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 - The Night the Stones Disappeared, and a Cosmic Snack
Silence fell at the base of Elda Magna.
The cracks running across the surface of the Moya-Moya Stone spread with sharp, snapping sounds. With every pulse from the stone's core, a crimson-black light seeped out, casting an eerie glow across the plaza floor.
Fauna wrapped both hands around the stone.
" Please… just a little longer… Just a little longer, let me hear everyone's voices!"
Her fingertips trembled. The stone's vibrations traveled up her arms, numbing her to the bone.
That was when—
" I'll talk!"
Gura leaped into the center of the plaza.
The shark fin on top of her head stood straight up. Large tears spilled freely from her big aqua-blue eyes. The small anchor hanging from her waist jangled noisily.
" In the deep sea, I was all alone the whole time!"
She clenched her fists and shouted toward the sky.
" For over a hundred years! At the bottom of a dark ocean with no one around! The only ones I could talk to were jellyfish and deep-sea fish! I wasn't allowed to talk to anyone without orders! Even meals, always alone! Eating cold fish, in the dark, all by myself!"
Gura's voice made the leaves of Elda Magna tremble.
" I wanted to eat with someone! I wanted to chat! I wanted friends! That's all… that's all it was…!"
She covered her face with both hands and crouched down.
" When I came here and ate breakfast with Fauna for the first time, I thought it was heaven! Warm soup, bread, someone next to me… just that was enough… already… already…!"
Her words broke apart through the tears.
" So! I wanted to make everyone happy! I brought the stone! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
Gura's cries dissolved into the plaza.
That was when—
The stone's vibration shifted, softly.
The crimson-black light slowly, slowly began to change into a deep blue, like the depths of the ocean. From the gaps in the cracks, particles of light began to drift, as if countless tiny bubbles were rising to the surface.
" …You were waiting."
Fauna gazed at the stone.
" You were waiting all along, weren't you. You just wanted to touch someone's true feelings."
The stone trembled, faintly. As if nodding.
—But it still wasn't enough.
The vibrations began to intensify again.
Gura's honest feelings alone weren't enough. Not until everyone in the Commons had shared what was truly in their hearts.
That was when—
" Next… it's my turn!"
Amelia stood up.
Her blue eyes, usually sparkling, now burned with resolve. Her blonde hair, reaching down to her waist, swayed in the wind. The time machine on her left wrist emitted a faint glow.
She gently removed her goggles.
" Can you see this?"
Amelia pointed to the area around her eyes. Faint old scars lingered around her blue eyes—marks left from a disastrous experiment with her time machine long ago.
" The truth is, I was scared of these, and I couldn't take off my goggles all this time. If I failed again, it wouldn't just be my eyes next time. This time, I might hurt everyone."
Her voice trembled.
" I know I'm nothing but failures, that I'm causing trouble for everyone. For Chronii, for Fauna, for Gura—I cause so much trouble. Even so! Even so, I—!"
Tears spilled down her scars.
" I want to stay here! I want to be with everyone! I love this place!"
She cried out and collapsed in tears.
The hem of her coat fell to the ground. It always swayed like a tail, but now it just looked like a crumpled piece of cloth.
Chronii slowly approached her.
His long silver hair swayed. His golden eyes no longer trembled with anger. The deep furrow between his brows had softened, just a little.
" …Amelia. I'm glad you were here."
He said it.
Amelia looked up.
" …Huh?"
" I thought your inventions were reckless and amusing. In my heart, I was always looking forward to whatever you'd come up with next. The fact that I couldn't say that… that was my weakness."
He placed a hand on Amelia's shoulder.
" I'm sorry. And… thank you."
Amelia's tears grew even larger.
—That was when—
The stone's light grew stronger, and softer.
The blue light began to shift into gold. The particles of light spilling from the cracks floated up gently, softly, like stardust.
" …Thank you."
Fauna whispered to the stone.
" I heard everyone's feelings, loud and clear. You weren't alone. You just wanted to connect with someone, all along."
—Kiiiiiiin.
The stone released one final vibration.
And then—
Fwaaaash.
The Moya-Moya Stone dissolved into countless particles of light. Tiny, tiny stardust spread throughout the base of Elda Magna. Gold, blue, and faint green light mingled together, enveloping the plaza like the Milky Way itself.
The particles gently settled onto the residents' shoulders, their hair, their palms.
" Wow…"
Gura reached out her hand. A tiny speck of light burst softly against her fingertip.
In that instant—
The shark fin on Gura's head sprang straight up.
" Ah! It's back!"
She looked over her own body.
" I'm back to normal! I'm me, I'm me!"
Amelia, too, gently touched her own cheek.
" …Huh? I'm crying? Why am I crying—wait, my goggles!"
She hurriedly picked up her goggles. But her hands stopped.
" …Well, I guess it's okay to take them off once in a while."
Amelia smiled, a little embarrassed. With her bare face, goggles off.
Chronii gazed at that face.
" …It suits you."
" Eh?"
Amelia's cheeks turned faintly red.
" Wh-what are you saying, Chro?! That's creepy!"
" What did you say?! I went out of my way to honestly compliment you!"
" Because, you being honest is way too creepy!"
" You…!"
Their usual bickering. But both of them were laughing.
That was when Calliope quietly stood up. In her hands, she held a pot with a withered flower. She had brought it from Fauna's flower garden. The leaves were brown and wilted, and all the petals had fallen.
" Fauna. This is a flower I let wither because of me."
She held the flower out to Fauna.
" I wonder if I can do something with my power of death. Not just taking life, but breathing new life into something—"
" Calliope…"
Calliope took a deep breath. And then—
" …Listen. A rap for the flower."
"Huh?"
Calliope began to find a rhythm.
"Yo! Yo! Withered flower, check it out! Revive with the power of death, respect! Petals fall but the roots remain, release your life right now!"
Silence.
Silence fell over the plaza.
Calliope's rap was no longer a rap. The rhythm was all over the place, the rhymes didn't land, and her voice was shaking. This was the result of the god of death attempting rap for the very first time in her existence.
And then—
Inside the flower pot, the last remaining leaf fluttered down.
" …Huh?"
" Calliope, I appreciate the sentiment, but the flower is withering even more!"
Fauna hurriedly took the pot.
" Calliope, what are you doing?!"
" Ahahahaha! The flower died instead!"
" …Plants withering from rap. That's a new concept of time."
The residents' laughter echoed through the plaza.
Calliope hung her head, her face bright red.
" My rap didn't get through…"
" It's okay, Calliope. I'll fix it."
Fauna held her hand over the flower pot. The small sprout above her left ear glowed with a pale green light. The power of nature flowed from her fingertips into the flower.
The stem slowly regained its green. New leaves, tiny buds, gently peeked out. And then—
Pop.
A single small white flower bloomed.
" …Wow."
" There. Good as new."
Calliope gently touched the flower.
" …Next time, I'll challenge it with an anime song. I'll definitely make it succeed."
" Wait, you're still going to do it?!"
Laughter again.
The leaves of Elda Magna rustled softly. As if the World Tree itself was laughing along with them.
—
Twilight.
The sky was dyed in a gradient of orange and purple. A gentle breeze blew from the direction of Stargazer's Hill.
Fauna gathered all the residents at the base of Elda Magna.
" Everyone, can you listen for a moment?"
All eyes gathered on her.
" Today taught me something important. Putting your true feelings into words. How hard that is. And… how warm it is."
She looked straight at everyone.
" The Moya-Moya Stone is gone now. But I don't want to forget what the stone taught us. So—"
Fauna paused for a breath.
" I propose that from now on, once a month, we hold a 'Circle of Honest Feelings' meeting here. I want us to keep cherishing a place where we can speak from the heart. If you agree, raise your hand."
A moment of silence.
And then—
" Aye-aye!"
Gura energetically raised her hand.
" Of course! I'll bring snacks every time!"
" I agree. However—"
Chronii stepped forward.
" Amelia presenting her next invention ideas there is forbidden. It could cause temporal distortions."
" What—?! But I just had a great idea!"
" Ahahahaha!"
Laughter again.
Fauna continued with a smile.
" We can just have an invention presentation on a different day, can't we?"
" Then next week! We'll do Amelia's Invention Presentation!"
" Next week is way too soon…"
Chronii held his head in his hands.
" I want to join too! I still have tons of weird stuff I found in the deep sea!"
The moment Gura said that innocently—
" Please don't!"
" Stop!"
Their voices overlapped in perfect unison.
Laughter spread once more.
The base of Elda Magna was wrapped in the soft light of the setting sun.
—
That night.
The kitchen of the Potager was quiet.
Fauna was alone, cleaning up after dinner. She ran water in the sink and washed the dishes. Only the sound of the sponge scrubbing against the tableware echoed faintly.
Outside the window, a sky full of stars. The night sky visible from Stella Noll Hill, where constellations from multiple worlds overlapped, was especially beautiful tonight.
(—Everyone's gone home.)
Fauna murmured in her heart.
Chronii to the clock tower. Calliope to her study. Gura to her sleeping spot by the inlet. Nanomea to the underground archive. And Amelia, too—
" …Sneaky, sneaky."
A voice.
Fauna stopped her hands.
In the corner of the kitchen. Behind the cupboard, Amelia was crouching. Spread out on the floor was an encyclopedia of the universe. Photos of colorful nebulae, illustrations of galaxies, cross-sections of planets.
And she was absorbed in writing something in her notebook.
" I wonder what snacks from this star taste like. Meteor shower donuts, black hole candy… Alright, I'll have to modify the next time machine into space navigation mode. But if Chronii finds out, he'll get mad at me again…"
An innocent smile played on her lips.
As if she hadn't been crying just moments ago.
Fauna quietly left the kitchen, careful not to make a sound.
(—The next uproar… space snacks, huh.)
She smiled softly.
And then, she stepped outside Parliament Hall.
She looked up at the night sky. So many stars were twinkling.
" But… once in a while, space snacks might not be so bad."
A new curiosity, budding within herself.
Fauna let out an embarrassed laugh.
The small sprout above her left ear glowed faintly gold, then quickly faded.
The wind rustled the leaves of Elda Magna.
In her heart, she spoke to the Moya-Moya Stone, now gone.
—I heard your feelings, loud and clear. Goodbye. Thank you.
And then, she turned back toward the Potager. From the small kitchen window, she could hear Amelia's cheerful muttering.
" …Tomorrow looks like it'll be busy again."
But there was no sigh in her voice.
Rather, there was a gentle composure, as if she were looking forward to the next commotion.
The fun-filled days of the Commons didn't seem like they'd be ending anytime soon.
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