Chapter 14
Just before he was about to reach the castle gates, Yomi suddenly found that he could not move forward anymore.
The hem of his pajamas had been caught by something!
Turning back in astonishment, what met his eyes was the tip of an incomparably sharp claw.
!
Yomi followed that terrifying claw upward and looked at Ansius.
The tall monster was using one claw to stop him from going forward, while the other claw was stretched out in front of him.
Resting in that claw close before his eyes was a tiny porcelain bowl, the soup inside giving off a rich, fragrant aroma.
“Duck soup?” Yomi recognized the smell immediately. He pointed at himself. “For me?”
Ansius nodded.
“A midnight snack?”
Ansius nodded again.
“…Thank you.” Yomi accepted the bowl of old duck soup with both hands. Naturally, he did not think for a second that this was the labor of the Empire’s Crown Prince; he simply assumed it was the cook’s thoughtful care.
Holding the bowl, Yomi sat down on a chair in front of the castle and began eating happily.
During that time, Ansius picked up the fig Yomi had left on the tea table. Though he could have swallowed it in a single bite, he chewed it slowly and deliberately before swallowing.
After Yomi finished eating, a servant came in at just the right time to clear away the dishes.
Feeling a little embarrassed, Yomi ran back into the room, took out two figs, gave one to the servant, and asked that the other be delivered to the cook.
The servant looked helplessly toward the Crown Prince. Only after seeing that the other party showed no displeasure did he accept the two figs.
Once the bedroom quieted down again, Yomi prepared to return to the castle, only to be stopped by the monster once more.
The monster took out a very small set of blue silk pajamas from his own wardrobe. At the collar was a striking flame emblem.
He handed Yomi this set of sleepwear, which was clearly more delicate and more comfortable.
Yomi tugged at the hem of his own clothing and shook his head. “I already have pajamas.”
The monster stared at his pajamas, lowered his eyes, and seemed to think for a moment. Then he suddenly raised a claw, pointed at Yomi’s soft, droopy flour-sack pajamas, and said, “Exchange.”
Yomi’s mouth fell open on the spot. “Y-you like this fabric too?”
“……”
Ansius nodded.
Yomi readily agreed. Taking the silk pajamas, he hurried back to his room and quickly changed out of the flour-sack pajamas. Then he opened the window and asked the monster outside, “Should I wash them before giving them to you?”
The monster shook his head.
Yomi could only come out holding the neatly folded flour-sack pajamas. “Actually, I only wore them for a little while… but it’d still be better to wash them before taking them apart.” He assumed the Crown Prince had taken a fancy to the unusual fabric of these pajamas. Let alone the Crown Prince—even ordinary Sna families would never use flour sacks to make clothes.
Perhaps in the eyes of the young Crown Prince, this unconventional pajama style was some sort of charming alternative fashion.
After exchanging clothes, Yomi returned to the castle, brushed his teeth, and got ready for bed.
Outside the castle—
Using his sharp claws with extreme care, the monster held that set of pajamas. Turning his back, he carefully smoothed out the flour-sack sleepwear and placed it into a safe. He lowered his eyes and looked at it for a long while before closing the safe and going to the bathroom to wash up.
When he came out, the monster was wearing a blue robe. At the collar of the robe was the same small flame emblem.
It was deep into the night now, and all the lights inside the pink castle had been turned off.
The person inside had already gone to sleep.
Yet the monster outside never closed his eyes. An hour later, he quietly got out of bed, glanced toward the castle, and only then softly walked to the safe. Opening it, he took out the flour-sack pajamas and kept looking at both the front and the back over and over again.
After a long while, the monster put the pajamas away, curled his lips slightly, and returned to bed to lie down again.
The moonlight that night was gentle.
In the bedroom on the second floor of the castle, Yomi was sleeping soundly under the soft blankets, knowing nothing at all.
He dreamed of his childhood, when he had been six years old and his father and mother had not yet left.
After dinner, Yomi lay on the desk in his bedroom drawing, while his parents watched television in the living room and spoke quietly to each other.
Yomi was working very seriously on the homework assigned by his art teacher. The restrained laughter of his parents and the singing from the television gradually intertwined, forming a beautiful melody. Within that melody, he finished drawing the ideal family in his heart.
The next morning, after getting up and eating breakfast with Ansius, Yomi began thinking about the tunnel-crawling contest.
In the study, Ansius was handling documents in an orderly way.
Yomi sat on the little sofa and opened his light-brain. Only after carefully reading all the instructions and precautions did he look up at Ansius and ask, “Your Highness, may I use the printer here?”
At those words, the other party paused for a moment. Then he stood up, used his claws to switch on the printer not far away, and directly connected it to Yomi’s light-brain.
Yomi immediately started printing the contest forms.
During that time, Ansius went out for a while.
When Ansius returned again, Karl appeared behind him, along with a group of burly men in matching uniforms, all with serious expressions.
Yomi stood up in confusion.
Karl smiled and said, “Just a moment,” then led the men in as they carried in many tiny objects.
Those men moved with astonishing speed, almost like trained machines. With incredible efficiency, they assembled all those tiny components in the shortest time possible, then planned out a new little space inside the study on the spot… Before long, a tiny office had appeared inside the Crown Prince’s study.
On the technological-looking desk sat a little sign: Imperial Little Treasure Office.
Yomi: “……”
As those men left, every single one of them stared urgently at Yomi, who was holding the printed forms over there. They all walked extremely slowly. If Karl had not urged them on, the servants at the side would have suspected they were about to start taking tiny tiptoe steps.
Only after they had completely stepped out of the villa, and after confirming no one was around, did the group finally stop holding back:
“It’s real, it’s real! Not a lifelike doll—it’s real!!!”
“So tiny… I’m going crazy from the cuteness… How can someone be that small and still have such balanced proportions?!”
“My god! Thank goodness I traded one thousand star coins with Gallen for this chance. Totally worth it!”
“Lord Karl is far too shameless. If he could have assembled it by himself, he definitely wouldn’t have let us come!”
“Hey, remember not to make too much noise about this after we go back, or next time something like this happens, it may not be our turn anymore…”
Suddenly, among the crowd, the stern-faced man who was usually the most serious could not hold it in any longer. Hot-blooded and emotional, he jumped up and actually gave a military salute in the direction of the study!
Everyone: “……” While they were still confused, they saw a “doll” peeking out from that window, waving at them.
In an instant, every last one of them straightened their backs and, red-faced, returned the salute!
Now that he had an office of his own, Yomi was filled with delight.
After thanking the people who had come to install everything, he jumped down from the chair by the window, walked over to his own desk, and began getting down to business.
Not far away, the monster had already finished processing the documents, and his gaze locked onto the competition form on that little desk opposite him.
Yomi picked up a fountain pen and swiftly started writing. Very soon, the tip of the pen paused over the line marked Companion.
He clearly hesitated for a while, then opened his light-brain and pulled up an account marked Lynn, seemingly organizing his thoughts.
The monster instantly realized something. His golden pupils trembled, and he opened his own light-brain at astonishing speed.
In a certain workshop of the furniture factory—
Lynn was busy working when the stern-faced factory director suddenly called him into the office.
He felt a little uneasy and kept replaying in his mind what mistake he might recently have made at work. But the moment he stepped inside, he was startled by the scene before him.
The factory director had actually pulled out a chair for him personally and said in a very earnest tone, “Lynn, there’s an important client this Saturday. I don’t have time, so you go along with those managers instead. It’ll be just right to make up the numbers.”
Lynn was dumbfounded. “…What?” Even if the director had no time, surely it should not be his turn to make up the numbers.
“You don’t want to go?” The director suddenly became a little nervous.
“No, I… I’ve never met a client before.” Lynn had no idea what was going on. “Did you get the wrong person?”
“How could it be the wrong person? It’s you! It’s precisely because you’ve never met one that you need to learn!” The factory director’s smile was painfully forced. “Recently, I’ve been preparing to properly cultivate excellent old employees like you…”
“But I’m not old…”
“I’m not talking about age!” The director winked at him. “You’ve been with us for quite a while, haven’t you? There’s a workshop currently lacking a supervisor, but sadly we haven’t been able to find a suitable person… If you perform well after meeting the client this time, you can try filling in for the role first.” As he spoke, he sized up this apparently unassuming employee with a very friendly gaze.
After all, it was the royal family who had ordered that this guy meet an important client on Saturday. Then this kid absolutely had some rather complicated connection with the royal household… Could he be the illegitimate son of some noble?!
Lynn had absolutely no idea that the factory director’s thoughts had already run completely off the rails. He only felt as though a giant pie had suddenly dropped onto his head. It was like a dream. Only after he walked out of the office did he finally realize what had happened.
He hurried to a corner of the restroom and called Yomi.
The other side picked up almost instantly, as if he had been staring at the light-brain the whole time.
Suppressing his excitement, Lynn said, “Mimi, I have good news to tell you.”
Yomi: “…What?”
Lowering his voice, Lynn said, “The factory director suddenly seems to have grown a conscience and started treating me really well… He’s actually letting me go with the managers this Saturday to meet a client, and afterward I might even get promoted.”
On the study side, Yomi froze.
“Mimi?”
“I—I heard you!” Snapping back to himself, Yomi seemed as if he had just awakened from a dream. He jumped three feet high in excitement. “You’re so promising! Lynn, I think we’ll both be able to buy houses in the capital in the future!”
“I think so too!” Infected by his emotions, Lynn nearly burst into tears. “I thought I’d have to live there for the rest of my life… Mimi, you’re seriously a lucky koi. The moment you appear, good things happen… I’m going to work hard and make money. In the future, let’s become neighbors in the residential district of the main city!”
“That’s exactly what I’m thinking too!”
The two of them imagined the future together until Lynn finally had no choice but to return to work, and only then did they hang up.
Yomi happily closed his light-brain. Looking down at the form on the desk, he only then remembered the contest.
Originally, he had wanted to call Lynn and ask him to be his companion for the preliminary round on Saturday, but that was not strictly necessary.
In a very cheerful mood, Yomi skipped over the Companion line and continued filling in the rest of the information.
Not far away, Ansius, who had been listening with his ears perked up the whole time, suddenly set down his documents and spoke in the silent study:
“The day after tomorrow is Saturday.”
Yomi kept writing. “That’s right!”
Ansius said, “Before Saturday, my human-skin suit will be delivered.”
Yomi: “?” He did not understand what that meant, so he looked up at the monster over there.
The monster stared at the form in front of him, his lips moving slightly:
“I’ll accompany Mimi to the competition.”
