Everyone still kept a certain distance, remaining in a quiet circle centered around the ivory tree and me.
I looked around.
It really was a magnificent sight.
The gentle light cast beneath the ivory tree.
The spirits standing in a circle around it.
The dimmed glow and the hushed fluttering of wings.
And the Asteria family watching it all.
To be honest, it was far too grand.
All I had done was curl up for a moment, catch my breath, and barely stop one tail from coming out.
Why did it have to turn into this?
Claris spoke in almost a whisper.
“This…… I feel like Iris and I are definitely going to talk about this a lot later when it’s just the two of us.”
Iris nodded very slightly.
“Yes. But I think it would be best not to say anything right now.”
Oh.
She’s holding back well.
Noel hesitated for a moment, then started to take a step toward me before stopping.
As always, he checked my boundaries first.
“Haku.”
I looked at him.
Noel clutched the starleaf in his hand a little tighter and smiled.
“You look really comfortable right now.”
I gave a short cry.
That was true.
Only then did Marquis Theodore exhale very slowly.
“It would be best not to push you any further today.”
Everyone naturally agreed with those words.
Lady Sereniel said gently,
“It seems both Haku and the ivory tree need enough time.”
Claris looked back and forth between the ivory tree and me, then murmured softly.
“It’s really strange. Ever since Haku came here, the entire garden has become quieter and softer.”
Iris answered in a low voice.
“It may be because Haku’s yokai power doesn’t directly clash with the spirits.
Rather, it may possess qualities closer to an ancient nature-type current…….”
She stopped there when she looked at me.
“……No. I’ll think about it later.”
Good.
Don’t think about it now.
I shook my body once.
Something like extremely faint silver dust scattered from the tips of my silver-pink fur before quickly vanishing.
My body felt light.
My yokai power felt freer than before, more familiar in my grasp.
As if one tightly bound knot had come undone.
“Elysia.”
“Mm?”
“I kind of want to practice a little.”
Elysia’s thought instantly tensed.
“Here?”
“No, not right now.”
I hurriedly added,
“Later. When it’s just the two of us.”
Only then did Elysia relax.
“You startled me.”
“I’m not going to do anything here either. It’d be a disaster if another tail came out.”
Elysia laughed softly.
“Mm. That really would be a disaster.”
It really would.
I looked up at the ivory tree again.
The tree said nothing.
Of course.
It was a tree.
And yet I had a strange feeling.
That the brief calm from earlier had not been mere coincidence.
The ivory tree had not given me anything.
It had simply made a quiet space so that the things within me could sort themselves out.
That was enough.
I lowered my head very slightly.
As a gesture of thanks.
Then the leaves of the ivory tree swayed once, gently.
There was no wind.
But everyone saw that response.
Noel drew in a breath, Claris closed her mouth, and Iris lowered her eyes.
Lady Sereniel smiled, while Marquis Theodore closed his eyes very briefly before opening them again.
Only Elysia whispered softly through thought.
“Haku.”
“What.”
“You look incredibly amazing right now.”
I folded my ears back.
“Don’t say things like that.”
“But it’s true.”
“I just rested.”
“Mm. But that’s because it’s you, Haku.”
I couldn’t answer.
For some reason, those words lingered in my heart.
After a moment, Lady Sereniel spoke as though gently bringing things to a close.
“Let’s return now. We’ve seen enough for today.”
Marquis Theodore nodded as well.
“I agree.”
Noel looked reluctant, but he smiled with the starleaf held to his chest.
“Yeah. It’s okay. We can come again next time.”
Again next time.
I looked at Noel.
……Well, occasionally.
Very occasionally might be all right.
I gave a short cry.
“Kkya.”
Noel’s face lit up brightly.
Seeing that, Claris lightly poked Iris in the side.
“That just now sounded like permission, didn’t it?”
Iris answered very seriously.
“Don’t generalize hastily. Today, Haku has shown several times that it means ‘only occasionally.’”
“I know. But isn’t it still pretty positive?”
“……That’s true.”
Those two were those two, as always.
I sighed inwardly, but for some reason, I didn’t completely dislike it.
And so we prepared to slowly turn back, leaving behind the stillness beneath the ivory tree.
But at least in that moment, no one in the Asteria Marquisate would be able to easily forget the sight they had just witnessed.
A small silver-pink fox curled up with its eyes closed beneath the ivory tree.
The yokai power quietly stabilized within that body.
The sign of a new tail that had almost opened for a single moment, only to stop.
And the magnificent sight of the spirits falling silent of their own accord, showing their respect.
I muttered only to myself.
“……This really stands out way too much.”
And yet strangely, this time, I disliked it a little less.
Because deep inside my body, it had become very quiet for the first time in a long while.
Just as we were about to leave the foot of the ivory tree, I suddenly looked at the starleaf Noel was cupping in both hands.
A small leaf like starlight.
That leaf was glowing very faintly on Noel’s palm.
Its light had weakened compared to when he first received it, but the mana noise around him had clearly lowered a little.
I narrowed my eyes.
“……Wait.”
Elysia stopped the hand she had been about to use to lift me up.
“What is it, Haku?”
“There’s something I want to check.”
“Now?”
“It’ll be quick.”
Elysia looked at me with worried eyes.
“You’re not overdoing it, are you?”
“No. I’m not going to use any strength.”
That was true.
I wasn’t going to draw out my yokai power, create foxfire, or unfold an illusion.
I simply wanted to confirm the hypothesis that had just occurred to me.
I looked at Noel.
Noel had been carefully holding the starleaf to himself, but when he felt my gaze, he raised his head.
“Haku?”
I slowly walked toward Noel.
Then the spirits around us quietly made way once more.
It was less solemn than before, but there was still a clear sense that they did not want to hinder my movement.
Noel did not move.
He now knew not to reach out his hand even if I came closer.
He simply held his breath a little and waited.
I stopped and sat in front of Noel.
Then I looked up at him.
“Elysia.”
“Mm?”
“Ask Noel if I can climb onto his head.”
Elysia’s thought stopped for an instant.
“……His head?”
“Mm.”
“You, Haku?”
“As a test.”
“Onto Young Master Noel’s head?”
“Mm.”
Elysia was silent for a very brief moment.
She must have imagined it in her head.
The sight of a small silver-pink fox curled up on Noel’s head.
Elysia’s thought trembled slightly.
She was holding back laughter.
“Elysia.”
“Sorry. It just seems like it would be so…… cute.”
“This is a serious experiment.”
“Mm. A serious experiment.”
Her thought did not believe that at all.
Still, Elysia outwardly spoke to Noel in a calm voice.
“Young Master Noel. Haku says there’s something she wants to check.”
“Check?”
Noel blinked.
“Yes. Would it perhaps be all right if…… Haku climbed onto Young Master Noel’s head for a moment?”
At that instant, the air in the clearing stopped.
Noel’s eyes went round.
Iris and Claris froze at the same time.
Lady Sereniel covered her mouth with her hand, and Marquis Theodore moved his eyebrow ever so slightly.
Noel stammered,
“O-on my head?”
I flicked one ear.
That’s right.
Noel looked at me with a flustered expression, then soon his face turned a little red.
“I’m fine with it. No, rather than fine…… um, if you won’t be uncomfortable, Haku.”
He’s kind.
He keeps asking about my discomfort first.
Good.
I tapped the ground once with my tail.
I won’t be uncomfortable.
Elysia said softly,
“Haku says she’s fine. But if it’s hard for you, Young Master Noel, she’ll come down right away.”
Noel nodded.
“Mm. It’s okay.”
Lady Sereniel gently held Noel’s shoulder.
“Then do it while sitting. You mustn’t lose your balance.”
“Yes.”
Noel carefully sat down on a nearby low wooden chair.
I stood in front of him and looked at Noel’s head for a moment.
Silver-blue hair.
It was a little paler than Iris’s, with a softer color.
Perhaps because his body was weak, his hair also looked light.
“……It’s higher than I thought.”
Maybe it was because I was in a baby fox’s body, but the top of a person’s head looked rather high.
Elysia noticed right away.
“Should I lift you up?”
“Mm.”
I obediently entrusted my body to Elysia’s hands.
Elysia carefully lifted me and placed me on top of Noel’s head.
I lowered my body onto Noel’s head, taking as much care as possible not to let my claws touch him.
It was fluffy.
No, I shouldn’t be thinking that.
I was in the middle of a serious confirmation.
Noel had gone stiff as if he were holding his breath.
“H-Haku. Are you okay?”
I curled my body into a round shape on top of Noel’s head.
As lightly as possible.
So my weight would not press down on him, I spread a very thin layer of yokai power beneath my paws.
That way, Noel would probably feel almost no actual weight.
I closed my eyes.
And did nothing.
Truly nothing at all.
I merely did not block the texture of the yokai power flowing naturally from my body, allowing it to spread very thinly.
In that instant.
The mana around Noel’s body changed.
It was similar to when he held the starleaf in his hand.
No, it was even more direct.
The sharp tremors of mana that had been flickering around Noel’s head and shoulders were gently suppressed.
The noise that had scraped like shards of glass slowly receded, and in its place, something like a low, warm membrane formed.
The same effect as the leaf.
But the medium was different.
The starleaf reduced mana noise with the power of the ivory tree.
I was using my yokai power to loosely suppress the texture of the surrounding mana, making it easier and less painful for Noel to receive.
I murmured softly to myself.
“As I thought.”
Noel drew in a breath.
“……Huh?”
His voice trembled.
“It got quieter.”
Iris started to take a step forward, then stopped.
Her face was one where the instinct to record it and the restraint of not wanting to disturb Haku were clashing head-on.