Maribel had been feeling around the room for the bottle for some time now. It was hard enough only being able to move her arm a few inches, and harder still to pick up the bottle without dropping or crushing it. She'd managed to pick it up between her fingernails dozens of times, only for her grip to slip as she tried to bring it to her mouth.
After accidentally dropping the bottle for what felt like the zillionth time, Maribel sat back in defeat.
"However am I going to get out of this?" she sighed, feeling rather small despite her gigantic size. "I don't know when anyone will be back. They'll open the door and find a huge skeleton sitting in the middle of their mansion! They shall wonder how in the world a giant managed sneak in, then they shall laugh at her idiocy of getting trapped!"
She heard the pitter-patter of someone approaching, then one of the doors to her right began to open. She saw the rabbit-child peek her head in, frantically muttering, "Oh, where did she leave it? That goddess will be angry if I've kept her waiting…"
Maribel's heart soared, and she quickly called out, "Excuse me, miss! I—"
But the rabbit-girl shrieked at both the sight and sound of Maribel, and at once she turned and fled the room, slamming the door shut behind her. Maribel heard her footsteps quickly get quieter and quieter…until Maribel was certain she was completely alone.
She wept fiercely at her rotten luck, and her teardrops fell from her cheeks in a melancholic downpour.
"I wish this was all some dream!" she cried. "Then I could wake up and be over with this nightmare! Oh, why did I have to follow that girl…?"
"Wait," she realized, her tears ceasing their cascade down her face. "Perhaps I am dreaming! I certainly don't recognize any of this land, and I've been all over Kyoto!"
She closed her eyes and scrunched up her face, willing with all her might to wake up. But when she opened her eyes, she found that she was still a giant trapped in a stranger's mansion.
The room was beginning to get quite hot, and more than ever Maribel wished to have a drink from the bottle. She stared down at the fallen container, then determination set itself upon her face.
Carefully, she picked up the bottle. She didn't rush as she slooooowly brought the bottle up to her face. She patiently maneuvered the glass until it was held between her thumb and forefinger instead of her fingernails. This provided a much more stable grip, and it was easier for her to bring the bottle to her face. Now she wiggled and twisted until her other arm was up by her face as well. Holding the bottle in one, she carefully pried off the cap with her fingernail. She tilted the bottle until only a small drop poured onto her forefinger, which she then brought to her tongue.
After a second, the icy feeling returned, and she laughed gaily as she returned back to her regular size—well, actually, she was about a foot shorter than her normal height, but Maribel didn't care. She was more-or-less back to normal, and she'd figure out how to regrow a foot in height later.
She left the bottle and the éclairs on the table, then hurried out of the mansion. She hoped whoever the food belonged to wouldn't notice some of it missing, but there was nothing she could do about it now. She thought about leaving a note to explain herself, but there was nothing to write on or with.
She guiltily decided to ignore that for now, and focus on the present. She was currently stuck in the middle of a labyrinthine bamboo forest, and she had no idea how to get out.
As she thought about what to do, she faintly heard the sound of running water nearby. She brightened.
"A river! Rivers lead to towns, and I can figure out where I am from there!" she said, delighted.
She followed the sound of the river, and after a while she came upon a great, rushing stream whose waters crashed heavily against the shoreline.
After drinking her fill, she headed upstream, taking care to always keep the river in sight if she was unable to walk directly next to the bank. She checked her phone again, and saw that she still didn't have service.
"It's only natural," she sighed. "I must be really out in the country. Perhaps I can find a pay phone once I find the next town…"
Maribel found something, alright, but it wasn't a town. Presently, she heard the sound of splashing, and quickly spotted a gray figure floundering in the river. It appeared to be a girl, wearing a headband shaped like mouse ears, making her look rather meek and cute.
The girl was holding strange rods with odd designs at each end. The designs reminded Maribel of the letters N, E, S, and W.
"N, E, S, and W…" Maribel murmured as she raced towards the girl. "For North, East, South, and West? Could those contraptions she holds lead me to the nearest settlement? Oh, I hope so! But first I need to rescue her from the river!"
She caught up to where the girl was struggling to stay above water. …No, that wasn't quite right. It was obvious the girl couldn't swim, but she kept diving underneath the water's surface as if searching for something.
"Hold on, I'll get you out!" Maribel cried, wading into the river. The water was warm, which surprised her, and it was only a few feet deeper than she was. The current was strong, but nothing Maribel couldn't handle.
She swam out to the girl, and grabbed hold of the back of her collar. She kicked her feet, propelling them both to the other side of the shore. Maribel hauled the girl onto the bank, then crawled out of the river, panting heavily.
"Hey! Why'd you do that?!" the girl snapped, standing over Maribel, hands over her hips.
Maribel was too tired to answer, but she did notice that the girl's mouse ears were in fact attached to her head, along with a long gray tail at the base of her spine.
"Oh my, a mouse-girl…I guess there aren't that many cats around…" she thought. But the mouse-girl gave her a horrified look and backed away. Maribel realized with a silent groan that she'd actually said the words out loud.
"Wait, I'm sorry! That was awfully rude of me, to mention cats in front of you," she apologized, standing as up as well.
"I'll say! Who mentions cats in front of a mouse?! You'd feel the same if you were me," the mouse-girl snorted. "And you still haven't told me why you interrupted my search."
"I thought you were drowning. If you've lost something in the river, I can fetch it for you," Maribel offered, hoping that would smooth over her earlier faux-pass.
"I was drowning, but you can't help me. Only I can locate the treasure my rods picked up on. So thanks, but go away," the mouse-girl sniffed before diving back into the river.
"Wait!" Maribel protested, but it was too late; the girl had already submerged.
Maribel followed her in, if only to keep an eye on her and make sure she didn't drown.
"Do you like dogs?" she asked the mouse next time she emerged from the water. The mouse was holding a glittering emerald in her hand with a triumphant look on her face.
"My grandparents used a to keep a handsome golden retriever back on their farm," Maribel continued, desperate to make at least one friend in this strange place. "He used to do such wonderful tricks. He could stand up on two legs and fetch balls, plus he kept the rat population down so—oh no!"
The mouse-girl gave her a look of disgust, and loudly splashed away from Maribel as much as she could. The current began to pick up a little, and both Maribel and the mouse-child were swept away.
"I'm so sorry!" Maribel called between mouthfuls of air. "I wasn't thinking!"
She swam over to the mouse-girl, supporting her and keeping her head above water.
"You can say that again," the child snapped. "After all I've been through, you'd hate cats and dogs too."
"What do you mean?" Maribel asked, but a sight up ahead caught her eye.
Up ahead, four children were desperately holding onto rocks with all their might, lest the river claim them for their own.
"Tell you later," the mouse-girl said grimly.
Maribel swam over to shore, throwing the mouse onto the sandy back. Thankfully, this time she stayed out of the water. Maribel ran over to the children, and held out her hand as she wrapped her other arm around a tree growing next to the river.
"Grab my hand! I'll pull you up!" Maribel told them.
The nearest child, a girl with orangish-blonde hair, looked at her fearfully, then cautiously took Maribel's hand. Maribel hauled her out, with help from the mouse-child. One by one, the other three children were rescued from a watery grave.
As the four children—who were all girls, Maribel noticed—coughed and sputtered, Maribel saw that they all had wings coming out of their backs.
The first child Maribel had rescued wore a red-and-white dress, and she had deep blue eyes that stood out against her light features. The second one was a brown-haired girl wearing a blue dress with star patterns all over it. The theirs had light brown hair, a yellow dress, and crescent-shaped wings. Their wings were all transparent, unlike the fourth. The fourth child had light blue hair, and wore a blue dress.
Most peculiar of all, though, were her icicle-shaped wings.