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Chapter 45 from “Miniature Garden Chemister part 2 – Miniature Garden”
“Hinamiiii!”
“Yikes!”
A little girl rushed towards me, calling my name. Just as I was wondering what the heck this was, Ikuru shielded me and held back the girl with his hand.
“Ah! What are you doing!?”
“This is Hinami-sama’s house. Who are you?”
“It’s Maro!”
Poof!
And then…
The girl suddenly turned into a snow rabbit…Maro…
“M-M-Ma-Maro!?”
I yelled out in surprise. Ikuru seemed surprised too and let out a small voice.
The cute little girl turned into a snow bunny. What does this mean? It feels like she’s transformed into a humanoid…or something like that?
“Mii~”
“Maro~!”
I rush over to Maro and hug her. Oh, it’s been an amazingly long time since I’ve seen Maro. I’m not sure if Ikuru is convinced or not, but he seems to be watching over everything with a dumbfounded look on his face.
“I didn’t expect it to really become a spirit…”
“Humph! Compliment me some more!”
“…You have a disappointing personality.”
“What!?”
Maro, who had turned into human form again, seemed to be slightly damaged by Ikuru’s straightforward impressions, though she made a smug face at Ikuru’s words.
The tone of her voice is just…isn’t it quite unique?
“Hinami, Ikuru is terrible!”
“Haha, Maro is cute~”
I pet Maro, who nostalgically bounces up and down on me. Oh, her hair is so fluffy. After all, it must be because she’s a snow bunny. She’s still fluffy even when takeing human form.
“But when I go outside of Hinami’s <God’s Miniature Garden> skill, I can’t go into human form. So I can only chat with Hinami in the house and garden…”
“Eh!? I see, that’s too bad. But we’ll have lots of time to talk at home with that!”
“Of course!”
Apparently, when emotions run high, Maro has a certain tone of voice. What a cute little creature! No, it’s Maro.
“Well, for the time being, this house and the city are connected. Is Maro…able to humanize in the shop from the city?”
“Mmm!”
At Ikuru’s words, I’m sure it’s right too…If Maro remains in human form, it’s safe to assume that <God’s Miniature Garden> will apply to the inside of the shop as well.
The result is…?
“Oh, I think I’m okay here.”
Maro takes one step into the city shop, but there is no change in her body. Does that mean that the shop is recognized as my territory? This is…I’m going to ask God about it, just in case.
“But I probably won’t be able to go outside of here.”
“I think so. Once you walk out that door, you’re already in the city. As expected, Hinami-sama’s skills won’t be able to reach you there.”
“Yeah. I have a feeling it’s going to be a bad idea to do that in the future.”
Maro nods and obediently leaves the door that leads to the city. It’s hard to watch because she looks a little lonely, but it can’t be helped in this sitation.
Maro calls out to me, “I’m fine! I’ll help you in the shop!” I had been a little less nervous thinking about Maro, and on the contrary, I felt encouraged.
“Yeah. Let’s do our best together!”
“Yes!”
“…And Ikuru, right?”
“Hmm. I know.”
Ehehe.
I was kind of very happy with their replies. Ikuru and Maro. It was becoming more and more lively around me…it felt like a dream I had been wishing for in the past two years that I had spent alone.
“Oh, that’s right!”
“?”
Maro said, “I forgot!” And started rummaging through the chest of drawers in my room in a hurry, looking for something. I wondered what was going on, and then she pulled out three bags.
Huh? I don’t think I ever had a bag like that in my drawer…I didn’t know what it was.
“There’s a letter attached!”
“Oh, that’s true.”
Maro put the bag on the desk and handed me the letter that was with the bag. I was surprised to see the enveloped addressed to me written as  “Hinami.”
This is God’s handwriting.
When I turned the envelope over, I saw the name “Ligris” written on it. I gently traced that name with my finger. I didn’t expect to get a letter from God.
“Hinami-sama?”
“Ah! I’m sorry, I’ll read it.”
He must have been suspicious of me as I paused with the envelope. Ikuru called out to me and I was brought back to consciousness.
I opened the neatly sealed envelope and took out the sheet of notepaper inside. On it, the words were spelled out in a familiar handwriting.
——
To Hina:
Congratulations on going into the city and buying your own shop.
I’m sure Hina’s shop will be very popular in no time. Good luck, I’ll be rooting for you!
Oh yeah, I’ll give you some clothes to celebrate the shop…I think it will suit your taste, so please wear it.
If you ever need any help, you can always call me at any time, okay?
If it’s Hina’s voice, it will definitely be heard.
Well then, I’ll see you later.
Ligris
——
That means…
Could this bag possibly be the shop uniform? If so, I’m so happy!
I quickly open the bag and take out my new clothes.
“Wow! Amazing!”
“Oh! It’s lovely!”
Maro and I both had an apron dress with lace and flowers.
Maro’s main color is light blue, and mine is mainly orange. They both look great.
While the two of us were chattering away, Ikuru didn’t seem to be moving. I wonder what’s wrong with him…he’s a boy, so maybe he wasn’t interested in clothes?
As I was thinking about that, Maro opened the bag for Ikuru as well.
“Oh! It’s a good look!”
“It’s true! It’s very cool…!”
Ikuru’s clothes are a deep green color, with a waste-wrapping type of apron.
Unlike our clothes, there is no lace or flowers, and the design is very simple and seems to suit Ikuru’s slender frame very well.
“…Ikuru?”
“……”
I don’t know if he was thinking about something or not, but he had became silent as soon as I read the letter. The expression on his face didn’t seem particularly angry, but I didn’t understand the reason.
When Maro asked, “What’s wrong?” Ikuru’s looked at Maro. Then his gaze turned to me and then lingered on God’s letter on my desk.
“…Is that the guy you call God or something?”
“That’s right, but…you know, it’s not polite to call him ‘that guy.’ What’s wrong, Ikuru?”
There’s no inflection in his voice and it was kind of scaring me. Ikuru…Is he angry at God for some reason?
“Hinami-sama is being used as God’s toy…how can you be so happy about that?”
“Eh! Because he saved my sister Hana, and in fact, I’m very grateful to God for that…”
Oh, could it be that Ikuru was speaking out of worry for me?
I…I was happy with my life now. Although I had been separated from Hana and my family…I’ve also been able to meet people like Ikuru, Maro and Thia.
When I told him that, Ikuru let out a huff and muttered, “You’re an idiot.”
Then Ikuru turned to Maro.
“I mean, Maro. Your timing was too good to thee point it’s suspicious. Aren’t you a pawn of this god’s?”
“What!?”
“What are you talking about? That’s not possible!”
I was a little surprised at Ikuru’s problematic statement, but I couldn’t think of any reason for God to do such a thing.
“I don’t think he’d go through that kind of trouble, do you? Besides, I’m sure he’ll call me if he needs anything.”
“That’s right!”
I looked at Ikuru, thinking that Maro’s all-out denial was kind of cute, but he just looked at Maro suspiciously.
“You’re too upset…”
“That’s not the case!”
For some reason, Ikuru and Maro are staring at each other.
Are they on good terms or not…? I wonder. Maro energetically says to Ikuru, “Now you’re just going to have to let it go!” To which Ikuru replied, “Yes, yes,” and played along.
Oh, did they make up?
“This is my win, Maro.”
“Hmph! I’ll overtake you immediately!”
“What the heck were you even fighting about…?”
I wasn’t sure what it was, but when I asked the two of them, their voices hummed and they replied, “It’s nothing.”
“Well, this outfit…is for Ikuru. I’d like for you to use it, but do you dislike it?”
“…It’s okay”
“Thank you!”
As I presented the clothes to Ikuru, he was able to accept them rather honestly.
I was relieved because I thought he might not accept it since he didn’t seem to think very positively about God.
“Yeah, it looks good on Ikuru after all!”
“You look great!”
“You’re overreacting…”
Ikuru easily fit into clothes, and when I saw it, it looked great on him.
Maro immediately wanted to try hers on, so she took the clothes and ran to the bathroom to change.
“Why don’t you try yours on, Hinami-sama?”
“What? But I think it’s too pretty for me…”
“It’ll look good on you, so it’s fine. Here.”
“Uh, yeah…I understand.”
Ikuru pushed my back, so I headed straight to the bathroom as well.
It was a little embarrassing to come out alone, so my plan was to change and come out together with Maro.
I mean, I hope Ikuru will be okay…he has a lot of thoughts about God. I wish I could make time to talk to him, even at night.
While thinking about this, I rolled up the sleeves of my apron dress with Maro.
“Ta-da! Isn’t it pretty?”
“This is embarrassing…”
Maro was confident as she changed and ran out into the living room. I was embarrassed, so I followed Maro, making myself smaller.
“What do you mean by saying that about yourself…”
“But isn’t it cute? Is there anything wrong with that, Ikuru?”
“I hope you share some of that confidence with Hinami-sama.”
Wait, was I not confident enough  to share? With a bit less confidence in Ikuru’s words…I don’t know if this was wrong, but I have to stay positive!
“Well, you both look good in it, don’t you?”
“Excuse me, but saying that as a question is rude!”
“Ah yes, yes. It’s cute.”
It’s quite lively, with Maro arguing against Ikuru’s words.
“Okay, I’ll make some tea!”
“Oh, I’ll help too!”
“Then, should I cut up some fruit?”
I go to the basement to get the mana potions for tea. I felt very relaxed and Maro strolled along behind me. It almost felt like I was Hana.
“The potions made by Hinami are really delicious. I secretly had some…erm, sorry?”
“Oh, there’s plenty to go around, so you can drink as much as you want.”
“I did it! As expected of Hinami, she has a big heart~!”
Maro looked happy and lightly made her way down the stairs.
She jumped the last five steps and made a spectacular landing. As expected of a snow rabbit, I guess. When she jumped down, she gave me a slight scare! Thank God she was okay.
“There’s so many! You’ll make a lot of money from this and become rich…that’s what I’m talking about!”
“No, no, I won’t sell that many.”
“Is that so?”
With a scowl on her face, Maro asked why? And then seemed to appeal with her eyes.
If you’re asking why…well…
“My potions, you know, are a rather special kind of potion here. So I don’t plan to sell a lot of them all at once.”
“I see…it’s true that Hinami’s potions are amazing. I thought Hinami was going to sell her inventory without thinking about it~”
While laughing, Maro asked, “So the store won’t be too busy then?” She seemed to be picturing herself standing in the shop.
“Hah! If I’m this cute in the store, there might be no shortage of men coming my way!”
“You’re right, Maro is cute.”
But wouldn’t any guy who came for Maro be a pedophile? Because Maro’s appearance was of a  10 year old for all intents and purposes.
She’s a snow bunny, so her real age might be even older, but I was starting to get worried. It might be dangerous if I don’t take good care of Maro properly
“Hinami-sama, Maro?”
“Oh, I’m coming now!”
As I was joking around with Maro, I heard Ikuru’s voice calling out to us.
Yeah…maybe I should ask Ikuru to watch over Maro because I was worried about her. Yeah, I’ll do that.
“Let’s have some tea then, Maro!”
“Yeah!”
We held hands and hurried up the stairs to Ikuru, light on our feet.
I had a nice cup of tea and my heart danced thinking of the future with Maro.