It's already been a few hours since I left Mimin alone. I hope she's doing fine by herself...
Under the bright, sunny sky, I'm accompanying Maria in the grass plains, next to the nearby forest, to collect some herbs. Other than me, there's 9 other kids who also joined along.
I bend down and picked up a yellow flower, among a group of similar yellow flowers, growing in the grass. This specific flower, that I picked up, is known as the daybloom.
Dayblooms are commonly sought after by many people, because it's a necessary ingredient for making a certain medicinal, reddish-pink liquid. This liquid, when drunk, helps with healing of wounds and injuries over time. That's why, dayblooms are really valuable.
Usually mistaken for sunflowers among many people, the daybloom bears a striking resemblance to sunflowers. The difference between them, is that dayblooms have larger, rounder petals.
"Oh, there's another one."
Normally, if looked at closely, it's easy to tell a daybloom from a sunflower, but sometimes, dayblooms grow in a group of sunflowers, which can make it difficult to spot. Dayblooms grow best in direct sunlight, too, which means usually it can be found around where sunflowers grow.
"...What is it, Maria? Why are you looking at me?"
"Eh? It's nothing! I thought I heard you say something, that's all."
"I'm just... talking to myself. I'm trying to remember what I learned about dayblooms."
"Hm, I see."
...Phew, I thought she was looking at me because I picked a sunflower by mistake. I was worried for a moment...
Ah, there's another group of dayblooms right beside me. There is a lot of dayblooms today, for some reason. Normally I only manage to find around 10 of them, but there's more than 20 in my herb bag already, which is really good!
Other than dayblooms... Let's see... Two handfuls of aeloa grass, and a handful of aqualeaves. That's also a decent amount for both herbs!
*growl*
Ah, that's my stomach... Is it time for lunch already?
"...Ah, that reminds me, it's already afternoon. Everyone, let's stop here for today! We'll return after having lunch!"
I should tie up my herb bag now, and help to prepare for lunch too.
----------
With everyone helping out, we manage to spread out the picnic blankets and settle down quickly. Then, Maria used her magic to create some water, for everyone to wash their hands with.
The other kids have formed a circle by themselves and took out their lunch boxes already. For lunch, we're having sandwiches with ham, lettuce, and tomato slices.
I'll just sit here, at this corner of the picnic blanket, then. I take a bite from my sandwich, and...
"Wow, it's been a while since we've managed to collect so many herbs in one trip."
Maria joins me for lunch, again. She always does this, when we have picnics outdoors. And the other kids would always look at us curiously.
...Please stop looking at me already. I can't ever get used to being stared at like this.
"Maria... Why?"
"Hm? What did you say?"
"Why do you always join me during picnics? Is there a reason for this?"
"Eh? Am I troubling you? Do you not like my company or something?"
"N-No! That's not it! I'm just... I'm sorry if I sounded rude!"
"I was just joking... Relax, Mina."
...
This awkward silence... I continue eating my sandwich to distract myself. If she wants to join me for picnics, then I can't really push her away, can I?
...
"Say, Mina... Why don't you join the other kids? I know that you only joined the orphanage a month ago, but... I always see you alone, by yourself, so if you'd join them, that would be great."
Eh? But that means... I have to talk with them... That's impossible, I can't do that...
"N-No thanks, I'm f-fine with being like this..."
"Haah..."
She sighs, and starts mumbling to herself about something. I can't hear it clearly, though. But more importantly, I should hurry up and finish my sandwich. It seems like everyone else is almost done with theirs.
----------
With all the picnic blankets and lunch boxes packed up, we're all ready to return to the orphanage now. But, just as we're about to leave...
*swish* *rustle*
I can hear something rustling in the grass. But it's really faint, so... Am I hearing things? It may just be someone making the rustling sounds, but, just to be safe...
"Hey, Maria? Do you hear something?"
"No? Was I supposed to hear something?"
"...Nevermind, then, I guess."
"Hm. Well, just to be safe, let me use search magic first."
As she said that, I can feel multiple waves of her magic spread out from around her. The air becomes slightly colder than before, as well. It's kind of pleasant, and cooling, since we're standing under the hot sun like this.
"...Eh!? Everyone, gather into one group and stay close together! There's a large number of Jellies approaching us, from the grass over there!"
While using intense heat magic, aiming at the grass in the direction where I heard rustling sounds come from, many round things of multiple colours jumped out of the grass at the same time. Those things are, unmistakably, Jellies.
There's blue, green, and purple coloured Jellies, and there's about 50 of them. I know they're hostile, but... I always wish I could keep one. They just look so soft and squishy... Unlike Slimes, which is the stronger and disgusting variant, Jellies actually look kind of cute.
"Air Cutter!"
Multiple blades of magic fly out from Maria's hands, towards the airborne Jellies. Unable to dodge in the air, many Jellies are sliced in half immediately.
"Wow..."
Before realizing, I end up being amazed by Maria's powerful magic. She managed to take out around a third of the Jellies in one moment!
"Yuni! Luni! Please keep everyone safe, in case any Jellies get too close!"
"Yes!"
"I'll try my best!"
Behind me, I hear two girls shout out, and Maria continues to use her magic. Using intense heat magic on the ground to force the Jellies to jump, then using Air Cutter to kill any airborne Jellies.
In no time at all, most of the Jellies are already dealt with. With all of the gel being scattered and sprayed on the grass, the area is starting to become a mess.
"Watch out!"
"Eh?"
A green Jelly!? There's one flying straight at my head, and I can't dodge it. Thankfully, a barrier appears to protect my face from being smashed into, by the Jelly. I'm saved... Wait, a barrier!?
*crack!*
"Ahh!"
"Luni!"
As the Jelly attacked, it got shot down by a stone-shaped projectile, and stopped moving. A few more Jellies, which managed to sneak past Maria, are also shot down immediately.
Now, all of the Jellies are taken care of. But, the person who saved me with the barrier...
"Luni! Are you alright!?"
"Ack... I'm fine, Yuni..."
No... Why did she do that? Now, she's hurt because of me... I want to apologize, but why won't any words come out of my mouth?
"Quick, let her drink this. Everyone else, help me collect all the gel that dropped from the Jellies."
Maria brings out a vial of red liquid, and gives it to Yuni, who helps Luni to drink it. This red liquid, made using aeloa grass, is able to heal small injuries almost instantly, and relieves pain when drunk.
When she finishes drinking it, she starts to relax, and it seems like she's getting better already.
"Hey... Mina, right? Are you hurt?"
"..."
"Hey! Luni's talking to you, you know!"
"It's fine, Yuni. I'm fine now. As long as she's not hurt, then I'm happy."
"But she..."
Come on! This isn't the time to be silent! Before they start getting mad, I have to speak up!
"I'm... um... I-I'm s-sorry!"
I bow down to Luni, hoping that she'll forgive me for that. If only I paid more attention, she wouldn't have to take a hit for me...
"What are you apologizing for? You did nothing wrong."
"But... B-Because of me, you got hurt..."
"..."
For some reason, she's looking at me without saying anything. Is my apology enough for her to forgive me?
"Alright, we got all the gel. Luni, are you feeling better?"
"Yes, thank you, Maria."
"That's good. Let's return to the orphanage now, shall we? I'm sure everyone is tired."
----------
"Oh, wow... Thanks to the Jelly raid earlier, we have plenty of gel now, so that's great. I don't have to go out later to find gel anymore!"
It seems like, when everyone returns to the orphanage, Maria planned to hunt for Jellies by herself afterwards. She seems happy that she doesn't have to do that anymore.
...
"What's wrong, Mina?"
"...Eh? Ah, it's just that... I keep thinking about earlier, how Luni..."
It's all my fault... If only I paid more attention... If only I'm able to use magic and protect myself...
I wish I could use magic, like Maria can. But, I'm a cat beastkin, which means I can't use magic...
"Listen, Mina. It's not your fault, alright? Don't blame yourself for that. Everyone is safe, and that's what matters. I'm sure Luni thinks so, too."
...Yeah, I guess you're right.
"If anything, I should also apologize for letting Jellies sneak past me. I know I could have prevented that from happening in the first place."
But, you tried your best, Maria. I couldn't do anything, myself.
"Let's get back to the orphanage first, alright? We can talk about this later, if you want."
"...Yes. Thanks, Maria."
I almost feel better already, after talking to Maria. For now, I should stop thinking about this, and make it up to Luni later.