Chapter 7: Fluff Conquers All

Chapter 7:
Fluff Conquers All

 

ONCE I STOCKED the drugstore with eye drops, they sold particularly well to older men and women. Elderly locals were overjoyed to be able to see their grandchildren’s faces; they even came to say thanks in person.

Man, if folks are this pleased with the eye drops, they were totally worth making.

“Um, Mr. Reiji? Do you think you could do some shopping soon?” Mina asked. “We’re about to run out of food.” Since she was a ghost tied to this house, she couldn’t actually leave.

“Oh, sure,” I replied. “Do you have a list?”

“Right here.”

I grabbed it from her. “Wanna come, Noela?”

“Noela go!”

Shopping basket in hand, we left Mina to watch over the store.

“Take care!” Mina waved to us.

Noela responded in kind. “Yes! Back later!”

With the festival over, Kalta had returned to its normal calm state. All right, let’s see what I gotta grab.

“What do you think we’re buying?” I asked Noela. I opened the list Mina gave me. “Wool underwear?”

Gah! What the heck’s she making me buy?! Wait a second—ghosts wear panties? Well, I guess she needs them when she’s in a physical body.

“Face red, Master. Okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. Hrm…I wonder if she gave me the wrong list?”

Mina was actually quite responsible, but she could be kind of a ditz at times, so it was entirely possible that she’d messed up. Just as I was about to make a U-turn and head back, I heard loud footsteps and a scream.

“H-help meeeeeeee!”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait! Why’re you running?! Let’s talk! Why, why, why, why—”

As I turned around, I spotted a girl about twenty years old chasing a man around the same age. The young woman held a knife around thirty centimeters long. The man was teary-eyed, while the woman’s eyes were bloodshot; she looked positively ghastly.

Nope. Definitely not getting involved. The pair was running in our direction, so I stepped aside to give them space. Instead, they headed right toward me. Wait, why?!

When the man and I made eye contact, he looked like he’d found God or something. He ran behind me, taking cover as if I were a shield. “S-save me!”

“No way! Save yourself!”

“I-I’m begging you! Do something about her!”

“What exactly do you expect from me?!”

“Zeral! Why’re you running off?!” I heard the girl’s voice behind me.

I spun around, shivering and fearful of what I’d find. She immediately thrust the knife toward my throat. Eeeeeeek!

“U-um, my name’s Reiji,” I stammered. “I-I own the pharmacy over there. I have nothing t-to do with any of this.”

“You own that drugstore? Ah! You’re the alchemist everyone’s been talking about! What did you do to my Zeral? You must’ve given him some kind of weird medication, right? Right? Right? Right?!”

Yikes. She seems really out of it—or maybe this is her default state. Zeral trembled behind me silently. Dude, seriously? No backup here? Noela? No, she’s a lost cause. Noela was wearing our shopping basket on her head and pretending not to be here.

“I honestly have nothing to do with your Zeral,” I told the woman. I turned to the dude behind me. “C’mon, man. Stop hiding and say something.”

“Feris is a little sick, okay? Please do something, Mr. Alchemist!”

“I’m healthy, healthy, healthy, healthy! I’m not sick at all! You’re the one who’s sick, Zeral! What’d you get from this sketchy alchemist?!”

Gaaaaah. They’ve totally made this my problem.

“Fine, fine. I get it, already,” I said reluctantly. “Feris, yeah? Could you please put down the knife? If you don’t, there’s no way we’re gonna fix this mess.”

Somehow, my desperate pleas got through to her. She dropped her knife to the ground, then covered her face with both hands and began sobbing.

“I-It’s not my fault!” she wept. “Why does everyone make me the villain? Why? Why?”

Okay, yup. She’s emotionally unstable. From the outside, it looked less like I’d been roped into a lover’s quarrel, and more like I made Feris cry. I grabbed Zeral by the collar. Yo, stop trying to run away, Zeral.

“How about explaining this situation to me?” I suggested.

“O-oh, sure.”

Folks around us were going about their business, so we relocated to an empty park. I sat Feris down on a bench. Seeing that she was still crying, Noela began to pet her head gently. Instantly, Feris captured Noela in her arms.

“Grrroo?!”

In my peripheral vision, I saw Noela wriggling in Feris’s grip. I put some distance between myself and the bench, opting to ask Zeral about the disagreement.

“I’m really sorry about earlier,” he said.

“Look, it’s fine. What’s done is done. But what happened to Feris? No offense, but what’s your relationship?”

“Feris and I, well, we recently started dating.”

“Hunh. Is that so?” I felt myself getting annoyed. “She seemed really upset. Hell, she’s been sobbing. Did you guys get in a fight?”

Zeral shook his head. “No. This happens a lot these days. But today was definitely the worst it’s been. I mean, I guess you could describe it as a fight. You see, Feris worries a lot—excessively.”

“Hunh.” What else can I say to that?

“She told me she gets so worried about me, she can’t sleep. At first, I thought that was charming, but then it just got worse and worse.”

According to Zeral, not only was Feris a worrywart, she was also fairly jealous—scared of being cheated on. Apparently, Zeral buying bread from a female bakery employee was enough to set Feris off.

So, is this the flip side of loving someone too much?

I glanced at Feris; she seemed like she was being healed by Noela’s fluffiness. Her expression was blissful, completely different from before. Noela’s fluffy fur was truly incredible. This might be kind of like animal therapy. Fluffiness truly conquers all.

“I want you to do something, Mr. Reiji,” Zeral said.

“You’re just gonna dump this all on me, huh?”

“Feris must be possessed! Some kind of demon changed her!” he insisted. “She has a huge victim complex too. She’ll go on and on about how I said something that I didn’t say at all, or how I didn’t say something that I definitely did.”

“If her worrying is that problematic, why not just break up? You’ve had enough of this, right?”

Zeral’s face immediately paled. He smiled powerlessly. “Want to hear what happened when I suggested we break up, Mr. Reiji?”

“Nah, I’m good.” I was sure it had been hellish, if Feris was willing to chase Zeral around town with a knife for lesser crimes.

“That’s why I want you to drive away the evil spirit possessing her,” Zeral repeated. “Then she’ll go back to normal!”

“I’m not an exorcist.”

“Oh, right, you’re mainly an alchemist.”

“You make it sound like I do exorcisms on the side. I don’t. I own a pharmacy.”

As far as Zeral was concerned, it didn’t matter whether I was an exorcist, alchemist, or pharmacist. “Please save Feris! You’ll be saving me as well!” He bowed his head deeply.

I sighed in defeat. “Fine. I’ll do what I can. But just so you know, if an evil spirit’s really possessing her, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“Thank you so much!”

The two of us shook hands. I watched Feris playing with Noela; she seemed like an ordinary young woman.

I know I said I’d try to help, but what can I actually do? Medicine won’t drive away an evil spirit, assuming she’s possessed to begin with. I can’t make that call—I should just focus on doing what I can.

“If anything might help…maybe, just maybe…” I trailed off.

“Maybe what?” Zeral asked.

I nodded. “I’m gonna get ready. Come to Kirio Drugs tonight, and I’ll give you the prescription then.”

“W-wait—you’re leaving me alone with her?!”

“She’s your girlfriend, isn’t she? Buck up, pal. And, hey, she probably isn’t possessed or anything.” With that, I headed back to the drugstore.

“Ah! Welcome home!” called Mina. “That took quite a while.”

“Let’s just say I got dragged into some stuff. Oh—here.” I passed Mina the paper she’d given me earlier. “I’m guessing you handed me the wrong list?”

Mina’s face turned bright red. “O-oh, gosh! I-I’m so sorry! I gave you the wrong one! Eek…!” She pressed herself against the ceiling in embarrassment, covering her face with both hands.

“Wool panties, eh?”

“Please, stop, Mr. Reiji.”

I holed up in my laboratory and got started on the treatment. Crap—I knew I forgot something. I left Noela back at the park, I realized. Whatever. I’ll leave the animal-therapy gig to her.

For this, I should be able to use the herbs I picked in the woods and mountains. I ground the dried flowers of a plant I’d gathered, combining the mixture with ginger before bottling and shaking it. It glowed and, bam, medicine complete.

I removed the cap and took a whiff. “Smells great.”

After a bit, Noela and Zeral showed up at the drugstore. I handed him the mixture I’d finished earlier, explaining, “It’s more like a beverage than medicine, to be honest.”

I told him to have Feris drink it before bed. He thanked me and headed home.

Soon after the drugstore opened the next day, Zeral rushed inside.

“Oh. Good morning.”

“Morning! Wait, no! Now’s not the time for leisurely greetings!” he gripped my hand. “Thank you so much! When I woke up, Feris…she…she was back to normal! She looked so calm!”

“Is that right? Well I’m glad to hear it.”

“That medicine exorcised the demon, eh?”

“Not at all. It was just a simple herbal tea.”

“Huh? That’s it?”

“Yup. Feris told you she couldn’t sleep because she was so worried, right? I gave you something to help her insomnia.”

 

Landen Flower Tea: Effective for nerves. Relaxing. Lowers anxiety/stress.

 

From the description, I’d thought the tea would have a subtle effect, but it sounded like landen was surprisingly potent.

“It’s really easy to flip out over small things when you haven’t gotten much sleep,” I told Zeral.

The fact that Feris was typically a bundle of nerves anyway had led to disaster. That said, the landen tea did nothing to treat jealousy or habitual worrying. I made sure to inform Zeral of that, and he bowed his head in thanks.

“Zeral, are you almost done?” Feris poked her head into the drugstore.

She and I made eye contact, and she flashed me an apologetic smile. It was just like Zeral said; she looked totally calm, as if the landen tea had washed away whatever possessed her.

“Hang on, I’m coming!” Zeral replied, then turned to me. “See, we’re going on a date today.”

“Hunh. Is that so?”

Zeral handed me some money and once again thanked me. He turned and left the drugstore with Feris, the two of them holding hands like lovers.

Ah, jeez, c’mon. Now I don’t even feel like doing anything anymore. Those dummies should get a room, I brooded. Eh, whatever. At least nobody died.