Saturday
Even though the only green leaves along the arboretum paths belonged to the sturdy pines, walking with Mister made it endlessly fun.
"Oh!"
As we kept walking, a huge glass building came into view up ahead.
I knew right away it was the greenhouse.
Mister still hadn't noticed it yet.
"..."
A sudden fear gripped me. What if he said no because it was too hot or humid?
While I was thinking that, Mister finally spotted the greenhouse too.
"There's the greenhouse."
"...Let's go."
Maybe I'd been worrying for nothing.
Mister acted as if going there had been the plan all along.
It was my first time visiting a greenhouse.
My heart pounded. The world visible inside looked incredibly colorful and beautiful.
"Wow."
Even though damp air and muggy heat washed over me the moment we stepped inside with Mister, the dazzling scene spread out before us left me completely speechless.
Would I have felt the same awe if I'd seen this back then?
"Take your time. Don't run."
"Ung."
Terrified that Mister might get bored of the scenery, I bombarded him with endless questions so he wouldn't have a chance.
There were little signs with explanations under the flowers, but I deliberately ignored them.
Mister's explanations were more fun anyway.
Roses, tulips, camellias.
"Yuna, do you know about camellias?"
"Hm?"
"These ones—spring potatoes are delicious, you know? You don't know that?"
Every so often Mister would say something weird, then scratch his head by himself muttering, Haven't learned that yet...?
It was cute. No—it was funny.
We spent a long time asking about all sorts of flowers until we finally stood in front of the last flower bed.
The final flower left was red. The center was pitch black, but the outer edges were white, and it looked rather pretty.
"...Dad, what's this one?"
This time I wasn't asking just to keep talking with Mister.
I really wanted to know.
Did Mister know the name of this flower too?
"That's an anemone."
"An anemone?"
"Anemone."
Anemone. So this flower's name was anemone.
"Anemone. Anemone..."
Somehow the sound of it was fun to say.
I crouched down right there and gazed at the anemone.
"It's pretty."
"Right? This is one of the ones Dad likes."
Really?
"Yeah. Its flower language is pretty."
What is it?
I looked up at Mister and asked.
"The flower language of the anemone is..."
Pink Rose—that is, the pink rose's flower language is a vow of love.
Blackberry—the blackberry's flower language is a heart that thinks of others.
Star Luminous, whose motif is the lupine... I couldn't quite remember its flower language. I'd only heard it once a long time ago.
And this red anemone...
"I love you."
It's a flower you give to someone you like.
What a lovely flower.
I looked at Mister, then back at the anemone.
Anemone.
A flower you give to someone you like...
When we left the arboretum, Yuna's energy was completely different from when we'd gone in.
Unlike earlier, when she'd been somehow gloomy and quiet—
"That was fun. And there weren't any bugs."
"Glad to hear it."
She clung tightly to my hand, grinning "hehe" and saying thank-you things.
Soon we boarded the bus home.
The ride back was even emptier than the way there. Maybe because it was lunchtime.
Yuna claimed the window seat again and drank in the passing scenery.
After a long while of that—
Suddenly, to me—
"Dad."
Yuna said.
"Yeah?"
"Let's come again in spring."
She said it with her back to the window, looking only at me.
"In spring all the winter buds will have come out, right?"
"..."
It was early winter now.
Spring was still at least three or four months away.
I wouldn't be in Yuna's spring. But I couldn't tell her that.
"Dad?"
I looked for a moment into the eyes waiting for an answer.
I knew exactly what I was supposed to say right now.
"...Yeah. Let's."
"...!"
"In spring there will be lots of pretty flowers even without going into the greenhouse."
"Then let's bring Mom too. Mom loves flowers a ton!"
I was used to playing Dad by now. Used to lying too.
Just like always, I decided to dump the responsibility onto future me.
Or maybe I was dumping it onto future Yuna.
"Promise."
Yuna held out her little finger.
"Promise."
I hooked my finger around her tiny pinky.
"Heehee."
Yuna smiled in satisfaction and turned back to the window. Then she started humming a little tune.
"..."
I didn't know what song it was.
But I could tell it was a happy one.
Later, go look at the flowers outside the greenhouse with your mom, Yuna.
We decided to handle lunch at a drivers' cafeteria near the bus stop.
Yuna said she wanted galbitang, so I brought her there.
She polished off her whole bowl in no time and was now eyeing the free rolled omelet that had come with my meal, nibbling at it little by little.
How on earth did so much food fit into that tiny stomach?
"Eat lots."
I gladly yielded the omelet to Yuna.
Then my eyes drifted to the old TV hanging in the corner of the restaurant.
Five times, huh.
Well, just these past few days alone, how many times had I heard news about monsters?
I'd even almost died for real to one of them once.
Proactive activity when they don't even pay them? What proactive activity.
I suddenly remembered Pink Rose, the one I'd met in the park at dawn.
Saying her efforts aren't enough when she's tanking her exams for this.
What the hell are these "experts" even doing?
"I'm full."
"All done?"
"Ung."
Watching Yuna set down her spoon and pat her tummy, I started getting ready to leave the restaurant.
Honestly, talk about monsters wasn't something I needed to care about right now.
I hadn't even paved my own path properly yet. It was more than I deserved to worry over.
"Heehee..."
I looked at Yuna wiping her mouth with a napkin.
Maybe I should've taken her somewhere a little nicer.
When I looked at her with a slightly apologetic expression, Yuna just gave me a happy smile.
At the same time.
On the rooftop of some apartment in Seoul.
"...Haaah."
A girl with pink hair and a pink dress.
In other words, Pink Rose was slumped against the railing, sitting on the floor.
"How do three monsters show up the second school ends..."
Because of that, she'd had to skip academy again.
She'd told her mom she was going to the study room, but—
Getting caught was only a matter of time.
"Seriously, why aren't there any new magical girls?"
She was so exhausted that the words slipped out even though she didn't mean them.
"...No. Everyone's still working hard in their own assigned areas, I'm sure."
No matter how many she took down, the monsters never ended.
"..."
And lately, whenever her worn-out body went limp, that incident always came back to her without fail.
The magical girl who had been pouring out magi.
And her own magic that had struck that girl down.
Pink Rose hadn't told anyone about it.
She'd thought maybe she'd tell Blackberry unnie if she ever ran into her, but—
What was she even supposed to say?
That her magic worked on a magical girl spewing magi?
That she had hurt a magical girl?
"..."
No way anyone would believe her.
Or maybe they would, but—
Then things might just blow up for no good reason.
That was how the still-immature brain of a middle schooler decided it.
"Humanoid monsters are dangerous, so..."
I took care of it. She chose to believe that firmly.
Pink Rose gripped the railing and pushed herself to her feet.
Monsters would come out tomorrow too. They would come out today as well.
"Pink Rose, you're a magical girl...!"
Tap-tap. She lightly patted her own cheeks with her hands.
Having decided to hide the story of that magi-spewing magical girl from the Association, she once again became a single streak of light and cut across the sky.
Something she would bitterly regret.
Once Yuna and I got home—
Well, nothing special, really.
We talked about the arboretum, talked about lunch.
I sprawled on the sofa and gave half-hearted replies.
"I'm gonna pee."
After chattering away for a long time, Yuna scurried off to the bathroom.
Click.
Just like that, I was alone in the living room for a moment.
Honestly, I was tired.
Walking around the arboretum constantly saying tree and flower names had long since worn out both my body and my head.
Exhausted, I absently picked up my smartphone.
"..."
Thinking maybe there was some agency inquiry or something, I opened my contacts and scrolled aimlessly—
And suddenly rediscovered the number of that kid's mom.
"..."
Should I try calling once?
She was coming in three days anyway, but—
Additional info about Yuna, or just that Yuna was doing fine.
I could at least give a businesslike report like that, right?
I hurriedly pressed the call button before Yuna came out.
Rrrr...
A short wait tone rang.
But then—
"The person you are calling is not answering. Please leave a message after the tone..."
She didn't pick up.
Trying again got the same result.
"...What the hell."
You leave a kid for a whole week and don't even take one call?
Maybe she went on an overseas trip?
I'd heard phones don't work well overseas if you don't do roaming or whatever that was.
"Whatever. She'll handle it..."
I just decided she'd gotten greedy after being worn down from raising a kid alone.
Whooosh.
Listening to the sound of water from the bathroom, I closed my phone.
My body really was exhausted.
Maybe just rest my eyes a little.
If she got hungry or something, Yuna would wake me up anyway.
"..."
And just like that, I sank into sleep as if dead.
The time was half past one in the afternoon.