Chapter 2: Meeting the Mayor (Kosei)
From here, we could see Town Hall, the cafe and the plaza. Judging by the tree, this town was recently discovered. Maybe two months, at most.
"Ah, you actually came."
In front of us stood a girl, showing her delight. She walked up to us and curtsied. "My name is Torii, the mayor of Mirror- I mean, Mira." She blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry. Slip of the tongue. It's common for me to do that."
"Hello, Torii. My name is Kosei, the mayor of Seaside. And these are my friends Mel and Kenshin." I gestured to my friends.
"It's nice to meet you all. Would you like a tour of our town?"
As she led us around I noticed two other homes. They were next to each other, but the river separated them. The house on our side of the river had red tulips surrounding it, outlined with white lilies. The house on the other side also had red tulips, but they were blocked by some bushes and a villager's home. Beyond that, there was a pattern of red, black, and blue roses.
"Who lives in those two?" The question was out of my mouth before I even realized it, and I could've sworn that Torii tensed up, before her muscles relaxed.
"They belong to the twins of the town. The one farthest from us belongs to Solis, and the other belongs to her brother, Umbra. Unfortunately, they're in the city now due to their… family issue."
"Family issue?" Kenshin sounded curious.
"They never told me what it was, and it wasn't the kind of problem I wanted to get involved in. Last I checked, I'm a mayor, not a judge." Torii joked.
I looked at Mel and noticed how she was staring at Solis's house.
"You okay?"
"Y-Yeah. Just felt a chill." The way she stuttered gave me the hint to not press it.
I looked around the town. The perfect apples gave me the fact that Mira was an apple town. In fact on the other side of the bridge, there was an alternating pattern of perfect apple trees, and non-fruit bearing trees.
"You guys must really love perfect apples," I joked. Torii chuckled at that.
"Actually, Solis in particular is downright obsessed with them, along with the Dream Suite. She's the gardener and barista of our town. Umbra is a researcher, and I'm the overseer and mediator. Not always perfect, but it works."
As they crossed the bridge, Mel shivered. "Did you guys feel that?"
Torii, Kenshin, and I looked at each other before shaking our heads. "Mel, are you sure you're okay?" I asked. When she didn't respond, Torii spoke softly, "If you'd like, we can all go the cafe and get some coffee. Knowing Brewster, he'd make me work, but it's worth it. Would you like that?"
The way Torii spoke sounded gentle, soothing, and it had an effect on Mel. It was like she was back in the present and not so focused on her past.
"Sure."
We ended talking about ourselves in the cafe for a few hours. During that time, some of the animal villagers entered and left. Hopper, Rudy, Blaire. Each of them saw the three of us with their mayor, and their expressions were blank. Blaire was the one who went up to us and whispered in Torii's eyes. Whatever it was, it had darkened Torii's expression. "Alright, Blaire. I'll take care of it."
"If it's something major, we can leave-" I started, but the mayor interrupted.
"No!" For a moment, it looked like Torii was terrified of the idea. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to regain her composure.
"I mean, no. It's rather trivial, actually. It's approaching dusk, so I want to invite you back to my place for the night." She sounded slightly afraid of our safety.
"If you insist."
…
Torii's home was mermaid central. The main room looked normal enough, but something told me that her bedroom was completely mermaid based. Torii led the three of us to her guest room upstairs, and allowed us to get comfortable.
"Well, that wasn't weird at all." Kenshin uttered sarcastically. Mel agreed mutely.
"Someone's being paranoid." I said.
"Well, can you really blame either of us?" Mel asked.
I sighed. Honestly, I couldn't really blame them. They, along with the mayors of Leafside and Sugarpine, were trapped in Aika Village, for crying out loud. I wondered if being here was reminding them of everything.
As the sun set, I could feel something reverberate in me. There was something about this town that was… unnatural.
We were sheltered growing up. So we grew close. Perhaps a bit too close for our parents' liking.
We tossed aside our morals on love and that was how the rotten fruit appeared.