“Hn…”
I open my eyes, and see the morning sunlight coming in through the window.
Alice’s beautiful face enters my field of vision, and I remember that she’s here in the village.
She just arrived yesterday… So it kind of felt like her coming here was a dream.
But… The real Alice is sleeping right in front of me, so I get happy right after waking up.
The spirit festival is on the day after tomorrow, so I want to play with Alice and prepare for the festival along with her until then.
I stare at her face, and start to feel mischievous. I put my hand on her face, and start poking it. It’s really soft.
It feels weird to be so close to her. Again, it’s like a dream.
I keep poking her cheeks like I’m convincing myself that she’s really here, and her eyes open.
“Hm…”
Her blue, unfocused eyes are wide open, and meet mine.
“Ah, Lerunda. Good morning.”
“Good morning, Alice.”
Alice smiles, still half asleep, and I smile too.
She’s still feeling sleepy, so I grab her hand and take her to the well so we can wash our faces.
Then we eat together with Miss Lan, who watches me talk with Alice with a smile on her face. She looks happy that Alice is here too.
Miss Lan used to be Alice’s educator, but she was expelled, and ended up here.
Alice changed after being mistaken for the miko, and is here to visit.
And I was abandoned, met everyone, and started living here with them.
Yes, it’s kind of a miracle how we’re all here smiling together. Alice looks a bit awkward about talking to Miss Lan, but Miss Lan smiles at her.
“Miss Lan, I’m going to go for a walk in the sky with Alice.”
I say after we finish having breakfast, and Miss Lan sends us off with a smile.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Alice, do you want to ride a gryphon? Do you want me to make you fly?”
“…Hum, then I’ll say hello to the gryphons. I’m a little scared though.”
“Fufu, it’s all right. They’re all really nice, and my dear family. I’d be really happy if you got along with them too.”
The gryphons, Scifo, and Doanea are all family to me, but I get that they’re scary from Alice’s point of view.
I’d be scared of monsters I didn’t know, or came to attack me suddenly too.
I think she’s a little scared because she’s never met them.
Apparently she’s never even seen a monster that formed a contract with a person. It’s natural for people to be scared of what they don’t know.
Still, I’m happy that she wants to meet them.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Everyone! Alice wants to say hello.”
I say, and everyone except for the ones patrolling and hunting gather.
The ones here right now are Riruha, Kamiha, Ryon, Scifo, and Doanea.
Riruha tells me they’re feeling a little lonely, because Alice arrived yesterday and I haven’t been paying attention to them. They say that they figured if Alice likes them, I’ll come here too, so the others are out looking for a present for Alice.
So we got here after they left… We’ll say hello to Reimar and the others when they get back.
“Guruguru, rururu (Nice to meet you, Lerunda’s sister.)”
“Gurururu? Rururu. (Are you Alice? You’re shiny.)”
“Gururu, rurururu! (Nice to meet you, Alice!)
“Hihihi, hin. (I’m Scifo, nice to meet you.)”
“Pikiii. Pikiii. (And I am Doanea. Let us be friendly.)
Everyone approaches Alice and greets her, and her shoulders tremble a little.
I guess she’s scared because they’re all going near her at once.
“Geez, everyone. You’re going to scare her if you get close so suddenly. Line up here, and I’ll introduce you to Alice.”
I say, and they all line up and sit still.
“This is Riruha, this is Kamiha, and next to them is Ryon. This is Scifo, and the dragon is Doanea. Everyone here formed contracts with me. They’re all saying they want to be friendly with you.”
“They are? That’s nice. Nice to meet you, I’m Alice.”
Alice is relieved to see everyone sitting still, and says that with a smile.
Then everyone starts talking again, but Alice can’t understand them, so I translate. But Alice looks happy anyway, because she can at least understand that they’re welcoming her.
“They said that the ones that aren’t here are out getting you a present.”
“A present for me?”
“Yes. They all want to get along with you.”
“That’s great. I… Honestly didn’t think I would be welcomed like this.”
She says, but that sounds weird to me.
“I guess you don’t really care, but… I was the reason why you were abandoned. And there’s no denying that you went through a lot of trouble because people thought I was the miko. So even if you don’t care, I thought that people that care about you wouldn’t want me here…”
“Maybe some people think stuff like that, but you’re important to me, so I think everyone welcomes you here. I’m really happy that you’re here, and I told everyone that I want you to have a good time here and went around asking for opinions about how to prepare for you. So everyone knows that.”
I say to Alice.
People like Mister Ilma are holding back things they want to say to Alice, but I don’t think they’ll say anything because they know how happy I am.
I really am so happy that Alice is here with me, and that we get to talk to each other.
“People really care a lot about you.”
“Yes!”
She says with a smile, and I smile back.
—Girl and the third spirit festival – Part seven
(The miko takes her sister to the monsters contracted to her.)
