Ceres Fauna's Everyday, Just a Little Bit Strange Days
In a secret place where gods and incredible beings from various worlds have gathered to live a relaxed life together, Ceres Fauna, the organizer of the 'Council,' is as busy as ever looking after everyone.
One day, the mischievous Watson Amelia is excited, saying, 'I'll use my time machine to grab a snack from tomorrow!' The god of time, Kronii, hears this and panics, shouting, 'You'll break the world's rules!' Fauna tries to stop it with the power of nature, but Amelia has already pressed the
Ceres Fauna's Everyday, Just a Little Bit Strange Days - A Visitor from the Deep Sea and the Secret of the Hazy Stone
Only the sound of waves wrapped the silence of the Commons.
The dimensional tremor that had occurred late at night. That quake which had shaken the very roots of Elda Magna was already fading from everyone's memory. But Fauna was different. Like a tiny thorn lodged deep in her chest, she couldn't shake the unease.
"...Somehow, I feel like it's not over yet."
Still in her hemp nightgown, she stepped barefoot onto the earth. The moon had already tilted west, and the eastern sky was beginning to pale. Patrolling Tidepool Cove. That was her daily routine.
Below the cliff, the inlet—about fifty meters across—was astonishingly calm. The seawater flowing in from the dimensional rift was transparent, clear all the way to the bottom.
And there, something that shouldn't have been there—
"...Huh?"
At the water's edge, something moved.
Deep blue and white hair. A small body. At the top of her head, an ornament like a shark fin twitched and trembled.
"Ugh... Where am I...?"
The girl lifted her face, still soaking wet.
Her large aqua-blue eyes sparkled, reflecting the sunrise. Several tiny anchors hung from her waist, jangling noisily every time she tried to stand.
"A-Are you okay!? Where did you come from?"
Fauna rushed over in a panic.
The girl gazed up at the sky, dazed.
"...Blue."
"Huh?"
"Blue! It's blue! Is this the 'sky'!? Amazing!"
The next moment, the girl leaped to her feet.
"I've been in a dark place forever! The only light was from jellyfish or lava! But here, it's different! Everything is glowing!"
And then, just like that—
Thump.
"Wah!"
She clung to Fauna.
Soaking wet clothes. The scent of the sea. But what surprised Fauna most was the girl's body temperature. Perhaps from living at the bottom of the ocean, she was cool and cold. Yet that coldness seemed to speak of a hundred years of solitude.
"Thank you! You're the one protecting this place, right! I can tell!"
"Wh-Who in the world are you...?"
"Gawr Gura! Knight of the sea! I've been running errands all alone in the deep sea for ages! But then the waves kinda said, 'This way'!"
"All alone, all this time...?"
"Yeah! For about a hundred years, I guess? I only ever talked to jellyfish!"
Fauna's chest tightened.
A hundred years. Without speaking to anyone, at the bottom of a dark ocean.
—Just like me.
Ever since becoming a Keeper of Tuning, Fauna had never been able to show weakness to anyone. In front of everyone, she had to be kind, she had to be strong. Even when she was lonely, she couldn't say she was lonely.
"...Gura. This place is called Veritas Commons. It's where people from all sorts of worlds gather and live together. You can stay here too."
"...I can?"
"You can. Because you're not alone anymore."
Gura's big eyes widened.
Then, tears welled up and spilled over.
"U-Uuu...! I was so lonely...! I wanted to talk to someone, for so long...!"
She clung to Fauna and sobbed like a child.
Fauna said nothing, just patted her gently on the back.
(She was just like me.)
———
The smell of freshly baked bread drifted through the Potager.
"Amazing! What's this!? It's warm!"
Gura was glued to the big table, letting out cheers with every spoonful of soup she scooped up.
"That's pumpkin soup. Eat it slowly, okay?"
"So good! It's so good! In the deep sea, it was just raw fish or cold seaweed!"
Fauna smiled as she dried Gura's wet hair with a towel. Her two-tone hair, dark navy and white, fluffed out softly as it dried. The faint remnants of small gills on the nape of her neck were adorable.
"Hey, Fauna! Is there anyone else here?"
"Yes. Seventeen people in all. I think they'll be coming for breakfast soon."
"Seventeen! That's amazing! Do you think they'll all be my friends!?"
"I'm sure they will. You're such an honest, good kid, Gura."
"...But I've never been able to make friends before. In the deep sea, everyone either runs away or gets eaten."
Fauna gently stroked her head.
"It's okay. No one will run away from you here."
Gura's eyes filled with tears again.
Then, from among the anchors at her waist, she carefully took out a single stone.
Fist-sized. Translucent, with faint spirals of light constantly swirling across its surface.
"Here! I'll give you this as thanks!"
"...What is this?"
"I dunno! But it's warm, right! When I hold this, I don't feel lonely anymore!"
Fauna took the stone in her hand.
It was indeed warm. A strange warmth that made you want to hold it tight.
In that instant—
A dazzling light burst from the stone.
"Eh!?"
The light shot out of the Potager, instantly enveloping a two-hundred-meter radius.
The residents who had just arrived for breakfast. Chronii, emerging from the adjacent Parliament Hall. Nanomea, poking her head out of the archives. Everyone was swallowed by the light.
———
"...And so, this world is so fleeting..."
Amelia, who was usually shouting "Awesome!", was in the corner of the Potager, tears in her eyes, reciting a poem of her own making.
"The light of the stars, the taste of chocolate, they're all destined to vanish..."
"Amelia!? What's wrong with you, get a hold of yourself!"
"I'm feeling incredibly sentimental right now. I'd appreciate it if you didn't interrupt..."
Someone dashed past her at breakneck speed.
"Fufu! So this is what they call invention! I can do this too! I'll modify that machine just a little!"
Her black robes fluttering, Calliope—who was usually clutching a poetry anthology—was now racing into Amelia's workshop, Ticker House, tools in hand.
"Even Calliope!? Stop, that workshop explodes, you know!?"
And then, bursting out of the archives, was Nanomea.
"——!!!!"
The taciturn god of civilization silently kicked off the wall, stuck to the ceiling, and began sprinting around the archives at incredible speed. Like the protagonist of an action game.
"Nanomea!? Was that your character all along!?"
And then—
Someone was sprawled out on the floor, limbs akimbo.
"...Time management is such a pain."
"Chronii!? I can't believe you of all people would say that! What about your Seventeen Articles!?"
"Rules, time, I don't care about any of it. Right now, I'm just really sleepy."
"Wake uuuup!!"
Fauna's cry was in vain; Chronii began to breathe peacefully in his sleep.
"What is going on...?"
The stone in her hand pulsed with light.
Fauna pressed her hand against the ground. She tried to seal the stone's power with the force of nature.
—Thump.
The stone burst.
"Eek!"
Her power had no effect at all.
If anything, the stone's light grew stronger, and the chaos spread even further.
(It's no use. My power can't stop it.)
Her powerlessness as a Keeper of Tuning. It crushed her.
Just then—
"...I'm sorry."
A small voice reached her.
Gura was trembling, her face pale.
"It's my stone's fault. Because I brought something like this... Everyone's gone weird."
"Gura, no. It's not your—"
"No! It's my fault!"
She shouted.
"Because I was lonely! Because I wanted friends! Because I picked up this stupid stone! I really am better off alone! Whenever I'm with someone, I just cause trouble!"
Tears spilled down her cheeks.
"I'm going back! Back to the sea! I won't see anyone ever again!"
She tried to run toward the inlet.
—Fauna grabbed her hand.
"No. I won't let you go."
"Let go! No one needs me!"
"There's no way no one needs you. ...I've always thought the same thing. That as a Keeper of Tuning, I had to be strong. I couldn't tell anyone my true feelings. But that's wrong. It's okay to talk. It's okay to show weakness. That's what friends are for, right?"
Fauna hugged Gura tightly.
"Because you're not alone anymore."
Gura cried out loud.
———
A little while later.
After laying Gura, who had cried herself to sleep, on the sofa in the Potager, Fauna took the stone and headed for the Bloom Circle.
The flowers, still reeling from Calliope's rampage the day before, had completely lost their vitality.
But even so.
"Please. Lend me your strength."
She placed the stone at the base of Elda Magna.
The wounded flowers mustered what little power they had left and emitted a faint light.
Resonating with the stone.
—But.
"...You have no words, do you."
The stone remained silent. It merely reflected Fauna's face within its swirling light.
(Why wasn't I affected?)
She gently stroked the stone's surface.
(Amelia is reciting poetry like that. Calliope has awakened to invention. Even Chronii threw aside his work. But I haven't changed at all.)
Just then, she heard Amelia's recitation from afar.
"...I'm sorry for always causing everyone trouble... I just... I just want to surprise everyone..."
Fauna gasped.
(That's her true feelings?)
Amelia, who always laughed and said, "Failures are just material for success!" Deep down, she had been worried about being a burden.
The stone didn't swap personalities.
It was bringing hidden true feelings to the surface.
"...I see. This stone just wants to know everyone's true feelings."
—That's why I'm not affected.
Fauna bit her lip.
She had kept her own true feelings hidden for so long.
The flowers are the most important thing. But the truth is, she wanted to rely on everyone more.
"...Me too."
Tears fell.
"Me too, sometimes I want to tell someone, 'It's hard.' 'Help me.' But because I'm a Keeper of Tuning. Because I'm like a mother to everyone. I thought I wasn't allowed to say things like that."
Her tears fell onto the stone.
And then—
The stone's light shifted, just a little, into a gentler color.
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