Page 22 of Pandion

“Well, like… like, um… ah, never mind. I’m sure it’s fine.”

“If I notice him acting strange, what should I do? Send him over?” Takazaki scratched his head.

“No, uh, well, I guess… maybe tie him up and have him sleep it off, haha.” He’d meant it as an obvious joke, but there was no way that laugh hadn’t sounded suspicious. “Well, have a nice night, bye!” Harumine smiled and waved awkwardly.

“OK, will do, thanks, bye.” Takazaki waved back equally awkwardly and watched Harumine close the door in front of him.

Kagesawa felt better. Sure, drinking didn’t solve anything, but drinking, a good movie, some tasty snacks and, most importantly, some good company did go a long way in making him feel better for the time being.

While he couldn’t bring himself to talk about his actual issues, he was pleasantly preoccupied by a conversation about the economy in a mediaeval fantasy film and whether or not it was feasible for a king of a certain size kingdom, with corresponding wealth, to be able to afford to feed and equip his fleet of dragons and dragon riders while still able to hire servants to capture two thousand jackdaws to send off at the princess’ wedding. The number of reed baskets and traps alone was ridiculous.

Takazaki seemed to think the jackdaws were conjured by a wizard for the occasion. Kagesawa begged to differ. Due to the gravity of the question, they needed an impartial judge.

“I’m going to ask him,” Kagesawa decided and turned off the manual dampening on his amp.

“Who? Harumine-san? Are you sure?”

“It’s not that late. He should still be up…”Satoru, hey, can you hear me?He projected the question as concisely as he could manage while Takazaki paused the movie and counted the number of dragons in the garrison.

Uh, what?Harumine projected back after what seemed like a pause.

Were you asleep?Kagesawa asked.

No, just umm, never mind, ah, jackdaws, why jackdaws? Are they, I dunno, expensive?

“He wants to know if jackdaws are expensive,” Kagesawa said.

Takazaki snorted. “I’d say they’re probably cheaper than doves.”

“And now he’s asking what a dragon eats, how much and if that’s expensive.”

“That’s a valid question. I don’t know. But I’m telling you, the wizard is handling the jackdaws. Imagine how expensive it would be to feed two thousand jackdaws if they were captured a few days beforehand. Capturing them using traditional methods at the very last minute might be risky. What if something goes wrong? Do you postpone the wedding or skip the bird release? Someone is bound to lose their head for that.” Takazaki unpaused the movie and munched on a carrot stick he’d dunked into the dip. It was probably more dip than carrot, but there was a reason carrot sticks were the supreme dip-carrying vessel. With the right thickness, the carrot to dip ratio was easy to perfect.

Kagesawa had some more beer and relayed the gist of the conversation to Satoru.

“Why is she even marrying that dweeb? She could have anyone. What’s so good about him?” Takazaki grumbled. He wasright to be critical: the prince in question was an ass. He’d done nothing but bring misfortune upon everyone he’d met thus far. Kagesawa laughed, but it wasn’t solely at Takazaki’s comment.

“Did he say something?”

“Yes.” Kagesawa wiped tears from his eyes from laughing so hard, “I think he’s drunk.”

“What did he say?”

“He’s asking if it’s an African or a European jackdaw.”

“Huh, I don’t know that.”

“That’s what I said. You know what he said?”

“Hmm?”

“‘That’s why you’ll never be the king.’”

“Why are you laughing so hard? What’s so funny?” Takazaki looked perplexed, which admittedly made it funnier—even if most of Kagesawa’s mirth was due to him struggling with a budding feedback loop.

“I’m sorry, there was a little more to it, but it’s difficult to explain.” Kagesawa managed to calm himself down to a chuckle.

I din’t mean it like that, I take ‘t back,Satoru projected.

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