Volume Two, Chapter One: The Long-Awaited Edamame and the Capricious Queen
“Huh?”
A few days after my sister returned from her purification journey. While cleaning the house, I noticed flower petals scattered all over the place—petals of a nearly white yellow, and petals of a beautiful sky blue. Puzzled, I showed the flowers to Jade, who told me it was probably "fairy mischief." Fairies, said to be everywhere throughout this world, apparently sometimes played pointless little pranks like this.
Pale yellow flowers and sky-blue flowers. And "fairy mischief"…
—The moment I heard that, it clicked.
Tonight, probably… the fairy queen would come.
—What should I make?
Having fed my sister dinner and seen Jade off, I stood in front of the refrigerator, groaning to myself.
I had no idea whether Titania would really show up today, but this was my way of thanking her, of entertaining her properly for keeping her promise. I didn’t want to serve anything half-hearted. Even if it went to waste, I figured it was better to prepare thoroughly.
Now that it was summer, fresh summer vegetables had started appearing at the market. Right now, we had bright red, perfectly ripe tomatoes at home. Picked fresh that very morning, they looked plenty sweet and delicious. But tomatoes on their own lacked a bit of punch as a drinking snack.
—Ah. I had that!
I pulled a glass jar out of the refrigerator. Inside were delicate, pink slices soaking in liquid. It was homemade sweet-vinegar pickled young ginger, otherwise known as gari.
This summer, I’d been absolutely determined to make it, so I’d asked the herb merchant to track some down for me… young ginger. Unlike the root ginger commonly used in cooking, young ginger had a reddish tip and pale, fair skin, like a young beauty—it was the newly sprouted part of the ginger root. Since the market sold mature ginger, I’d asked the herb merchant if he could get me some young ginger as well.
At that, the herb merchant had flashed his usual mysterious smile and produced young ginger from who-knows-where almost immediately. As it happened, young ginger was normally in season closer to autumn. Back home, greenhouse-grown ginger started appearing in supermarkets from summer onward, so I’d always made gari in summer every year… but honestly, I’d been expecting it to be a lost cause, so I was quite surprised. Curious, I’d asked how he’d managed to get it, but the herb merchant had only offered that same mysterious smile and never gave me an answer.
Young ginger had a fresher, more delicate bite than mature ginger root, and was softer. The gari served at sushi restaurants was made from this kind of ginger. One nice thing about homemade gari was that you could adjust its spiciness to your liking. I’d made my gari with plenty of apple cider vinegar in addition to rice vinegar, so it was on the sweeter side.
And best of all, it went wonderfully with alcohol. Gari as a drinking snack? That might sound strange, but it was surprisingly good.
—Tomato and gari. With those, I can make that dish. Alright, the first dish is decided.
Next, I pulled shrimp out of the refrigerator.
It seemed to be a good year for shrimp, and big, plump ones were being sold in abundance at the market. Shrimp as a drinking snack… There was really only one option. Garlic shrimp. Plump, springy shrimp with garlic—simple, delicious, goes great with both alcohol and rice, an absolute menace of a dish. Fried in garlic oil shrimp would be nice too, but unfortunately we were out of bread. Fried in garlic oil shrimp without bread just felt wrong—all that delicious oil going to waste. I’d save that for another time.
—Two dishes for now, I suppose.
Titania had said she wanted the plums and the cheese-tara too, and having too many snacks would only get in the way of the drinking. This much would probably do.
“If only I had edamame.”
I muttered that without thinking. Edamame—those green soybeans—would never be out of place. It was perfect both as a palate cleanser and as a drinking snack. Besides, it was summer now, so of course I’d start craving edamame. A summer without edamame was like a summer without somen noodles or watermelon.
In this world, there apparently wasn’t a custom of eating edamame, so it wasn’t sold at the market. They did have soybeans, so if I had connections with a farmer, I might be able to get some… but well, there was nothing to be done about what wasn’t available. I’d just have to make do with what I had.
—I’ll do my best to make something the fairy queen will love!
With renewed resolve, I steeled myself and faced the cutting board.
First, prep work.
Garlic shrimp was a dish meant to be eaten with the shells on.
For now, I plucked off the heads and the bothersome legs. To remove the vein, I used kitchen scissors to snip along the backs of the shrimp. Then I pulled out the black vein inside. Once the veins were removed, I added salt, potato starch, and water, and rubbed the shrimp to wash away the grime.
The clear water turned gray with dirt almost instantly. Once the grime was gone, I patted the shrimp dry and let them marinate in a mixture of olive oil, white wine, salt, black pepper, and minced garlic. Ideally for an hour or more. At least thirty minutes, minimum. The longer they marinated, the softer and more delicious the shells would become.
Just as I finished prepping the shrimp and steeled myself for the next step, a chill suddenly ran down my spine.
I sensed that something was there.
…Titania, maybe?
Thinking that, I turned around cautiously.
Then, in the corner of the room, in the slightly dim shadows there—I noticed something standing, its head bowed.
…It wasn’t Titania!
The instant I realized that, goosebumps broke out across my entire body, and sweat burst out all at once.
Whatever it was, it clearly wasn’t human. It stood about the height of a small girl, and its silhouette alone might almost have passed for human. There was a faint swelling like a chest, giving it a build reminiscent of an immature young girl.
But it was fundamentally, decisively different from a person. Its skin… was entirely made of tree bark. Rough, coarse, and brown. Some parts even had moss growing on them. From the crown of its head, green leaves grew thick and bushy like hair, and those leaves covered most of what should have been its face. What’s more, since it stood hunched over with its head bowed, it was impossible to read any expression at all. In fact, I wasn’t even sure whether it had eyes or a nose.
The illustration’s description: the strange being and frightened Akane.
—It was that bizarre in appearance.
When it noticed me staring, it began moving the part of its face where a human mouth would presumably be. Then, in a horribly hoarse voice, it said:
“Maaaame…”
—What is this? It’s terrifying!
The first word made no sense at all, and that only heightened my fear. I flinched and instinctively stepped backward. But behind me was the sink. I had nowhere left to retreat.
Meanwhile, it kept dragging its feet, shuffling closer and closer toward me. I looked around desperately for somewhere to escape, but the window above the sink was half-blocked by a jumble of cooking utensils. If I knocked those aside and scrambled for the window, I could easily get stabbed in the back before I made it. The only other way out was… right past that inhuman thing, close enough to brush against it.
In other words, I had nowhere to run.
While all this was going on, its bushy leaves loomed closer and closer, until it was close enough that I could feel its breath on my face. A thick smell of soil and trees, like being deep in the mountains, wafted over me. A green scent that would probably be soothing in the mountains was nothing but unsettling in a kitchen.
—Is this some kind of tree ghost or something!?
I racked my sluggish brain trying to figure it out, but no answer came, and my fear only grew.
“…Maame…”
It tilted its head with a soft clunk and uttered that same word again. When I failed to respond, it began repeating "Mame!" over and over. Maybe it was trying to convey something. So far, it hadn’t shown any sign of trying to actually harm me.
After a while, seemingly frustrated that I wasn’t understanding it, it worked its mouth open and shut, shook its head furiously side to side—and then went completely still.
A hush… a silence took hold of everything.
There was nothing more terrifying than silence while cornered by something utterly unknowable. My breath caught, and my own heartbeat sounded unbearably loud. Unable to do anything, fighting the urge to look away, I could only pray inwardly for it to disappear.
—Time crawled by, feeling like an eternity, while I remained cornered by this inhuman being right in front of me.
It was the creature itself that abruptly brought the standoff to an end.
“E… mame?”
“…Excuse me?”
The word was just slightly different from before. The moment I heard it, I found myself reflexively asking it to repeat.
For a split second I thought “oh no, I shouldn’t have!” and regretted it—but it was too late. Apparently believing its words had gotten through, the thing gave a sharp shudder and began repeating the mysterious word again.
“E… mame, ee mame… e, aa mame…”
“E-a-mame? …Could you possibly mean… edamame…?”
“Eaa-mame!”
It seemed I’d gotten it right. It began shaking its body wildly, left and right. It looked satisfied with itself, but for me, discovering that the word it had been trying to convey was "edamame" only deepened the mystery further. Did it mean it wanted me to hand over edamame?
“I—I’m sorry, okay? Um, we don’t have edamame. We do have soybeans, though…”
“Eaa-mame!”
After that, we repeated the same exchange several times, but it just kept shaking its body and showed no sign whatsoever of leaving.
This time, it was my turn to struggle, unable to get my own meaning across.
No matter how many times it said "edamame," I simply didn’t have any. At a loss, after much agonizing over what to do, I concluded that the only option was to show it the real thing and let it give up on its own.
I felt around in the sink drawer for the bag of soybeans. Searching for something while locked in a staring match with an inhuman being was, to put it mildly, thrilling. I couldn’t find it for a while and started to panic, but finally managed to locate it and held the bag of soybeans out toward the creature in front of me.
“All I have right now is soybeans. …There’s no edamame. If you want beans, you can have these, okay? So…”
I was about to add, "So why don’t you head home," but froze the moment it snatched the bag of soybeans right out of my hand. With warped, gnarled hands like bundles of twigs tied together, it pinched the bag and picked it up, lifting the soybean bag right in front of itself, staring at it intently. Then, opening its mouth impossibly, unbelievably wide, it dropped the whole bag—inside.
—It swallowed it whole!
I want to commend myself for not screaming.
Just imagine it. Right in front of you, a mouth opened wider than its own head, and a bag of soybeans disappeared into it in an instant.
Goosebumps spread across my whole body. Sweat trickled down my back. Watching it chew, munching the soybeans, bag and all, it looked exactly like something preying on prey. It felt like being shown exactly what would happen if I carelessly reached out my hand, and my legs trembled.
Eventually, with a gulp, it swallowed the soybeans, spat out just the bag with surprising dexterity, and then, shuddering all over, shouted a single word.
“Mame!”
The instant it did, it was enveloped in a faint green glow. Then, its whole body shuddered violently again—and all at once, green sprouts burst forth from all over its body. Every time it shuddered, the sprouting green stretched and grew like a fast-forwarded video. The rapidly extending shoots eventually sprouted countless leaves, until they completely covered it. It looked exactly like some kind of mascot from a world expo held decades ago.
Once the leaves had grown to a certain extent, it shuddered once more. Then, from the tips of the extended branches, familiar clusters began peeking out, one by one.
The moment I saw those clusters, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Dangling in bunches, clustered together—those were unmistakably edamame. Vividly green, with a faint fuzz covering them, their appearance was exactly, precisely the edamame I’d been longing for just moments earlier.
Once it had finished sprouting edamame all over its body, it swayed happily back and forth again, delighted. As it shook, the leaves covering its whole body rustled along with it, and the clusters of edamame hanging in bunches swayed too.
—Wait, edamame…!
I swallowed hard. Each pod of the edamame was enormous. The pods looked packed full of beans, promising a satisfying bite. The leaves and stems looked sturdy too—edamame that had soaked up plenty of sunlight while growing was sure to have that deep, rich taste of summer.
…No, wait, they hadn’t soaked up any sunlight at all. Come to think of it, they hadn’t been in the sun. Those edamame had just sprouted, moments ago, straight out of some unidentifiable inhuman creature. My head was in maximum chaos.
—But these edamame… they look so incredibly delicious…
Ice-cold beer, drunk alongside edamame. Just imagining it made my throat click. Just moments ago I’d been gripped by pure terror, and yet now my mind was already full of nothing but edamame.
Thinking about it carefully, back in my original world, I’d always been able to eat edamame whenever I wanted. Even in winter, frozen edamame was always available. In other words, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say my evening drinking life had always gone hand in hand with edamame. But ever since being transported to this other world, it had been a long, long time without eating any.
‘I’m sick of waiting! I just want to drink beer by the mouthful while snacking on edamame seasoned with plenty of salt!’
That version of me, brimming with pure desire for alcohol, and—
’No, wait a minute! This thing is inhuman. There’s no telling what it might do, and it might be trying to harm me. And besides, there’s no guarantee this is even real edamame. It could be a trap!’
Meanwhile, my rational side was desperately sending out warning signals, and the two sides of me were locked in a fierce internal struggle. My head, torn between edamame and fear, spun round and round at full speed, on the verge of exploding.
Oblivious to all this internal turmoil, the creature was still happily swaying its body side to side. In time with its movements, the clustered edamame swayed too, and my eyes couldn’t help but follow it.
Right, left, right, left…
Sway, sway, sway, sway…
“Edamame…”
“Ho. So that bean is called edamame, is it?”
Just then, along with a voice I recognized, someone slipped an arm around mine.
What came into view was fluffy platinum-blonde hair and a beautiful, doll-like face. A distinctive dress layered with countless tiers of white lace… it was the person I’d been eagerly awaiting these past few days.
“Titania!”
“Fufufun. I have come to be entertained. …And what, pray, are the two of you doing?”
Titania furrowed her beautifully shaped brows, looking at us with an expression somewhere between amusement and exasperation.
“Well, um… how should I put it?”
“Mame.”
Having it pointed out to me by someone else all over again, I found myself utterly at a loss for how to explain. I couldn’t help but exchange a glance with the unidentifiable creature beside me, and an indescribably strange atmosphere settled over the room.
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“Ha-Harvest time…!”
“E-a-mame!”
Snip—I cut an edamame pod with the scissors.
“D-Does it hurt!? Are you okay!?”
“Awuuu—”
Cutting something that was growing straight out of someone’s body with a blade was bad for my heart.
I harvested edamame from the creature sitting in the chair and dropped them into a colander. It sat obediently in the chair, legs swinging back and forth, letting me cut the pods without complaint.
According to Titania, this was a tree spirit—a dryad. From what she said, it was apparently still a young, weak spirit, a child.
As for why such a thing was here, it seemed to be a side effect of my sister purifying the tainted lands in the east. Most likely, this spirit had been corrupted by miasma, and when the purification power restored it, it had lost its host tree and ended up wandering, homeless. And while wandering, it had attached itself to the Saint’s party and ended up all the way here.
“Attached itself… it’s not exactly a burr stuck to your clothes, is it?”
“Fool. A newly born spirit possesses little more self-awareness than a beast. It was likely drawn in by the potent scent of the Saint’s magical power. It shows no sign of ill intent, so I daresay it’s fine to leave it be… but why, pray, has the thing covered in beans?”
“It said it wanted edamame, so… I offered it soybeans, and this happened.”
“Hmm? That makes no sense at all.”
That was my line. One moment something strange appeared in my kitchen out of nowhere, and the next, edamame was sprouting from it. If there was anyone who could understand that instantly, I’d love to meet them.
“What’s likely is that it mistook you for the Saint and decided to repay you out of gratitude. You and the Saint have very similarly-qualitied magical power, after all.”
“The quantity is worlds apart, though…”
I looked at the dryad again. I couldn’t tell whether it was listening to our conversation, but it kept swaying side to side rhythmically, feet pattering. Having heard it was a child spirit, and despite its clearly non-human appearance, there was something about it I somehow couldn’t bring myself to dislike.
“I wonder if it granted my wish, just because I said I wanted edamame…”
“What? Are those beans tasty?”
Titania, catching my mutter with sharp ears, latched onto it immediately. I looked down at her with a gentle expression and said, "What a foolish question." Then—
“Edamame is alcohol’s beloved companion.”
I declared that with absolute confidence.
Boiling time and salt content were the crucial things with edamame. Too long, and it would be ruined; too much salt, and it would be ruined. The salt should make up four percent of the water’s volume. Follow that ratio precisely, and you would get delicious salt-boiled edamame.
“Hmm hmm, hmm-hmmm.”
Humming to myself, I snipped off both ends of each edamame pod with scissors. It was tedious work, but doing this let the salt soak in properly. An essential step on the road to delicious edamame.
My heart soared at the joy of finally getting to eat edamame again after so long.
Ah, the edamame in my hands felt so precious. *Don’t worry, little edamame, I’ll make you delicious!*
“Mame! Mame-mame, mame!”
Standing beside me, hands resting on the sink, the dryad was singing something too, in a strange, off-key melody. Maybe it was imitating me.
Once it had finished having all its edamame harvested, the dryad’s leaves had, for some reason I couldn’t quite grasp, completely fallen away, returning it to its original form. For now, it didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving, and just kept watching me cook. When Titania realized my drinking preparations weren’t finished yet, she said she’d be back and wandered off somewhere. Well, there was no doubt now that drinks would happen tonight.
Diligently, steadily, I kept snipping the ends off edamame for fifteen minutes. Once I’d finally finished processing all of them, next came rubbing them roughly with the measured salt.
“Awuu—”
The dryad turned its face toward me and made a sound. I somehow got the sense it was asking, "What are you doing?" so I answered:
“I’m rubbing them with salt to get rid of the fuzz on the surface. Otherwise the texture’s not great to eat.”
At my words, the dryad gave off a kind of "hmm" atmosphere and turned its gaze back to the edamame in front of it. It was a bit like watching a child observe its mother cooking.
Once I’d finished rubbing them all over, I added the remaining measured salt into boiling water and dropped the edamame straight in. The moment the pale green pods hit the water, they instantly turned a vivid, brilliant green. In our house, we always boil edamame on the firmer side. A bit of crunch to it made it more satisfying to eat, and that was how I like it. About two or three minutes, I’d say. Once boiled just right, I drained them in a colander and let them cool as they were. And with that, salt-boiled edamame was complete.
I took one edamame pod to taste-test. Mm, just the right boil. If I let them cool like this, the salt will seep into the beans, making for a perfectly balanced flavor. Freshly boiled was delicious too, but letting them cool slightly made them a much better drinking snack.
—Tomorrow’s snack for Hiyori will be edamame, then.
There were still plenty of untouched edamame left. I’d boil more tomorrow too.
Sitting on the veranda, eating edamame and drinking ice-cold soda packed with ice beneath the blazing midsummer sun—that was a classic summer tradition. This year, too, I’d get to eat edamame with my sister. I used to take it for granted, but only now did it strike me, deeply, how precious that really was.
Glancing over, I noticed the dryad staring intently at the edamame in the colander. What was it thinking? I couldn’t read any expression from that face covered in rough, knotty bark.
On a whim, I took one edamame pod, popped a bean out into my palm, and held it out toward the dryad.
“Want some? …Oh, wait. Maybe you wouldn’t want to eat something that grew out of yourself…”
I’d acted on impulse, but thinking it over, of course it probably wouldn’t want to eat something that had grown out of its own body. Ugh, close call. I’d nearly created another cannibalism incident, just like with the Lord of the Mountain.
…Maybe I should learn a lesson or two, myself…
While I was sinking into self-directed gloom, the dryad, surprisingly, shook its head vigorously, looking delighted. Turning its face toward me, it opened its mouth wide. That mouth, as always, was big enough that it looked like it could swallow me whole. For a moment I felt a flicker of fear, but I steadied myself and dropped the bean into it with a plop.
With a sharp chomp, the dryad snapped its mouth shut and began chewing, grinding its jaws together. Then, cloaked once more in that faint green glow, it gave its head a light shake. And then—edamame leaves sprouted rapidly from its head, and small white flowers popped into bloom between the branches.
“—Pfft. …Ahahahaha!”
I couldn’t help it—I burst out laughing, clutching my stomach.
Because the flowering dryad kept swaying its body side to side, and every time it swayed, the edamame blossoms bent and swished loudly, making a great big flap flap sound.
Somehow it looked terribly silly, as if expressing the dryad’s own sheer delight. Just watching it made me start laughing too, helplessly. It was an inhuman thing, frightening to look at, utterly unknowable… and yet here I was, laughing my head off in its company—surely that was a strange thing to be doing. But after all these recent days of anxiously worrying about my sister off on her journey…
—On that day, for the first time in a very, very long while, I laughed from the bottom of my heart.
“Ahh, geez. I laughed so much! Okay, just a little more to go, let’s finish this up!”
“Mame!”
Once my laughing fit had subsided, I got moving to finish the rest of the cooking.
The prep work was done, so the rest was easy. I took out the tomatoes and sliced them into rounds, arranging them neatly on a plate. I took out the sweet-vinegar pickled young ginger and minced it finely. The chopped gari went straight on top of the tomatoes. I chopped up some aromatic shiso leaves picked from the garden and scattered those on top too. Then, I drizzled the sweet-vinegar pickling liquid over the whole thing.
—And there it was. Complete. Tomato and gari salad.
The sweet-and-sour gari paired with the sweet tomato made for a light, refreshing dish. And best of all, it was simple.
Next was the garlic shrimp. I took the shrimp that had been marinating and put them straight into a frying pan. Marinade and all, of course. In an instant, the shrimp shells, which had been gray, turned a vivid cherry-blossom pink. Once the color changed, I quickly flipped them over. Once both sides were cooked through, I added a pat of butter.
Sizzzzzzle! The olive oil and butter mixed together with a lively crackling sound. The rich aroma of butter, mingled with the smell of garlic, was absolutely irresistible. I plated it over a bed of green lettuce leaves spread out on a flat dish, scattered some dried parsley on top, and the garlic shrimp was complete.
Salt-boiled edamame, tomato and gari salad, and garlic shrimp. All that was left was the cheese-tara Titania had requested. And I’d prepared that other thing, too, for the very end today.
…I just hoped Titania would be pleased.
Pretending not to notice the anxiety flickering through my mind, I started setting out serving plates and glasses.
—Knock knock.
Once preparations were more or less finished, I heard a knock coming from somewhere.
Thinking Titania might have come back, I checked the door and windows leading to the living room, but there was no one there. I wondered if it might be some mischief from the dryad, but it didn’t seem to be doing anything.
Feeling an eerie sense of unease, I hesitated—and then I heard the knocking again. Straining my ears to locate the source, I realized—incredibly, the sound was coming from the direction of the cupboard.
That cupboard had glass doors on top and wooden drawers below. The knocking was coming from the glass doors above.
Hesitantly approaching the cupboard, I saw that the glass doors were clearly trembling in time with the knocks. Visible through the glass on the other side were, of course, the usual familiar dishes—there was no way Titania could possibly be in there.
But she was the fairy queen. There was no telling what might happen. Better not to be bound by common sense, I decided.
Swallowing hard, I gripped the handles of the double glass doors. Slowly, cautiously, I opened them, and a gentle night breeze drifted out from the other side.
…Eh?
I peered cautiously into the depths of the cupboard. And what leapt into view was… a grassy meadow.
I closed the door again with a click. I shut my eyes and tried to organize my thoughts. It wasn’t… a trick of the eye, for sure. I’d felt the breeze, smelled the earth and grass. I’d clearly seen the flowers and plants swaying in the wind.
I pressed my fingers into my temples, trying to calm myself. Just as I reached for the cupboard doors again to try opening them once more—the door suddenly swung open on its own and struck me square in the nose.
“—Nguh!”
“Oh dear, excuse me.”
What reached my ears, amid my pain, was a calm man’s voice.
Pressing a hand to my throbbing nose and looking up, I saw a person standing beyond the cupboard doors. Within a meadow scene neatly framed into a rectangle by the shape of the glass doors, a figure wearing an enormous top hat and an outrageously flashy robe, dripping in jewelry from head to toe, was peering in at me.
“Good evening… would you happen to be the young lady who gave the Queen her name? Oh dear, look at that! Such a lovely little nose, and now it’s all red.”
The words “Whose fault do you think that is?” nearly slipped out, but I swallowed them back the moment I got a good look at his face.
The man wore a mask covering his entire face. The base was white, with a face painted on top in vivid colors. And that painted face had its eyes closed—weeping.
“That must have hurt. I’m terribly sorry. Circumstances being what they are, I don’t use my eyes—I perceive my surroundings through magic, but I do tend to be a bit careless about such things… ah! Don’t move.”
The man reached a white-gloved hand gently toward my nose and let a faint touch of magic gather at his fingertips. Then he smoothly stroked my nose with it.
And then, incredibly, the pain simply faded away! Startled, I pressed and rubbed at my nose experimentally, but there wasn’t so much as a twinge. The injury was completely healed.
“Amazing.”
“Fufufu. A thing like this is quite trivial. Never mind that… my dear young lady. My beloved Queen awaits. Your hand, if you please?”
With that, the man extended his hand in a rather affected, dashing manner.
Unused to such gestures, I could only stand there in confusion. As I glanced back and forth between his outstretched hand and his masked face, the man—apparently growing impatient—said, "Pardon me," and took my hand himself. Then he pulled me toward him, sharply and forcefully.
The illustration’s description: the masked man reaching out his hand.
“—Wahhhh!”
The man’s grip was remarkably strong, and in an instant I was dragged through the doors and into the other side. My body lifted, floating. Strangely, even though I was being lifted with a single hand, there was no pain in my arm or shoulder at all—my body was clearly, unmistakably floating in midair.
“If I may be so bold, allow me the honor of escorting you.”
The man caught me and set me down gently on the soft grassy ground. My slippers had come off at some point without my noticing, and the cool, chilly sensation of grass touched the soles of my feet. Still holding my hand, the man drew close behind me and placed his other hand at my waist.
It was an uncomfortably close position, and the warmth of his body against my back made my face grow hot.
With my head still spinning, I looked up at the man’s face, but all I could see was that weeping mask, giving no clue at all as to what he might be thinking. Then, without seeming to notice my confusion in the slightest, he started walking at his own leisurely pace.
“Wait, hold on… please wait! Where are we—oh, wait, the food…”
I turned around in a panic and saw, floating in midair, a rectangular framed view of the kitchen. And beyond it, the food and drinks still sitting on the serving table, along with the glasses and plates.
If the man was taking me to wherever Titania was, I couldn’t just leave all that behind.
“Ah, I see. Quite right. Oh dear, how thoughtless of me. Foolish me, not thinking of such things.”
The man said this in a voice that sounded far more delighted than his words suggested, and began murmuring a spell under his breath.
“There, that should do it.”
Once he’d finished the incantation, the man promptly started walking again. Pushed along firmly from behind, I had no choice but to follow. But I couldn’t just let the matter of the food go unaddressed.
“Um! The food is—!”
“Hahaha. What an impatient young lady. It’s following along nicely, I assure you.”
The man said that and pointed back behind us.
“…Huh? And—wahh!?”
Where he pointed, I saw the food, drifting and swaying through the air as if dancing. Every so often, a plate would spin playfully, and the food alone would remain suspended in midair, settling back onto the plate once it finished rotating. Glasses, chopsticks, forks, serving dishes, even bottles of alcohol all flew along cheerfully together, and with the dryad wobbling along behind as well, the whole scene was utterly surreal. Add a merry little band of musicians, and it would’ve been a scene straight out of a fairy tale.
As I stood there stunned, staring at the spectacle, the man laughed proudly, saying, "Convenient, isn’t it?”
—It certainly is convenient. But it’s terrible for my heart…
Feeling sweat trickle down my back, I wondered whether I’d ever get used to the bizarre happenings in this other world. Just thinking about it made me feel faint.
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“Ohhh! You’ve come! I’ve been waiting so eagerly!”
The place the man had brought me to was the edge of a lodge-style building right in the middle of the meadow.
A small stream flowed through, spanned by a wooden deck. On it sat a white sofa, a wooden table, and a few chairs. Numerous lamps were scattered about as well, and amid the meadow lit only by moonlight, that one spot glowed softly with lamplight.
Titania, who had been reclining on the white sofa, rushed toward me the moment she spotted me, shoving aside the man—who was still hovering close by my side—with considerable force, as if he were nothing but an obstacle.
“You there, did you bring the drink? Don’t tell me you forgot the snacks too?”
“Owowowow. …Honestly, My Queen. How cruel. Are you testing my love for you? Hm? Hey, My Queen? Are you even listening?”
“Come here and sit at once. I’ve been longing for that fruit steeped in liquor ever since last time, unbearably so.”
“Ignored…!? Good heavens! My Queen! You’re ignoring me?”
The man, staggering back to his feet, clung after Titania, speaking with overwrought, theatrical lines delivered with exaggerated gestures worthy of a stage actor. But Titania, toward whom all these lines were directed, thoroughly ignored him, refusing even to glance his way.
The melodramatic man and the fairy queen. Their battle of wills continued for a while, but it seemed the outcome had already been decided. Eventually the man crumpled to the ground and began wailing. Exasperated by his commotion, Titania finally let out a sigh and spoke to him:
“…Honestly, what a tiresome creature you remain. Here, sit down too. Anywhere thereabouts.”
“Ahh! So cold! My Queen is far, far too cold to me! My heart is freezing over, about to perish! And here I am, so hopelessly enamored of her—ah, I see! The reason My Queen is so cold to me must be that I simply lack the charm to hold her heart in place—”
The man continued on and on in this negative vein. But his mournful, grieving voice had a bounce to it, and the way he flitted about as if dancing looked thoroughly delighted—it was terribly comical. If he’d removed his mask, no doubt his eyes would have looked absolutely melting with tears of joy.
—He’s a troublesome sort, in every possible way.
Apparently used to his antics, Titania completely ignored the man and sank down onto the sofa.
Then she patted the empty seat beside her, urging me to sit. I sat down beside Titania somewhat nervously. The pure white sofa was wonderfully soft and plush, incredibly comfortable.
“Ho. Today’s snacks look delicious too! Come now, you. Pour me some drink.”
Before I knew it, the dishes I’d made were arranged on the table in front of us. Inwardly startled, I handed Titania her usual emerald-green glass and poured her plum wine. Since it was a bit warm today, I added one large piece of ice too, and, as always, dropped in a plum as well.
“Here, you as well.”
Titania handed me a glass too. But before drinking, there was something I needed to say first.
“Titania, um. Before that—”
“Oh?" Titania turned her head sharply toward me. Her expression was the one I’d seen once before—beautiful, but devoid of any emotion at all, eerily doll-like.
“Are you interfering with my drinking?”
—A chill ran down my spine, goosebumps rising all over my body, cold sweat trickling down my back.
I shook my head as slowly and carefully as I could and poured beer into my own glass. Before I knew it, the man, having finished his fit of lamenting to his heart’s content, was already seated in a chair, glass in hand. Even in front of the dryad, sitting neatly on the ground, someone had placed a glass of drink—though who had prepared it, I had no idea. The dryad, apparently not quite understanding what it was, kept poking the glass with a fingertip, tilting its head.
“Ufufu. Well then—cheers.”
With Titania’s voice, our cups clinked together. A high, clear chink echoed out across the meadow, carried on the night breeze, and so began our strange little drinking party of the oddest company imaginable, held in honor of the fairy queen.
As I served portions of the food onto small plates and handed them over, Titania gazed down at her plate with eyes full of anticipation.
“The tomato-gari salad is nice and refreshing, so have some to cleanse your palate. And please eat the garlic shrimp with the shells on. I’m guessing you like things with a bit of a crunch, Titania?”
“Hmm? You’ve figured me out well. I prefer things with some resistance, rather than soft things. …You observe closely.”
Saying that, Titania smiled happily, a grin spreading across her face.
“This is shrimp, is it?”
She seemed to have decided to start with the garlic shrimp first. Titania tried to spear a piece with her fork, but it kept slipping on the smooth surface of the shell, refusing to be pierced.
“Titania, it’s a bit rude, but let’s eat it with our hands. Like this.”
I picked up a shrimp myself. It was a fairly large one. The flesh, protected by its shell, was tinged a faint red. The oil gleamed under the lamplight, looking thoroughly delicious.
—Crunch!
I bit into it with vigor, and the shell crackled crisply. Beneath the shell was firm, springy flesh. As my teeth closed fully, the remaining meat popped free with a satisfying give. And then the sweet shrimp flavor spread through my mouth. The shell, softened by the marinade, crushed easily enough in my mouth without much fuss—surprisingly easy to eat.
The crisp, sharp saltiness. The savory aroma of garlic. The bite of black pepper… and when the richness of the butter joined all that—ugh! Beer! I need beer, right now…!
Unable to resist, I grabbed my glass and downed the beer in one go.
—Gulp, gulp, gulp!
“ Phaaah!”
The fizzy sparkle of carbonation and the gentle bitterness of the beer swept away the rich flavor lingering in my mouth all at once. Riding the momentum, I popped another piece of garlic shrimp into my mouth, chewing it with a crisp, satisfying crunch. And then I nearly writhed in delight.
Garlic shrimp… that flavor paired perfectly with sparkling drinks!
My fingers were coated in savory, salty oil. Knowing it was bad manners, I licked it off anyway. Ah, how delicious! This too, right down to licking my fingers, was part of what made garlic shrimp so good.
“Nnn…”
Titania, imitating me, ate a shrimp too, murmured quietly that it was delicious, and her cheeks colored. With a crunching sound, one shrimp after another vanished into Titania’s mouth in no time at all. I’d noticed this before, but whenever Titania ate something delicious, she either fell silent or could only manage to say "delicious." She had a frightening side to her, but also parts that felt strangely human—an inhuman being, and yet a mysterious one all the same.
To soothe the spicy tang lingering on my tongue, I reached with my chopsticks for the tomato-gari salad. The pink gari and the vivid green shiso atop the tomato made for a dish that was summer itself.
When I lifted a piece with my chopsticks, the sweet-vinegar dressing dripped down in little drops. It had been sitting for a good while since I’d made it, so the tomato should have soaked up some of the gari’s sweet vinegar too.
The sweet-and-sour flavor the moment I took a bite. The refreshing scent of shiso drifting up through my nose. With every bite, the gari crunched with a satisfying sound. Beyond the texture, the occasional hint of spiciness added a nice accent. Right before swallowing, I caught a whiff of the tomato’s fragrance—the very scent of summer itself. It reset the taste of the beer and garlic shrimp perfectly, making it the ideal palate cleanser.
I took another swig of beer.
Today’s beer was that one named after a god. Thanks to the tomato salad resetting my palate, I could really appreciate the flavor now. This beer had tremendous depth. Despite being bitter, as beer should be, there were moments while drinking it where I caught a hint of sweetness just beyond the bitterness. The richness of the malt… a beer you could really savor and get gently drunk on, rather than one you’d chug down in a hurry.
Personally, I wanted to pair this beer with something simple. Something like… edamame, for example.
I gently picked up an edamame pod from the plate. The vivid green pod concealed several plump beans inside. I wanted to eat it right away! Suppressing my eagerness, I brought it to my mouth.
With a pop, the bean tumbled into my mouth. Boiled firm, the edamame had a satisfying, crisp bite.
And the perfectly balanced salt brought out the sweetness of the bean. Yes, it was sweet, above all else. With every bite, my tongue sent that sweetness straight to my brain.
—Gulp.
After swallowing, the scent of the bean drifted up through my nose.
—Ah. The taste of summer.
Savoring that seasonal flavor with both tongue and mind, I took another sip of beer.
The fizzy, refreshing swallow. The lovely bitterness. The richness. Then more edamame. Salty. Sweet. Delicious. Then more beer. …Endless bliss! Tasting this flavor again after so long, I couldn’t help feeling thoroughly delighted.
“You look happy.”
Titania, drinking beside me, poked my cheek with a finger.
It seemed that even with Titania right next to me, I’d become completely engrossed in my own world. Having finished the food on her plate, she’d apparently been watching me with a grin the whole time.
“S-Sorry.”
“It’s fine. You truly do drink like it’s delicious. It’s pleasant to watch. …Here, look at that, that one over there is quite amusing too.”
I looked where Titania pointed and saw the dryad. It kept dipping a finger into its glass, then jerking its whole body with a little hic! as though it had the hiccups.
—Was it possibly sucking up the alcohol through its finger?
Every time it dipped its finger in, the edamame flowers on its head burst into bloom, pop pop pop pop. It looked exactly like it was reacting to the alcohol.
“Um, isn’t that child still a young spirit?”
“Hmph. That one has lived many times longer than you. Measuring things by a human yardstick is the mark of a fool.”
The creature itself was swaying happily from side to side. Was it enjoying the alcohol too?
“Hmm. So this is the food and drink that charmed the Queen, is it?”
At that moment, the man’s cheerful voice sounded.
Sitting across from us, he was swirling the plum wine in his glass, leaning back against the armrest of his chair, looking thoroughly relaxed.
“To think this drink and this food caused me such trouble. Ahh, nothing but hardship awaits me, born under whatever unlucky star I was.”
He said that, letting out a sigh with an air of utter, theatrical despair.
Titania merely scoffed at his words.
“What nonsense. This man is an eccentric fool who dwells in the eastern forest. His own home was defiled by miasma and reduced to a tainted land, and yet all he did was lament, doing nothing about it himself. With his magical sight, he surely could have foreseen his home becoming tainted land, yet he had time to spare doing nothing. …So I simply put him to work.”
“I see… so in other words, you made him help restore his own home?”
“Put simply, yes.”
“No, no, no! I was clearly made to work on tainted lands other than my own home too! And besides, my magical sight had already foreseen a future where the Saint would purify that place! There was no need for me to move at all—it would have returned to normal eventually regardless. Honestly, the Queen simply enjoys tormenting me! Is it love? Could it be love? Or is it merely a sadistic hobby of hers? Well, I do have my foolish side, so I suppose I can’t complain too much about being treated this way.”
The man lamented once more, cheerfully wallowing in his sorrow.
“And besides, why won’t you call me by name? So formal, treating me like a stranger. You haven’t even introduced me to your guest… I’m Theo. Theo the Jester. Perhaps you’re not interested in the name of a fool like me, but I hope you’ll remember it.”
The man—Theo—said that and gave a theatrical, elegant bow.
Flustered, I stood up too and hastily introduced myself with a string of bows. Theo seemed satisfied with my reaction, settled deep into his chair, and began humming to himself as he drank from his glass.
What a strange person. Always lamenting, yet always laughing happily all the same. His theatrical movements, his flashy, ornate robe, the weeping face painted on his mask. Combined with all the jewelry jangling and adorning him, he certainly had the air of a jester you’d see in a circus.
But Titania had called him an "eccentric fool." I had no idea what exactly made him "foolish" or "eccentric," but combined with the way he’d so casually introduced himself as a jester—somehow, it all felt terribly suspicious.
While mulling all this over absently, watching Theo in a bit of a daze, I suddenly remembered I still hadn’t properly thanked Titania for protecting my sister.
—I need to do this properly.
I tightened my slightly edamame-loosened focus, straightened my posture, and turned to face Titania.
“Um, Titania.”
“…What is it?”
“Thank you… for helping my sister. For protecting her.”
At my words, Titania visibly frowned and turned her face away.
“I… merely granted your wish.”
“I know. But it must have been difficult, wasn’t it?”
I took Titania’s hand. Small, slender—even more delicate than my sister’s.
“Titania. Capricious fairy queen. Thank you, truly.”
Tears began spilling from my eyes, one after another. My sister had made it home safely partly through her own hard work, but also because people like Titania had protected her. All I’d been able to do was wait. Ah, my tears simply wouldn’t stop.
—Ugh, how annoying. My tear ducts have really gotten loose lately.
“Crying while smiling… how skillful of you.”
“Is that so? …I just feel so happy.”
Titania pursed her lips, occasionally glancing my way before quickly averting her gaze. She looked exactly like a sulky child.
She had many faces, but the one before me now was Titania looking every bit the girl her appearance suggested—a very endearing side of the fairy queen. But she was also someone with an entirely opposite face. She could scatter curses at will. I mustn’t forget she was a frightening, inhuman being. I’d surely regret it if I did.
—And yet, the more I came to know Titania, the more my heart couldn’t help but be drawn to her. Charming, frightening, and mysterious, all at once. That was the fairy queen Titania, as I understood her.
“…Now then. Please eat and drink your fill. I’m putting real effort into entertaining you today.”
“You needn’t tell me that. Fool.”
Saying that, Titania’s cheeks had turned rose-colored, red all the way to her ears.
She was clearly flustered, no matter how you looked at it. Delighted to catch yet another new expression on her face, I smiled quietly to myself, careful not to let her notice. I could feel something warm passing between the two of us. Surely I wasn’t mistaken about that.
“Hahaha. What a wonderfully touching scene—”
But the next moment, Theo’s voice sliced right through that warm atmosphere.
“And now, that’s the end of this little chapter. The wish has been granted, and the young lady’s hospitality is nearly over. A capricious queen never stays in one place for long. She’ll go roaming the world capriciously once more. And so, this long-awaited encounter between a human and the Queen comes to an end!”
Theo rose from his chair and, like a stage actor, dramatically raised his glass toward the sky. Then, in true jester fashion, gleefully and comically, he began spinning round and round.
—Ah. I suppose that’s so.
For some reason, Theo’s words struck me as deeply convincing.
My meeting with the fairy queen had truly been pure chance, the sort of thing that normally wouldn’t happen at all. Our meeting had come from Titania’s whim. And her granting my wish had been a whim too. I’d been taking it for granted that we’d meet again. But that was entirely up to Titania.
…I feel a bit lonely, I thought.
“The hospitality has ended? Hmph. Don’t decide such things on your own. Besides—you there, you seem to have let your guard down somewhat. …Still far too naive.”
“—Huh?”
Titania’s cold voice reached my ears as I sat lost in sentiment. Discarding her childlike expression, she transformed in an instant into a coldly, wickedly sharp face.
“As for why I chose to drink here today, in this place, well, your house would have been too cramped. I, the Queen herself, was considerate enough to take that into account. During the recent purification journey, I couldn’t possibly protect the Saint alone. So I made ample use of my servants, just as I did with that idiot over there. Look carefully. My dear little servants are hiding all around us, watching and waiting for their turn.”
Chuckling, Titania pointed with a slender finger out into the darkness of the night.
Suddenly, the entire surroundings burst into a riot of colorful light. That light traced a circle around us, swirling and stirring. Each individual point of light was about the size of a firefly. But there were so many of them, too many to bother counting, that it looked as if the Milky Way itself had descended to the earth.
“These too, in a manner of speaking, are those who cooperated to grant your wish. The fairy queen’s true nature is caprice. I told them, on a whim, that if they helped, I’d reward them.”
The lights surged and swirled in time with Titania’s words, beginning to move. They became a flowing stream of light, sweeping toward me. Looking closely, it was a gathering of tiny fairies.
“—Now then, child of man. Just as you did for me… entertain my dear little servants as well. You can do it, can’t you? You’ll satisfy them, won’t you? Come now, fulfill your promise.”
Titania’s voice had turned utterly different from before—terribly cold. And yet, somehow, it also sounded sorrowful, and lonely too.
—Titania.
I wondered what expression she was wearing right now. I wanted to see her face, but that wasn’t possible either.
Before long, my vision was overwhelmed with dazzling light, until eventually I could see nothing at all.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇
—I suppose you could call it fortunate.
Since the fairies were so tiny, they couldn’t drink very much. Still, we were drastically short on glasses, so I had Theo conjure up a set of flat, saucer-like cups with magic—incidentally, he laughed while complaining, "I’m the one who’s supposed to be entertained here, and instead I’m being put to work! What terrible luck"—and poured plum wine into them. The fairies swarmed the cups like insects drawn to a honey trap, each drinking happily away.
Having edamame on hand turned out to be a stroke of luck too. For the tiny fairies, a single bean was plenty.
Once every last fairy had finally been served a drink, I let out a breath.
Titania leaned back against the sofa, gazing vacantly at nothing in particular. I sat down beside her.
“Are you done drinking now?”
“Mm. I need no more.”
Titania seemed distracted, somewhere else entirely, her eyelids drooping in a melancholy way. Even that expression was beautiful. As I found myself unconsciously entranced, Titania, noticing my gaze, glared sharply at me.
“…What. Do you want something?”
“Titania. Aren’t you the one who’s assuming my hospitality is already over?”
I stood up and brought back two bowls, gentle wisps of steam rising from them. A savory scent of miso drifted from the bowls.
“You can’t call it finished until you’ve had this, after drinking.”
Titania took the bowl and peered inside, tilting her head.
“Shrimp… heads?”
“Yes. Miso soup made with shrimp heads. It’s hot, so be careful.”
Titania picked up her chopsticks with a dubious expression.
I brought my own bowl close to my face too, blowing on it gently. An indescribable aroma: miso mingled with shrimp stock. A luxurious bowl, one you only get to enjoy when you’ve cooked with head-on shrimp. Even though I should already be full from all the snacks, the rich, appetizing smell of shrimp had my anticipation building all over again.
I took a slurp, and the flavor of shrimp immediately spread through my mouth. The soup, enriched by the shrimp’s head contents, was concentrated umami in liquid form. Every sip sent such a wave of deliciousness through my brain that I almost went numb. For a body craving hydration after all that drinking, it was an irresistible delicacy.
I lifted one of the shrimp heads with my chopsticks. Pressing my lips to it, I sucked out what remained with a few little slurps. The last traces of shrimp paste spread thickly over my tongue. Then I took another sip of the broth.
““…Haaaaah.””
Titania and I let out a sigh of satisfaction at exactly the same moment. We couldn’t help but exchange a glance and burst into smiles. We giggled together, sinking into a warm, contented feeling.
“Oh, honestly. Good grief. So this is your idea of hospitality?”
Her voice carried a note somewhere between resignation and exasperation. At Titania’s sighing words, my heart skipped a beat. Fearing inwardly that she hadn’t enjoyed it, I watched as Titania flung herself back against the sofa and glared at me through half-lidded eyes.
“Being treated to hospitality like this is going to make drinking alone from now on feel lonely. What a cruel thing to do to me. I would have been better off never knowing the pleasure of drinking together with someone.”
Titania said that and let out a long sigh.
“What a thoroughly troublesome business, this.”
As Titania murmured that, sounding gloomy, I decided to voice a proposal I’d been mulling over the entire time during this little gathering.
“Say, Titania. Won’t you come visit again?”
At that, Titania’s beautiful sky-blue eyes went wide as saucers, and she sat bolt upright from the sofa. Ah, this too was an expression of Titania’s I’d never seen before.
“I think… we’re drinking friends now.”
I said that, smiling at her.
“So, wish or no wish, let’s drink together whenever the mood strikes either of us, on a whim. I’m like you—drinking alone isn’t really my thing either, if I’m honest.”
Titania’s cheeks instantly flushed rose-red.
I wanted to keep drinking with the capricious fairy queen from now on, always. I found myself thinking that. This mysterious, frightening, adorable being—I didn’t want this to be the only time. I didn’t want to part with her just like that.
Heart pounding, I waited for Titania’s answer. Titania fidgeted, twisting her hands together, her gaze wandering here and there. Then, still looking off in some random direction, she spoke in a slightly strained voice:
“Hmph, w-well, I suppose it can’t be helped. As the fairy queen, I fly busily about all corners of the world. In between all that… I shall, on a whim, pay you a visit now and then. And if you prepare more of that delicious drink, I won’t entirely mind continuing to keep an eye on the Saint, either.”
Muttering that under her breath, she flopped face-down onto the white sofa with a soft thump, as if hiding her rose-colored cheeks. The glimpse I caught of her face in that moment was, of all the expressions of Titania’s I’d seen so far, the most beautiful—and the most adorable.
Then, once again, another voice rang out, shattering the mood entirely.
Titania lifted her head and glared irritably at the source of the voice. The man himself, apparently oblivious to her glare, spoke on in a pleasant, sing-song tone, as though reciting lines from a play:
“Well, well, well. It seems things have gone splendidly. A fairy queen charmed by a child of man. Her wish granted, the promised hospitality finished… and it seems the very thing the Queen feared has turned out to be needless worry after all. It appears the paths of the human child and the Fairy Queen won’t be parting after all! My, my. …Oh? My Queen. Whatever is the matter? Why are you clenching your fist like that? Is it that? Have I gone and put my foot in it again, without meaning to? Whoa there, hold on now! Violence isn’t the answer, is it!? Let’s talk this over. See, I do tend to be a bit oblivious to the mood of a room—that’s exactly why I have no frien—guh!”
That day, I witnessed, for the very first time in my life, a humanoid creature launched skyward in a single mighty blow.
It looked exactly like a scene from a manga, and I’ll admit, quietly, that I found it more than a little thrilling to watch.
To the poor, pitiful jester… my condolences.
The Translator’s Notes
“Capricious queen”—it sounds beautiful, but considering this chapter, a more accurate translation would be “whimsical queen.”
For “Theo the Jester”, a “Clown” would have been a better fit, since Akane mentioned a circus, but after much deliberation, I decided to go with “jester” after all; it better suits his demeanor.
