Serdin chattered away with a rare flushed face.
“Originally, Pipi should be doing this for me, but Pipi is quite shy. So today I’m going to do it for you. From next time on, Pipi has to do it for me.”
“…”
“So then, Pipi, should I do it on your head or your cheek? Or your beak? I like the wings too. The butt is fine as well. The soles of your feet aren’t bad either. Mm, the eyelids could work too. Of course, they’re so small I’d have to work really hard.”
Though he’d drawn out his words at length, wasn’t he essentially saying anywhere was fine? Formo let out a deep sigh with narrowed brows. His mind was becoming completely hazy from Serdin’s chattering. He stared at Serdin with eyes full of fatigue.
“Don’t tell me you want it on your forehead? You’d like to receive it on your forehead? Okay, Pipi. If that’s what you want, I can do it on your forehead.”
Saying that with a face full of amusement, Serdin closed his eyes and brought his lips toward Formo’s forehead. It was a moment so innocent that anyone who didn’t know better would think it was a beautiful moment of interspecies love blooming.
However, when Formo blocked Serdin’s lips, which had approached right up to his face, with his wing, that atmosphere instantly vanished without a trace. Serdin, his lips blocked by the small wing, lifted his eyelids to assess the situation.
“Pipi?”
Formo shook his head at Serdin, who called his name in a puzzled voice. At the head shake that felt both firm and resolute, Serdin’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.
It seemed this adorable bird was planning to bring his beak over himself. That head that didn’t even look like a single mouthful seemed to only come up with the most charming ideas. Serdin smiled silently as he watched Formo’s small beak slowly approach his cheek.
Finally, just as the beak was about to gently touch his cheek—
“…Pit?”
Something entered Formo’s vision. It was some kind of tail. It disappeared behind a building in an instant so he couldn’t see what shape it was properly, but what he’d glimpsed was definitely an animal’s tail. Formo, who had been about to bring his beak to Serdin’s cheek, ended up freezing in that state.
“Pipi, what’s wrong?”
Serdin asked, half-opening his closed eyes. Formo was about to turn his gaze toward him when he discovered strange marks on the ground. They were large footprints. They seemed to belong to an animal with a massive build. Formo’s beak gaped open as he carefully took in the footprints.
“Pipi?”
Serdin’s voice didn’t reach Formo’s ears as he pondered the identity of the animal that had left the footprints. Formo looked around with a thoroughly tense expression as he turned his head. Fortunately, aside from the footprints on the ground, no other particular traces were visible.
Formo gulped down his dry saliva. To be honest, he was afraid it might be a predator. Since he’d recognized this as perfectly human territory, he’d vaguely thought all along that there would be no animals here except for himself. And in the midst of that, he’d witnessed a tail and large footprints.
And of all times, on his first walk.
Formo’s pupils wavered left and right in confusion.
“Piii…”
Serdin, who had been watching Formo with narrowed eyes, asked with a surprised face at the sight of the long-tailed tit letting out a frail cry and shrinking his body.
“Pipi, are you nervous?”
Formo raised his head at the softly asking voice and met eyes with Serdin. He could see the golden eyes worriedly gazing at him. Formo, who didn’t want that wretched human of all people to realize he was scared and nervous, pouted his beak somewhat discontentedly before nodding his head very slightly.
Dignity and everything else aside, he was afraid because it seemed like a predator was lurking around. Despite this being his first walk outside, Formo had no lingering attachment left and urged Serdin to hurry back inside.
“It’s okay, Pipi.”
Serdin spoke soothingly to Formo with a gentle voice.
“Pi? Piit, piiik…!”
[What? No, I’m saying I’m not okay…!]
Formo, who had been spouting complaints with baffled eyes, soon shut his beak tightly and turned his head sharply. His body, which had been thoroughly shrunken, had somehow returned to normal. Though he couldn’t believe it, he’d really become okay just as that wretched human had said.
But why on earth had he become okay? Formo thought for a long while trying to figure out the reason, but nothing else came to mind. Was it because he got so angry whenever he looked at Serdin that he forgot his fear? But that was only natural. Formo’s beak jutted out as he thought this.
Meanwhile, Serdin was taking Formo back inside the villa.
“It seems Pipi is scared of walks, so it would be better to go inside. Right, Pipi?”
At the gentle question, Formo halfheartedly waved his wing. It was a wing-flap that meant ‘you’re completely right, so don’t keep going on about that embarrassing fact and just quietly head to the bedroom.’
Having returned to the bedroom like that, Formo bustled about on top of the bed. Serdin also sat in a chair with a face full of various thoughts and quietly watched Formo. The more he thought about it, the more his mood sank. In that heart-fluttering moment when Formo’s beak was about to touch his cheek, what on earth had happened?
What had he seen that made Formo tremble in fear?
“Pipi.”
Serdin called Formo’s name softly. However, that voice didn’t reach Formo’s ears as he busily moved around trying to calm his agitated insides. Formo’s long tail feathers trembled as he turned his back to Serdin.
“Piit, pii…”
[What if there really is a predator…]
Being in the same territory as a predator was absolutely something that must not happen. Formo’s eyes darkened as he felt the threat to his life. If there really was a predator here, he needed to leave as soon as possible. Having made up his mind like that, Formo clenched his beak shut.
“Pipi, what are you thinking about so hard?”
While Formo was lost in thought, Serdin, who had sat down on the bed, spoke up from right nearby. Then Formo’s small body jumped up high.
“Piit!”
[You startled me!]
Formo chattered with wide eyes and scrunched up his face as much as possible.
“Sorry. Were you very startled?”
The sight of Serdin asking with a shameless smile made Formo dumbfounded. Whether he knew of Formo’s exasperation or not, Serdin stroked the long-tailed tit’s round head and gently suggested.
“Pipi, shall we go for a walk to my office tomorrow?”
Well, it didn’t seem like a bad suggestion. Formo, who had become extremely sensitive, nodded with a prickly expression as if he was being very generous.
Watching that face, Serdin’s lips twitched slightly. He pulled and fixed his lips that were trying to rise up endlessly without knowing limits as he ran his hand through his hair. A faint sigh escaped through his teeth. It was because he hadn’t realized that holding back laughter that tried to burst out at any given moment would be such a difficult task.
The next day, Serdin headed to his office with Formo as he’d suggested. Having somewhat adapted to the unnecessarily splendid corridor interior, Formo sat on Serdin’s shoulder and scratched his neck with an indifferent expression. And Serdin, who didn’t miss even that sight, asked with a voice mixed with laughter.
“Pipi, was your neck itchy?”
“…Pit!”
Formo, who glared at Serdin with surprised eyes, irritably shook his tail feathers. This wretched human tried to observe and tease him at every opportunity. Formo clicked his tongue inwardly and let out a deep sigh. Except for this wretched human, it had been quite a satisfactory place, but having seen traces of another animal, he could no longer stay at ease.
“Pipi, come down.”
Even though they’d arrived at the office, Serdin extended his hand to Formo, who showed no signs of getting down from his shoulder and was spacing out. The eyes that had been unfocused and hazy discovered Serdin’s hand and clearly returned. Formo placed his feet on Serdin’s hand and came down onto the desk with his help.
“…Piit?”
[…What is all this?]
But what was this? On the desk were a bunch of cushions and toys he hadn’t seen before. Formo looked up at Serdin with eyes that said he didn’t understand.
“If there’s anything you like, pick it out, Pipi.”
“…Pii?”
“It’s all yours, Pipi.”
Formo, who had been blankly staring at the cushions that looked even more comfortable than the sleeping cushion he currently used and branches that were the perfect size to hold in his beak, suddenly came to his senses.
He suspected that this wretched human might be reading his thoughts and deliberately showing him nice things so he couldn’t leave. Formo narrowed his eyes and scanned Serdin.
“What’s wrong? Is there nothing you like?”
As if. Everything was so much to his liking that it was a problem. That’s why it was all the more suspicious.
“If Pipi doesn’t like them, I’ll put them away.”
However, when Serdin spoke in an indifferent tone and really seemed about to put the things away as he reached out his hand, the suspicion faded a bit. He didn’t know when he’d leave here anyway, so it would be fine to have one extra cushion and a couple of toys, right?
Formo, who rationalized to himself while jutting out his beak, selected a sky-blue cushion and two branches with his wing.
“Pipi, you liked these?”
Serdin, who smiled, asked that as he picked up the cushion and branches Formo had chosen and set them down in front of him.
“From now on, whenever you come to the office, you can rest on this cushion, Pipi.”
“…Pi?”
“Thanks to Pipi, I think coming to the office will become enjoyable.”
“…”
Formo looked at him with eyes that said he didn’t understand why the conversation was flowing in that direction. What Formo had suggested was a ‘walk,’ not ‘commuting’ together every day. Moreover, if he ended up commuting to the office with Serdin every day, he wouldn’t have any time alone. Not having time alone was the same as losing time to seek out escape methods.
“Pit!”
Formo, who sharply shook his head, stubbornly asserted his intentions.
“Piiit, piii!”
[If I come to the office following you, when am I supposed to find an escape route, and when am I supposed to escape?]
Serdin, who had no way of understanding this, merely thought ‘our Pipi is throwing another cute tantrum’ and just smiled quietly.
