episode_0051

I waited for the paint to dry while admiring the magnificent appearance of the dinosaur.

“What has Rain been doing?”

“Just this and that.”

Shine began to ask questions, curious about what preparations Rain was making for the New Year’s event.

“What exactly are you doing?”

“Um… . Preparing gifts for employees… . Events and… .”

Rain muttered, wiggling his little fingers.

As I watched her like that, I started asking about Amy.

“Is Amy doing the same thing?”

“No. Amy will be busier than me.”

“Where’s Amy?”

“Um… .”

Rain took out his cell phone in response to my question.

She tapped the screen here and there and nodded as if she understood and answered.

“Is it below?”

“Below?”

“Yeah, I think it’s on the floor right below.”

Shine and I looked down at our feet at Rain’s words.

That doesn’t mean Amy was visible though.

Amy was closer than I thought.

I immediately jumped up from my seat.

“Jeff?”

Shine said, looking puzzled by my sudden movement.

I looked at Shine and Rain and said.

“I’m going to Amy.”

“But Amy said she was busy.”

“So I’m going.”

A question mark floats over the two people’s heads.

I looked at that sight and answered confidently.

“Going to help Amy!”

“Us?”

Rain makes a flustered expression at my words.

“Yeah!”

“Good idea, Jeff.”

Shine seemed to have the same thoughts as me, and jumped down from her seat.

Shine and I stood side by side and looked at Rain.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea… .”

Rain looked at us like that and let out a small sigh.

“Do you know where the road is?”

“I don’t know!”

Since you said it’s on the lower floor, all you have to do is go down the stairs and look around the entire floor.

But Rain responded to my answer with an uneasy look in his eyes.

“Do you know how big it is?”

“Isn’t this similar?”

“That’s true, but… .”

“Rain, tell me!”

I said, shaking my body.

Rain, who had been sitting on the chair and groaning, flinched at my words.

“Okay.”

After thinking for a moment, Rain jumped down from the chair with a small sigh.

So the three of them left the room together and walked down the hallway.

“Didn’t Rain go on vacation?”

“Yeah.”

I looked into the empty hallway and asked Lane.

“Team members, are you on vacation?”

“That’s right.”

“Then why didn’t Rain go?”

“Because I’m the team leader.”

“Team leader can’t take a vacation?”

“That’s not it… .”

Lane answered my question with a puzzled expression.

“At least one team member has to be inside the base. Last year, I was on vacation, so this time, the team members will go.”

That’s all.

The sight of Rain speaking like that.

It was an answer that felt like it was somehow very different from Rain’s appearance.

Without realizing it, I reached out and stroked Rain’s head.

Her soft blonde hair tangled around her fingers and flowed gently.

“Rain is amazing.”

Rain, who received my touch, mumbled and then lowered his head.

Rain’s ears look slightly red.

But he didn’t refuse my touch.

After walking for a while, I was able to arrive at the front of the stairs.

The number of people passing by the stairs had decreased even further than before.

“There are a lot less people.”

As I looked at that sight and muttered softly, Rain answered.

“Around this time every year, many people return home.”

“Home?”

“Yeah.”

“Everyone had a house… .”

I looked around with renewed eyes and muttered.

I met the same people every day.

I thought they lived here like me, but they had their own home.

It was a bit shocking.

house.

house.

It’s home.

I walk down the stairs, lost in thought.

When I think of home, the only thing that comes to mind is a house with a pretty red roof.

A wide fenced yard with green grass.

“Um… .”

I glanced at Shine’s profile.

Shine walking forward without thinking about anything.

Her white hair scattered before her eyes.

“Shine.”

“Huh?”

“Where is my house?”

Shine, who had been walking smoothly, stopped walking at my question.

When she stopped, Rain’s steps also stopped, and so did mine.

“Home… ?”

“Yeah.”

No matter how I think about it, it’s still strange.

I can’t remember anything else around me except my house.

I begin to recall the surroundings of my house, relying on my vague memories.

road name.

Was there a road?

A view of the city unfolding near my house.

But there was a sense of incongruity somewhere.

I felt a sense of rejection at the sight of the city that seemed to have been created by piecing together images of the city from somewhere in my memories.

“Jeff.”

“Huh… ?”

“Did you forget?”

The gaze looking at Shine wavers.

He responded by cringing at her words as if they were blaming him.

“Uh… . Yeah… .”

“Come here.”

At my appearance, Shine opened her arms wide and smiled.

My hands are trembling and shaking.

I walked slowly and buried my head in Shine’s arms.

I let out the breath I had been holding as Shine’s hand slowly stroked my back.

“Jeff.”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t forget. What they took away.”

When Shine talks about them, do you think he’s referring to the people at the lab?

I nodded slowly.

“Yeah. I guess I forgot.”

“Shall we think about it again?”

Shine whispered as she gently stroked my hair.

At the wave of her hand, the cityscape surrounding her house disappears in an instant.

A white space remains.

The red-roofed house built on top of it is an unchanging fact.

I was there.

He leans against the fence and extends his hand.

Towards the wind.

wind.

Was the wind blowing?

“Jeff, focus.”

I nodded.

Follow her words.

A view of the city spread out across a white space.

Huge, sprawling roads and tall buildings.

A familiar street,

A familiar place.

A familiar sight.

And a familiar home.

Not the house with the red roof.

A typical single-family home.

A house with a fridge full of beer.

But the appearance of the house begins to change.

Twisted and torn.

An empty place.

A house with a red roof comes down on top of it.

“How about it, Jeff? Our house was there.”

I nodded absentmindedly.

“Probably not now.”

She was right.

During the time I was taken to the lab, the city must have changed a lot.

So it wasn’t at all strange that our home wasn’t there anymore.

Shine smiles and slowly falls off my body.

Two steps.

Shine, who had stepped back, clapped her hands.

match-!

At that moment, the thoughts that came to my mind flew away in an instant.

I jumped up in surprise at the sound of clapping.

“Ouch!”

It was the same for Rain, who quickly shut his mouth that had been open blankly and looked around.

“What are you both doing?”

Shine said with a playful face.

I answered, caressing my cheek.

“That’s strange… What were you doing?”

They were clearly having a conversation about something.

I don’t remember.

What was it?

It seemed like I wasn’t the only one who had experienced something strange earlier, as Rain also looked around with a strange expression.

“Let’s go!”

Seeing us like that, Shine smiled and grabbed our hands.

A body that is lightly led.

One step, two steps.

I stumble down the stairs, touched by Shine’s hand.

The further down you go down the stairs, the more your doubts subside.

I shook my head to shake off the distracting thoughts.

Just after we got all the way down the stairs, Shine and I looked back at Rain.

“Where’s Amy?”

Rain still had a blank expression on his face.

I approached her, puffing out my cheeks at her appearance.

Her chubby cheeks catch my eye.

“Rain~”

He reached out with both hands and grabbed Lane’s cheeks and pressed them.

The feel of soft cheeks.

A subtle smile comes to mind at the sight of her soft, glutinous rice cake-like face, as if touching Shine’s cheek.

“Uh… . Huh?”

Only then does Rain blink as if he has come to his senses.

“Amy.”

“Amy?”

“Where’s Amy?”

Rain retreated away from my touch.

She was touching her cheek, then took her cell phone out of her pocket and tapped the screen.

“This way!”

After confirming the location, Lane extended his hand and pointed in a direction.

The end of a long, stretching corridor.

Brightly lit lights.

“Over there?”

“Yeah.”

What is that place?

Leaving aside the momentary doubts, I started walking in the direction Rain had pointed.

“What is this place?”

I looked around and asked Lane a question.

It was a hallway with a completely different feel from the place where Shine and I stayed.

A strong, cold, iron smell wafted in the air.

Even the occasional clanking sound of a hammer can be heard.

“This is where you make support items.”

“Support?”

“Yeah.”

Support items.

A mechanical device to assist supernatural powers.

I thought back to the first time I met Amy.

He was wearing a suit that covered his entire body.

I nodded slowly.

“I see… .”

“What is a support item?”

Shine seemed interested in the support item, and asked Rain with sparkling eyes.

“It’s a mechanical device that assists those with abilities.”

“Assistant?”

“Yeah. Strengthen your abilities or make up for your weaknesses.”

“Can you make your abilities stronger?”

Shine grabbed Rain’s hand with shining eyes.

Rain nodded, carefully pulling away, perhaps feeling burdened by Shine’s actions that had gotten too close.

“Yeah.”

A bright smile appears on Shine’s face at Rain’s answer.

“Jeff~”

Shine’s gaze shifts.

From Rain to me.

She looked at me, held out her hand and said.

“Let’s go quickly!”

I reached out and took her hand.

A gentle grasping hand.

Shine looks satisfied with my appearance.

The three of us started running.

Since Shine was running, Lane and I had to run too to keep up with her.

Shine, whose white hair was fluttering like a tail, stopped walking the moment she reached the end of the hallway.

The end of the hallway.

A large entrance and a slightly open door.

A familiar voice is heard through the gap.

I walked up to the door and looked through the gap.

“It’s Amy!”

Familiar pink hair.

A person talking to someone with their arms crossed.

Amy was clear.

“Amy!”

I knocked on the door and called Amy.

Knock knock knock.

The noise made by small hands.

Amy, who had been talking, looked at us in surprise.