Chapter 1 (2/2)

“…Gimme a break,” I bluntly refused.

[ Day Two ]

The chirping of birds tickled my ears and brought me back to consciousness.

I was worried that some of yesterday’s exhaustion would still hang over me, but I sat up and found that I’d made a full recovery.

I’m proud to say I haven’t lived a decent life from the day I was born to the present, but it seemed that when it came to my ability to recover, life wasn’t so unfair. Youth is wonderful. I opened the window and relished that as I felt the breeze.

While I was revering the refres.h.i.+ng morning, Efi got up with a yawn. My early-morning repose ended here.

“…You’re up early today.”

With not a hint of refreshedness in my face nor voice, I said my first words to Efi for the day. She rubbed her eyelids and drawled “Mornin’…” I impulsively replied “Morning” back.

“Where’re we going today?”, Efi asked in a still-sleepy tone.

“Let’s see… I’ll investigate in town. You sit tight at the mansion…”

“No!”, she refused before I could finish. Felt like she was pretty opposed to my suggestions as of late. Was she at that rebellious age already?

“We gotta stay together!”, she pressed further. When I was a kid, I was never this stubborn. Well, though I wasn’t a little girl.

Honestly, if we got split up in this huge town and she got lost, what was she going to do? Did she understand that she was a dragon, something tons of people around the world were after for research?

“I’ll go buy you something else today.”

“Okay!”

…Couldn’t even decide if she was easy or hard to handle. Oh well. Relieved it wasn’t a lengthy battle, my shoulders loosened.

Come to think of it, I’d heard dragons weren’t too satisfied by human food. So why did Efi like sweets so much? And before we came here, I’d fed her quite a lot of lies, so I thought she shouldn’t be getting hungry anytime soon.

“Candy would be good!”

“Sure,” I replied, practically not hearing her.

There were still many mysteries about her.

To be extra sure, I asked the butler Phil to keep an eye on Efi, and left her at the mansion while I explored the town.

Today, I would begin my search for the bluebird in earnest.

Now where to start, I pondered… Suddenly, someone behind me forcefully slapped my back.

“Hey, traveler! Fancy seeing you. Guess it’s just 'cause I go around the same places every day! Gahaha!”

I turned around to find that same bearded man. For such a big town which had to have a lot of inhabitants, we really did meet often.

Given our previous conversations, it appeared he knew a fair bit about the town, so maybe he knew something about the bluebird.

“Oh, good day! It’s true, we keep running into each other. You see, I came here to look into the bluebird. Would you know anything, sir?”, I asked with such a cheerful voice and smile, even I thought I sounded idiotic.

Having such a model example around me lately, it seemed I could pull off a far more idiotic performance.

“Ohh! The bluebird, I see. Yes, it’s in this town, alright. Though I’ve never seen it. Still, it’s why everyone in this town is so happy, with a few exceptions!”

“A few… exceptions?”

That got my attention at once. Maybe it was related to the feeling niggling at me since I arrived.

“Ah… Well, I shouldn’t say this too loud…”

He leaned over, put a big hand by his mouth, and brought his face near my ear.

“Don’t you think this town’s a little weird? Most of the townspeople are simple and carefree like me, happy people. But I’m sure you’ve spotted some other, more gloomy folks.”

I was reminded of the old ladies talking yesterday. People like that would hardly be rare or anything in other towns, but it’s true, they felt out of place here.

“See, rumor has it that they’re all monsters taking human form. And that someday they’ll reveal themselves, and attack this peaceful town. So travelers like you had better watch out for 'em, too.”

Right after he finished speaking, the man stretched his back and laughed loudly. I was somewhat confused by the sudden change in mood.

“Well, nothing else to really worry about, anyway. Oh, you said you were looking for the bluebird? Well, I’ve heard that the bluebird shows up once a week.”

“Once a week…?”

Though he said “it’s in this town,” it didn’t seem you could encounter it very frequently. So, wouldn’t it be difficult to determine its authenticity in short order…? As I began to ponder, I thanked the man and left.

Without knowing when the bluebird had last appeared, I would probably have to stay in this town for at least a week. Maybe I should have brought along a little more money.

Ever since I started living with Efi, my funds always suffered. When I was alone, I was free to decide whether I should skip meals and whatnot, but that wouldn’t work out anymore. I felt like an impoverished housewife struggling to do finances.

It was an experience which I would never have conceived of going through before I met Efi.

“I’m getting a headache…”

I put my fingers to my temple and waited for the pain to subside.

Come to think of it, that guy said “this town has inhabitants who are happy and carefree, and gloomy ones who aren’t.” And how rumor was spreading that the latter were secretly monsters…

After walking a bit, in a main street lined with various stores, I decided to try casually observing the townspeople.

Indeed, the majority seemed like bright-faced people, but there was the occasional person with a strikingly dark expression. And I saw not a single person somewhere in the middle.

On one hand, I couldn’t perceive the gloomy people as simply having an especially low standard of living. Nor did it feel like they were stricken with some illness, or they were troublemakers, or that there was a significant wage gap between townspeople. There must have been some other reason for the difference in expressions, but I couldn’t tell from looking.

“Maybe it has something to do with the bluebird…?”

The man earlier had told me that thanks to the bluebird, they lived happily.

Given that, were these people who hadn’t received the bluebird’s blessing? If so, what was the reason?

The more I thought about it, the threads of the mystery seemed to get increasingly complex to untangle. I was working with too little information still.

I checked where the sun was at to determine how much time I had left. Still plenty. It was only my second day of searching, so it was unsurprising that I’d have to fumble about.

Though groaning, I moved ahead.

Although I had to wonder, how big was this bluebird? Searching for a little bird in a town as big as this sounded pretty terrible. Once I found it, I’d be sure to price the info extra-high for the hat informant. Fueling myself with that thought, I resumed walking.

*

“Have you lived here a long time, miss?”

The songstress lady thought about my question for a little. Her head slanted, and she answered like she was saying “maybe?”

“Yes, for a long time. I’m very happy to be in this town. So I can’t even think of going somewhere else.”

She smiled gently at me. The songstress lady’s smile was really lovely. Her singing was lovely, but she was a really lovely person too.

“Where did you come from, Efi?”

Her sudden question kind of startled me.

…Where did I come from?

I remembered when I was born. I saw papa… er, Al’s eyes get all wide. But after that, we’d been going all sorts of places, like we were now.

“Hmm… Places! Lots of places!”

The lady made a curious face at my answer, but smiled right after.

Al told me not to answer if people asked about my past, so I wonder if that answer was okay? Efi always keeps her promises!

“True, you did say you were travelers. I’d be glad if this town pleased you, too.”

Right after the lady said that, the mansion door went creeeak.

“Al!”

Al’s appeared from behind the door. When he saw my face, he trembled a little for some reason.

“Did you behave?”

“I did!”

Maybe. All I did today was walk all around the mansion, and have mister butler tell me “I was surprised when you vanished all of a sudden,” and talked with the songstress lady and a bunch of people who’d all gone home now. That’s got to just barely make “behaving”!

“I was behaving!”

“You… don’t have to repeat yourself.” Al scratched his head.

Al’s eyebrows would get all tight, and he’d do this a lot. I wonder what it meant?

I wonder… Maybe he was surprised that I listened to what he told me?

“Eheh!”

Then I guess I should be proud! I puffed out my chest, and I think Al’s eyebrows got even tighter than before.

“Ahh…” I let out a big yawn. I’d walked around the mansion a lot and talked a lot, so maybe I was kind of tired.

“My, perhaps we spoke for a little long. It is getting quite late. Efi was behaving perfectly well, don’t worry. I’m envious you have such an adorable sister!”

“Oh, she’s just always giving me trouble… Hahaha.”

Al replied to the lady with a different face and voice from before. This was a really weird thing about Al. I think maybe they were lies, but I wasn’t able to see through Al’s lies.

“Well, I’ll excuse myself for today. Good night.”

“Good night!”

I waved and saw off the songstress lady, and she waved back.

Once the lady was gone, Al went back to his usual self.

“…Back to the room.”

He pulled my hand with a tired look, so I hurried along, careful not to trip.

Back in the room, first Al took off his coat, then jumped back onto the bad.

I loved jumping on the bed too, because it’s so fluffy and comfy. I got really happy whenever I saw a similarity between me and Al.

“Oh yeah, I didn’t give you this. Here’s a souvenir. Only one 'cause it’s before bed. You get the rest tomorrow.”

“Woo! Thanks!”

Al gave me round candies wrapped in a cute little bag, so I took one out and put it in my mouth.

Rolling it around on my tongue, I tasted a sweet flavor. Sweet flavors wouldn’t do much to make me full, but they’d make me really happy. And when I made a happy face, Al would sometimes smirk a little, which I loved to see.

“…Well, guess we should sum up the day.”

“Okay!”

Whenever we came to a town to investigate something and acted separate, we’d always report what happened to each other before saying good night.

Who you talked to, what you found… He told me to tell him everything, so I told him about how I’d walked around the mansion and talked about things with the songstress lady.

“Anything catch your eye while exploring the mansion, or talking to the songstress?”

Wanting to have a good answer, I closed my eyes a little and tried to remember.

The mansion was… big? That probably wasn’t strange. And there weren’t statues of a weird old guy like the town we went to before.

What I talked to the lady about… She said she liked this town. That probably wasn’t strange either, right?

“Err…”

But what I thought was strange and what Al thought was strange were a little different. So like usual, I decided to tell him everything.

Once I was finished, Al nodded a few times. “…I see. Guess we can pretty much say we didn’t get much today.”

I guess since I’d talked so much, I let out yet another big yawn. I got really tired today…

“Okay, you can sleep now. See you tomorrow.”

Al patted my head and quickly crawled under his bed covers.

“Good night, Al!”

“Yeah, good night.”

Our final words of the day. He was always super blunt, but if you said good morning, Al would say good morning back, and if you said good night, he’d say good night.

So I figured Al had to be a good person. Nodding to myself, I got under my own covers and closed my eyes.

I hoped tomorrow could be just like this, too.

[ Day Three ]

Still sleepy… But is it morning already? I opened my eyes, and saw blinding light coming in.

It’s morning! I sat up. I wonder if Al’s up?

I looked over to Al’s bed. He was still lying down on it.

“Morning! It’s morning!”, I greeted loudly. Sometimes I would jump onto the bed to wake him up, but he’d yell at me a lot, so I couldn’t do that again for a while.

Making kind of a pained voice, Al looked toward me.

“…What time is it?”

What time…? Did he want me to check the clock? He taught me how to read a clock one time, but it was too confusing, and I didn’t get it.

“Oh, sorry. You still can’t read a clock yet…”

Al slowly got up, rubbing his eyes. His hair was all messy.

Stumbling around, he started getting dressed and messing with his hair. I did the same. I could at least dress myself, of course!

“…Your ribbon’s crooked.”

…I could mostly dress myself, of course. I got some help from Al at the end, so now I was all set to tackle another day.

Al told me to hold down the fort again and left the room. He wouldn’t take me along yesterday, or before that either. When I really wanted to go with him!

I puffed my cheeks and pouted to myself. In a small town, he’d let me come along, but in a big town like this, he’d always make me watch the room.

He said it was so I didn’t get lost, but I never get that lost! …Probably.

Just sitting around in the room was boring. I wonder if the songstress lady is up? Maybe I should go talk with her again.

After a couple of jumps, the door opened with a click. The handles on these doors were just a little too high up for me…

I pushed the door and entered a long hallway. Yesterday I’d gotten lost here, which led into an adventure. Mansions really are huge! But I’d probably be fine today.

When she was awake, the songstress lady was always in this big plaza-y area downstairs. Mister butler told me yesterday that it was called the “banquet hall.”

There was a big round table with chairs packed around it, and the lady would sit there and talk with the town people, or sing songs.

And she looked really happy doing it. All the town people looked really happy, too.

I went downstairs to the banquet hall, but she wasn’t there yet. But mister butler was there cleaning instead.

“Ah, Miss Efi. Good morning.” He greeted me with a wide smile.

“Good morning!”, I shouted back loudly, 'cause I wasn’t going to let him beat me. My powerful greeting echoed around the mansion like yelling from the top of a mountain.

“Where’s the singer lady?”

“Ah, I believe Mischa is taking a bath. She seemed to be in the mood for that today.”

So the songstress lady was in a bath, apparently. Did taking a bath in the morning feel good? I’d only taken baths at night, so I didn’t know.

“Then let’s talk, mister!” If the lady wasn’t around, mister butler would be fine too. He looked at the mop in his hands for a few seconds, then sighed.

“I suppose. I’ve mostly finished, so that should be fine.”

Alright! This might’ve been the first time I could really talk to mister butler. He was always going here and there around the mansion. And maybe I could hear some different stuff from him than from the songstress.

“Wait here,” he told me, so I sat in a chair around the round table and waited. After a little while, mister butler came with a plate and a cup.

“Ooh! Sweets!”

There were sweet things I’d never seen before on the plate. They were colorful, and chubby, and really cute!

Seeing my sparkly eyes, he told me about them. “Have you never seen one before? These are called macarons. They sell them at the nearby sweets shop. They’re quite delicious.”

He placed one in my hand. “Here you are.”

I tilted it around. The macaron rolled and danced in my palm.

After that, I gave it a little bite. A fluffy and sweet taste filled my mouth. Very delicious!

“You appear to be quite pleased. That’s good,” the butler said, offering me a cup. The cup was full of tea. I knew tea, 'cause I’d drank it before.

“How much sugar would you like?”

“Lots!”

Mister butler seemed surprised by my answer, and smiled childishly. He put two sugar cubes in my cup and swished them around with a little spoon. Then he sat in the chair next to me.

“Mister butler, have you been friends with miss singer for a long time?”, I asked, suddenly wondering about it. He said he was the songstress’s butler, but they seemed really friendly to me.

“Yes, that’s right. We have been friends for a long time in this town,” he answered while pouring his own tea.

“Has she always liked to sing?”

“Yes. She’s always sung quite often. And I’ve adored Mischa’s singing for just as long.”

He smiled warmly, and the morning light lit up his face. He really seemed to like miss songstress.

And I could tell deep down that he wasn’t lying, so I felt warm inside.

When people told the truth, especially when talking about things they liked, it would lighten up my own feelings. I kind of liked that sensation.

Though, if there wasn’t anyone who lied, I might go hungry and collapse.

“I heard from Al that when you spend a long time with people, you sometimes fight. Have you ever fought with miss singer?”

“Err…”

Mister butler was about to put the cup to his lips, but my question made him put it back on the plate.

“We… haven’t fought, come to think of it. Though reasonably speaking, I suppose that should be the case.”

Reasonably speaking? What did he mean? I had kind of a question mark about mister butler’s words.

I didn’t feel like he was lying. Probably. I couldn’t be sure without Al around.

“Good morning!”

While I was thinking, the songstress lady trotted over with a steamy air around her.

“Morning, miss singer!”

Her eyes blinked, and she looked at me.

“Good morning… Er, Efi!” It took a little while before she said my name and smiled kindly.

Just a little pause. But I found that little bit of time a little weird.

*

Continuing on from yesterday, I went around town for several hours, but failed to obtain any useful information.

“Does this bluebird really even exist…?”

Sure enough, I started to doubt the thing itself. All the residents I’d asked had the same thing to say.

“Thanks to the bluebird, we’re happy.” Albeit with minor differences in phrasing, they all told me that with a cheery look.

Sure, the bluebird seemed to be a popular legend in this town. But isn’t it a little odd?

Maybe the bluebird was a kind of idol. I couldn’t help but get a kind of religious feeling from this. Some people will blame bad things happening to them not on themselves but on divine punishment, so the opposite wouldn’t be so strange.

“…Well, at least I’m not completely out of leads.”

There was one more option. Something I’d heard from that bearded man yesterday, then avoided.

To talk to the gloomy residents…

From yesterday to now, I’d been choosing to talk with cheery-looking townspeople. Mostly because that talk of “they might be monsters, so watch your back” was still hanging over me. Always wanted to avoid ha.s.sle.

But now I was stuck, and I felt like if I kept avoiding it and keeping up the way I was now, coming to this town at all would end up being a complete waste of time.

So no other option. Of course I’m strong enough to protect myself, at least.

Checking the pouches in my coat and pants for concealed weapons, I went into a cramped alley in search of some downtrodden townspeople.

“Sigh…”

I sat in the shade of a large tree.

I had walked around town a lot. Searched every nook and cranny, from tight alleys to wide-open streets. And those gloomy residents I spotted here and there before were nowhere to be found today, not a one.

Maybe they were avoiding me, too. I searched my memory for clues, and recalled the gossipping old ladies on the first day.

“Is it all right to let them stay at that mansion?” - I’m sure they said that.

The residents of the mansion, Mischa and Phil… I hadn’t felt anything odd about them so far. And the people who came to and went from the mansion… while they did give me the impression of being awfully zealous about Mischa’s singing, they were all carefree, cheery people, nothing suspect.

…“All cheery people” made me wonder. Well, maybe people with a gloomy disposition just never even got the thought of visiting someone else’s house.

As I was thinking about it, a person pa.s.sed by. I hid behind the tree and observed them. He was a young man with a face as sullen as a cloudy sky.

“…Do you have a moment?”

I nimbly got out in front of the man and put on a smile. He seemed surprised, letting out a little scream.

“U-Uhh…”

“I’m on a trip, see. I just wanted to ask you something. I can offer you a reward if necessary,” I told him weakly. I acted as much like a pa.s.sing weakling as I could. That would get people to trust you, as long as they didn’t sense any malicious intent.

“No… I don’t need any reward. If it’s just for a second, it’s fine,” the young man acknowledged.

Saying he didn’t want to talk here, the man led me to a nearby bench, and I followed him without saying much.

Once we sat down on the bench, the young man started talking before I could.

“Um… You’re the traveler who came here two days ago, right? You look the same as what everyone’s saying. Is it true they’re letting you stay at that mansion?”

I was a little thrown off. I didn’t expect for him to start talking, and about that.

“Yes, it is… Is there something about that mansion?”

“Well, it’s the mansion, but it’s more like something odd is going on in the whole town…” His head lowered with a clouded look.

“Something odd?”

It caught my attention straight away, but asking directly would probably be counterproductive. So I just repeated the words back and waited a bit to hear it from his mouth.

“…There are those cheery townspeople, you know. Those startlingly carefree people. There are rumors among us… about how they might be monsters.”

I was stunned. So these gloomy people were saying the same thing about the cheery ones. They both suspected the others of being monsters.

“We hear all these strange stories lately. Someone’s dead grandfather pa.s.sing by looking as if nothing happened, a girlfriend who moved far away sitting on a bench and laughing… So everyone’s exhausted. There are even rumors that the songstress at that mansion might be summoning up ghosts with her song.”

“Someone who moved far away isn’t necessarily dead. It wouldn’t be too odd if they came back for some business, would it?”

“Well, it’s my ex-girlfriend, actually. We broke up and she moved away, so I don’t know if she’s alive or not… But I’m sure there’s no business she’d have back here.”

Even so, that was no good reason to jump to speculation about ghosts and monsters. Though considering these gloomy people’s position, maybe it wasn’t surprising that they would.

Irrational things were happening around them. So they went looking for an explanation with at least a little consistency, wanting to prove that they weren’t just losing it.

“So no one will go near that mansion, or those cheery people. We heard the news that they were apparently letting you stay at the mansion, and… Um, this is kind of hard to ask directly, but… I was wondering if you were a ghost, or…”

Aha, so that’s why these gloomy townspeople wouldn’t come near me. Why I couldn’t find one even walking all over the place. Sure, it was a big town, but in two days, rumors could spread to most everyone. And the more they wanted to stay away from me, the harder it would be for someone with no familiarity with the town to find them.

“So that’s it… But no, I’m no ghost. Want to feel it for yourself?”

“Oh, I realize that talking to you now. Though I was startled when you talked to me, and got worried you were here to take me to the afterlife…”

The young man smiled wryly. So did I, figuring he must be quick to believe anything. But I couldn’t blame him for having difficulty making calm judgements when he was so haggard.

“There’s something I want to ask, too. Are you familiar with the bluebird?”

“Bluebird… Uh, yes. There has been a legend like that in this town for a long time. But it’s just a legend. Even if rumors are spreading lately about it really existing… Those started at about the same time I started hearing other weird rumors. So even if it is true, it’s not bringing any happiness.”

The young man’s face grew darker and darker as he spoke to me. I couldn’t imagine that he’d be lying about this. So what he said held a lot of credibility.

In other words, the rumor about the bluebird said to have started around the same time became highly credible, too.

“Thank you very much for telling me.”

“No problem… Please be careful, traveler. Because you might get dragged to the other side, not even kidding.”

With that, the young man stood up, bowed a couple times, and quickly walked away.

Well, now I’d gotten to speak with the so-called gloomy residents as well. And it seemed that the people of this town were suspecting each other of

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