Page 81 of Fumiko and the Finicky Nestmate
“Juuyu!” It was almost a whine. “She’s barely holding herself together. She could break you.”
“I do not believe it will come to that.”
Sinder muttered, “Since when are you so optimistic?”
It really was very unlike him.
When Juuyu presented his body as a canvas, Fumiko tapped her paintbrush against her chin and circled him. Akira looked on with a thoughtful expression.
“Are you well?” Juuyu inquired in Japanese.
“I am.” Akira asked, “Did anything happen today?”
“Nothing of consequence.”
“Guess that makes sense,” he said with a sigh.
Fumiko startled Juuyu when her fingers danced up his arm and grazed his shoulder, stopping just shy of his blaze. He was used to the familiarity of trees and Fumiko often behaved like one, so he simply arched an inquiring brow.
“What should we do?” she asked.
“Please yourself.” It hardly mattered. In a few hours, he’d wash it away.
Akira suggested. “Red flowers. Lots and lots of tiny red flowers.”
Fumiko’s gaze was both intent and impersonal as she studied Juuyu’s torso and limbs. “Yes, all right. Good choice, Remi.”
“I’m Akira,” he gently corrected.
“I knew that. I was distracted.” Then she painted a tiny red flower on Akira’s cheek and two more alongside his eyes. “Like these?”
Akira reclaimed his phone from Hallow and used it to check. “Can you add a dark yellow center? Or maybe it was more orange?”
With a smaller brush she added tiny speckles, giving the impression that the flowers were thick with pollen. Juuyu had a sudden sense of déjà vu, but he couldn’t put his finger on why.
“Like so?” she asked.
“Perfect!” Akira snapped a selfie and moved to Juuyu’s side. “Let me show you where we started. Portia went first.”
Juuyu appreciated the distraction from Fumiko’s brushstrokes, which trailed and twirled in ticklish ways. Akira had taken pictures of Portia, whose green eyes sparkled from amidst a swarm of tiny butterflies.
“I needed to ask Portia some stuff,” Akira continued. “And while we talked, Fumiko painted. Did you know that she has a pollen sample from the museum?”
“Portia does?” Juuyu frowned in concentration. “What for?”
Akira was unusually calm. “I did some asking. Colt remembers escorting her there, and he says that a lady named Magda remembers meeting her.”
Juuyu was having trouble aligning this detail with the other facts from the case. “When was this?”
“The day before yesterday. I found the pollen sample in a fancy locker thing in Portia’s workroom. It’s labeled and dated, but she doesn’t remember how it got there.”
Akira’s eyes were shimmering. What had made him sad?
He flicked to another picture. Melody’s face wreathed in flowers.
“Did you know that some kinds of pollen have lingering effects? Especially if it’s from an Amaranthine tree. According to Melody, after it gets into your system, it’ll keep working for two or three days.”
The next photo was of Antigone, who flexed an arm decorated by dainty seashells.
