Rabbit and Snake
“Huaaah… After a nice shower, I do feel better. Did the tteokbokki arrive?”
“…First, put on some clothes.”
“Ah, right. I was already dressed on top anyway.”
After a cleanly done shower, I wrapped my hair roughly with a towel and stepped out. What I saw was Saran sitting at the table with a neatly arranged tteokbokki set in front of her.
Having lived alone for so long, the sight of a table so beautifully set left me thoroughly bewildered in every way.
Still… first, as she said, clothes first.
There were two towels in the bathroom, so I used one for my hair and another to cover my body, but I couldn’t keep wasting time like this forever.
My petite frame meant no real problem yet?
But eating holy tteokbokki without a stitch of clothing was simply out of the question.
“Ehehe… tteokbokki…”
“…Is that your pajamas?”
“Ah, it’s just the pajamas I wear at home sometimes. Rabbit pajamas, super cute, right?”
“…Unusual.”
“Really?”
I thought rabbit pajamas were pretty normal.
Well, anyway.
After showering cleanly and changing into the comfortable clothes, I started chatting with Saran while eating the tteokbokki.
“Wow, but getting exposed by an Awakener’s ability was a real first for a long time. I suddenly passed out and didn’t even realize it would turn out like this?”
“…Yeah.”
“Still, what kind of Awakener was it exactly? Normally, abilities like that fall into either superpowers or energy, right? Which one was it? Just electricity, or was there mana inside and you shot it out?”
“I think it was probably a simple superpower.”
“Makes sense.”
We talked about what happened today too.
And just regular stuff, little by little, story after story.
“I’ve been wondering since last time—when you take on clients, are they usually groups or single targets?”
“Both, actually. But even the singles, once you look at them, they turn out to be organizations.”
“Really…? Can I ask exactly what kind of work it is? After all, it’s just us two here. No security worries or anything, right?”
During our conversation, I became genuinely curious about Saran’s actual work.
I knew a lot about the hero job, public appearances, and social status, but her case was especially unique among them.
She worked at the Hero Association.
So it was natural that I knew almost nothing about it and couldn’t help wondering.
Outside it would be difficult to talk about, but since we were alone right now, I thought it was fine.
There were no listening devices in my apartment, so no problem at all.
“First, I don’t use the hero app. You see heroes on TV getting dispatch requests all the time, but they can leak secrets and the system itself is different. I get requests sent directly to my personal email.”
“Wow…”
“Not through the Association either, but a guest account. When a request comes in on such an account, I accept and handle it myself.”
“You really aren’t a normal hero. Hmm… maybe you’re closer to a secret agent? Like a secret agent belonging to the Association? I’ve met quite a few heroes while doing this job and I’ve never heard of that before.”
“It’s because there are very few of us.”
“That makes sense.”
Even if they were secret, if there were many, secrets would inevitably leak.
Honestly, telling me this was also a bit of a bad thing to do.
Because of the guy who kidnapped me for the sake of getting revenge on Saran.
“Huaa… Saran’s work sounds really dangerous. Normal heroes are licensed and protected, but you’re like a freelancer, so the risk of something like this happening is high.”
“…True.”
It made me worry about Saran’s job anew.
Of course, thinking about her movements today and the poison that completely paralyzed her muscles, maybe it was overkill.
But I couldn’t just not worry about her, could I?
That was why I kept asking her questions about the problems that came up while she was doing her job.
Leaving counseling aside, I worked at the Hero Welfare Bureau at the Hero Association… it was a kind of occupational hazard, and this side seemed to get almost no proper help from the Association.
Before I could bring up any systems with Team Leader, I was collecting information on my own.
During the questions and answers, Saran suddenly looked at me seriously and asked one question.
“…Today, something happened. Are you okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“The kidnapping. It was because of me, but it’s okay if we spend time like this together? No matter how much I work for the Association, this happened for personal reasons. It wasn’t that serious, but…”
“Ah…”
Now it was about the kidnapping that happened a few hours ago.
Honestly, I had almost forgotten it and wasn’t that worried.
It wasn’t a big problem, and it had been resolved without any issues, so there was no reason to worry or overthink it.
It was all because of Saran… that’s why I got kidnapped.
Was she that worried?
The reason they kidnapped me was to lure out Saran, and the call right before was from her… yeah, that made perfect sense?
I might even be too insensitive about it.
“Hmm… at first I was surprised, but it wasn’t your fault. From what I heard, it was a long time ago and they suddenly came for revenge. While living like this, some kind of incident would be normal, right?”
“….”
Saran made an expression that looked like she was very displeased.
But… wasn’t it really true?
Counseling heroes, helping them… I had a job so close to heroes in every way, and incidents caused by heroes weren’t that uncommon, were they?
Especially when weird people sometimes showed up at the Association building.
“You don’t have to worry so much. Saran isn’t at fault at all. Rather, you came to find me before I could contact you again, and you took down the villain in one go?”
“…That was my job.”
“Anyone who can do their job that well is cool.”
“…Haa.”
“You really don’t have to worry.”
We had gotten a bit too serious while eating tteokbokki.
Because I really didn’t think it was Saran’s fault.
I had just told her honestly.
Of course, the person listening still couldn’t nod easily to my words and kept looking at me with eyes full of apology…
It felt like I needed more convincing.
Originally, we should just eat tteokbokki, dip the sundae in it, dip the fried dumplings too, and maybe have a bottle of soju later.
But because the mood had turned too serious, I had no choice but to put that thought on hold.
So… it looked like I would have to do the sleep-inducing thing I hadn’t done in a long time.
“Saran.”
“…What?”
“Come here for a moment.”
After wiping the tteokbokki broth off my lips with a tissue, I took Saran’s hand and led her from the table toward the bed.
The room was so small that we only needed a few steps, but anyway.
The place changed a little, so I slid the blanket aside and climbed onto the bed, and Saran looked at me with puzzled eyes.
“Lying down.”
“…Why?”
“Hmm… to hypnotize you into being calm?”
“…Do you normally say things like that?”
“I thought it would be better to explain first and then do it honestly instead of jumping straight in. I’m really fine, but you’ve been worrying so much. I just want to make you comfortable. Lie down quickly.”
“…Okay.”
Saran seemed like she had a lot to say, but she lay down on the bed anyway.
The sight of someone lying on my bed today… honestly, it was a little, a lot, extremely unusual.
“…By the way, Saran, is it okay to eat tteokbokki while wearing your hero costume?”
“…Ah.”
“Eh…”
She was wearing the hero costume exactly as it was.
When I entered the Association building, I had taken out a coat I kept at the office and let her wear it for a while, but after arriving at the room, I had taken that coat off too.
Yet the costume remained unchanged.
In other words, she was eating tteokbokki while wearing a sexy hero costume that fully showed off her figure.
Of course, I was in rabbit pajamas, so I was bewildered in every way.
“Hmm… today I really wasn’t thinking straight. I had no idea until just a moment ago.”
We had been playing while eating tteokbokki for quite some time.
I really hadn’t noticed anything.
It was only after seeing Saran lying on my bed in that costume that I realized it.
“So I can just leave it like this?”
“…Do whatever you want.”
“Hehe, okay. I’ll just put a hypnosis on you that I’m really fine with, and I won’t use any more hypnosis. Really, truly, okay? You don’t have to worry.”
“…Even saying that to solve it with hypnosis seems weird to begin with.”
“Hehe.”
That was true, but… it was simple, wasn’t it?
Plus, today I personally just wanted to loosen up.
I wanted to comfort Saran quickly and play with her until late at night, so that was why I was doing this.
“Slowly… slowly…”
I started calming Saran, who was lying on my bed in her full costume.
Quietly, step by step, making her feel more comfortable.
After stringing together a few words and continuing, I could feel her breathing gradually becoming regular and deep…
When I thought it was enough, I snapped my fingers.
“What are you worried about right now, Saran?”
“…Charlotte.”
“Are you worried about me because of today’s kidnapping?”
“Yeah.”
Those questions and answers.
But the questions and answers weren’t difficult at all, and both the question content and the answers were already said things, so it wasn’t hard.
After the questions and answers, I said something to reassure her.
“Charlotte is fine. The Charlotte who keeps worrying and thinking too much because of Saran is really fine. You can treat me comfortably. Don’t feel sorry, just be at ease. Treat me like a close person.”
It was more than just reassurance… a kind of wall-breaking words.
Originally it might not have been necessary, but during the questions and answers, I realized Saran was treating me harder than I thought.
I helped her treat me more comfortably.
After finishing those words, I ended the hypnosis and lay down next to the comfortably resting Saran too.
Since I wasn’t going to shake her awake directly… it would take a few minutes at least until Saran woke up naturally.
I lay beside her and rested for a moment.
Then, rustling, the secret hero lying next to me started waking from her sleep.
Her body that had been looking at the ceiling slowly turned to the side and began to look at me, and slowly her sharp reptilian eyes opened.
“…Yeah.”
“Eh.”
Saran immediately pulled me into her arms.
I was already petite and much weaker than her, so being held without any special resistance was completely natural.
“H-hey… Saran?”
I called her, but her eyes were hazy.
Was she still not fully awake from sleep…?
What?
I was startled by Saran’s sudden action, but I just stayed quietly in her arms.
Because she was a snake, unlike the softness, her arms felt quite cool as I spent time in her embrace.
After about five minutes, Saran finally woke up completely from her sleep, and because she regained her senses, I could get out of her arms, but Saran herself looked strangely surprised at her own actions.
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