Chapter 9. Fairies and Humans (5)

Crack!

“Ugh!”

I was startled by the sudden noise and shook my head. I looked around and made eye contact with the child who was staring at me.

“Hi!”

“…”

How long was I asleep for?

There was no natural light, so I couldn’t tell whether it was morning, noon, or evening. I couldn’t gauge the passage of time. I gave a brief greeting and then flapped my wings to clear my mind.

Huh?

Where was I lying down?

The place where I was lying was on the palms of the child’s finely gathered hands. He saw me sleeping soundly and made a bed for me with his hands? Excitement surged.

This! Cute! Boy!

“Thank you! Thanks to you, I slept well!”

I smiled broadly and flew once, rubbing my face on the child’s finger. I flew here and there on purpose, and the child did not catch me, only chasing me with his eyes.

Great. Now I feel a bit relieved.

But what was that noise?

I looked around and looked towards the door to find a plate in the slot.

It was dinner time. Meals came in twice a day. The child would always go to the door and empty the dishes on the plate. Even when I was a pool of water or the plant, he didn’t take his eyes off of me…

Wait.

My memories, which had been completely forgotten, crept up from the bottom.

As soon as I was born, this child almost ate me.

Did he ever see me as delicious food? Could it be that he saw me as a side dish at every meal? Maybe even now when I am a fairy?

“…”

If it’s dinner time now, he’ll be hungry, right?

Was it not that he was putting his palms together to put me to sleep, but he was contemplating whether or not to put me in his bowl and eat me?

“…”

No way. I quickly brushed off my wings, dispelling my uneasy suspicion. He wouldn’t have protected me like that if he thought of me as a delicious meal. He probably tried to eat me just because he didn’t know what to do.

I stopped thinking and flew towards the slot where the plate was placed. When I looked back, the boy was leaning against the wall with his hands hanging down on the floor, watching my actions.

Hmmm. How far can I go? Can I go out? I faced the child and moved a little closer to the entrance.

Slowly, slowly, slowly.

Cling!

“Hey!”

I was snatched away. It happened as soon as I was about to get out of the reach of the child.

“You were leaning against the wall over there. When did you get here? Do you know how to move in space? Why are you so fast?”

Startled, I calmed my beating heart and patted the child’s hand.

“I’m not going. I’m not going.”

He wouldn’t let me go even though I patted his hand.

I looked up in amazement and almost passed out.

“…”

The child was staring at me blankly. It was the pure face I had always seen. But why? It felt very frightening, unlike usual.

A faint light flickered from above illuminated only half of the child’s face, and half was immersed in darkness as usual.

The side I was accustomed to was the dark face side, but it was also that side that now felt my fear. On the half-darkened face, the only thing that shined was the water-soaked eyes.

Fairies could glimpse emotions through the body fluids of creatures.

The child now… He looked at me and I felt his hunger.

The child slowly opened his mouth. The crooked teeth gleamed pale in the light. Transparent saliva was welling up on the corners of his mouth.

“Uh…”

Unknowingly, I was terrified by the ferocious hunger of a child I had encountered for the first time in my life. I was already caught up in the illusion of being eaten by a child.

“Don’t eat me! Please!”

I pushed the child’s hand away and cried. Then the strength of the child’s hand was released.

“Hah.”

I slumped to the floor and sighed.

“You really tried to eat me. It’s too much.”

Too much, too much.

“How could you try to eat me? Do you really see me as food?”

…Okay. Things like that happen too.

Even though I cried because it was too much, I was subtly convinced.

To be honest, I can’t help it when he sees me as food, right? A puddle is drinkable water, and grass is an edible plant. I didn’t speak or move back then.

To sum it up, the grass that turned into a fairy right in front of his eyes.

‘Moving grass = fairy.’

… Of course he would be thinking that. So far, I was okay with that, because it was somewhat correct. The problem was that he goes beyond this perception.

‘Eat grass = Eat fairies.’

… It seems that he even thought of that. Even if I’m the cutest fairy in the world.

He doesn’t know how to speak, so maybe… I’m sorry to think this way, but the probability of basic common sense lacking was 99%.