The Frog and The Tadpole

by BonBonToro

Cutting to the chase, this is a short fanfic about an event with Souzou Forest's favourite: Seto and Mary! (Souzou Forest from Kagepro by Jin(Shizen no Teki P)) If you like daily life activities and SetoxMary moments I think this would be a nice short story to read. Today's activity is about the daily life of Seto accompanied by Mary. Original tinyurl upload: /c6cghm2

Mary opens the door in excitement to find out I arrived at her house.
"Yo!" I greet her with a salute.
"C-come in!" She welcomes me with her warm smile.
I enter her tiny room and straight away, porridge from last night's dinner can be smelt. "How's your fever?" I wonder as I get ready to help out.
"I feel better t-today." She blushes.
I help her set up the bowls even when she tells me to sit down. I refuse the offer because she's still ill. Even if it's a little increase of her normal temperature, I should still help.
"S-Seto San, you keep h-helping me. I should do s-something too." She whines.
"You're still recovering. I can't let you do all the hard work! I wouldn't want to see a sick friend doing everything whilst I'm standing here doing nothing." I comment.
She contracts and looks left and right. Her face turns pink and she acts flustered. She drops onto the dining chair without making any sound.
I bring the porridge to the table and we start eating together, "Let's dig in," We pray.
The porridge is nice and heart-warming to eat considering that the temperature today is harshly cold.
I notice that Mary tried adding new things to the porridge. She added some carrots and beans from yesterday and added drops of soy sauce as the carrots and beans probably made it too sweet. She did try adding new surprises into the porridge, and somehow the taste managed to balance each other out.
"I see you've improved when it comes to surprising me with your unique culinary skills." I praise her.
"Th-th-th-thank you S-S-S-S-Seto San..." She blushes in delight.
The newly improved porridge has all been eaten away and I wash the dishes again. This time I let Mary join, drying the dishes, as I thought it'd be nice to not see her sulk about me doing all the work for her.
"S-Seto San...You're b-busy today, aren't you?" Mary suddenly asks.
"Yep, there are a lot of shifts today down at different parts of the City." I state.
"W-why are you h-helping me? I can take care of m-myself..." She regrets.
"Even if you can take care of yourself, I will always be worried about you." I confess. "As long as I see a happy Mary, that's all I need!"
Mary pauses to calm her expressions whilst letting out steam of enlightment. "B-b-but what would t-they say about you s-s-skipping work?" She panics.
"Don't worry! I just told them 'I'm not feeling too well today and so I have to take the day off!' They even insisted that I should take a couple of days off from all the hard work I've been doing!" I reassure Mary.

After the dishes have been washed, we both stretch to release the stress from our bodies. "So, how's your manga coming along?" I ask Mary in curiosity.
"F-f-f-fine!" She responds as though it was a secret.
"Mind if I take a look?" I ask.
She nods as she tumbles across the room to fetch her homemade manga.
She enters her bedroom to retrieve it and reappears fastly. We make our way to her soft sofa and I start looking into her manga as Mary fiddles her skirt, wondering what I'd say about her creation.
The drawings are fairly detailed and her style of drawing seems cute.
I read the manga from start to finish even though some scenes haven't been drawn, just the script for now. The plot seems to be quite overwhelming from the simplicity of a guy and a girl hanging out in one room. They were talking about their lives and how their meeting wasn't coincidental. They become all lovey-dovey and later that night they both make out on the sofa. Mary seems to have added sound effects that didn't fit in with the mood at all, sound effects such as "Myaaaa~" and "Nyoooo~".
The next part didn't make it into a drawn scene. She replies to his kiss as a "Lucious Sweet Talker". They both sleep together and morning arises. The guy wakes up and stands up. That was then he realized something had fell on the floor. A wig had been flattened by a handbag!
The guy's face grew disgust to find out that...he kissed a man last night.
"Dear? Where are you?" The man on the sofa with overindulged make-up calls for their beloved one. "Y-y-y-y-you're a, man." The guy standing up creeps back.
The man on the sofa becomes surprised and quickly reassembles all his items. "I'm sorry I had to do this. This was the only way I could be with you!" The man suddenly cries.
"T-Tanaka? Is that you?" The guy suddenly asks.
This 'Tanaka' suddenly sobs as he vigurously nods up and down. The guy who stands up goes up to Tanaka with a smile and pats him. "Don't cry Tanaka, I will always be here with you." The guy whispers to Tanaka.
"B-but I thought T-Takeshi will never a-accept me!" Tanaka weeps.
"You've reminded me yesterday how much I've actually liked men." Takeshi smiles.
"Thank you." Takeshi continues.
They both stay in the love hotel and they make out some more as random sound effects of water splashes around the main text. The next part is really graphical, even though there's no pictures, and I don't think I ought to continue their 'love' scene.

"This was rather enjoyable?" I ask myself.
"Was it really that good?" Mary interviews me.
She has always been a fan of these sort of things. Unfortunately it'd be hard to find a cure for it but if she likes it, no one should stop her from liking it.
"Yep!" I grin at Mary giving her manga back to her.
"Although your sound effects are wrong. They don't suit what's happening." I give her improvements.
"A-ah, yes." She takes in.
"So, did you manage to get this weeks issue of "FUJOSHI+"?" I subside the topic.
"N-no, I haven't got it yet. I found out that this weeks issue will have Ciel on the cover of it! I can't wait to see this weeks issue!" Mary hops in joy whilst clapping consistently.
"I'll make sure I'll get you an issue this week. If I'm too busy I think Kido is free so she could get you an issue." I notify her.
She nods at me with content and excitement.

I smile at her cheery mood and then a loud thump is heard from the door. Our faces rise as we become shocked by the racket. We quickly make our way outside to see what made such a noise.
A squirrel is spotted just outside Mary's door, limping around in circles looking for help. I am able to know what animals say and so that'd help in this situation. "Help! Someone!" The Young Squirrel pleads.
"What's the matter?" I ask the lost Young Squirrel.
"Y-you can hear me?" The small Young Squirrel stops and wonders.
I nod my head and Young Squirrel continues, "How do you do that?" The amazed Young Squirrel sparkles.
"Sorry but there's no time for that. What seems to be the problem?" I ask again.
The ecstatic Young Squirrel snaps out of it's admirations and cuts back to the chase. "M-my mommy f-fell down a hole! I heard her call for help from within the hole and I told her I'd go get help by someone!" Young Squirrel urgently briefs.
"Where is this hole?" I ask Young Squirrel.
"It should be next to...the big oak tree!" Young Squirrel remembers.
"Okay, we should go." I commence.
"But I c-can't go any further..." Young Squirrel becomes upset, staring at his weak leg.
"Hmm...Mary! Please stay and look after this squirrel. The Squirrel has a broken leg and so I need you to heal him." I instruct Mary.
"Y-yes! B-but where are you g-going?" She wonders.
"I'll tell you later. Right now I need to go somewhere quickly. I won't be long!" I depart from a confused Mary and the praying Young Squirrel.

If I remember correctly, the big oak tree should be right about...here!
The thick trunk is as tough as ever and it seems that the tree is starting to lose it's colour. Going around the circumference of the oak tree, the hole is located just behind the tree.
"Is anyone in there!?" I question as I look into the dark hole.
I listen carefully with my ear as close into the hole as possible without tipping myself into the neverending pit. "Somebody help me!" A distant voice is heard.
At this point I am certain that the Mommy Squirrel is down there holding onto dear life.
By thinking practically, I look around for some kind of long, strong branch to bring Mommy Squirrel up. Many small and crumbly twigs can be seen with dead leaves scattered all over the place. I look deeper into the piles and manage to find a branch suitable for this occassion. I sprint back to the hole with the useful item and I lay down to the ground just next to the hole.
"If you see a branch coming down, please grab hold of it!" I shout down into the hole as I slowly push the branch in.
The branch is about to reach the point where it isn't long enough to get in. I left the branch as it is and I felt something grab onto the branch. I desperately held the branch and pulled the Squirrel back up.
"Thank you for saving me!" Mommy Squirrel thanks me as she jumps off the branch.
"You're welcome! I should bring you to where your son is." I inform.
I pick her up and placed her in the hood of my hoodie. "How did you get down there?" I ask her.
"Well, I was collecting some acorns to take home and eat with my family. But then the wind blew a strong gust and I lost balance hence making me fall into that hole." She explains.
"And how do you know what we are saying? Humans can't do that." She wonders.
"I would like to say, but it's confidential information." I keep secret.

I was able to find out more about Mommy Squirrel and whereabouts she lives as one day they may need help again.
We make it to Mary's house and make our way in whilst I call that we're back. Mary is in her room with the endangered Young Squirrel.
"Oh, w-welcome home Seto San." Mary cheerfully but quietly welcomes me with Young Squirrel sleeping on her lap.
"Yo." I softly salute with an optimistic grin.
"My son!" Mommy Squirrel brightens up in relief.
Young Squirrel slowly wakes up with his tail stretching and left leg resting. "M-mother!" Young Squirrel wakes in joy.
I put Mommy Squirrel onto the bed next to her son and they both cuddle each other.
"I thought I wouldn't be able to see you again!" Young Squirrel tears up.
"I'm glad you called for help!" Mommy Squirrel comforts her son.
"I don't know w-what's going on." Mary's face becomes puzzled.
"Thank you for rescuing my mother!" Young Squirrel interrupts.
"Sure! I'm glad to have helped!" I exclaim in delight.
"We should be going home now." Mommy Squirrel notices.
"Maybe I should take you home, seeing that your son isn't able to walk." I offer.
They agree with the idea and I place them in the hood of my hoodie. I leave Mary's house and right before I left, Mary clung onto my hoodie.
"Do you want come along with us this time?" I smile at the timid Mary.
She nods with her rose coloured cheeks. I decided to hold her hand in case she fell or got lost in the big forest.

We make our way through the forest as Mommy Squirrel directs us to where we should be going and Young Squirrel sleeping again.
"S-Seto San. What h-happened back then?" Mary becomes curious.
I tell her what happened and she felt relief. "I'm glad you went out."
The shy Mary smiles at me. "S-Seto San. Y-y-you're..." She pauses.
"I'm...?" I wonder.
"N-nevermind." She quickly hides.
Somehow the Squirrel's house is quite close to Mary's house. We drop them off as they thank us and we make our way back.
"S-Seto San. I, I, I!" Mary acts weirdly.
I wait for her response but just before she opened her mouth, my mobile phone rings.
I grab my mobile phone from my pocket and Mary quickly looks elsewhere without saying a word.
"Hello?" I ask the caller on the mobile phone.
"Seto, come to the headquarters now. We have some important business to do." A stressed Kido is heard on the other side of the mobile phone.
I was about to ask why but then Kido hangs up.
"W-who was t-that?" The blushing Mary wonders.
"Kido wants us to go to the headquarters." I tell her.
We go back to Mary's house so that she can drop some items off and take her rose hoodie. On the way she tripped over some roots of a tree and I managed to catch her, but a small area of her dress had a been torn. Then we make our way to where Kido and Kano are with our hands together, in case she tripped over again.

We exit the forest and stroll through the streets of the City.
We enter a fairly busy area and Mary hides herself into my body. She's afraid of the public and so I decided to give her a piggy back. She feels more comfortable this way and so we continue peacefully.
"Hey! If it isn't Seto!" An owner of an electronics store calls me.
I approach the man with Mary snuggling herself into my hood.
"What's up Seto? Looks like you're doing fine!" The owner pats my arm.
"I just had an appointment and she took me there with her." I look back at Mary.
"I'm doing better now and so do you need any help?" I ask the owner.
"I have to carry a couple of harddrives to this address." He points at the piece of paper.
"Seems like this person is going all out just for these!" The owner's face becomes amazed.
"I'd take these to the person but then nobody will be keeping an eye on the store. My other part timer is doing a delivery too. But this person wants their hundreds of harddrives ASAP when they arrive in stock. I could postpone it to tomorrow but they're a loyal customer." He adds in distress.
"Then I'll take it for you." I cheeringly offer.
"Are you sure? You just came from an appointment!" He worries.
"Don't worry! It's not much of a challenge!" I grin.
The owner becomes relieved and he brings me the boxes along with some pieces of paper about some report for the business that needs to be answered by me. Mary decided to walk again seeing that I have a lot of boxes to carry. I told the owner "I'll be back tommorrow" as Mary timidly but happily waves goodbye.
We make our way through some streets and then I hear someone talking from above. "Oh, it's Seto San! Hi there!" A sparrow from a telephone line greets me.
"Hey! I see your wing is fine today!" I reply to the enthusiastic Sparrow.
"It's all thanks to you Seto San!" Sparrow thanks me.
"I should be off now, I have to be in time for dinner!" Sparrow rushes off.
"Take care!" I shout in optimism.
"S-Seto San, y-you're really p-popular." Mary smiles.
"It does happen when I go out a lot doing part times." I muster up.

Our destination has just been found. We make our way through the entrance and I ring the doorbell.
"Coming!" A lady from inside shouts.
She opens the door with a ladle on her other hand.
"This is a delivery from the electronics store." I state.
"Again? What am I going to have to do with him..." She sighs.
I look at the order and the name of the residence seems familiar. "Ki, sa, ra-"
"Seto San, Mary Chan! What are you doing here!?" A familiar voice from behind calls.
I look behind and a puzzled Momo stands at the gates.
Mary's face brightens up as she goes to give Momo a hug.
"Hey, it's been a while!" Momo rubs Mary's head.
The lady at the door notices that we know Momo and so she welcomes us in to their guest room.
"I'll prepare the tea for you." She kindly rushes to the kitchen.

"I have to go take these to the buyer." I pick up the boxes.
I climb the stairs and the sound of two people can be heard. If I listen closer I think it's an argument.
"Delivery!" I knock on the door to the buyer's room.
"Ahhh! C-come in!" The buyer shouts in a croaky voice.
"Hey there Shintaro!" I grin at him.
"O-oh, if it isn't Seto." Shintaro greets me.
"I'll place your order here." I put the boxes down next to his big pile of discs.
"Were you arguing with Ene Chan?" I wonder.
"O-oh, well, she wanted to-"
"Master was bullying me!" Ene whines from Shintaro's monitor.
"More like I'm being bullied by you." Shintaro argues.
"Now now, let's calm down. Being angry won't solve anything." I calmly suggest.
Ene looks away from Shintaro as he chugs his soda.
"Master didn't let me rearrange his 'private' content." She states.
"Ene, you shouldn't go into his private stuff without him noticing. And Shintaro, you should be less mean to her." I lecture the two.
In the end, they made up and carried on with their lives.
"Thanks for the delivery." Shintaro quietly says as he stares at his monitor.
"You're welcome." I leave him to do his business.
I go downstairs into the guest room.
"Seto San, your tea is on the table." Momo notifies me.
"Thank you." I reply to her.
I sit down next to Mary and start drinking the warm green tea.
Mary and Momo continue their talk as I check my phone for any messages.
After I finished my tea, Mary and I made our way out to go to the headquarters.
Momo tells us goodbye as we continue on with Mary on my back.

We progress for a while and make it to the headquarters.
I knock on the door to see if anyone's in there. Someone opens the door, "You took your time," A tired yet scruffy Kido welcomes us.
"Sorry for intruding," I make my way in with Mary.
"Did you need anything Kido?" I ask her.
"Yeah. I needed you to babysit Kano." She frowns.
I wondered why she couldn't handle Kano herself. But then again, this is Kano she'd have to deal with. "Sure." I respond to Kido.
"Kido~ where's my ice cream!?" Kano is heard in the guest room.
I go to the fridge to fetch something for him as Kido lays on the sofa with Mary sat next to her.
I go over to Kano to bring him something. "Kano, I got you this!" I open the door.
"Thank you-" He becomes excited then makes an abrupt pause.
"You should eat celery. It's healthier for you." I suggest as the celery is held out.
"No, not you. I don't want you to babysit me." He moans as he puts his face into the pillow of the bed.
"Kano, get up and stop being lazy." I order.
"You're not my mother." He grumps.
But then he decided to lift his head but he glares at me with evil cat eyes. He makes a long sigh and gets up.
"Fine, I'll get up." He stretches.
We go into the main room.
"Oh, you managed to get Kano up. Good job." Kido notices.
Although Kano came out of the guest room, Mary makes a quick dash for the room.
"Is laziness contageous or something?" Kido realises.
I giggle and check up on Mary.
"Something wrong Mary?" I wonder.
"No." She responds while taking out her mangas from her hoodie.
"You're planning on drawing some more scenes?" I ask.
"M-maybe. I have a n-new idea..." She answers embarrassingly.
"I look forward to this new idea of yours along with your current one." I encourage Mary.
She blushes as she clumsily prepares her work. I decided to leave her so she can work on her manga.
"What's happening in there?" Kido wonders.
"She's just working on some manga." I reply.
I sit down next to Kano on the sofa and the three of us talk about some current affairs.
"Apparently, there has been cases where people are smuggling illegal goods into this City." Kano starts off.
And so the conversation takes off and we branch off from the topic.
We discuss a lot and "FUJOSHI+" somehow made it into the conversation as well, which Kido now knows to find one for Mary. Mary comes out of the guest room. We all look at her and her face becomes shocked.
"S-Seto San, c-can you c-come in for a m-moment?" She calls.
"Sure." I go into the guest room with Mary.
I notice that she hadn't drawn the rest of the scene but instead decided to create a new story in the form of a light novel.
"I-I thought this idea would be b-better than the last one. I thought that i-it will be easier to w-write." She briefs.
"T-there isn't a lot so far. Only the p-plot has been justified." She states.
I sit down and start reading her summary of the story.
This story is about a frog who was really popular and a tadpole who wasn't as popular as she wasn't known by any other tadpoles/frogs. One day the frog was swimming with his friends and only the frog noticed something happening behind a sunken lilypad. The little tadpole was being abused. The frog swims to the bullies and calls for help from his friends. They agree to help and the frog and the tadpole escapes the violence leaving everyone else to fight each other. They are safe in strands of pondweed and the tadpole speaks, "Why did you s-save me?"
The frog replied by saying, "Because it's not right to see others abuse an innocent tadpole."
The tadpole cries. "I'll protect you" is what the frog finished on. That's how the two became best friends and how the tadpole can see the lake in a brighter light now.

I finish reading the tragic yet heartwarming plot and I notice that Mary is missing. I hear commotion in the main room and I go there.
"Kukukukukuh, I didn't think Kido would be scared by such things!" A mischievous Kano painfully sniggers as Kido looks away.
It seems like they're talking about something scary. If so I need to subside their talk in case Kido 'kills' Kano.
"Now now, let's talk about something less scary." I interrupt.
"Ah, well, I was just thinking about going to the convenience store to buy some stuff." Kano suggests.
Kano and Kido have their conversation as Mary and I just look at each other in confusion. Then we awkwardly smile at each other whilst we have no say in their conversation.
"Anyone else coming?" Kido asks at the door.
"S-sorry, I h-have to sew a p-patch onto my d-dress." Mary quivers to the guest room.
"Nope, I have to prepare some stuff for a part-time. And I need to make sure Mary doesn't hurt herself." I smile and wave at them as I see them off.
Kano replies by saying "We won't be too long."
It seems that Mary and I are alone again. Kano didn't need to be babysitted, but I guess I'll look after the headquarters.
I notice that some of the floor is dusty and so I decide to get the vacuum cleaner out.
I clean the room and it's now dust-free and better to stay in.
Mary comes out of the guest room. "S-Seto San. D-do you want to sit down for awhile? I n-noticed that you cleaned the r-room." She worries.
"Okay." I respond.
"What would you like to do?" I ask Mary.
"E-erm, l-let's sit d-down first..." She blushes.
"You're skirt still needs fixing." I remember.
Mary is at a loss of words as I look for a sewing kit. I find it and seal the hole in her dress. Then I put the sewing kit away and sit down.

"S-Seto S-San. D-do you r-remember earlier ago?" She questions.
I nod my head.
"I w-wanted to tell you s-something." She says.
Her mouth is about to open and no words come out. She seems to be feeling pressure from what she wants to tell me.
"I w-want you t-t-to...b-b-b-be..." She becomes frustrated.
"F-f-f-f-f." Her words become stuck.
"Don't worry Mary, there's no one else around and I won't tell anyone else." I try calming her down.
She starts to deeply inhale and exhale as her face becomes less red.
She makes a big breathe out and she continues without hesitation, "B-b-best." She stops after saying it.
"F-friend." She forcefully blurts out.
"You want me to be your best friend?" I delightfully ask her.
She freezes and nods up and down rapidly. "I-I wanted to b-be with you so I c-can see the world l-like you c-can..." She becomes flustered.
I giggle at her and accepted her request by giving her a hug.
Now realizing, I understand why she made the new manga. Mary wants comfort from a person who is known by a lot of people so that she can enjoy life just like how I do.
"Mary, would you like to listen to some music?" I offer.
"Y-yes p-please." Her cheeks turn rose coloured.
I put a headphone piece into Mary's ear and my ear and I play a soothing soundtrack from my phone. "Th-thank you." I see her mouth move as she starts to fall asleep on my shoulder.
I smile and fall asleep too.

Today was an ordinary day for me. I see the big world in as much optimism as I can.
But along the way I have to guide others so that they can see the world like how I can.
In Mary's manga, I think she views the tadpole as herself and the frog as me.
We may be from two different worlds, but one day, the different worlds will be together.