Mis...understanding (1)
Mis...understanding (1)
In life, you can't avoid regret.
Living means making choice after choice.
Pick one, and you almost always have to let go of the other. That's just how it works.
Maybe a better option existed somewhere, somewhere you didn't look.
But the longing for the road you didn't take sticks with you anyway.
- Thump-ump-ump...
'Fuck.'
I am bitterly regretting it.
Ever since I woke up early this morning, even now while I keep my hands busy cooking to run from that regret, it hasn't let up.
Yesterday's events are eating at me so badly...
'Guhh...'
It makes no sense.
I didn't drink any alcohol yesterday.
Not a sip. Not a single drop passed my lips.
Sure, I kissed Hong Yeon-hwa after she'd been drinking... but we didn't, uh, tangle tongues.
So how did my reason get that fogged up? It's abnormal, rationally speaking.
'Did I seriously get drunk just from smelling it? Even though I can barely register fragrances...?'
The exact cause is a mystery.
But the things I did linger like a brand burned into my mind, my hands, and my face.
- Squiiiish...
The dough ceaselessly changed shape in my grip.
I was getting breakfast ready — bread dough I was making for dipping into soup.
'......'
The large lump of dough, caught in my grip and constantly being reshaped.
As I squeezed, kneaded, and pressed down on it over and over, the sensations I'd held in my hands last night kept resurfacing.
A plush softness twice as yielding as this measly bread dough, a fullness my grip couldn't fully contain.
The kind that, just by being pressed against, had eased pain and fear...
"Haaah..."
[Ughhek!]
Lost in a daze of kneading, my whole body jolted at the presence descending the stairs from the upper floor.
I frantically snatched the dough that had floated up into the air.
"Ugh... it's been a while since I drank, so my stomach feels a little queasy..."
The presence was Professor Liana.
She covered her mouth with her palm and strode down the staircase.
Soon lively, spring-green eyes captured me in their gaze.
"......"
[......]
Professor Liana, her hand still at her mouth, froze mid-step.
I, clutching the dough, froze too.
A peculiar silence flowed between us.
"U-uhm... Baby, you're up early."
A moment later, a graceful blush rising on her cheeks, Professor Liana glanced away.
At her awkwardly opened words I nodded quickly.
[Yes, yes, yes...]
Fortunately her voice held no rejection.
The address was a little blunt, but in the current situation I didn't object.
Professor Liana approached in a big stride. I reined in the body that almost flinched.
"How are you feeling? Any stiffness, or a headache?"
[No, I'm okay.]
I bobbed my head up and down eagerly, actively demonstrating my fitness.
My raised arms ached.
From the strenuous physical training and the load put on my body at regular intervals.
On top of that, the pain of operating circuits tears at my nerves.
My head hurts.
Since I can now deploy Observation across a wide area without trouble, I've been practicing broadening it even further while maintaining precision.
[I'm fine.]
It's fine.
I can manage all of it alongside daily life.
Even if someone forced mana into my body for an examination, my circuits appear intact on the surface, so there's no risk of getting caught.
"That's a relief. For me, because it's been a while, my stomach's all queasy."
[Oh, please wait a moment.]
[I'll serve you first.]
"Mm... it's already late, so how about we all eat together anyway?"
[Ah, sure.]
The conversation died off.
Only the bubbling sound of soup simmering over a low Calamity Flame filled the silence.
In the strange gap, I turned over my thoughts.
Professor Liana's gaze, fixed squarely on me, felt a bit prickly.
"Oh dear."
While I was fidgeting and squirming a little—
Professor Liana let out a deep sigh.
At the sound I jolted hard, and Professor Liana stretched her foot out in a long stride.
Long legs closed the distance.
My shoulders hunched at the shadow falling over me.
Stopping right before my nose, she looked down at me quietly for a moment, then suddenly raised her hand.
And.
"It's okay."
She placed it gently on my head.
"You're making my heart ache, watching your every move like a puppy who thinks it's in trouble... It really is okay..."
As her hand calmly stroked down the length of my hair, my stiffly locked body gradually relaxed.
Eventually, with a soft smile, Professor Liana pulled my head close and held me securely against her.
At that action, the unease that had occupied a corner of my heart slipped away.
I stretched both arms around her slender waist and pressed my face deeper into the embrace, rubbing against her.
[Mmmnn...]
"Aha-ha, look at you, already being a baby."
I could hear the giggly laugh.
Like it said, my immediate whining embarrassed me a tiny bit, but I didn't lift my face from her.
"Oh, were you scared you'd be scolded all by yourself? It's fine—this much is nothing, really..."
Professor Liana also just laughed without prying me off.
She gazed down at me like she was looking at something adorable, both hands stroking my head and patting my back.
For a while, with the bubbling soup as background, I acted spoiled as if trying to dissolve all my anxiety.
"All the same, that was a pretty intense 'drunk habit.'"
During that—
Professor Liana murmured as if suddenly remembering, and my body trembled.
A new shade of feeling joined the gaze planted on the top of my head.
A look one might give a mischievous child.
"You get drunk so easily. You didn't even drink, yet you got drunk... really something. And your drunk habit was quite... hm? Lewd."
[Geugk...]
My body writhed. This was not a topic I wanted in my ears...
"Did it feel good when you touched them? You kept touching and kneading without a break."
[Guh-e-e-ek...]
"Later on, you outright laid me down and flattened me, then buried your face in, rubbed and sniffed, squeezed tight... geez."
[Gyaa-a-ack...]
But it seemed Professor Liana had different ideas, and she kept putting the subject into words.
The voice whispering into my ear was gentle, but the content was anything but.
As if hit by a word command, my body squirmed helplessly.
Professor Liana hugged my thrashing body tight and whispered the topic right into my ear.
"So from now on, about alcohol and drinking occasions both... let's restrain ourselves, yes?"
Only after about ten minutes did she deliver that conclusion.
Supporting me as I went limp, gently patting my back and waist, she went on.
"From now on, avoid drinking get-togethers as much as possible. And, if you do have to attend, do it with an adult like me... a guardian at your side."
[...Adult.]
"An adult like me. Someone who can stop our baby before you get drunk, and accept anything even when you are drunk. Got it?"
Adult.
Someone kind like Professor Liana, someone dependable like Master.
A person who can take responsibility for themselves and those beside them.
"Here, a promise."
A pinky finger was extended before my eyes.
I blinked for a moment.
Professor Liana waited quietly for my action.
I thought a moment, then, guessing this must be it, tentatively extended my own pinky finger.
"That's it."
Our pinkies crossed.
Presently we each curled them tight, hooking them together for the other to see.
"We promised, yes? Be careful about drinking occasions from now on."
A pinky promise.
A custom shared across many cultures.
It's the first time I've actually done one.
It's a custom you see fairly often in media on the internet.
The first pinky-promise scene I ever saw was...
A mother playfully making one with her child.
[...Yes.]
"There you go, such a good baby."
Professor Liana, wearing a pleased smile, patted my bottom lightly—pat pat, pat pat.
Feeling a curious emotion, I hid my face against her again.
[...If your stomach is upset, would you like me to make you some honey water?]
"No, I'm fine."
Professor Liana shook her head, then lowered her head and buried her nose in my hair.
- Snfff... haaa...
"...This is enough."
I flinched at the breath buried in my hair.
.
.
.
Today happened to be a weekend, so I didn't rouse the ones who'd been knocked flat by heavy drinking early.
So while I was unhurriedly finishing meal preparations.
Around the time it was edging into lunch, they began trickling out of their rooms one by one.
Every one of them came downstairs lackadaisically, each seeming to be suffering some hangover.
"Agk, my back..."
"Huu..."
Among them, Hong Yeon-hwa and my master looked particularly hungover.
Both were so disheveled, their movements so creaky, it was a little worrying.
'...Considering how much they drank, I guess that's actually pretty mild...?'
I pulled an uneasy face.
When I tidied up the room where the drinking had happened, just how many liquor bottles had I collected?
I'd set out all sorts of alcohol so nobody would go without, but I never imagined they'd drain everything.
Among it all were plenty of hard liquors that might knock me out and make me lose all reason from a single drop...
It hit me anew just how much and how hard superhumans can drink.
'They probably suppressed their mana so they'd actually get drunk, right? If they didn't suppress it... ugh.'
I shook my head without realizing it.
"The lot of them cannot pull themselves together~"
Then, a cool presence trailing those two down the stairs made me flinch.
"Good morning, Ha-yul."
A smiling Baek A-rin gave a little wave.
She showed no particular sign of hangover.
Her outfit was different from yesterday's.
Instead of a pure white one-piece, she wore a black short-sleeved top and shorts.
She must have pulled indoor clothes out of her own luggage.
- Really... I told you not to spill it in the middle of things, but you just pocketed it all the same... So then today, what could I do, I had nothing to wear.
'.......'
Her words from yesterday surfaced abruptly.
Along with the object still shoved into my subspace.
[Good morning.]
I desperately suppressed my Observation from peering through the inside of her clothes and nodded.
[First, everyone have a meal.]
Expecting everyone to be more or less groaning, I'd prepared the meal as hangover food.
...Truthfully, I've never actually made a hangover remedy before, but I had looked up foods known to help.
Some breads for those who like bread, tomato soup, a few meat dishes.
And bone hangover soup for the rice-eaters.
Worried that even then they might not like it, I fixed up a few other things too.
[Ah, did you sleep well?]
Around then.
I spotted Lee Ji-yeon wobbling down the stairs last of all.
"Heok! Ah, yes, yes! Yes... I slept... well..."
[?]
When I offered a late-morning greeting, she suddenly jolted in fright and jumped a full step off the stairs.
At that intense reaction the eyes all gathered on her; she shrank in on herself, gauged the others' reactions, and then carefully gave her greeting.
'What's up with her?'
Lee Ji-yeon looked extremely tired.
Her vitality seemed drained too.
The shadows beneath her eyes, previously fairly faint, had darkened noticeably.
The appearance of having spent heart power oddly made me tilt my head.
"Ahh, yes... thank you..."
Lee Ji-yeon's odd behavior continued afterward.
Like flinching in surprise whenever I approached.
Picking at the meat in the bone hangover soup, nibbling away.
Secretly glancing around at the others at the table, seeming to anguish over something one moment, then blushing to herself the next...
"What's wrong? Do you need something?"
"Huh? Ah, no?"
The sight was so strange that even Hong Yeon-hwa tilted her head and asked.
[Senior Lee Ji-yeon.]
[Could I have a moment with you after the meal?]
"N-neh... understood..."
At my summons, Lee Ji-yeon's shoulders gave another little start.
Still with her chopsticks in her mouth, she sized up my mood a bit and answered in a small voice.
.
.
.
When the meal was over, I took Lee Ji-yeon out to the park within the mansion grounds.
[Tada.]
Then I hoisted up Seo-yul, who'd followed us out a little ways, and showed her off.
Slipping my hands under her armpits and lifting her for Lee Ji-yeon to see.
"......"
"......?"
Lee Ji-yeon tilted her head.
Her expression plainly asked: What are you doing all of a sudden?
[Seo-yul?]
To be honest, I was just as perplexed.
I'd told her about this beforehand, but Seo-yul still wasn't acting.
"Hmph..."
[Ah, geez...]
Seo-yul had been sulky since morning.
From the moment she got up early and immediately started sticking her nose all over me and rubbing herself against me, I'd thought it odd.
After a bout of that strange behavior, she'd ended up in this sulk.
[Seo-yul... you're good, right? Come on, do it just once and then we'll go back inside.]
"Hmph."
When I held her and coaxed her, she whipped her head aside again.
Still, maybe her mood had eased some, because she did end up acting according to my request.
In an instant their mana surged, and from Seo-yul's back, piercing through the clothes, a set of brilliantly colored wings burst out.
Five-colored wings, proof of a fairy.
To Lee Ji-yeon especially — as a successor of the Taesan family who had even been to the Protected Area — she would be able to recognize them.
"Just as I thought..."
[?]
Lee Ji-yeon nodded, looking convinced.
...Not surprise, but conviction.
There was even a hint of an I-knew-it sort of air.
"Ah, I already had a suspicion."
[What? Since when on earth?]
"Uhm... Since yesterday, when I came out after being delivered by the spirit. Your hair color and the Taesan-likeness gave off an odd feel, and after seeing how familiar the spirits acted with you, I was suspecting it."
[Ahh...]
Nodding, I could see how that could be the case.
The Taesan are closely tied to nature, and Lee Ji-yeon has even directly faced fairies before.
She'd certainly know far more about fairies than I do.
'...So, does that mean she also figured out that I'm presumed to be a fairy?'
"So do you need information about fairies?"
[Yes, that's right.]
A little suspicion rose too, but I nodded for now.
[And I have another favor to ask, too...]
"Another favor?"
[Yes. Seo-yul?]
"Pff..."
Lee Ji-yeon tilted her head.
At that, I gave Seo-yul a gentle pat and sent her back inside.
Seo-yul fidgeted as though she didn't want to go, but at the repeated request she pursed her lips, then flutter-fluttered off toward the mansion.
'I'll have to go calm her down soon...'
So in the park, just the two of us, me and Lee Ji-yeon, remained.
Lee Ji-yeon, apparently awkward at being left alone with me, was secretly casting her eyes in all directions.
From her perspective she seemed to be hiding it, but Observation read her plainly.
"...Of course. For the benefactor of Taesan, anything. I'll hear whatever it is, as long as it's possible."
A moment later.
Lee Ji-yeon turned her eyes toward me as if steeling her resolve.
Benefactor of Taesan.
I hadn't intended that title, but from the position of the one asking the favor, I welcomed it.
'Huu...'
After confirming that Seo-yul had truly gone far enough, I activated my necklace.
[If...]
I worked my mouth for a moment.
There is hesitation.
A thought: is it really necessary to speak this?
Benefactor this and that, but in the end I don't intend to tie myself deeply to Lee Ji-yeon.
Besides, it's an uncertain future.
A result I hope never comes to pass.
I will struggle desperately so that future never arrives, but just in case.
[If I were to end up dead... would you look after Seo-yul for me?]
But I guess that's what insurance is.
In the case that I rush in like a moth to the flame, resolve the world-ending threat at minimum, and die.
I want the Taesan family, with their abundant knowledge of fairies, to care for Seo-yul.
That was the thought with which I operated the necklace.
"...Who did you say would die?"
Lee Ji-yeon's face stiffened hard.
* * *
Lee Ha-yul→Liana Bellus
●●●●●●●○○○(78▷79/100)
｢Affection｣ [Milk Cow?] ｢Gratitude｣ ｢Gentle Adult｣ ｢Softness｣ ｢Warmth｣ ｢Voluptuous｣