Chapter 120: True Hearts

{Marisol}

On the third and final day of the festival, a few hours before the play, I made the best investment of my entire life.

It was a couples’ booth. I’d rented the corner spot in the main courtyard, hung pink ribbons all over it, and hired a sweet, simple first-year named Pipa to stand behind the counter in a seashell crown. In the middle of the counter sat the centerpiece, a giant spiral seashell I had borrowed from the Natural History room and painted gold.

The sign above it read THE SHELL OF TRUE HEARTS! in big curly letters.

The rules were simple. A couple paid two copper. Each partner had to say "I love you" into the shell, and Pipa listened through a tube at the back to make sure they said it properly. If both of them did, they won the grand prize, which was a year’s supply of lemon cakes.

I’d bought the lemon cakes from our own café at cost, of course. I’d also set the price for a second try at five copper.

By noon, I had made eleven silver, and seven couples had confessed in front of the booth.

Then, at exactly the moment I’d been waiting for, Lily came across the courtyard holding Kohaku’s hand.

"Kohaku, look!" Lily stopped right in front of the booth, and her eyes went straight to the prize table. "It’s your lemon cakes! A whole year of them!"

Kohaku looked at the sign. Then she looked at me, sitting on my stool beside the counter, counting coins.

"Marisol," she said slowly. "What is this?"

"Romance, darling~" I held out my hand. "Two copper."

Lily paid before Kohaku could stop her. Then she stepped up to the giant gold shell, put both hands on either side of it, and leaned in.

"I love you!" she said, loud and clear, without hesitating for even a second.

[Aw, that’s so sweet.]

Pipa popped up from behind the counter and gave a thumbs-up. Half the courtyard said "awww" at the same time.

Kohaku had gone completely white.

Her tail had puffed up to twice its normal size. Her ears were twitching. She was staring at that shell in pure terror.

"Your turn, Kohaku!" Lily beamed at her.

"R-Right! My turn!" Kohaku stepped up to the shell. She took a deep breath, leaned in, and spoke into it.

"I like you a lot!"

Pipa slowly shook her head.

"That’s not it?" Kohaku asked.

"It has to be the exact words, miss," Pipa said politely.

"Okay, um..." Kohaku leaned back in. "I adore you!"

Pipa shook her head again.

"You’re my favorite person in the whole world!"

Head shake.

"I’d cross ten thousand burning seas for you!"

"... Isn’t that from the play?"

[Oh no.]

I had to bite down on my knuckle to keep from laughing.

The crowd had started to gather. A couple of third-years were whispering. Lily was still smiling, but I’d been watching faces for money since I was nine years old, and I saw her smile wobble for half a second before she fixed it.

Kohaku’s eyes darted around the courtyard, looking for an exit.

"Five copper for a second try, darling," I said sweetly.

Kohaku’s eyes went wide. Then she slapped her hand against her forehead.

"OH NO!!!" she shouted. "I just remembered! I left the kettle on! At the café! There’s a kettle! It’s on!"

"Kohaku?" Lily blinked. "The café’s closed today. We’re doing the play tonight."

"That’s why it’s so dangerous!" Kohaku was already backing away. "Nobody’s there to turn it off! It could explode! I’ll be right back! I’m so sorry! I love lemon cakes! Bye!"

She turned around and sprinted across the courtyard, with her tail streaming out behind her, and vanished around the corner of the library.

There was a long silence.

Pipa leaned over the counter.

"Miss Vantecca, does ’I love lemon cakes’ count?"

"No, dear. It does not."

I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I put my head down on the counter and laughed until my ribs hurt, and tears ran down my face, and I nearly knocked the cash box off the table.

When I finally looked up, Lily was standing in front of the shell with her hands clasped behind her back, staring at the corner where Kohaku had disappeared.

"She’s very shy," she said softly.

"Oh, she’s something, darling," I said, wiping my eyes.

Then I gave Lily her two copper back, and a lemon cake for free. It was the first thing I had given away in years, and I decided not to tell anyone.

---

{Kohaku}

[I’M GONNA THROTTLE HER.]

I was hiding behind the library with my back against the wall, still breathing hard from the sprint, and every single thought in my head was about Marisol Vantecca. She had built an entire booth around the one word I couldn’t say. She’d painted a seashell gold for it. She’d hired a girl in a crown.

[Two copper! She charged us two copper for that!]

The play started at sundown. That gave me about three hours to calm down, find my maid uniform, and pick up a plate of lemon cakes from the kitchen. Until then, I was technically on my crew break, and I had planned to spend it lying face-down somewhere quiet.

"There you are!"

I jumped about a foot in the air.

Hexilia Frostfall was strolling toward me down the path. She wasn’t wearing her uniform. Instead, she had on a loose white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, dark trousers, and boots, and her silver hair was down around her shoulders. Without the armor and the cape, she looked about five years younger and about ten times more dangerous.

"H-Hex! Hi! Aren’t you working tonight?"

"My shift starts at sundown. Until then, I’m a free woman." She hooked her arm through mine before I could step away. "Come on, walk with me! I’ve been here since noon, and I haven’t had a single thing to eat that wasn’t on a stick."

She steered me back out toward the festival stalls, and I let her, because I had no idea how to say no to Hex.

We passed a stall selling candied apples. She bought two and handed me one. We passed a ring-toss game, and she won a stuffed bear on her first throw and gave it to a little girl walking by. Everybody she passed seemed to know her. People waved, and she waved back, and she kept her arm locked through mine the entire time.

"You know, Kohaku," she said, biting into her apple, "you clean up very nicely. That maid uniform yesterday was something, but I think I like you better like this. You have a very pretty face when you’re not panicking."

"Ha... haha! Thanks!"

[Why is she so close? Why does she smell so nice? Why is her arm so strong?]

We kept walking. Somewhere around the dumpling stand, her hand left my arm. I thought she was letting go.

Then I felt her fingers slide slowly down the length of my tail, from the base all the way to the tip.

My whole body went stiff. My tail puffed up to twice its normal size.

"So fluffy," Hex murmured. "I see why she spent a whole page on it."

"H-Hex!"

"I’ve always wondered something." She tilted her head and smiled at me, very innocently. "Are fox tails as sensitive as fox ears?"

My brain stopped working for a second.

"Uh..."

"Here’s the thing." Hex stepped a little closer, until I had to tilt my head back to look her in the eyes. "My little sister writes me a letter every single week. For years, they were half a page long and entirely about how much she hated everyone. Lately, they’ve been two pages, and most of those two pages are about you." She lowered her voice. "I’ve been very curious about what could possibly be so interesting about one little fox. I suppose I could always just find out for myself..."

The numbers ran through my head all at once.

Hex was Serena’s big sister. Serena worshiped Hex more than anyone in the world. Serena also had Dawnlight, superhuman strength, and the worst temper in the kingdom. If Serena ever found out I’d so much as kissed her sister, she would kill me. Then, since the weasel could heal me, she would probably wait until I was better and kill me again.

In other words, there was only one safe answer, and it was to leave immediately.

"Oh, wow, Hex, that’s really flattering, but I just remembered that I have to..."

I didn’t even finish the sentence. I turned around and ran.

"I HAVE TO GO GET THE LEMON CAKES!!!" I shouted over my shoulder, sprinting past the dumpling stand. "BYE! SEE YOU TONIGHT!"

Behind me, Hex burst out laughing, loud and warm.

"Good answer!" she called after me.

I skidded around the corner of the dining hall and kept running until I was all the way back to the dorms.

[Good answer?]

I leaned against the door to my room, panting, and tried to replay the whole conversation in my head. Either Hex had been flirting with me, or she’d been testing me the whole time, to find out whether the fox her little sister wrote two pages about would cheat on her sister the first time someone pretty offered.

I couldn’t tell which one it was, and I had a feeling Hex wanted it that way.

[... She is SO hot though, wow!]