BONUS:
Amiche and Luffie are Making Amends
AMICHE’S PERSPECTIVE
“HI THERE. How’s Lulu doing this morning? See any changes?”
I answered Luffie by shaking my head no. Two weeks had passed since I decided to try forging a relationship with Lulu. And so far, all the conversations between us were one-sided.
It’s been seven years since I tamed Lulu. When I thought about everything I’d done to Lulu during those seven years, it was obvious that a relationship between us couldn’t be built in just two weeks. I was well aware of that. But despite my two weeks of hard work, I was getting nothing from Lulu—and of course it hurt. I wasn’t asking for much, just a little reaction. Even looking at me would be a nice start.
“Sorry to hear that. It’s the same on my end—actually, I might be in worse shape than you, Amiche.” Luffie sounded downhearted.
I looked at him. “Did something happen?”
“Well, it’s like this: I’ve been saying good morning to Ponyu every morning, and every morning, Ponyu would look at me—actually, only for a second, but at least it would look at me. But today? No reaction.” Luffie sighed sadly. “Did I do something wrong? I went over everything that happened yesterday, but nothing comes to mind. Argh… Why does it have to be so hard?”
I looked at Ponyu, Luffie’s tamed slime. It was eating some trash next to Lulu, and they looked no different than they did yesterday.
“I know our relationship can’t be fixed overnight—I’m not that naive.”
“Yeah, I know it, too.”
Over the past two weeks, I’d learned that lesson all too well: Mending a broken relationship was an incredibly difficult task.
“But you’d think Ponyu would at least have the decency to look at me.”
I really sympathized. I nodded in silence at Luffie’s lament. Like him, I couldn’t help but feel a little entitled. But I was sure that in Lulu’s eyes, my entitlement was unearned.
“Anyway, I got so sad about the way Ponyu was acting this morning that I…I…”
Huh?! What did you do?
“Don’t tell me…you did something bad?”
Did he hit Ponyu or something? That would only make their relationship worse.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t do anything bad. I just…remembered something.”
“What did you remember?” I looked at Luffie, and he turned teary eyes back at me.
“It was about a year after I tamed Ponyu… I remember it tried to walk up close to me. It sat near me, staring intently at me, and it reacted when I spoke to it. But I was always taught that you’ll ruin your relationship with your monsters if you’re too soft on them, so I didn’t say anything nice to it. Even worse, I yelled at it over the tiniest things so it wouldn’t think I was soft. I’ve treated Ponyu all wrong ever since the day I tamed it.”
“Luffie…”
What kind of relationship did Lulu and I have for the past seven years… Oh! Yeah, when I first tamed Lulu, I remember it wandering up close to me and staring intently. Then when I gave its head a pat, my senior tamer warned me that I shouldn’t be too soft…and after that day, I never tried to talk to Lulu. I was just as cruel as Luffie—more, even. I yelled loud and hard at Lulu whenever it ate less trash than usual, and sometimes I’d force it to go without meals as punishment.
“I was cruel to Lulu for seven whole years. I see now…two weeks of effort barely makes up for anything I’ve done.”
Two weeks isn’t even an effort. How long did Lulu keep trying to reach out to me? I seem to remember it wanting to be close to me for a whole year, even though I did nothing but neglect the poor slime all that time.
“Why did we do something so foolish…?” Luffie murmured.
I looked at Lulu and nodded. “We really were fools.”
I never hit my slime, but neglecting it was just as bad. I realized that when I got the same treatment. I learned how much it hurts to be ignored. Lulu must have felt terrible, too.
“Amiche… I don’t care how much Ponyu ignores me. I’m going to make it my life’s work to mend our relationship. All my obsessing and wondering stops today—I’m not giving up. Not ever.”
You’re wonderful, Luffie. But I need to commit to doing the work, too.
It’s not about increasing our waste disposal powers. I’d had some selfish motives in the beginning, but not anymore.
I want Lulu and I to be a real family, and I’m going to make it happen.
“Ah!”
I looked at Luffie and saw him staring at Lulu and Ponyu. When I turned my attention to them, I finally noticed they were both staring intently at us. There Lulu and Ponyu sat, perfectly still, eyes locked on us. That was all they were doing, yet it made me so happy.
“Lulu…is that trash yummy?”
“……”
Oh! The trash…it’s like food to Lulu. Lulu went back to eating trash, but it had definitely looked at me.
“Oh gosh, I’m so happy,” Luffie said.
I giggled quietly and nodded. “Me, too. When Lulu looked at me, my heart fluttered!”
I was so happy but also a little nervous. I’d never experienced a feeling like that before.
“This feels…kind of magical.”
I wish I’d fixed our relationship much earlier. I know regretting that won’t change anything, but still…
“Lulu, I want you and I to be a family. I won’t give up until that happens, okay?”
“Ponyu, same goes for me. I’m going to be talking to you a lot from now on, all right?”
Silence.
I guess it didn’t work. Then again…I’m not sure what it is, but I feel like Lulu and Ponyu are both curious about us. Could just be wishful thinking, of course…
“…Pu.”
“…Peh!”
We both gasped.
Was that… Did they both just answer us? No, I must’ve misheard it. I looked at Luffie beside me, and he looked back at me, his eyes wide with shock.
“You heard that, right?” I asked him, just to make sure.
“Yeah. That was two little voices…right?” Luffie sounded uncertain, but he had heard the same thing as me. Which means… Oh!
“Lulu, thank you so much for answering me.”
“You, too, Ponyu! You just…! You talked to me just now, didn’t you?”
Silence.
No answer, but we had definitely heard them. Their voices had reached us.
“Thank you, Lulu. I hope you and I can become better friends now.”
Lulu was silent for a long time. Then it said, “…Pu.”
Eeee! Lulu really did answer me! I knew my face had to be dangerous levels of red by then. I pressed my hands to my cheeks. Stop it. Don’t blush… Agh, I can’t stop.
“Huh?!”
Before I knew it, Lulu was right next to me. It stared hard at me, then recoiled a little. Er, uh-oh, I hope my creepy blushing didn’t scare Lulu. Nonono, say it ain’t so!
“I know, I know, I’m usually so much more composed, aren’t I?” I explained. Lulu stared at me, then sighed. Wow, I didn’t know slimes sighed. Seven years a tamer and this is the first I’ve heard of it. Oh no! I hope Luffie’s doing okay. I glanced at him beside me. “What…?!”
For some reason, Luffie was sitting on his knees and bowing to Ponyu. What could he have possibly done in such a short time to call for such an extreme apology?
“Luffie? What did you do?”
Luffie’s head darted up nervously to look at me. “Oh! Well, um… When I tried to run over to Ponyu, I tripped and fell…right on top of it.”
He fell on top of his slime? I looked at Ponyu. Unless I was imagining it, the slime looked annoyed.
Er… For the life of me, I can’t remember our slimes ever having more than one facial expression. I can’t remember how Lulu first looked the day I tamed it, but I don’t think I’ve seen its face budge even once over the past few years.
“Now I get it. Lulu and Ponyu have had facial expressions all this time.”
“Er… Facial expressions?” Luffie looked at Ponyu, then whimpered and hung his head. I didn’t blame the poor guy. Ponyu just wouldn’t stop giving him that annoyed look.
“Luffie?”
“Huh?!” Luffie looked at me.
I smiled back and said, “The real work begins here.”
“Yeah.”
To give us reactions after just two weeks of work, Ponyu and Lulu must have been incredibly sweet slimes. I’m so sorry I never knew. But I’m going to work hard to learn more and more about you from now on, Lulu. So please…
“Lulu, I look forward to being your friend.”
“…Puu.”
Whoa, Lulu! Oh…you’re so cute. My slime is just so cute!
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