Hajimemashita

SORA can't help but laugh and Dandy watched him as he held his tummy and didn't hold back from laughing.

Did she do something funny? All Dandy can remember doing is to scare him.

She looked at Shina and Naru who removed their Oni and Kappa masks. They looked at Sora, too, with puzzlement.

"What…what are you wearing? Do you plan to go to a festival?" Sora tried talking in between his laugh. "Woah, I really thought I was being hunted by demons and yokai."

"But you are," Dandy removed the masked in her head and gave it a good look. {Isn't this scary?}

Dandy then looked at the other masked. The Okame and Hyottoko sure looked funny especially now that she can see it worn by Yoshiko. A mask with big eyes, a big nose, and the mouth that made a big shape as if he was whistling and now with a big wolf body.

And Okame mask worn by Tamotsu. With his tall, slender, and manly body, it looked funny with a face of a woman having puffy cheeks.

It was then that Dandy started to laugh, too. They looked silly. Maybe that was why Sora was like that.

"Did you see it now? The mask that you're wearing aside from the Oni, kappa, Samurai, and Tengu, all of it are funny to look at." Sora wiped his eyes as he started to calm down. "Your mask and that two," he pointed to Tamotsu and Yoshiko, "are all funny. Especially yours. Don't you know anime? This is from an anime character."

"Anime?"

Sora knotted his forehead. "You don't know her?"

Puzzled as he is, she really doesn't know who he was talking about. "This is the first time I saw her. This was just given to me by Shina and Naru."

"Really?"

"Yes. Really, really."

"Haaa?" Sora scratched his head. "Is there any place that doesn't have a TV?"

"What's a TV?"

It was then Sora's face fell. Is it that bad that she doesn't know about TV?

"Is your house doesn't have a TV?"

"That's my house," Dandy pointed at Old Oak. "And I don't have a TV."

Sora's head followed the body of the tree before going back to Dandy. "You..don't have a house?"

"That's my house."

"You don't have a house."

"I have!" Dandy shouted. And to really point it out, she stood up and held Sora's hand to drag him under the big old oak tree.

"See that blanket? That's my bed," She proudly said. "That blanket came from my mama. And it's super warm. And sometimes, Yoshiko will sleep beside me for more warmth. Right, Yoshiko?"

"Yes, Your Grace."

The moment Yoshiko spoke was the moment Sora jumped to his feet and hid at Dandy's back. "You're speaking!"

"Yes."

"Me, too!"

"Us, too!"

And the second time that day, Sora screamed his lungs out.

*****

SORA can't believe what he was hearing and seeing. A wolf that was talking. A guy that turned into a grasshopper. Twins that always flew around. And Dandy, he cannot believe that she was living under a tree.

And now, they were sitting down in the flower bed like the knights in the round table.

"You were saying that what you said you're a deity of this forest is real?"

"Yes. Why? You didn't believe me?" Dandy's big blue eyes stared at him. Innocent and cute, especially with those round cheeks.

Sora took his eyes off of Dandy but he thought that it was a bad idea. When his eyes landed on the wolf, he could almost feel his eyes piercing thru him.

{Why? What did I do wrong now?}

Sora cleared his throat and looked back at Dandy. "Y-yeah. I thought you were just playing."

"Playing, huh?" the wolf gruff at him. "Our Grace ain't playing with yah."

"Now, now, Yoshiko. Why are you angry again, huh?" Dandy stood up and came to Yoshiko's side to pet his head. "I think he didn't mean to say that. After all, it is our fault."

"I beg to disagree, Your Grace," It was the grasshopper now. "He made a mistake to pluck a flower from your bed. You are too generous to just forgive him."

"Well, about that," Sora interjected to their conversation. "I didn't mean to pull that out. It's just that…I was too startled when I saw you flying."

"Then how about when you tried to step on it? You're trying to destroy it, ain't yah?"

"No!" he was quickly up on his feet. "That…I was just trying to check if it will be soft enough for me to jump into."

"Jump into!" The grasshopper quickly changed into a big man. "Hw dare you?!"

"No, no. It just feels like a bed. Right. A bed. I thought it looks soft and beautiful and—"

"Really? I looked beautiful?"

"What?"

When Sora saw that Dandy blushed from what he said, he can feel it too. The warm feeling was bubbling up to his face. And it feels hot!

"You know what, when you called that flower, beautiful it's as if you were calling me that, too." Dandy beamed him with a smile. "You see, I came from that flowers. I am the flower spirit of that flowers and a forest deity, too."

And as if to back up what Dandy said, the flowers started to sway. And some of the dandelion seeds flew along with the soft wind.

The place looks like it was full of snow. Snow that instead of falling, they were flying. Taking the wishes that it could hear.

"Beautiful," Sora cannot help but say it. It was really beautiful. And it was more beautiful when he glanced back at Dandy.

She was still smiling at him that turned into a giggle. Watching her smile as the dandelion seeds flew, it was a perfect image that even modern gadgets cannot capture.

With a sigh, he stretched out his hand. "I'm Hosusora Inoue. You can call me Sora. Nice to meet you, Dandy."

Dandy giggled again before reaching her hand out. "Nice to meet you, Sora."

Sora smiled and they both giggled when he shook Dandy's hand.

Sora knew that it will be the start of a new friendship.

The two of them were rejoicing, weren't even bothered by the quietness that befell to the others.

****END OF CHAPTER****

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