Onesco caught the gem I threw in both hands, like a drop of life. She looked from her hands to my face, blinked again and again, and shook her head hard, as if this might be a dream.
At last she forced out a thin voice.
"Y-you worked the raw stone...?"
"Yeah."
Onesco looked down again at the aquamarine I had cut. Then, as if the weight of it had just hit her, her head came up.
"N-no, no, no way!? You really worked a raw stone!? Cutting a gem is extremely hard! You're supposed to be unemployed, how did you do that!?"
"I am unemployed. It might not match a specialist, but the work isn't bad, is it?"
"Not match a specialist? That's a lie, isn't it!? It's cut this cleanly!? Unemployed, and you went and did this!?"
"Are you trying to insult me or praise me? Are you happy or not? Either way, that should set in the hilt."
Onesco's eyes dropped as if she had been flicked. She drew the sword from its sheath and hurriedly set the blue gem against the hollow in the hilt.
The gem was drawn in as if by a magnet, and seated with a hard click. For an instant the whole sword was wrapped in a faint blue light.
Onesco caught her breath. "A-amazing...!"
"A poor cut won't seat. You have to glue it. This one took the gem in, like the sword was welcoming it...!?"
Then she started to shake.
"I-I can't believe it...! That I would get the first gem this fast...! I was prepared for a year to find one...! And not even a month after enrollment, it's done...! Even if I got a raw stone, I was prepared for three years at the earliest before a student showed up who could cut it...! And there's a student who can cut one in less than an hour...!"
Her voice was shaking through. She looked up at me with eyes as full as the aquamarine itself.
"Th-thank y...!"
This time I stopped her with a finger.
"Hold on. That's an important oath, right? Then save it for someone who matters more. And I cut the gem, but most of the credit is Tom's. Without him, I couldn't have done a thing."
Tom chirped, pleased, leapt off the rock, and landed beside Onesco.
"T-Tom!"
Onesco hugged him tight. She pushed him over and buried her face in his belly, rubbing.
I stood, stretched once, and looked up at the light through the leaves.
"Right. I'll look around a bit."
From Onesco, still face-down, a muffled voice. "Look for what...?"
"The griffon-bird's nest. I think it's around here."
I class-changed to Ninja and started up the nearest tree. Tom slipped out from under Onesco and followed, chirping.
"Tom's good at climbing. You coming?"
Tom chirped.
From the ground came a voice like a model student scolding two rowdy boys.
"Leopin-kun!? What are you doing climbing a tree!?"
"I just said. Looking for the griffon-bird's nest."
"Is there really one!? And what are you going to do if you find it!?"
"Just watch."
"It's dangerous! If you fall, I won't care! Tom, you come back here!"
Tom and I ignored the warning and went up the tree. When we crossed the branches like a tightrope, a cry rose from below.
"Really, stop! If you fall, it'll be terrible!"
I kept my balance on the branch and answered.
"You're a worrier. Just like Monaka. When we were kids, every time I climbed a tree, Monaka made a huge fuss down below."
"So you have been causing Lady Monaka trouble since back then!? And of course she made a fuss! She was worried about you!"
"So you're worried about me too, Onesco."
"D-don't be stupid! Of course not! I'm worried about Tom! You, I don't...! An unemployed nobody like you, I wouldn't care if you fell and died!"
Then I saw something glint inside a hollow in a great tree. Dead grass was laid down in it, and bits of mirror and silver cutlery were scattered around.
"Found it!" I bent the branch and jumped to that tree. From below came a voice that sounded ready to die. "No! That's a lie! Don't die!"
"Found the griffon-bird's nest!"
I reported it while looking down from the branch. Onesco stayed frozen, staring up. A hand over her mouth, the other pressed to her chest.
"That pose looks a lot like Monaka too."
"D-does it... Never mind that, isn't this enough? It's dangerous, so come down..."
"Can't. This is the real part."
"What have you been trying to do this whole time? A griffon-bird is a bird, isn't it? The most a nest has is an egg. And you're risking getting hurt to go get that..."
I answered while picking through the nest in the hollow.
"When I saw the raw stone in the crack in the rock, I wondered. Why is a raw gem here?"
"Now that you say it... But didn't someone just drop it?"
A voice from below, as if something had just clicked.
"Don't tell me the one who dropped it was...!?"
"Yeah. Griffon-birds collect things that shine. It went after Onesco to take the raw stone, so I thought maybe it was the original owner. And if it dropped it, that means the nest is right up here."
My guess was right. And a griffon-bird that would drop a raw stone would surely...
"Oh, there they are! A yellow raw stone and a red one!"
Onesco was looking astonished.