Case 03:
Ruffled Harpy
“AND…why have you come here?” Memé asked, with a tear in her eye.
She always seemed to have a tear in her eye these days, but that was another issue. Just now, all she could focus on was the harpy with red wings that had entered her accessory shop.
“I wanted to ask you something, Memé.”
Illy scratched her head. She hadn’t even looked at any of the products on display. But she wasn’t looking Memé straight in the eye, either. In fact, she seemed to be averting her gaze. Many people found it difficult to look at Memé’s enormous eyeball.
“Memé, why are you on that vampire’s side? Does she have some dirt on you?”
“N-no, nothing like that! I’m not on anyone’s side. I just…don’t want anyone to fight.”
“But you two looked close.”
“Oooh, not at all! Why would anyone be close with me?!”
This self-deprecating denial confused Illy. “What about me and Lulala and—”
“Everyone is important to me! Plum is the same!”
“Wait, what? I’m even more confused now.” Illy had never been very good when it came to complicated interpersonal dynamics. She was beginning to lose track of the original problem. “Why are you crying?”
“You’re the one coming in here and saying weird things! You’re asking me why I’m on my friend’s side? Of course I’m on my friend’s side!”
“Okay, okay! I’m sorry! Back off a bit, would you?” Illy turned pale at the looming eye.
Memé let out a sobbing breath. “Just…make up with her already.”
“But I mean…we weren’t even close to begin with,” Illy said. “What would making up look like? Ugh, I can’t stand her arrogance.”
“She’s not arrogant.” Memé seemed to have settled down somewhat. She returned to her work at the anvil. “She acts so high and mighty because she’s afraid of being looked down upon.”
“Huh? How do you know that?” Illy asked.
“Uh, well…I guess I don’t, really.” Memé’s large eye wandered around the room.
“Memé, your face gives everything away.”
“I-I said I don’t know anything!” Memé cried. “If you’re going to be like that, I just won’t say anything! Nothing! I’ll never talk again! Ugh!”
Illy sighed. She knew Memé was close with Plum, but that wasn’t an excuse to just take her side no matter what!
“I know I’m not just imagining it…”
“D-did you say something?” Memé asked.
“Nah. It’s nothing.”
Illy couldn’t just change her personality. Even if the issue was all on her end, it didn’t mean she could just get along with someone she didn’t like.
“Yo, are you here, Memé? Oh!”
“Oh.”
Another customer had entered the accessory shop. It was Plum, the source of Illy’s distress.
“A-ahhh…”
Plum and Illy glared at each other, neither of them moving. Memé seemed panicked, her eye darting back and forth between the two.
“Well, I need to make my deliveries. Bye, Memé!” Illy flapped her wings and flew out of the store.
Plum and Memé stood there dumbfounded.
“Wh-what was that?!” Plum said, after a moment. “She’s so rude! She didn’t even say hi!”
“Sh-she left so there wouldn’t be a fight. And you didn’t say hi, either.”
“Daddy said that noble vampires mustn’t greet other species first!”
“Youuu!” Memé glared at her, but Plum didn’t seem to notice. Clearly, her father was a bad influence.
“If she was going to leave anyway, she could’ve at least made an effort to depart amicably!”
“So could you!”
Now all too aware of Plum’s dual nature, Memé decided to stop filtering herself in front of her. She narrowed her eye.
Plum ignored her. “And to come all this way to the accessory shop and not buy anything? How rude!”
“What, so she could be like you? The one who buys way too much every time she visits? It’s not easy to put out so many new products, you know!”
Plum finally seemed to realize what Memé was saying. “Whose side are you on?!”
“Ugh! I just had this conversation!”
Memé had had enough. She tightened her grip on the small hammer she used to make accessories. She wasn’t swinging it around or anything, but Plum’s face twitched all the same.
“Ah. Memé, I’m sorry! Be careful with that!”
“Unbelievable.” Memé heaved a big sigh. Why could Plum apologize so easily to her, but Illy couldn’t?
The young vampire started browsing the store, as if nothing was amiss. The clothes that had been torn when she fought with Illy were back to their original state. Plum didn’t know if Memé had repaired the clothes or if they were brand new, and she didn’t care.
There’s no way Plum will apologize.
Memé couldn’t believe this was the same person who’d been crying in the graveyard district hotel. Plum wanted to be thought of as cool. She refused to show any weakness, which was why she would never apologize to Illy.
It’s important to mend things, but if I’m not careful, she’ll call me stupid. Ahhh, it’s ridiculous for someone like me to try and figure this stuff out. I’m terrible at mending things!
Memé clutched her head. She desperately wanted them to make up, but at this rate, it would be an endless battle of wills.
“What’s wrong, Memé?” Plum asked impudently. “Why are you holding your head and groaning?”
“Oooh, all my friends have been coming to the store lately. It’s too much! I’m going to die.”
“Friends? You mean me? You should be happy!” Plum laughed, blissfully ignorant of what Memé was really thinking.
Then again, Memé thought, I think Illy’s feathers were a little ruffled.
Illy’s was very proud of her wings. She probably groomed them daily. Memé’s craftsman’s eye could tell when a feather was askew.
There’s too much to think about. I think I’m getting a fever.
Plum hummed as she browsed the accessories, completely oblivious to Memé’s woes.
✦ ✦ ✦
Sometime later, Glenn was organizing examination records at the Lindworm Clinic.
“Hmmm…”
The heat hadn’t abated. The rumor that a storm was brewing had spread throughout Lindworm, but every single day was clear and sunny, and more and more residents were coming down with heatstroke. Since it was still spring, that also meant that it might even get worse.
“Doctor? What’s wrong?” Sapphee was preparing coffee.
“I was just hoping that Illy and the others are taking care of themselves in this climate.”
“When do you think you can perform the physical exams?”
“I don’t even know where they are.”
Both Illy and Plum could fly, which made it even harder for a land-dweller like Glenn to get ahold of them.
Sapphee sighed. “I asked Tisalia and Arahnia to tell the girls to come to the clinic, but…”
“But they’re probably avoiding us.”
A doctor couldn’t do anything for a patient he couldn’t meet with. Maybe if they had some symptoms they’d make it more of a priority, but it probably seemed strange to them to go to the clinic without any indications of illness. Of course, the exam was intended to find any such symptoms, but younger people didn’t place physicals high on their list of priorities.
“They seemed fine when they were fighting,” Sapphee said, “so I really want to just issue them a clean bill of health.”
“Hey, now.” Glenn scolded her. “Even if they seem healthy, that doesn’t mean they can handle a long journey. They need real examinations.”
“Of course I know that. But if they won’t come see you…”
“Yeah, that’s a problem.” Glenn sipped his coffee.
They couldn’t put it off forever. He needed to complete both their exams before the storm arrived.
“I’ll make some time to search for them tomorrow,” Glenn said.
“Just…be careful walking around in this heat. We can’t have our doctor collapsing.”
“I will,” Glenn promised.
He was particularly worried about Illy, who was apparently bathing in a spring deep in the mountains. If the town was this hot, the temperature of the spring had to be pretty high, too.
I need to examine her as soon as possible.
Glenn frowned as he drained his cup of coffee.
That’s when it happened.
“Oh?” Sapphee turned around.
The closed sign was already out on the clinic door, but someone was ringing the bell.
“Who is it?” Sapphee called. “The doctor is out for the day.”
She and Glenn headed toward the waiting room.
Someone was standing there, wrapped in a dark robe despite the heat. They couldn’t see the figure’s face, but the feathers—reddish feathers—peeking out from beneath the robe suggested it was a harpy.
Is it…Illy?
“Waaah! Doctooor!” Illy threw off her robe and embraced Glenn.
“W-wait a second!” Sapphee protested.
Illy’s feathers were all ruffled and bristled. She looked atrocious.
“M-my feathers! Just look at them! What should I do? I…I don’t know what to do!”
“Okay, okay. It’s going to be fine. Settle down.”
Glenn remained calm as he stroked the sobbing Illy. This wasn’t the time to perform a physical exam. He couldn’t decide if it was good or bad that his prediction had actually come true.