Interlude 6:
A Great Diet Plan?
NINA LET OUT a dramatic sigh, muttering to herself as she gnawed on a Fluffy Café cookie. “What a pickle this is...”
During the three adventurers’ visit to the café today, Taichi had noticed Grise and Arle were in high spirits and enjoying themselves, but Nina’s face remained clouded over. Curious as to what could be weighing on her, he approached and asked, “What’s the matter? You sure are sighing a lot.”
“Oh, Taichi! You gotta hear this!”
“Uh, sure.” He’d thought she was depressed, but based on the way she eagerly latched on to his question, he wasn’t so sure. He didn’t have much choice other than to nod and let her say her piece.
“This cookie!” she said, holding one up. “And chocolate!”
“I don’t understand. Is something wrong with them?” Nina had made perfectly clear how delicious she thought they were. Taichi wasn’t sure he understood what all the fuss was about. They weren’t defective in any way, nor had they exceeded their expiration date. He’d been careful to keep them stored away where they wouldn’t go bad. “Do they taste strange?”
Rather, maybe it was her tastebuds that had changed. They say catching a cold can do that to you. Perhaps she was feeling under the weather, and that was why...
“Your snacks are so good they made me gain weight!”
“Huh? Pardon?!” Whaaaa?!
Taichi wasn’t entirely sure how best to respond to that. He couldn’t picture what the better alternative was—to disagree and reassure or to politely admit he had noticed. His mouth hung open as he tried to puzzle out the right answer.
A Berry Bunny hopped onto Nina’s lap. “Kree!” It wanted to play with her.
Taichi stared at the two, thinking to himself. “Oh. Why not go out back and play with the bunnies? You’re welcome to exercise in our rear garden as long as it’s not during operating hours. What—”
“You mean it?!”
He was trying to ask her what she thought, but she interrupted him with eager enthusiasm. The idea of exercising by playing with the bunnies was all too tempting. I get her. Playing with fluffy creatures outside sounds magical.
“We can have our own little rally with the bunnies to knock this weight off! Let’s do it, Taichi!” Nina exclaimed.
And that was how Taichi got roped into participating in a weight loss rally with Nina and the bunnies. I don’t really have any excess weight to lose, though...
✦ ✦ ✦
The following day, Nina didn’t get much sleep because she was too excited to spend time playing with the bunnies, but her steps were lighter than they had been as she skipped her way to the café before opening time.
“Good morning!”
“Oh, good morning, Nina,” said Taichi, who was already playing fetch with the bunnies in the rear garden.
“Thanks for letting me come today! I’m gonna run as much as my legs’ll let me!” But before Nina started on that... “Oh my gosh, the bunnies are as cute as ever today! I’m sooo happy!”
Taichi chuckled. “Aha ha, I’m glad this brings you so much joy. I’m sure you’d like to exercise with everyone, but some of the bunnies weren’t up for coming out with the rest of them.”
“Oh, really? They’re such agile critters. Very difficult to hunt, I gotta say. Figured they’d all be up for this.” She paused to reflect on her memories as a newbie adventurer trying to stalk after Berry Bunnies in the forest. “Maybe they’ve gotten comfortable living at the café. Not in a bad way, I mean. Like, they can relax now that they don’t have to run from enemies.”
“It’s definitely peaceful here,” Taichi agreed. “I’m glad for that, for them and for me, but I would like for them to exercise. So go fetch this ball, guys.” He gave it a toss as he finished his sentence.
“Kree!”
“Kree kree!”
“Kreeee!”
The bunnies hopped together after the ball, as if encouraged by their master’s prompting.
Dang, Tamers are awesome! Nina thought to herself. For so long, she had thought of it as a weak, unfortunate job, but Taichi made her reevaluate her opinion every time she saw him interacting with his tamed beasts.
“Okay, I’m gonna chase after the ball too!” Nina declared. “I’m gonna beat the bunnies!” She took off, hustling toward the ball, but the bunnies had a much better response time. They had no trouble swiping the ball before she could reach it.
Taichi watched on and laughed. “I thought you were going to help me throw!”
“I’m supposed to be dieting! Which means I need to exercise too if I’m gonna lose weight!”
“Oh, right. Makes sense.” Taichi hadn’t thought that far, but she had a point. Merely throwing a ball wouldn’t have the desired effect. It would build her arm muscles, but that was about it.
And what I’m worried about is trimming down my tummy! thought Nina. Her armor exposed her stomach, so she wanted to avoid developing a muffin top. Nina wouldn’t feel comfortable walking outside in this outfit otherwise. But it’ll be okay. The bunnies and I are gonna work hard to trim off the fat!
“Okay!” she hollered to Taichi. “Keep ’em coming!”
“Kree!”
“You got it. Here we go!” Taichi laughed again and started tossing the ball. Nina had a blast trying to out speed the bunnies.
✦ ✦ ✦
A few days later.
“Woohoo! My weight went down, Taichi! Thank you so much! In fact, to celebrate, I’d like to order cookies and chocolate today!”
He pursed his lips a moment and then said, “Sure thing.” Won’t this just cause her to gain back the weight? He thought it, sure, but he didn’t say it.