Amitie and the Mysterious Egg Chapter 3 - The Mystery of Tama

What do I do what do I do what do I do!? Is it sick!? Is it hurt!? Tama, hang in there~! Tama’s passed out, all of us are in a panic at the park, but by some chance someone else shows up.

“…Amitie, what’cha doing?”
“S-Sig!”

The cyan-haired boy is Sig, a classmate of mine. He’s always calm…though, really spacey. He’s always spacing out, has this strange red left eye and red left arm, but just goes “I don’t mind” about it, and then forgets about it. Sig saw me on the verge of tears and all flustered, and tilted his head because he was confused. He eventually noticed the unfamiliar animal in my arms.

“What’s this?”
“Th-This is Tama, my child!”

I unintentionally shouted those words out loud, then Arle interrupted me with “Amitie…that’s not quite right.”

“Uhm, I found myself in this sweet forest and Tama hatched and ihm-prihn-ted on me!? And then and then it’s not feeling well!”

I explained the facts to Sig, and I’m ultra worried about tama and my flustered self can’t even get my story straight. Then Ringo jumps in and says “Amitie, I don’t understand any of that!”

“I see.”
“Y-You understood that!?”

Sig nodded and Ringo was completely stunned.

“Sig~~~Do you have any ideas?”
“Uhh…”

Sig plainly glances at Tama with his red and blue eyes.

“Amitie…Maybe, Tama…is hungry.”
“Eh!?”

I looked at Tama again. Now that I think about it, Tama’s recently hatched, of course it hasn’t eaten anything!

“W- W-w-w-what to do…What does Tama even eat!?”

I quickly turned to Arle, but I noticed she looked pretty nervous.

“I- If you’re asking me...Since it’s a baby, shouldn’t it have milk?”
“Guguu?”
“But we don’t have any milk!”
“All I have are these afternoon apples...”

Ringo showed off the red shiny fruit to Tama and it spoke up.

“Kyukyuu!”

Tama turned to Ringo and began flailing around in my arms. Ringo looked pretty surprised.

“Eh? Wha? You want to eat this? You sure?”
“Kyu!”
“W, well then...”

The apple was offered before Tama and it quickly latched onto the apple. Everyone was shocked to see it smaller than this big apple. Then it pecked and nibbled at the apple. Three bites, four bites, five. Before we know it, it was gobbled right up!

“Whoah...You were really that hungry huh, Tama?”
“Kyukyuu!”

Is your tummy okay now? With the worry out of the way, Tama all good to go, I picked it up and nuzzled it on the side of my head. Ahh, its fluffy feathers are ticklish!

“Tama’s a bit of a big eater. Kinda like you, right, Carby?”
“Gugu!?”

Arle let out a chuckle.

“Thinking about the apple’s volume, it’s amazing the core was what’s left...”

It’s pretty hard to surprise Ringo. I turned around to face Sig.

“Thanks, Sig! You understood Tama’s unspoken feelings, as expected from you!”
“Hm...somehow...”
”I’m not sure what a mom’s responsibilities are, though~. Oh yeah, since I don’t understand what Tama feels, maybe you can be the dad, Sig!”
“Eh?”
“Nononono!”

I thought it was a nice idea, but then Arle and Ringo did everything and anything to stop that suggestion.

“A-Amitie! I think you should reconsider!”
“I have many objections to that!”
“Eh? How come?”

I stared blankly when I asked, and the two of them just mumbled, not answered. Though, why are their faces red? Sig wondered why they’re like that too, but then said “Is Tama...like a bug?”. Sig really likes bugs, which is why he’s always at the forest or park looking for them.

“Well, they’re not! If you look at Tama, it’s not a bug!”
“Oh...”

I let out an “Ahaha.”, then Arle and Ringo just sadly dropped their shoulders.

“Geez, Amitie, Sig...”
“You’re not yielding at all, are you...”

For real though, what’s with those two?

---

Tama just ate, but I can’t just feed it apples. It doesn’t appear to be satisfied just yet, though what else can it eat...oranges, pears, or maybe grapes too. I can’t always give it fruit, maybe bread, cheese, carrots, bell peppers, heck, maybe it can take anything. Sig came back with some tasty-looking mushrooms from the Nahe Forest, tasty to Tama, that is.

“You got a lot for it to eat~...”

The thing is, I’m not too fond of mushrooms. They’re pretty flabby and smell like dirt...Even if I could, I wouldn’t eat them.

“Kyukyuu!”

To Tama though, they look delicious enough to eat. Still, I can’t agree with it.

“Amitie, you shouldn’t be...so picky.”

Sig was right next to me, and just read my mind. I laughed, but bleehh, he got me. And now I’m bright red. Tama’s all full now, and rolled up to take a snooze. It ate what it wanted and is sleeping happily. Gee, it really is like a child, all carefree and stuff. But its sleeping face is oh so cute!

“Hah, caring for a baby is tough.”

I sighed, but then Carbuncle bounced around saying “Guguu!”. Carbuncle has something to say to me, but I don’t understand a word he’s saying.

“Carby watched Tama eat so much, he ended up getting hungry too.”

Carbuncle’s buddy, Arle, translated with a forced smile. Now that you mention it, I’m hungry too...

My emty stomach let out a loo~ooud grumble. I wonder what Tama’s dreaming about right now. And then, something hit me.

“Oh yeah!”
“Eh? What’s up, Amitie?”
“Anything on your mind?”

I surprised Arle and Ringo when I shouted so suddenly. Oh yeah, is it that time already!?

“Hey hey! How about we head to the forest Tama came from!?”

I found Tama at the Mysterious Forest, and it had some tasty fruit there. I really want to share that fruit with everyone!

“There’s some super-duper tasty stuff there~! Everyone should totally try it!”
“Well, if you say so, Carby...ah, HEY!”
“Guguuuu♪!”

And Carbuncle just made a quick escape from Arle’s side.

“Gugu! Gugu!”
“Ahaha, When you go, you really go, Carby.”
“Then it’s settled! Off we go!”

Carrying the sleeping Tama, I took the stand and led the way. Everyone looks so excited now. The forest is on the way from the park and to the school. How the heck I got so lost from one wrong turn is beyond me. That has to be it...

“What the!? Wh-...Get real!”

What gives!? The Mysterious Forest just up and disappeared! No matter how much I walked down the usual path, how long Tama and I hung around, that forest is totally gone.

“How strange...”
“Guguu~...”

The fruit was the first thing I brought up with Carbuncle, and now he’s so sad. Oh, that face...

“I’m very sure it was right here~!”
“Amitie. Just now, the forest path from school...is gone.”

Sig tilted his head at my claim, completely shrugging it off. G-get really real~!

“...Amitie.”

Ringo spoke up to break the silence. She even has her hand to her chin. That has to be Ringo’s thinking stance.

“I was thinking about what you were talking about, and it seems your argument has too many holes in your logic.
“N-N-N-No way! I’m not making this up!”
“I don’t think you’re lying. First and foremost, Tama is right here.”
“That’s good...”
“The forest’s disappearance...Amitie luring out a runaway golden Puyo...Don’t you think it was actually leading her to Tama’s whereabouts? This mystery has taken an eventful turn!”
“Bwah!?”

Ringo’s got that sparkle in her eyes. Her curiosity has really fired up...

“Today has been a slow day, however...Tomorrow, we delve deeper into Tama’s true nature! Thoroughly! Completely! Yeah! Yeah!”
“U-Uh...yeah!”

Ringo slowly got up close and personal with me by the moment. To confirm it more, she turned about and began singing in such a lively way.

“A mystery♪! A mystery♪! Such a curiosity~♪! C-U-R-I-O-U-S! Mystery!”

When tension’s this high, Ringo likes to break out into song. Arle’s used to it, Ringo enjoys it, but Arle just kinda has to grin and bear it. I looked at the still-sleeping Tama. Surely the little guy has many, unknown curiosities, and as I look at its carefree sleeping face, I don’t see anything going wrong. Tama’s true nature...what could it be? Then I recalled face of the smartest, first-year classmate of the magic school.