“Don’t worry, you can go have fun after working,” said Eve. “Cooking is the one thing Team Diamond can’t do. But Sir Hakam, Great Aja, and a bunch of other officials are coming later, so I was relieved when I heard you were coming. Thank goodness.”
“Wait, officials? As in military-related? Isn’t that going to be a ton of people? Do you really think I’ll have time after cooking for all those― Hey, Eve! Can you not carry me under your arm like a piece of luggage?!”
I looked like a kid in this world, and Eve was a well-trained ninja. It quickly became clear there was no point in resisting, so I let her carry me out of the back door without fighting, letting her dump me in the kitchen. If I could have summed up my feelings in one phrase, it would’ve been “Boo-hoo.” Eve wasn’t joking about what she said earlier, and she made me pick up a kitchen knife to get to work.
At that moment, I sighed. Nothing was less appealing than working in my dreams, making me wish I could have kept enjoying my adventure to my heart’s content.
§
Shirley looked around with her sky-blue eyes. The setting sun dimly lit the mansion, and women hurriedly walked around, perhaps due to the guests coming and going. She wasn’t afraid, but she sneaked into the mansion to avoid being seen by others. While she didn’t feel guilty about being there or think someone would hurt her, others observing her made her incredibly nervous. She had grown up in the forests and in the labyrinth, recognizing humans were more clever than animals and had more complex thoughts than her. Without her blindfold to avoid eye contact, she tended to hide behind walls as she moved around.
They had once called her the god of death and the floor master. Many even called her the guardian of the forest before that, but that was because she simply liked to maintain her dwelling as she pleased. She didn’t think she had done anything praiseworthy. She was a beautiful woman by appearance, though she was someone else entirely on the inside. For example, she felt little emotion for people’s lives and deaths. What mattered was whether released souls were well circulated, as she considered a human’s death meaningful if it led to long-lasting prosperity.
Lately, everyone had been calling her “Shirley.” Even though the scenery on the second floor had changed drastically, the greatest change to Shirley was that people now called her by her name all the time. She tiptoed around, ensuring no one was nearby as she carefully pressed forward. Once she looked around the corner, she found someone in front of her and recoiled in shock. If she could speak, she probably would have screamed. She fell back on her butt, her face looking as if her soul had escaped from her mouth.
“Shirley?”
She let out a sigh of relief as soon as she heard the voice. While she accepted the outstretched hand and stood up, her breathing remained shallow for some time. Her hypothetical heart would have been beating like a jackhammer.
The boy smiling at her was strange, showing her the same smile as when they had first met. Others always feared for their lives and ran away whenever they saw her as the floor master. Yet he had walked with her hand in hand and complimented her humble garden. He was an honest person and somewhat reminded her of a small animal. When she had visited that land named Japan some time ago, he had shown her his true form as a fully grown adult. She was shocked when she had seen him like that if she was being honest.
“Sorry to scare you. Are you okay?” he asked.
Shirley nodded. He had an innocent-looking face, but his appearance in Japan came to mind, and she quickly averted her gaze. Her face grew hot for some reason, yet he casually stared right at her.
“You look even more human each day,” he continued. “You’re not translucent, and I can see your clothes. I can’t really call you a ghost anymore.”
She looked down at her own body. Before, she had floated around when they held hands. But more souls circulated as development on the second floor proceeded. Shirley, who was at the center of it all, had changed. The illusion of her body had advanced, and he could feel her skin when he held her hand.
Yet for Shirley, that semitransparent form was most comfortable. She had been keeping up this physical form out of consideration for people around her but felt she wouldn’t have to put up a front around him and could relax. It was a type of human transformation technique, and she had learned to change forms with little effort by simply thinking about it. As she expected, the boy was not afraid and had a smile spread across his face.
“Seeing you in that form takes me back! I remember we used to pretend to be ghosts before. Oh, can you hold my hand?”
Shirley made a face as if to say, “Gladly,” and squeezed his hand. His simple nature made her inner child come out whenever he was around. Not only that, but Shirley loved holding hands. Being led to places she didn’t know filled her with excitement, and she was so light that she could easily let another person pull her by her hand. She found the smiling boy adorable, smiling with him.
Unfortunately, their little walk came to an abrupt end. The boy led Shirley to a dim kitchen, and she tilted her head in confusion when she saw the piles of food and pots.
“I’m sorry, Shirley, but can you help me? You know how to cook, right?” asked the boy. He squeezed her hand a bit, perhaps to ensure she wouldn’t flee.
She wasn’t sure why he looked so desperate until she suddenly realized they were close enough that their shoulders were touching, her face growing hot again. Unwittingly, her emotions had been wildly volatile as of late. She understood that he had tricked her into going there. But the thought of cooking together sounded as wonderful as walking with him. Her eyes lit up with excitement, so she nodded without thinking twice. It sounded like it would be a lot of fun, with her expression reading, “Great! I love cooking, but it’s a different story when it’s for so many people.”
He must have been at his wits’ end, as he sighed then told her he would teach her the recipes. He motioned for her to follow, and she went after him, feeling giddy.
“We’re cooking for a huge group today, so we should make something simple, like fried skewers. All we must do is cut up the ingredients and deep-fry them. It’ll still be a race against time, and people will get bored if all we serve is fried food. We could serve some mixed rice in between... Oh, you’ll know what kind of dish it is when you try it,” he said.
He immediately chopped vegetables, sticking skewers through them, and covered them in something called “batter.” Just as the boy tossed them into a pot, the loud sizzling noise surprised Shirley. Until this point, all the cooking at the mansion had consisted of broiling or simmering. Deep-frying was a new method, which led to Shirley curiously peering over at the pan while putting both hands on Kitase’s shoulders.
“We’ve been getting more fresh harvests of vegetables lately, so I want to introduce more ways to cook up some tasty dishes. It’s kind of funny how the Lizardmen want to expand the fields because they loved the food so much. They’ve been asking to work voluntarily,” he said, his voice gentle and soothing. As she listened to the steady rhythm of his speech, she was beginning to feel sleepy.
Strangely, Shirley felt he could have been much older than her. She groaned and stared at the ceiling for some time, deep in thought. Then the image of him as a young adult came to mind, like a cloud hanging over her head dissipated all at once. She nodded to herself, glad that she had solved that mystery. He always sounded so calm and comforting because he was actually an adult. She remembered how surprised she had been when he was taller than her and had said, “Good morning” through the mirror. It was no wonder he didn’t feel childish.
She had held on to his shoulders as if it were the most normal thing in the world but quietly let him go. Unaware of it, she found herself feeling somewhat embarrassed. Yet she thought he wouldn’t mind if she grabbed hold of him for a bit longer. She had done it all the time in the past, and it wasn’t as if someone would scold her for it. Subsequently, she reached for Kitase’s shoulders again, but he turned around and startled her.
“Okay, it’s done. Shirley, try it with a bit of salt first,” he said, handing her a deep-fried skewer. She had nearly forgotten about the food, but the delicious aroma of the steaming, light-brown skewer caught her attention. He held it up for her to take, and she accepted it without thinking.
Due to the somewhat harsh and bitter taste of eggplants, children particularly disliked the fruit because of their distinct grassy smell. To top it all off, they weren’t even that nutritious, so some would be disappointed to find them on the dinner table. But they had made it to Japan from India. Since there were over a hundred different varieties of eggplant out there, they weren’t unpopular by any means. No one could have predicted they would end up in the fields of the labyrinth’s second floor.