Princess Knight 12

 12 - Princess Knight and the base of the wiper

“Okay, that's it for today.”

Naoto said and stopped the car, which had not been on the street for five minutes.

The princess knight in armour, sitting in the passenger seat, craned her neck and wondered.

“We haven't made much progress yet, have we?”

“We're almost out of gas, so we're going to run on battery power from today on. I want to save the gas for emergencies.”

“I don't know what a ‘gasoline’ is, but you can't run without it?”

“That's not true, this camper is a hybrid, so it can run on battery power alone. With the weight of this vehicle, it takes about 20 minutes of solar power to run for one minute. If we assume that half of the day is daytime, which means we can run for 60 minutes a day!”

Naoto replied while lightly calculating the output of the solar panels and the capacity of the batteries displayed on the control panel.

“We can't use all the battery power to run the car, but we can use it for lights, the refrigerator, and the kotatsu. If I wanted to get electricity for important things, I'd have to run for about five minutes a day.”

"Yeah? Naoto, I don't understand, does that mean that if you run long enough you won't be able to use the kotatsu?”

“That's what I'm talking about.”

“Oh, my God! We have to stop this right now.”

“No, I already have. I've been saying that for a while now.”

“Okay! All right.”

“Sophia?”

“I'm gonna get in the kotatsu before it's unusable.”

“No, that's why we're trying to secure the... you didn't say that, okay.”

Despite Naoto's dismay, Sophia hurriedly returned from the passenger seat to the six-tatami room, hid herself under the kotatsu and started to relax.

It was as if she felt that if she didn't do it now, she wouldn't be able to do it later.

Naoto wanted to get into the kotatsu and relax as well, but his eyes were suddenly drawn to the scene in front of him.

There, on the side of the road where he had parked his car, just beyond the windshield, was a cherry tree in full bloom.

The cherry trees were in full bloom, and there were blizzards of flowers flying.

“I guess it's because it's spring and not fall that it's cold outside.”

In front of his eyes, a petal flew by and stuck to the windshield.

It was a small cherry blossom colored petal, almost the same as the one in the original world he was in.

When Naoto saw the petals stuck to the windshield, a little playfulness came to his mind.

He flipped the switch on the side of the steering wheel and used the wipers to brush away the petals.

The petals were wiped off and flew away from the glass, fluttering in the air.

As he watched them go, the petals stuck to the glass again.

The wipers swept them away, and they flew away.

They stick to the glass again, and the wiper wipes them away.

It felt like he was playing a little game.

“What are you doing, big brother?”

While he was having fun with that, Mimi came next to him and talked to him while leaning out of the passenger seat.

Brushing off the petals with my wiper, he answered Mimi.

"Cleaning flowers."

"Is that interesting?"

"Would you like to try it?"

"Yup!"

Mimi nodded loudly and innocently climbed onto Naoto's lap. Taking her small hand, he led her to the wiper switch.

“Turn the knob here.”

“Like this? Wow, that's interesting.”

Mimi did as she was told and was very excited when the wipers started to move.

The wipers made a squeaking sound as they rubbed the dry window glass.

"Is it interesting?"

"Ogo ♪"

"By the way, if you twist it one more step, the wiper's pace will increase."

Cue cue.

"Ogoogo ♪"

“By the way, here's one for you, too.”

Washer fluid was sprayed onto the window glass and the wipers wiped it away.

"Ogo ♪"

Mimi was so happy that she sprayed the washer fluid and wiped the car with the wiper.

It was a complete waste of time, but both Mimi and Naoto seemed to enjoy doing it.

“Mimi, check this out.”

“Yeah?”

“See the semicircle of water here? And now you see a petal in it.”

Naoto pointed to the base of the wiper, where there was a semicircle that could not be wiped off.

The petals fluttered to the wet spot and stuck to it.

“Yeah, it's in!”

“If you get all the petals in here, something good will happen.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yes, it's true... you get what you wish for.”

"Wow!"

When Mimi heard that her wish would come true, she was even more excited to move the wipers.

Pusha, squeak. Pusha, pusha, pusha.

As she repeated the process, the petals gradually accumulated in the area of water that could not be wiped away.

Naoto felt warm and looked over at it. It somehow reminded him of the feeling he had when he played pinball at a festival stall as a child.

"Ogo Ogo Ogo Gogo ♪"

Mimi was in the mood to play, humming a song in Orcish.

Then there was a rattling sound from behind him.

He turned around and saw that the kotatsu was tilted and only one side was raised.

"Sophia?”

“Ha-”

She jumped out of the kotatsu and sat down in a dignified manner.

As if nothing had happened, she fixed it.

“Cough, what is it?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

"Ogo.”

“Hii!”

Sophia sneaks into the kotatsu again.

"Oh…"

Naoto smiles bitterly and remembers that she was not very good with orcs.

Suddenly, a sense of mischief arises. He turned to Mimi and asked her.

“Mimi, is that some kind of song?”

“Yes! It's raining, it's sunny, it's slime, and it’s jumping!”

"Oh, so it's like a nursery rhyme. Okay, let's sing it together.”

“Really, yay.”

Mimi was overjoyed and started singing as she moved the wipers.

"Ogo Ogo Ogo Ogo Ogo Gogo ♪"

"Ogo Ogo Ogo Ogo Ogo Gogo ♪"

"Ogo Ogo Go ♪"

"Ogo Ogo Go ♪"

The timing was slightly off, but Naoto hummed an orc nursery rhyme along with Mimi.

A rattling sound could be heard behind him.

At first it was just a little mischief, but gradually it became fun.

It was fun to sing with an innocent girl instead of tormenting the princess knight like an orc.

Putting Mimi on his lap, he sang a nursery rhyme with her.

It was almost as if he had returned to his childhood.

"Ogogogo... Gogo ♪"

"Go ♪"

“That's great. Clap, clap, clap! You're a good singer, big brother.”

“I wonder, yes, let's do karaoke together sometime.”

He recalled that he had karaoke software in his game console.

“What's that?”

“It's a game where you use a TV and a video game console to sing along.”

“Oh, that sounds really fun.”

“It's fun. We should do it sometime.”

“Yeah!”

Mimi couldn't read Japanese characters, but that didn't matter, he thought.

"Ah, the petals have gathered."

"Oh, that's true"

When he looked at the windshield, he saw that the puddle at the base of the wiper was all covered with petals.

It gave him a sense of accomplishment, like sprinkling soybean flour on a white rice cake.

“Big brother, will this do what I ask?”

“Yeah, I'm sure it will. Do you know what you're going to ask for?”

“Yes!”

Mimi nodded heavily.

"I hope I can get along with big sister more"

Rumble.

The noise coming from behind him was the loudest so far.

Looking at Sophia, he saw that she was still in the kotatsu, peeking out fearfully.

She was dressed like a snail, with a delicate expression on her face.

“--That's what Mimi says?”

“Well, I don't hate her.”

“I know that. Mimi knows that. You know Sophia doesn't hate you, right?”

“Yes! She's nice to me. She carries me to bed at night.”

“And you want to get to know her better, right?”

“Yeah!”

"And this is it."

Sophia moaned, eventually crawling out of the kotatsu and nodding gingerly.

“I'll do my best.”

Naoto set Mimi down beside him, stepped out of the camper, and gathered the petals she had collected into the palm of his hand.

The blind spot of the wipers would be clean again.

“Sophia, get in the driver's seat.”

“Ah, yeah.”

“And get the windshield wipers going and the water running.”

“Wipers?”

“This is it.”

Mimi taught Sophia from the side.

She did as she was told, and in the blind spot where Naoto had moved the petals, there was a puddle of water that the windshield wipers could not get out again.

The wind was blowing and the cherry blossoms were blowing.

One of the petals immediately stuck to the puddle.

"Ah…"

“If you accumulate enough, maybe your wish will come true. You'll get it, right?”

When Naoto said it in a double meaning, Sophia's face turned into a huff.

She looked at Naoto and then at Mimi. Eventually, Sophia moved the wipers.

In earnest, she was trying to overcome her weakness.

From beside her, Mimi gave her advice.

Naoto leaned against the car and watched the two of them working together in the cherry blossom blizzard.

That night, as Sophia and Mimi slept on the same futon, two small piles of flower petals were placed under their pillows.

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