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Peko’s outstretched hand loomed over the hamster, trembling. Her and the animal. Maga-Z was the most aggressive of the Devas, and still it reacted this way. Peko leaned forward and the hamster flinched.
“Enough of this foolishness!” Gundham rumbled. Maga-Z scurried up his arm and disappeared into his scarf.
“Did I move too fast…?” Peko’s face was still as a stone, as always, but Fuyuhiko could still tell how she really felt. Disappointed, frustrated, blaming herself. This always happened whenever she interacted with animals, but he felt this could be different. Gundham was…odd, to put it mildly, so the hamsters should be used to different people, right…?
“My Devas are powerful beings, do not let their current forms fool you, they are intuned with the magicks of this world in a way you mortals cannot possibly comprehend.”
“Cut the crap and speak like a normal person, for once,” Fuyuhiko spat.
Gundham regarded them both warily before clearing his throat. “Your vassal of steel exudes a most…uncongenial aura. Crimson Steel Elephant Maga-Z wishes not to destroy the entire island in there inevitable combat, so he magnanimously decided to spare thee instead.”
So even evil demons were scared of Peko. Before Fuyuhiko could respond, Peko bowed and said, “I thank you for letting me try.”
“Let’s just go, Peko.” Fuyuhiko shoved his hands into his pockets and glared ahead, hoping no one would show up and receive all the wrath brewing inside him. He was trying to do better, but it was hard, especially when Peko wasn’t allowing herself to feel.
“It’s fine,” she said, as if reading his mind. “I’ve come to accept that I’ll never get to pet an animal.” And yet there was still that tinge of sadness to her voice. It was something she’s wanted as long as they’ve known each other. Surely, there had to be something Fuyuhiko could do to make her dream come true.
“Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen that many animals.” Hajime rubs his chin in thought. “There’s crabs and fish and bugs, but that’s probably not what you’re going for.”
“Not even a squirrel or something?” But now that he said it, Fuyuhiko realized the ridiculousness of it. Why would one even be on a tropical island? No one ever heard of a squirrel burying coconuts.
Hajime thinks a few moments more before declaring, “That’s right! There’s a cow!”
“Where in the world have you been hiding a cow?”
“Maybe it wasn’t there when you first explored the first island.”
“…The cow wasn’t there? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Hajime led them back to the first island, where lay the Usami Corral. It looked like the kind of farm you’d see in a kid’s book, very small and everything close together. It was only missing the giant words to label all of the animals and objects. Though “toucan” probably wasn’t on many farms.
But there was a cow. It stood there, head bobbing up and down to graze at the grass.
“I’m pretty sure I woulda remembered seeing a cow,” Fuyuhiko said.
“It wasn’t always a cow.”
“What.”
“It was a chicken first. Usami turned it into a cow.”
“You’re making that up.” But Hajime had never lied before, so why would he start now…?
“Nagito was there, too, if you don’t believe me.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” He would really rather…not have to deal with him. He didn’t want to get a lecture on how all this was some sort of test for Peko to find hope to pet an animal someday, or some crap like that.
But this cow seemed pretty unbothered by their conversation, maybe this could work. Fuyuhiko took a step closer; the animal didn’t react. So he took another step, and another. He didn’t even get a glance.
But was a cow a soft and fluffy animal? It didn’t look it, with bony joints and sharp hooves and horns. Fuyuhiko patted it on the flank. It was hard, ungiving. The sound echoed into some hollow space inside the animal.
“Wait a second….” The movements were janky, a faint whirring could be heard, the legs, on further inspection, had no actual joints. “This isn’t even a real cow, it’s some sort of robot.”
“Huh.” Hajime joined him and inspected the thing. “Well, that makes more sense than magic being real.
So, they tried rounding up one of the chickens, but they were too quick for them. The toucan was smart enough to make its exit before being accosted.
Time to try something else.
But try as they might, there were no other mammals to be found. They split ways, which was probably for the best. It meant Fuyuhiko could sulk around the tidepools. There were plenty of animals there, but they were all hard and sharp or gooey and formless. And, of course, wet. Nothing could be fluffy when it was wet.
But how could there be nothing else on the island? There had to be, like, mice or something. Maybe there weren’t any big mammals around, but there had to be small ones. But small things would be scared, so—
“Heyyyyy Fuyuhiko, what’re you doing out here all by your lonesome self?” It was Ibuki; the suddenness—and volume—of her voice made him jump.
“Don’t go sneaking up on a guy like that.” He sighed angrily. “What do you want?”
“Oh, I was just going for a walk and thinking up a brand new song when I saw you and thought, ‘Hey, wasn’t he running around with Hajime earlier? What was that all about? I should go ask!’ so! That’s what I’m doing!”
Ah, right, the others might have seen all that, but Fuyuhiko was so focused on his task, on how happy it was going to make Peko, that he didn’t even consider how embarrassing it would have looked. But he was having no luck on his own. Hajime was a great guy and all, but he really didn’t think outside of the box. Maybe Ibuki and her…unique way of thinking had an answer he wasn’t thinking of.
“You haven’t seen any, like, cute animals on the island or something, have you?”
“Ohhhhh this is for Peko, isn’t it?”
The involuntary flush to his face answered for him. Ibuki had a huge grin.
“I knew it! Did you try the cow yet?”
“It a’int even real.”
“Huh.” Her face scrunched up in thought, which only made Fuyuhiko realize how this probably wasn’t the best idea. “What about seagulls?” she offered.
“…Seagulls?”
“Yeah, they’re always in the parking lot of the diner! And there’s usually one flying around, too!”
But were seagulls even cute? They had to be fluffy and soft, at least, feathers were always fluffy and soft. And seagulls were mean, they probably wouldn’t be afraid of Peko. Would they let her pet them is the question. As was….
“How are we even going to catch one?”
“Ibuki has just the idea!”
It wasn’t the most complicated of plans. It consisted of throwing fries on the ground, waiting for a seagull to show up, and then trying to grab one. But, since they could fly, it wasn’t working out very well. Even Fuyuhiko throwing his jacket wasn’t enough reach or speed to nab one.
“You’re never going to catch one like that.” It was Akane, who had ambled up to them.
“We’re not fast enough,” Ibuki pouted. “Can you use your super awesome gymnast-slash-fighter powers?”
Akane cracked her knuckles. “I got this.”
“You can’t punch out a seagull,” Fuyuhiko said. “It needs to be unharmed.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Akane takes the box of fries then sits cross-legged several feet away. She tossed them, one by one, in front of her, shrinking the distance each time. Then she had a fry in hand, held out at arm’s length. The gulls flew near, hovered, then turned back. Then one was brave—or foolish—enough to grab it, fluttering away before gulping it down.
It was hard to tell if it was the same gull eating from Akane’s hand, they all looked alike, but now they were snatching the fries as soon as she brought one up. The air suddenly shifted and Akane moved, like a lightning strike. A loud squawk punctuated the air.
“Gottem!”
The seagull was surprisingly calm, despite being handled like a football. Its webbed feet kicked uselessly.
“I knew you could do it!” Ibuki ran over, scaring off the other birds. The girls hyped each other up about the epic moment, then Fuyuhiko realized: how was he going to get the seagull to Peko? He had no idea where she was, how long would it take for the seagull to start biting them?
“Hey!!! Stop being mean to those poor seagulls!” Usami had popped in from out of nowhere, startling the three students. The gull flapped and squawked again.
“We’re not doing anything mean, teach, promise….” Ibuki laughed nervously.
“We should be nice to all of our animal friends! And he doesn’t want to be held like that! He wants to be back with all of his friends!”
“But we need it for—” Akane began, but was cut off.
“No buts!!! Or I’ll have to give you all detention!”
Fuyuhiko sighed. “It’s fine, just let the damn bird go.”
Akane turned the other way before tossing the gull into the air; it took a moment for it to regain control, but it flew off, seemingly unharmed. “We were doing it for a really good reason, I promise!”
Fuyuhiko kicked at the pavement. Now what were they supposed to do? What other animals could possibly be left?
“As your teacher, it’s my job to help all my students, no matter the problem! And I’m sure I can do a better job than a silly old seagull! They don’t even have magic!”
“Actually,” Fuyuhiko said. “I think you might be able to help.”
I must be brave! Usami tells herself. I’ll do whatever it takes to help my students, no matter how scary it might be! Even if the thing she was scared of was one of said students.
Fuyuhiko led a blindfolded Peko by the hand to Usami. She knew that Peko wasn’t mean and would never hurt her, but something about her was just so…it must be because rabbits are prey species and get scared by lots of things, especially taller people. Especially tall people who gave off vibes that made her want to dig a burrow and hide in it.
“What sort of animal did you say this was again?” Peko asked.
“A, er, jabberwocky,” Fuyuhiko said. “Turns out they only live here, they’re very rare. And they don’t like being looked at.” He paused. “But I beat it in a game of riddles, so I can look at it and it won’t attack me. You know how it is with these mythical things, they always keep their word.” He shot a glare at Usami, who only nodded firmly. She did not forget what she had promised to do.
Normally she wouldn’t let a student touch her like this, but once she heard just how sad Peko was, she couldn’t say no! Even though she really, really, really wanted to right about now. Peko’s hand slowly made its way down, stopping when it made contact with the fur between the rabbit’s ears.
“See? It’s not even running away or anything. You can pet it all you like.”
Usami did her very best not to shake or think about how she wanted to run away. It just wasn’t right to be afraid of one of her students! Peko had to be a nice girl, under that scary exterior. She was the only one who could break through Fuyuhiko’s hard exterior, the only one that could always make him smile. That’s the kind of happiness she wanted all of her students to have!
So she put everything into being the very best “jabberwocky,” to put the biggest smile ever on Peko’s face.