The Black, Round, Sticky Thing ◆—Ai

“I’m sorry, Yuri-sama. I couldn’t persuade Her Majesty Sakura…”

Inside the carriage that went rattle, rattle, Mama spoke to His Majesty with a troubled look on her face.

“No, you did more than enough. Didn’t High Priest Houghtley say so himself? That it had been a long time since he’d seen Her Majesty Sakura so peaceful.”

“I’m sure that’s because Ai was beside me. If I’d been alone, I might not have been able to say anything…”

As she spoke, Mama gently stroked my head.

— I love Mama’s hands.

Mama never hits me, and her hands are soft and warm, and they smell nice.

And Mama always touches me like I’m something very precious.

Every time she pats my head and tells me what a good girl I am, that’s what I think.

Oh, Ai really is Mama’s treasure.

When I got so happy that I hugged Mama, she smiled.

“Thank you for today, Ai. Because you worked so hard, Mama was able to do her best too.”

You know, when Mama smiles, her sparkly light-blue eyes narrow into little slits.

They’re like jewels, and they’re so, so pretty.

“Still, this is troublesome. Perhaps we should think of another plan after all. …What if we had someone pretend to be the Saintess? The fact that Ai is five years old is still being kept secret from the people, isn’t it?”

“That’s far too dangerous. If the deception were discovered, we’d lose the people’s trust. And even if it weren’t, if the Saintess were an ‘adult woman of marriageable age,’ another faction would undoubtedly emerge trying to pair her with me. That would put you in danger.”

“That’s… true, isn’t it?”

Mama and His Majesty both let out a loooong sigh. They seemed really, really troubled.

“Mama, are you okay?”

When I asked, Mama smiled brightly.

“I’m fine, sweetie. We’ve just run into a slightly difficult problem. More importantly, you worked hard today too, Ai, so let’s have a delicious snack when we get home.”

Saying that, she hugged me tight again.

Ehehe, I love being held, too.

“Still, I wish we could use magic at times like this. Then I could drag the former king back from the underworld and make him get down on his hands and knees to apologize to Her Majesty Sakura…!”

“It would be quicker to go back several decades and knock the former king senseless. If we’d stopped him from cheating, Her Majesty Sakura would never have been hurt.”

“That’s a wonderful idea, but we can’t do that. After all, Yuri-sama, then you would never have been born.”

“Mm… I suppose that’s true…”

Mama and His Majesty kept talking about difficult things.

“Haaah. Isn’t there some quick and easy way to solve this? Like, what if eating something delicious could magically restore her spirits? …That would work on me in an instant!”

“Her Majesty Sakura is the Queen Dowager of this kingdom, after all… I feel as though she’s already eaten every delicacy there is. …B-by the way, what kind of food do you like?”

“Me? I like—”

Mama was holding me, the carriage went clatter-clatter as it rocked along, and the sky was a beautiful orange color… Little by little, I started getting sleepy.

“Oh, my? Ai, are you getting sleepy? Would you like to sleep on Mama’s lap?”

“Mm-hmm…”

When I nodded, Mama immediately let me rest my head on her lap. It was soft and smelled nice and was so fluffy. His Majesty gently covered me with a blanket.

“Sleep well for a little while, Ai.”

Listening to Mama’s voice, I slowly closed my eyes.

It was dark, dark, in the middle of the night.

“…Let me in, pleeease let me in…”

I was crouching in front of the door in the hallway outside our apartment.

No matter how much I knocked on the door, Mama and Papa wouldn’t let me inside.

I couldn’t really remember why they’d thrown me out.

But everything around me was pitch-black, and being all alone was scary…

While I was crying quietly, I heard a click nearby.

“…You there, little one. Come here, come over here.”

The old granny who lived next door was peeking out from behind her door.

Her wrinkly hand was beckoning to me.

“Come on now. Even if it’s summer, we don’t want you catching a chill. Come here, and Granny will give you something to eat.”

I wasn’t sure what to do.

Mama gets really, really angry when I talk to other people.

If I talked to this granny, she’d definitely get really angry at me.

…But being all alone in the dark was scary.

So I quietly went into Granny’s apartment.

“Sorry, dearie, this is all I’ve got. Youngsters these days probably prefer cakes and such, though.”

Saying that, Granny set a plate down with a clunk.

On the plate was something black and round… round… What’s this?

“Ho ho. Could it be that you’ve never seen botamochi before?”

“Nope.”

“Go on, give it a try. It’s sweet and tasty.”

I veeeery carefully poked the botamochi.

Something a little sticky got stuck to the tip of my finger, and I was so surprised that Granny laughed again.

“Don’t you worry, don’t you worry. You can wash your little hands afterward. Here, try licking a bit of that sticky stuff.”

Eeeh? You want me to lick thiiis…?

I didn’t really want to, but Granny was watching me closely, so I did my best and licked it.

Lick.

“…Sweet.”

The black, sticky stuff was really, really sweet.

“Ho ho. Isn’t it, isn’t it? And it’s even tastier when you eat it with the sticky rice instead of just the sweet bean paste. Here you go.”

The botamochi she put in my hands was still really, really sticky.

But this time, I took a big bite.

…And then, whoooosh, my mouth filled up with sweetness!

And you know, when I chewed it, it was all soft and chewy.

Chewy, chewy, chewy, chewy.

…This is kinda fun, isn’t it?

“That’s right, that’s right. Make sure you chew it really well so it doesn’t get stuck in your throat, dear.”

Granny said with a big smile.