Various Stories (1)
I had never seen Mom's eyes that wide. Dad sat there with a blank, stupid look, then took off his glasses and quietly closed his eyes, while Sis started to sigh, caught my stare, swallowed it back down, and turned to me.
"What did Hwayeon say?"
Mom startled at Sis's words, planted both hands on the table, and shouted.
"Hwayeon knows too?!"
Franc, face burning red and utterly at a loss after my bombshell, flinched at the sight of her and went dark—and Mom, seeing that, flinched right back and waved both hands at Franc.
"Ah—ahhh. Miss... Evans? It's not that I feel any differently about you, Miss Evans!"
Dad glanced at the flustered Mom, put his glasses back on, studied Franc intently, and turned to me.
"What do you intend to do about Hwayeon."
"I'm going to marry her."
"...And Miss Evans."
"I'm going to marry her too."
Dad let out the biggest sigh I'd heard from him in years. When was the last time... When I'd put on my chuunibyou act in front of him?
I'd dropped a classic edgelord line on Sis—"Laying hands on another's body without permission—what manner of place is this star?"—complete with a sigh of my own, and Dad had exhaled like the ground itself might cave in, then, strict and solemn and dead serious, made me kneel on the bare floor and lectured me for three hours... Right. I remembered now.
"Oh? Now that I think about it, on Saturday you asked whether Dad had already told us everything. So you knew all of it, didn't you? Mom was right there listening too."
"Uh, Mom was just—about Miss Evans... No, no! Today is the first I've heard that my son likes Miss Evans!"
Dad folded his arms, tapped a finger against his forearm, and sank into thought. Sis looked from Franc to me and back again, worry written all over her face.
"I'm worried. Miss Evans is a spirit—how are you even supposed to date? I know platonic love exists, but still... No matter how fairly you say you'll love them both, you're human. Favoritism is inevitable. What are you going to do about the rift that builds up between them?"
I asked her, calm.
"You'd already noticed I like Franc, hadn't you?"
"......"
They say silence is assent. I was just about to speak when Mom got there first.
"Mom's worried too. Miss Evans is a spirit, so... well. You can't even touch her, and it might be bad for you..."
She couldn't finish, hemming and hawing—a side of Mom I almost never saw, strange as it was to witness—but I had a fair idea what she was trying to say, so I nodded.
When I'd told them about Franc after coming back alive, Mom had worn that same worried look. She must have been thinking of this even then. In short, she was afraid of ghost-binding—a spirit latching onto the living and feeding on them.
"Franc isn't a ghost. Name one ghost that runs on electricity. And I can touch Franc, you know?"
With that, I focused Mana Sieve into my left hand, set it against the nape of Franc's neck, and swept her soft platinum hair upward. The strands slipped through my fingers with a soft rustle and spilled back down, catching the fluorescent light until they shone.
My family looked thoroughly frazzled, eyes jumping between my blue-glowing hand and the gold glitter of Franc's hair.
"I love Franc, and I love Hwayeon. I didn't want to lie to either of them, so I told Hwayeon everything. And she accepted me—accepted that I love Franc too. Franc's been rooting for me and Hwayeon from the start."
"So you can't give up Hwayeon. And you can't give up Miss Evans either."
"Yeah. I can't give up either of them. And I'm going to find a way for Franc to have a body. No matter what."
Dad looked me straight in the eye, expression serious.
"If Miss Evans is a spirit, as you say, there's no law covering it, so it isn't a problem. Evans—I'll call you Franc. That's all right?"
Franc's eyes went wide, and she nodded at once.
"So. You've accepted Hwayeon as well, Franc."
"I told you, Franc's been rooting for us from the beginning."
"Quiet, you. Franc, answer me. You've accepted Hwayeon too. Is that correct?"
Dad rebuked me for butting in and asked her again. Put on the spot, Franc flushed and gave a shy little nod.
"Yes."
"Haa..."
Mom and Sis clutched their foreheads and sighed, as if their heads ached. Dad, perfectly composed, gazed at Franc and spoke quietly.
"When my boy first spoke of you, I sensed it faintly. To think it was true. Nothing here breaks the law, and the people involved are willing, so I won't make a fuss. Franc, stay beside this lacking son of mine from here on, and look after him well."
"Ah, yes!"
"Dear..."
Unlike the radiant Franc, Mom had gone dark, and she called to Dad in a pleading voice.
"His spiritual fortitude is abysmal, but his body is sound, and since the boy is an ability user himself, even if she draws off a little of his energy he'll recover soon enough. Besides, you have seen with your own two eyes how extraordinary his ability is. Let us trust our son, and Franc."
Abysmal spiritual fortitude?! And what did he mean, draw off my—my energy?! Franc's face had gone scarlet!
I'd been ready to respect him for backing us so calmly, and now I was thinking of taking it all back!
"...Mom can call you Franc too, can't she? Just... I'd rather you didn't suck—absorb too much of my son's energy... You understand what I mean?"
Mom too?!
Panicked, I lunged at her to shut her up, and she smacked my arm and scolded me without mercy.
"You brat! Two wives, and your back might snap clean in half...!"
"I'm sturdy, my back's not snapping! So stop saying weird things... Franc?"
I was still covering Mom's mouth when Franc stood, the rims of her eyes reddening, and I stopped to look at her.
She rose with quiet decorum and bowed neatly to Mom and Dad. A Westerner in a dress, offering a formal bow—the height of incongruity, and yet it suited her strangely well.
Receiving it, Dad and Mom couldn't hide the smiles at the corners of their mouths, beaming with satisfaction. Sis seemed ready to accept the decision too. Her face lighter than before, she gripped my shoulder.
"You. Stay in your room."
"Huh? Why?"
"Why do you think! Franc's going to be my sister-in-law—we need to have a proper talk!"
And she started shoving me.
"No, wait! That's weird! I'm the one this is about—I should be here!"
"No! It's the custom, even before a wedding, for the women of the house to sit down with the prospective daughter-in-law and talk among themselves!"
"Since when is that a thing?! If that's the rule, Dad should clear out too!"
"Dad's the elder of this house! Anyway, in you go, now!"
"So unfair!"
I glared at her resentfully as she kept pushing, and now she started spanking my back with her open palm, slap after slap.
"A two-timing playboy lecher, and you want to talk about unfair?! Get in there!"
"Ugh..."
I had no answer to that... Bracing against her shoving, I looked at Franc. A faint tear had gathered at the corner of her eye, and she smiled as she spoke.
"It's all right. Seoha? Please wait in your room."
"Ngh."
Say it like that and I couldn't hold out... I dawdled my way in, and Sis gave me a light chop on the head with the side of her hand.
"If I catch you eavesdropping, I won't let it slide."
"You and Mom eavesdropped!"
I brought up Saturday, and Sis flushed, kicked me into the room, and shouted.
"Mom and I are allowed to!"
Genuinely unreasonable...
...Not that it mattered. I could just eavesdrop from inside with Spatial Perception. Hmph.
Grumbling, I flopped onto the bed, and only then did Sis—ear pressed to my door—head back to the living room. Mm. More to the point, now that I was lying down, the feel of the Phase Stone vest came through so clearly that... yeah, this was going to dig. I'd get used to it soon enough.
Once Sis returned to the living room, the family meeting began without me. My parents asked, Franc answered, and Sis read her lips and relayed the answers.
I'd been poised to burst out if they started tormenting her and grinding her down, but there was no sign of that. If anything, it felt like I was the one being left out, and that left me oddly forlorn.
Anyway, the questions weren't anything special. They only wanted to hear from Franc's own mouth where and how we'd met, what had made her come to like me—calling it a cause made it sound bad, didn't it?—and when and where she'd been born, who her parents were, what she'd done while she was alive. That sort of thing.
Franc calmly told Mom, Dad, and Sis the same story she'd told me. Since my parents were ordinary people, she softened the more graphic battles and the account of her mutation into a summary—but even so, Mom and Sis were busy dabbing their eyes with handkerchiefs over everything Franc had lived through.
Then Dad asked the thing that had been quietly nagging at me, and I strained every nerve, waiting for Franc's answer.
"Listening to your story, it seems you had no choice but to place yourself in my son's keeping. I also see signs of dependency syndrome and Lost Bayroze syndrome at once. Do you not think the situation you were in manufactured feelings that were not there to begin with?"
"I... am not clever, so I do not understand what you are saying, Father. But I understand with perfect clarity where my heart is pointed. At first, after I returned to reality, I meant to learn what had become of my house and then let myself fade. Yet while I remained with Seoha, my heart was dyed through with him. When we encountered the imoogi and I saw what Seoha did, I—rather, it was precisely because he is this sort of person that I came to feel I would be happy staying by his side from then on. I wish to remain beside Seoha, offering what help I can, and to stay with him always..."
"I see. If you clearly recognize what state you are in, and what you wish to do, I won't stop you."
Dad smiled with a rare gentleness and asked Franc to look after me, and Mom and Sis welcomed her with kind smiles as well. Watching Franc bow through her tears at the family's welcome, I let out a sigh of relief. I'd half-worried they'd decide she was an evil spirit and call in a shaman to exorcise her.
Once again, I was glad my parents were clear-headed people.
After the meeting ended and Franc came back to the room, we fooled around for a while, then turned off the lights and lay down to sleep.
Honestly, I'd thought there wouldn't be much upside to Franc wearing clothes, but it was better than I'd expected. Touching her while she was naked felt embarrassing, like something I shouldn't do, so I'd been holding back on skinship—but seeing her dressed, that distance seemed to shrink.
I hugged her from behind without a second thought, rubbing my cheek against her shoulder and playing, and it even felt like those childhood days of messing around with Mom. Franc seemed to like it too. Lying in the dark with the lights off and Franc in my arms, I felt strangely happy—partly because the worries were falling away one by one, and partly because I could feel her heart, the heart that had been keeping a careful distance whether she knew it or not, turning toward me little by little.
"Franc?"
"Yes?"
"Can I kiss you?"
"...Uuuh."
Franc, who had stripped bare to sleep and curled into my arms, let out a strange little sound, embarrassed, and raised both hands to hide her face. I coaxed her gently, moved her hands aside, and pressed a light kiss to her small, pretty lips. Her eyes darted, bright and round, as if to say she'd expected something dirtier.
"Thank you."
"I-I am grateful as well."
Franc and Hwayeon... set beside the women who blow up online for every rotten reason, they were so kind, so thoughtful of me alone, they might as well have been angels. Franc's thoughts in particular seemed arranged entirely around me. And because of that, more and more, I didn't want my greed—my desire—to put her through anything rough.
The truth was, I'd been careful not to let her notice, but dozens of times a day my dick got hard and I imagined forcing her down and climbing on top of her. Now I could touch her, and if I set my mind on it—pounced, and pushed—Franc would probably give in to my pushing. Begging her, out of sheer lust to see her naked, once she became able to wear clothes: that had been more of the same. But after seeing the sincerity in her as she spoke with my parents and Sis, I realized just how base my greed was.
Of course, come tomorrow I'd probably be right back to normal, getting worked up at the sight of Franc's naked body and panting haah, haah like a fool—but at the very least, I wouldn't forget today.
Franc buried her face in my chest, then lifted just her eyes to study my expression. I kissed her forehead again and pulled her close.
"I love you."
"...I love you too."
Her answer made me so happy I grinned, and Franc smiled softly and gave my cheek a short peck.
A little later I whispered something deliberately wicked in her ear to tease her, sneaking my hands over naked Franc here and there, even tapping at her two moon-round breasts to torment her, and she made a tearful face and started to resist, weakly.
Couldn't be helped. This was all pretty, cute Franc's fault!
Mid-sleep, some discomfort made me toss, and something sloshed—like I'd slipped underwater. Along with it, a thick apple scent so heavy it nearly choked me.
I was lying face-down, dazed, eyes still shut, when something like liquid slid slickly over my body. I cracked my eyes open and looked ahead. There was Franc, face flushed, drawing back her lower half—the half that had been overlapped with my head.
"...Morning."
"Did you sleep well?"
"Uh... Waking up to the smell of apples, I feel weirdly elegant..."
I focused Mana Sieve into both hands and pulled at the waist of Franc, seated by my head. She let out a thin little scream as she was dragged in, and I stole a kiss from her lips. She pouted and poked my cheek.
"Would it not be better to seek elegance after you have washed?"
"You think so?"
Grinning, I let go of her waist and got up. I hadn't slept deeply, and my head felt a little foggy. All because of the vest. I hadn't noticed any inconvenience in daily life, but the moment I tried to sleep, it dug into my lower back something fierce... and the pillow height didn't match what I was used to, which made it subtly uncomfortable.
I looked down at the black vest radiating a watery gleam of Phase Power and sighed.
"I don't think I slept well."
"You tossed and turned often through the night as well."
"Mm. I usually sleep in just pajamas, so suddenly sleeping in a vest—guess I'm not used to it."
Franc stroked my back with a worried look, which only made me angrier that I couldn't feel her hand than I was about the lost sleep. Hwayeon had made it for me on purpose. I couldn't just chuck it. Seriously.
...Come to think of it, even if Franc clung to my back, I wouldn't be able to feel her chest against it.
Sigh.
After becoming an ability user—that is, after I learned to control Phase Power, and then after that control evolved into Mana Sieve—the waste my body expelled had dropped to almost nothing. I didn't know why. If I had to guess, it was Mana Mode. They say physical-enhancement ability users keep their bodies in peak condition at all times, and my Mana Mode produced the same effect.
Anyway, even morning breath was gone, and the facial oil and sebum that left skin greasy were practically nonexistent, so a light wash with water alone left my skin soft and fresh. I didn't even need toner or lotion. Still, I couldn't not wash. The clear feeling after a hot shower was nice, and wandering around outside meant dust and germs and whatever else stuck to you.
I showered until I felt refreshed and stepped into the living room, and the first thing I saw was Dad on the sofa, reading a medical text. Sis was bustling about in her room, doing something or other... Mom hadn't come out yet?
"Dad. Sleep well?"
"Yes."
I offered him a morning greeting and was pouring water from the fridge when he glanced around me and spoke.
"I expect you know better, but keep the lovemaking in this house to a reasonable level."
"Pfft! Wh-what are you talking about?!"
Dad's shocking line made me spray the water I'd been drinking all over the floor. I was scrambling for a rag when something even more shocking came flying from him.
"Lovemaking. The carnal desire arising from sexual instinct between a man and a woman."
"I—I know what it means, okay?! I'm not that thoughtless!"
"Then that's fine."
I stared in disbelief at my ever-unflappable Dad, then glanced at Franc, floating beside me. She had both hands over her face in embarrassment; catching my look, she fled to the room in a flurry.
I really had to move out. Mom probably wouldn't allow it, but I'd lay siege for three days and three nights if that's what it took. I was moving out. Absolutely.
While I was repeating that resolution to myself, Sis said she had something to do, bit down on a single piece of toast, and left. Dad and Mom ate breakfast earlier than usual, then headed to the hospital ahead of me, saying a morning surgery was scheduled.
Should I head to school a little early today, too?
I put the educational tablet I'd brought—to memorize the textbooks ahead of exams—into my leather bag, and was leaving the house with Franc when the Certifier signaled that a message had arrived. I turned it on and checked. It was from Hwayeon.
For the past few days I'd been going to the Time River Building right after school. Hwayeon kept summoning me—she wanted to teach me, however briefly, how this business worked before I came of age and started showing up at the company.
It wasn't that I disliked it. Being with Hwayeon was good in itself. But... mm. I really needed to start studying for exams soon.
Was today yellow? I glanced at Franc, already wearing a yellow pleated dress with thin shoulder straps and looking effortlessly pretty, then sent a reply laced with mischief.
Well, if it came to it, I could cram the day before the exam. So long as I didn't flunk. Only possible because my memory had gotten absurdly good, but still...
"You aren't going today?"
"No? I'm going."
I sent the message and stepped into the elevator that had arrived, and another text came in. A photo was attached, so I checked that first.
"Oho."
A single photo: through the gap of a crisp dress-shirt collar, the silhouette of pale cleavage. A black wave pattern covered part of her upper chest—a bra, right? The edge of the frame also caught Hwayeon's lower face, flushed red.
It had been a joke, and she'd taken it as sincere. I was grinning ehehe at the photo when Franc checked the message and smiled wryly.
"Please do not play jokes like that on Miss Hwayeon. She will believe you mean them."
"But it's fun."
The elevator reached the first floor. I sent that last message and shut the Certifier off. I had no desire to have it open and draw stares in a crowded place.
...And then it signaled another message. Hwayeon, no question, and the content was surely telling me not to. I'd check once I got to school.
As I drew near the school, second-years and first-years whose faces I didn't even know greeted me—a "Hello~!" here, a "Hello, Sunbae!" there. Feeling a little awkward, I nodded along well enough, and arrived to find the student council president and her two lackeys waiting at the main gate.
"Sunbae Jung Seoha, good morning!"
I glanced at the president, who greeted me bright and lively, and looked around. Students on their way in were watching us and whispering.
"Yeah. Morning."
I didn't stop, and the twin-tailed president hurried after me in a quick little trot, looking up.
"Waiting at the gate and staring at me like you're begging won't change it. What's not happening isn't happening."
"Sunbae~ Please reconsider, just one more tiiime. The Euihan High School student council absolutely needs you, Sunbae Jung Seoha!"
What they needed was my name.
"Fine."
"You're joining us?!"
Her face lit up at my answer, and for no particular reason I felt the urge to torment her.
"You asked me to consider it, didn't you? Considering is all I'm doing."
"But—!"
Ever since the day the student council had called me in to recruit me, the president had waited at the main gate every morning for me to arrive and worked like a cult recruiter to get me to join. Feeling even more eyes on us than yesterday as she jabbered and tried to persuade me, I sighed.
Usually the answer in cases like this was to ignore them, but her personality was anything but ordinary, and she showed not the slightest sign of giving up. Talk or don't—I ignored her anyway, reached the classroom, and opened the door. She apparently couldn't follow me inside; she made a teary little "Ehh..." face and turned back with the two vice presidents.
"Oh, Seoha!"
"Hey~."
"Morning!"
I answered the greetings—familiar now, like the start of the daily routine—and sat down, and Kim Chang-hyun turned around to talk.
"Looks like the cute little president's really set her mind to it."
"Haa..."
Window seat, so he'd seen her chasing me. Well, those long twin-tails stood out even from a distance. Kang So-ra wasn't here yet? I glanced at the empty seat and looked forward again, and Kim Chang-hyun was watching me with that handsome face and an impish grin.
"Still, I'm not joining the student council."
"This president's crazy persistent, I hear. Diehard level. There's even a rumor she's a leech—bite once and she never lets go."
"Mm. Seems a lot of kids voted for her because they fell for how hard she runs around in that little body."
At the voice cutting in from behind, I turned to Cho Min-ho.
"So the story is that pint-sized president's going to chase me until I say yes?"
"Ahaha. Probably?"
I was scrunching my face when Kim Chang-hyun snickered and patted my shoulder.
"Not a lukewarm maybe—she's definitely going to chase you!"
"If she wants to chase me, let her. I'm never joining."
Morning homeroom arrived. Homeroom teacher Choi Miran came in, and at the same time Kang So-ra burst into the classroom, out of breath.
"Kang So-ra. A little earlier next time, hm?"
"I'm sooorry~."