The Girl Who Became Head of Household (3)

Where is this...?

I recovered my sense of self around the age of eight. That was also the time Capella fully awakened her power. When I came to, though, I was lying in a collapsed building. Bodies were scattered everywhere, and I could barely move.

Awakening my ability had kept me alive—but only just. Surviving that explosion at all was a miracle in itself. From the wreckage, this place looked like it had been a restaurant. A tragedy that had struck while a family was spending a happy time together.

...What the hell happened?

When I turned my head, the outside was even worse. An army had surrounded someone I didn't know. Guns, of course, plus heavy weapons and even armored vehicles—and they were swept away with absurd ease. By a single person. That had to be the one behind all of this. After wiping out the army, they found me and started walking over, slowly, to snuff out my life.

I tried to run. I just wanted to live.

Wait—is someone still alive?

That was when I heard a baby crying beside me. A baby meant parents. I hoped someone had survived the blast, but the child's mother had wrapped herself around her daughter and left this world forever. She had been Capella's mother, too.

The only ones left alive were the baby and me. When the infant named Elena came into view, a girl's voice echoed through my head.

Those were Capella's last words. Knowing she couldn't save her only sibling herself, she had given her body to me so that the last of her family might live.

Just running away on my own would have been hard enough. Taking a baby along would make it even harder.

...This is insane.

Even so, I couldn't abandon that child. I couldn't bring myself to refuse the request of a girl who had sacrificed herself to protect her sister.

Ten years since then. Ten years since I pulled Elena out of those ruins.

"Alright, let's start with the chicken before it gets cold. We'll save the cake for after we've eaten everything else."

Of all the things I'd bought, I pulled out the boneless fried chicken first—from the shop right in front of the hospital. I worried that Elena barely ate any meat in here, but luckily she still managed chicken reasonably well.

"Yes! Waiting through dinner was worth it."

Chicken never lets you down. Time to unpack the rest. Salad was a given whenever you were eating something greasy, and with Christmas around the corner, cake was nonnegotiable.

"Whoa, you even got cake?"

"Strawberry, the one you like. Eat it like you're grateful. And this is for your winter coat and shoes..."

We'd managed to settle in Hero City after all that, but the aftermath of what happened when she was little left Elena's body frail, so she spent her days like this—in a hospital. The reason she was sick enough to live here was that she was Mana Incompatible.

A rare condition that maybe one in a million people had. Even though she wasn't an awakener, mana generated inside her body, and that mana crushed her from within. If it went wrong, it could kill her. You had to drain the mana that built up before it became dangerous, and there were a dozen other things to watch besides, so living anywhere but a hospital was nearly impossible.

She spent most of the year here. Sometimes she came home, but even then it was only a week or two at most.

"Why did you buy so much, Unni?"

Ordinarily, generating mana in your body meant you became an awakener. In Elena's case, it had been caused by an external factor, so there was nothing to be done. Because of that, she grew slower than other kids her age and looked even younger than she was—though she'd grown up fast in every other way.

"It's cold out. You need to stay warm. And you're still growing—you've got to eat a lot if you want to shoot up, don't you?"

Still, I figured this was far better than dying. Death was the end. As long as she was alive, a way might open up somehow.

"...You can't have any money because of me."

"You don't need to worry about that. You know I'm an awakener, right? I can earn enough for your hospital bills."

The cost of regularly draining the mana from her body was pretty terrifying, but bounty money covered it somehow. If I just lived a little carefully, it wasn't a problem. The one who had it hardest was her. While other kids her age were going to school, she was stuck in a hospital—and she was still growing up this well. That alone made me grateful. On top of that, she studied here too; apparently she was already working through the high school curriculum. I had no idea who she took after, but her head was sharp.

"Thank you, Unni. I'll eat well, then. But Unni—you definitely haven't eaten anything all day, have you? You go first."

Elena picked up a piece of chicken and held it out to me. It was a little hot, but chicken was still chicken.

"...It's good. You eat too."

"Okay. When I grow up, I'll make lots of money and buy you all kinds of delicious things."

"My tastes are pretty expensive, you know. You sure about that?"

"No problem!"

And she was only twelve, already thinking like that. She'd grown up without parents from the start, and she was pretty, smart, and kind on top of it. How many little sisters like this were there in the world? No matter how exhausted and brutal the work got, seeing Elena's bright smile always gave me strength. I had to keep going, even when it was hard. So more than anything, I hoped her body would get better, even one day sooner.

"Alright. I'll take the thought. Should be about time, huh?"

The scheduled hour had arrived. I switched off the lights in the hospital room, opened the curtains, and waited for what would happen in five seconds.

"Ah, Unni! Over there! It just started!"

Elena's voice was full of anticipation.

A flash—!

The night sky lit up.

Bright blossoms of fire bloomed with the crack of fireworks. The Central Center was putting on a fireworks festival for Christmas Eve. Doing it on Christmas Day itself would have made more sense, but given Hero City's circumstances, they held it the night before.

"It's so pretty..."

Elena sat on the bed and looked out the window. Her red eyes—the same red as Capella's—shone, bright and eager. Thankfully they weren't the eerie, muddy red of mine, but a pure, clean, beautiful red.

"...Yeah. It really is pretty."

I sat down beside her and watched the winter sky. It was a beauty words couldn't quite catch. Fireworks of every color lit the night, and unbidden, old lines drifted through my head—memories in one star, love in another... That's how far gone I was: a poem I never even glanced at in ordinary life had surfaced on its own.

"Unni, can I open the window?"

"I'll open it. Won't you be cold, though?"

"Just for a little while is fine. I'll put on the scarf you bought me."

Elena was delighted, excited like a little kid. Asking for a room with a good view of the fireworks had been worth it. Until now I'd been too busy to pay much attention, but lately I'd had a bit of breathing room, so I could look after her a little more. Until last year she'd only watched this from some tucked-away corner or a tiny television. If I'd known it would be like this, I should have gotten her this room sooner. Seeing her this happy, the money didn't feel wasted at all.

"Thanks to you, Unni, one of my wishes came true."

"What wish?"

"Eating something delicious with you while watching fireworks."

"...Aim a little bigger with your wishes, would you? What kind of wish is that? People usually watch these from the roof of a fancy hotel. Or with a handsome, dashing boyfriend. Oh—and if you ever get a boyfriend, you have to introduce him to me, okay?"

If he turned out to be some piece of trash, I'd string him from a firework and shoot him into the sky. I'd make him light up the night just like those bursts out there.

"I don't have a boyfriend or anything... And I'm still twelve."

Elena said it with a strained little smile.

"Ah. Right. You are."

She was so mature for her age that it hadn't registered. Then again, approaching a twelve-year-old in the first place was probably a hanging offense all on its own, wasn't it? Even a kid her own age wasn't necessarily safe. I couldn't swear I was the only person cursed to fall into this wretched world. Just in case, I should probably ask the nurses if any boys talked to Elena a lot...

"...Unni, that scary thought is written all over your face. You're not actually ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠planning to hang someone from a firework and launch them, are you?"

"W-would I do that?"

Sharp as anything. No wonder she was Capella's sister. I was going to have to work on my poker face.

The fireworks went on for about twenty minutes after that, and Elena and I watched them while we ate chicken. When I turned on the television, the live news was covering the festival grounds with sweet music, broadcasting a cheerful scene blessing the Christmas soon to come. As the show wound down, I brought out the cake, lit a candle for the fun of it, and we ate it with relish.

"That looks like so much fun over there. Doesn't it, Unni?"

I would have liked to take Elena there if I could, but the doctor had said it hadn't been long since her mana extraction, and going out in the cold of winter wasn't a good idea. You listen to the doctor. If I got greedy and made her sick, the guilt would be unbearable.

"I want to go there with you next year, Unni."

"If you want to go, get healthy first. Got it?"

Time slipped by. Before I knew it the clock's hour hand was nearing twelve, and after watching the broadcast announcing that Christmas had arrived, I switched off the television. She usually went to sleep before eleven, but tonight I'd made a special exception and left room until midnight.

"Alright. You've brushed your teeth, so it's time for bed."

"Mm... I'm getting sleepy..."

I pulled the blanket over the yawning child, turned off the room lights, and started getting ready to leave. If I stayed, I might keep her from sleeping, so going home was the better call.

"Unni, can I ask you for something?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Could you stay until I fall asleep? I've been having scary dreams lately."

That put going home out of the question. Elena asked while holding onto my sleeve. This was a problem. There wasn't a curfew, exactly, but wandering around too late meant getting stopped by security robots, which was a hassle in all kinds of ways.

"Elena, you're still a little kid, huh?"

"...Well, I am still a little kid."

Ah, right. Twelve was a little kid. I kept forgetting.

"Okay. But you have to fall asleep quick, alright?"

"Okay."

I sat quietly in the chair beside the bed and waited for Elena to drift off. The hospital at night was still, and the only light now was the moonlight coming through the window. She ought to fall asleep soon like this. Part of me wanted to sing her a lullaby, but I had no talent for singing—I'd only wake her up.

"Have a good dream tonight."

"Okay. Thank you, Unni."

I leaned lightly against the bed, holding one of her hands. Small and frail, but warm. Not rough and cold like mine.

I pulled my cap down, looked out over the night city, and let out a breath. The air leaving my mouth froze white. The view from the hospital roof wasn't as bad as I'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠expected. You couldn't take in the whole city at a glance the way you could from a skyscraper, but you could still look at it from a distance, and that gave it a kind of aching tenderness. It felt like you could reach it if you stretched out your hand—and once you did, you felt just how far away it really was.

"Is this the feeling you live with every day..."

I covered my face with the mask and renewed the vow I'd made back then. No matter what happened, I would make sure that child at least could live happily. That was the only atonement I could offer for taking Elena's real sister from her.

And for that, her body had to be fixed first. Elena had ended up like this because, as an infant, she'd been exposed to an awakener's mana far too intensely. That day, to protect her from the awakener who'd attacked the city, I'd had to draw out every last bit of my power. Being held in my arms then had probably done most of it. Her hair hadn't been white from the beginning, after all.

Right on cue, the newly updated list came in. Looking over the names, I couldn't help smiling. Look at all this. Unlike heroes, villains were diligent—they worked hard even on Christmas.

"...Nice. They filtered it well before sending it over."

I should take a page from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them and earn some money. Fixing the body I'd cursed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was going to take a fairly large sum first.

Besides, there was only one way to cure a Mana Incompatible constitution, wasn't there?