🐾🐱🐾
LAST night, Joshua had gone to the celebration at the royal palace in place of Harold, and he had come home very late—and very drunk.
He seemed to have taken the opportunity of going out to the party to stop by his lab, but Amy didn’t really understand why he got that drunk. Her father didn’t usually like alcohol, which made her wonder if something happened last night that compelled him to drink.
Joshua woke up with such a massive hangover that he took the day off work and was resting at home. Isabelle spent the morning relentlessly teasing him, looking exasperated by his stunt. The Royal Academy was closed that day, so Amy was home too.
“You’ll really be okay without my healing magic?” Amy asked her father sympathetically.
“…I’ll be okay.”
“It’s fine, Amy. This hangover is simply your father’s reward for enjoying himself so much.”
What on earth is enjoyable about this?!
Amy didn’t really know if healing magic would work on a hangover, but when she offered it, Isabelle had chirpily told her, “That’s a question for your father,” before lapsing into moody silence. When Joshua himself said he didn’t need it, Amy had no choice but to drop the subject.
Amy thought he might be more comfortable lying down on his bed, but Joshua said he had gotten tired of it and had instead flopped down, pale-faced, on the living room sofa.
As he lay like that, Joshua curled a finger to beckon Amy over to him.
“…I gave His Highness your message.”
“Oh! Th-Thank you.”
Amy felt a little strange, despite being the one who asked him to deliver the message. Her heartbeat sped up; her face grew warm… She felt shy.
Isabelle was smiling, watching them out of the corner of her eye. Amy looked away from her and addressed Tigger, standing at her feet.
“Tigger—uh—it’s been a while since we played in the garden. Why don’t we go do that?”
Amy wasn’t sure whether he understood what she said or was just happy that she was talking to him, but he looked up at her with sparkling eyes. Taking his hopeful eyes as a sign of agreement, Amy promptly left the living room and went out to the garden.
She had been so busy with the athletic tournament that she had barely been able to spend any time with Tigger recently. In what seemed like an attempt to make up for lost time, he had been glued to her side since yesterday, but he probably wanted to stretch his legs.
The weather was wonderful outside—a brilliantly clear sky without any wind. Amy realized too late that she had forgotten her hat, but she carried on without it. She was so caught up in her buoyant feelings, she felt practically weightless.
“Tigger, let’s race! Ready, set… GO!”
Without any passing thought for how dirty the bottom of her dress was about to get, Amy shot off in a sprint. Tigger followed behind at a jog, his perky tail upright.
They initially ran together side-by-side, with Tigger throwing her side-eyed glances as he ran, but gradually, Tigger seemed to start enjoying himself.
He quickened his pace and overtook Amy, even intermittently jumping from side to side as he ran. Amy was entranced by how graceful and agile his large body moved.
He’s so fast! You really are the best at everything, Tigger!
Amy was completely left in the dust and already out of breath, but Tigger kept charging forward.
He must have really wanted to play… Amy thought guiltily as she arrived at the garden in last place.
Tigger had arrived some time before and was in the middle of chasing after a butterfly. As the butterfly nimbly fluttered around, Amy saw a beautiful aqua and amber pattern across its black wings. The wings, split into four large quadrants, had two long, tail-like projections that looked like ribbons fluttering in the air.
In her previous life, she wouldn’t have been able to see these swallowtail butterflies unless she were deep in the forest of some foreign country, but they were quite common in Luducia.
The pattern on the butterfly’s wings reflected the sunlight and seemed to glow. Amy was completely distracted by them.
“It’s so pretty… Huh?”
The butterfly had flown so high that even Tigger couldn’t jump to it. Amy had looked up to watch it, but a small shadow in the sky had come into view. She observed it, shielding her eyes with a hand, and the shadow silently swooped down straight toward her.
“R-Roodle!”
The snowy owl had a thin cylinder attached to his foot—he carried a letter.
Amy regretfully realized she didn’t have an arm cover for him to perch on. She waved her arms exaggeratedly at the sky, and the wise owl seemed to understand her gesture, for he landed on a stone statue a short distance away instead of on her arm.
“Hello, Roodle! Hold on just a second and I’ll bring you a snack.”
After running up to him and brushing his fluffy forehead with a finger, Amy was about to turn around and go to the gardening shed when Roodle hooted pointedly to stop her.
He nudged the tube on his foot with his beak, as if urging her to open it.
“You want me to read it right now?” Amy asked.
All right, then, she thought, taking the tube. Roodle looked pleased by this, gently rubbing his beak against Amy’s hand, which tickled slightly. When she opened the tube, she saw the familiar thin parchment rolled up inside.
If Ed sent a letter, it means he couldn’t come…
Last night, Amy had told her father to tell Edward that she wanted to see him and talk to him. He probably sent this letter to let her know when he’d next be available.
Edward didn’t have school today, either, but he was always busy with something. She hadn’t expected him to find the time to visit on such short notice. But…
Amy was surprised to find herself suddenly feeling a little sad. She immediately admonished herself—it was more than enough that he would respond to her so quickly like this.
As soon as she had taken the letter from him, Roodle had flown off toward his favorite oak tree. Tigger, who had abandoned his pursuit of the butterfly, followed after him and climbed the tree too.
Watching the two of them sitting on the same branch with the ever-present, perfectly maintained distance between them, the corners of Amy’s mouth turned upward in spite of herself.
Roodle and Tigger didn’t do anything special together. They didn’t even play together.
But whenever Roodle came to the Northland garden, Tigger would come outside too, and whenever Amy took Tigger with her to the riding grounds, Roodle would always fly over to them from the nearby forest.
I wonder if that classifies as a friendship…
“What great buddies…” Amy sighed.
“They really are.”
Amy nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise.
She whipped around toward the voice and saw none other than Edward himself.