WE DINED UNDER THE MOONLIGHT
I was hovering outside a window, waving to someone who seemed startled to see me.
I thought she’d close the curtains on me, but instead, she opened the window.
“Good evening!”
“Stepmother, how on earth did you get here?! And it’s nighttime!”
Wynona just wanted to complain to me…
“Well, you never open the door when I knock, and it’s too much work to walk all those long hallways in your mansion, and sometimes you’re away on a long adventure when I get here. That’s why I decided to come straight to your window.”
“I suppose I’ll allow it. Then what is it you need at this hour, Stepmother?”
She sure always made it a point to stay “stepmother,” didn’t she?
“You put the lights on at night, so I know right away if you’re home,” I said. “Pretty genius idea, if I do say so myself.”
Wynona flung the curtains closed.
“Hey! At least listen to me! Leave a crack in the curtains! I haven’t even said what I came to say, just why I’m here at night!”
The curtains slid apart again. Communicating with my stepdaughter wasn’t easy.
“What do you need?” she asked. “You have fifteen seconds.”
“Let me in first. I’ve been floating like this up here with my magic for ages.”
Wynona’s mansion was in a remote area, so I doubted there was anyone around to peek up my skirt, but it sure was airy down there.
Wynona gave a dramatic, spiteful sigh, which I assumed meant yes. I entered the very white room through the window.
“Well? You only have five seconds left.”
“I lost ten seconds?! You were counting this whole time?!”
My explanation probably wasn’t going to fit in five seconds, so I was just going to talk for however long it took. I’m your stepmother, and I’m gonna act like it!
“So all the spirits are getting together soon for a moon-watching party. Hmm, that’s a fairly Japanese concept… Basically, they’re having dinner under the moon.”
“Oh? That sounds exciting,” Wynona replied, gazing out into the distance without any visible sign of excitement. There was nothing amicable about her at all.
“We were hoping you’d come along, Wynona.”
“I will go if I can, Stepmother.”
“That’s what you say when you have no intention of going!”
“Oh, my pickled cabbage should be well pickled by now—would you like some in bread? It is late, by the way. Are you all right on time?”
Would you like some ochazuke? is something people from Kyoto ask when they want their guests to leave, signifying they don’t have much to offer besides tea and rice. And that’s what Wynona was pulling on me! How badly did she want me to leave?!
“Aww, come on, they’d love it if you came to see the other spirits! I know I’m meddling, but…!”
“Stepmother, it’s far worse to do something like this in full awareness of the trouble you’re causing.”
Grrr…
Well, it’s not like I’m inviting everyone, and I wouldn’t keep asking if I knew you truly hated the idea of going. You’re practically oozing with Please invite me! vibes. And you’d probably lose your mind if I didn’t! This would be way easier if you said you’d just invite yourself, like Beelzebub!
—I wished I could say all that, but then she absolutely would not come, so I had no choice but to swallow my words. Interpersonal issues were tough. I guess no matter the place or time, a relationship with a stepdaughter was always going to have its fair share of difficulty.
“Very well, very well. I swear I shall go if I am able.”
“That doesn’t really count as swearing, does it?”
But I’d done all I could do and gotten what I came for. If Wynona ultimately chose to stay home, then there were no regrets in it for me. And she wouldn’t get upset later about not getting invited.
“Well, I’m over my time limit, so I’ll be off.”
“While you’re here, why not have a cup of tea? I should offer you something, lest I seem inhospitable.” She seemed a little bashful about it. That was a long battle.
“And bring the dragon you came in on.”
Now, that was considerate! “Sure, Laika’s waiting downstairs, so I’ll go get her!”
And so the third time was indeed the charm to successfully invite Wynona (the other two times, she was away adventuring).
Then came the evening of the moonlight dinner.
I took Falfa and Shalsha along with me as we walked from the house in the highlands to the hill beside ours.
There were no houses around at all, no roads or anything, either—nothing but short grass.
There, we found Misjantie the pine spirit laying out a blanket.
“Oh, Miss Misjantie!”
“We are happy to see you today.”
Falfa and Shalsha greeted her.
“Happy to see you, too, man. Nice work getting here on time!”
“I mean, we usually are,” I replied. “Oh, I guess spirits have a loose grasp of time.”
“Curalina the jellyfish spirit came three days early, man. She’s had nothing but time on her hands.”
In the distance, Curalina was lying faceup on the grass, watching the sky.
“That’s way too early!”
“That’s how she starts composing her next work, man, so it was perfect for her. Spirits never think of a day or two as a waste.”
That definitely seemed like a spirit’s sense of time.
“Momma Yufufu’s not here yet?”
“Nope. She could be here in three seconds or in three days, man.”
I hoped she’d at least come sometime in the next three hours. Well, I trusted she’d be on time.
“And what about Canimeow, the moon spirit?”
She hadn’t been around as a spirit for very long, so it’d be in her best interest to deepen her friendships.
Back when I was a corporate slave, I am sure I would have hated the idea of going to a drinking party just for the sake of networking, and I would have given up on friends if I couldn’t handle them.
Now I don’t hate the idea of banquets and dinners and drinking parties, and that’s probably because the people who come are a lot of fun.
Maybe this is obvious, but how much fun an event is changes drastically depending on who attends. Company dinners were composed entirely of people from the company, so it felt like work, but I don’t have anyone like that in this world.
“Oh, Canimeow’s over there, man.”
There was a massive altar sitting on the hill, and Canimeow was sitting neatly in front of it!
“What is that?!”
“She says she’s tryna commune with the moon, man. It’s kinda her thing.”
The main point of a dinner wasn’t spiritual stuff…
“Lunaluna~ Moomoonmooooon Lunaluna~ Moomoonmoon The full moon, the half-moon, the crescent, all kinds of moons~ But the moon stays perfectly round all the time~ How strange is that~ Lunaluna~ Moomoonmooooon Lunaluna~ Moomoonmooooon Moonmoonmoomoonmoon ”
“Stop singing that song!! Or at least don’t sing the full version!!”
Not too long afterward, Canimeow’s song came to an end.
“Huff, huff… I am as earnest as I can be, but the moon still won’t reply… And I’m the moon spirit!”
“Is it supposed to contact you like that…?”
This dinner was a mess, and it hadn’t even started yet.
A little while afterward, Momma Yufufu arrived. “Sorry~ I was late because I was making meals for us~ Let’s all enjoy ourselves today, okay~?”
“I have a feeling things will start coming together now that you’re here, Momma Yufufu.”
Curalina was still lying down, staring at the moon. She had the right idea, in a way, since this was a moon-viewing party, but there was no point coming here if that’s all we were doing.
“Well, that’s how things are. This is a spirit gathering, after all. Oh, and the mud spirit and the mist spirit and the hot spring spirit won’t be coming.”
“There were three more coming?!”
All the ones I’d never met before weren’t coming!
“Oh well! I haven’t seen the mist spirit in over a hundred years. They didn’t come to the last World Spirit Summit, either.”
I think if she hasn’t seen the mist spirit in a hundred years, then their friendship is probably over…
Momma Yufufu fetched the dozing Curalina, dragged over Canimeow as she desperately tried to talk to the moon, and quickly began setting things up.
“Well, then! Let us relax and enjoy ourselves with the beautiful moon! Cheers!”
““Cheeeeeers!””
Following Momma Yufufu’s lead, we clinked our cups together.
The large white disc hung in the sky far above us, so bright that we didn’t need any other source of light.
“Yeah, this is nice, man.” Misjantie was a spirit, but she sure was downing her drinks fast. Ooh, that’s an impressive pace—but then Curalina beside her was gulping down her alcohol even faster.
They were pouring their cups full, then knocking them back, serving and drinking over and over again.
“Whoa, whoa, hold on! You’re drinking too much! This can’t be good for you!”
“…Decadence, decadence. There is nothing good in this world. The only time I am happy is when I’m drunk. Jelly, jelly, jellyfish… This world is jelly, jelly, jelly…”
We were just here to admire the moon, so why were they diving headfirst into the alcohol…?
But they weren’t the only ones indulging. Canimeow was silently gulping down her drink.
“And you are handling this all wrong! You’re not drinking alone! This is a party!”
“The best way to enjoy drinks is to do so at one’s own pace with no interference from anyone else. That’s just how it is.”
It did make sense, but then maybe she shouldn’t be coming to these events…
On the other hand, Falfa and Shalsha were having a grand time dining and chatting with Momma Yufufu.
“Miss Yufufu, these meat wraps are so tasty!”
“We are eating a wonderful meal in the open breeze with the moon overhead. This is true luxury.”
“Oh, you both are so kind~ Momma’s so glad to have worked as hard as she did~”
Hanging with them would be the safest choice…
Even when you try to build up new relationships at a party, you always end up staying with the people you were already close to. But that’s okay.
There was one other thing that bothered me, however.
Wynona hadn’t shown up.
Maybe a sudden drinking party like this was too much for her after all? Maybe I should’ve eased her into our group with something easy, like a teatime cake buffet?
But even if it made me the meddlesome one, I still thought it was a good idea to keep inviting people like Wynona to things… She wasn’t the kind to contact me herself anyway.
That said, there was no right answer. Everyone was different when it came to these things, so in the end, I wasn’t sure what was right. Only Wynona could know what was best for her—although she might not even know herself!
“Hey, you’re lookin’ a little blue, man,” Misjantie commented. “Oh, I know. Gained some weight?”
“I’m gonna personally cut down every pine tree in the world.”
“No way, man! The pines have done nothing wrong! If you’re gonna cut anything down, cut me—no, actually, the pines can take it…”
“You have no pride as the pine spirit!”
Then Momma Yufufu came up to me. Her face was a bit flushed, probably because she’d had something to drink.
“It’s little Wynona, isn’t it? You don’t need to worry about her too much; I know things’ll work out on their own.”
Of course Momma Yufufu would know about this stuff.
“Yeah. She’s enjoying life on her own terms…”
“You are still young, Azusa. You should think things over for longer periods of time. There is no good in rushing.”
“I’m young…? Yeah! Heck yeah, I’m young! I’m just three hundred years old!” I was the third-youngest here, after Falfa and Shalsha. That wasn’t a problem at all.
“And you’ve had some good talks with Wynona, haven’t you?” Momma Yufufu continued. “This will go quite easily for you; I know it.”
“Yeah, I need to be more carefree—like you, Momma.”
Things were going my way a lot recently. So that was probably why I was so preoccupied with Wynona.
Everyone was living by their own ideals, so sometimes people didn’t quite line up. That’s just how the world works.
“My goodness. You are rather quiet for having invited me, aren’t you?”
I heard a voice from far away. When I turned around, I saw Wynona standing in the distance.
“I was expecting to hear you all from town, so that is why I ended up searching for you.”
“You’re here, Wynona!” I ran over to her and pulled her into a hug.
“You are suffocating me… You are the one who invited me in the first place, Stepmother…”
Oh, she’s not enjoying that; I should let her go.
“I honestly thought you weren’t going to come.”
“You do not need to share every thought you have with me,” Wynona retorted, then went straight to Falfa and Shalsha and gave them respectful bows.
“Sisters, it is lovely to see you again. How have you been?”
“Each day has been well.”
“Falfa’s been great!”
“I am delighted to hear that. I am aware of how incompetent I may be, so I am looking forward to your further instruction and encouragement.”
It was obvious the difference in attitude she had when she talked with her sisters versus her stepmother…
But my work here was now done.
“We have all kinds of drinks here, Wynona. Do you want something?” I offered.
“If I may, Stepmother, I would like either white wine or cloudy rice wine.”
So her alcohol had to be white, too, huh? But white wine isn’t white, it’s clear.
“You should say hello to the other spirits, Wynona. You should have a network.”
“Indeed. An adventurer can only do so much without a party, so I understand. However”—Wynona gave a tired sigh—“it seems the majority of them have turned in for the night.”
I followed her gaze.
Curalina, who had been drinking with ferocious vigor, was sunk.
Canimeow, who had been quietly drinking by herself, was sunk.
Misjantie was also pleasantly drunk, babbling nonsense.
The spirits had no idea how to pace themselves!
“You’re all long-lived—at least learn how to hold your liquor!”
“I suppose this is how things are with spirits. It seems to me that the life of an adventurer is far preferable.”
“It was way better at the World Spirit Summit! I think I just picked the wrong people today…or they’re just outliers…”
At this rate, inviting Wynona was going to have the opposite effect from what I wanted.
“Well, no matter. I am happy to be able to speak with my sisters.”
It didn’t seem like this was much of a problem for her, probably because her expectations were already on the floor. But her expression never changed much from her cool default, so I also wasn’t entirely sure.
“The moon is so beautiful today, my sisters, so why don’t we write poems?”
“Wow! That sounds like fun! Falfa wants to try!”
“Drowning oneself in alcohol is hardly life. There is no beauty in a life without poetry—according to a philosopher from the Omiyakes Dynasty.”
They were about to embark on a very cultured activity.
“Very well, then. I shall start—The white wolf howls at the moon.”
And of course, the wolf was white. It sounded like each of them was going to say a line for the poem.
“Awooo, awooo,” Falfa howled. Does that count?
“The only friend he has to soothe his loneliness is the moon,” Shalsha said. This was a poem, after all, so it needed cool lines like that one.
Wynona glanced at me. “Will you be joining us, Stepmother?”
“Oh, I’d be glad to! But…I don’t know what to say…”
“Please add a refined, poetic line that expresses enough education and artistry to earn my respect.”
“Don’t be so unreasonable with your stepmother!”
It was entirely possible that I was being included simply out of spite.
“Hmm, let’s see…” I wasn’t sure what to do about poetry for the moon… Maybe it was time to put my past-life memories to use… “There lives a rabbit on the dark side of the moon, making special bread of pounded rice… H-how’s that?”
The pounded rice bread thing was mochi, by the way.
Wynona stared at me blankly. “What on earth is that…? Why are you introducing a rabbit…? It goes wholly against conventional wisdom, but it is surprisingly convincing… I suppose including the element of surprise is one poetry technique…”
Hey, she approved!
“Round two, then—Those who eat the moon’s white bread live long.”
She was talking about the color white again, but she was right because mochi was white.
“Falfa’s turn! Ummm… If you live a long time, you can make lots of friends!” Falfa said. It sounded like she was sticking to her elementary school song lyrics idea.
“Shalsha’s turn. And once those friends become naught but white bone, we regret not making the moon our only friend.”
That sure was dark, Shalsha…
“This is your second go, Stepmother. You have three seconds.” Wynona was only this strict with me!
“Hmm, moon things, moon things…”
I decided to use my past-life memories again. That was my only source of inspiration. “The moon princess committed a crime and was cast down into our world, where she became a beautiful queen. The queen had eternal life, and in the thousand years she waited to return to the moon, she ruled the world—how’s that?”
I gave the story of Kaguya-hime a little makeover. I think I was over my allotted time, though.
“Stepmother, where on earth are you coming up with these lines? Is this a folktale? You have been introducing strange ideas this whole time!”
Wynona was overreacting again!
“Hmm, this is far too long for a single line of a poem, but I appreciate the unique story building… If we can insert the story into a poetic framework without losing any part of the concept, then it is entirely possible that she may make a name for herself as a poet… I cannot say it is a fine piece of work, but it certainly is unique…”
She sounded like a judge for a writing contest, offering comments to the winner of the newcomer’s prize.
“I’ll take that as a compliment. Yep, thanks!”
“You’re a genius, Mommy!”
“It is as though we are being led to a new era. The new winds always come with pros and cons.”
But my daughters always praised me, so that didn’t feel bad at all.
Our poem-writing game ended there, and after that, we moved on to light chatter.
Falfa and Shalsha, especially, had a lot of questions for Wynona, and Wynona answered them a bit stiffly, like she was here for a job interview.
“You’re so famous as an adventurer, Sister Wynona! That’s so cool!”
“As your older sister, Shalsha is proud. It is an honor to have someone like you as a younger sister.”
I had a feeling Shalsha just wanted to say the words younger and older sister. The only time she got to truly act like a big sister was when she was around Wynona.
“Oh, no. I would never be as great as you, my sisters. I must apply myself to my utmost, so I do not sully the name of slime spirits.”
I doubt slime spirits have much of a name to begin with.
Wynona still spoke with utmost politeness, but her expression was starting to soften.
I’d practically forced her to come, but I was glad I had invited her. She was more than welcome to invite herself over all the time to see Falfa and Shalsha, like Beelzebub. Well, maybe half as often as Beelzebub…
“What a lovely moon,” Momma Yufufu commented to me as I watched my daughters. She knew how a mother felt, too.
“It’s nice watching the girls be so happy together in the moonlight. It’s different from the house in the highlands, but it’s still just as nice.”
“Indeed~ And the moon is much brighter and bigger than usual tonight~ Truly, how is it doing that? Is it giving off light?”
I doubted it was making its own light, but I wasn’t sure of the celestial rules here in this world. I didn’t have astronomical expertise, so I didn’t know how it would be different from the solar system Earth was in.
“I don’t think it’s making its own light, but…in this world, there could be a powerful sorcerer making it glow…”
“I have been a droplet spirit for a very long time, yet I don’t know. But the mystery just makes it that much more enticing, doesn’t it?” Momma Yufufu leaned on my shoulder.
The night wind felt nice in my tipsy state.
Then a scream shattered the silence.
“Exactly! How is that moon doing that?! Tell me! Tell me everything!”
Canimeow the moon spirit shot to her feet.
So she had come back to life after her alcohol-induced nap. No, wait, maybe this was a bad effect from drinking too much?
“My, my, Canimeow. You should drink some water. I am the droplet spirit, you know. I’ll take care of that~”
Momma Yufufu was treating her like a child… Well, I guess Canimeow was one of the youngest among the spirits, age-wise.
“No! I’m not drunk! I’m not drunk at all!”
“That’s something a drunk person would say…” I pulled back a bit.
No one else in the house in the highlands got drunk like this, so I wasn’t used to it. Halkara usually passed out immediately, so she was harmless. No, well, I guess she vomited in the weirdest places, so maybe not completely harmless…
“I’m telling you, I’m not drunk! I’m as normal as I have ever been!”
If she was really like this when she wasn’t drunk, then that was even worse.
“Oh yeah, I guess Canimeow’s one of those types with a switch inside her. Once it gets flipped, she goes nuts. She was like that when she told us she was the moon spirit.”
“Yes, yes, exactly~ She’s at the age where these sorts of fits are normal~ She’s going through a rebellious phase. We should make sure she doesn’t start going down the wrong path in life.”
“Momma Yufufu, she’s already working hard as a fortune-teller, so you don’t need to worry about her taking any wrong paths. She’s already independent.”
“Oh, you’re right. Then there’s nothing to worry about. That settles it.”
Yep. And we all lived happily ever after.
“You both are completely missing the point!” Canimeow wailed. “It doesn’t matter if I’m independent or not! This is about the moon!” She flung her right hand up and pointed at the sky.
“What? Is this your transformation sequence? Don’t tell me you’re the S*il*r Moon of this world?”
“You won’t transform by looking at the moon~ Unless you’re a lycanthrope.”
“No!!!”
My daughters, the drunken Curalina, and Misjantie all came over to observe Canimeow’s excitement.
“I’m the moon spirit! I’m right beneath the full moon, and I still can’t do anything! Is it supposed to be like this?! It can’t be! It can’t!”
Ah… Something struck her moon-spirit chord.
Canimeow definitely was the moon spirit, even if she couldn’t control the moon at will. On the other hand, it would be a big problem if she could make it collide with the earth…
“…Despair in the face of helplessness is a sign that you are alive. I’d say you can experience despair because you are alive. Jelly, jelly, jellyfish, fish, fish…”
Curalina’s negative statements told me she wasn’t seeing much of a problem here.
“That idea is consistent with existentialist philosophy. That is different from nihilism. It is the very act of despairing that allows us to think about the meaning of our lives. How fascinating.” Shalsha was sympathizing in her own (very unique) way.
“—You heard what she said. Miss Canimeow, why not try despairing? Your despair is yours alone. No one will take it away from you.” Wynona sounded polite, but what she was saying was essentially You’re on your own. She was so cool toward everyone…
“No. I’d be making a total fool of myself if I just sat here doing nothing under such a beautiful moon! I don’t want to perform this clown act! I want to get involved somehow!”
I wanted to tell her it wasn’t possible, but I kind of understood how she felt.
“I suppose it is insulting for the moon spirit to be powerless at a moon-viewing party…”
“You understand, Azusa. I want to do something more…moon-spirit-like! I want to make a commitment!” Canimeow was really wound up now.
I wasn’t sure what she was going to do, but I was glad she was enthusiastic.
“I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to the moon!”
“Ahhh, the moon. The perfect place to get away and find yourse—wait, seriously?!”
Her destination was literally so far out there that I didn’t exactly register it at first.
“You know this is the moon, Canimeow! There’s no way you can get there! You can take a trip on the carriages forever and you still wouldn’t get there!”
“What do you mean, carriages?” She hadn’t heard of them. “You’re right, I have no way of getting there—that’s a normal thing to say. But if I keep at it, then my dreams will come true. I won’t accomplish anything if I don’t believe in myself. That’s why I’m going to the moon! I will go to the moon! I’d still go, even if it’s farther away than the other side of the world! You want to laugh? Laugh all you want!”
Incredible… She sounded like the main character in a shounen manga…
Falfa and Misjantie were applauding, for some reason. I guess it did sound cool, in a way.
But one of us was a realist who wasn’t going to praise her.
“—And how exactly do you intend to get there? Moon travel is beyond my area of expertise, so I would be fascinated to hear your plans in detail.” Wynona was needling her so politely! “Your enthusiasm is truly inspiring, Miss Canimeow. I hope to learn from you in that regard. That is why I am eager to know your plans, even if it is just a basic overview. As an adventurer, I have seen countless peers who have said what they thought was impressive in a moment of passion, yet failed spectacularly when it came time to act. So I hope to hear the concrete, actionable details of your claim, unlike those I just mentioned. I am looking forward to it.”
That was thoroughly malicious!
Canimeow, meanwhile, hung her head, her face scarlet.
Yeah… I knew this already, but she didn’t have any plans at all…
“You aren’t embarrassed, are you? But you were the one who said your dreams will come true if you persevere, and I doubt you would be too embarrassed to say so if you are that strong-willed about this. For you, shame is a thing of the past, no?”
“You’re going too far, Wynona! You’re going to make her cry!”
My stepdaughter was terrifying! This spiteful rant could go on forever!
Wynona glared at me.
I was starting to feel like I was going to be the next target.
“Stepmother, I am an adventurer. In this line of work, approaching a challenge with a lackadaisical attitude and a vague hope that ‘everything will be all right’ is a costly, even deadly mistake. One can only survive by taking caution after caution. Prioritizing one’s feelings alone will expose allies to danger as well.”
“Yeah, I know…”
“That is why I cannot stand those who gloat with such superficial nonsense. I am simply asking her not to pretend a lack of planning is something to be proud of. It is a slap in the face to those who live measured lives. You must not allow her to do such things.”
It all made sense logically, but she was being so ornery about it…
Canimeow was miserable, unable to say anything else. Her heart was being smashed to bits…
“Wynona, what you said was too strong. Making her cry isn’t going to solve anything.”
“Let her cry if she must, Stepmother. Better to cry now than before a monster in a dungeon. Will one’s life be spared by begging before a monster that understands no speech?”
Argh! Wynona was so hardheaded; she wasn’t going to budge!
It was totally unexpected to see a daughter of mine make someone else suffer this much. Falfa and Shalsha were such good kids…
“Step” as I may have been, I still had to do something here as her mother.
“Fine, then I’ll help her act like the moon spirit she is! That good enough for you?!”
When I screamed, the whole area around me fell quiet. I could even hear the sound of the bugs nearby.
Everyone was way too quiet…
“I see how it is.” Wynona sighed deeply. It was a sigh not of frustration but of acknowledgment. “I understand. If you say so, Stepmother, then I am certain it will go over well. I cannot say I know what ‘moon-spirit-like’ truly entails, but you will surely succeed. You are capable of that, Stepmother.”
I was sure she was complimenting me, but couldn’t she have put it a little more nicely?
“Thanks, Wynona.”
I was glad she finally stood down.
“I am a slime spirit, by the way, but I have never thought about acting in a way a slime spirit should. I believe it is much better to live in a way one finds enjoyable instead of being tied to any particular identity. However—that is an opinion that differs from person to person.”
Then stop trying to argue her down.
That sometimes crossed my mind, too—that if I were in Wynona’s position, then Canimeow would seem way too pathetic.
But also, had Wynona just said the part about not being tied down by identity first, then things wouldn’t have come to this. I wished she’d rethink how she went about these things.
“Thank you, Azusa…,” Canimeow said, grasping at the hem of my clothes.
There was a weight to her thank-you that was different from mine, as if I’d actually saved her life.
“Oh, I didn’t do anything to warrant any thanks.”
It was a parent’s duty to stop her daughter if she was misbehaving, but Wynona also wanted to tell her not to worry too much about the things she couldn’t do. I wished Canimeow would understand that, too. Wynona didn’t get angry for no reason.
“You’ll help me do things a moon spirit should do. You’ll even take me to the moon…”
“Oh… So that’s what you were thanking me for…”
Oh no. I don’t know how to get to the moon…
I had a feeling this was about to be a real handful.
“If you’ve got Azusa’s help, man, you’re practically already there! I’ll drink to that!” Misjantie was filling everyone’s cups!
Stop this, pine spirit! You’re cutting off my escape route!
“Hey, you think the super-rich of the world would be interested if we held weddings on the moon? I could probably charge, like, five or even ten billion gold, man!”
Her mind went straight to making money…
“It’s not like anyone knows how much it costs to get to the moon anyway, man. I can charge whatever I want! I think this’ll work!”
Okay, but stop drawing business blueprints in your mind.
It had gotten cold, so it wasn’t long before our moonlight party came to an end. Except now I had homework.
How was I supposed to get to the moon?
If I had my phone, I could just search how to get to the moon. But even if I got results, enacting the process was an entirely different matter…
Wait. We were all drunk when we had the discussion, so if I left it alone, then maybe it’d just vanish from our consciousnesses.
I doubted Wynona was going to come up and ask how my moon plans were going. She probably wasn’t all that interested in the moon anyway.
Right, I’ll just let it sit for a bit.
Adults needed these secrets to success in life…
I wasn’t the protagonist of a shounen manga, so I didn’t feel the need to reach the moon…
A few days later, Canimeow came to the house in the highlands.
“So? How are we getting to the moon?”
“Oh, you remember…”
I was too rash—just another sap who said too much and set myself up for failure when I was drunk. But it was too late now. Canimeow trusted me completely.
“Look, I never said I was going to take you to the moon. I just said I was going to help you act like the moon spirit, okay?”
Let’s bring the goalposts a little closer.
“Okay. But acting like the moon spirit entails going to the moon.”
She sure was keen… I think this was the most difficulty I’d had of late.
“You can’t figure out how to get there with your fortune-telling?”
“If I could, I would have told that fortune three hundred times by now.”
I guess that made sense. Well, we had no other way to find out, then. It’d been a long time since I was in this much trouble…
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