episode_0405

“Ahem.”

I opened the door to the office and entered with a confident expression.

I was able to be confident because my grandfather followed behind me.

“Jeff?”

Amy seemed to notice me before her grandfather opened the door and came in, and she got up from her seat.

There was a steaming teacup on the table, as if waiting for me and my grandfather, sitting next to Shine on the sofa.

“On the way here, I met my grandfather.”

At that moment, the old man standing behind me slowly walked out with a blank expression as if he couldn’t believe it and approached Shine.

Shine looked up at her grandfather with a sullen expression.

“Hello.”

“Sha, is it Shine?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

Grandfather remained silent for a long time in response to Shine’s answer.

Then he turned and looked at me.

I met his gaze with my arms crossed.

“Jeff, Jeff…”

“Jeff is just a little slow growing. No problem.”

Grandfather nodded with a blank expression at Shine’s answer.

Anyway, it didn’t seem like he really believed it.

It was natural.

They are identical twins, but there is no way they could be this different just because they grow a little slower.

I nodded, walked over to Shine, and plopped down next to her.

As I sat down right next to him, the difference seemed to be felt even more, and the old man sat down with the corners of his eyes furrowed.

I let out a deep sigh.

“You’ve grown so much…”

In the words spoken while looking at Shine, I was not included.

I looked at my grandfather with discontent.

As if sensing my gaze, my grandfather then smiled awkwardly at me and continued speaking.

“Jeff has grown a lot too.”

“Where did it get bigger?”

“That, that… inside…”

Inside?

Did my grandfather finally see my mature inner self?

I puffed out my chest with a proud expression.

As expected, it’s Grandpa.

As I began to see my maturity, I began to gain confidence that even with this small body, I could still appear to be an adult.

As Grandpa sat down, the table began to be set anew.

After the cars that were originally on top come down, warm cars come up again.

I puffed up the ball.

Because the tea served to me was a very sweet cocoa, different from that served to Amy, Shine, and my grandfather.

I was drooling at the sight of the marshmallows floating above, but I was an adult.

It means you need to drink something adult.

However, adults are very understanding, and they can easily overlook the mistake of the employees who accidentally served me cocoa.

Isn’t this the leisure of an adult?

I reached out and took a sip of my cocoa.

“Everyone. It’s been a while…”

I looked at my grandfather’s face again after hearing his words.

On her face, which felt like seven years had passed by, there were many wrinkles that I had never seen before.

Still, the gaze did not die.

No, rather, it would be more accurate to say that it has become sharper.

“Yes, it’s been a while.”

Amy answered with a calm face.

“It’s been a long time since we last met, but I don’t really have anything to say. I don’t know why I haven’t contacted you or visited you before.”

Grandfather muttered blankly.

At those words, I got up from my seat and sat down next to my grandfather.

“Jeff?”

“Then we can just contact each other more often from now on.”

I couldn’t say anything about Shine, but for now, this was the best way I could comfort my grandfather.

I reached out my little hand and squeezed my grandfather’s hand. My grandfather nodded with his eyes shining.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Gulp-

At that moment, a very embarrassing sound came from my stomach.

I blushed and held my stomach.

My stomach was screaming for food.

How can such a sound be made?

But, since I skipped breakfast and came, it was a natural result.

My grandfather smiled slightly and patted my head.

Starting with the signal from my stomach, we all headed to the restaurant.

As if the meal had been prepared a long time ago, a lot of food started appearing on the table as soon as we sat down.

I licked my lips as I glared at the large turkey.

The last thing that came up was a huge pork cutlet that seemed to have been prepared just for me.

The pork cutlet covered in crispy batter came towards me, emitting hot steam.

I immediately grabbed the knife.

“Listen while eating.”

Grandfather opened his mouth without even touching the food.

It seemed like he was going to talk about something important, but for me, the tonkatsu came first.

I lightly swing the knife in my hand.

With a sharpness that cut through the wind, he smiled and cut off the top of the tonkatsu.

Haha-

Blow on the hot pork cutlet and put it in your mouth.

As I was mumbling like that, I looked at my grandfather, and his heavy eyes turned towards me.

“The nobles of District 1 began to move.”

“Whoa- Whoa- Area 1?”

I tilted my head at my grandfather’s words.

I’ve only heard that there’s a place called District 1, but I’ve never actually been there.

In Zone 1, everything was vague.

So it was a place that everyone treated as just an urban legend.

“Is there really a place called District 1?”

I looked back at Amy, asking my grandfather a question.

She also had a serious expression on her face, as if she knew about the existence of District 1.

I tilted my head and put the rest of the pork cutlet in my mouth.

I thought with my mouth open.

Looking at the serious expressions on Amy and her grandfather’s faces, it seemed like this was not an ordinary matter.

I also tried to strain my eyes and make a serious expression.

“I didn’t want to say it, but I guess I have to.”

My grandfather looked at me as he said that.

I tilted my head as I shoved a new piece of tonkatsu into my mouth.

Why do you look at me like that?

“What kind of people are those nobles that they say that?”

“That’s…”

It was Amy who answered my question.

According to Amy’s explanation, District 1 is a place that actually exists, but is never seen by others, and the people who live there are called nobles.

The role of the nobles was said to be to capture those with the ability to disrupt order.

I tilted my head when I heard that explanation.

If you just look at what they do, it doesn’t seem to be much different from the police.

I looked at Shine.

After all, the reason why these nobles were moving seemed to be related to the 7 years of time that Shine had created.

“Everyone knows that the seven years have passed in an ordinary, yet absolutely extraordinary way.”

I nodded to my grandfather’s words.

I could agree with that, because the loss of my dinosaur collection was a very important matter.

“For 7 years, a very ordinary daily life passed, but there was nothing special about that daily life. The damage caused by that is indescribable.”

“Is Grandpa okay?”

“It’s not okay. Even if I try to say it nicely, the situation is the worst. All the business is messed up.”

I opened my mouth blankly.

Because of the time created by Shine, I didn’t expect such a problem to occur.

“I’m holding on because I’m someone like that, but sooner or later, the whole area will turn upside down. The company that was recording a deficit continued to record a deficit, and the person who had to pay the debt did not pay the debt, so the debt continued to increase. Just like that, 7 years passed.”

I put down the fork I was holding in my hand.

It didn’t seem like a situation where I could be eating a delicious pork cutlet.

“This is not an ordinary thing, it is something that could never happen, so it is clearly the influence of the ability user. That is why the nobles started to move.”

“Why should we be careful when those nobles move?”

I asked my grandfather with a trembling expression.

Because unless Amy and I, who had memories, spoke up, no one would have known that this incident was caused by Shine.

In fact, doesn’t even the old man sitting in front of me know that this incident was caused by Shine?

“It’s because of you.”

“Huh?”

“They’re identical twins, but they didn’t grow up alone. If your information gets to the nobles, they’ll all think you’re connected to this incident.”

I opened my mouth in a daze at those words.

Could it be, could it be that I could be named as a suspect?

“So you better be careful. They’re persistent.”

I frowned at my grandfather’s words, which sounded like he had experienced it before.

“Amy, from today onwards, don’t let Jeff go outside. No, not just Jeff, but you and Shine, don’t go outside either.”

“Okay.”

Amy nodded, agreeing so easily.

For Amy to act like that, it seemed like those nobles were really dangerous.

“Be careful not to be noticed.”

With those words, the meal resumed.

But I couldn’t concentrate on the delicious tonkatsu.

Because all the attention was focused on those so-called nobles.

What on earth are their true identities that make Grandpa so wary?

I tilt my head at the sight of you simply not wanting to create a situation where you would be suspected.

After the meal, Amy and her grandfather left the table, as if they had something to talk about.

I sat on Chuchu’s back and blankly stared out the window.

“It’s all your fault, unnie.”

“Sorry.”

I sighed at Shine’s words.

If only my body hadn’t gotten smaller, my grandfather wouldn’t have had to worry.

“When will I grow up?”

Shine shook her head as if she didn’t know what my question was.

“I don’t know.”

“Even though it’s your own ability?”

“Yeah.”

I sighed.

But what difference would it make if it were like this?

I tapped Chuchu’s head.

“Let’s go Chuchu.”

Woof woof.

Chuchu listened to what I said, turned around, and started walking.

As expected, riding on Chuchu’s back was faster than walking.

Shine, who had been standing there blankly, also followed behind Chuchu.

I returned to the room, riding on Chuchu’s back, and looked around the room.

All the dinosaur dolls and pretty rocks that filled the room were gone.

I sighed.

I knew it, but I couldn’t help but feel discouraged when I actually saw it.

“I’m sorry.”

Shine apologized with an apologetic expression on her face for my behavior.

I shook my head and got up from my seat.

As valuable as my dinosaur collection was, it was nothing compared to Shine.