Fairy (2)
Fairy (2)
Her eyes widened.
That tiny, seemingly insignificant change was enough to confirm that Claire had spotted the fairy. I lowered back down the woman I'd briefly lifted.
Her feet touched the floor, and I released my hold on her waist.
She looked up at me, her small lips pursing as if she had something to say.
She must have misunderstood my earlier whisper, thinking she had to stay completely silent.
'Well, a deafening explosion would be a different story.'
Ordinary chatter wouldn't wake a fairy deep in winter sleep. At least, not according to the knowledge I remembered.
First, I closed the open attic door, then took hold of Claire's hand as she stared up at me.
"Ah..."
"Let's go."
"Y-yes..."
Her immediate answer when I spoke first reminded me so much of Baek Ha-na in her younger days that a small smile escaped me.
Luckily, since her head was bowed, I didn't have to forcibly suppress the corners of my mouth as I usually did.
We descended the stairs quietly and stepped outside together.
By now, it should have been fine for her to say whatever she'd wanted to earlier, but she kept her head gently bowed, her gaze fixed on the ground.
From the moment I took her hand, I'd noticed her temperature rising abnormally. Still, I hadn't expected her to be so embarrassed she couldn't lift her head.
We'd been walking together since dawn; I'd assumed she'd adapted and built up some tolerance. Her reaction made it perfectly clear I was wrong.
"Claire."
"Yes..."
Her gaze, fixed on the ground, slowly rose until she finally managed to look straight ahead.
I wanted to make contact with the fairy before it relocated, and for that, I needed her help. Her holy power would soothe the creature's wariness—fairies are as timid as they are curious.
Above all, fairies like handsome men and beautiful women. After that, they like amusing things.
Objectively speaking, Claire was a beauty anyone would acknowledge.
And I was wearing these ridiculous glasses on my face.
A combination strong enough to catch a fairy's attention, I figured.
Of course, I planned to prepare a bit more beyond that.
To do that, I needed to have a proper conversation with Claire first, so I tried to release the hand I was holding.
Squeeze.
But she didn't let go.
"Ah..."
A short gasp escaped her as she hurriedly released my hand.
"I-I'm sorry... I was just thinking about something else f-for a momen...?"
She started to bow her head over such a trivial thing, so I cupped both her cheeks to stop her. I tilted her face back just a little so she would look up at me, then called her name.
"Claire."
"Ye-yes...?"
Her clear blue eyes, almost transparent, wavered dizzily, and scorching heat radiated from her cheeks into my palms.
"I've said it many times, but I'll say it one last time. Don't lower your head. Watching it only makes me more uncomfortable."
"Uh, uuh..."
Claire pressed her lips—redder than her flushed face—together and nodded rapidly in place of an answer.
"Are you alright?"
"Mm-hmm..."
Awakened or not, harming your own body still causes pain. So biting her tongue as she just had must have been quite painful.
She'd squeezed her eyes shut and just kept nodding for the past few moments, so I released her cheeks.
Tap-tap-tap—!!
She retreated in an instant, and a soft radiance flickered from her body for a fleeting moment before subsiding. Only then did she push her pursed lips out and speak.
"I'm truly, al... right now... Yes..."
"So it seems."
"Ah..."
When I took a step closer, Claire flinched and stepped back.
Her own action seemed to startle her; her eyes widened.
"I'm sor..."
She started to bow her head out of habit, then seemed to recall what had just happened and hastily forced her neck straight, lifting her head.
'That was a little extreme, but it certainly did the trick.'
A kind of shock therapy. It was one of the methods I'd used often back when Baek Ha-na was still very young, and applying it to Claire here seemed to have worked.
"Claire."
"Y-yes..."
Her eyes were definitely directed at my face, but a closer look made it easy to tell she was staring at my lips, not my eyes.
I felt a need to shift the atmosphere. Coincidentally, there was something I needed to have fetched, so I spoke to Claire.
"I need you to bring me a few shiny trinkets. The shape doesn't matter, as long as they sparkle."
"Trinkets..."
"Please."
"Ah, yes... I'll procure them right away."
I called after her as she turned away from me as if fleeing.
"There's no need to rush. I'll prepare something to eat as well."
"...Yes."
Despite her answer, Claire vanished from my sight at remarkable speed.
-Vvvvrrr~!!
A vibration buzzed from inside my coat.
I reached in and pulled out my smartphone. The screen lit up on its own and spewed out some obnoxious sentences.
[ (^∀^*) Oh my, so sweet!! ]
[ (•ω<)☆ Please continue to be just as proactive from now on!! ]
The screen, which had turned on by itself, shut off by itself.
'Smashing one statue should be fine.'
I was thinking about giving back exactly what I'd received as I tucked the device back into my coat.
-Ding.
The dead screen lit up, and the sole notification sound I'd ever configured rang out. I turned the phone over and looked at the glowing screen.
[ Baek Ha-na : (Photo) ]
[ Baek Ha-na : You said you two aren't dating. ]
I stared at the photo of Claire and me arm-in-arm for a moment, then moved my fingers.
This was simple. All I had to do was tell her the plain facts without making excuses.
"..."
I was about to send the message. I deleted everything I'd written. Then I called Baek Ha-na.
So no meddler could interrupt in the middle.
**
-Claire.
"Get... get a hold of yourself..."
Even the slightest lapse in concentration brought that low voice echoing in her ears. Ultimately, Claire bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to wound it.
She decided that without inflicting some kind of pain on herself, she simply wouldn't be able to regain her senses.
Sure enough, as the raw, metallic tang spread through her mouth alongside the stinging pain, the voice that had kept echoing gradually faded until it was gone entirely.
"Haa."
Her chaotic mind barely began to settle. Claire decided not to heal the wound inside her mouth, just in case.
'This is... something Lee Ye-sol gave me.'
From the moment she had fled from Baek Woo-jin, Claire's memories had been unstable.
It was the luxurious envelope in her hand that allowed her to barely piece things together.
After receiving Baek Woo-jin's request, she had gone to the temple first to procure sparkling trinkets. There, she met Lee Ye-sol, who had just finished a meal. Lee Ye-sol had approached her with a beaming smile the instant she saw Claire's face.
The smile was so bright and filled with pure emotion, yet oddly, Claire had briefly entertained the thought of smacking Lee Ye-sol upside the head before swiftly dismissing it.
After that, she'd explained the situation. Because Claire had provided such a sweet dessert after the meal, Lee Ye-sol gave her an envelope containing earrings and a necklace she'd originally purchased intending to adorn Claire.
Having obtained what she needed, she headed back toward the old alchemy workshop where she was supposed to meet Baek Woo-jin again, which led to this moment.
'...How pathetic.'
In a situation where showing her best wouldn't have been enough, she'd not only stammered but had also bitten her own tongue, revealing such clumsiness.
Honestly, she was so mortified and ashamed that she wanted to crawl under a blanket, cease all activity for the foreseeable future, and have time alone.
But Baek Woo-jin's request was more important than her personal feelings, so she steeled herself and forced her unsteady feet toward the promised location.
The area had long been devoid of human presence. By the second half of the walk, Claire had ample solitude and managed to compose herself.
As she neared the meeting place, she spotted Baek Woo-jin holding something in his hands.
"Professor."
The thought that she had kept him waiting made her hasten her steps. Only when she drew close could she properly identify what he was holding.
A small brown basket.
It was the very basket Baek Woo-jin used back when Baek Ha-na was still young and he couldn't resist her whining to go on a picnic.
"Let me set this down for a moment."
"...Yes."
She had barely managed to compose herself, but the moment she heard his voice, her heart trembled again. At the same time, the touch of his hands on her cheeks needlessly resurfaced.
-Claire.
"Claire."
Once more, his voice...
"...!!"
Having blanked out for a second, she realized a beat late that Baek Woo-jin had actually called her name. She flinched, and then she saw his hand directed at her.
That hand was pointing precisely at the paper bag she held, then gestured toward the floor.
Only then did Claire realize she had answered him but hadn't actually acted. She quickly set the bag down.
"Your hand."
"...Here."
Claire extended her hand toward Baek Woo-jin, and he gently took her outstretched hand in his.
Shhhiing.
Through their joined hands, Claire could feel that now-familiar, slightly peculiar mana seeping into her body.
This was one of the measures Baek Woo-jin took when they occasionally needed to avoid prying eyes.
She didn't understand the principle, but while Baek Woo-jin's mana circulated inside her body, she could conceal herself as if her very existence had been erased.
No presence, no sound, not even a scent could leak out—the sort of thing that was a little frightening. That was what Baek Woo-jin was using now.
"Follow me."
"...Yes."
Claire retrieved the bag she had set down and walked side by side with Baek Woo-jin.
[Confirmed.]
The door opened, and they entered the dust-laden workshop once more.
As the warmth she felt through their joined hands threatened to unsettle her barely calmed heart again, Claire subtly moistened her dry lips and spoke.
"...Professor."
"Go ahead."
"I wish to ask what you intend to do with the fairy."
"Nothing."
"...Then what are these?"
"Tools for getting acquainted."
"..."
Claire cautiously glanced at the bag she held and the basket in Baek Woo-jin's hand.
It was true that fairies liked shiny things, but she knew from experience that shiny things alone wouldn't make them friendly.
That was why she was curious.
How he planned to close the distance with the fairy using these items.
Creeeak.
The storehouse door opened with an unpleasant sound, and the two stepped inside.
Once inside the storehouse, Baek Woo-jin set the basket down directly beneath the attic door. He took out a glass jar meant for holding a fair amount of jam, opened the lid, and placed it on the floor.
Then he reached into the basket again and pulled out a small container holding the 'Essence of a Black Queen Slime'—something he had purchased once at an auction house.
Click.
As the lid opened, a dizzyingly sweet smell instantly spread and began to fill the surroundings.
She had thought he bought it for Baek Ha-na, who loved sweets. Apparently not. Baek Woo-jin placed the black jelly from the container into the glass jar.
"By any chance, are those the things you use?"
"N-no, they are not."
At Baek Woo-jin's question, Claire quickly shook her head and held out the envelope.
He took it from her, then began pulling out moderately sized trinkets and carefully stacking them inside the jar so they wouldn't touch the slime essence.
"...This should do."
He lifted the jar slightly to test it, then stood up, holding the lid and the envelope containing the remaining trinkets.
Baek Woo-jin handed the envelope back to Claire and spoke.
"Go stand in a corner."
"...Yes."
Following his instruction, Claire walked over to the corner of the storehouse and stood there. Baek Woo-jin then reached up, pulled the attic door open.
Once it was open, he clasped his hands behind his back and put a little distance between himself and the jar.
How long did they wait like that?
-Peek.
A small fairy cautiously poked its head down from the wide-open attic.
It blinked several times, seemingly not yet fully awake.
For a long while after revealing itself, the fairy just blinked from the attic. Then it carefully moved its wings and descended.
Every single one of its actions was so tiny and adorable that Claire found her eyes utterly captivated.
The fairy, having come down, grabbed the rim of the jar containing the sweet-smelling slime essence with its minuscule hands.
-Reeeep!!
It flapped its wings, trying to carry the jar upward. But the jar only gave a few little wobbles on the floor; it stubbornly held its ground, refusing to be carried off by the fairy.
-Reeep...
After struggling and straining for some time, the fairy sagged as if exhausted, then squeezed its body inside the jar. It grabbed a few of the trinkets Baek Woo-jin had stacked and flew back up into the attic.
-Reeep~!!
Though it had seemed tired just moments ago, the fairy now smiled brightly like an excited child, diligently transferring every single earring and necklace up to the attic.
When finally only the slime essence and a single necklace remained in the jar, the fairy climbed into the jar and sat down.
-Reeep~
It grabbed the black jelly with both hands, opened its tiny mouth, and started munching away.
Click.
-Reeep?
"...?"
The fairy and Claire both tilted their heads in unison. Then both simultaneously stared wide-eyed at the jar, now sealed by its lid.
-Reeep?! Reeep!! R-ree, re-reep!! Reeeeep!!
The fairy threw a tantrum, clutching the jelly in one hand, but the lid wouldn't open. The jar only tipped over, rolling around noisily on the floor.
Claire, who had been watching the scene blankly, turned to Baek Woo-jin, who had approached her at some point, and asked carefully.
"You definitely said... you were getting, acquainted...?"
At her question, Baek Woo-jin nodded flatly and answered.
"If I rescue it when it's exhausted, at least it won't be hostile."
"..."
He had a point.
He had a point, but.
-Reeeeep!! Reeeep...!! Reep...! Reeeep...
"Hmm..."
This time, Claire couldn't bring herself to nod.