Chapter 4 - Lucy's Reaction

Esther was on her way to the restaurant as usual. As she walked slowly out the front door of the house, it wasn't hard to hear a male voice from the inside of her breast pocket.

"Well, how am I going to explain this to Lucy?"

Esther looked left and right before answering. After making sure there was no one around who was interested or had noticed, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, that's for you to think about. And keep your tone a little lower."

"Ah, as if I don't have enough to think about..."

James sighed. In the discomfort of being in Esther's inner pocket, he had forgotten that he was not supposed to speak loudly. With that warning, he made a note to himself to be more careful.

Apart from that, when he thought about it, he really did have too many worries. He needed to ease the worries of one or two people who cared about him, let alone himself. Though… at least he had already left a note for Lucy. She should have understood his situation, right? At least it shouldn't have been a problem.

It wasn't until he heard Esther's voice that he thought her worries wouldn't be so high.

"Still, you should at least tell her that you're alive."

Her voice was surprisingly stern. Well, that harsh tone was normal. Anyone who had witnessed Lucy's grief and search for some time would have reacted in a similar way.

Still, James paused for a moment at the harshness. Esther was not usually so stern. But he understood why. The situation must have been worse than he had expected. So he said sincerely, "Of course, I don't want to upset my boss."

Esther breathed a sigh of relief as she continued on her way to the restaurant. After a short pause, she first said: "Alright~!" with an extended way, changed the subject, and asked: "So tell me then. What's your favorite color?"

James answered after some thought.

"Blue and purple, I guess. I've always found blue particularly soothing, with its watery calm."

Esther giggled.

"The way you spoke made me feel for a moment like I was talking to an older person. I like purple and black. Oh, and red."

James laughed bitterly at that. Would she believe him if he said that he was really old? He thought as he replied:

"So we like similar colors. That's nice."

Esther nodded in agreement as they were already at the restaurant. Before they walked through the door, she murmured a warning:

"Keep quiet until we get to our boss. Okay?"

James didn't say anything. He had already realized that he had to keep quiet. Well, everything would be much more comfortable for him if he could switch to his mini-form. At the moment, it was difficult to even call himself a bakugan.

It was technically no different from a talking ball. Apart from that, he could understand Esther's reluctance to be seen with a Bakugan. After all, her mother was one of the minority who did not take kindly to Bakugans.

After receiving silent approval, Esther went inside and hurried off. Fortunately, the day had only just begun… Apart from a few regular customers, not many people were around.

"Good morning to you, young lady. You're late again."

Esther laughed embarrassedly at the customer who said this.

"What can I say? I can't leave the arms of sleep easily."

She then walked into the kitchen. The customer who had just spoken, a middle-aged man, sighed.

"You shouldn't be so sleepy when you're young."

Vestal was often a place where hard work was praised. In such a situation, the middle-aged man thought, a young woman like Esther should have more energy.

Esther ignored him and headed for the kitchen. She frowned as if she recognized this strange old man.

However, when she entered the kitchen, her expression was greatly turned back to normal. Lucy seemed to have fallen asleep at one of the kitchen tables.

Esther sighed.

"Really..."

Esther knew very well how seriously Lucy took her work. Yet the fact that she had fallen asleep like that left a bad taste in Esther's mouth. Who knows what she had been researching all night?

She asked in boredom:

"James, are you awake?"

James was quick to reply.

"Yes, of course. Are we there?"

Esther took James out of her inside pocket and put him on the table where Lucy had fallen asleep. James could observe through the gaps. He could clearly see the black lines under Lucy's eyes from lack of sleep.

His heart sank. What had she been doing all this time? Was she investigating him? Had she done this for someone she had only known for a few weeks?

He left her a note. So it shouldn't have happened. And what was the reason for such an extreme effort? So... he shouldn't have been the cause of her state, right?

"She's been looking for you for a while. She's been especially worried since you disappeared."

He shivered slightly. When he heard those words, his feelings were mixed. So she had really done this. He wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad.

'Stupid.'

He found this situation very stupid. Really, what kind of a fool would go to such lengths for someone they had only known for a few weeks? Although it didn't seem so unreasonable considering what he had done and how close they were…

But it was necessary for his thoughts to become confused and for his heart to fill with both warmth and sadness.

He had to show that he was alive and good, even if he was a bakugan. He was not at the stage where only words could soothe.

If he wasn't in ball form, he could approach her. He would have shown that he was fine in motion. No, he should have approached. He should have at least shown her that he was okay.

But he couldn't move except to roll. He felt he had to change that. He had to open his mini-form and get closer!

The ball form glowed. As James struggled, the glow increased and new details began to appear on James's body as silver scales scattered everywhere.

"James you're glowing!"

More ridges and ridged surfaces and patterns began to appear. Two light purple circular lines parallel to each other and many interconnecting lines became visible.

The socket where the element should appear also revealed itself. Not surprisingly, it was completely empty. When this happened, instead of saying anything, James just forced himself to open.

And then… he opened as he wanted it to. There was a small click.

First, his wings opened. There were purple circular lines on the top of the small wings. There was an empty space on one of the wings. Then, his small head came out and then a lilac-colored horn rised up. Immediately afterwards, more and more tiny protrusions emerged from the back of his head with a ticking sound.

Finally, when the little feet appeared, the transformation was complete. James's eyes, whose primary color was silver-lilac, were white and hard to notice unless anyone paid attention.

A/N: I couldn't find a picture for this, but you can think of it as similar to Silent Naga's ball form. It's a bit lighter in color.

As he opened, he flapped his little wings, scale-looking things scattering with each flap, and they disappeared like an illusion on the ground.

Esther blinked her eyes and stared in amazement at James' change of form. The glittering scattering of the scales was like a light show. It was far from realistic. Something like this...

'Oh, James himself isn't normal though…'

Esther found this quite logical when she thought about it. Then, as she thought this, James finally poked Lucy's cheek with his little feet. As his new feet slowly slid downwards, the slightly pointed tip corners dug into Lucy's cheek. Lucy's brow furrowed as they dug in.

"Hum…? Five more minutes..."

James' voice was heard.

"Booooooossss, you can't sleep at work time. Wake up please."

James kept poking and prodding as he said this in a flat voice. At the end of the uncomfortable touching, Lucy blinked her eyes open. 

"Huh... James?"

She looked up as she said this in surprise. But she couldn't see James around. Then, Esther said, "Good morning, boss!" in a normal way, and then started to attend to the orders she had heard outside.

Lucy also said "Good morning" in confusion. Her gaze went straight to the bakugan standing on the table, looking up at her.

She was disappointed not to see James around. However, she was pretty sure she heard James' voice.

"Morning, boss."

And immediately after that, Lucy's facial expression was strikingly blank. Internal screaming. Although in this case...

"JAAAMES!?"

A scream of surprise and fear filled the kitchen.