…?

…?

 

A flower cup literally means placing your face on someone’s hand.

Everyone might interpret this action differently, but…

Personally, I tend to consider this act as extremely embarrassing.

‘Well…! It’s embarrassing to do it directly.’

I placed my face on Grandmother Lecia’s palm, and unable to contain my embarrassment, I wagged my tail at an incredibly fast speed.

My head feels hot, and my cheeks are burning red as I don’t know what to do.

Grandma Lecia narrows her eyes while looking at the phone and speaks with a somewhat puzzled voice.

“I’m sure… I remember there was a recording button here, but I can’t see it.”

“…?”

“Hmm, let’s see. Ah, here it is.”

Grandma Lecia smiles and presses a button, and at that moment, from the phone.

[Video recording starts.]

A somewhat strange sound spreads out.

Hearing that sound, I blink with a dumbfounded expression.

Grandma Lecia shakes her head while looking at the phone as if she doesn’t understand.

“It’s a bit difficult.”

Hearing this, I thought it would be good to teach her how to operate the phone, so I tried to remove my face from her palm.

“Ha-eun, just rest like this. Grandma will figure it out.”

As if she doesn’t want to remove my face from her hand, she stops me and calls Chae-a.

“Chae-a, won’t you help this grandma?”

Didn’t you just say you’d figure it out on your own?

As I hear her words change in just one second, I have a blank expression.

Chae-a approaches proudly and says.

“Chae-a knows…! This is how you do it!”

She picks up the phone, puts it to her ear, and speaks loudly.

“Hello! Hi! I’m Chae-a!”

Grandma Lecia asked about how to take photos.

But it seems Chae-a understood it as how to use a cellphone.

I was giggling at this misunderstanding while watching them.

Grandma Lecia, looking rather pleased, patted Chae-a’s head vigorously.

“Chae-a, you’re so smart. Thank you for teaching grandma how to do it.”

“Yes! I’ll teach you more next time!”

Chae-a, happy to be praised, giggled and returned to her original spot.

In conclusion, nothing was actually resolved.

But everyone (except me) seemed satisfied, so the atmosphere was quite cheerful.

*

Click.

After numerous attempts, Grandma Lecia finally succeeded in taking my picture.

I had been covering my face with my palms for so long that my face was bright red and my head felt incredibly hot.

Grandma Lecia seemed to find my reaction cute, chuckling as she spoke to the other children.

“When you hold Ha-eun like this, her cheeks suddenly turn red.”

“It’s true…! Ha-eun is so cute because she’s a baby!”

“Baby.”

Everyone was smiling as they looked at my face.

I didn’t quite understand what was so enjoyable, and my tail stood up nervously.

Feeling that this couldn’t go on, I removed my hands from my face and spoke.

“Gra, Grandma, what is this?”

To change the subject, I pointed at the hairpin and asked what it was.

Grandmother, still smiling, told me.

“As I said before, it has protective magic on it. To be more specific, first, it activates the protective magic, second, it maintains body temperature and generates food, third, it creates a temporary shelter, and fourth, it requests help from nearby dragons…”

It has so many functions that it’s difficult to understand.

From the middle part, it contains professional techniques and functions that I don’t really understand, so I’m just staring blankly.

Chae-a, who was next to me, spoke to Grandmother Lecia with sparkling eyes.

“Then… can we call the blackies like this?!”

“Blackies?”

“Yeah. Those blackies over there!”

Chae-a pointed at the trembling blackies in one corner, her eyes shining.

Grandmother Lecia looked at the blackies and smiled softly, then shook her head and said.

“Unfortunately, we can’t call the blackies.”

“… Then I’ll give this to you, Grandmother! With this, you can call the blackies!”

Chae-a took small pebbles out of her pocket and placed them on Grandmother Lecia’s hand.

I’m not sure what connection the pebbles have with the blackies.

But seeing Chae-a speak so confidently, it seems they must have some function.

Wondering what they could be, I glanced at them.

Chae-a pointed to each pebble with her finger and explained what they were.

“This one is the first blackie’s favorite, this one is the second’s favorite, and the last one is Chae-a’s favorite.”

“That’s wonderful. Did you find these yourself, Chae-a?”

“Yes! I searched hard to give it to grandmother.”

Grandmother Lecia ruffled Chae-a’s hair wildly, finding her adorable.

Chae-a giggled and squirmed, then suddenly ran off to a corner of the lair and disappeared.

As I was silently watching this scene.

Grandmother Lecia gently stroked my cheek and calmly said.

“Then this grandmother will go ahead and leave. If word spreads that grandmother has come, everyone will be uncomfortable, you see.”

I shook my head to indicate that wasn’t the case at all.

But Grandmother Lecia just smiled and stood up from her seat.

“And Yuna.”

Yuna blinked with a surprised expression, as if she hadn’t expected to be called.

Since she still seemed unfamiliar with adults, I held her hand to reassure her.

Grandmother Lecia slowly stroked Yuna’s head and said.

“You don’t need to worry anymore. All problems will disappear. Understand?”

“Yes.”

“Then next time we meet, call me grandmother. That would make me very happy.”

Yuna nodded shyly, fidgeting a bit.

But since her nine tails were swaying gently, indicating she didn’t dislike it, I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking it was fortunate.

“I’ll be going now.”

Just hearing these words, it might sound like she was leaving decisively.

But in reality, her expression was overflowing with regret, and she kept looking back at me every few steps she took.

Anyone could tell she didn’t want to go.

I hesitated for a moment as I looked at Grandma Lecia.

Deciding to make an effort for the grandmother who cared for me so much, I ran to Grandma Lecia, hugged her tightly, and said.

“Thank you…!”

I’m too shy to act cute or say I like her.

But I could express my gratitude as much as I wanted, so I sincerely thanked her, and Grandma Lecia hugged me with a truly happy expression.

“Sweetie. While grandma’s away, eat well, don’t get hurt, and stop being a flower vase for Perseus. I’d like it if you contacted grandma often.”

Then she spoke to me with words full of worry and affection, kissed my forehead.

And carefully put me down while saying.

“I should go now. If I stay like this, I feel like I’ll never be able to leave.”

I know it’s a joke, but it feels strangely sincere.

As I bow deeply to grandmother with gratitude.

Just as a breeze blows enough to slightly ruffle my hair, Grandma Lecia’s figure disappears without a trace.

‘……’

I know it’s not a permanent farewell, but just a temporary one, yet it’s still a little sad.

As I drag my drooping tail and hang my head low.

Yuna, who had been watching all of this from the side, grabbed my hand and said.

“I’ll blow on it for you.”

“Huh?”

“When it hurts, if you blow on it, it gets better… so I’ll blow on it for you.”

It seems the healing ability she used along with blowing on it when we first met left quite an impression on her.

Ha-eun blew hard on my forehead and looked at me with an expression that said, ‘I did well, right?’

I couldn’t help but smile at Yuna’s cute behavior and nodded.

“Thank you.”

At my praise, Yuna’s tail wagged frantically.

As I was staring blankly at the tails swaying back and forth, Chae-a, who had gone far away, came back and said.

“Where’s grandma?”

Ah… she doesn’t know she left.

As I was thinking about how to explain this, keeping my mouth shut for a moment.

Yuna, seeing this, briefly said.

“She left.”

“Huh?”

At those words, Chae-a looked shocked, with an expression on the verge of crying, looking back and forth between us.

Thinking she might really cry if left like this, I quickly pulled out my phone and said.

“Wait a sec…!”

Then I made a video call to Grandma Lecia and handed the phone to Chae-a.

[Huh? Ha-eun?]

Grandma Lecia sounded puzzled that I had called less than a minute after she left.

Just as I was about to say something to grandma.

“It’s grandma…!”

Though she didn’t cry, Chae-a, with reddened eyes, giggled and stared intently at the phone.

[Is Chae-a crying? Who did this? This grandma will go and scold them right away.]

“Chae-a didn’t cry… Chae-a is a grown-up, so I held it in.”

Although it was obvious to anyone that she had cried, Chae-a shook her head and boldly lied that she hadn’t cried.

Then, she brought her face close to her phone and started talking about something.

“I was sad when grandma disappeared… but I’m happy to see you again. The blackies say they’re happy too. But the blackies disappeared… Where did they go!? Wow, there’s a worm sister over there. The worm sister is so cool because she’s all wiggly. So when Chae-a grows up, she’s going to be like the worm sister…!”

Perhaps she was feeling very upset about the sudden disappearance.

She starts talking about all sorts of things, bringing up various topics.

To others, it might look like she’s just rambling, but to me, it seemed like she was trying to keep Grandma Lecia from leaving by talking as long as possible.

‘It’s because Chae-a is so affectionate.’

As I was thinking about what to do, wondering if this was the reason she was acting like this.

Chae-a spoke while sniffling.

“Okay, then I’ll go? Grandma, don’t cry because Chae-a is gone, okay? You understand?”

Then she got up and went to where the blackies were.

“…?”

I don’t quite understand the actions of babies.

As I was holding my gently swaying tail, wondering why she went over there.

Yuna, who was next to me, looked at me and said admiringly.

“Chae-a is amazing because she’s like an adult.”