Crown and Twintails
Crown and Twintails
Chirp, chirp, chirp...
There was a little bird chirping outside my window, but this was no time for that!
They’re gone! Gone!
Why?!
They were right there, on top of my desk!
Was it you, little bird?! Are you a chirping little thief?!
No, the window’s still closed!
C-c-calm down. That would be impossible, anyway.
Let’s just check under the desk one more time and...
They’re not there! Why aren’t they there?!
And of course they’re not in the drawers, either!
This... this is impossible!
I lost the dimension stone and analyze card!
Stomp, stomp, stomp...!
“Waaaaaaaah! Moooooommy!!”
“Hmm? Good morning, Annie.”
“What is it, my beloved daughter?”
As I came running downstairs, I found my parents doing the morning preparations for the restaurant. It was early in the morning, so the light was still dim. There was still a bit of time until opening.
“Okay, so, like... I know this is all kind of sudden after yesterday, but......”
“Hey, Anti...”
“I left those treasures you gave me out on my desk overnight......”
“Annie...”
“And they were there when I fell asleep, I swear, but when I woke up this morning...”
“Anti!” they both yelled out.
“Gah, sorry!”
“No, it’s just... what’s that thing over your head?”
“It sure is cute!”
“Huh?”
A-above... my head? What?
Both of their gazes were fixed above my head.
“It’s spinning.”
“It sure is, isn’t it?”
...?! What’s spinning?!
“Anti, go look in your mirror.”
...
The matter of the missing treasures was put on hold for the moment. I returned to my room and looked in the mirror. And then...
“A crown...?”
Spin, spin, spin.
What is that?
There was a small crown floating over my head, and it was rotating.
I’ve seen that movement and color somewhere before...
“Hey, it’s a gear!”
There was no mistaking it. It was made of that now-familiar orange-gold metal.
This thing was made with my own gear skill...?
Twinkle!
“...!”
There was light reflecting off the spinning crown. It looked like there was a gemstone or something in it... Hmm? A gemstone?
“It couldn’t be...!”
I grabbed the... gear crown (?) with both hands.
Hup!
“Ah, it came loose.”
I was able to pull it free from its resting place atop my head. Then I took a long, hard look at it.
This thing really is a gear.
The teeth were pointed upwards, and were long and thin, making it look like a crown. This thing was floating above my head...?
What really caught my eye, though, was the red gemstone embedded in it. And when I looked closer, I saw a transparent plate surrounding the gemstone. The design of the plate radiated outwards, with the red gemstone at its center.
“...”
Um, so in other words...
“...Analyze.”
[—Analyzing.
Name: “Crown Gear”
(Skill medium/Item)
Synchronized items
-Item storage
-Analyzer
Status: Synchroshift.]
...It talked. And it did an analysis.
What does “synchronized” mean?
And... hey, wait. It can analyze things, too?
H-how did things turn out like this...?
I tossed the crown away — and it ground to a halt in midair. Then it switched directions, resuming its perch atop my head.
Spin, spin, spin...
“Uh... huh...”
I descended the stairs, now in a bit of a daze.
“Hey, so you got a look at it?”
“Hehehe, you’re just like a princess, aren’t you?”
I wanted to just hold my head in my hands.
Just what is this Gearcraft skill of mine?
“...They seem to have gotten stuck to it.”
“Huh?”
“The dimension stone and analyze card you gave me yesterday...”
“Yeah?”
“They seem to have gotten stuck to my gear...”
“R-right.”
“Oh, my.”
After that, I ended up helping out around the restaurant.
Mom and Dad said not to worry about it, but I asked them to let me for today. After all, there was a loooooot of stuff I didn’t want to think about, and chopping up vegetables into little pieces was an ideal solution for avoiding reality. I was free from other thoughts as long as my hands kept on moving.
Pryce showed up in the morning, before opening. “Y-young miss, that’s...” he started to say, but the glint in my eye shut him up. But sure enough, once the customers started streaming in, there were people who noticed the thing floating above my head...
“Hey, Annie, you’re looking beautiful as always today!” “What’s that over your head?!” “What a cute little princess!” “It’s spinning around.” “Hahaha, a princess in an eatery!” “Is that the magic you learned?” “Hey, princess! Where’s my steak??” “Mommy, I want a crown like that, too!” “Oh, my. She’s a cute cook, isn’t she?” “Anti, you’ve finally evolved from poster girl to poster princess, huh?!”
T-t-they’re just going off!!!
As I gave into my anger and chopped the vegetables down to almost nothing, my long hair slipped forward over my shoulders.
Swoosh, swoosh. Swoosh, swoosh.
Agh, it keeps on getting in the way! Did I let it grow too long? But if I cut it, Mom will get all depressed...
I was in a daze when I came downstairs before, so I forgot to grab my hair tie from my room. I wanted to go get it, but trying to slip out during peak times like this would result in quite a lot of lost time.
Swoosh, swoosh. Swoosh, swoosh.
Argh!! This is so irritating! Don’t I have anything that I could loop it through?! I don’t care what it is, I just need something to tie it up...
[—Crown Gear has completed analysis of the situation.
—Rectifying problem.]
“Huh? ...Hey, wait!”
The analyzer suddenly talked!
No sooner had I had that thought than two golden gears appeared, rotating in midair!
Why did these things just appear on their own?!
As I stood there in shock, the gears grew a little bigger, then moved down near my hips. They spun upward on either side of me, my hair passing through the holes in the middle of each. Once the gears were up above my ears, the holes in the middles shrank.
“Oh, my. Annie, that hairstyle is so cute!”
Wha...?
Hesitantly, I reached up and felt my hair.
Ooh, it’s tied up nice and neatly...
In no time at all, I was sporting twintails.
My hair was thin but there was a lot of it, so normal ribbons and hair ties slipped right out if I moved around. That was all the more true when helping out around the restaurant. Normally I tied it up behind my back. But now, my hair was firmly held in place by the gears. It didn’t seem at all like it would come loose, even when I touched it. Apparently the gears on both sides of my head were fixed in place.
[—Solution confirmed.
—Status: Twintails.]
I-it was true that my hair wasn’t getting in the way anymore.
It’s better, but what was that just now?! My skill fixed the problem that I was thinking about?!
My skill is just way too mysterious... I mean, it’s even talking like it’s perfectly normal!
Umm, I guess should I say thanks for now?
[—Crown Gear: Gratitude has been accepted.]
“Been accepted”...? What is this, a government office?!
“Hey! Is my meat still not ready?!”
“Ah, I’m coming!”
I’d been thrown off because of the sudden change in hairstyle, but the customer’s demand got the gears in my brain moving again.
“Ah, that’s the stuff! This is really tasty! Hey, little miss, that hairstyle really suits you!”
“Oh, t-thanks...”
Having thin hair means I can’t change up my style much, so his praise really did make me happy. More than that, though, I mostly felt embarrassed.
I kept on helping out around the restaurant throughout the day until just before closing time, getting teased about the crown above my head and my new hairstyle all the while.
After closing, I explained to Pryce that I wouldn’t be able to help out around the shop much anymore. He said, “Young miss, you caaaaan’t!” but Dad talked him through it.
Dad also pressed the point to me that he let me help out today thanks to the way things went, but for Pryce’s sake, it was best that I didn’t help out too much. Apparently, Pryce wanted a shop of his own someday. It was true that he’d at least need to get his act together enough that a peak rush like that wouldn’t do him in.
I kept the twintails, by the way. My hair always hung down behind me before, but I liked the feeling of nothing covering my neck.
That may have been the first time I actually appreciated this power. Though I did wonder how it was going to look, coming in with a hairstyle skill when everyone else was all bang, bang! with their magic.
Back in my room, I took the crown off again and gave it a look. There was no mistaking it: my parents’ treasures had somehow become absorbed into this gear. The red gemstone and transparent material were just too familiar to be anything else.
“Can they... be separated?”
[—Analyzing.
—Due to conceptual link, physical separation has been judged impossible.]
This little one’s getting aaaall chatty again...
The transparent plate (?) that reminded me of the analyze card floated before my eyes, with the words “Separation impossible” written on it. It had also said “Status: Twintails” on it earlier, but it didn’t seem like my parents or the customers could see that. Was it some sort of magic only I could see? And this voice ringing in my head was the same as the one from the analyze card. Now that I calmed down and listened, I noticed it sounded like a girl’s voice.
“...I’ve got a question. Are you my skill?”
I felt a little strange talking to a crown, but for now I figured I may as well give it a shot.
[—Explaining.
This unit, “Crown Gear,” was created through the synchronization of a unique skill and items. The skill Gearcraft Lv. 1 is reflected in the results of this union.]
Um, the wording there is a little complex, so I don’t quite get it...
“In other words, part of you was made by my skill, right?”
[—Affirmative.
An exemplary answer.]
Thanks for the praise.
“I don’t really get the whole item synchronization thing, but how exactly did you get stuck together?”
[—Explaining.
—Due to unique conditions, synchronization entered the realm of possibility, and permission was granted.]
“Permission? Who gave you that?”
[—Anti Kythera.]
“Wait, it’s because of me?! I don’t remember that at all!”
[—Permission was granted the previous night.]
“L-like how?”
[—”You’re so loud... just do whatever you want...” was the response received.]
“Hey, hold on!!”
It’s only a vague recollection, but I actually do remember that!
The night before, I dreamed I was being bombarded by an annoying question like, “Impossible, impossible, what should I do?”... And then I got really annoyed and just yelled at it to do whatever, I think... But that had just been a dream.
So that was totally just me talking in my sleep, wasn’t it?!
“Aaaaagh, that’s ridiculous...! Hey, wait, are you... like... sentient? You’re talking really fluently...”
[—Explaining.
The unique skill Gearcraft cannot be analyzed, but the item effect “analyzer” was able to open a channel with the unique skill via the item effect “item storage.” Under a request from the unique skill, a synchroshift was carried out. The analysis channel formed within the storage at that time possessed a skill assistance ability, and vocalization of text is possible via the analyzer.]
I-I see... I pretty much didn’t get any of that...
In other words... three elements that shouldn’t have gone together were all combined and ended up like this...?
“...! Right, the item storage from the dimension stone! Can you put things away and pull them out?”
[—Confirmed.
—Core functions of each component have not been lost.
—Please specify a corresponding item.]
“Huh? Um, hold on a second...”
That came out of nowhere... Then, then...
“Then, my bed. Heh, just kidding...”
There’s no way it could put away something that big, right?
[—Ready.
—Carrying out given order.]
“Huh?”
Vwrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Gah! A golden gear just popped up out of nowhere in my room! And it’s huge...!
That ring shape with the teeth coming off it looked like the one from yesterday, but this was way bigger.
The hole in the middle must’ve been as wide as I am tall!
The angle of the massive gear slowly shifted, and it moved until it was hovering over my bed. W-what was going to happen?
Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Like some odd game of ring toss, the gear descended upon my bed.
...It’s gone. My bed just disappeared... no way!
Right now, there was just the massive gear, which had fallen to the floor where my bed had been.
[—Storage complete.]
“...”
Huh...? I-it really fit...
So if I ring toss my gear over something, it’ll disappear completely...
[—Explaining.
—Due to dimensional shift, no substance has been lost.
—In order to withdraw, please designate an item.]
“Oh, ah, then... ‘Bed.’”
Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
The gargantuan gear rose up off the floor. Then, in the next instant...
Kabaaaaaam!!!!!
“Gwaaaaaaaaah!!”
H-hey! You just dropped my bed from about as high up as I am tall!! And this is the second floor, you idiot!! If you do that...!
“Anti!! What happened?! What was that noise just now?!!”
“Are you alright, Annie?!”
See!? Both of them just came running!
“S-sorry! I’m fine! I’m totally alright!”
“I se— Hey, what’s that giant gear?”
“My, it sure is big, isn’t it?”
Afterwards, I apologized, giving them a full explanation of what happened with the item storage and my bed. In response, I got, “Wow, amazing! It’ll store something that big?!” Give me a break... this is going to be the death of me.
“...Hey, the next time you bring something out, do it so it’s touching the floor.”
[—Order accepted.
—Crown Gear offers an apology.]
“...Apology accepted.”