episode_0040

“You met Jin?”

Amy came back after finishing her urgent work.

I immediately told him what had happened at the park.

“Yes!”

I nodded vigorously.

After that, his evil deeds were exposed one by one.

“They stole our sandwiches.”

“This is crazy… .”

Amy muttered, touching the corner of her mouth after hearing what I said.

She glanced at us and then took out her cell phone.

I looked at her phone with sparkling eyes.

Once Amy took out her phone, almost everything was resolved.

“Nothing else happened?”

“Anything else?”

“I mean, is there anything different or strange than usual?”

I was deep in thought over Amy’s question.

It was a daily routine no different from usual.

Amy’s absence was felt greatly, but other than that, it was a routine life.

“Well, I don’t think so.”

“What about Shine?”

“Me neither.”

Amy, who had been fiddling with her cell phone, turned to us and opened her mouth.

“You didn’t talk to Jin, did you?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, good job. Next time we meet, don’t answer and run away.”

“Yes.”

Amy smiled slightly and patted me and Shine on the head.

Hair that flows gently.

A pleasant smile appears on Amy’s face as she feels her hands digging through it.

Amy immediately started calling someone.

After some time, the other person answered the phone.

“It’s me.”

“I told you, don’t approach the kids.”

Amy stood up from her seat and began talking on the phone.

As the distance grows longer, her voice grows distant.

I wasn’t talking close to the person on the other end of the call, so I couldn’t hear their voice.

“Entrance test? Don’t say anything weird. How do kids do that?”

“You stole the kids’ sandwiches too?”

“Huh? Sleeping pills in a sandwich? What kind of nonsense are you talking about?”

“Why are you asking me if I forgot my shoes?”

“Huh? You think the kids took it?”

Amy, who had been talking on the phone from a distance, looked back at us.

I waved at Amy.

An awkward smile appears on her face.

“Stop talking nonsense and just do your work. And if you get caught approaching the kids again, I won’t let you go on that mission.”

After ending the call, Amy put her phone in her pocket and approached us.

On the table were the round donuts that Amy had bought.

I swallowed hard and looked at the donut.

The appearance of the donut coated in pink chocolate was truly delicious.

Amy brought out a large plate of donuts and handed them to Shine.

“Did you buy it outside?”

“Yeah. I bought it for you guys.”

I bit into a large donut and studied Amy’s face.

When he came back from his last outing, his face looked tired, but now he looks fine.

I looked at Shine’s face.

Shine was looking around with a large donut in her hand.

A sweet aroma wafted from the donuts coated in black chocolate.

Shine’s gaze turned to the donut I was holding.

She looked at the teeth marks on the large donut and, like me, opened her mouth wide and bit into the donut.

Shine’s eyes widen as she eats the donut.

The eyes start to sparkle and shine.

A small smile appears on Shine’s lips.

“What have you been doing?”

As I munched on my donut, I explained in detail what had happened while Amy was away.

I didn’t say that I didn’t brush my teeth before going to bed.

“Do you clean this every day?”

Amy’s eyes as she spoke, looking straight at me.

I turned my head away, avoiding her gaze.

Short legs swing back and forth.

“What time did you go to sleep?”

I couldn’t answer this time either.

While Amy was away, I would fall asleep early every morning to catch up on the late-night specials on anime.

If I told the truth, Amy would definitely scold me.

“I… . I went to bed early.”

I looked at Shine with eyes asking for help.

But she didn’t seem to notice my gaze as she kept biting into her donut.

“Really? Can I believe it?”

“Yes!”

I nodded vigorously.

Amy looked at me, smiled playfully, and patted my head.

The large box of donuts was quickly emptied.

I, who was caressing my swollen belly, fell limply onto the table.

I was so full I couldn’t move.

It was the same for Shine, as she leaned her face on the table in the same way as me.

As I was rubbing my cheek against the cool table, I suddenly began to wonder what Amy had been doing.

“Amy.”

“Huh?”

“What were you doing outside?”

“I did many things~”

Amy answered with a mischievous smile, as if she had no intention of giving a proper answer.

Her pink hair fluttered before my eyes.

I let out a small sigh.

Then he moved his gaze and looked at Shine’s face.

She was fiddling with the empty donut box, wondering if she liked the donuts.

“Outside, it’s like Shine… So, are there a lot of people like us?”

“Like you?”

“People who are experimenting in the lab.”

“Very much.”

I bit my lip.

The expression ‘a lot’ didn’t really hit home.

“What Amy does is save them, right?”

“Yeah, saving good kids like Shine and Jeff from bad guys.”

“Are they bad people?”

“Bad.”

No answer came from Amy.

It was the answer I heard from Shine, who was fiddling with a box of donuts right next to me.

“Bad?”

“Yeah. You hurt me.”

Shine’s gaze looking at me became blurred, as if recalling the memories of that day.

Her gaze reminded me of the time we met in the old lab.

When we met through the thick glass wall, she had those eyes.

“So they are bad people.”

I nodded absentmindedly.

“Was Jeff sick too?”

“Me… ?”

I made a subtle expression.

I began to recall memories of that day.

Was I sick?

No, should it hurt?

The gazes that met Shine’s were dizzyingly tangled.

Shine reached out and grabbed my hand.

A soft warmth flows through my hands.

I was lost in thought.

The warmth flowing through Shine’s hand brought back memories of that day.

The floor of a cold laboratory.

I was sitting on it.

Sharp needles. Tasteless liquid.

A sound that gives me a headache.

Memories I’ve never experienced before begin to pour out.

My body starts to tremble.

Startled, I pulled my hand away from Shine.

“Jeff?”

“Ah… .”

I wavered uneasily at the sight of Shine looking at me.

The emotions in her eyes are conveyed.

I slowly shift my gaze to look at Amy.

She was doing a great job.

I nod my head blankly.

“That’s right… It hurt.”

I spoke, recalling my memories of that day.

The cold laboratory floor.

Thick glass walls.

Cold stares flying in from all directions.

What was I like back then?

A gaze observing the test subject from beyond the glass wall.

A view of the researchers from inside the glass wall.

I was standing there.

Inside the glass wall, beyond the glass wall.

It felt like my left and right eyes were looking from different directions.

The gaze begins to tilt to one side.

The left eye, looking into the glass wall, slowly begins to close.

Outside the darkened glass wall.

I was left behind in a glass wall.

A little girl sitting on the cold floor reaches out her hand.

But there was no one.

A long time passed without anyone holding her hand.

“Jeff.”

I shook my head.

Shine got up from her seat and approached me.

Her two hands were pressing my cheeks.

Her gaze was directed towards mine.

I opened my mouth and answered.

“Yeah.”

“They are very bad people.”

“That’s right. They are very bad people.”

The faint reflection on the glass wall was definitely my own.

White hair falls out limply.

I nodded.

“Amy was doing a good job.”

I mutter blankly.

I shuddered as the horrible memory came back to me.

“How is it? Does it look great?”

Amy smiled and said to me.

I nodded.

The work of rescuing the people suffering there.

Amy looked cool all over again.

I said to Amy with sparkling eyes.

“Isn’t it dangerous?”

“I’m not dangerous.”

“Really?”

“Okay.”

“That’s really cool, Amy.”

Amy seemed to be shining brightly.

Just like the little witch Lucy.

I was able to look at this place from a completely different perspective than before.

It feels like my blurry vision has cleared up.

I jumped down from my chair and said to Amy.

“I want to be like Amy.”

“Me?”

“Yes!”

Amy smiled awkwardly at my shout.

She said, stroking my head.

“You’re still young, so it’ll be hard for you.”

“I’m not young!”

“Right, Jeff was an adult, right? ”

“Yes!”

“Then can you promise me one thing?”

“Yes!”

“If you grow as tall as me, and you still don’t change your mind, I’ll let you.”

I looked up at Amy.

She was quite tall.

No, it was very big.

I lifted my leg with a sad face.

But the height is woefully inadequate.

I couldn’t even guess how long it would take to grow like Amy.

“If you grow up like Amy, can you do what Amy does?”

Shine also opened her mouth, seeming interested in what Amy was doing.

Shine jumped down from her seat and stood next to me.

She and I were the same height.

“If only you could be as big as me.”

Shine and I exchanged glances.

They nodded to each other and ran straight to the refrigerator.

We took out the milk from the refrigerator and immediately started drinking it in gulps.

But I couldn’t drink much.

A belly that’s bloated from donuts.

The milk inside made my stomach churn, as if it wouldn’t allow any more movement.

I feel like I’m going to vomit out all the donuts I just put in my mouth if I take just one step.

Shine and I lay on the floor helplessly.

I was so full I couldn’t move.

A goal has emerged.

You have to grow tall!