter.

As far as I was concerned, most of the things in this room should be thrown out. The clothes and bedding a dead person had used were especially ill-omened. They should all be burned.

“Parula, what’s wrong with you? You weren’t like this before.” Jayard was finally starting to realize that I was very different from the sweet, obedient little sister he remembered.

I’d been frail before, and I hadn’t known the language of this world, so I’d barely spoken. That was why he hadn’t noticed anything different about me. But now that I was talking more, he’d started to get suspicious. Of course, he couldn’t possibly guess the whole truth.

“I just don’t want to use a dead person’s things. I’m scared,” I said quietly. It wasn’t that I was really afraid he’d find me out. At worst, he’d leave me behind to die.

I just didn’t want to hurt the boy. It was obvious how much he cherished the little sister he used to have. If he found out that Parula had been dead for a long time, and that the person inside her now was just a man from another world who’d taken over her body, that would be far too cruel.

“Well… okay.” Jayard looked troubled. Parula had always been very timid, and she’d never used a dead person’s belongings before. Even if there had been any, Mackduff would’ve taken them, so she’d never had the chance.

So he couldn’t be sure what was going on. He could only believe that I really couldn’t stand using a dead person’s things. But he couldn’t understand why. As far as he was concerned, having something to use was already a blessing. Who cared where it came from? At least it might keep you from freezing to death.

The gap in our backgrounds meant that, for now, we simply couldn’t understand each other.

“Fine. How about this, then? I’ll get a brazier going for you. There should be some wood or something around here, right?” Jayard searched through the cave, looking for anything he could burn.

“Stop! Don’t light a fire!” I hurriedly stopped him again. That would be suicide! The little cave was only about twenty square meters, and there was nowhere for air to circulate apart from the entrance. Trying to warm ourselves by a fire was basically the same as killing ourselves. That was how the cave’s previous owner had died.

“What’s the matter with you? This is no, that is no—what do you want me to do, then?!” Jayard had really lost patience this time. He shouted at me.

He was only worried about me. He wanted to warm me up and had thought of several different ways to do it. He didn’t know anything about medicine; he’d only heard people say that you had to keep warm when you were sick. So he’d settled on that one idea. After I rejected everything he suggested, it was only natural he’d get angry.

But what else could I do? If I let him light the brazier, it wouldn’t matter much if I died—I was barely alive in this body anyway. But he might die, too. How could I just sit by and watch him kill himself?

But how was I supposed to explain carbon monoxide poisoning to a boy from the lowest rung of society, with no education or basic knowledge? I couldn’t make him understand in a few minutes. So I just turned away and said nothing.

I knew it looked strange: a boy glaring angrily at a little girl while she turned her head away, as if she were sulking. The truth was, I really was feeling pretty sulky.

In the end, Jayard was the one who gave in. Then he suddenly started taking off his clothes.

“W-wait! What are you doing?” I panicked. Couldn’t we just talk this out? Why were you taking off your clothes? Hey! Why were your pants coming off, too?

Jayard’s clothes weren’t complicated, and they were easy to take off. Before long, he was completely naked.

I mean, I’d seen other boys’ bodies in the communal showers at school before. It was just the suddenness of Jayard stripping that left me flustered and at a loss.

Jayard tossed his clothes beside me. “Put these on. They’re mine, not a dead person’s. You can accept that, right?”

“Th-then what are you going to wear?” I blurted out. Then I realized I’d asked a stupid question. He’d already made it pretty obvious what he planned to wear.

“These.” He picked up the dead person’s clothes and put them on without a moment’s hesitation.

The clothes belonged to an adult, so they were a little big on Jayard, but they didn’t look too out of place. He just had to roll up the sleeves and pant legs. Once he was dressed, he looked at me.

Of course, I didn’t want to wear his clothes either. Even among this group of drifters, Jayard’s clothes were in decent shape, but they were still filthy and looked like they hadn’t been washed in ages.

And they’d been worn by someone else. I really couldn’t stand the thought of it. But in the end, I put them on. The reason was simple: I’d already refused him so many times that I felt bad saying no again.

Besides, with Jayard’s persistence, even if I refused again, he’d just come up with another bizarre idea. He’d made up his mind about one thing: I was sick and needed to keep warm. And in a way, he wasn’t wrong.

I pulled off the rags I was wearing—or, well, it wasn’t really taking them off. They came away with a single tug. For the first time, I got a good look at my body. It was so frail and scrawny, practically skin and bones.

I’d thought seeing a little girl’s body might make me feel awkward in some way. But when I actually saw it, all I felt was pity and sympathy.

Aside from her chest, which had developed just a tiny bit—so slight it was even smaller than a steamed bun—it was truly pitiful.

Then I noticed Jayard was still watching me, and I finally realized what was going on. I immediately felt embarrassed, as if I were taking advantage of him.

But why were you staring at me too, Jayard? Was it because you and Parula had been so close that you didn’t think twice about it? I didn’t really mind another boy looking at me, but didn’t you think it was a little rude?