"I-I'll try too."
Ray stepped forward and tossed the pouches into the air. But his attempt looked incredibly clumsy.
Just as I suspected! Didn't he quickly glance my way, then subtly twist his wrist to avoid catching the pouches on the back of his hand?
My own failure was just due to lack of skill, nothing to get upset over, but this was different.
'It's better not to offer comfort if you're going to fake it.'
Pout. My lips stuck out noticeably. Ray immediately looked chagrined, as if realizing I'd seen right through his little act.
This time, my brother stepped in to console me. Effortlessly tossing and catching the pouches on the back of his hand, he spoke gently.
"Well, it's just that our Lovey has small hands. These games are naturally easier if you have bigger hands. See? I can just wave my hand, and swoosh, they're caught."
"Ari has small hands too."
"That..."
"And she caught them perfectly fine."
"Well..."
My brother trailed off, clearly out of excuses. Truthfully, I wasn't genuinely angry at Ray. I was just putting on a sulky act as a warning – don't lie just to make me feel better.
Figuring I'd made my point, I was about to drop it.
- Haha, you're quite amusing.
"Huh...?"
"Are you very angry... Sei?" Ray asked cautiously as I looked around, searching for the source of the voice. The others just exchanged wary glances.
Since no one seemed to have spoken, I was starting to think I'd imagined it.
- Silly girl. Over here.
"...Ack?"
Flutter! Flutter! I flinched as something bright darted back and forth right in front of my face.
I caught a glimpse of what looked like dragonfly wings and, thinking it was an insect, recoiled in alarm.
But the sparkling light shot straight towards the bridge of my nose.
- Can you see me now?
"A f-fairy?"
It was, quite literally, a fairy. A tiny person with dragonfly-like wings hovered right in front of me.
Was this real? I stammered, too stunned to speak properly, when Ray asked,
"A fairy? What are you talking about?"
"R-Right here... can't you see it?"
'Can only I see it?'
When I pointed, the tiny fairy landed on my fingertip and burst into giggles.
'How can they not see something shining and flitting about so obviously?'
"We can't see anything, let alone a light," Ray replied, sounding confused.
- That's right, only you can see me. I allowed it.(The fairy replied smugly in my head).
"So it's right here?" Ray asked, reaching out.
- Eeek! I don't like you! Go away!
As Ray reached out, trying to grab the fairy who was preening about only being visible to me, it shrieked and fluttered higher into the air.
Ray looked baffled when his hand closed on empty air.
'It's not there anymore, it flew away from you.'
I kept quiet, worried he'd be too disappointed if I told him. The only small comfort for Ray might have been knowing that the fairy also shrieked "I hate you!" when it saw Ari.
Telling them might have offered some consolation, but since it was clear neither would actually be pleased, I didn't say it aloud.
- How annoying. These humans. Tsk. (The fairy complained in my head).
The first fairy I'd ever met didn't seem to have a pleasant personality at all, calling nice kids like Ray and Ari 'annoying'.
I hadn't expected much, but bumping into such a foul-tempered fairy... It was rather disappointing.
The fairy flitted about nervously for a moment, then turned back to me and landed on the colorful thread ball.
- You brought this for me, right?
"Uh...? I suppose so?"
'Although, actually, Ari was the one who brought it.'
Before I could even voice the thought, the ball vanished completely. Everyone gasped, seeing it disappear without a trace right before our eyes.
"Is it really a fairy?" Ari breathed.
"I can't believe it... I thought Lovey was just imagining things out of disappointment," my brother admitted.
"So you didn't believe me, Brother," I accused.
"Ack...!" he stammered.
As I was glaring at him in disapproval, the fairy tugged sharply at a strand of my hair, clearly wanting my attention again.
I looked down, and it pointed towards the strawberry on my piece of cake – the one I always saved for last.
- Give me this too.
"Huh? Uh...? Isn't it a bit big for you? Are you sure?"
The strawberry was plump, larger than the fairy's entire torso... I doubted it could manage, but it kept demanding, so I couldn't refuse. I gently lifted the strawberry with my fork and held it out. The fairy immediately hugged it tightly. As a result, the cream clinging to the berry smeared all over the tiny creature. Despite the slippery cream, the fairy grinned with extreme satisfaction.
- Haha, lovely!
It seemed to really like strawberries. Noticing the strawberry still left on my brother's cake, I was just about to offer that one too...
- I have received food from a guest who sought me, and I have received a gift. A fairy must offer recompense when they receive payment. You are now my friend and have earned the right to enter my world.
Unlike its earlier mischievous chatter, the voice now held a heavy resonance, sounding like something vast and ancient.
As I stood there gaping at the sudden shift in atmosphere, a fierce wind abruptly kicked up.
"Whoa!"
"Eek!"
The flowers—no, the entire field—whipped violently in the gale. Fallen petals swirled upwards, gathering into a vortex of color.
Trapped within the petal storm, like being caught in a blizzard, we squeezed our eyes shut and waited for the wind to die down.
And when the wind finally calmed, and I opened my eyes...
"Where... am I?"
I had opened my eyes somewhere entirely different from the flower field. It was a truly bizarre space.
"Why is the sky... purple?"
I mumbled, looking up at the sky. Furthermore, it wasn't simply a purple tone; it was hard to say it was unified into a single color.
Some parts were light purple, and some parts were bluish-purple. Purple clouds were seen blending into the various purplish sky, like paint dissolving.
"This isn't a glass lamp, is it?"
I saw tall, thick poles with shimmering glass pieces dangling from them, initially thinking they were standing chandeliers, but they were actually trees made of glass. What I'd mistaken for glass ornaments were the leaves.
Even these came in countless colors: translucent blue, pink, yellow... The sheer variety of colors was overwhelming.
"Is anyone...?"
Feeling a primal fear creep in at being alone, I started to call out. Just then, lights began to blink on, one after another, as if beckoning me.
It was clearly meant to guide me. I hesitated, wondering if I should follow, but there didn't seem to be any other option.
Walking through this unknown space felt a bit unsettling, but I wasn't overly worried. I had a pretty good idea who would be waiting at the end of this path.
'The fairy, no doubt.'
I ground my teeth. That damned little pest! Calling me a friend after I gave it food and a gift, and then dragging me off to a place like this without permission?
'When I find it, I'm going to grab it and shake it senseless.'
Until it throws up everything it ate and begs me to stop. It wasn't a nice fairy anyway, so I wouldn't feel any remorse.
'I should have known when it was so nasty to those innocent kids.'
Just a fundamentally wicked creature. Discovering that fairies were real was interesting, but encountering such a malicious one wasn't exactly thrilling.
I was following the lights when, the moment I stepped on a particular spot, the ground vanished beneath me, and I plunged downwards.
"Aaaaaaah!"
The sensation of falling made my legs go weak and tingly. As I plummeted deeper into the black abyss, the purple sky above receded rapidly, shrinking to a faint glow, then a mere dot, before disappearing entirely.
Thump!
Finally, I landed on something soft and fluffy. Physically, I was unharmed, but the terror of the fall lingered. I lay sprawled, trembling, when a voice sounded from above me.
"What an interesting child. More scared of falling than of monsters?"
It was the voice of that insolent fairy. Eyes flashing, I lifted my head, but surprisingly, the figure standing before me wasn't the tiny fairy. It wasn't a minuscule pest but a grown man.
"Not a man. A fairy," he corrected.
I blinked. 'Huh? Did I say 'man' out loud?'
"No, you didn't say it. I simply read your thoughts,"
The man—no, the fairy—grinned mischievously. Hearing that he could read my thoughts, I reflexively clapped my hands over my head as if to hide them, even though I knew it wouldn't do any good.
"Exactly. And yet you do it anyway. You must be quite foolish, mustn't you?"
"Eek...!"
Honestly, I couldn't argue, as I felt pretty foolish myself.
Anyway... I had just been vowing to grab the fairy and shake it until it puked, but now, seeing this size... maybe not...
'No! Cancel! Cancel! I didn't mean it!'
"Hmm... I saw you smiling so brightly next to the monster, I thought you must be quite brave. Was it just because you're a bit... simple?"
Tsk, tsk.
The fairy clicked his tongue, shaking his head as if finding me utterly ridiculous.
It was a look that saw something truly pitiful and pathetic, so I couldn't help but feel a lump in my throat.
"There were no monsters there!"
'All that was near me was one silly brother and two cute kids!'
I grumbled inwardly. The fairy chuckled.
"That's all? You mean you couldn't see the monster?"
"That's what I said!"
'Maybe it was hiding among the flowers?'
I hadn't really examined the flowerbed closely, so I couldn't be sure. As I answered sullenly, the fairy regarded me with renewed interest.
He leaned in abruptly, making me uncomfortable. I tried to step back, but found my retreat blocked – a wall had materialized behind me.
"I merely thought you were a peculiar and amusing child," he mused.
"What?"
"So it was you. The owner of the future that vanished."
I was about to snap at the fairy for continually calling me strange, but his cryptic words startled me.
'A vanished future...?' One possibility sprang to mind. It was...
'No. Don't think about it. La la la la, la la la! I sing a song whenever my mind's a mess~!'
As I spouted nonsense inside my head, the fairy lightly cupped my cheeks with his hands.