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"Night bird, night song~ Ah! It's done!"

Mystia Lorelei smiles as she places a dish in front of him. A plate with a generous helping of grilled lamprey. Grimnír looks back at the sparrow girl, puzzled.

"I haven't ordered anything yet," he says.

He also doesn't have any money with him. Or any other type of currency whatsoever. While this would be no problem at Kourindou (the owner prefers to trade in goods), he most certainly can't afford to get into trouble with those who expect payment. For this simple reason, he prudently left the food untouched and waited for her response.

"Don't worry about it," says Mystia. "Here is one more~"

She places another serving in front of Sakuya. The silver-haired maid says nothing. A moment of silence passes. Then, Mystia starts busying herself with the dishes once more. She seems strangely happy.

But that isn't the strangest part. Grimnír looks around carefully, yet he still has difficulty believing it. This street stand was completely trashed yesterday, wasn't it? How the heck was it restored so quickly? It looks exactly the same as when he passed by with Alice. Even the cooking utensils look unchanged.

He glances to the left, then to the right. The road and the trees nearby, in both directions, are completely undamaged. There is no trace of the battle yesterday at all. As if it never happened.

"Mystia," he says. "How are you feeling?"

"Eh? Ah, I feel great!" she says, smiling. "She was even able to reattach my wing! Eientei's medicine really is the best, though that doctor can be really creepy. She kept asking weird questions, too."

The sparrow girl stretches both her wings and flaps them happily. She stares at him for a minute, as if confused. Then, she gives him a little wink.

"Don't worry about payment," she says. "These are on the house. It's the least I can do after you saved Wriggle and I~"

She turns to Sakuya.

"Your gateguard was a great help as well," she adds. "I'll make her something too when she visits next time."

"Eh? Gateguard?"

"She's a regular customer of mine~"

Sakuya simply nods and smiles. For some reason, he feels a slightly dangerous aura around the maid. It quickly vanishes when she starts eating, thankfully. He doesn't know why, but something must have irritated her. Grimnír turns to Mystia quickly.

"Speaking of Wriggle," he continues. "I don't see her around. Didn't she leave with you this morning?"

Mystia nods lightly.

"She accompanied me all the way back," she says.

"But she isn't here?"

"Wriggle said that she had something important to do, so she left right after she saw that everything was alright."

Mystia sighs, a rare display of melancholy.

"She is so busy and serious nowadays. I'm starting to think that she might be getting into something dangerous. I can't help but feel a little worried about her."

"I see," he says.

Mystia serves them some tea to go with the food.

"Has Wriggle been acting strangely?"

"Hmm," says the sparrow girl.

She turns to him, her eyes glinting with something he can't place.

"Not really," she says with a smile. "Wriggle will always be Wriggle, after all. It doesn't really matter where or when. She'll always be a sister to me~"

For some reason, he feels like the sparrow girl is hiding something.

"Seen anything odd or out-of-place?"

Mystia shakes her head.

"Then how did your street stand get restored so quickly?"

The sparrow girl pauses at those words. She immediately puts down what she is doing. Mystia turns to him, smiling brightly.

"It's a secret~ S-E-C-R-E-T, alright?"

She winks again before turning back to her work.

"But in any case," she whispers. "I'd like to thank you for taking care of Wriggle. Please continue to do so, Mr. Wizard~"