"Oh? What is this little brat doing here?"
A gruff voice spoke in a childish manner.
"You fool! That's the girl we are looking for."
Another feminine voice responded in a cold and harsh tone.
"The girl we are looking for? But she doesn't even look nearly as old as the little twerp did waaaay back when!"
"That's because she's still just a weak little toddler. Now, stop asking questions and take her back!"
"Oh, all right. I'll just, huh?! Where did she go?"
"What did you do now- Well, now... You have your annoying father's recklessness. This child has the courage to approach me."
"She's quite different from the twerps."
"However, her eyes are exactly like his... But, she has her mother's face..."
"Just how old did they say she is again?"
"Hm... Let us return."
"Okay. Just give me a second. I'll grab the child."
"No. Leave her here."
"WHAT?! Am I hearing this correctly? You want to just leave this kid here?!"
"Do I not make myself clear?!"
Rolling thunder rained down around her as the other voice cried out in a fright. However, that feminine voice continued, "Taking her with us now will cause more trouble than it's worth... for now."
The other voice sighed, "All right."
"Hmph..."
There was a cold darkness that enveloped her but quickly vanished as a feminine voice hummed in confusion only to be rather pleasantly surprised, "Hm? What's this?"
"What the-!" The other exclaimed in bewilderment, "That brat followed us all the way back!"
"Hush! I do not need you to state the obvious." The woman scolded the other, "Hm... We shall see what she does. For now, send her to my old castle in the moors. I shall see what she does there."
However, as soon as she could feel the warm hands around her waist, she slipped away and her hands grasped onto some smooth and soft.
"Come here now... Dangnabit! Get over here!"
"ENOUGH!" The feminine voice rang out. There was a moment of silence as a pair of cold hands grasped her around her waist, "Have you not noticed? The tower have not alerted the keyblade wielders."
"...Now that you mention it..."
There was another silence before the woman spoke again, "Child of man, what is your name?"
"..."
Hoshi grimaced in pain as something hit her head. She slowly opened her eyes as voices echoed in her ears.
"Right as we were about to duke it out. Some guy showed up... and then he peaced out!" Grim's voice echoed in her ears.
"Yeah, no way was that guy the groundskeeper." Ace sighed in dismay.
Grim grumbled, "Y'know, now that I think about it, he WAS wearin' the golden vest of that Pajama-clog dorm."
"Pajama... clog? You mean Savanaclaw?" Deuce hesitated in confusion before muttering worriedly, "You know, I'm starting to think that there's an awful lot of delinquents here at Night Raven…"
"Ugh..."
"Ah! Hoshi is awake!" Grim rushed over to her, "Hey, kid! About time you finally woke up!"
"What happened?" Ace questioned in confusion, "Grim said you passed out right after the fight was over."
"The fight?" Hoshi looked around and found herself back behind of the botanical garden structure. She slowly recalled what had happened and frowned, "That's right... There was about to be a fight. I accidentally stepped on someone's tail and we nearly got into a fight even though I apologized. Then, some guy came in and took him away. They seemed to call one another Leona and Ruggie... Those names... They both sounded very familiar... But, it doesn't look like they recognized me..."
"Looks like we'll drop by the nurse office before we go back." Deuce glanced to Ace hesitantly.
"Nah, it should be all right." Ace sighed, "Let's take her there after we make the tart. Anyway, you look better right? Help us pick some chestnuts."
He tossed her a clamp and a basket, "Come on! Let's go!"
"Coming." Hoshi nodded and got to her feet.
Deuce looked to her hesitantly, "Are you sure you're well enough to help?"
Hoshi smiled, "Yes. Thanks for the concern, though."
"Hey, guys!" Look at this one! There's so many chestnuts in here with fewer spines!" Grim called out them eagerly.
"Huh?" Deuce hurried over and looked at it, "Oh, you're right."
"Sweet!" Ace cheered and eagerly went for one, "Let's pick them up!"
"Those are..." Hoshi picked one up and noticed the still flesh green husk with pointy edges of spines. there was a crack revealing the hidden chestnuts inside but there was a pit in her stomach and she nearly vomited in response.
"Hoshi?" They looked to her in confusion.
"Drop them!"
"Those aren't edible chestnuts. Why are those trees even in this part of the forest?"
"Come here. Just toss those chestnuts out. We'll go pick chestnuts somewhere else."
"Father, I remember there are some sweet chestnuts behind a large stone boulder. Let's go."
"Hm, 'what are those', you say? Well, to put it simply, those are-"
"Horse chestnuts. They look like sweet chestnuts but are poisonous. You can tell by the green husks and the small number of spines. When eaten, they can cause stomach pain, nausea, vomiting and throat irritation... Ugh." Hoshi clutched her stomach painfully as she took in deep breaths.
"Poisonous?!" Grim threw the chestnut away in disgust.
"Hoshi? I think you should rest a bit more..." Deuce frowned and brought her under a tree, "Just take deep breaths."
"Wait here. We'll be right back." Ace told her as he and the others went to gather chestnuts nearby.
Feeling reluctant yet defeated, Hoshi nodded her head quietly and sat in the shade taking deep breaths. Concerned, Deuce whispered to Ace, "Hey, do you think Hoshi is going to be okay?"
"She just needs to rest a little." Ace responded with a nod, "She clearly remembered something again."
"But, the last time she remembered something she passed out and, just now, she looked very pale."
Ace hesitated, "Yeah. You'd almost think she was the one who ate that poisonous chestnut... Huh? There's no way..."
"What?"
Ace shook his head nervously, "N-Nothing. Let's hurry and pick up the chestnuts. We'll drop Hoshi off with the counselor office on the way to the cafeteria."
"Well, all right."
Hoshi looked around the area quietly in deep contemplation and disappointment. She had wanted to go help Ace and the others pick chestnuts but now here she is stuck in the shade with a clamp and a basket doing nothing but watch. This made her feel discouraged as she poked around the dirt with a stick. It was then that she noticed a chipmunk nearby who carefully approached her. It tilted its head.
"You're acting funny. Is something the matter?"
Surprised, Hoshi looked around but it made no sense for a voice coming from a chipmunk to be heard from afar. Was this still reality? Was she actually hearing a chipmunk talk? Then again, she did hear the professor's familiar spoke this morning too. However, how can be sure she wasn't just imagining it? Hesitant and embarrassed she spoke to the chipmunk, "Did you just talked?"
The chipmunk puffed his cheeks indignantly, "Who else do you think was talking?! Anyway, tell me what's going on? I'm up for a good gossip."
Surprised, Hoshi looked up to the others and saw them busy away with collecting chestnuts. She sighed and nodded, "I was going to help my friends pick chestnuts. However, due to my condition, I suddenly felt faint and was told to wait on the sideline while my friends pick them instead. You see, we have to make a tart with the chestnuts and I wanted to help, but..."
"But now you feel more like a burden, right?" The chipmunk finished without hesitation.
Though feeling saddened, Hoshi nodded again. The chipmunk tilted his head, "If its chestnuts, I can help."
"Huh? But, it's autumn, right? Don't you still need to finish storing food for the winter?" Hoshi looked to it in bewilderment.
"When your home is in this area, is it really so difficult to gather food? I've long since finished stocking my home with chestnuts. If you're not from around here, it is easy to confuse a bad chestnut with a good one."
The chipmunk replied, "Though, when you're done, make sure to get me some of this 'tart'."
"I don't know about that, but I can try." Hoshi smiled, "Just the look of Horse Chestnut made me nauseous."
"Huh? Have you had those bad ones before?" The chipmunk look to her in surprise, "Otherwise, how can you feel nauseous, like you have now?"
"What?"
"Don't you know? You humans are so sensitive to your social life that you don't want to rely on your instincts anymore! Geez. Listen well! Whenever me or my partner has ingested poison, we would try to vomit it back out or curl up to wait for the poison to be done with. However, after that, we start to figure out how to tell which is the bad nut from the good ones. By the time you are able to figure it out without wasting your time, you're already an expert on telling which is bad and which is good and how it would make you feel bad if you ingest it. I've only ingest it once, but my partner has ingested it twice. The second time to get over it was actually a couple days faster than the first. I've seen it, so it can't be wrong!"
A chill ran down her spine.
A creature that can differentiate the poisonous one just from consuming it and surviving the effects. And... Can actually tell which is bad just from gut feeling... Could she have... have ingested this poison before?!
"So do you want help or not?" The chipmunk's squeal interrupted her thoughts.
"U-Um... sure." She nodded as she was snapped back to reality, "Thank you again, Mister Chipmunk."
"You got it." The chipmunk ran up a tree and shouted, "Darling, we got someone who needs our help! Wanna give the kid a hand?"
A big chipmunk darted out onto the branch he is on and looked at her from afar, "Oh my! That human is so skinny! But... She doesn't feel like someone who will try to harm us… Oh, all right… She needs our help, you say?"
"Yeah!"
"But dear, what about that giant cat?" The partner inquired with a worried sigh.
"Didn't you see the cats in these parts yourself? As long as they have plenty of those rocks, they'll be fine. Come on! I'll get started!"
The chipmunk pair leapt down and began heading for the chestnuts on the ground. The partner called out, "Don't forget not to stuff them in our mouths! The humans seem to dislike that. Just roll the food if you can't balance yourself."
"Oooph! Thank you for the reminder, darling!" Mister Chipmunk responded and began rolling the chestnuts to her basket. She watched on in awe the two quickly filled up the basket full of chestnuts. When they were done, the partner hurried back to her den as her husband followed after before looking back and calling out, "Don't forget about this tart you talked about!"
"I won't!" She smiled gratefully with a bright smile, "Thanks again!"
"Hey, Hoshi! What's wrong?" Ace called out to her in confusion.
Surprised, Hoshi looked around in confusion! How can she explain to them that she could talk with the chipmunks here and asked them for help?! She stammered, "U-U-Um! My basket is filled!"
"Wha-?!" They stared at her in disbelief! Wasn't it just a few minutes ago that she was staring gloomily on the ground with an empty basket and now it's filled with chestnuts?!
However, Ace just doesn't want to care anymore as he gave a dry smile, "All right, that should be enough chestnuts. Let's get these baskets over to Trey!"
"Myahaha! Now that we're all gassed up, it's destination: Flavortown, baby!" Grim cheered with his full basket.
As they left the forest, she looked back and nodded with a cheerful smile.