episode_0444

“Sigh…”

I sat down near the flower bed and watched the children running and playing.

As I watched Rain running around with a bright smile on his face, I couldn’t help but sigh.

Of course, I wasn’t pointing out Rain’s acting skills.

It’s just that, whenever I hang out with kids, I feel like I’m becoming younger, so I can’t approach them easily.

“Why are you sighing like that?”

“Oh. Sister.”

I raised my head at the voice coming from above.

Shine, leaning against the wide open window at the top of the flower bed, was looking at me with only her upper body sticking out.

It was only then that I realized that the flower bed I had been sitting in was near the infirmary.

“I just… I’ve been feeling a bit guilty lately…”

I sighed and wiggled my fingers.

Shine, who was listening to me, smiled faintly and took out a lollipop and bit into it.

“Shall I give you one?”

“It’s okay.”

I liked candy, but I refused to walk around with a lollipop in my mouth because it made me look like a real child.

It was while I was spending time near the flower bed, caressing the flowers.

Shine, who had been blankly staring into the distance, began to sharpen her expression and started glaring at somewhere.

I, too, shifted my gaze to match her sudden change.

A boy slowly approaches from where Shine is looking.

He was looking at me with a blush on his face.

I turned my head with a disgusted expression.

Although this kind of thing has happened occasionally, it seemed like it would be difficult to just let it slide this time.

The boy’s face was filled with determination, and in his hands he held a small chocolate bar and a pretty flower.

It was a really bad choice to come confessing during class.

“Oh, I feel sick, unnie…”

The affection that was bumping into me was burdensome and nauseating.

As I muttered in a small voice, feeling as if everything I had eaten for breakfast was coming back to me, Shine held out her hand.

I didn’t reject that touch.

Shine, who had lifted me up like that, lowered me into the infirmary.

As I was hiding my body by pressing against the wall, I heard the boy’s footsteps approaching me.

“Over there, over there!”

“What?”

At the boy’s question, Shine’s rough voice flowed out.

Still, since he was playing the role of a good teacher, he seemed to answer.

“That, that…”

At the boy’s bewildered voice, I covered my mouth.

If it weren’t for Shine, I would have been caught by that boy without being able to move.

As I held my breath and quietly closed my eyes, the boy continued speaking.

“Where is Sasha, Sasha?”

Sasha.

It was the name I used during my missions.

The ominous premonition became reality.

Shine let out a big sigh at those words.

“There isn’t any?”

“Ha, but earlier, clearly…”

“No.”

“Hee, heehee…”

Shine started lying shamelessly.

Obviously, it’s the boy who came looking for me after seeing me sitting here.

That means I saw myself being carried into the infirmary in Shine’s arms.

“Hey, in here…!”

“Aren’t you in class?”

At Shine’s comment that cut off the boy’s words, the sound of footsteps suddenly grew distant.

Knock knock knock, the sound of someone running with all their might lets out a sigh of relief.

Cadduk-

The sound of candy breaking coming from Shine’s mouth was eerie.

“How many times has this happened?”

“This is the 4th time this week…”

Shine sighed at my answer.

“Today, I have as much as I want.”

“Ugh…”

I nodded to Shine’s words and crawled into bed.

As I covered myself with a pure white blanket, my nausea began to calm down a bit.

While we were spending time like that, Shine, who was pouring coffee, suddenly spoke to me as if she had remembered something.

“Oh, you know that?”

“What?”

“I just got a call from Appleton.”

“Oh, no, I didn’t check…”

I answered Shine’s words, feeling my pockets.

Although his cell phone was in there, he didn’t seem to be able to check the text messages because it wasn’t the one he normally used.

“I think we should have a reunion.”

“Dong, class reunion?”

“Yeah.”

At Shine’s words, I recalled past memories.

My memories from that time weren’t all that bad.

Rather, it was on the good side.

I nodded and asked Shine.

“Are you going, Sister?”

“Well, what if you go?”

“Umm…”

“If I go, will Prince and Appleton come out too?”

“… I guess so?”

I nodded.

I wanted to go.

***

After returning to headquarters, I started preparing various things.

Of course, there was still a long way to go until the reunion appointment, but I still had to prepare in advance so that I wouldn’t be flustered when it came.

“Are you ready already?”

“Yeah!”

“Looks like a new person.”

I answered Shine’s questions while reading the book and stuffed various things into my bag.

The first thing I packed was a small notebook.

A notebook for writing down various things was more helpful than I thought.

The next thing I packed was a series of rock dinosaurs that I could show off to the kids.

I have to collect only the really cool and pretty ones and show them off to Appleton and Prine.

I was packing my bag while imagining such happy things.

“Jeff. When you get back, you should wash your hands first, right?”

“Okay. I’ll just do this.”

As I was vaguely answering Amy’s question and rummaging through my bag, Amy came up behind me and lifted me up.

I complained, flailing my short legs.

“Oh, Mom! I’m busy right now?”

“You said there’s a month left until the appointment?”

“That, that’s true, but…”

I bowed my head to Amy’s words.

Yes, that’s right.

There is still a month left until the appointment time, so there is no need to prepare now.

Amy let out a small laugh at my appearance and patted my head.

“Wash your hands quickly and come back. I’ll prepare a snack.”

Amy said that and lowered me to the floor.

I opened my mouth cautiously, looking around.

“Oh, what snack do you want today?”

“Cookie.”

“Koo, Cookie!”

At Amy’s answer, I ran to the bathroom.

I pass through the wide open door, step onto the step, and diligently wash my hands at the sink.

The girl reflected in the large mirror hanging on the washstand was smiling very happily.

***

Amy smiled happily as she watched Jeff run into the bathroom.

Both of them had grown up and were feeling sad, but now that Jeff was letting that go, Amy was happier than anyone else.

Shine looked at the bathroom door with a blank expression.

Obviously, Jeff was now an adult, almost 20 years old.

But the actions he was showing now, and the thoughts he was having from time to time, were not at all those of an adult.

Didn’t they say that the mind follows the body?

Shine began to worry with a serious expression.

“Mom.”

“Huh?”

Shine, who was about to pour out her worries, closed her mouth when she saw Amy smiling happily.

If Mom likes it, then there’s nothing we can do about it.

And now that he had lost his abilities anyway, there was nothing he could do.

Shine sighed at the helplessness she had been feeling lately.

“It’s nothing.”

Amy smiled slightly at the sight of her eldest daughter and began preparing a snack.

Take a box full of cookies from a high shelf and place them on a white plate.

Chocolate cookies filled with chocolate were one of my youngest daughter’s favorite snacks.

“It’s a class reunion… I’m jealous…”

“Are you jealous?”

Suddenly, Shine asked back in surprise at Amy’s words that came out without thinking.

Amy nodded absentmindedly.

I’ve never had a class reunion before, so I was curious about what it would be like, but also envious.

Unlike himself, Jeff and Shine seemed to have many close friends.

“Have you never been there, Mom?”

“Yeah. I’ve never heard from you before.”

“Mom, do you want to go with me?”

“What? Why am I going there?”

Amy gave an awkward laugh as she answered Shine’s question.

Shine stroked her chin at Amy’s words.

If Amy hadn’t been there, it was likely that her friend Lane hadn’t either.

Shine thought of Rain, looking incredibly excited on the way home.

So that’s what it was.

Shine couldn’t believe that Lane was the same age as Amy.

“Cookieee!”

Dododo, the voice coming from the bathroom makes me smile without thinking.

Shine got up from her seat as she watched her younger brother running out, giggling.

Judging from the water dripping from her hands, it seemed she hadn’t even wiped it with a towel because she was thinking of eating the cookies.

Jeff slumped down on his seat, his eyes sparkling, and his legs shaking wildly.

He even knocks on the table as if to say, “Hurry up and do it.”

***

Time passed quickly, and the promised date approached.

I nodded before leaving, carrying my overstuffed bag on my back.

Rain wasn’t much different from me.

It seemed like she had packed a lot of things into her bag, and it was so full it seemed like it would burst.

So much so that if you stick your finger out and poke it, it will burst.

“Are you really going to take that bag?”

“Yes!”

I nodded to Amy’s question.

There were so many things I wanted to brag about to a friend I hadn’t seen in a long time that it was hard to count them all.

So I packed everything.

“Rain too?”

“Yeah!”

Rain nodded and answered.

Amy let out a small sigh at the sight of the two of us.

It seemed like they were worried about us, but it was for nothing.

“Alcohol… Even if I tell you not to, you’ll still drink, right?”

I nodded to Amy’s question.

I had already finished researching what to do at the reunion.

Wouldn’t it be nice to hang out with friends, drink, eat delicious food, and spend time having fun like that, and then part ways on good terms?

There couldn’t be any alcohol left out of that place.

“I’ll take good care of it.”

Shine answered Amy’s words, patting my head.

I avoided his touch and hid behind Rain.

I peeked my head out of my small body to check Amy’s expression, and she looked at me as if she was still worried.

“Oh, can I not go?”

I shook my head vigorously at Amy’s question.

How much did I expect, and why did you say something like that?

“We can do it!”

Rain shouted, thrusting his chest forward.

That confident look was so cool, I would have liked to give her a kiss on the cheek if only Amy and Shine weren’t there.

Nodding to Rain’s words, he looked at Amy, who eventually nodded with a big sigh.