Published at 1st of September 2019 8:09 pm

[ Day Four ]

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Efi shook me awake. I was just having a hard time getting up lately. Probably had to do with how tired I was getting.

"Um, what time is it?"

That's what I wanted to know... I took out a clock from the bag by the bed. It was already past 12. That's more than just oversleeping.

I took Efi to leave the room. The moment the door opened, clear singing came from the hall below.

"It's the singer lady!"

"Is she always singing down there?"

"Yeah, all the town people come in the day, and she sings and talks to them every day."

I remembered the butler Phil had said something like that when we first arrived. But I was usually out of the mansion at this time, so I didn't think she honestly sang every day. Cutting her song short to talk to her when there were people around seemed pretty uncouth.

Though those people were all cheerful and carefree, simply asking questions could risk getting a knife in my back. Besides, you could say Mischa's song was healing me.

"Let's go listen to her song."

"Okay!"

Looking down at the banquet hall from the second floor, I began to quietly hear Mischa's song. It was a different one from the one I heard on our arrival.

"Miss singer's singing is really wonderful, huh?"

"She's not called a songstress for nothing."

As I gave an uninteresting reply, the song entered what seemed to be the most rousing part.

"...Has she ever sung the same song?"

"Hm?" Efi responded with confusion. She probably hadn't, then.

"Hmm... I don't think so."

"I see."

It was a shaky answer, but Efi wasn't that much of a moron. I made a mental note that she sang a different song every day, and went back to focusing on said singing.

"Oh, Al and Efi! Good day," Mischa greeted as she poured some tea. "If it's all right with you, would you like to dine?" The teapot shook slightly in her hand.

I politely declined. "I just want to talk for a little bit."

"The day I arrived here, I brought back some food for Efi, and she says she wants me to get the same thing again... But I've forgotten what it was. Since you were there with us, Mischa, I thought you might remember."

Mischa's expression hardened slightly. "You came here... three days ago, yes?", she replied slowly.

"Yes, that's right."

I waited for her reply. She appeared to be deep in thought, then quietly lowered her head.

"I'm sorry... I wouldn't know, either."

"Is that so? No, I'm sorry for interrupting your tea time. Please, enjoy."

I bowed to Mischa and tapped Efi's shoulder. She yelped "ah!" and followed me, waving goodbye to Mischa.

"Where are we going?"

"To see that butler."

Efi told me the butler and songstress had been good friends for a long time. So it seemed guaranteed he'd know something about Mischa.

There were two possibilities I was considering. First was that for whatever reason, Mischa had lost her memory.

Efi had spent quite some time with Mischa over the past few days. She gave me no reports of witnessing any major incidents, so the "whatever reason" was beyond me for now. But maybe, just maybe, it had to do with the reason for the townspeople acting strange.

The other possibility was that the Mischa I first met and this Mischa were different people.

In that case, I could see a connection between this and the ghost stories that gloomy citizen mentioned, like "seeing his dead grandpa."

But personally, I couldn't imagine that there were two different Mischas. I didn't know which was the real one, but the real Mischa at least would have no reason to lie, and if she did lie, lie-eating Efi should have noticed.

"There's mister butler!"

Efi brought me out of my thoughts. I looked at where she was pointing. Phil was cleaning a large garden past the terrace.

He stopped to look back at us. "Oh, good day. Is something the matter? Are you lost again?"

"Nah! I'm not lost today!", Efi replied vigorously.

Did you really get so lost in the mansion as to come way out here? Seemed like quite a distance from the banquet hall... But this wasn't the time to ask that.

I broke the peaceful air between the two and asked Phil a question.

"Excuse me, can we talk for a moment?"

*

I'll protect her. So that she can smile and live happily.

Ever since I was little, I offered everything to her. There was no definite reason for it. I simply did it because I wanted to.

While tending to the garden, I had a sudden thought.

Is it really right to keep things this way?

Before I could answer that, I heard footsteps from behind. I turned around to see the traveling siblings who had come here a few days prior, Al and Efi.

"...What is it?"

It appeared these two had been searching for something since coming to town. So I found my pulse naturally quickening.

"About Miss Mischa... Pardon my rudeness, but has she ever been especially forgetful?"

Suddenly being asked exactly what I didn't want to be, I was at a loss for words. How should I answer that?

"I asked her earlier about an event she should have witnessed the day we first arrived at the mansion. But she was completely unable to answer. This alone could be passed off as her carelessly forgetting... Yet actually, a number of conversations have made me wonder."

"...Such as what?"

"To be specific... She's reacted as if learning something for the first time to things which she should already know. And yet she shows no signs of trying to fool or tease us. So I considered that something had affected her memories."

I was overcome with unease and impatience. "...Did you ask Mischa that?"

This was extremely bad. Mischa could not be told her own memories were gone. Because it would make her grieve so.

And that wasn't the only thing it would be bad for her to know. There was also...

"No, of course I couldn't just ask her "Do you have no memory of it?" I asked enough that I could surmise it."

Paying no mind to my silence, Al went on. I'll keep my composure. That should prevent anything from leaking out.

"Now, let's see... Did she suffer a strong blow to the head, perhaps? Or else, I've heard that illness or genes can lead to severe forgetfulness even in youth. Or maybe it's even possible someone is intentionally erasing her memories. Would you know anything, Phil?"

"Would this have something to do with what you are investigating in town?"

Al nodded. "Yes."

Figuring it might have caused more trouble, I didn't ask exactly what they were investigating. But I wondered what it had to do with Mischa.

"Is that so. ...Well, I suppose it was Charlotte who you met."

"Charlotte...?" Al's eyes widened at my surely-unexpected answer.

Well, it was true - or rather, not. It was unexpected even for me. It was a random lie which I found escaping my mouth.

"Mischa has a twin sister who comes to visit us on occasion."

Having said this much, I couldn't stop now. I couldn't say I felt nothing about having lied.

But... I had no choice.

I felt my body growing heavy. From guilt, I suppose. Or, wait...

Was it actually heavy?

"Waugh!"

A black object was wrapped around my leg. While in shape, it resembled something cute like a cat, it was covered in some kind of dark mud with pieces falling off - something I truly couldn't comprehend.

I desperately tried to shake it away, but the monster didn't move an inch off my leg.

"So, you lied."

Hearing Al speak, I looked up at him.

"Not to worry. It's still just a little lie. As long as you don't lie anymore, it won't attack you."

"Can I eat it?", Efi asked from beside Al, her eyes sparkling.

What in the world was all this?

"Geez, you're hungry?"

"I wanna eat it!"

"Alright, alright. Go for it."

After having the conversation, Efi leapt toward my leg. She did so with such force, I tipped over and fell on my behind.

"Ack... Ah, sorry. Just stay like that and let me talk, please."

I was in no position to say no. A monster was wrapped tight around my leg, so I couldn't even run. I weakly nodded.

"All right... I'll explain that monster that appeared on your leg, but first, I'll explain Efi. First, Efi is a dragon. Do you know about dragons?"

"Naturally, I do. A species which is born with strange powers, yes?"

"Right. In Efi's case, it's the power to eat lies. When someone lies, she can give that lie form and eat it. That's what the monster on your leg is."

I returned my gaze to my leg, and the monster was gone; instead, it was in Efi's hands.

Stuffing her cheeks with the monster, she had a satisfied expression like eating a delicious meal. She certainly did seem to be eating it.

"Well, it seems you understand. So, next. Why did you lie?"

I felt a sharp glare on me. He had seen through everything.

"I'm sorry..."

An apology came out of my mouth. I couldn't lie in front of these people. I could see that quite clearly.

"Mischa... is sick. Due to a sickness she was born with, all her memories vanish once every three days."

I slowly began to tell them about Mischa. Al listened with a serious look.

"She seems to remember things important to her, such as her name, her family. That she loves to sing. All other memories... even those of me, she forgets in three days."

My voice trembled. This was something I'd understood for such a long time, yet my heart quivered.

"But... if she were told that. To tell her that in three days, she would even forget about her sickness... it would make her so sad. I did tell her once, long ago... And I never want her to feel the way she did then ever again. So... won't you keep quiet to her?", I implored, my head hung low.

What was I doing, lying to them and then making a request? But I had my back to the wall.

"It's all right."

I was startled to hear a much kinder voice than I'd expected.

"Actually, the fact of Efi being a dragon isn't something people should hear either, so... Rare things are that much more likely to be hunted down, you know. And I, too, was forced into being unable to hide it. So, let's both keep a secret."

With a wry smile, Al also made a request of me.

His mood was shockingly different from his relentless deductions a moment ago. I wondered if he might have been hiding something bigger yet.

"...I understand."

I stood up from my shameful position on the ground. Al lent me a hand in getting up.

"Mister butler, you won't lie anymore?"

Suddenly, Efi hit where it hurt, and I felt a regret akin to fatigue. She seemed to be done with her meal, patting her slightly-fuller belly.

...She really did eat lies. Dragons are strange creatures indeed.

"No, I have learned that I can't lie in front of you."

Efina made a face showing a little bit of disappointment. Had she been hoping for seconds?

"...Well then, we have investigations to do."

Al bowed and smiled at me. I apologized again with a bow and saw them off.

"...Are you okay? That looked like it was tough."

Once Al and Efi were completely out of sight, a voice came from behind me, where no one should have been.

When I turned around, standing before me was the bluebird.

"Bluebird..."

Though she was called the bluebird, she simply had large bird wings on a human back. So I still couldn't get used to that name.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Didn't you say your existence couldn't be spoken of to humans?"

"Did I?"

She played dumb, then calmly smiled. The deep blue wings on her back shook in the wind.

My meeting with the bluebird occurred while I was sorting out the mansion's storeroom.

Though, to be exact, she didn't yet have the form she does now. When I found her, she was only a giant egg.

What kind of egg is this?, I wondered. But leaving it here, it seemed likely to break. So I carefully picked it up - and just then, a crack ran through the shell.

Oh no; did I handle it too roughly? As I worried, the cracks began to spread across the egg. Soon, a creature like a human child showed her face from inside.

I describe her as "like" a human because of the large wings which grew from her back. Beautiful wings which seemed to hold blue skies inside them. For a few seconds, I was taken by their beauty.

"...Who are you?", I found myself saying, trying to figure out what this child was.

"Huh? Me? Hmm. Who would I be?"

She only responded back with another question. Not knowing how to respond, I smiled wryly.

"Oh, I know this much. I came to grant your wishes."

"Huh?"

Grant... my wishes?

"Then... Might you be the "bluebird"?"

There had long been a legend in this town. It spoke of a mythical being who would grant any wish and make people happy.

Seeing the blue wings on her back, I began to feel it was her.

"If you'll call me that."

What an ambiguous answer. But that didn't matter to me. The important thing was that she might grant my wish.

"Well, this is sudden... but can I make a wish now?"

"Yeah? What?"

I'd always had but one wish.

"...I have a friend named Mischa. I want you to cure her sickness."

"Hmm..."

Would she really grant my wish? She wouldn't ask for a suitable payment, would she? Though I'd stated my wish with such determination, I quickly felt uneasy.

However, the bluebird shook her head. "I don't think my power can grant that one," she answered all aloof.

What...? So she can't grant any wish? Though I was visibly disappointed, she seemed to pay me no mind and asked another question.

"Anything else?"

But the wish I'd just asked for was my most heartfelt wish. Nothing else could possibly come to mind. I only wish for Mischa... At that point in my thoughts, I did have one idea.

"Ah... Well then, Mischa's happiness. I want for Mischa to never be sad, and always be happily smiling."

Once I'd spoken it, I realized it was a fairly vague wish. Maybe this wouldn't do either.

"Ahh, maybe even I can do that one. Sure."

"Huh?"

Truly? Hearing that wholly unexpected reply, I felt anxious whether it was really alright.

"No worries. Your Mischa will definitely be happy."

Then, the bluebird spread her wings wide.

Once they spanned the whole storeroom, the room lit up with a flash of light.

"Now your wish is granted."

I timidly opened my eyes. The bluebird stood there with just about the same expression as before.

"...Was that the end of it?"

"Yep."

That was a disappointment. Though, I hadn't gone outside yet, so I didn't know how things might have changed.

"Your wish is granted, probably," the bluebird boasted, ending with a word that only added to my unease.

"I'm the bluebird. So what should I call you?"

Come to think of it, I hadn't told her my name yet.

"Err..."

"Phil."

I raised my head and looked at the bluebird.

"...You really did grant my wish, didn't you?"

"If you think so."

The bluebird would always reply ambiguously like this to my questions.

"What were you thinking about?"

"Just reminiscing a bit about when I met you."

"Oh yeah... I was nude, so you were blushing real bad."

...I'd prefer to have not discussed that.

"Is it okay even if you can't be happy, Phil?"

"I'm fine. If Mischa is happy, then that's a happy thing for me as well... Ah, yes, my cleaning was interrupted. I should get back to that..."

I picked up the broom fallen to the side. Yes. Even if I couldn't be happy myself, this was fine.

*

"What're we gonna do now?"

Al was walking quick. I was doing my best not to get left in the dust.

"I'm going out to look for the bluebird."

When he reached the big door in the entrance hall, Al finally stopped.

"Hold down the fort?"

"Yeah."

Again... But oh well. I'm a good kid, so I keep promises!

"Efi, stay in this mansion. If you find the bluebird, you can just report it to me when I get back."

"Why're you hurrying to look all of a sudden?"

"I'm starting to suspect the bluebird's a dragon."

The bluebird, a dragon...? But it's a bird.

"Dragon? Like me?"

"Yeah. I can't imagine this is the work of a human. As soon as someone said they saw it, things started getting weird in town. If the bluebird really exists, it's highly likely it's a dragon that's the cause of all this weirdness."

Al patted my head and reached for the door handle.

"And if the bluebird's a dragon, then what's its power...? Causing memory loss? In that case, townspeople who had their bad memories erased would be cheery, and those who had happy memories erased would be gloomy... That could be it. But powers seem to vary between dragons, so I can't narrow it down yet..."

Muttering to himself about complicated stuff, Al left the mansion.

"The singer lady's not here..."

I looked under the round table in the hall and behind small trees and everywhere, but I couldn't find the songstress.

"Maybe she's taking a nap?"

But even if she was, Al told me it was bad to go into people's rooms without permission.

"What should I do...?"

I twisted my head and thought. Al always did that when he was thinking.

Oh yeah, mister butler was in that big garden earlier. Maybe I could talk to him?

"Let's do it!"

And so six seconds later, I came to an answer.

"Huh?"

I came back to the big garden, but even mister butler was gone.

"Mmgh..." I hadn't thought about what if the butler was gone. Now what?

"Hello."

As I worried over what to do, I heard a voice beside me. It wasn't a voice I'd heard before.

I turned and saw a strange person with blue wings sitting on the fence around the garden.

"Hello! I'm Efina! But Efi's fine!"

I shouted my super-important introduction. The blue-winged person seemed a little surprised.

"You're energetic, huh? I'm the bluebird."

"Huh?"

Bluebird? Al said he was looking for the bluebird, right?

"But you're not a bird, are you?"

"If you say so, Efi, then maybe."

Maybe? Hmm... The things this person said seemed a little too complicated for me. But I remembered what Al said earlier.

"Miss bluebird, are you a dragon?"

"I'm the bluebird."

The bluebird. She introduced herself to me, and those lie monsters didn't show up. So miss bluebird wasn't lying. So, that meant... I don't know.

"I was looking for somebody to talk to. Wanna talk?"

"Okay, sure."

Alright! If we could talk, maybe I'd hear something about the bluebird. Al really wanted to know about the bluebird, so I'm sure he'd be glad when I told him about this!

"What's a dragon?", the bluebird asked, hopping down from the fence.

"Uhh, well, they've got all these powers, and, uh... They can fly!"

That was the number one explanation of dragons I could muster.

Of course, I could fly, but Al told me not to go flying off on my own, so I wouldn't fly most of the time.

"Huh, that's neat."

"I can't since I'm told not to fly off on my own, but you've got wings, huh?"

"Yeah. Never used them, but maybe I can fly."

Miss bluebird jumped a little bit off the ground and flapped her wings. With a flappy sound, she floated in the air.

"Wooow!"

"But I'm a bird, so of course I can fly, right?"

She didn't seem that surprised, and gently landed on the ground.

"I guess so..."

"Having wings, having cool powers. Yeah, maybe we're similar."

"But you're not a dragon, right?"

"Uh-huh. 'Cause I'm the bluebird. Phil calls me that, so I think so."

Because of mister butler? Al told me "you're Efina," and that's why I call myself that too. Maybe that's how it is for everyone?

"So is mister butler... Is Phil your papa, miss bluebird?"

"Hmm, maybe not that. Phil is Phil. If I had to say, maybe he's my friend."

When I was born, I instinctively thought of Al as my papa. Al said that was a "characteristic" of dragons. So, maybe miss bluebird really was just a bluebird.

"Oh yeah, keep me a secret to everyone else, okay?"

"Why?"

"No specific reason. I just say it to everybody," she said with an unfazed look. But I always keep promises!

"Okay! I won't tell anybody!"

"Right."

Did that reply mean "it's a promise"?

"Well, I'm getting sleepy, so I'm gonna take a nap."

The bluebird yawned, and I yawned too.

"You're tired too, Efi? Well, good night."

The bluebird floated off the ground, and went over to the other side of the fence.

"Uhh... Let's get our info in order! Miss bluebird was miss bluebird... and can fly! That is all!"

Alright. Now whenever Al came back, I'd be all set!

*

"...Excuse me, do you have a moment?"

I talked to a resident passing beside me. Or to be exact, beside a sculpture I was hiding behind.

"Huh? Oh, er, I..."

"Just for a moment!", I pleaded in a way difficult to take as gloomy nor serious. The sullen middle-aged woman hesitantly heard my request.

"Are you familiar with the rumors of the bluebird?"

"Oh... yes. I believe it appeared about a year ago..."

"A year ago?"

If that were true, it was some pretty helpful info. I wanted to be sure it was accurate.

"I heard about it from my master... About a year ago, apparently he met the bluebird. She even introduced herself as the bluebird, and had these blue wings..."

"...The bluebird can talk?"

"It seems she did. He said that she had wings on her back, but looked much like a human."

An appearance much like a human... Maybe the bluebird really was a dragon. Although... actually, there were some humans who had wings too. I knew such a feathered friend myself.

"Um, is that all?", the woman asked, looking at me dubiously.

"Oh, yes. Thank you for telling me that."

I thanked her with a bow and quickly ended the conversation. If I probed people too deeply, rumor could very well spread among the gloomy townspeople about that traveler grabbing people and grilling them for info.

"...Would be nice if Efi had some findings too," I suddenly thought once the woman was out of sight.

I'd started today by scouring the town for the bluebird from the moment I left the mansion. The townspeople I questioned told me what they knew, but it was all stuff I'd heard before.

After that, I decided to stick to questioning gloomy people like so. Since they were avoiding me, I could only ask a scant few. But three of them had met the bluebird, or knew someone who had, allowing me to get some fairly solid info.

And the information I got from those three all had something in common. They all said the bluebird spoke the language of humans, and that it had the appearance of a human with wings growing from their back.

Like I said, some types of human had wings too. But I'd never heard of those people having special powers - like the power to make people happy.

"...Time to go back."

Just thinking about it seemed unproductive. The stress was building from days of questioning. Maybe I gave up my train of thought a little early, but I decided to head back to the mansion for the day.

The instant I opened the front door, Efi leapt on me. She hit right around my stomach, so I groaned and nearly fell over.

"What? You're awfully energetic."

"Um, I met the bluebird!"

"...!"

No way. Efi really did have some findings of her own? Now this was lucky.

"Oh, really? Good job. Well, let's get back to the room and talk."

"Okay! Oh!"

Efi had a look of remembrance and held out her hand.

"Where's today's snack?"

"Oh."

...I'd completely forgotten.

"...Cheer up already."

"But you broke your promise, Al!"

Efi was stuck like this once we got back to the room. She wouldn't look me in the eye. I'd utterly hurt her feelings.

"I never said I'd buy you something every day, anyway."

"Mmgh..." She glimpsed toward me.

I reached into the bag by the bed for the candy from the other day and shook it in front of Efi. "Here, the leftover candy. You ate a lie today too, so put up with it."

Efi's eyes watched it shake, then she calmly took it from my hand.

"I'll deal!"

"Now, let me hear about the bluebird. You met her, right?"

"Mmfh, fhuh mhh mgh mhuh!"

"...Push the candy to the side of your mouth before you talk."

Efi quickly shifted over the candy. Then she began to speak, albeit still not entirely clearly.

"Miss bluebird wasn't a dragon. I asked, are you a dragon?, and she said, I'm the bluebird!"

"And no lie monster came out?"

"Nope. So miss bluebird is miss bluebird! Oh, and she flew!"

Efi used her hands to illustrate flapping wings.

"You've got wings too... Is there a point to that gesturing?"

"I mean, my wings aren't big like miss bluebird's..."

So they were big wings? I'd heard the size of a dragon's wings indicated the extent of their ability.

"Just to make sure, the bluebird looked like a human, right? And she just had big wings on her back."

"Yeah, that's right!"

Again, it coincided with the stories I'd heard from the townspeople. But I hadn't imagined she'd show up in the mansion.

"And where did the bluebird go? When will she appear next?"

"Umm... I dunno..."

Efi told me that the bluebird said she was sleepy and left. If it was true that she only showed up once a week like the townspeople said, this was going to get tedious, no doubt. Not to mention...

"So she's not a dragon..."

If no lie monster appeared, it must have been true. I felt closer to the truth, but also that much further away.

"...I'm gonna sleep and let it sort out."

"Does sleeping do that?"

"When humans are asleep, their brains'll just sort out info for them on their own."

I'd heard that somewhere, at least. I didn't know if it was accurate, but I didn't really care. I did know from experience that your head worked better if you'd slept well instead of being sleep-deprived.

"Well, I'll sort stuff out too! Good night!"

"Wait."

As she hurried to get in bed, I grabbed Efi by the collar and lifted her up.

"What?! I'm trying to go to bed!"

"That's my bed."

Efi stuck out her tongue and looked away from me.

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