Angel knew nothing of the turmoil outside. At this moment, he was staring at the pure white mushroom with a strange look in his eyes.
He had now circled around to the front of the mushroom. Just as he had guessed, there was no living creature on its front—the one speaking truly was the mushroom itself.
A long slit had opened in the mushroom, which could temporarily be called a "mouth." Its earlier singing and conversation had both come from that mouth.
Angel had previously seen the mouthparts of several kinds of mushrooms. This mushroom was the strangest, because there were no teeth in its mouth—only strands of hanging mycelium. The filaments curled like musical notes, trembling with shifts in pitch.
As Angel carefully observed the mushroom, its conversation suddenly changed tone.
"Damn it, he's here!" A shout blended the earlier faint female voice with the hoarse voice. The two voices had been conversing, but suddenly cried out in unison.
When that piercing cry fell silent, the large white mushroom closed its mouth and said no more.
Angel was bewildered by this string of actions. What was going on? Could "he" be referring to me?
"Ah, the Message Mushroom has finally stopped. I can finally speak." Just as Angel had no idea what was happening, the previously quiet Mushroom Forum suddenly resumed its discussion.
"It must be shy. Being watched by the noble Lady Shava, I'd be embarrassed too."
"It isn't just shy. The Message Mushroom on the other side has shut up too, so naturally this one stopped as well. Still, Lady Shava's arrival must be the biggest reason!"
What followed was a string of praise for Shava. From the mushrooms' conversation, Angel roughly understood what had happened earlier.
This pure white mushroom was called a Message Mushroom. The