Mushroom First!
After leaving the academy, the group took a short walk to their destination in the woods. When they got there, everyone let out a breath of wonder.
They saw a sea of golden leaves. Light from the sun seeped through the leaves and dripped onto the yellow path. The whole forest was dyed a bright yellow, and it was brightly lit and very colourful.
Mia said, “What a strange forest…”
Behind her, Rafina chuckled.
“Oh my, Mia. Is this the first time you’ve seen autumn foliage?”
“‘Autumn Foliage’? Is that what you call these trees?”
Previous-timeline Mia didn’t care about forests at all. She hadn’t paid much attention to the life cycle of trees, so she was amazed by the strange colours on display.
“No, no,” said Rafina, giggling.
“Autumn foliage are the changing colours of leaves in the fall. Some tree species’ leaves turn red, but it looks like all of the ones here turn yellow.”
“Oh, my… What a strange thing…”
Mia then started making up stories in her head.
Hm… This forest is not too far from the school… I might be able to get Abel to come back… We’ll be the only ones in this forest, and we can walk around and maybe even hold hands. Mm, that’s a great idea!
She heard a soft murmur at that moment.
“A yellow forest…”
When she turned to find out what was going on, she saw Citrina looking at the forest. Her usual perfect smile was gone, and it had been replaced by…nothing. There was no way to tell what she was feeling from her face.
“Rina? Is there a problem?”
Mia asked with a frown on her face.
“Hm? Oh no, nothing is wrong. I guess you could say I just felt a connection with these trees. I mean, I’m a Yellowmoon, and these leaves are all yellow, see?” she said quickly, as if she were making an excuse on the spot.
Then, her lips went back to their normal shape.
“Yes, I understand what you mean. If I were a member of the House of Yellowmoon, I would probably feel the same way about a forest that was only yellow.”
“I’m happy to hear that, Your Highness. Now, let’s move forward. Please follow Rina,” Citrina said as she took the lead.
The forest was filled with golden tones. The glow of the yellow leaves above reflected off the amber leaves below, bathing the eyes in golden colours.
“Wow! Amazing! Wow, this place is great!”
Miabel was jumping up and down with excitement as she ran through the trees.
“Ah! Be careful, Bel. These fallen leaves are slippery.”
Citrina ran after her quickly like a protective older sister, which made Lynsha shrug helplessly and jog after them both.
“So this is what the leaves look like in the fall. This is the first time I’ve seen it, too,” Chloe said as she looked at a yellow leaf she had just picked up.
“Yes, yellow leaves aren’t something you see very often, are they?”
Tiona agreed, and she also picked one up from the ground.
“I should put a few in a book and send them to Cyril as a gift.”
“Aaah… This place is so nice… I’ve been missing forests… I had no idea there was a place like this in Saint-Noel,” Liora said as she followed Tiona and hummed happily.
The boys were also looking around to see what was going on.
Anne stood next to Mia and looked at the group with a calm smile.
“This is such a beautiful place, isn’t it, milady?” she asked, closing her eyes to take in the smells and sounds of nature.
“I really hope today is a lot of fun.”
Everyone enjoyed the calm and pleasant mood. Everyone except Mia, who just said “Yes, fun” when Anne said something.
Her answer was short and to the point because she had barely heard Anne speak. Mia wasn’t here to enjoy the golden beauty of autumn like the others. She wasn’t a girl without plans. She was a hunter, and while her partner’s eyes moved around the swaying branches and fallen leaves, hers were fixed on the bases of trees, moving from one to the next as she looked for her fungi prey.
Mushrooms First! had become Mia’s new guiding principle. She was now a fungus extremist who fought for fungi to be the best. She looked at the area with the sharp eyes of a hunter. Then, as her eyes got bigger, she pounced.
There! Found some! Mushrooms!
Mushroom Hunter Mia ran across the leafy ground with her claws out and her teeth bared to get to her prey. At that point, the woman and the mission were the same thing. Mushroom was her, and she was mushroom. Nothing else mattered. The rest of the world disappeared, leaving her alone with the mushrooms she so badly wanted.
The problem, of course, was that the world was still there; not seeing something did not make it disappear. For example, that pile of leaves that looked like it would be slippery and was in her way stayed slippery. When she stepped on it, the leaves gave way in a very inconvenient way, sending her foot out in the wrong direction.
“Eh?”
Her sudden kick made a geyser of yellow leaves, and the force of the movement threw her backward. Before her brain could start to figure out what had happened, she was already falling.
“…Eh?”
Her view turned so that she could only see the tops of the trees. She shut her eyes and braced herself for the inevitable blow.
“Whoa— Gotcha. Be careful.”
She heard a voice that was both soft and familiar. She felt her body fall into the soft arms of another person.
“…Eh?”
When she opened her eyes…
“Are you okay, Mia?”
Abel’s face was just a few inches from hers!
But wait! Mia was in the mood to look for mushrooms today. So, she wouldn’t be scared when Abel hugged her. She was a mushroom, and mushroom was her. Nothing could get her away from Mushrooms. Mushroom First!
Oh moons… He’s so handsome and so dreamy! He looked so cute in that apron, and now—Oh, what a difference! It’s so good!
…Well, that’s it for Mushrooms First.
“You’re not hurt, are you?”
“N-No, I’m fine. It’s all right.”
She quickly pulled away from him.
“Merciful moons, I’ve been such an idiot…”
Abel shook his head as her cheeks turned red.
“No, that’s not right. Actually…”
He reached for her hair while making a sly face.
“Huh? Wha—”
His hand came back from the side of her head with a leaf between his thumb and forefinger. This made her look at him with a confused look.
He said with a laugh, “In a way, I’m glad that happened. Now I know that whatever you do with your hair, you look good.”
After saying that, he walked away.
Mia was so confused that she could only come up with a fourth “…Eh?” when she was left alone.
And so it was shown that, even though she believed in the supremacy of fungi, all it took was a hug from Abel to make her forget about mushrooms.
Mia lied about being a Mushrooms Firster.
