The Glowing Berry.

“He is Hiro, the fiancé of Hanahoshi,” Sol whispered in Hitsuki’s ear.

Hitsuki jumped in shock. He blanked out, as if trying to figure out the strings connecting each other.

“Isn’t she like, sixteen!!” Hitsuki exclaimed. “She is literally younger than me!! How can she have a fiancé??”

“Calm down,” Sol suggested. “First of all, she is not sixteen. Second of all, don’t you think it’s rude to say something about someone’s fiancée in front of him?”

Hiro just smiled. “I don’t mind it, Sol. Honestly, I am nothing more than happy right now.”

Hitsuki shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, Hiro. I am Hitsuki. Sorry, I didn’t recognize you before."

“It’s no big of a deal, really.” He insisted.

An earthy smell hit his nose as Hitsuki shook his hand.

In the meantime, Hanahoshi came running towards them, almost out of breath.

“You cannot do that, Hiro!!” Hanahoshi yelled. “I cannot run that fast!”

“I am sorry, I didn’t think you would come for us,” Hiro said. “I just couldn’t wait to see him.”

Hitsuki sat down. He seemed to have a mental breakdown.

“Give me some time, will ya?” He said. “I have been experiencing so much stuff right now that every time something new happens, I just shove it in the back of my head. So right now, I need some thinking time.”

“I thought you didn’t care about anything.” Sol sighed. “You act tough, but you actually are pretty easy inside, huh?”

“I think you should get a bit more rest, Mr. Hitsuki,” Hiro replied. “Let me take you to a shade.”

Hiro picked up Hitsuki on his shoulder and went to the place where they had been drinking tea.

“Anyways, why are you here, Sol?” Hanahoshi asked. “I don’t think there is any more work for the day?”

“Oh, there is,” Sol commented. “Hattim’s eggs. I have to retrieve them, after all. My plan was to do that after meeting with the deceased’s families, but…”

“You should have rested a bit, though…” Hanahoshi insisted.

“My energy is blooming, if I must say so,” Sol replied. “And not to mention, Hitsuki wants to revisit the forest of spirits. He wants to know more about what happened that day.”

“I see,” Hanahoshi said with a gloomy face.

“Don’t feel guilty about it, Princess Hanahoshi.” Said Sol. “You don’t have to come with us. We will handle it for sure.”

“I know you guys are reliable, but-”

“Only wish us the best, Princess Hanahoshi. We can do nothing other than that.”

*****

“Won’t walking take too much of our time?” Hitsuki asked when Sol gave him a weird proposal to talk to the forest of spirits.

“Oh, right, I guess you didn’t know,” Sol answered. She walked slowly, matching Hitsuki’s pace. “You can walk to the forest of spirits.”

“Would you please stop being vague?” Hitsuki protested. “You know I am basically a child in this world.”

“Sometimes, it’s a pain to describe everything. You just have to show it to understand.” Sol sighed. “Did you ever run after a meeting with Acting Queen Chiyoshi?”

“No, why though?” Hitsuki asked.

“Well, from now on, you should.” Sol smiled.

She steadied her pace. She placed her legs strongly on the ground, making a stance. Then she disappeared into thin air, leaving a shockwave and a bluish trail behind her.

“Isn’t that… Chiyoshi’s ability?” Hitsuki asked. “Wait, can I do it as well!?”

He did the same, and in an instant, he became light. Everything flowed slowly around him while he walked past, creating a time dilation and a shockwave.

Amid the chaos of a sprint, he found Sol. She was waiting for him.

“Don’t use this ability for a long time, though.” Sol smiled. “You might even go out of this kingdom.”

“How can I even copy Chiyoshi’s ability??” Hitsuki looked at himself, amazed. “That’s so cool!!”

They were inside a dimension that others couldn’t see. Their surrounding looked monochrome, except for them.

Sol opened her eyes before him for the second time. “It’s all because of this emblem. It allows the people to copy the abilities of their master.”

“Does Chiyoshi use magic like the mages?” Hitsuki asked. “Because this surely does feel like magic.”

“It’s artificial magic, so yes, kinda magic you can say,” Sol replied.

“How does that work?”

“Maybe you will understand once you go through the Kingdom of Mage at some point in time.”

*****

Hitsuki and Sol stood before the mighty Forest of Sprits.

Hitsuki developed cold sweat on his forehead.

“Is it just me, or does the forest of spirits look creepier right now?” Hitsuki asked.

“Well, in the morning, it’s just a normal forest. I don’t get what you say.” Sol replied.

But Hitsuki’s feet trembled. No part of his body wanted to go inside this place again.

Sol sighed. “What are you, really? Once you are brave enough to stand in front of the Queen, and now you are scared of entering a normal forest?”

“It’s exactly because the forest is not normal that I don’t want to go inside.”

Sol held Hitsuki’s hand, though hesitantly, and pulled him inside the forest. “Your life depends on it, remember?”

“Right.” He nodded. “I sometimes forget that I am a detective right now.”

“You should take this seriously,” Sol whispered.

They walked through the dense vegetation. Soon enough, the village behind them was shrouded in trees and shrubs.

The forest felt quiet, spaced, and comforting—something Hitsuki didn’t feel when he was here before. He looked at the skies, the ground, and the many trees in wonder.

“You can see a lot of trees that you usually won’t when you visit the forest in the afternoon—the time when the spirits are the least visible,” Sol replied.

She pointed at a small shrub at the foot of a tree, still holding Hitsuki’s hand.

Hitsuki watched like a little child. “Woah…”

It was a small twig, but on it bore the fruits of berries that glowed amid the gloomy atmosphere.