Fairy (4)
Fairy (4)
A night where a crescent moon hung vividly in the sky.
Gentle moonlight settled quietly over Claire as she walked along the Street of Light.
-Peep! Peep!
-Let's meet again tomorrow.
Dodging the Fairy that kept flitting about trying to snatch his glasses, Baek Woo-jin bid farewell.
But today's parting felt slightly different.
A tiny sphere in his hand, shedding a pitiful light as if it might go out at any moment.
That was what stirred Claire into motion.
It pushed her to step outside, leaving behind Baek Woo-jin—set on keeping the Fairy company until it tired itself out—and the Fairy, smiling brightly as it darted through the air. For the first time, she told Baek Woo-jin she would be taking her leave first.
-Creeeak.
She pulled open the temple's firmly shut doors.
A tiny light glowed brightly in the dark space.
As Claire entered and closed the door behind her, that small light drifted slowly toward her, its blurred silhouette growing more distinct.
"Are you all right?"
Lee Ye-sol, dressed in sleepwear, asked Claire with a worried expression.
Claire nodded and walked past her.
"I will repay you for the accessory at a later date."
"Understood."
Lee Ye-sol did not refuse.
Lee Ye-sol knew her superior was that kind of person, and only by acting this way could she avoid making Claire uncomfortable.
"I'll be using the prayer room. Leave the tidying up to me and go get some sleep."
"Thank you for your consideration."
Lee Ye-sol bowed her head slightly toward Claire as she ascended the stairs.
"May you find the answer you seek......"
**
Click.
Claire, clad in a pristine white priestly robe, entered the private prayer room. She carefully set down the small sphere glowing faintly in her hand onto a chair.
Before a beautifully featured, androgynous statue of a young child, Claire joined her hands and knelt.
"Oh, revered one."
Claire called out to the god she served, her voice full of earnestness.
She had never sought her god without being summoned first, yet now, for the very first time, she wished to meet him on her own initiative.
It involved no official business, nor was it about believers or the other children.
Claire had sought out her god to find answers for a purely personal worry.
Though she loved her god dearly, Vuar would never answer anyone's call unless a subject piqued his interest.
But exceptions existed everywhere.
Behind the kneeling Claire, a soft cluster of light began to take shape, soon forming the figure of a child.
The child—Vuar—watched Claire's back as she quietly offered her prayers, and a gentle smile lifted the corners of his lips.
It wasn't the mischievous grin he'd shown Baek Woo-jin. It was a smile tinged with affection.
Soon, however, he put on a playful, childlike expression and flung his arms around Claire's neck from behind.
【What's the matter~? Did you have a lover's quarrel or something~?】
"...No."
Claire responded flatly, lowering her reverently clasped hands to her knees.
【If it's not a lover's quarrel, then why did you call me~? You know I hate boring stuff, right~? Hmm? Hmm?】
"......."
Vuar rested his chin on her shoulder, rubbing his cheek against hers, and Claire lifted her closed eyelids.
"You sometimes played pranks on the professor and myself. Consider this payment for those."
【Hmm~】
Vuar reacted as if mulling it over for a moment, then grinned and nodded.
【Fine~. But if your Professor, Claire, says he wants to use the prayer room, you absolutely have to come in with him. Or I'll just go in myself~.】
"...Simply entering is enough?"
【Yep. That'll be fine~.】
"Understood. Let's do that, then."
Vuar chuckled in satisfaction and climbed down from Claire's back. He walked around to her front and plopped his small bottom onto her thigh, leaning back against her.
【Well~ I've been watching for a little while, so I kind of know what you want to ask. But I should still hear it from you, right~.】
The smile faded from Vuar's lips as he looked up at Claire with a serious face.
Claire spoke toward the revered god who waited for her answer.
"I met a Fairy."
【A tiny, adorable little thing~.】
"...Yes. I received a gift from that tiny, adorable little thing."
【You mean that shiny sphere~.】
Claire nodded, reaching out to grasp the glowing sphere.
"What is this... made of?"
【Time. Or perhaps one could call it a lifespan~.】
It was not what she had wished to hear, yet the sphere's nature was something she had dimbly grasped. Claire clenched her free hand tightly and asked again.
"The professor... said there is no way to return this. Is there truly no method to do so?"
【Claire~.】
"......Yes."
Vuar looked at the child he cherished most—the one gazing at him more earnestly than ever before—and opened his mouth.
【Time that has passed never returns. If it could, no one in this world would ever feel regret~.】
"But... this is still in my hand."
The sphere containing that time still glimmered in her hand.
If she could just return it to its owner......
【Even if you return it, nothing will change~. Its properties altered the very moment it was separated~.】
"......."
Vuar held her wavering blue eyes firmly with his gaze and continued.
【You see, Fairies~ love to play and get lonely very easily~. So when new children break out of their eggs, they share a little of their own time, hoping they'll grow up faster so they can play together sooner~.】
"Then......"
【If you give it back to that child, the time you can spend together will only grow shorter~.】
Claire closed her eyes.
Facing her, Vuar reached out with both small hands.
"Nngh......"
Claire, her cheeks suddenly caught between his hands, opened her eyes again. She found Vuar staring at her with a tender gaze.
【Claire~.】
"......Y-yes."
【My lovely child~.】
"......."
Claire's eyes wavered at the touch of Vuar's hands gently stroking her cheeks.
【Someday, the day will come when I must part with you, too, Claire~.】
"......Yes."
【I've said it before, haven't I~? Gods are not omnipotent. If I truly were, I would never have had to part with all the children I've sent off until now~.】
Vuar's hands against Claire's cheeks slowly slipped downward.
【I don't like goodbyes. Because I am always the one left behind~.】
"Ah......"
Watching Claire's eyes widen, Vuar smiled softly.
【But it's all right. Farewells are sad, but all you have to do is pile up memories that are happier, more joyful, and more wonderful than the sorrow~.】
Claire could neither speak nor nod.
She had thought she understood him, at least in part, having served him most closely and for the longest time. But that had been an illusion. She hadn't understood anything at all.
That he was giving far more than the reverence and love they offered him.
Seeing Claire's lips quiver, unable to find the right words, Vuar chuckled and rose from her lap. He stroked her hair and spoke.
【The old Claire would never have wrestled with worries like this~. Before you met that being, you were a little broken, after all~.】
An incident in her childhood had left her emotions effectively dead when Vuar took her in. Living at the temple, she gradually learned to smile again, even to express anger.
But even as she slowly recovered her feelings, she had remained broken.
She would kill without hesitation—be it human or monster—if she deemed it necessary.
As though she did not understand the weight of a life.
Now, however, she was different.
For a tiny Fairy she had only met today, a being with whom she shared no bond at all, she had called upon her god and sought an answer.
Vuar pulled Claire's head tightly into an embrace and spoke.
【It makes me a little angry that it was that gloomy being and not me who changed you, Claire~. But thanks to that, I was able to make even one memory with you, so I won't be jealous~.】
Vuar slowly pulled away from Claire and spoke toward his lovely child, whose face had grown slightly flushed.
【So don't be sad. Time is too short just to pile up joyful, happy memories as it is~.】
"......Yes."
【There~. That's good~.】
Vuar swept aside the heavy mood and beamed again. He then pulled the kneeling Claire to her feet and declared.
【Then let's go build some memories right away!!】
"......Excuse me?"
Claire, who had been feeling both deeply moved and somewhat embarrassed, tilted her head in confusion.
【You just came back after receiving such a precious gift, didn't you~. So I'm saying you should go play with her now, even if it's late. Pick up some sweet things on the way~.】
"Ah......"
Claire, who had been about to turn stern on the assumption that this somehow involved Baek Woo-jin, nodded slowly.
"Then."
As Claire stepped back with remarkable alacrity, Vuar hopped forward toward her.
Smack.
He planted a tiny kiss on her cheek, then dashed backward, smiling bashfully.
【I've given you a blessing, though it's a short one. Hurry and go before it fades~.】
"......Yes."
Claire almost rubbed the spot Vuar's lips had touched with the back of her hand, but instead let out a small sigh and exited the prayer room.
Now alone, Vuar stared at the door Claire had walked out moments before and allowed a somewhat bittersweet smile to cross his face.
【Love and bonds. Whichever you choose will still bring sadness and hardship, I suppose....】
Vuar vanished from the prayer room only much later.
**
After changing into clothes that drew as little attention as possible, Claire left the temple with cereal tucked in her arms. Her brow furrowed immediately.
"......."
The reason was a pillar of light rising in the direction of Baek Woo-jin's mansion. The blessing her revered god had granted her was almost certainly the cause.
After a brief hesitation, Claire turned not toward the old alchemy workshop, but toward Baek Woo-jin's mansion, where the pure white pillar of light was shining.
She moved covertly yet swiftly, and before she knew it, she had reached the maze.
"Haa."
Claire shook her head at the massive cluster of light that she was thoroughly weary of seeing. She could not grasp what kind of blessing it might be at all.
Left with no option but to see for herself, Claire stepped into the maze. Before long, she arrived in front of the mansion that was now so familiar it had practically burned itself into her eyes.
Claire moved not toward the main entrance, but toward the side where the pillar of light shone.
—Peep! Peeep! Peeeeeep!!
"......?"
Then a small voice, unmistakably belonging to a certain someone, reached her ears.
She rounded the corner with careful steps and confirmed that the source of the pillar of light was the garden attached to Baek Woo-jin's study.
—Peeeeeep!!
"Is it because I fed you expensive stuff... you've got no intention of getting tired."
Along with the Fairy's peeping, Baek Woo-jin's voice followed.
Claire moved as if mesmerized toward the wide-open study window.
-Peep! Peep!
She found Baek Woo-jin sitting in his study chair, fending off the charging Fairy with one hand.
"Um, Professor."
"You damn little thing. Even Baek Ha-na wasn't this bad."
"......?"
Watching Baek Woo-jin gesture at the Fairy as if he hadn't heard her, Claire tried calling out to him again.
"Professor......?"
"Why do you keep coveting something you can't even carry?"
But once more, Baek Woo-jin didn't answer Claire's call; he merely gestured at the Fairy.
-Peeep!!
"......Damn it. It's so small, there's not even a spot to smack."
The Fairy finally managed to latch onto Baek Woo-jin's glasses and, grunting with effort, flapped its wings furiously in an attempt to pry them off.
"Pfft......"
Standing at the wide-open window and watching this scene, Claire let out a small laugh.
"If you want them that badly, take them. But this time, I'm not helping. You can figure out how to get yourself out on your own."
-Peeeeeep!!
Baek Woo-jin stood up and followed the Fairy's fluttering path toward the open window.
Claire looked up at Baek Woo-jin, who had abruptly come to a halt right in front of her nose. She swallowed, and her eyes flew wide open.
-Peep?!
The Fairy, unable to bear the weight of the glasses it had seized, plummeted downward. Baek Woo-jin looked down at the fallen Fairy and snorted.
-Peeeeep!!
-Peeeeee!!
-Peeeeaak!!
"......Hah."
Baek Woo-jin stared at the Fairy squalling noisily on the lawn, let out a brief sigh, and ultimately crouched slightly to pick up the glasses.
Right at that moment.
The brightly shining pillar of light vanished.
And then.
"......."
"......."
Baek Woo-jin found himself face-to-face with a completely frozen Claire, their noses practically touching.