Several people followed Mori Tsukisa downstairs.
Nagini refused to eat people in front of Mori Tsukisa, so the fat Commander was left as a treat for Imhotep's little Scarabs.
"Sister, are you okay? Where is Sheeta?" Baru patted the fuselage of the aircraft and circled around, moving to one side of Mori Tsukisa—in this direction, he happened to be able to block Nagini's body.
And the woman's cold gaze.
Baru rubbed his arms and stepped back a few paces—perhaps due to the corpses around them and the mottled, dripping dark red blood on the walls, the Boy didn't even dare to look Nagini in the eye.
"Sheeta seems to have been taken away." The girl pointed at the sky: "That man named Muska took her. Um... do you know Sheeta's identity yet?"
Baru shook his head, looking a bit sad: "She's probably someone important...? I don't know, they were very rough with her..."
"She is royalty of the Children of the Wind."
Mori Tsukisa used terms the Boy didn't understand.
"The Children of the Wind..." Mori Tsukisa spread her arms: "The race of beings that built Laputa."
"You should understand what royalty means, right?"
"Royalty—they can control that stone, using it to make people fly, and they can also release a light path pointing to their homeland."
"The city above the clouds."
Baru was dumbstruck.
The thing he had been pursuing even in his dreams—the descendant of its builders had appeared in his life?
"And she's your girlfriend."
"I said! She isn't!" Baru looked at Mori Tsukisa through gritted teeth: "We are just good friends!"
"The faster you deny it, the faster you'll regret it later." The girl hummed as she straightened the Boy's hat, which had been blown crooked by the wind. "If you don't like that girl, why were you shouting about saving her?"
"I just want to find Laputa." Baru turned his head away.
"And before? You didn't know about it then."
"I... she's very good, very kind, very brave... and cute."
Mori Tsukisa pointed at Baru's heart: "So, you think she's kind, brave, cute, and beautiful, making you feel close to her without even realizing it."
"But... you're just friends?"
"Yes!" Baru stomped his foot and brushed Mori Tsukisa's finger away, walking toward the aircraft with his head down: "We're friends."
"I see..." Mori Tsukisa shrugged at Nagini: "So, even though I spend money lavishly, shop like crazy, and buy piles of little boots and jewelry..."
"I'm still a frugal and good girl who manages the home well."
"You can buy whatever you want; you deserve it." Nagini gently pressed down on Mori Tsukisa's shrugging shoulders: "Don't copy Jonathan's movements."
Arrietty teased her Queen from above: "Your Majesty, no one is going to hold that against you. I've seen you shopping on your phone countless times, and I've followed you on shopping sprees through floor after floor of malls countless times."
"Look, no one ever asks if you have enough money. They... pfft hahaha! They only care if your illness is cured!"
"You're comforting me, right? Arrietty?"
"I suppose so."
"What a sweet mouth."
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
"I mean, it's too sweet. No candy for you for the next two days."
"This is revenge! Who told you to buy so many boots? My subordinates are starting to suspect you love boots more than us!"
"Nonsense! I just want to give all the boots in the World a home."
...The hiding place of the gold couldn't escape the noses of the Little Sprites; likewise, the location where the aircraft was moored was easily found.
That plump Commander really didn't tell the truth; this place was in the opposite direction of the location he had marked.
"We're finally going to Laputa!" Everyone was very happy, especially Mori Tsukisa. She didn't care how the aircraft worked; she only knew she was getting closer to the dragon.
"Why use the word 'finally'?" Nagini asked, puzzled.
"Think about it." Mori Tsukisa leaned against the fuselage and smiled: "If our adventure were a fairy tale, and getting the 'dragon' was the end goal... we've taken a very long and winding path."
"First, the mundane library life; then, Hamunaptra—the desert, gunfights, OConnell, Evelyn, until now. Hmm, if this were written as a story, a long time has already passed..."
"Who's in a hurry?" Arrietty hadn't quite recovered from being shut down earlier and replied crossly: "The people reading the story won't care about the 'dragon'; only you do, my Queen."
"That's what makes me sad." The girl feigned a few sobs, using her small fists to wipe away non-existent tears from the corners of her eyes: "They only care if the story is interesting, but no one cares if I'm happy..."
You're not happy?
Anck-Su-Namun, who had been examining another aircraft for quite a while, happened to walk over and heard the last words. This future Attendant lady, who had only just met Mori Tsukisa, didn't understand the little devil in front of her at all.
She kept a cold face, but her tone was a bit worried: "Are you unhappy? Isis?"
Arrietty rolled her eyes and grabbed her Red Hair with both hands, scratching vigorously: "Does she even have moments of being unhappy?!"
"Of course I do!" The reply was suddenly full of resentment.
"My heart beats too; tears flow from my eyes—even my blood freezes because of the cold!" The drama-queen girl started looking for that non-existent middle-aged bearded director and the cameras hidden in the warehouse again: "Ah! The Sun will scorch my fragile skin! The seawater will corrode my beautiful and soft fingertips! My lips utter wicked words, but it is not my intention; my black hair attracts too many passionate gazes, yet I still turn toward the moon—"
Chanting and lamenting, the girl actually began to dance... Arrietty had long since jumped down from the erratic girl's head, scurried up Anck-Su-Namun's calf, and climbed into her palm, leaning her head against the Base of the palm with a look of being long accustomed to this.
Anck-Su-Namun held the sprite and carefully bypassed the noble dancer to walk over to Nagini. Watching the dance, the woman raised her hand to her mouth and began chatting with Arrietty in a tiny voice.
Anck-Su-Namun: 'Is she always like this?'
Arrietty: 'What do you think?'
Anck-Su-Namun: 'A bit... unique.'
Arrietty: 'You should say crazy. Believe me, she definitely deserves that word.'
Anck-Su-Namun: 'Alright, I thought she was sick.'
Arrietty: 'It's terminal.'
Anck-Su-Namun: 'When was the last time she had an episode?'
'The last time was when we were digging up your place.' Arrietty got a headache just thinking about that shout of "Action": 'The time before that... was at the beauty salon.'
Arrietty:'She saw a hairstylist give a girl a perm that made her hair look like a judge's wig.'
Arrietty: 'Then, in front of that teary-eyed girl and the embarrassed hairstylist, she sang an original song about the courtroom and hair.'
'Later...' Arrietty: 'We never went back to that beauty salon again.'
Anck-Su-Namun: 'You've had it hard, sprite.'
Arrietty: 'It's fine, you'll be the same from now on.'
Anck-Su-Namun looked at Nagini: 'What about her? Why not mention her?'
Her?
Nagini?
Hearing the two call her name, Nagini finally turned her head reluctantly... Clenching her fists, she whispered excitedly to Anck-Su-Namun:
'Pay attention, you two! Look at how wonderfully Master is dancing!'
Arrietty glanced sideways: 'Understand now?'
Anck-Su-Namun: 'I understand.'
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