Chapter 2: The Flying Clione
A few days had passed since Ruri failed to convince Asahi and Nadasha made their declaration of war. Nothing had changed in particular—no, Jade and the others might have been scrambling in preparation for war, but nothing had changed in particular for Ruri, who was living out her life as usual.
It was early afternoon, and the weather was so good it seemed impossible that war was really just around the corner. On this beautiful day, Ruri was working yet another shift at the diner as usual.
“Hey, Ruri dear? Sorry, but would you mind running an errand for me before you go home?”
“No problem!”
The lunchtime rush had fizzled out to a close, and because they were running low on ingredients for the night shift, Ruri was sent out to do shopping. As she walked through town, she would occasionally overhear the chatter of people speaking among each other about Nadasha declaring war and the conflict itself.
Their discussions were unsettling, but the looks on all of their faces were so optimistic that it was hard to imagine the nation was on the verge of war. In fact, they sounded more like they were discussing dinner plans, not wartime gossip. All of them were that confident in the Nation of the Dragon King coming out on top.
That helped lighten the load on Ruri’s conscience slightly. She had been living in the castle for quite some time and made acquaintances with the soldiers there, so the very idea of those same people possibly going off to war caused her to worry, no matter how hard she tried not to. Even if Jade and the others were naturally assured of their nation’s victory, it was a different story for someone as unfamiliar with war as Ruri. She couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
With the ingredients safely procured, Ruri walked back to the diner. On her way, she spotted something flying through the sky that shouldn’t exist in the middle of a town.
“What is that? ...Oh, it fell.” The unidentified life-form floated through the air before flopping flat right in front of Ruri, drained of energy.
Slightly wary, she approached the collapsed being. She realized it was something she had seen before at the aquarium and on television—a sea angel, also known as a clione. The cliones from Ruri’s memory were transparent, but the one in front of her was milky-white. The tips of its wings were colored pink, and most importantly, it was relatively large. Ruri hesitated to even call this a “clione” considering it was just under the size of her fist. However, differences aside, its angelic appearance was essentially that of a clione.
Why was a creature known as the “sea angel” flying up in the sky instead of swimming in the sea...? Ruri crouched down and tried poking at it. When she did...
“Ugh... w-water...”
“Gah! It talked?!”
Surprised, Ruri distanced herself from the clione, but once she processed the meaning of the word “water,” she acted quickly. She held the clione tightly in her hands and ran at top speed back to the diner, bags in tow.
She dashed inside the diner and handed off the groceries. As soon as she did, she took a pail and went to draw water from the well in the back of the shop. She wasted no time in placing the clione into the now filled pail. However, she remembered that cliones were sea creatures. She rushed to the kitchen to fetch some salt and started pouring it into the water nonstop. Her panicked, mindless pouring resulted in a huge mountain of salt forming in the water, making her snap back to reality. She realized she might have overdone it, but the damage was already done.
“Why are you putting salt in here?! It’s ruining the water!” the clione sharply shouted, having regained its breath. Ruri wasn’t mistaken; it was really talking via telepathy.
It seemed upset, but its angelic appearance and round red eyes were so cute it struck Ruri’s heart with sudden comfort and joy.
“Well, don’t cliones live in the sea, after all?”
“I live in a lake!” objected the clione as it fluttered its wing-like appendages in the bucket.
Apparently, it was a different life-form that simply resembled a clione. Granted, it was pretty much guaranteed to be anything but a normal clione the moment Ruri saw it taking to the skies.
“Well, whatever. Not only did you help save me, but you’re just the individual I wanted to meet.”
“Hm? You wanted to meet me?”
“That’s right.”
Ruri didn’t have any clue as to why it would come to meet her, however.
The clione ignored Ruri’s bewilderment and demanded, “Give me a name!”
“Pardon?! A name? Why do I have to name you?”
“Because you gave him a name, didn’t you? Kotaro, wasn’t it? He’s been bragging that you gave him that name. So you should give me one, too!”
Ruri noticed it said “Kotaro”... Ruri only knew of one Kotaro. Actually, there was only one Kotaro that even existed, but she asked to be doubly sure.
Kotaro referred to the magic beast that lived in Chelsie’s neck of the woods. It was a cross between a boar, a bear, and a scorpion. Despite its rather frightening appearance, he was as brave and loyal as any dog, and he was friendly to humans. But Kotaro having an acquaintance was news to Ruri.
“By ‘Kotaro,’ do you mean the boar-like magic beast that I named?”
“The one and the same. He’s supposed to be a Spirit of Wind, but he’s using a body that only has earth-type attributes, so he ended up running out of power, the big dummy.”
Something extremely intriguing popped out to Ruri. “Wait, Kotaro is a spirit?! Not a magic beast?”
“Both him and I have the bodies of magic beasts, but we’re both spirits on the inside. He never told you, I see.”
“You’re darn right he never told me!”
“Spirits lack physical bodies by nature, but high-level spirits can occasionally enter the bodies of magic beasts and humans to take form. I didn’t have a body either up until recently, but I took a body that was dried up at a lake in order to come meet you. However, I didn’t do enough rehydrating. That was such a close call. I was this close to needing to search for a different body again.”
“Right...” Ruri replied listlessly. She had no idea how to react to the sudden bombardment of new information. At the same time, she pondered why in the world this clione would go so far as to attain a body to come see her.
“I heard from the spirits by your side that you love cute things, so I searched for a cute body. Well, how is it? I was told you actually like soft and cuddly, so I looked around for a demi-human body I could enter, but I couldn’t quite find one that matched with me. If you prefer soft and cuddly more than this, should I go hunting around the area? I’m sure I can find a body that matches me, seeing as how this place seems filled with demi-humans.”
Its body was indeed cute. However, its cuteness was overshadowed by the spine-chilling questions it followed up with. Ruri shook her head for dear life, flat out refusing its offer. Why was it that spirits always had such an extreme thought process?
“No, you’re just fine like that!”
“Oh, I am? Good to hear, then. Anyway, give me a name!”
Ruri was stumped. How did they make such a jovial segue from that previous topic? But once she looked at its hopeful little eyes, she couldn’t find it in her to say “no,” and she started coming up with a suitable name on the spot.
“Um, alright... How about ‘Rin’?”
“Rin? That’s my name? I love it!”
Gleefully flapping its wings, the small creature jumped out of the bucket and started flying round and round in the sky. Seeing that, Ruri felt relieved that the small life-form was pleased with its new name.
“Oh, right! Kotaro said he would be coming here later.”
“Huh? Wait just a second! Doesn’t he realize he can’t come into town with that body? It will cause a riot.” With Kotaro’s gigantic body, simply walking around was likely to destroy parts of the city.
“He does. That is why he cast off his current body and is looking for a new one. He said he would come to see you in a body that suits your preference.”
It was no wonder why she didn’t spot him when she went to Chelsie’s place the last time; he was most likely out looking for a new body.
What kind of body would it change into from that massive beast build...? That question ran through Ruri’s mind, rocking her with anxiety.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login