Bonds, and Bonds (1)
Bonds, and Bonds (1)
Fwoosh─!!
Warm light bloomed inside the dark warehouse.
Holy power spread from Lee Ye-sol's two hands and seeped into Idni's red, swollen forehead.
"Ugh, my skull's cracking..."
"You're being dramatic."
"...I mean it."
Idni answered her superior's teasing smile with a dead-serious face.
She'd been hit in the head plenty of times during training with her seniors—shield bashes, gauntleted punches, you name it—but compared to the impact that had slammed into her forehead today, all of that was nothing.
If the former was kittens batting at each other, the latter was a full-grown tiger taking a swipe. You had to have been on the receiving end to understand. It was terror, plain and simple.
"For once, I can't disagree with Idni..."
Maria, who had been tending to the still-dazed Lee Na-young, shivered like someone who'd felt a chill.
"It really hurt..."
"...Yeah."
Baek Ha-na and Nam Seo-hee, sitting beside her, were pointlessly rubbing their own foreheads and nodding heavily, though they were fine now.
Lee Ye-sol smiled silently at the children's reactions and withdrew her holy power. Then she lightly smacked Idni's forehead—smack—and rose from her spot.
"The fireworks will start soon. Shall we get up?"
"...Can't we just watch from here?"
Rubbing the forehead Lee Ye-sol had just smacked, Idni asked with a sulky expression.
The throbbing ache was gone thanks to her superior's consideration, but after sprinting, rolling, and throwing herself across the sand with everything she had, every muscle in her body was screaming.
It was a slightly embarrassing admission for a Holy Knight candidate, but that had been the most desperate, frantic running of her entire life. She'd been that tense.
"Ohoho, if you want to stand the Executor up, by all means, go ahead."
"...Fine. I'm going. I'll go. Happy?"
At her superior's not-quite-a-threat, Idni grumbled and got to her feet.
"Seo-hee. Can you take Na-young?"
"...Yeah."
Nam Seo-hee, who'd stood up alongside Baek Ha-na, approached Maria and lifted the still-groggy Lee Na-young onto her back.
"Is Ppiyaki okay?"
"Yeah. I think she wore herself out and fell asleep for a bit."
When Maria—approaching alongside Nam Seo-hee, who carried Lee Na-young—asked, Baek Ha-na carefully opened her shirt pocket.
-Peep... peep... peep...
Inside, the little girl was curled up with her eyes closed, breathing a bit too fast.
"...She isn't hurt, right?"
"Hold on."
At Baek Ha-na's worried question, Maria brought both hands together and held them out in front of the pocket.
Haaaaa—
The holy power from Maria's hands glowed softly as it seeped into the pocket.
-Peep...?
The fairy, curled tight, opened her eyes and turned her head.
"Are you okay? Want to go home?"
-Huh...?
Rubbing tinier eyes with tiny hands, the fairy pulled herself up.
-Mmnn...
The fairy wriggled her way up and poked her head out of the pocket, then shook it side to side.
-I'n, okay...!!
Then, as if she'd never been tired at all, she let out a lively chirp and her eyes sparkled.
"Are you really okay?"
-Ppi-ang...!!
The tiny girl beamed and nodded, just like normal.
It was the same bright expression as always. But the three people watching her couldn't bring themselves to say she looked fine, even to be polite.
She'd definitely stabilized compared to when she was curled up inside the pocket, but the little girl's breathing was still unsteady, and her wide-open eyes gave a strong impression of someone forcing herself to hang on.
"High Priest..."
"Excuse me for a moment."
Lee Ye-sol also dropped her smile and stepped toward the fairy. She manifested healing light in place of Maria.
-Peep... too b'ight...
The fairy, who'd had her head sticking out, furrowed her brow and retreated back into the pocket.
-Peep... peep-peep...
She'd already used up half her holy power. Even so, the fairy's breathing remained unsteady. No—it had improved slightly, but the moment the holy power was withdrawn, it grew unstable again.
"Let's go."
Healing light wasn't improving her condition.
And Lee Ye-sol was one of the people who knew exactly how the fairies had vanished from this world.
Having felt even more unease than the children had, she spoke with a hardened face.
"I think we need to find the professor and the Executor. Miss Ha-na, please contact the professor."
"Okay."
Walking behind Lee Ye-sol, who had taken the lead, Baek Ha-na pulled out her smartphone to call Baek Woo-jin.
-It's dead...
Unfortunately, the attempt failed the instant she tried.
'No... please...'
Tap! Tap! Tap!
The sudden situation.
Then the loss of contact with the person she relied on.
As the two overlapped, Baek Ha-na fell into panic and frantically tapped the smartphone screen.
-Peep!!
"Ah..."
Baek Ha-na's gaze, which had been relentlessly pressing Baek Woo-jin's name, landed on her left shoulder. The little girl who'd been gasping for breath in her pocket just moments ago was now sitting on it.
-P'ay, to...ge'er...!!
A tiny palm touched her cheek.
"You..."
Baek Ha-na's eyes widened at the cold seeping through the small hand against her cheek.
-I'n okay...!!
What part of this was okay?
In those few moments, her breathing had grown even more ragged and her body had turned this cold. What part of that was okay?
Baek Ha-na felt a powerful unease at the sight of the fairy perched on her shoulder, beaming.
"Peeps. Hold on... let's just stay inside for a little bit."
-Okay!!
Not rejecting Baek Ha-na's hand as it curled around her, the fairy climbed onto it and went back into the pocket. Cupping her hand carefully over the pocket's opening, Baek Ha-na spoke.
"Big Sis Ye-sol... I think we need to move faster."
"Understood."
She hadn't seen what happened because she was walking ahead, but through the anxious tremor in Baek Ha-na's voice, Lee Ye-sol sensed that the fairy's condition had worsened further.
Her pace quickened naturally, and the rest of the group poured mana into their umbrellas so they wouldn't snap as they hurried after her.
'She seemed fine just yesterday... no, even earlier, when we were playing ball inside the rift—'
Baek Ha-na's brow furrowed.
'...She wasn't fine.'
Ever since the festival started, she'd occasionally been gasping for breath, but each time she'd eaten some of the black jelly Claire offered and seemed to recover right away. So she'd thought it was nothing. That it was just because they'd been playing hard, that she was hungry, that she was briefly worn out... but that wasn't it.
That was just what she, what all of them, had chosen to believe.
Yet that very realization eased her anxiety, just a little.
'If Big Sis Claire knew, then Woo-jin definitely knows too.'
Even just that black jelly would improve her condition right now.
And if they just waited a little longer, the person she could rely on more than anyone would come back and fix this. Just like the day he'd saved her.
"Big Sis!!"
Baek Ha-na ran toward Claire, who stood alone on the street beneath a black umbrella.
"B-Big Sis. Ppiyaki..."
She'd steadied herself. She had.
But the moment she saw Claire's face as Claire turned, Baek Ha-na felt the anxiety surge again.
"Big Sis...?"
"Miss Ha-na."
The instant the cold, subdued Claire spoke her name, Baek Ha-na took an involuntary step backward. But Claire, who had seized her by both shoulders, gave her no room to pull away.
"The fireworks will begin soon."
"That doesn't matter right now... Peeps, Ppiyaki..."
"No. It does matter. So please take your hand away."
Claire's gaze was fixed on the hand Baek Ha-na had covering the pocket.
"Executor?"
"...Be quiet."
Idni, who had arrived a moment late, tried to approach them, but Maria quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her back. Lee Ye-sol also fell silent and silently watched the two of them.
"Miss Ha-na."
"......"
Claire called her name once more, but Baek Ha-na didn't answer.
"Ha-na—"
"The black jelly."
Just as Claire was about to call her name again, Baek Ha-na, who had kept her mouth shut, cut her off.
"The black jelly. Give me that first."
"I don't have any."
At that dry response—free of any displeasure, free of any emotion at all—Baek Ha-na's eyes wavered.
"Wh-where's Woo-jin...?"
"He had business and stepped away."
"...You're—"
"Miss Ha-na."
This time, it was Claire who cut her off.
"That child doesn't have much time left."
Through the softly pattering rain, Claire's cool voice reached everyone on the street with perfect clarity.
"So please let her go. Unless you intend to make her spend her final moments in that cramped little space."
Claire didn't wait for Baek Ha-na's answer or for her to move.
Using the hands already gripping her shoulders, she swept aside the hand that had been covering the pocket.
-Peep...?
The moment the pocket was open, the fairy inside poked her head out.
Sensing something different about her two friends, the fairy fluttered her tiny wings and stepped out. It was a precarious flight, as if she might drop at any moment.
Claire reached out to support the fairy from underneath.
-Play... to...ge'er...!!
Gasping, the fairy looked back and forth between Claire and Baek Ha-na and called out. It was an impossibly small voice, yet strangely clear.
"Yes."
-Peep... peep, peep...
Claire carefully stroked the head of the fairy gasping for breath in her hand.
"All of you, come closer."
"...Yes."
The children who'd been keeping their distance and Lee Ye-sol approached the two.
"Big Sis..."
"Yes. Miss Ha-na."
Watching the exhausted fairy still sparkling in Claire's hand, Baek Ha-na asked.
"...Is there really no way?"
"Yes. There is none."
It was an answer far too cold and absolute.
"But why...?"
"Do you remember the sphere that child gave you some time ago?"
"...Yeah. I still have it."
"She made it using her own lifespan."
"...What?"
It wasn't just Baek Ha-na. Everyone who heard that answer widened their eyes in disbelief.
"So, Miss Ha-na."
Claire smiled faintly at the anxious fairy as she continued.
"Please help this child hold onto only happy memories until the very end."