It wasn’t helping matters that right there beside Sophie was a stunningly handsome man with a bright, beaming smile on his face, having every bit as good of a time as Sophie. If she didn’t give the whole world her gratitude and apologies, would she even live to see the morning sun of another day? Then again, lately, Sophie had been so exhausted that she’d been sleeping like a baby, so she hadn’t been able to see the morning sun anyway—that was just one of those, oh, “figures of speech.”
Sophie was full of energy, laughing and leaping in surprise so much that her happy-go-lucky brain seemed like it might malfunction from the confusion. And she ate. She ate until she was stuffed.
Even though she’d had a filling breakfast, foods that Sophie had never seen before slid down into her stomach one after another. The foods seemed like they’d come straight out of her dreams, from the savory, sauce-slathered meat skewers to the pie stuffed to the brim with cream. And here I thought I didn’t like sweet things. She’d done a fine job of cleaning out the smooth, buttery cream in an instant.
After having eaten what had to be a whole lifetime’s worth of food, Sophie was as full as she could be in her heart and stomach. Her gaze narrowed happily.
The landscape stretching out before them from the top of the hill was every bit as beautiful as Livio himself. Sophie’s heart quivered with admiration as she watched the light from the setting sun sparkle across the water’s surface. It was enough to make her wish she could watch it forever.
The water looked like a massive lake, a puddle of water after it had rained, and even a humongous orange. Planning for their voyage, Sophie herself knew full well that it was none of those things—and that was precisely why Sophie’s heart danced with excitement at the ocean she saw on the other side of the streets and houses. The dance had to be a strange sight—Sophie’s heart was bouncing around, kicking up its legs as it went. Sophie was sure it was a fun sort of dance, strange and unlike anything anyone had ever seen before but still so compelling it made you want to dance along.
“Hee hee,” Sophie laughed to herself. Oh—that’s right. She reached into her bag.
Who knew things you’d never seen before could be so fun? The wind felt wonderful as it stroked the nape of her neck. If she were going to laugh alongside Livio at the indiscernible magical item she’d bought, then today was the perfect sort of day for it. Sophie nodded to herself.
She knew there should be something inside the bag, but it felt empty. Fumbling through such an odd sensation, Sophie squeezed her wittle-bitty hand, only to grasp a small leather pouch that had appeared, as if to say, You called?
Sophie pulled it out of the bag and showed it to Livio.
“This is the magical item I bought today, Livio,” Sophie explained. “Is it okay if I try it out?”
It was the cookie-multiplying pouch.
“Of course!” Livio laughed.
Sophie plunged her hand into the bag again and rummaged around. She’d even bought cookies to try it out with at the confectionery they’d stopped at in search of a souvenir for Azuello.
Mm-hmm! I don’t miss a thing! Contrary to appearances, Sophie was actually quite capable.
“So you put cookies inside,” Livio said.
Livio had taken the leather pouch while Sophie was rummaging through her bag and dropped his gaze to the paper inside it. It was one of those “instruction manual” things. Livio nodded and held the pouch open.
“Ready when you are!” Livio said.
Livio had stretched the opening of the pouch wide so she could easily put the cookie in. Sophie placed a single tea cookie inside. The cookies had nuts in them, and Livio seemed to be a fan of them as well—Sophie had made up her mind to buy them the moment they sampled one. She thought it’d be an absolute blast if the cookies ended up multiplying. She was terribly excited.
“Once you’ve put in the cookies, you pull the pouch shut.”
Following Livio’s voice as he read from the instruction manual, Sophie pulled the bag’s strings tight. Just when she couldn’t see inside anymore, Livio read the next step.
“Then you give the bag a sound blow.”
“That’s all?”
“It appears so,” Livio answered.
I dunno... Sophie could imagine exactly what would happen. Sophie thought it, and Livio likely had as well. Neither one of them, however, said anything about it.
Why not? Sophie thought, returning her gaze to the pouch.
Sophie smacked it.
Just then, sure enough—if that was even the right way to put it—Sophie felt the cookie crumble.
Hah ha ha ha! Oh wow, I’ve got such a bad feeling about this. I mean, I crushed it.
But still, getting some over-the-top effect wasn’t the point, and it was her duty to determine if this bag was the real deal or one of those joke novelties or whatnot. Sophie was a little bit fussy when it came to her duties. She was strict when it came to those. Ahem.
With that in mind, Sophie opened up the pouch without any hesitation and shook it out over her left hand.
And then! Wow! Would you look at that?
There, tumbling down from the bag, was an array of cookies!
They were all smaller cookies in various sizes, though!
Some of them were the size of the nail on Sophie’s pinky finger. They’re so cute! So small and so cute! It was a brand-new discovery.