Inari motions to Travis for him to move to a more private location. He looks back and forth, unsure of what to do.
"Oh, please, I don't need to separate you from your team. I could kill everyone here in a matter of seconds if I chose. The fact that you're still standing means I haven't." She flies away as if that would calm them down. Travis gulps and whispers a few things to his team before following after her.
Now that the formalities are over, I wave to the students and pull out some food.
"They're probably gonna be a while. Let's have lunch." As I suggested, it doesn't take long before everyone sits down with us to eat.
"Niiiiiicck!" Woohee is waving her arms as she floats in front of my face to get my attention. Her cheeks are puffed, and it's all I can do to contain my laughter at her adorable pouting.
[I'm an enabler. I now understand how Jacques let Sakura turn into such a monster.]
"Alright, here you go." I pull out a cookie from my bag and show it to the fairy. Her eyes sparkle as drool drips from the side of her mouth. She dives at the cookie, but I pull it away. "Hold on a second. You made yourself sick last time, so now you only get half."
"No fair!" She starts waving her arms about furiously at my amendment.
"No fair? Well, if that's not fair, then I'll just eat the whole thing myself. I slowly move the cookie towards my wide-open mouth while watching for her reaction. A streak of panic shoots across her face. All the anger has turned to fear. I can almost see her stomach drop as she realizes what I just said. Her eyes go wide, and she flies around in a panic while yelling at me.
"No, it's fair! Woohee's sorry! Woohee didn't mean it! Woohee can share! Sharing is good!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, please!" She holds her tiny hands out while looking at me with tears in her eyes. I feel like I've bullied her enough, so I snap the pastry in half and give her a piece.
"Yay!" She takes her share and hides under my shirt.
"Oh! It's kinda sweaty in there, so you might want to eat it outside." I'm caught off guard by her sudden escape, but I try to warn her anyways. The only response I get is the sound of her munching on the cookie so either she didn't hear me or she just doesn't care.
"So, these are fairies," Yuki says while staring at the lump squirming about beneath my shirt.
"Woohee doesn't count," Hai interjects. "She's more of a rat than a fairy."
Woohee pokes her head out while still munching on the cookie and glares at Hai. I'm sure she wants to say something, but she can't bring herself to stop eating. I chuckle and change the subject.
"Well, while we're here. Why don't we all introduce ourselves." No one seems to mind, so we go around in a circle, and everyone says their name. Hai has to introduce Foof as he remains silent when it comes to his turn to speak.
"Oh, and this is Woohee." I lift up the bottom of my shirt to reveal the feasting fairy beneath. She's finished her share of the cookie and is now rolling around in my lap while clutching her noticeably protruding stomach. "Are you okay?"
"Guh." She moans to signal that she's still alive, and I drop the flap of my shirt to cover her.
"I'm sure she'll be fine," I say, mostly to myself.
"If she wasn't so stupid, maybe she could have a snack without puking it up later." Hai teases. I look down, expecting Woohee to respond in one way or another, but she just lays there, motionless.
[Maybe she isn't okay.]
"Well, Inari and Travis aren't back yet, we might as well get a bite to eat." I take out the loaf of bread I brought and tear off a chunk. The bread in this world is tougher than I'm used to but much more filling. I gnaw at the rough fibers while watching everyone around me. Overall, everyone seems calm, which is nice. A few people are eyeing the fairies warily, but for the most part, everyone is just enjoying the company. Now that the situation has relaxed, I turn my focus back to Inari and Travis.
[They've been gone for a few minutes, which means they actually have some things to discuss. I initially thought she just wanted to make a few threats, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I'd be surprised if there's anything she would want to tell him that she hasn't already told Jezabel. The only thing that will make sense will be if she doesn't trust Jezabel and was hoping to rely on Travis but she must know there's no way he would keep a secret from the Guild Master. Maybe Jezabel hasn't said anything to Travis about their agreement? If Jezabel had any doubts about where his loyalties lie, it would make sense that she kept this close to the chest. But, if that's the case, why would Inari go out of her way to make her presence known? She'd be throwing Jezabel under the bus. What the hell is going on?]
Thoughts like these whirr around my head as I mindlessly munch on my snack.
"Nicc…." A weak voice pulls me back to dry land. I look down and see Woohee tugging on my shirt.
"Are you okay, Woohee?"
"Did you finish your cookie?"
"Yes, and I don't think I should give you any more cookies if you're just going to make yourself sick every time." Woohee quickly struggles to her feet and forces a smile.
"Look, Woohee's fine." She's clutching my shirt with one hand and her stomach with the other. I don't think she could put on a less convincing show if she tried. Eventually, her wobbly legs give way, and she collapses back onto my lap. "Uhhhh…"
"Why don't you just take a nap?" I take a spare shirt from my bag and make a bed for the fallen fairy. I raise one side for a makeshift pillow and place her gently on it. I then cover her with one half as a blanket. It only takes a few seconds before her soft breathing slows to a steady snore.
"You're spoiling her," Hai warns.
"What do you want me to do? Look how adorable she is."
"You sound just like Inari."
"Well, at least it's not just me… Wait, Inari?" I've never seen her give Woohee more than a passing glance. Is Hai implying that Woohee gets treated differently?
"Woohee would eat herself sick all the time when she was first spawned. It took a few of us complaining over the course of a month for Inari to do something about it. Eventually, we settled on giving her smaller meals more often. I don't think she noticed the different sizes of the portions, so she was happy to get fed more."
"Is there some special relationship between the two of them?"
"I'm not sure. I've always noticed the soft look in Inari's eyes when she's looking at Woohee, but I don't know where it comes from."
"Interesting."
"That's one way to put it. It's more annoying than anything."
"So now I'm annoying, huh?" As if on cue, Inari appears above us. Hai's face goes pale, and the crowd falls silent. The tension is too much for me to handle so I crack a joke.
"Actually, we were just repeating what Travis was saying. He wouldn't stop talking about how annoying you are." Travis, who just walked into view, stops in his Tracks. His already sweaty face loses its color. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he saw a ghost.
"So, let me get this straight," Inari starts.
"Okay."
"Travis, who I literally just met–"
"Yea."
"Who doesn't know the first thing about me."
"Yup."
"Was talking about how annoying I am on the way here."
"Absolutely. Look, I'm just as surprised as you. Incredible foresight on his part."
"Puh."
Inari chortles at my nonsensical response. I sport a wide grin to further diffuse the tension.
"I can't even pretend to be mad." She turns around to leave, and the rest of the fairies follow after her. Hai takes it upon herself to care for Woohee and toss her limp body over one shoulder.
"Good luck on your way back. I'm curious to see how you will ride the rising tide."
"Ooh, ominous." I put on a show, but internally, I'm beginning to feel anxious. Inari isn't the type to drop something like that needlessly. The feather of fairies disappears into the dark undergrowth, leaving us alone again.
"What the fuck, Nick!" Travis shouts at me. "Why would you say something like that?!"
"Sorry, I needed to take control of the conversation before Inari made a move. I felt like she was trying to get something out of us. Right now, I think we need to get back to town; I have a bad feeling." I quickly rattle off what's on my mind to spur everyone forward.
"What did she want?" Yuki asks.
"What? Why do we need to get back to town?" Travis follows up shortly after. He and Yuki seem perplexed, so I decide to explain my thought process.
"Inari is always thinking about how to gain an edge, so she might have been trying to pull information out of us or gain a favor. She also might have been fucking with us; it's hard to say. Furthermore, she isn't one to drop a warning for no reason, so I think something's happened since we left. If there was any danger in the forest, she likely would have stayed behind to ensure we were safe, so the incident must be related to the town."
"What could be happening in town?" Sam asks.