Chapter 18: Sudden Departure

Unable to argue with Luigi further, Daisy left him and Mario's room. She wanted to play tennis to get her mind off things, but Peach was too busy with her etiquette lessons to Bowsette, Peachette, and now Bowsette, Jr., who reluctantly joined them in the ballroom. Knowing what they really were made her feel uneasy, so she decided to watch the lessons from a distance alongside Mario.

"You look upset," Mario said to Daisy. "Is my brother okay?"

"He's…not happy with me," Daisy admitted. "I told him he had no backbone yesterday, and he's still sore about it."

"And I'm sure what happened last night didn't help," Mario assumed. "Have you tried apologizing to him?"

"That's what I just did when I was giving him chamomile tea, but he didn't accept it."

"Maybe I should talk to him then."

"No, I think it's best to just leave him alone. You talking to him might make things worse, considering you're usually braver than he is."

"Hmm, I didn't think about that. You're probably right."

Suddenly, Toad came in with dirt smudges all over his red-and-white polka dot mushroom head.

"What did I miss while I was gone?" Toad then noticed Bowsette, Jr., and looked confused. "Is Bowser, Jr., still around?"

"I am Bowser, Jr.," Bowsette, Jr., said folding her arms.

"Another Super Crown was found and my son put it on by accident," Bowsette explained.

"Well, that's just great!" Toad complained. He then saw Daisy next to Mario and his eyes widened. "How long have you been standing there?"

"The whole time," Daisy said.

"She knows what we know," Mario replied.

"But how?" Toad demanded.

"Long story short, I overheard Peach and the others talking about the Super Crown when Bowser—I mean, Bowsette, Jr., found the other Super Crown," Daisy said.

"May I speak to the Princess now?" said another voice from outside the ballroom.

"I know that voice," Mario recognized. "Professor E. Gadd, is that you?"

"Of course it is, Mario," replied the voice.

Through the door to the ballroom stepped a small man wearing a lab coat with large glasses.

"I happened to be passing through Sarasaland while looking for Porcini Valley, and ran into Professor E. Gadd who was picking up the Magic Paintbrush," Toad said. "So I told him about the situation here with the Super Crowns, and he offered to come here and help us."

"How thoughtful of you, Professor E. Gadd!" Peach remarked graciously. "We certainly could use someone with your knowledge to solve the mystery of the Super Crowns and maybe get my own mentor Toadsworth out of his current coma."

Toad was surprised to hear this news, but he was too shocked to say anything.

"A coma, you say?" E. Gadd adjusted his glasses. "How did that happen?"

"It was my fault, Professor E. Gadd," Peachette admitted. "He was trying to test the Super Crown's abilities, so I put it on and the shock of what happened made him pass out."

"What were you before the form you appear in now?" E. Gadd asked.

Feeling everyone's eyes on her including Toad's, Peachette lowered her head. "I'm…Toadette."

"Hmm?" E. Gadd put a hand to his ear. "I didn't quite catch that. Could you repeat yourself?"

"I'm Toadette!" cried Peachette.

Toad felt his stubby hands go numb as he dropped his walking stick. "You're…Toadette?"

"Yes, Toad," Peachette admitted. "I didn't want you to know the truth because—

"Why did you lie to me?" Toad snapped. "I've been searching across the Mushroom Kingdom for this Porcini Valley place for weeks, thinking it might hold a clue to where the Super Crowns came from, and now you're telling me you're not who you say you are! I thought we were close friends, Toadette!"

"And it's because we're close friends that I couldn't bring myself to tell you what happened," Peachette said. "I was so ashamed by what I did that I didn't want you to worry about me."

"That doesn't excuse what you did!" argued Toad. "When I wasn't thinking about finding Porcini Valley, I was thinking about you and Toadsworth, hoping you were having better luck finding more information about the Super Crowns with Professor Frankly's help. But I guess that was a lie too."

After Toad picked up his walking stick, he left the ballroom in a hurry.

"Please, Toad, don't leave!" Peach got up from the ballroom table and followed him out the door. "You shouldn't blame Toadette for lying. If there's anyone to blame, it's me."

"Don't you care about anyone but yourself, Princess?" Toad said, glaring back at Peach. "It's because of your selfish intention to house your greatest enemy in this castle that you've resorted to lying and hurting others in the process, including those who care about you!"

"I didn't ask for Bowser to come here!" Peach said. "He showed up here of his own free will. As for what happened to Toadette and Bowser, Jr., I will take responsibility for what happened to them."

"That still doesn't make up for your carelessness, and that's why you always got kidnapped," Toad responded. "Luckily, I was able to guide Mario to where you were. But now, you're just taking my trust for granted and I'm tired of it."

The next morning, she found an envelope on her bedside table that was a letter of resignation from Toad. She immediately got up and went to the Toads' quarters of the castle. But she was too late as he had already left and the Toads didn't know where he was going.

"Should we go after him?" Mario said after Peach revealed the letter's contents to everyone at the dining table during breakfast.

Peach shook her head. "I don't want to force Toad to do more than he already has."

Meanwhile, Peachette was crying silently.

"Geez," Bowsette remarked. "You guys are treating this like a bigger deal than it actually is. Toad was just a servant."

"He was more than just a servant!" Mario argued. "Toad was our friend."

"But not enough of a friend to stick around when his feelings got hurt," Bowsette, Jr., added. "True friends should always stick together no matter what."

"He had every right to leave," Peach admitted. "Because I took advantage of his friendship, he doesn't trust me anymore. And now I don't even trust myself…."

Excusing herself from the table, Peach hurried back to her room and didn't come out again for the rest of the day. So Daisy took it upon herself to see Peach and knocked on her bedroom door after dinner.

To be continued…