Let's Go on an Adventure
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Shoot! That sounded like someone who'd seen the video Bora filmed of me way back. It had gone up on the Starlight Research Institute's official YouTube once, after all...
It had been taken down so long ago that nobody could find it now. I wondered if the clip of me singing was still floating around. I'd filmed it without showing my face, so at least that was a mercy.
"I really wouldn't know!"
Times like this, playing dumb was the way to go. The viewer count climbed, and my mood climbed with it, so before I queued into a match I ended up chatting with the viewers about all sorts of things. Unlike talking with Bora or Haru, the conversation was raw and unfiltered, and that was exactly what made it fun.
We talked and talked, and before I knew it, it was time to shut down. I stopped queueing and got ready to end the stream.
"I'm heading out now!!!"
"I'll stream again tomorrow!"
With that, I ended the broadcast like it was nothing. People were still howling away in the chat, but I was going live again tomorrow. What did it matter?
I slid down off the chair and made for the cherry tomatoes on the desk, the ones basking in the sun. They had grown absolutely drenched in my love, and the branches were bent under the weight of them.
I plucked the tomatoes from the branches and dropped them into a little food container. Every so often I picked a batch and brought it in to the office. Fruit setting this fast was strange, sure, but what did it matter?
Leave them alone and they'd fruit until the branches snapped, so it was important to keep harvesting a steady amount.
One by one, as if each were a precious treasure, I filled the container and ran for the office. I could have settled dinner on cherry tomatoes alone, but I wasn't about to give up the joy of actually eating.
Who on earth lives on nothing but energy bars? If all anyone cared about was efficiency, everyone would just eat the highest-calorie food they could find. But so long as the sense of taste exists, nobody is going to live on cherry tomatoes alone. I'd pop one when I was busy, of course, but as a staple they left something to be desired.
"Haru!"
Haru was in the office today. I held up the container, packed full of cherry tomatoes—little clones of me, sprung from my very own teeth.
"You brought a whole lot again today?"
"Yeah! They were hanging in huge clusters, so I grabbed a bunch!"
There was enough to cover the entire Starlight Research Institute. Hundreds of people worked here, but hardly anyone ate many cherry tomatoes, so bringing a batch every two or three days was more than enough to meet the demand.
Haru took my tomatoes and headed off somewhere. Probably to the department that handed them out.
Once I was sure she was gone, I made for the pantry. Lately the place had been overflowing with delicious things. Ever since they found out I stopped by, the variety of snacks and chocolates had multiplied.
I didn't hide to eat them anymore. I ate them out in the open. When the office was crowded, all those eyes on me were a little much, but the pantry's snacks were good enough that I could bear it.
Standing at the pantry counter, I set my hands flying. If you didn't grab the good snacks fast, they vanished. Once I'd picked out a decent haul, I went back to my room. I meant to hide them in my secret stash.
"Hehe."
Watching the snacks pile up like a treasure vault, I couldn't help but laugh. I was starting to understand why the dragons in fantasy novels hauled treasure into their lairs. It had been a long time since I'd seen a sight that filled me up just by looking at it.
And yet, even after I'd played by myself this long, Haru still hadn't come back. Had she gone to do more than just drop off the tomatoes?
I crept along, step by careful step. Aside from the floor where I lived, I had barely been anywhere else. Adventure flared up in me, and I left a scrap of paper for Haru to find.
Going out to play!
Mm-hmm. Perfect.
I zigzagged down the corridor toward the elevator, not forgetting to throw both arms out wide like an airplane. Inside, I deliberated over which floor to visit. Seven was a lucky number, so I reached for the button. My hand couldn't touch it.
"Huh...?"
The doors slid shut, and I was trapped inside. Cold sweat poured down my back. All I had to do was press the open button, but panic had wiped the thought clean out of my head.
"Uu... uuu..."
Maybe it was the fear of being shut in a narrow space, but tears welled up in my eyes. Then the elevator began to move—someone on another floor must have pressed the button. Thank goodness.
The moment the doors opened, I scurried out. Thinking about it now, I could have just stepped on the little platform inside and pressed whatever floor I wanted. I'd panicked far too hard.
Looking around, I saw people hurrying past. I walked the corridor, peering this way and that. There were so many places I still hadn't seen that it felt like a whole new adventure.
I hadn't gone far before I was out of breath. Being carried everywhere in Bora's arms and Haru's had done a number on my stamina. People say little kids have infinite energy, but I had an adult's mind, so that rule didn't apply to me.
There was a rest nook in a convenient spot, and I settled gently into it. I was on my phone, fiddling with this and that, when I felt someone sit down on either side of me. There were plenty of seats. Why both sides of me?
"Hana, hello?"
A beautiful woman greeted me with a bright, sunny smile. I dipped my head and returned it.
"You're too cute~"
"Hana, say hi to me too!"
And then a hand came down to stroke my hair, soft as anything. It felt nice, so I quietly surrendered my head to the women.
"I've been wanting to pet Hana just once~ The staff in charge of you are so strict about keeping anyone from coming near..."
"Did you get lost? There's no reason for you to come up to this floor...?"
Maybe it was because I was still in a child's body. Pure kindness came to me so easily. If I'd been in a man's body, they wouldn't even have looked my way.
Still, I couldn't stand them looking at me the way you'd look at a lost little kid. I shook my head.
"No! I came to this floor to go on an adventure!"
The two women studied me with unreadable eyes. I hadn't actually managed to press the elevator button, but it was true that I'd wanted to come to this floor, so I said it with my head held high. At that, the two of them traded a look, caught my hands, and spoke.
"Then shall we go on an adventure with your big sisters?"
"Yeah!"
An adventure with new companions? I was all for it. There was no reason to say no. Rested now, I took their hands with a body full of bounce and started off. The place they were heading, though, was the elevator.
They weren't going to another floor, were they? A new adventure always set my heart racing. The same heart that had been pounding a moment ago started up all over again, and I jumped up and down inside the elevator.
"Where are we going?"
"Hmm... wherever Hana wants?"
The way they let the end of the sentence trail off, it had to be somewhere amazing. I couldn't stand not knowing what kind of world was about to open up.
Ding!
The chime sounded, and the doors opened. I shot outside. Was this the site of my new adventure? But the moment I stepped out of the elevator, the scenery was so familiar that all I could do was freeze.
"Th-this is...?"
By the time I realized something had gone wrong, the women already had hold of me and were carrying me toward the office, arms wrapped tight so I couldn't run.
"N-no!"
I thrashed in their arms, trying to wriggle free, but I couldn't escape. Just like that, I was back in my old office, with no way out of it.
Hnnn...
I'd finally set out on an adventure, and heartlessly, I'd been returned to where I started. Right on cue, Haru walked into the office.
"Hana seemed lost, so we brought her here."
"Oh! Thank you!"
I hadn't been lost. I'd gone on an adventure. The women who'd brought me here had simply gotten it wrong.
"No! I wasn't lost..."
They didn't believe me. The two of them waved in my direction and left the office, and I found myself waving goodbye without even thinking.
"Shall we go get some dinner, Hana?"
"Yeah!"
The adventure had, regrettably, come to nothing. But there was infinite time ahead of me, and I could always adventure next time, so I took Haru's hand and headed down to the cafeteria. Food beats adventure every time, anyway!