As I contently stared into the lily, Amber's sky blue eyes slowly analyzed me. She opened her mouth as if to say something but, before she could, Millie finished hanging the curtains back up.
"There!" she happily said, "As if you never yanked them down and... wore them? Sorry, Lil', but if you really, really wanted to see the garden to the point of wrapping yourself up in curtains of all things, why not just ask to borrow Amber's maid uniform?"
"Millie!" Amber shouted, scolding her for the suggestion. Yet, at the same time, she carefully awaited how I would react...
"I- Uh... Well, I guess I didn't think of it..." I admitted honestly. It hadn't occurred to me that Amber's outfit was made of sunsilk, but even so...
Millie shrugged Amber's scolding off.
"Oh. Well... if, for example, you could have just worn her outfit, would you have done it? It'd be embarrassing for a guy, sure, but would it really be as embarrassing as wearing curtains?"
"W-Well," I started, feeling a rather displeasing edge in her wording, "I guess so? I mean, not that I would want to try her outfit on or anything, just, if it was an alternative...? Sure?"
"Hmm, hmm," Millie nodded. "I see. Sorry, just sating my curiosity!"
"Ahem," Amber said, redirecting our attention. "That out of the way, we came in here for a reason, believe it or not."
"Oh... Sorry," I said, realizing I had held them up with my stunt. I really am a bit of a troublemaker, aren't I? "What is it?"
"Don't worry," Amber said as she revealed a medium sized book. "We have plenty of time."
"What's this for?" I curiously asked.
"You, of course," she said plainly before pointing to the words on its front. "Do you know what this says?"
"Uh... I don't. Sorry," I answered honestly.
Millie sat on the other side of me.
"It says: 'Hooked on Phoenix'," she said expecting a response from me.
"...What does that mean?" I asked.
"Oh, right, you wouldn't know..." Millie responded.
"We're going to teach you how to read and write," Amber explained.
"Oh," I said, the words not quite hitting me yet. "Oh! I'm going to... read and write?"
I was excited. Genuinely excited. Nervous, too. I could speak relatively fine, but reading and writing? It was never in my ex-parents' quota for me, so I never dared to ask. I remembered seeing other children laughing and playing in the park... and their protective parents that would never let them near me. Sometimes they would sit and doodle on paper in the warm grass, and sometimes an adult would read a whole story out loud to them... I enjoyed listening at a distance far enough not to be shooed away, but close enough that I could make out their whispers.
My energy was visibly uncontainable as I excitedly bopped up and down on the bed.
"Yup," Amber confirmed. "You'll want to prepare yourself for some rigorous studying, though..."
"It's ok!" I excitedly responded, placing the lily back in my hair for now. "I'm prepared!"
"Wow. You win this bet, Amber, I definitely didn't expect her to be excited over studying," Millie suddenly said, backstabbing me with a rush of... e-euphoria?!
My giddy bopping froze, not sure if I should even react... though that itself was a reaction.
"Millie!" Amber choked, making a face as if to say "Really?! Watch your words, you know he's in a delicate position!"
Millie paused in confusion as the realization hit her. "Oh! I'm so sorry, Lil'! I just got caught up in your excitement and uh... just said what felt natural."
Amber facepalmed and made yet another face, though one I couldn't discern any obvious meaning from.
Nothing's wrong, nothing happened. Just pretend I didn't hear anything...
Millie guiltily shrugged. "Well, he-"
"I-It's fine!" I interrupted. "Can we start with this, uh, 'Hooked on Phoenix,' thing?"
"...Y-Yeah," Millie quietly agreed. Oh god, I made it awkward.
Amber sighed, but still nodded in agreement. Oh god, I really made it awkward...
"Well," Amber began, "we'll start with the alphabet. Are you ready, Lil'?"
"I am," I said as a small wave of excitement returned, mixing in with my confused embarrassment.
And so they spent the rest of the day teaching me as much as I could possibly learn within a single evening. They went over each and every letter, allowing me to connect the sounds I had already known to a physical form on paper. All the while, I kept many bubbling thoughts at the back of my mind, especially regarding who and what I want to be...
At one point, though, they had just finished singing a short, catchy song that was supposed to help me memorize the alphabet.
"Think you can learn it?" Amber asked.
"It's a lot easier to remember in song form," Millie added.
"I think so, but... it sounds... familiar?" I responded.
The tune of their singing rang eerily similar to something faintly etched into the back of my mind... I just couldn't for the life of me remember what.
"It's a common tune in nursery rhymes, so I wouldn't be surprised if you had heard something similar," Amber explained.
"Yeah, something like that," Millie said, not really able to come up with anything smart to add.
"Huh... well, I've probably heard something similar to it, then..." I said. It was the likeliest reason, too.
"Now then, we'll start again, but try and sing along this time," Amber requested.
"Oh? Learning our ABC's, are we?" Magnolia suddenly interrupted, startling all three of us.
"M-Mother? When did you...?"
"When our handy dandy little maids were singing, of course. I suppose no one heard the door open!~" she playfully responded.
Her eyes narrowed to the top of my head.
"...Visit the garden?" she asked after clearly noticing the lily in my hair, catching me off guard. "I trust there's an explanation for this?"
"Ah, uh..." I said, bracing myself to explain once again.
"There is," Amber said, cutting me off. "But to spare him a second scolding, we'll inform you later... if you don't mind, that is."
"Very well," she sighed before turning to me. "I was hoping to be present during your first visit, but I suppose it can't always go my way."
"Sorry..." I woefully responded. I felt terrible having stepped on her plans...
"Cheer up, there's still plenty you don't know about the garden or why I wanted to show it to you, so look forward to your next visit," she explained, calming my fears. "Speaking of... you'll be glad to know that House A'Ketsueki did indeed have some spare sunsilk. Their family is quite large, after all."
"Oh! Really?" I asked. "When...?"
"Two days," she quickly responded. "We'll have a sunsilk outfit prepared for you in two days. We'll make it easily adjustable, too, so you may continue to wear it in the future."
"In the future? What do you... Oh, right..." I remembered. She's having an elixir prepared so I can return to being male. I had nearly forgotten... but... do I still want it? Did I ever want it...? I don't know, but, I want to find out. In fact, I know a good way that I can test my feelings.
"That's good to hear, but, um... could I ask a favor again?" I sheepishly began.
"Of course. What is it?" Mother asked, raising a brow.
"I talked to Millie and... I was wondering if we could allow her brother, Max, to visit as a guest tomorrow? She thinks it would be fun if I challenged and beat him in a game," I explained.
"Him?" Mother groaned. "Sure, he's decent at gaming, I'll admit that, but him? Not to mention he has no idea about your current bodily situation. It's not wise to reveal our House's internal affairs to those not directly involved, either, even if the Louve family is a long time friend of House O'Sang... Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"I do, and... I've thought about it some," I responded. "He doesn't have to know anything beyond what he sees..."
Millie listened in closely and Amber's eyes went wide at what she believed I was about to suggest. Magnolia awaited with her brow slightly raised and I felt the pressure surrounding me suddenly increase tenfold. Oh god...
"S-So... we don't have to explain anything to him, if... for just tomorrow..."
My voice shrunk to a shaky, nearly-inaudible whisper.
"...we pretend... I'm just... a normal girl...?"
There was an awkward silence until Mother spoke up.
"Why not wait until we have the elixir ready? I won't spoil when, but it won't take too much longer..." she reasonably countered.
I didn't have a response.
"I... U-Uh..."
"Very well then," she chuckled. "You're so impatient, you know? Constantly rushing ahead without thinking it through... you remind me of when I was your age, honestly."
She swooped in for a motherly hug.
"But, are you sure?" she whispered. "You'll have to bear with being my daughter for a day..."
My heart pulsed with an indescribable joy at the idea of being her daughter... It was the complete opposite of when she had called me her son. It was like... night and day.
"I-I am," I answered after steeling myself.
She released me from the hug and stood back up.
"I'll notify the staff to make sure there are no slip-ups, then... though I'm sure some of them will be confused given my previous orders. Maximillian Louve shall, under the assumption he accepts the offer, arrive tomorrow as a guest of House O'Sang. Does that take care of everything?"
"I-It does... I think," I replied.
"Very good, then," she said as she glanced at the fading, tangerine-tinted rays of light trickling in through the window. "It's getting late, so I'll have to hurry if it's to happen tomorrow."
As she stepped towards the door, her silver hair trailed behind.
"Good night, don't let the garlic bugs bite!~"
Garlic bugs?! Those aren't real, are they...?
"G-Good night, mom," I responded. "...I love you."
She once again seemed surprised to hear the words, as if... as if she hadn't done anything to deserve them. Even so, a warm smile crept on her face.
"I love you, too," she said before departing, leaving me alone with just Amber and Millie.
"YES!" Millie shouted. "Oh, you are so gonna put Max in his place tomorrow! He'll be so embarrassed, muahaha..."
"...I'm sure he will be," Amber agreed. "Millie, why don't you catch up with Magnolia and explain to her how exactly Lil' got into the garden."
"Ah, right, I'll go ahead and get to that," she responded. "Night, Lil'!"
"Goodnight, Millie!" I responded as she dashed out the door, making that signature ker-chunk in the process.
"So, um, want me to try and memorize the song now or-"
"Lil'," Amber interrupted. "We need to talk."
As I contently stared into the lily, Amber's sky blue eyes slowly analyzed me. She opened her mouth as if to say something but, before she could, Millie finished hanging the curtains back up.
"There!" she happily said, "As if you never yanked them down and... wore them? Sorry, Lil', but if you really, really wanted to see the garden to the point of wrapping yourself up in curtains of all things, why not just ask to borrow Amber's maid uniform?"
"Millie!" Amber shouted, scolding her for the suggestion. Yet, at the same time, she carefully awaited how I would react...
"I- Uh... Well, I guess I didn't think of it..." I admitted honestly. It hadn't occurred to me that Amber's outfit was made of sunsilk, but even so...
Millie shrugged Amber's scolding off.
"Oh. Well... if, for example, you could have just worn her outfit, would you have done it? It'd be embarrassing for a guy, sure, but would it really be as embarrassing as wearing curtains?"
"W-Well," I started, feeling a rather displeasing edge in her wording, "I guess so? I mean, not that I would want to try her outfit on or anything, just, if it was an alternative...? Sure?"
"Hmm, hmm," Millie nodded. "I see. Sorry, just sating my curiosity!"
"Ahem," Amber said, redirecting our attention. "That out of the way, we came in here for a reason, believe it or not."
"Oh... Sorry," I said, realizing I had held them up with my stunt. I really am a bit of a troublemaker, aren't I? "What is it?"
"Don't worry," Amber said as she revealed a medium sized book. "We have plenty of time."
"What's this for?" I curiously asked.
"You, of course," she said plainly before pointing to the words on its front. "Do you know what this says?"
"Uh... I don't. Sorry," I answered honestly.
Millie sat on the other side of me.
"It says: 'Hooked on Phoenix'," she said expecting a response from me.
"...What does that mean?" I asked.
"Oh, right, you wouldn't know..." Millie responded.
"We're going to teach you how to read and write," Amber explained.
"Oh," I said, the words not quite hitting me yet. "Oh! I'm going to... read and write?"
I was excited. Genuinely excited. Nervous, too. I could speak relatively fine, but reading and writing? It was never in my ex-parents' quota for me, so I never dared to ask. I remembered seeing other children laughing and playing in the park... and their protective parents that would never let them near me. Sometimes they would sit and doodle on paper in the warm grass, and sometimes an adult would read a whole story out loud to them... I enjoyed listening at a distance far enough not to be shooed away, but close enough that I could make out their whispers.
My energy was visibly uncontainable as I excitedly bopped up and down on the bed.
"Yup," Amber confirmed. "You'll want to prepare yourself for some rigorous studying, though..."
"It's ok!" I excitedly responded, placing the lily back in my hair for now. "I'm prepared!"
"Wow. You win this bet, Amber, I definitely didn't expect her to be excited over studying," Millie suddenly said, backstabbing me with a rush of... e-euphoria?!
My giddy bopping froze, not sure if I should even react... though that itself was a reaction.
"Millie!" Amber choked, making a face as if to say "Really?! Watch your words, you know he's in a delicate position!"
Millie paused in confusion as the realization hit her. "Oh! I'm so sorry, Lil'! I just got caught up in your excitement and uh... just said what felt natural."
Amber facepalmed and made yet another face, though one I couldn't discern any obvious meaning from.
Nothing's wrong, nothing happened. Just pretend I didn't hear anything...
Millie guiltily shrugged. "Well, he-"
"I-It's fine!" I interrupted. "Can we start with this, uh, 'Hooked on Phoenix,' thing?"
"...Y-Yeah," Millie quietly agreed. Oh god, I made it awkward.
Amber sighed, but still nodded in agreement. Oh god, I really made it awkward...
"Well," Amber began, "we'll start with the alphabet. Are you ready, Lil'?"
"I am," I said as a small wave of excitement returned, mixing in with my confused embarrassment.
And so they spent the rest of the day teaching me as much as I could possibly learn within a single evening. They went over each and every letter, allowing me to connect the sounds I had already known to a physical form on paper. All the while, I kept many bubbling thoughts at the back of my mind, especially regarding who and what I want to be...
At one point, though, they had just finished singing a short, catchy song that was supposed to help me memorize the alphabet.
"Think you can learn it?" Amber asked.
"It's a lot easier to remember in song form," Millie added.
"I think so, but... it sounds... familiar?" I responded.
The tune of their singing rang eerily similar to something faintly etched into the back of my mind... I just couldn't for the life of me remember what.
"It's a common tune in nursery rhymes, so I wouldn't be surprised if you had heard something similar," Amber explained.
"Yeah, something like that," Millie said, not really able to come up with anything smart to add.
"Huh... well, I've probably heard something similar to it, then..." I said. It was the likeliest reason, too.
"Now then, we'll start again, but try and sing along this time," Amber requested.
"Oh? Learning our ABC's, are we?" Magnolia suddenly interrupted, startling all three of us.
"M-Mother? When did you...?"
"When our handy dandy little maids were singing, of course. I suppose no one heard the door open!~" she playfully responded.
Her eyes narrowed to the top of my head.
"...Visit the garden?" she asked after clearly noticing the lily in my hair, catching me off guard. "I trust there's an explanation for this?"
"Ah, uh..." I said, bracing myself to explain once again.
"There is," Amber said, cutting me off. "But to spare him a second scolding, we'll inform you later... if you don't mind, that is."
"Very well," she sighed before turning to me. "I was hoping to be present during your first visit, but I suppose it can't always go my way."
"Sorry..." I woefully responded. I felt terrible having stepped on her plans...
"Cheer up, there's still plenty you don't know about the garden or why I wanted to show it to you, so look forward to your next visit," she explained, calming my fears. "Speaking of... you'll be glad to know that House A'Ketsueki did indeed have some spare sunsilk. Their family is quite large, after all."
"Oh! Really?" I asked. "When...?"
"Two days," she quickly responded. "We'll have a sunsilk outfit prepared for you in two days. We'll make it easily adjustable, too, so you may continue to wear it in the future."
"In the future? What do you... Oh, right..." I remembered. She's having an elixir prepared so I can return to being male. I had nearly forgotten... but... do I still want it? Did I ever want it...? I don't know, but, I want to find out. In fact, I know a good way that I can test my feelings.
"That's good to hear, but, um... could I ask a favor again?" I sheepishly began.
"Of course. What is it?" Mother asked, raising a brow.
"I talked to Millie and... I was wondering if we could allow her brother, Max, to visit as a guest tomorrow? She thinks it would be fun if I challenged and beat him in a game," I explained.
"Him?" Mother groaned. "Sure, he's decent at gaming, I'll admit that, but him? Not to mention he has no idea about your current bodily situation. It's not wise to reveal our House's internal affairs to those not directly involved, either, even if the Louve family is a long time friend of House O'Sang... Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"I do, and... I've thought about it some," I responded. "He doesn't have to know anything beyond what he sees..."
Millie listened in closely and Amber's eyes went wide at what she believed I was about to suggest. Magnolia awaited with her brow slightly raised and I felt the pressure surrounding me suddenly increase tenfold. Oh god...
"S-So... we don't have to explain anything to him, if... for just tomorrow..."
My voice shrunk to a shaky, nearly-inaudible whisper.
"...we pretend... I'm just... a normal girl...?"
There was an awkward silence until Mother spoke up.
"Why not wait until we have the elixir ready? I won't spoil when, but it won't take too much longer..." she reasonably countered.
I didn't have a response.
"I... U-Uh..."
"Very well then," she chuckled. "You're so impatient, you know? Constantly rushing ahead without thinking it through... you remind me of when I was your age, honestly."
She swooped in for a motherly hug.
"But, are you sure?" she whispered. "You'll have to bear with being my daughter for a day..."
My heart pulsed with an indescribable joy at the idea of being her daughter... It was the complete opposite of when she had called me her son. It was like... night and day.
"I-I am," I answered after steeling myself.
She released me from the hug and stood back up.
"I'll notify the staff to make sure there are no slip-ups, then... though I'm sure some of them will be confused given my previous orders. Maximillian Louve shall, under the assumption he accepts the offer, arrive tomorrow as a guest of House O'Sang. Does that take care of everything?"
"I-It does... I think," I replied.
"Very good, then," she said as she glanced at the fading, tangerine-tinted rays of light trickling in through the window. "It's getting late, so I'll have to hurry if it's to happen tomorrow."
As she stepped towards the door, her silver hair trailed behind.
"Good night, don't let the garlic bugs bite!~"
Garlic bugs?! Those aren't real, are they...?
"G-Good night, mom," I responded. "...I love you."
She once again seemed surprised to hear the words, as if... as if she hadn't done anything to deserve them. Even so, a warm smile crept on her face.
"I love you, too," she said before departing, leaving me alone with just Amber and Millie.
"YES!" Millie shouted. "Oh, you are so gonna put Max in his place tomorrow! He'll be so embarrassed, muahaha..."
"...I'm sure he will be," Amber agreed. "Millie, why don't you catch up with Magnolia and explain to her how exactly Lil' got into the garden."
"Ah, right, I'll go ahead and get to that," she responded. "Night, Lil'!"
"Goodnight, Millie!" I responded as she dashed out the door, making that signature ker-chunk in the process.
"So, um, want me to try and memorize the song now or-"
"Lil'," Amber interrupted. "We need to talk."
