The Mediator
"......"
"Batori?"
"......"
"...Hey, are you all right?"
I asked the black-and-white-haired girl sitting across from me, genuinely worried. There wasn't any particular reason for it... or at least, I didn't think there was. I'd simply been walking her through the mentoring arrangement with Saran when she'd gone completely unresponsive — like a computer that had its RAM yanked out mid-process, blue-screened, and died on the spot.
I hadn't even told her anything remarkable. I'd just said a few words about mentoring with Saran, then shown her a document with a brief — a truly, extremely brief — description of the woman. A reasonably clear photo of Saran's face. That she was a snake-type Mutant Awakened. That she was a veteran hero. That was the entire explanation, and yet...
"Batori? You're okay, right? You are okay... aren't you? Could you try answering me?"
"Eh— th-that— huh— heh— ah...?"
"......"
Looks like she's broken.
I hadn't been working with her for long, but Batori had thoroughly crashed, and I couldn't help being a little flustered. I never imagined something this small would bring her thoughts to a complete halt. I knew she had trouble with people, but I hadn't thought she'd react this... stupidly. It left me at a loss.
"Batori, is this... too much for you? I put this together thinking it might actually help."
"Ah, th-that's... still... i-it's too scary..."
"Scary?"
"She looks scary......"
"...?"
Does she?
After hearing that, I slowly studied the photo of Saran's face in the document. It had been taken against a dark background, and the lighting was dim, so it wasn't exactly a bright, cheerful picture — but I wouldn't say Saran looked so terrifying you couldn't even talk to her. If anything, she gave off more of a cool city-beauty vibe. A striking woman. The kind of person you had one of in every class back in school — handsome and pretty in a princely way, but with a serious, heavy atmosphere about her.
Maybe those slit-like snake eyes and her sharp features just came across as frightening. Or maybe it was because she'd been photographed with such a blank expression. It was hard to relate, but Batori wasn't completely rejecting the whole thing, so I let out a tiny sigh and prepared to talk her through it. Talking people around was always my job, after all.
"I understand you're a little scared, Batori, but Saran is absolutely not a bad person. She's a bit blunt, but...?"
"B-but her face is so scary, like she could snap someone's neck without even trying, and if you said even one slightly mean thing she'd drive a steel spike straight through your temple, and if you asked a question for no reason she'd strangle you just because you were annoying, and if she's a snake then she's got to have fangs, right, so she'd just pump you full of venom until you got full-body paralysis and cerebral palsy and died, so how am I supposed to believe she's not a b-bad person...?"
"......"
Oh, Batori, Batori. You were a much ruder kid than I thought...
The words that came machine-gunning out of Batori's mouth left me momentarily unable to react at all. Of course, it was fear talking — the kind of thing that spills out without passing through the brain even once — but I truly had not expected her to feel that way about Saran.
"Batori? First of all, please just calm down. She really isn't a bad person. If she were, she wouldn't have been living as a hero for six years, would she?"
"Th-that's..."
"She really isn't a bad person. If anything, she's someone who takes good care of you whenever work comes in. So I'll set something up — lightly, really lightly. How about just sitting down and having a little conversation?"
"If... if you put it that way, Counselor......"
I took her hands to settle her down, then laid out one persuasive point after another. After that I kept going, talking through all the advantages she could gain from mentoring.
And as a result, both Batori and Saran accepted. I started coordinating the schedule, and naturally, the meeting place was the usual café.
"......"
"......"
Maybe it was because neither of them had anything fixed on their calendars. Being a hero was a bit like freelancing, after all — unless a dispatch request came in, there wasn't much work to speak of. The two of them were already seated in the room before I even arrived, and of course they weren't exchanging a single word. I'd expected as much, so I just smiled and greeted them.
"Everyone got here first, I see. Was the trip over all right? There was an event going on over... somewhere today, so things were pretty chaotic. No trouble?"
"I-I was fine... I got here an hour early..."
"Not particularly."
"......"
Ah. I was suddenly, vividly reminded that my MBTI letter was E. I had no choice but to admit that both of them were truly, profoundly quiet people.
"You arrived a whole hour early, Batori? You really didn't need to get here that far ahead of time. Why so early? Did you have something else to do?"
"Ah, th-that's not it... I just thought that if I wasn't in my seat when you arrived, Counselor, you might be disappointed......"
"Ah. That wouldn't happen. I got here right on the dot myself, didn't I? Running a little late to an appointment is something that can happen to anyone. You really don't need to worry that much."
"E-even so..."
What a heartbreaking thing to say. I almost felt guilty hearing it. Still, we had a conversation to get through. Yes. I swallowed back the dozen remarks climbing up my throat and decided to press on.
"Thank you both so much for coming today. Honestly, this was probably a difficult sit-down for both of you, so I really have to say I'm grateful. Hehe."
"Ah, n-no...! You went to the trouble of setting this up for us, Counselor..."
"Mm."
"Shall we get to the point, then. As I mentioned before, this is mentoring. You've both heard of it from your school days, right? I've never actually done it myself, but it's exactly what it sounds like — a mentor and a mentee. In this case, Saran will be the mentor and Batori the mentee."
"What exactly am I supposed to teach her?"
"You've been debuted as a hero for six years, Saran. You're a veteran. Batori, on the other hand, is such a newcomer that calling it a few months would be generous. There's a great deal she can learn. Setting her ability aside — fighting, combat, and various other fields. If you could teach her those, that would be perfect."
"Mm."
"Batori? She's a genuinely good person. I really recommend you give learning from her a try, without worrying."
I'd already gone over this once, but Batori was genuinely frightened. With Saran, the start might be annoying, but I figured she'd handle it just fine once she got going. With Batori, even getting started looked like it would be too much — so I couldn't help talking more than usual.
"A good person?"
"Yes. Someone like you, Saran, is a really good person."
"Hmm."
Saran had a habit of coming out with things from left field, now as before. The conversation kept going, and most of it inevitably turned to scheduling. Neither of them had a fixed weekly routine, so we had to talk it through — but that wasn't actually why the discussion ran long.
The reason it truly dragged on was me.
"C-Counselor, could you maybe sit in with us...?"
"...What?"
"...J-just the two of us meeting is... too, um, hard... so I was wondering, i-if it's possible... if you could come along too, Counselor......"
"......"
I'd thought that sitting down face-to-face with Saran would ease things at least a little. Apparently Batori still found her terrifying. And the only way Batori was going to start this mentoring — and keep it going — was through me. Did she want me to play some kind of mediator? Or did she just want to avoid being alone with a Saran who scared her, by any means necessary? It was the kind of request that sent a lot of thoughts spinning through my head.
"I'm not close with her yet either. Charlotte, it'd be better if you came along."
"...Is that so."
With Saran saying that too, I had no choice but to nod. Ordinarily I met with the heroes I was assigned about once a week, so I didn't have that many field visits. Lately, though, the number of times I had to go out had been steadily... increasing, and I was starting to worry.
Writing reports and paperwork wasn't particularly hard, so the Team Leader would approve afternoon outings without much fuss, and the results so far had been consistently positive. Rather than worry, I decided to think of it as something that could actually help the two of them, and we started discussing the schedule in earnest.
Twice a week, all told. Separate from the once-a-week counseling sessions we'd already been doing. For Batori, that meant one meeting a week plus two additional mentoring sessions. For Saran, weekday evening dinners and weekend outings, plus two mentoring sessions on top of that.
"......"
The schedule was getting steadily more brutal. But I usually coasted through work on a pretty light calendar anyway, and spending time with cute, beautiful women like these two wasn't exactly something I hated. The thought that I might actually be able to help them was enough on its own. I decided a little overexertion wouldn't kill me.
And if it got so hard I really couldn't keep it up, I could just hand it off to some other employee with more free time, right? I had a sense of responsibility, so I fully intended to help as much as I could, but...
"Hmm."
Still, it was true the schedule was starting to get a little rough. I was beginning to feel like I ought to demand a bonus from the Team Leader who'd landed me in this mess.