Going Home (5)

April 10th. Nine days since I'd come back alive.

I'd been living it up in the finest suite the ability-user hospital had to offer, eating and sleeping and eating and sleeping, and only now had the flesh come back onto my bones enough that I looked like a person again.

"Heh heh heh. So this is my face."

Sitting on the bed, I turned my face this way and that in the hand mirror my sister had brought. The hair lightning had fried into tight curls had gone back to straight, and the face acne scars had left looking like the surface of the moon now shone bright as moonlight, smooth and clean as white jade.

Thick brows cut a sharp line. The eyes beneath them were clear, the nose high, the lips dark and distinct in a way that read as masculine. At ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this rate, didn't I qualify as handsome?

Two days of physical exams had shown me just how much I'd grown in the Phase World. I was 171 centimeters now, and my weight had climbed to 69 kilograms. My proportions had settled onto the flattering seven-head mark, arms and legs a little longer, so I met most of the conditions for being a good-looking guy.

I'd have preferred to be taller still. I hadn't even awakened as a physical-reinforcement type, though, so I decided to be satisfied with nearly ten centimeters of growth. There's a saying that too much is as bad as too little, isn't there?

…Even so, lying to myself felt wrong.

When my skin turned baby-smooth, would it have killed them to fix the rest — features so distinctive they tipped over into ruin? Eyes, nose, mouth, each of them passable on its own. Put them together and I had no idea why they added up to this disaster of a mug. Maybe I should pester Mom for plastic surgery.

I was still turning my face in the mirror when my sister, lying on her stomach beside me over a major textbook, clicked her tongue.

"…What?"

"It's embarrassing. Quit it and hand that over."

And with that she snatched the mirror.

Come on, it was a private room. Who was going to see… aha?

"Are you jealous? Hehe. Well, my skin did have to get better. You smeared mud on your face and stuck cucumber slices on it and fussed like crazy every single day, and I overtook you in one shot. Envious? You're envious, aren't you? Kyahaha."

I grinned and stroked my own cheek with my left hand. She scrunched her brows at once, irritation plain, eyes going fierce as she clenched a fist. A punch was coming.

"Whoa, whoa, wait. No viole—!"

Thud.

"Ghk!"

N-not a fist. The corner of the book in her other hand came down on me. My head swam…

I lay face-down on the bed, limp, and her voice, thick with exasperation, tickled my ear.

"This kid's gotten even weirder since he came back from the Phase World. Is your head actually all right?"

"What! What's wrong with me! 'Even weirder' — that sounds exactly like you're saying I was weird before, too!"

I shot upright and protested. She looked at me as if that were obvious. I bristled at the look and nearly snapped back… then held it in. Talking back would only cost me.

A white cotton tee under an open blue denim shirt, tight blue jeans below, long ebony hair twisted up into a bun. This violent witch's name was Jung Siha. My one and only older sister.

Twenty this year, she was the top incoming freshman in the business department at Euihan University — a school no one in the country hesitated to call the finest in Korea. She'd inherited every good point our parents had to offer: Dad's brilliant mind and his height, Mom's pretty face and her feminine figure, all of it. At a superior 176 centimeters, with features like a sculpture, she was beautiful enough that people often mistook her for an ability user. A born all-rounder, bad at nothing.

Straight hair to her waist — ebony was the only word for it. The soft, intelligent lines of her face, taken from Mom, ran from the tips of her brows in toward the space between them, then dropped cleanly, tracing a soft, perfect curve over the bridge of her nose down to cherry lips. Eyes that sparkled so brightly you wondered if starlight had been set into them. Cheeks so full of life they needed no blush. A face so perfectly beautiful it kept ordinary people at a distance.

Her figure, too, thanks to two hours a day at the health and sports center Dad had built at his hospital for the staff, was perfect enough to stand alongside Franc's — golden proportions and all, if you set aside a chest that was, regrettably, a little small, and hips that fell just short.

Me? An acne-ridden pig, and I didn't even wear glasses. Short arms, short legs, a fat body.

Becoming an ability user had stretched me taller and burned some of the fat off, so I was passable now. Standing in front of my sister, though, I wasn't a firefly before the sun. I was a speck of dust in a galaxy.

…Any more of this and I'd only sink into self-loathing, so I'll pass.

Anyway, I'd only learned my sister was truly beautiful after I started high school. Before that she'd just been a nasty old demon hag who did nothing but hit me. Once we ended up at the same school, the reactions of everyone around us made it plain she was a perfect superhuman, an all-rounder who couldn't do a thing poorly.

In adolescence I was, quite literally, a lump of inferiority, and having someone that outstanding for a sister stressed me so badly I once nearly went seriously off the rails. To vent the rebellion, I pocketed my saved allowance and walked out one weekend without a word. Running away from home is the classic icon of rebellion, after all.

It was the first time I'd run away in my life. Figuring I'd get caught if I loitered near the house, I deliberately took the subway and spent the night at a PC café far from home…

This damned inferiority complex must have been pathetic enough that it wouldn't even permit a proper runaway, because by the next morning the rebellion had fizzled and I just went home.

And when I got there…

Dad, driven out in the middle of the night by a frantic Mom when I hadn't come home, still hadn't returned from looking for me. Mom was in a full panic, calling everyone she knew — prosecutors, detectives, police, that whole network — to say I'd vanished, that it might be trafficking or a kidnapping. My sister sat in the living room sobbing, phoning Dad to demand whether he'd found me. A cauldron of chaos.

I grasped the situation in a second and thought I was dead. But the moment I stepped inside, she spotted me, ran over, pulled me into her arms, and wailed.

Where had I been. She'd been so worried. Watching her cry and rage like that — the sister who grumbled every day and kicked me when she was angry — I understood that if I disappeared, she would worry this much. That she cherished even an ugly, worthless little brother. The bridge of my nose stung.

Mom, eyes brimming, let out a sigh of relief that I'd come back safe and started calling everyone she'd phoned — prosecutors, detectives, police — to say her son had returned unharmed.

Getting beaten half to death by Dad when he got home, then having my allowance cut and being grounded for three months, is another story.

Anyway, once I understood in adolescence that she was a tsundere whose outside didn't match her inside, I more or less volunteered as her punching bag. This time, too, I assumed she was only acting that way out of embarrassment and let her hit me on purpose. Honestly, now that I was an ability user, I'd thought taking a hit wouldn't hurt much… but that book-corner attack had stung.

Rubbing the spot the corner had stamped into my head, I asked her as she opened the textbook again to study.

"Sis. How long do I have to stay here?"

She caught my cheek, looked my face over, and gave it a light stroke.

"You're not fully recovered yet. Rest a little more."

"But I've been loafing for a week and I'm seriously sick of it. People keep coming and going, so I can't even practice controlling my Phase Power!"

After I was admitted and the exams were done, Grandma had come to visit, and so had my maternal grandfather and grandmother. After that, a crowd of people calling themselves acquaintances of Dad and Mom had shown up to congratulate them and leave gifts.

I was the one who'd awakened. Why were they congratulating Mom and Dad…

After that, perhaps thinking the visitors would disturb my rest, they tried turning people away — but folks who used a sick visit as an excuse to see me or my parents never let up. Ah, and once Grandma and my maternal grandfather confirmed I was fine, they patted my head and told me I'd done well.

My maternal grandmother kept shedding tears as she listened to Grandma's story, and later the two of them grew quite close. I thought I caught them calling each other sister as they opened up, which made me oddly glad.

Grandma, who must have been very pretty in her youth, had a face full of the marks of painful years. Once Dad married Mom and was well established, she'd gone back to the countryside where Grandfather, my uncle, and my aunt lay buried, and lived there alone. It had bothered me that she seemed to be choosing solitude on purpose, so I was glad my maternal grandmother was trying to grow close to her.

Anyway, Grandma stroked my head kindly, said her goodbyes to my maternal grandparents, and went back down to the countryside the day before yesterday. My maternal grandparents told me to stay healthy and left yesterday.

But whenever I so much as tried to go anywhere, my sister trailed after me, so I never got a moment alone.

Which was to say I hadn't seen Franc in nine days. Nine days! I missed her. Why else had I made my sister haul every English textbook and English dictionary in the house up here so I could drill them cover to cover with Analysis? In the middle of that, startled by the terrifying jump in my memory now that I was an ability user, she'd spent some time testing me on this and that — but anyway! I'd memorized like my life depended on it, all so I could talk to Franc, and now that I couldn't call her out the withdrawal was setting in!

If I just learned lip-reading, talking to Franc wouldn't be a problem at all. Hell, I could write the alphabet on ordinary paper! I was full to bursting with things I wanted to ask, to tease her about, to play at, to show her, and I couldn't, and it was driving me insane. Ask them for a lip-reading book and they'd smell something fishy and latch on without letting go, so I couldn't ask my sister or Mom either, which meant I had to go buy it myself — except my sister wouldn't peel off me, so I couldn't even do that. Seriously.

"…Sis."

"No."

"I haven't even said anything yet!"

"You called me over so I'd sign the guardian discharge papers, didn't you?"

"Ugh…"

She'd seen through me in an instant. Damn it. What now.

I fiddled with the pouch around my neck that held Franc's Soul Stone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and scowled, and her gaze followed mine to the pouch.

Three days ago she'd seen me fiddling with it and demanded to know what was inside. I'd said I'd show her if she made me three promises. My sister believed a promise was the most important thing between people, something that absolutely had to be kept. She really, truly, really only made one once every two years, if that — but once she made one, she kept it no matter what. I'd been helped by that more than once.

Anyway. First, never ask to touch it. Second, never tell anyone. Third, never take it from me. I told her I wouldn't show her unless she promised those three. Her face went sullen, then curiosity won and she promised.

And when I showed her, I could tell that if I hadn't demanded the promises, she would have brought up the third and the first the moment she laid eyes on it. The funny part was that my sister only felt satisfied if she touched a thing, and if she liked it after touching it she'd fret because she wanted it — and the moment she saw the Soul Stone, she started fretting.

I understood. Taken out after so long, Franc's Soul Stone had grown even more beautiful. It looked to my eyes like a jewel without equal in the world, so how must it have looked to hers.

After Franc gained her lightning, the water-light of the stone had deepened, and the gray at its center sometimes flashed with something like white lightning. You wouldn't look at it and immediately think Phase Stone. You'd think exceedingly rare, exceedingly beautiful gem.

"This is something precious that saved my life. Even the doctor in charge of measuring Phase Power said that if I keep it on me for a long time, it'll become an artifact and be able to protect me. A valuable thing."

So you won't take it, right? I looked at her with that in my eyes. She groaned like an anxious puppy, squeezed her eyes shut, and turned her head away. I'd called it precious and valuable to me, and even she had no choice.

As I fiddled with it, feeling a current that left my hand faintly tingling, I noticed the gray energy inside the Soul Stone wavering. Was she feeling this even now, without showing her spirit form?

I laughed filthily to myself and went on calmly fondling the Soul Stone, so Franc could feel the orgasm as fully as possible.

I rolled around on the hospital bed, fingers on the stone.

Day nine since my return. Add the time spent in the Phase World and it came to twenty-four days. I'd been forcibly summoned only a few days after moving up into my third year, the new semester barely underway, so I was a little worried. Fall too far behind in the coursework and catching up would be hard.

Attendance would be waived under the exception, so that part didn't worry me… hmm. Maybe I didn't need to care at all?

The school I attended was Euihan High School, under the same foundation as the Euihan University my sister went to. It posted the top academic-achievement marks in the country, and children of every upper class gathered there, so the kids' average looks were outstanding too… ah, that's a different story.

Anyway, half of any exam demanded memorization, so I didn't need to worry about failing. If it came to it, I could memorize the textbooks whole. More than anything, I was an ability user now. A super rookie with tremendous talent, enough that even the Association's doctors and directors acknowledged it. I wouldn't have to worry about making a living, so what did it matter if my studies slipped a little.

I could already picture the boys looking at me with admiration and the girls sending me glances of envy.

"Ehehehe."

When I started laughing like that, my sister secretly sighed with a look that said there he goes again. I whipped around and caught it. She flinched, then quietly looked away.

Caught red-handed.

Back in my adolescent days she kept sighing when she looked at me, and I'd snapped at her once, asking if I was such an ugly, stupid little brother that she was ashamed. She'd been flustered then, eyes brimming, insisting that wasn't it, and I'd used the opening to force a promise out of her. If I caught her sighing, she had to grant me one request.

No point hiding it. Forcing a promise under the pretense of one while jabbing at a conscience — that was version one. Franc was version two.

Normally she had good instincts and either barely avoided getting caught or dodged entirely, so I had suspicion to spare and not a shred of proof. This time my Search had caught her dead to rights.

"Si~is~?"

"Uh, huh? Oh, right! I had something, s-something I needed to tell Hwayeon, and I forgot~?!"

She acted it out with an extremely awkward face and fled the room in a rush. I watched her go with a pathetic look, but this was my chance. I shut the door, drew the curtains so no light would leak, and called Franc.

"Franc. Franc? Can you hear me?"

I had no intention of using the leverage to force her into something she didn't want. I'd only meant to ask her to buy me a British conversation book. That was the whole point of sending her out — so I could call Franc!

At first I'd thought it would be best to summon Franc once I got home. The hospital sat right beside the Association building, and if her existence was detected, there might be trouble. But for days I'd been searching and sensing that building with Search and Telescopic Vision, staring hard enough to shatter it with my eyes, and there'd been no reaction at all. Given how unexpectedly simple the identifiers and measuring devices were, maybe there was no method for detecting a spirit form in the first place.

Even if there was, special-type detection users — whom I judged to be worse at this than me — had no chance of seeing a spirit form that even my Search couldn't pick up. Because of that, I'd been coming around to the idea that calling her out would be fine. Thinking about it, the Rogue Imugi hadn't even spared a glance for Franc in her spirit form. It had fixed only on me, hadn't it?

"Franc! It's fine, so come out!"

I took her Soul Stone from the pouch, held it in my hand, and spoke as if whispering. A bright gray light spread from the stone, and Franc's form appeared.

This, in fact, was why I couldn't call her when people were around. Would this brilliant gray light really be invisible to anyone else? Thinking of how she hadn't been visible even to ability users whose Phase Power exceeded 50,000 when fully manifested, I figured that so long as she didn't generate electricity, she wouldn't be found out… but I couldn't be sure.

Ah, and she ought to sleep inside the Soul Stone as well. Glowing bright when I woke was something else to avoid.

The moment I saw her naked form, perfectly revealed along with the light, I felt my eyes being cleansed. How could anyone be that beautiful…

Only after I'd looked through a handful of women with my X-ray vision did I freshly grasp what luck it was to be able to see that body. And that it was an unrealistic figure with no connection to the likes of me.

…But her spirit form looked a little brighter than usual. And that pretty face, eyes closed, was full of sulk. I wondered why, then glanced at the clock. An hour had passed.

Oh. I'd been fondling it for a whole hour. Of course she'd be irritated, not merely sulking.

"I missed you, Franc."

I put on a shameless face and smiled at the pouting Franc as if I hadn't a clue. Of course I spoke in English. Clumsy Konglish I'd crammed from a grammar book — would she even understand?

Her eyes snapped open. She gazed steadily into mine, let out a sigh that might have meant she understood, and came up behind me, half resigned, as if to climb onto my back. Her small head, chin resting on my shoulder, shifted and met my eyes. Those gently curving eyes made my heart thud and flutter.

Had Dad felt like this when he fervently confessed his love to Mom? Feeling somehow shy, I avoided her gaze and blurted something else.

"I want to get discharged soon, buy a lip-reading book, and learn it. I memorized a thousand English words whenever I had a spare moment, because I want to talk to you."

When I showed her a vocabulary book as thick as a finger joint, Franc gave me a pleased smile, as if she already knew. Seeing that smile, the time I'd spent on words and grammar didn't feel wasted at all.

She looked over the vocabulary book, the practice notebook, and the Korean dictionary for a moment, then pointed at the dictionary, pointed at herself, and stared at me with bright, eager eyes.

"Huh? You want to learn Korean?"

I asked in clumsy English. She nodded, her face full of expectation. C-could she be trying to learn it for my sake?

Ugh. Even if I was flattering myself, I liked it. Franc wanted to learn Korean for me…!

"All right. Let's pick up Korean together while I memorize English words. We'll study together!"

She nodded, and nodded again. At the suggestion she broke into a bright smile and pressed a light kiss to my cheek.

I opened the locked door and the drawn curtains, spread out the vocabulary book and the Korean dictionary, and started studying with her. English for me, Korean for Franc.

Not long after we began, I learned her memory was excellent too. She didn't memorize at a glance the way I did, but after a few looks and a silent working of her lips, she had the word. After a couple of hours of that, I asked her during a break.

"You couldn't come out of the Soul Stone for nine days. Weren't you frustrated?"

She shook her head as if not at all. Still, watching the outside from inside the stone had to be worse than walking around herself. If I could, I needed to make a place where Franc could move freely… huh?

Just then I noticed the smartphone at the corner of my vision, its LED glowing to say a text had arrived. The moment I saw that matte-black phone glittering, an idea struck me.

Franc could use electricity. Her control was good enough to lower it all the way to the static flowing through a human body. Then…

Why hadn't I thought of this? Afraid the sound would leak out the door, I strangled a cheer and swung my fists through the air. Franc stared at me with a baffled look.

"A smartphone! Or a tablet! You handle electricity so well! If you text with that, talking will be easy!"

Her eyes went round. Then she looked at me with eyes gone moist, as if moved. I hurriedly brought the phone over.

"Sorry. I'm an idiot, so I was late thinking of it. I wish I'd thought of it sooner."

She shook her head to say no. I set the phone down in front of her and woke the screen, and a message from five hours ago appeared.

"Uh…"

Beneath it, a twelve-digit phone number ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was printed.

…14:00 was ten minutes from now? At that instant, Search caught Uncle Kang Woohyuk and Blondie arriving and coming in through the hospital's front entrance!

"Sorry. Let's talk later. Uncle Kang and Blondie are here."

I spoke to Franc as I watched the two enter the lobby and start straight up toward me, looked around to make sure nothing would be a problem, tucked the Soul Stone into the neck pouch, and hung it on. I carefully buttoned the patient gown I'd left open so the pouch ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wouldn't show, spread the vocabulary book again, and pretended to read. Franc, perhaps on purpose, moved away from me and pressed flat against the wall.

If she stayed like that, the movement of their eyes the moment they walked in would tell me whether they could see her. She seemed to have had the same thought. She looked at my face and gave me a small smile.

Yes. A reaction that lovable was what melted a man clean through. Stay stiff and ignore what people say, like Director Oh Soeun, and you'd die a virgin!

Meanwhile the two kept moving and arrived on the third floor. My sister, perhaps remembering she'd met them nine days ago, greeted them first. Uncle Kang and Blondie bowed in return, then immediately turned and walked toward my room.

They arrived quickly. Or rather, my sister looked briefly thrown to find the door shut. Then she knocked.

"Seoha? You've got guests."

"Come in."

The moment I finished, the door opened and Kang Woohyuk and Choi Soohan came in. My sister followed and closed it behind her.

Uncle Kang didn't turn his gaze anywhere else. He faced me the moment he stepped in. Choi Soohan… no, that Blondie swept the room once and then looked at me. The instant his eyes went toward Franc, she — perhaps on purpose — shot a fist straight out. His eyes slid past her without so much as a flicker and landed on me.

So he really couldn't see her.

"You look much healthier. Congratulations."

"Whoa~ Put on a little weight and you turned into a serious pretty boy, huh? Congrats, congrats~."

Uncle Kang's tone was weighty. Blondie's was as frivolous as ever. But hearing that from a guy with a face like his made me feel like I was being mocked.

"As you know, your ability has been officially registered in the Association database, and a report has gone up to the branch director."

Old Doctor Woo had said as much, so of course it had gone up. I shoved the lap desk aside and stared at Uncle Kang. Blondie lifted a brow.

"Not very surprised? A report going up to the branch director means your ability and your talent are outstanding enough to draw his interest. You're allowed to be happy."

Happy about what? They'd brought news that sounded like nothing but trouble, and they wanted me to be happy? I hardened my face and spoke to Blondie.

"I saw and went through a great deal in the Phase World, so I can't bring myself to be glad so easily. May I ask why you've come?"

Blondie faltered, as if the reaction was unexpected. Uncle Kang rather seemed pleased, and spoke with a faint smile.

"The branch director showing interest is as good as saying a great many people will be watching your ability. The things that will trouble you have increased."

"S-Senior?"

"But don't worry. International law is set so that illicit approaches to underage returnees are not permitted."

Oh? So I wouldn't be hounded for a while?

"That said, I don't recommend whiling the time away. One year, until you come of age. Building knowledge and strength on your own, and finding the place that suits you best, will matter more than anything."

"I understand."

Looking satisfied, he handed me two scrolls, each about the size of an A4 sheet.

"Your class certificate and your ability-user identification. They've been officially issued, but you are not yet an adult, so remember that all hunting of aberrants, and all entry into the Phase World, are forbidden. The Association is favorable toward ability users who abide by the regulations, but severe with those who do not."

Blondie stuck his mouth out, looking put out, and handed over a luxurious box a little larger than a palm, which he'd been holding in his left hand since earlier.

"It's a Certifier. There's a manual in the box, so read it and put it on."

Uncle Kang watched me take the box and the scrolls, wiped the smile from his face, and spoke in earnest.

He'd left me feeling oddly dazed. He told me to contact him if anything happened and handed me a business card with his number on it. Blondie took out a card as well, gave me one, and vanished quickly. From what I gathered, something had come up and they were in a rush.

I set the cards the two had left on the hospital bed and stared at them.

The advice Uncle Kang had given me was timely, and a great help. A minimum of one year had been handed to me, in effect. Even so, the branch director taking an interest in me was a burden. A burden… no. More of a grating unease.

Why did I feel this way.

While I was hospitalized, I'd looked into the Association from every angle. It ran on an ability-first system that put practical competence above all else. A branch director representing a nation held a voice comparable to a president or a prime minister and received a great deal of support from that nation's ability users, so they were called heavyweights. Of course, their ability as ability users was outstanding as well.

So if that person showed interest, people of a similar caliber would show interest too. And there was no way someone who was nothing less than a nation's branch director would be careless or slapdash. I'd been given a year, but the other side had the same year. Rather, they had more cards in hand, so over that year they'd make every preparation, and then…

Ah. There it was again. The bad habit. Spending my nerves in the worst direction.

I gave my head a hard shake and flung the thoughts out. The Association was an ability user's sturdy ally, wasn't it. If I needed to keep an eye on anyone, it was ordinary raid teams, not the branch director.

Should I spend the remaining time gathering information on famous raid teams? The more I knew, the more strength it would give me, and I'd be able to choose the team I wanted and work with them.

But what was this unease, really…

I was scratching my head when my sister came over, looked at the cards, and spoke.

"Those two assigned to you seem like good people."

"For now, I think I can trust them."

At that she smiled and stroked my head. Her gaze was warm and soft, but behind it she seemed to be thinking hard about something. She was the original when it came to reading my thoughts and reading a room, so not knowing what she was thinking was a shame.

Well. Setting that aside.

"Si~is~?"

"Uh, huh?"

I grinned, got down off the bed, and blocked the doorway. She started to look visibly flustered.

"You done with your call?"

"Ah?"

"You're going to grant my request, right?"

"Ghk…!"

Only then did she look thrown, as if she'd forgotten, and I felt a bright little thrill. It wasn't easy to catch my sister that flustered.

"Come on, it's nothing hard. You just have to make one little call to Dad, okay? Hehehe."

I'd meant to rest a few more days at the hospital, the way she wanted. After seeing Uncle Kang and hearing what he'd said, I thought I ought to get back to ordinary life a little sooner. She seemed unhappy I wasn't going to rest longer. At the demand she finely furrowed her brow and fussed.

"Can't you just rest a little longer? Look closely and you still look thin."

"…Are your eyes broken? I weigh seventy kilograms now! Gain any more here and I'll be a pig again!"

"Whyyy. A little more weight and you'd be cuter."

"That's only in your eyes and Mom's! Everybody else teases me and calls me a pig!"

"What?! Who said that! Drag them in front of me this instant! I'll give them a piece of my mind!"

"No, forget you — I'm telling you, everyone says it!"

Franc was floating around the room, watching our bickering as if it were fun, as if she envied it — and the line that slipped from her shoulder past the hollow of her arm, dropped at the waist, and surged up hard over her hips was so bewitching I couldn't keep my mind on the fight.

My sister must have read those glances as glances at the bed, because she launched into persuading me all over again.

"The days are still chilly, cold even, so you'll be miserable if you leave a warm bed, you know? Rest just a few more days, get your strength all the way back, and then we'll discharge, okay? Sis is asking nicely~."

"Oh, seriously!"

I lunged at her — she kept treating me like a patient — and she went "Ah?!" with a startled face and threw both arms across herself. I caught her by the waist and hoisted her clean off the floor.

"Kya?!"

"See! Does this look like a sick person's strength?!"

"W-what are you doing! Put me down!"

"Say it! Do I look sick or not!"

I held her by the waist and lifted her up and down. She panicked, legs flailing. My arms took a real load, but thanks to raising my strength with Phase Power, this much wasn't hard. Eating well had built my stamina up, too.

"Ghk!"

Flailing, she accidentally drove a knee into my stomach, then put on a tearful face, yelled her surrender, and smacked my arms.

"Okay! I said okay, so put me down!"

Hah. Should've done this from the start.