"There's a great cluster over there."
"I see it." Alice twisted her fingers. She had only brought seven dolls with her on the forest excursion, but that was more than plenty: quick as thought, the dolls marched over, plucked and cleaned the mushrooms, and placed them in the basket two of them carried above their heads.
Marisa whistled as she placed her own half-laden basket more snugly beneath her arm. "Like clockwork each time."
Alice smiled, feeling some of the apathy that had taken hold of her let go. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate both the activity and her present company, but the truth of the matter was that she didn't take well to sudden changes to her routine. When Marisa had barged into her house and suggested she come over to try out her famous mushroom soup — preceded by a trip through the forest to pick the chief ingredient for it — she had thrown Alice's plans for the day into complete disarray. Plans that had chiefly involved staying at home and sewing new dolls between tea breaks. In other words, wonderful plans.
She suppressed a sigh. If nothing else, the forest was beautiful today, verdant with a few distant hints that the goddess of autumn leaves had begun her work near the edges of the woodland. The air was warm and crisp, and when Marisa threw her head back, thin streaks of sunlight glittered through her hair. Alice would manage. "How many more do we need?"
"As many as possible. I'm gonna dry the ones we don't use for the soup today. Or are ya gettin' bored?"
"I'm fine."
"Wanna spice things up?" Marisa flashed a grin. "A five minute race. Whoever picks the most mushrooms in that time gets to make a request."
No suggestion that any request made would have to be honoured. In other words, there was little hope Marisa would relinquish any of her "loans" should she lose. But a contest was a contest. Alice stretched her fingers. "I hope you are prepared."
"Gonna make 'Prepared Magician' my next title. And go!"
The layer of dead leaves and fallen pieces of bark crackled underfoot as Marisa sprang into action. She strolled confidently from mushroom patch to mushroom patch almost as if she knew in advance exactly where her next target was. Perhaps she did.
Alice wasn't going to allow herself to be bested so easily, however. She walked on, directing her cohort of dolls forward the instant she spotted something even vaguely mushroomy nestled between the roots of a tree or hiding in the shadow of a rock. The basket filled up nicely.
Just as the five minutes were about to be up, she paused, pleased with her mushroom-gathering performance, and saw a larger than usual circle of sunlight. Within it was an equally unusual circle of mushrooms. She raised her voice. "Marisa?"
"Yeah?" The forest rustled, and the next moment Marisa strode over, wiping the foot of a mushroom and stowing it in her now much fuller basket. She grinned as she saw the fairy ring. "That's the first one I've seen this year. D'ya think—"
She fell silent and joined Alice in staring at the object growing at the centre of the ring.
It was, one assumed, a mushroom. At least, its white foot matched those of the mushrooms encircling it. Its cap, however, was nothing like those of the rest. For starters, it was bright pink, so pink in fact that Alice wouldn't have been surprised if it glowed in the dark. And then there was its shape: it was a ring, plain and simple, standing upright on top of the foot. Alice could imagine tugging at it to discover a hidden trapdoor in the moss.
"Okay." Although her eyes shone, the rest of Marisa's expression spoke of suspicion. "We should figure out if it's the harmless kinda magical phenomenon or somethin' incident-heraldin'."
"Should we take it with us or leave it—"
Marisa had already stepped into the ring and plucked the mushroom. She twirled it in her fingers, haphazardly cleaning it as she did so. In spite of her casual movements, her gaze was intense, studying the impossible mushroom cap as though it was tome containing hidden knowledge about mycology and magic alike. Alice found herself drawing closer and entering the fairy ring as well.
Finally, Marisa broke out of her trance. "I can't tell. It's magical, obviously, but it might just be a side effect of all the fairies that have been hangin' around lately."
"Will you show it to Reimu?"
"I should. Just in case." A dewdrop on the mushroom caught the light as Marisa twirled it again. "It really looks like a ring, huh?"
Before Alice could respond, Marisa dropped her basket on the moss and knelt down, holding out the mushroom. "Alice, will you marry me?"
Alice breathed in, anticipating the flutter in her stomach yet unable to completely suppress it. She did, however, manage to fold her arms and sigh. "If you keep this up, one day I'll take you seriously. Then what will you do?"
Marisa grinned as she got up. "Who knows? I just might have to marry ya."
"Would you have actually given me that mushroom if I had said yes?"
"Probably. Although now that I think about it, I'm guessin' you'd like something more traditional as an engagement ring."
"I would prefer a real ring, I suppose."
"I'll make a note of it. Seventh time's the charm." Marisa picked up her basket and carefully slid the mysterious mushroom on top of the pile. "I'm famished. Wanna head back?"
"We should. We still have to clean and sort the mushrooms before we can even think of cooking."
"That's faster with two people, anyway. Or maybe we'll save the soup for dinner." Marisa held out her hand. "Let's see what else we can rummage up to eat."
They had walked most of the way back when a thought crossed Alice's mind. "Hold on. Which one of us won the race?"
"I did. Ya should've plucked the fairy ring while you had the chance."
"Liar. My basket is obviously fuller than yours."
"Only because you had more to start with." Marisa flashed her a smile. "How about we both get to make a request?"
That was one way to refuse to admit defeat. "I'll have to think about mine."
"That's fine. I'll have to prepare for mine."
"Honestly..." But Alice was more than content to keep their elbows linked together the rest of the way to Marisa's. She even decided to hold onto the fluttering feeling as it rekindled itself.