Chapter 9: Oddity Alert! Mushroom Princess Incoming!

With the sandwich making having drawn smoothly to a close, the group was now ready to hunt some mushrooms. Each of the student council members went off to finish their last-minute preparations before gathering at the academy’s front entrance. Currently everyone except Mia was present, and the group was wondering where their president had got to when they saw it. In the distance was the slowly approaching silhouette of...a mushroom!

It was actually Mia, of course, but plopped on her round little head was a white hat in the shape of a mushroom cap. She wore a thick, long-sleeved top and equally thick trousers, which were tucked into a pair of hunting boots sturdy enough for mountain climbing.

Someone let slip an astonished “Huh?” No one knew who, but the equally stupefied look on their faces made all of them likely culprits. Her outfit was that weird.

“Well, hello, everyone. Isn’t it a wonderful day for mushroom hunting?” asked a beaming Mia.

Citrina was the first to speak. She promptly voiced the burning question on everyone’s mind.

“Um... Your Highness? Wh-What exactly...is that outfit?”

“Ah, Rina.”

Mia looked at Citrina and, seeing that she was in her regular uniform, cracked a triumphant smile.

“This summer, you see, has provided me with the rare opportunity to experience what it’s like to be stranded on a deserted island.”

“Huh? You were stranded on a deserted island?”

“Yes, during the cruise with Esmeralda. It was...a learning experience, to say the least. And a rather stressful one. But it did teach me a few things, one of which is that when you’re out and about in the mountains or forests, bare skin is a big no-no,” Mia said with the patient smile of a teacher explaining the dangers of reckless behavior to an impulsive child. “When you leave your skin exposed in the woods, it might get bitten by bugs or scratched by branches, right? That’s why the wise thing to do when going into a forest is to always wear long sleeves and long trousers.”

“B-But, we’ll be staying near the entrance to the forest today...”

“The entrance to the forest is still the forest. You can never be too careful. Underestimating the difficulties of an activity leads to sloppy planning, and sloppy planning is how you get tripped up by surprise problems. Prudence and preparation are key in staying safe outdoors.”

The legitimacy of her admittedly sensible spiel about safety was unfortunately undercut by her outfit, which just screamed “Look at me, I’m a veteran mushroom guide.” Many in the group correctly deduced that she had every intention of going deeper into the forest. Citrina was one of them. Her expression went blank for a split second before reverting to her usual smile.

“I see. Your Highness is so smart. Prudence and preparation, yes?”

“Absolutely. There is a method to these things. An unspoken accord between man and mushroom. You’d be doing the mushrooms a disservice if you went in unprepared,” she declared with a stately air as if she were some sort of oracle of fungi here to speak to humans on their behalf.

Citrina looked up at the mock mushroom deity and found herself of two minds.

It’s pretty clear that she wants to go deeper into the forest...but why? Is it because she wants to see the Belluga mushrooms I told her about? Or because...she found out about the other thing?

She maintained her sweet smile as she pondered this possibility.

No... It can’t be that. She’s probably just curious about the Belluga mushrooms, in which case that was clearly a bad move on my part. I shouldn’t have mentioned them.

Asking someone to be careful around or stay away from something also draws attention to it. Sometimes, the best way to hide something is to have it go unmentioned. Nonetheless...

Oh well. I’ll be with her the whole time. If she tries to wander deeper into the forest, I’ll just subtly point her in a different direction. Besides, those are at the bottom of a cliff. Unless she knows exactly where to look, she almost certainly won’t find them...

Her thoughts were interrupted by Bel, who bounced over to her, giggling.

“Are you excited, Rina? I’m so excited.”

Like Citrina, she was wearing her uniform.

“I’ve never gone mushroom hunting before. Have you?” asked the brightly smiling Bel.

“Hmm... Never with such a big group. This is a first for Rina too,” Citrina answered before noticing something on Bel’s bag. “Ah... That’s...”

A small charm, identical to the troya she’d received from the girl the other day, dangled from its side.

“Oh. Heh heh, I was hoping we could have matching charms, so I made another one.”

“I guess I should have brought mine too. Sorry about that. I didn’t want something so precious to get dirty, so I left it in my drawer.”

Bel gave her a funny look and giggled.

“Oh, you’re so silly, Rina. Precious or not, everything gets dirty eventually. Just put it on and have fun. Don’t even worry. If it breaks or gets lost, I’ll just make another one for you.”

She regarded that pure, trusting smile on Bel’s face. Something stirred in her.

Whatever. None of it matters.

With a shake of her head, she dismissed the budding sentiment.

“Thank you, Bel. I’ll start using it when we go back.”

As usual, she made her face blossom into a disarming smile.