Trajectory (3)

"I'm so excited. What attribute are you going to pick, Josh?" Sakura grabs Josh by the arm and drags him out of the room. I follow after them, but Shinobu grabs my sleeve. I turn around and look at her.

"What's up?"

"Um, bye," Shinobu says shyly.

"Uh, yup, bye."

[That was awkward.]

I have a bit of a strange interaction with Shinobu, but I shake it off and walk outside. The light from the sun is dyed green as it travels through the massive leaves overhead. The dim but warm-hued light makes the surroundings feel very comfortable. I walk over to the demolished fort to see if any fairies are waiting for me. At first glance, the area seems deserted, but I soon notice a very familiar set of wings poking out above a small boulder.

"Is anyone here?" I call out while facing away from the occupied boulder so she doesn't catch on to me, knowing where she is. I keep the sight of her wings out of the corner of my vision. I can see that they tremble slightly at the sound of my voice. "I really wanted to talk to Woohee about what color of clothes she might want, but I guess I'll just have to leave."

Woohee's wings are shaking back and forth as she can barely contain herself.

"How will I know what kind of cookie to bring her? Oh well, I'll just have to get cookies another time."

"Guh!" I can barely stop myself from laughing as a strange sound emanates from behind the stone.

"What was that noise?" I feign ignorance and walk away from her position.

"Hmmm!" She squeals. I can't hold back any longer and cover my mouth while I giggle. I take a deep breath to compose myself.

"Is that rock making noises? That's weird. I'll have to check that out later, but I should head back to town for now." I start walking out of the fort while still keeping an eye on Woohee's hiding spot.

"Wait!" She lunges over the top of the boulder before ducking back down again.

"Huh? Is that Woohee?" She peeks at me, revealing only the top of her head. I can see tiny teardrops forming at the corner of her eyes. I can't hold it back anymore, and I burst out laughing.

[This is so cute it's killing me inside.]

"Why are you hiding over there?" I crouch down in front of her and rub her head with one of my fingers. Her hair is surprisingly soft and smooth.

"P-pumpernickel!"

"Huh? I can't hear you." I raise a hand to my ear and turn my head.

"I want a pumpernickel cookie!" Woohee leaps up in excitement. She's supporting herself with her arms while kicking her legs back and forth behind her. All the shyness from earlier has been replaced with anxious excitement.

"Well then, I'll make sure to get you one. By the way, what color clothes do you want?"

"Purple!" She flies into the air and grabs my hand. "But the last ones you gave me were too tight, and Woohee couldn't move very well."

[Now that I think about it, the fabric used in the gloves is probably too thick, given how small the fairies are. I'm sure we can make some shorts and t-shirts which would help with that. I was worried that they might get cold during the winter, but they were just wearing leaves previously, so they must have some method to regulate their temperature.]

"Sure, do you want a top that exposes your belly?"

"Uh huh, uh huh." She nods her head up and down with a big smile on her face. I relax my face, which has started to hurt from grinning too hard. Suddenly, her expression changes. "But, aren't you mad?"

"What do you mean?" I feel caught off guard by her sudden change in temperament.

"We took your big lizard…." Her voice trails off as she finishes speaking.

"Why did you take it?" My brow furrows as my suspicions are confirmed.

"Leader said we needed it to give to the forest guardian and that it would be better this way."

"Why would the guardian need a lizard?"

"To eat. It gets mad if we don't feed it. Leader says bad things would happen if it got mad."

"So, you weren't trying to hurt me, were you?"

"No…"

"Then there's nothing for me to be mad about. We all live different lives and have different responsibilities, and sometimes, there will be conflicts of interest. What matters is that you were trying to help me, not hurt me. I don't know anything about the forest guardian, but it sounds like it's pretty powerful. If you need help securing food for the guardian, you should have asked for my help. It sounds like this is an issue for all the residents in the forest. Isn't that right, Inari?" I turn around and find the leader of the fairies hovering a few feet away.

"This is my responsibility; I don't want to get you involved." Inari has her arms crossed as she speaks. Her whole body posture is more closed off than usual. It seems she's pretty uncomfortable at the moment.

"That's bullshit." I try to open up my posture by putting my hands on my hips to make her feel more at ease. The best thing to do is remove the sticky tension in the air. "It already involves me because it involves you. Plus, we're always going to kill more monsters than we can take with us, so now we don't have to worry about being wasteful."

Both girls are silent, which is unusual. It feels like there's still a lot of guilt going around.

[How should I say this…]

"I have to keep people at a distance." I start talking and hope to figure out what I want to say as I go. "I find that people tend to get close to me very quickly; I think it's because I'm a good listener. They tell me all about themselves and then think that we're friends. It's weird. They don't know the first thing about me, but because I let them talk, suddenly we're supposed to be friends? The worst part is that if I decline, I feel guilty. Due to this, I've learned to keep people at arm's length, and be a bit abrasive. I don't want to get close to people because I know how much of a commitment it is. There's a lot that goes into any relationship, but the hardest part is knowing that at some point in the future, you will hurt them. Whether it be something you say or something you do, you will hurt those you're close to. This is part of dealing with others. It's unavoidable. Despite all that, I went out of my way to get closer to both of you. The only thing we can do is try to keep each other in mind and prevent it from happening again."

"I don't need to be comforted by a human."

"Really? Well, I'm sorry for being presumptuous. You just don't look as confident today." I smirk at Inari, and she turns away.

"Very well. I know a dungeon in the area that would be good for your first exploration." Inari moves her hands to her hips which makes her look more comfortable. I can never tell what her intentions are based on her body language. Is she just pretending to feel bad to manipulate me? Does she still feel bad but is now covering it up now that I've noticed? How much of this interaction has been planned? Does she know I'm going to be expecting her to manipulate me and is now behaving overly sincere? Is Woohee complicit in all of this? These questions roar through my head during this whole conversation. For now, I decide to trust the tiny god in front of me and take the bait.

"You know it's rude to eavesdrop on people."

"Do you want my help or not." Inari frowns, which makes me chuckle.

"Of course, I just don't understand why you're hiding outside while we're talking. You clearly didn't want to give us any privacy." Her frown falls into a scowl which makes me laugh even harder.

She stares at me for a moment before covering her face with her hands and rubbing her temples.

"I really can't get a read on you."

"How do you think I feel?"

"We'll watch over the child while you head to town. But before you go, you might not want to get a pure magic stone of your own."

"Why not?" I ask, confused.

"It's just a hunch."

"Okay. I'll keep that in mind."

[One thing I can be sure of is that it's definitely not a hunch. I'll seriously have to reconsider my current plan.]

"Oh, by the way, I was wondering if you could do me a favor?" she asks.

"Sure, what's up?" Inari flies over to me with a small grin on her face.