Lady Sereniel smiled softly.
“I think I understand why.”
I flattened my ears.
Then Noel spoke.
“I won’t pressure you.”
I looked at him.
Noel was serious.
“If Haku doesn’t want to come, you don’t have to. It’s just…… I’m more comfortable when you’re close by, but.”
His voice trailed off.
The atmosphere at the table grew quiet.
Perhaps thinking he had said something unreasonable, Noel clenched his hands tightly.
“So, I’m not trying to pressure you or anything……”
I bit into a piece of bread.
Then I got down from my perch and walked toward Noel.
“Haku?”
Elysia called out to me, but I didn’t stop.
When I reached near Noel’s seat, all eyes around us followed me.
I sat in front of Noel’s chair leg.
And I gently pushed the piece of bread I’d been holding with my front paw.
Noel blinked.
“……For me?”
No.
It’s not for you to eat.
Just.
Hmm.
How do I put this.
A sign that it’s okay?
Noel looked at the piece of bread for a moment, seeming unable to fully understand my meaning. But perhaps something got across, as his face relaxed slightly.
“Thank you.”
I immediately bit the piece of bread again and ate it.
I’m not giving it to him.
It’s mine.
Noel laughed softly.
“Ah, so you’re not giving it to me.”
Of course.
I chewed the bread and wagged my tail.
The air around the table softened.
Lady Sereniel covered her mouth with her hand.
Iris had the look of someone desperately trying to commit something to memory.
Count Theodor looked at me for a moment, then nodded very slightly.
“You make yourself quite clear.”
That’s right.
I’m very clear.
I just can’t speak.
As the meal was ending, Iris cautiously opened her mouth.
“Haku.”
I looked at her.
“Are you thinking of taking a walk in the garden after the meal? It is not compulsory. To adapt to Stellarium’s mana environment, the garden may be better than indoors.”
Garden.
I looked out the window.
Ancient trees and spirits, the wind flowing with pristine order.
There were more natural flows than the indoor barrier. It definitely seemed like it would be better for my body.
But there was one problem.
The Asteria garden had many spirits.
Not just the amount from earlier in the room, but far more.
*If they all bow their heads again, it’ll be burdensome.*
I worried.
Then Elysia stroked my head.
“Let’s come back right away if it’s hard.”
I felt a little reassured by those words.
Alright.
I let out a short cry.
Iris’s eyes brightened very slightly.
“Thank you.”
Was this something to be thanked for?
Still, I didn’t dislike it.
After the meal, we headed to the inner garden of Count Asteria’s estate.
Noel was with us too.
However, perhaps because walking for long was difficult, he slowly walked draped in a thin blanket at Lady Sereniel’s suggestion.
Count Theodor said he had a schedule and would step away for a moment, but even until the moment he left, he looked back at Noel and me several times.
*He’s his father.*
Count or scholar, in the end, he’s a father worried about his sick son.
The garden was beautiful.
No, it wasn’t merely beautiful.
As befitted a garden of a renowned magical house, each and every plant was arranged according to the flow of mana.
The tall trees served as pillars supporting the barrier, and the small flowers were places where spirits could linger.
Faint patterns were carved into the stone path, but it wasn’t stifling like indoors.
Mana flowed.
Organized, yet alive.
I got down from Elysia’s embrace and walked on the stone path.
It wasn’t cold.
There seemed to be a weak heat-regulating pattern beneath the stones.
*They really thought of everything.*
After walking a bit, my body felt lighter.
It felt like the lingering fatigue after gate travel was slowly melting away.
I wagged my tail widely once.
At that moment, small lights moved from a corner of the garden.
They were spirits.
Spirits like light, leaves, water droplets, wind, and crystal fragments.
They revealed themselves one by one, then quietly retreated to both sides of the path I was passing through.
As if clearing the way.
*No, I told you not to do that.*
I stopped.
Then the spirits stopped too.
I took a step to the right.
The spirits cleared the right side of the path.
I went left.
The spirits cleared the left side of the path.
*……This is burdensome.*
From behind, Noel spoke softly.
“The spirits are clearing the way.”
Iris’s voice lowered.
“They are not avoiding us out of fear.”
Lady Sereniel quietly added.
“They are showing respect.”
I flattened my ears.
You don’t have to do that.
I’m just a fox kit who came out for a walk.
Then, one of the smallest light spirits floated up to the front of me.
The other spirits seemed startled and flickered.
That spirit still looked young.
I don’t know if spirits have exact ages, but that’s how it felt.
It seemed like a slow and pure being, like Lulu from the Academy.
The small light spirit came right up to my nose and said.
“Small.”
I stiffened.
The spirit’s voice was very thin.
It seemed Elysia and Iris heard it too; both blinked.
The light spirit spoke again.
“Small but lofty.”
Ah.
That again.
I mentally held my head in my hands.
*Please don’t say it like that. People will misunderstand.*
Sure enough, Iris’s eyes sparkled.
I had the illusion that they literally shone.
“Small but lofty……”
Eyes that wanted to record.
Lady Sereniel smiled a profound smile, and Noel looked alternately at me and the spirit with a curious expression.
Elysia smiled slightly.
“Haku, you hear that from spirits too.”
I turned to look at Elysia.
*Don’t enjoy this.*
Then the small light spirit came one step—no, floated one more time closer.
“Small lofty one. Sleep?”
I tilted my head.
Is it asking if I like sleeping?
I narrowed my eyes.
The light spirit suddenly tried to sit on top of my head.
“Bed.”
*Hey.*
I reflexively lowered my head.
The light spirit spun around in the air.
The surrounding spirits stirred.
Lady Sereniel chuckled softly.
“It seems to be a young spirit that doesn’t know proper etiquette well.”
Yeah, you can tell at a glance.
I looked at the light spirit.
The light spirit sparkled with a face that didn’t know why it had been rejected.
“No?”
I tapped the floor with my tail.
No.
Not on my head.
The light spirit contemplated for a moment, then settled on the ground beside me.
“Here?”
I twitched my ears.
That much is fine.
The light spirit sparkled as if satisfied.
Noel laughed.
“Haku, it’s like you’re talking with the spirit too.”
I looked at the spirit, then at Noel.
Rather than conversation, it’s the struggle of communication.
But it wasn’t bad.
The garden gradually became more comfortable.
The spirits didn’t excessively clear the way like they did at first.
Perhaps realizing I found it burdensome, they drifted naturally at a certain distance.
The young light spirit kept following beside me.
“Small lofty one.”
I ignored it.
“Pink.”
Ignored.
“Fluffy.”
I stopped.
The light spirit sparkled.
“Fluffy?”
I looked at the light spirit.
Is it saying it wants to touch?
No.
I tapped the floor twice with my tail.
The light spirit dimmed as if dejected.
“No.”
Right. No.
But seeing that, Noel laughed softly.
Because that laugh was so comfortable, I finally let out a sound like a sigh.
And I extended the very tip of my tail slightly toward the light spirit.
Really, only the very end.
The light spirit flashed brightly.
“Fluffy?”
Just once.
The light spirit cautiously touched the tip of my tail.
It tickled.
I immediately withdrew my tail.
The light spirit spun round and round as if satisfied.
“Fluffy! The lofty one is fluffy!”
*I’m doomed.*
Now rumors will spread.
In the spirit realm, rumors like “the small lofty one is fluffy” might spread.
Iris muttered softly.
“Permitted contact range with spirit…… tail tip, extremely short duration……”
I immediately looked at her.
Iris closed her mouth.
“I didn’t record it.”
You said it out loud.
Elysia couldn’t hold back her laughter.
“Haku, you’re really popular today.”
I walked ahead, pretending not to hear.
Deep in the garden, there was a small pond.
Starlight-like mana lay thinly upon the water’s surface, and turquoise flowers bloomed along the shore.
Noel sat on a nearby bench.
I naturally sat a little ways away from him.
A distance where I was close, but not touching.
Noel’s breathing steadied slightly.
Iris watched that sight and said quietly.
“Noel, tell me right away if it’s hard.”
“Yeah. But I’m okay right now.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Noel looked at me and smiled.
“Maybe it’s because Haku is here.”
I averted my gaze.
It’s troubling when you say it so directly.
I haven’t done anything great.
I’m just sitting here.
But to Noel, that seemed to be important.
Lady Sereniel sat beside him and arranged Noel’s blanket.
“It’s been a while. Since you sat so comfortably in the garden.”
Noel lowered his head as if slightly embarrassed.
“Yeah.”
Iris didn’t say a word.
But her hand trembled slightly.
I saw that.
Iris is someone who pretends to be strong.
No, she actually is strong.
She’s smart, excellent at magic, and good at hiding her emotions.
But right now, she couldn’t hide them.
Seeing her younger brother comfortable, she had the face of someone barely holding back something about to collapse.
*……This is troublesome.*
When it’s like this, it’s hard to just pretend not to notice.
I slowly walked toward Noel.
Noel’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Haku?”
I sat beneath the bench.
And curled my tail around.
At this distance, there would be little burden.
My power would spread naturally as well, and Noel’s mana noise would decrease a little more too.
Noel didn’t reach out his hand.
He simply looked down at me quietly.
“Thank you.”
I closed my eyes.
How many times are you going to thank me.
I get it.
I heard you.
It was then.
The mana above the pond rippled very faintly.
I opened my eyes.
At first I thought it was the wind.
But it wasn’t.
My reflection in the pond water was a bit strange.
A silver-pink fox kit.
That’s me now.
But for a very brief moment, the shadow in the water lengthened.
Not a small body, but the outline of a much larger, complete fox.
And the shadow of tails splitting hazily behind its back.
One, two, three……
I reflexively raised my head.
The water’s surface was ordinary again.
*What was that just now?*
My heart beat slightly faster.
An afterimage of my power?
Did the power inside my body shake from fatigue after gate travel?
Or……
I tucked my tail in.
Wolyeong.
But I know that deep inside my body, there are traces of something that isn’t me.
A very old memory.
Moonlight and the smell of blood that pass by like dreams sometimes, and an endlessly long night.
I pretended to be unaffected and rubbed my face with my front paw.
But Lady Sereniel was looking at me.
Her eyes were quiet.
As if she had seen what just happened on the pond.
“Haku?”
Elysia called out softly.
I immediately looked at her.
And deliberately let out a short cry.
*I’m fine.*
It’s nothing.
Elysia looked like she didn’t fully believe it.
But she didn’t ask further.
Iris too seemed to feel something and looked at the pond.
But she did not record it.