Chirp, chirp, chirp...
There was a little bird chirping outside my window, but this was no time for that!
They’re gone! Gone!
Why?!
They were right there, on top of my desk!
Was it you, little bird?! Are you a chirping little thief?!
No, the window’s still closed!
C-c-calm down. That would be impossible, anyway.
Let’s just check under the desk one more time and...
They’re not there! Why aren’t they there?!
And of course they’re not in the drawers, either!
This... this is impossible!
I lost the dimension stone and analyze card!
Stomp, stomp, stomp...!
“Waaaaaaaah! Moooooommy!!”
“Hmm? Good morning, Annie.”
“What is it, my beloved daughter?”
As I came running downstairs, I found my parents doing the morning preparations for the restaurant. It was early in the morning, so the light was still dim. There was still a bit of time until opening.
“Okay, so, like... I know this is all kind of sudden after yesterday, but......”
“Hey, Anti...”
“I left those treasures you gave me out on my desk overnight......”
“Annie...”
“And they were there when I fell asleep, I swear, but when I woke up this morning...”
“Anti!” they both yelled out.
“Gah, sorry!”
“No, it’s just... what’s that thing over your head?”
“It sure is cute!”
“Huh?”
A-above... my head? What?
Both of their gazes were fixed above my head.
“It’s spinning.”
“It sure is, isn’t it?”
...?! What’s spinning?!
“Anti, go look in your mirror.”
...
The matter of the missing treasures was put on hold for the moment. I returned to my room and looked in the mirror. And then...
“A crown...?”
Spin, spin, spin.
What is that?
There was a small crown floating over my head, and it was rotating.
I’ve seen that movement and color somewhere before...
“Hey, it’s a gear!”
There was no mistaking it. It was made of that now-familiar orange-gold metal.
This thing was made with my own gear skill...?
Twinkle!
“...!”
There was light reflecting off the spinning crown. It looked like there was a gemstone or something in it... Hmm? A gemstone?
“It couldn’t be...!”
I grabbed the... gear crown (?) with both hands.
Hup!
“Ah, it came loose.”
I was able to pull it free from its resting place atop my head. Then I took a long, hard look at it.
This thing really is a gear.
The teeth were pointed upwards, and were long and thin, making it look like a crown. This thing was floating above my head...?
What really caught my eye, though, was the red gemstone embedded in it. And when I looked closer, I saw a transparent plate surrounding the gemstone. The design of the plate radiated outwards, with the red gemstone at its center.
“...”
Um, so in other words...
“...Analyze.”
[—Analyzing.
Name: “Crown Gear”
(Skill medium/Item)
Synchronized items
-Item storage
-Analyzer
Status: Synchroshift.]
...It talked. And it did an analysis.
What does “synchronized” mean?
And... hey, wait. It can analyze things, too?
H-how did things turn out like this...?
I tossed the crown away — and it ground to a halt in midair. Then it switched directions, resuming its perch atop my head.
Spin, spin, spin...
“Uh... huh...”
I descended the stairs, now in a bit of a daze.
“Hey, so you got a look at it?”
“Hehehe, you’re just like a princess, aren’t you?”
I wanted to just hold my head in my hands.
Just what is this Gearcraft skill of mine?
“...They seem to have gotten stuck to it.”
“Huh?”
“The dimension stone and analyze card you gave me yesterday...”
“Yeah?”
“They seem to have gotten stuck to my gear...”
“R-right.”
“Oh, my.”
After that, I ended up helping out around the restaurant.
Mom and Dad said not to worry about it, but I asked them to let me for today. After all, there was a loooooot of stuff I didn’t want to think about, and chopping up vegetables into little pieces was an ideal solution for avoiding reality. I was free from other thoughts as long as my hands kept on moving.
Pryce showed up in the morning, before opening. “Y-young miss, that’s...” he started to say, but the glint in my eye shut him up. But sure enough, once the customers started streaming in, there were people who noticed the thing floating above my head...
“Hey, Annie, you’re looking beautiful as always today!” “What’s that over your head?!” “What a cute little princess!” “It’s spinning around.” “Hahaha, a princess in an eatery!” “Is that the magic you learned?” “Hey, princess! Where’s my steak??” “Mommy, I want a crown like that, too!” “Oh, my. She’s a cute cook, isn’t she?” “Anti, you’ve finally evolved from poster girl to poster princess, huh?!”
T-t-they’re just going off!!!
As I gave into my anger and chopped the vegetables down to almost nothing, my long hair slipped forward over my shoulders.
Swoosh, swoosh. Swoosh, swoosh.
Agh, it keeps on getting in the way! Did I let it grow too long? But if I cut it, Mom will get all depressed...
I was in a daze when I came downstairs before, so I forgot to grab my hair tie from my room. I wanted to go get it, but trying to slip out during peak times like this would result in quite a lot of lost time.
Swoosh, swoosh. Swoosh, swoosh.
Argh!! This is so irritating! Don’t I have anything that I could loop it through?! I don’t care what it is, I just need something to tie it up...
[—Crown Gear has completed analysis of the situation.
—Rectifying problem.]
“Huh? ...Hey, wait!”
The analyzer suddenly talked!
No sooner had I had that thought than two golden gears appeared, rotating in midair!
Why did these things just appear on their own?!
As I stood there in shock, the gears grew a little bigger, then moved down near my hips. They spun upward on either side of me, my hair passing through the holes in the middle of each. Once the gears were up above my ears, the holes in the middles shrank.
“Oh, my. Annie, that hairstyle is so cute!”
Wha...?
Hesitantly, I reached up and felt my hair.
Ooh, it’s tied up nice and neatly...
In no time at all, I was sporting twintails.
My hair was thin but there was a lot of it, so normal ribbons and hair ties slipped right out if I moved around. That was all the more true when helping out around the restaurant. Normally I tied it up behind my back. But now, my hair was firmly held in place by the gears. It didn’t seem at all like it would come loose, even when I touched it. Apparently the gears on both sides of my head were fixed in place.
[—Solution confirmed.
—Status: Twintails.]
I-it was true that my hair wasn’t getting in the way anymore.
It’s better, but what was that just now?! My skill fixed the problem that I was thinking about?!
My skill is just way too mysterious... I mean, it’s even talking like it’s perfectly normal!
Umm, I guess should I say thanks for now?
[—Crown Gear: Gratitude has been accepted.]
“Been accepted”...? What is this, a government office?!
“Hey! Is my meat still not ready?!”
“Ah, I’m coming!”
I’d been thrown off because of the sudden change in hairstyle, but the customer’s demand got the gears in my brain moving again.
“Ah, that’s the stuff! This is really tasty! Hey, little miss, that hairstyle really suits you!”
“Oh, t-thanks...”
Having thin hair means I can’t change up my style much, so his praise really did make me happy. More than that, though, I mostly felt embarrassed.
I kept on helping out around the restaurant throughout the day until just before closing time, getting teased about the crown above my head and my new hairstyle all the while.