Published at 1st of September 2019 8:07 pm

[ Day Two ]

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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 refreshing 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.

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