The next morning, Berry woke to find me carrying a mountain of fruits, vegetables, and plants over to him. “Good morning, sleepyhead!” I greeted, a perfect smile on my face.

“...Klue?”

“You’re still injured, so don’t move, ‘kay? I got you a bunch of food, so just sit here and relax.” I set the pile of food down next to him and settled down. I picked out a few pieces of fruit for myself, and after a moment of watching, Berry also reached out to eat.

We ate beside each other for a few minutes. When I had finished, I drew up my legs and sat hugging my knees. I watched Berry eat. I suppose he had already gotten used to me staring at him, so he wasn’t especially bothered.

“Hey, Berry. Thank you for saving me last night, and for protecting me all the time. You’re the reason why I was never attacked before, right?”

Berry paused in his chewing. He lowered the leaves in his hand and mumbled, “...You were almost hurt.”

“But that’s not your fault.” I sighed and looked up at the treetops. “I need to find my horse. It ran off earlier. Hope it’s still alive…”

Berry fidgeted with the leaves in his hands. “You… after you find the horse… you’ll go?”

I laughed. “Still trying to chase me out?” I cast a look at Berry, who looked embarrassed. My smile deepened. “No. I’m not planning on leaving so soon. I’ll stay at least until you’re healed. You won’t be able to move around well for a few days - the least I could do is help take care of you. Also - I think it’s high time that someone taught you some very valuable life skills.”

Under Berry’s confused gaze, I stood and pointed at his face.

“You, Berry! In all your years of life, you’ve never talked to a girl before, have you?!”

“....?!”

The shock on his expression spoke for itself. Of course he hadn’t! ‘But what does that have to do with anything?’, he was probably thinking. Oh, this pure, innocent boy - how many times have I seen men like this become tongue-tied in front of their first loves, unable to say a single word, acting so much like a block of wood that even paint on the wall seemed more interesting? Even the handsomest of knights and the most charismatic of entertainers would stumble and make a fool of themselves in front of their crush. Let alone Berry, who could barely talk to anyone at all (i.e. me) on a good day. What was he going to do when the Maiden of Light showed up?!

Was he going to scowl at her and hover around her head like a ninja?! Was he going to pretend to be mute while the other four guys buzzed around her, and the Crown Prince swept her off her feet with some cheesy princely lines and a few trite quotes of poetry?!

No! I refused to see that happen! If Berry was going to end up being someone else’s, then I had to make sure he was prepared to negotiate for the best deal he could possibly get!

Thus, I came up with a plan -

“I, Klue, am going to teach you how to woo the Maiden of Light!” I swept my bangs dashingly, letting a sparkling aura fill the air around me. “With me as your tutor, I guarantee that you’ll be able to seduce anyone. After all, I am an expert! Once you’ve learned from me, she’ll fall into your hands like putty!” Granted, I had never once in a million years tried to seduce a woman, but if even that shitty Crown Prince could do it then there’s no way that I wouldn’t be able to do it, too.

Berry gave me a completely blank expression. It was the type of face that said both, ‘I don’t understand what you mean’ and ‘No one asked you for this’. But who would I be if I let that stop me?

“Alright, we’ll start after breakfast. Be prepared, Berry!”

Against the full force of my enthusiasm, Berry could only quietly crunch on his leaves.

“So, Lesson One! In order to attract a partner, you have to know your good points and show them off!”

I held out the lesson plan I had written on a piece of paper and pointed at the first item on the list. Berry obediently looked at the paper, then at me. “Good… points…?”

“That’s right. These are things that people will like about you. As for your good points, why, I know quite a few of them - so don’t say something like, ‘I don’t have any’. That’s absolutely not true, okay? So now, I want you to think very carefully about what some of your good points might be.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

An incredibly long silence drew out between us. The birds screeching from the trees were having better conversations than we were.

“...Okay, I suppose it might be difficult if you don’t have any examples to think of. Then how about this - why don’t you think of some of my good points?” I pointed at my smiling face with both of my hands. “What are some of the things you like about me, Berry?”

Berry looked at me.

Another incredibly long silence stretched across several minutes.

...Hey. Hey, Berry. If you leave me hanging like this, I’m going to feel like there’s nothing about me that you like. What about my fluffy, smooth hair? Or my youthful, charming face? Or even my pink, perky nipples? There has to be at least one thing about me that comes to mind, right?! The corner of my lips twitched.

I lowered my hands, feeling a headache growing. Giving up, I said, “Okay, forget I--”

“You… bring things I like…”

Berry’s quiet response cut off my words.

I blinked my eyes in surprise, and recovered with a smile. “That’s right! Whenever I went out traveling, I always made sure to bring back fruit that I thought you’d enjoy. That trait is called being ‘considerate’ - it means thinking carefully about another person’s feelings, likes, and dislikes, and taking care to do things that would make the other person feel good. In my case, I brought you tasty fruit because I knew you’d like them, and I wanted to see you happy. That makes me quite a considerate person. So! Good work on recognizing one of my many, plentiful good points.”

Berry cast a solemn look at me. “...But you did things… I didn’t like…”

“Well, no one’s perfect.” I quickly sidestepped his guilt-inducing words. “Moving on! Now that you’ve thought about another person’s good points, try to find at least one of your own. For example, why do you think I like you?”

“Why…” After a moment, Berry shook his head. “...don’t know.”

“Really? You can’t think of a single thing? What about your appearance? That was why I was first attracted to you, you know?”

“...” Berry hung his head low, his hair obscuring his face. He shook his head again.

Mmm. I guess it would be tough to have confidence in his looks when everyone else took off running as soon as they saw him. Heaving a little sigh, I reached out and poked Berry’s muscled chest. “What I like about your appearance is how large, strong, and fit you are. By society’s standards, the shape of your muscles is su-uper attractive. Whether it’s your bulging biceps, your eight-pack of abs, that sexy v-line, or your…” Whoops, Berry was starting to give me a suspicious look. I coughed. “It’s the opposite of me, right? You see how small and slender I am? Most women like tall, strong men like you. They wouldn’t give me a second glance. Sure, you might look a little scary at first. But I think that anyone who comes to know you will get to like you. That’s because your inner qualities shine through and show what a great guy you are.”

“...You think so?”

“I know so.” I lowered my hand to touch one of the healing wounds on Berry’s chest, my eyes falling as I traced its ragged edges. “There aren’t that many people who would go so far to keep other people from getting hurt. You were always fighting those demon wolves alone, to keep them from hurting other people. Whenever I visited the forest, you stayed with me to make sure I wouldn’t be attacked. You never asked for any compensation, never even told me about it. It says a lot about you, Berry. You’re selfless and kind, protective and brave. Even if meeting with other people scares you, that’s just because they’ve hurt you before. You’re a good person, Berry, and in a world like this… a world where people can be selfish and cruel… that’s such a rare and precious thing. And that’s why I think… that I want you to be happy. I want you to find the person you’ll love.”

I withdrew my hand. Before Berry could see the expression on my face, I covered it up with a bright smile and raised my head.

“A-ny-way, now that I’ve listed out all those good points of yours, I want you to remember them! So, repeat them back to me, Berry. What are your good points?”

Berry stared at me with a trace of reluctance. Fidgeting with his claws, he caved under my expectant gaze. “S...strong… and…”

It took the better part of an hour before Berry finally repeated all of the praises I had given him. It was harder to get him to talk than it was to pull out a tooth.

Well, in the end, at least he did it. Berry finished by saying, with a completely flushed and blushing face, “...a-and I’m… a good person.”

“That’s right!” I reached up on my tip-toes and patted Berry’s head. “Good, good.” By now, the sun shone brightly through the tree canopy above; it was already past noon. Observing that, I said, “Well then, how about we take a break for lunch? I’ll go forage for food and prepare some more medicine for you. Some of your wounds still look inflamed.”

As I started to walk away, Berry caught the hem of my shirt between his claws. “Klue…!”

“Hm?” Blinking, I turned back to look at him. “What is it, Berry?”

Berry had a complex expression on his face. Hesitating with his words, he said, “You’re… a good person, too.”

Caught off-guard, I ended up laughing, a pleased blush warming my face.

Aah, it was really nice that he thought so. I was glad.

ars

Hello! Ars here. Thank you for taking the time to read this story.

Recently I've been working hard on not only writing, but also drawing for this story. I've just finished a drawing of Klue, so I wanted to share it with you. Here it is!

You can view also view higher-resolution versions of the Klue & Berry covers on the scribblehub forums!

Thank you for joining me in this story!!