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A birthday was something Max Hatter detested.
The day he was born. The day he had been born at all. The day a person named Max Hatter had come into existence under the Hatter name.
Every time this day came around, he was reminded of the discrimination he had endured for being born to that father. And of the whispers from those around him, saying that he had grown one year closer to Maddox.
It wasn't as though he hadn't gotten used to it by now, nor was he in any great deal of pain. He would never, ever become like that father of his. No matter what people said, he had Hazel, Felix, and Smees and the others by his side. There was nothing to worry about. He wasn't hurting. Not at all.
But that didn't mean he wanted to celebrate this day. Why should anyone congratulate him simply for being born? When the very existence of his birth was something he himself hated. Even he could feel the faintest trace of hatred toward himself.
Max was thinking all of this in his half-awake state, staring at the wrapped package sitting on his desk.
"Really went and tied a green ribbon around it, huh."
He glanced toward the other bed, the one across from his own.
There was no mistaking it. The man who had vanished from his bed without a trace was Felix, nine times out of ten. He knew perfectly well that Max hated having his birthday celebrated, and he was doing this on purpose. He probably enjoyed watching Max look troubled or irritated.
Inside was his usual tea. Conveniently, his supply had been running low. Hazel had been making a fuss lately about how the money in his wallet was disappearing, so Felix had probably spent some of it buying this. It irritated Max to no end that Felix had actually put something he wanted inside.
Even though Max had told him he didn't need presents, Felix gave him one every year. By now, Max was too tired to complain. After all, complaining would only mean that Felix had gotten exactly what he wanted.
And it wasn't just Felix who kept up this gift-giving tradition. The other three did the same thing. On a day he already hated, did he really have the energy to get angry four separate times?
Irritated, Max shoved the tea into his hat for the time being and began getting ready. It was a day off, and he had been thinking of working on some inventions in his workshop.
He washed his face and carelessly wiped away the droplets of water with a towel. He smoothed his hair with his hand, fixing his bedhead as best he could. Leaning out of the bathroom, he reached for the closet.
His usual shirt. His usual shoes. His usual gloves. His usual long coat. His usual hat.
His favorite style, and at the same time, an outfit that was as ordinary as ever.
Because today wasn't a special day.
Not at all.
◇
Max made his way toward the workshop, avoiding people's eyes.
The problem was getting to the rabbit hole. Once he entered Wonderland, he rarely ran into anyone. Even the distance from the dormitory to the hole wasn't particularly far. The people he wanted to avoid were the ones who would go out of their way to celebrate his birthday, and at this distance, there was a good chance he wouldn't run into any of them.
He walked as though everything were perfectly normal.
The sky was a dry, flat gray, like someone had overturned a bowl of rock sugar and spread it across the heavens. The ground had dried out after so many days like this, and gravel crunched beneath his feet with every step.
The sun was shining, but the October wind that occasionally swept past him carried a slight chill.
In the end, what he had feared didn't happen. He reached the rabbit hole without difficulty.
Looking down, he saw the deep hole below. He vaguely remembered the time when they had all leaned over the edge and peered inside. The first time he had a conversation that could genuinely be called a conversation with Red and Chloe.
Selling out your parents wasn't easy.
But my life was never easy to begin with.
Every time I counted another year, I was afraid of getting closer to becoming an adult like Maddox Hatter.
He remembered how painful Chloe's gaze had been that day, and found himself almost laughing at the memory.
Because I was Maddox's son.
She barely knew me. We had hardly spoken, and yet she had been so quick to be on guard around me. That little princess.
The perfect princess.
The girls who hated being called that had been the first to leap into the seemingly bottomless hole.
From Red's attitude and the atmosphere she carried around her, Max had expected her to be a strong-willed girl with a clear sense of herself. But Chloe had been the surprising one.
Especially considering that she was the daughter of Cinderella, a woman rumored to be obsessed with being the perfect queen and maintaining her royal status. Chloe had been raised with expensive things and the finest etiquette money could buy. A genuine princess.
From what Max had seen, Chloe herself seemed to be striving for perfection. She appeared to want to live up to her mother's expectations. So, even if she claimed she was only following her best friend, she hadn't seemed like the kind of person who would willingly throw herself into the center of an incident.
That had probably been the first thing about Chloe that felt out of place to him.
...
Max shook his head, as though trying to brush away the distracting thoughts.
At the very least, it took a considerable amount of time to reach the ground after jumping into the hole. Standing there and staring down while getting lost in his thoughts was nothing more than a complete waste of time.
He stepped forward, his foot leaving the edge without a second thought.
As though the dry ground continued seamlessly just one step ahead.
Jumping in so easily, without making any preparations or gathering his courage, felt almost like throwing himself to his death.
The sensation of passing through the mysterious hole was, quite literally, mysterious.
The wind, which should have been blowing upward from below, somehow seemed to brush against him from above, and then from the sides. His sense of up and down disappeared. Perhaps his body was turning over and over. Perhaps it wasn't.
It was an extraordinarily strange sensation, as though his stomach were being turned inside out.
Countless mirrors floated around him, suspended in the air like objects caught in zero gravity. He pressed a hand firmly against his hat to make sure it wouldn't float away and disappear somewhere.
He thought that keeping his arm raised like this for an unknown amount of time would make it tired. But even so, protecting his hat was important.
As he slowly fell, one of the mirrors caught his eye.
A flower field stretched out around him, filled with gentle colors. He was sitting around a small table with someone.
There was tea.
And then, slowly, a shade of blue appeared in the reflection.
Before he could confirm what it was, the mirror drifted past.
Max's body was thrown out into the bright expanse of Wonderland.
◇
The sky was covered in pink clouds, as though someone had melted strawberry-flavored candy and spread it across the heavens.
The ground was covered in vivid green, short grass. When he stepped onto it, the unstable surface felt as though he were bouncing on cotton candy.
Although the sun should have been hidden behind the clouds, the warm breeze gently passing through the air made him feel as though it were March.
Max walked carefully, making sure not to lose his footing on the strangely fluffy ground. How easy it was to get to his workshop without his father getting in the way. The journey had gone so smoothly that he was surprised, as though this were something he had never known before. At this rate, he would probably arrive in just a few more minutes.
He continued along the path, letting his hand slide over the mushrooms growing around the village of the little mice. This was the place where he had given Chloe the bracelet.
There was a stream that someone of human height could probably clear with a small jump. Max crossed the bridge that had been built over it with an almost excessive degree of care.
It had been nighttime that day, so seeing the scenery in daylight made the place look entirely different. The poisonous, almost invitingly dark atmosphere, as though it might lure you into the shadows, seemed as if it would scatter away when illuminated by sunlight.
If it were now...
Would Chloe still have been alone, lost in her gloomy thoughts?
If it were now...
Would Chloe still have refused to trust me?
If it were now, would Chloe, who had shone so brilliantly beneath a covering of crystals, look even more dazzling? Wrapped in a radiance that would make me never want to let go of the hand I had grasped...
"Hehehe, happy birthday, Max."
Just as he heard the light sound of someone stepping on fallen leaves, Max turned his head.
There stood Chessy, wearing the same smug, grinning expression she had inherited from her father.
She wiggled her rear a few times, then kicked the ground with tremendous force and sprang toward him. The fallen leaves beneath her feet scattered backward from the momentum. Chessy streamlined her body, making it easier to cut through the air.
Right in front of him.
No, to be precise, above his head.
Realizing that her target was his hat, Max narrowly dodged her as she extended her claws and lunged at him.
...Unfortunately, the fallen leaves that had gathered where he shifted his foot caused Max to slip.
He managed to break his fall properly, but his back slammed against the ground, and his cheek lightly scraped against the leaves. His vision flipped upside down, and suddenly, Max's perspective became that of a mouse.
Well, that explained why they had bothered to build a bridge in the first place.
"Hey, Chessy, your words and your actions...!!"
He opened his mouth to protest, but she spoke over him as though she didn't care in the slightest.
"I have a little birthday present for you."
He couldn't understand what she meant.
If being knocked over counted as a birthday present, then Wonderland's birthday celebrations really were as insane as the name suggested.
Just as he was about to pour his irritation toward the Cheshire Cat, who had winked at him and vanished like mist, a rustling sound came from above his head.
He poured all the force of the shout he had intended to unleash into his gaze instead, glaring at the source of the sound.
"Max? Why are you lying on the ground like that?"
Bathed in sunlight, she shimmered even more brightly.
Blue.
...It was Chloe.
◇
It was awkward.
Well, I might be the only one who felt that way, but walking side by side in silence with just the two of us was rather awkward.
And on top of that, I had the added humiliation of having been helped up after lying there, sprawled helplessly on the ground.
After helping Max to his feet, Chloe had tried to leave without asking a single question.
"See you."
Perhaps her refusal to pry was her way of saying that she didn't want him to pry into her affairs, either.
But for some reason, Max had instinctively reached out and grabbed her arm.
"Wait."
He didn't fail to understand her feelings. He knew what she meant.
But somehow...
"You're here too, Chloe. What are you doing... Ah, no, that's not what I meant... Um... Where are you going?"
Chloe looked at him with a slightly suspicious expression, then let her gaze wander as though she were thinking.
"If you're curious, do you want to come with me?"
Unable to back out of the question now, Max was currently following Chloe in silence as she made her way through the forest.
Why was she alone?
Coming to Wonderland by herself?
Wasn't she supposed to be with Red?
What was she trying to do?
There were so many things he wanted to say out loud, but not one of them managed to escape his throat. Time simply passed.
As he followed behind Chloe, lost in a muddle of thoughts and uncertainty, she suddenly stopped.
Max nearly walked straight into her and was forced to come to an abrupt halt.
"Hey, you can't just stop so suddenly—"
"We're here."
As she said that, Max shifted his gaze from Chloe to the path ahead.
There, flowers of all different colors bloomed in soft, gentle shades.
The sky was a clear blue, like freshly poured soda, without a single cloud. Adorable little flowers dotted the ground, while something that seemed out of place growing directly from the earth—a peach blossom, perhaps?—sat proudly among them.
A pleasant breeze drifted through the air. Its gentle touch was so soothing that he felt he might fall asleep if he simply surrendered himself to it.
It was as though he had stepped into an ordinary world.
A sight that didn't seem to belong in Wonderland.
And yet, compared to the current state of Auradon, this was a far, far more comfortable world. Anyone would probably say that this place was preferable to Auradon's perpetually overcast skies.
"Sit over here."
Max had been so distracted by the scenery that Chloe's sudden voice caught him slightly off guard. Still, he obediently followed her instructions.
She led him to one of the seats at a small table.
It appeared to be meant for only two people. There were only two chairs.
For some reason, two cups had already been placed on the table, along with a single teapot. Somehow, the teapot looked familiar to him.
Once Chloe confirmed that Max had taken his seat, she gracefully lowered herself into the chair opposite him.
For a while, they sat in silence, each of them gazing vaguely at the scenery.
Unable to bear the awkwardness any longer, Max glanced toward Chloe.
She was staring at the flowers with a distant look in her eyes.
And yet, there was little sign that she felt uncomfortable about being alone with him in silence. Instead, she seemed to be completely immersed in her own world.
Several minutes passed like that before Chloe casually opened her mouth.
"Just sitting here like this is boring. Why don't you make us some tea?"
There are two cups here, after all.
Her gaze seemed to imply, You must have tea with you, don't you?
Max felt a little irritated.
Actually, he was more than a little confused by Chloe today. She kept saying and doing things that came completely out of nowhere.
He was glad he had put the tea Felix had given him into his hat that morning.
With deliberate exaggeration, Max lifted his hat and pulled out a tea bag. Still seated at the table, he gave a slight bow like a gentleman before placing his hat back on his head.
"If that's what the princess desires, then I shall be happy to oblige."
At that, Chloe rolled her eyes dramatically.
"Oh, stop it."
There was a smile on her lips.
Somehow, he thought it looked like the kind of smile a girl her age would have.
Without much conversation, they waited for the tea to steep.
The fragrance of black tea slowly grew richer as it drifted from the teapot.
Chloe rested her elbows on the table and closed her eyes, as though allowing herself to surrender to the passage of time.
Eventually, once the tea was ready, Max poured it into Chloe's cup first, then his own, filling both to the brim.
As soon as he had finished and placed the teapot back on the table, Chloe lifted her cup as though she had been waiting for precisely that moment.
"Well then... happy unbirthday?"
This is how the Hatters celebrate an ordinary day, isn't it?
Chloe asked him so innocently.
An ordinary day.
A day that wasn't his birthday.
Max hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should correct her.
In the end, he opened his mouth.
"Ah, well, today isn't actually an ordinary day for me."
"What do you mean?"
"...It's my birthday. Today."
The moment he said it, Max knew he shouldn't have.
What was he supposed to accomplish by telling her?
Chloe was probably a good person. She would surely try to celebrate him.
But he didn't want her to do anything for him.
He didn't want her to go out of her way to accommodate him.
And more than anything, he didn't want to hear someone say, "Happy birthday."
Because there was nothing happy about it.
Chloe stared at him blankly for several seconds.
Then, she smiled gently.
Max didn't understand what that smile meant.
Before he could study her expression and try to figure it out, her cup obscured her face.
She straightened her back just a little, brought the cup to her lips with a touch of elegance, and took a small sip of tea.
Then she slowly exhaled.
"...Oh."
"...Huh?"
The unexpected reaction drew a stupid, bewildered sound from Max's mouth.
"That's it?"
It was fine if that was all she said.
What else was he expecting?
He mentally retorted against his own words, all the while feeling the inconvenience of being unable to take them back.
"...Max, is there something else you want me to say?"
She looked at him with those large eyes.
Beautiful, enormous eyes, as though they held glass within them.
"Because you didn't look like you wanted me to say anything else, Max. I'm not going to force myself to do anything. Right now, I just want to enjoy this tea. It's really delicious."
Chloe narrowed her eyes as she said it.
Max didn't think too deeply about it and simply muttered:
"That's good."
No, saying he hadn't thought about it was a lie.
He felt a little disappointed when her gaze turned back toward the tea.
"Max, if you don't want to talk, can I talk instead?"
At some point, Chloe had emptied her cup. She opened her mouth again.
"Red told me about this place. It's lovely, isn't it? The flowers are so pretty..."
"Is this the kind of place where princesses make flower crowns? Do they weave the stems while talking to animals? Dreaming of a tiara?"
"Then, I wonder if a girl who doesn't dream of a tiara isn't suited to being a princess."
Sensing that the conversation was taking a troubling turn, Max tried to interrupt.
"That's not—"
"Let me talk."
Chloe said it without looking at him.
"I've never really wanted a tiara. I like wearing pretty things, and I do want to dress up and look nice. But if I had to choose between wearing a tiara and wearing a medal on my chest, I'd be happier with the medal."
"When I wore the bracelet you gave me that time, I wasn't wearing a tiara either, was I?"
"Does that mean it reflects my preferences? Or were you the one who designed my outfit?"
Chloe gave him a slightly melancholy smile, looking up at him from beneath her lashes.
She was... rather charming.
"I felt like I had been freed that day."
"I wanted to live up to Mom's expectations. But being the perfect princess had already become exhausting. Even laughing things off like a good girl whenever people talked about my relationship with Red."
"Of course, I think giving in to those feelings of evil like we did was wrong. But... but..."
"Running around in the middle of the night with you was so much fun. I was happy."
"I'm glad I received that bracelet from you, Max. I'm glad I got to spend that time with you..."
"And I'm glad I met you, Max."
As Chloe spoke those words with such unusual honesty, Max's cheeks grew hot.
He felt embarrassed.
"No, I'm not someone who deserves to hear that."
"I was born as someone whose very existence is despised. Someone as noble as you needing me... That must have just been a momentary lapse in judgment."
He hid his embarrassment behind self-deprecation laced with sarcasm.
The corners of his mouth lifted awkwardly, but the sarcasm kept spilling out.
He was about to continue when Chloe interrupted him.
"Stop saying things like that."
"I really did need you. And I'm glad you were there... I'm glad you were born."
Unable to bear it, Max instinctively looked away.
Because...
Those eyes.
Just moments ago, he had been reluctant to see her look away from him.
But now, being pierced by that gaze felt like an unbearable luxury.
She had said those words without hesitation.
As though they were the simplest things in the world
Because, if you looked at it another way...
His face felt hot.
He couldn't tell whether it was embarrassment, or the heat of something rising inside him that he was struggling to hold back.
He let out a deep breath.
Only then did he realize that he hadn't been breathing properly because of his heightened emotions.
"Hey, Max."
"I didn't know it was your birthday, so I didn't bring you anything. Is there something you want?"
...Something he wanted.
An image flashed through his mind for a moment.
He forced himself not to think about it.
He also tried not to look into her eyes, afraid that she might somehow read that feeling in his gaze.
Then, he made up his mind and reached out.
Toward Chloe's hand, which was still wrapped around her cup.
For a brief moment, he hesitated, his fingers hovering just short of touching her.
In the end, he placed his hand over hers, covering it gently.
"…This is enough."
Because he had been avoiding her eyes, he couldn't read her expression.
But the instant his hand touched hers, her palm twitched slightly.
He knew he had surprised her.
As he waited to see how she would react, his heart felt as though it might burst.
Eventually, he heard a small, quiet giggle.
The hands that had merely been resting on top of one another slowly intertwined.
Across the table, Max and Chloe held hands.
Nothing more.
Just their hands.
◇
A definite warmth traveled from her palm into his.
Perhaps, in truth, all he had ever wanted was unconditional love.
Love that came without an object attached to it.
Max closed his eyes and surrendered himself to her warmth.
And he thought…
Perhaps meeting Chloe had been one of the reasons that a person named Max Hatter had been born at all.