THE following morning, suffocation forcibly dragged Nichika from the depths of a sound slumber.
“Mn. Mmph…!” Her eyes snapped open just as fresh air whisked into her lungs. The blue eyes right in front of her blinked once.
“Oh, you woke up?”
“Oh my GOSH!” Nichika tried to scoot away as fast as she could, but she was on top of a bed, locked in a cage created by Oswald’s body—he was hanging over her. Heat surged to her face as she came to comprehend her situation. “Wh-Wh-What are you doing to me first thing in the morning?!”
“It’s your fault for not waking up.”
Held hostage by his steady gaze at point-blank range, her heart hammered wildly. She was fascinated by him, and realizing that sunk her into a state of misery.
Agh, it’s so frustrating! His face really is the only cool and handsome thing about him!
“I-It’s cheating to show me that face right when I wake up,” she mumbled.
“Huh?” He gave her an exasperated look but surprisingly moved away. “You can’t understand how thoughtful I’m being by doing it while you sleep, considering that you hate it so much?”
“That’s not a good enough reason! Anyways, didn’t I lock the door?! How’d you even get in here?!”
“Trade secret.”
“That’s a crime!” Nichika grabbed her pillow and chucked it at him, but he easily caught it with one hand. He smirked wickedly at her when she hopped out of bed, ready to pursue him.
“Enough fooling around. Get ready and help me out. We have a busy day ahead.”
“We do? What are we doing?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
✦ ✦ ✦
NICHIKA changed into her usual outfit. When she arrived at the western, withered flower field, she couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Yay, it’s Miss Nichika! Morning!”
“We’ve got everything all ready here!”
The children she had played with the day before, along with their parents, had gathered in the field. They were noisily chattering away with each other, reminding her of how the neighborhood association’s cleaning committee would gather back home.
She greeted them, “Good morning. What are you all doing here?”
“Wolfie asked us to bring everyone here,” explained the child whose house Wolfie had stayed at overnight. Excitement glittering in his eyes, the boy innocently went on to add, “He said he’ll treat us all to a miracle!”
“I wonder what it’ll be,” another child chimed in.
“Me too!” a third agreed.
They were having a friendly chat, but Nichika couldn’t ignore the twinge of unease roiling within her. What in the world was that devilish man going to show them?
“Morning, Nichika. Looks like something incredible is about to begin, huh?” a voice called out.
“Makina.”
His expression pulled into a tense smile as he politely greeted the villagers he passed by on his way over to her. Violette trailed behind him.
“Umm, I haven’t been informed about what he’s about to do either,” Nichika admitted awkwardly.
“You haven’t?”
Right then, a lively, excited voice shouted out to them from the direction of the village.
“Everybody, thanks for waiting!” Wolfie, tugging a wagon twice the height of his withers, came to a sharp halt. Grabbing the jute bags piled up on the wagon with his teeth, he began to hand them out to people. “Okay, line up everybody. Pass it around!”
“What is this?” Upon opening the bag Makina had passed to her, Nichika found seeds of various shapes and sizes: triangular, square, circular, along with tons of other variations.
“Those are flower seeds. Master said he’ll deliver the official explanation on it.”
At last, Oswald made his appearance wearing his businessman smile. Shrill screams erupted from the village girls over the Ice Demon who had caused the uproar in the village the day prior. Nichika restrained her desire to crack a joke over the whole farce.
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,” Oswald said courteously, “You have my deepest gratitude for cooperating with us on such short notice. Now, what I would like you to do is very simple. Please remove the withered plants and plant as many seeds as possible in order to make it in time for the flower festival.”
Everyone gaped at his instructions. After a brief silence, the adults timidly spoke up.
“Pardon me, but the flower festival takes place tomorrow…”
“Actually, we have the prefestival celebrations, so it starts tonight. You see, considering what we’re dealing with this year, we’ve decided to go with fake flowers.”
Oswald pointedly directed his fake smile at Nichika, dropping what felt like ice cubes down her back with his wordless pressure.
I got it! I got it, already!
She slipped out of the circle of people to face them from the front, where she took a deep breath. Then, in one fluid motion, she vigorously bowed her head before them. “Please cooperate with us, everyone! You might not believe him, but please take part even if you think you’re being deceived!”
Silence fell over the field. But it only lasted a second before the children flocked over to her.
“Okay! Since it’s Miss Nichika who’s asking! I’ll believe ya!”
“I wanna see a miracle!”
“I’ll sow more seeds than anyone else!”
The children immediately started yanking out the dead plants. After watching their diligent participation for a while, the adults exchanged looks and laughed aloud.
“You’ve got us this time. How can the adults leave all the work to children?”
“Welp, guess we should get to it. At the end of the day, we have to plant new seeds eventually, anyway.”
“That said, we need to get the tools. I’ll go grab what I can from the shed.”
“Then the other ladies and I will bring out some emergency rice. A lot of you haven’t had breakfast yet, right?”
Nichika tightly clasped her hands in awe of how quickly and easily the villagers set to work as one unit. “The people of Lolo Village really are nice!”
Oswald’s lips curved into a smirk. “That’s not it. The adults never would’ve gotten involved if you hadn’t said anything. The plan’s success is all yours, since you befriended the children.” He placed his hand on her head for a moment before walking away. “You did well. Good job.”
“Eh? Ah…” He left while she was still flustered. His words echoing through her head, Nichika brought her hand up to her messed up hair and quietly murmured, “Did he just praise me?”